|
|
(also see)
http://www.eagleforum.org/psr/2003/june03/psrjune03.shtml
____________________________________________________________
"The patent effectively says that any system which intercepts mail, filtering viruses and spam messages from the inbox and then sends what's left to the intended recipient is using Postini's intellectual property (IP). This could apply to a large section of the anti-spam and anti-virus market."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/03/30/email_filter_patent_puts_industry/
____________________________________________________________
Such broad patents shouldn't be allowed.
____________________________________________________________
"The legal monopolies for software under copyright laws last a very long time. Under current law, copyright extends for the life of the author plus 70 years; in the case of pseudonymous or anonymous works, or works made for hire, copyright extends for 95 years from the year of its first publication or 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. The software industry is new, and so it is rare today to find any important software for which the copyright has expired. (Congress recently extended the length of copyright term in a provision that has been described derisively as a special boon to the Disney corporation to protect its copyrights in Mickey Mouse comics. That extension has been challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court as inconsistent with the Constitutional objective to grant copyright monopolies in order to encourage the progress of science and the arts.) "
http://www.rosenlaw.com/lj16.htm
(also see)
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=984
____________________________________________________________
"How the Dominance of Microsoft's Products Poses a Risk to Security"
http://cryptome.org/cyberinsecurity.htm
___________________________________________________________
Eminent Domain abuse
"In the report, Berliner discusses more than 10,000 cases where homes, businesses, churches and private land were seized or threatened with seizure over the past five years – not to be used for public use, but instead for private for-profit development."
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32172
(also see)
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/26/60minutes/main575343.shtml
http://www.newpatriot.us/node/15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eminent_domain
Steven Greenhut, Abuse Of Power: How The Government
Misuses Eminent Domain, Seven Locks Press, June, 2004,
trade paperback, 312 pages, ISBN 1931643377
___________________________________________________________
I seen this whole thing on ShowTime (Penn & Teller) about how businesses abuse eminent domain laws. It's really sad how a perfectly good law with very good intentions gets abused by entities for political / economic gain. That's the problem, there are many laws (IE: the patent law) that are designed for good and end up being used for evil.
____________________________________________________________
"In June 2003, the FCC voted 3-2 to overturn most of the few remaining restrictions still in place on big media corporations. These new rules would have lifted a ban on the cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in local markets and allowed for further concentration of broadcast ownership in local markets."
http://www.hearusnow.org/mediaownership/25/
(Old)
(also see)
http://www.gp.org/press/pr_01_10_03b.html
http://www.newamerica.net/index.cfm?pg=article&DocID=582 (cached).
______________________________________________________________________
"The newest battlefield in the fight to protect the First Amendment is the Internet," he said. "The Internet is the new town square, and campaign finance regulations are not appropriate there."
Without his legislation, Hensarling said, "I fear that bloggers one day could be fined for improperly linking to a campaign Web site, or merely forwarding a candidate's press release to an e-mail list."
(dead http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_go_co/political_blogs )
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=16015
_____________________________________________________________________
"That is, the drugs that were developed with government funding were 3 times as expensive as the drugs developed without government funding. In 1991, the most recent year of the study, drugs developed with federal funding were over 11 times more expensive than drugs developed without federal funding."
"For many drugs, the government has paid for most or all of the pre-clinical research, and it frequently funds the development of the drug all the way through FDA Phase II and Phase III trials. In these cases, which are many, the drug should not be priced as though the firm had borne all the risks and made all the investments."
http://www.mercola.com/2001/aug/15/drug_war.htm
"To burst another drug company bubble, I should include that these companies spend more on marketing and administration than on R&D. It basically goes without saying that the pharmaceutical industry has been one of the most profitable industries in the nation for several years straight."
http://www-tech.mit.edu/V123/N41/shef_colum.41c.html
(also see)
http://www.peopleandplanet.org/stopaids/briefing.trade.php
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/007795.html
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7400/1189#REF2
http://www.actupny.org/reports/drugcosts.html
http://www.cptech.org/pharm/cl.html
http://www.cptech.org/pharm/marketletter.html
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17244
http://www.citizen.org/congress/reform/drug_industry/corporate/articles.cfm?ID=7416
http://www.nwlaborpress.org/2004/10-1-04Health.html
_________________________________________________________________________
Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA)
http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/west/2004/09/20/features/46776.htm?print=1
http://insurance.mo.gov/laws/bulletin/03-01.htm
_____________________________________________________________
" The global economy has grown sevenfold since 1950. Meanwhile, the disparity in per capita gross domestic product between the 20 richest and 20 poorest nations more than doubled between 1960 and 1995.
Of all high-income nations, the United States has the most unequal distribution of income, with over 30 percent of income in the hands of the richest 10 percent and only 1.8 percent going to the poorest 10 percent.
Source:
Rich-Poor Gap Growing, Vital Signs 2003, pp. 88-89. "
http://www.worldwatch.org/features/vsow/2003/11/12/
__________________________________________________________________
"The U.S. is the only one of these nations to not have a minimum paid-leave law. Japan and Canada require a minimum of 10 days. China, 15 days. All the other nations at least 20 days. When you look at the actual yearly averages of paid-leave taken per nation, again the U.S. is the lowest at barely over 10 days, with most other nations at 25 days or above.
Proponents of no minimum paid-leave law argue that businesses can be more competitive without one. Unfettered by an artificial minimum days of required vacation, U.S. workers put in more days per year, and therefore productivity benefits. That's the theory. Yet, some of these other countries are apparently more productive per hour than the U.S. We may be working more hours, but we're not using them the most productively."
http://www.kirkdorffer.com/ontheroadto2008/2004/12/american-vacation-squeeze.shtml
(also see)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/439595.stm
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workplace/2003-12-16-hours-cover_x.htm
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/CAREER/trends/08/30/ilo.study/
________________________________________________________
The increasing gap between the rich and the poor isn't caused because Americans or poor people are lazy. They're not lazy (there are plenty of statistics supporting this, some of which are on the sites I linked to above). If that were true, the army wouldn't be targeting poor people to fight our wars (IE: This unnecessary war with Iraq that's costing us a lot of lives and money. It's not the rich fighting them). I highly doubt the poor are fighting these wars because they want to (trust me, they would rather take almost any job over fighting a war, within reason). They're fighting these wars because they're desperate. If the government didn't offer anything in return for fighting a war, they wouldn't be fighting our wars (unless there was a draft). I also heard, from someone who used to work for Toshiba, that Toshiba (and companies alike) used to have good benefits (IE: health benefits) before the Americans took over. Afterwords, most benefits ceased to exist and many people quit (including the person who told me this). The problem here is special interest groups.
_________________________________________________________
"Elected officials may cater to special interest rather than serve the interest of the public. The possibility arises because of the asymmetry between special interest and public interest, ... Consider only one of the thousands of decisions that are made each year by elected representatives: funding an obscure federal program that subsidizes U.S. wool production. Under the wool-subsidy program, the federal government guarantees that a floor price is paid to sheep farmers for each pound of wool they produce, a subsidy that costs taxpayers over $75 million per year. During deliberations to renew the program, the only person to testify before Congress was a representative of the National Wool Growers Association, who claimed that the subsidy was vital to the nation's economic welfare." Page 343 in the book Microeconomics, A Contemporary Introduction by McEachern (edition 7e).
____________________________________________________________
Much of the problem involves issues regarding concentrated benefits, widespread costs (or rent seeking. Rent seeking doesn't necessarily have to be subsidies (though we do pay a lot of taxes that go to special interest groups). It can also involve unfair legislation (IE: tariffs. In general, tariffs on imports lower aggregate output by causing deadweight losses to society)). Generally such costs are harmful to the economy (unfortunately it would cost an individual more than he would gain to fight such an issue. This, of course, is just one example). The money could go somewhere else (like hospitals, schools, or even lowering taxes).
___________________________________________________________
"The $150 billion for corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipses the annual budget deficit of $130 billion. It's more than the $145 billion paid out annually for the core programs of the social welfare state: Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Social Security and medical care)."
http://www.corporations.org/welfare/
___________________________________________________________
It is important for us to prevent these huge corporations from owning the media. If rich corporations own too much of the media (which they already do) it makes it very easy for them to brainwash everyone into thinking what they want (and to prevent them from knowing information they should). If nothing is done to regulate these corporations, it won't be long before they start controlling what is broadcasted over the Internet (they already control what is broadcasted over the radio and television stations. Chances are that you won't hear much information on this website on your local radio or television stations) and before they start taking away our freedom of speech. Regardless of what your/someone's opinion maybe about these issues, I believe it is important for the media to inform people about these issues so that people can make informed decisions about government (ex: who to vote for).
I think that the general public needs to be active / aggressive (not destructive, but assertive) participants of the legislative process no matter what form of government we are under. We need to make sure we are properly informed about all issues and that all information we receive is accurate so that we can make well informed decisions. The media does not appear to be doing a good job of informing us about important issues (because these corporations have too strong an influence over them) and we need to make sure they do.
____________________________________
"Will of the People
On Larry King Live, Larry King asked George W. Bush, "Nader and Buchanan, why aren't they in the debates? Should they be?" Bush replied, "I think the American people want to see Vice President Gore and me go toe-to-toe, that's what I think they want to see."
On Meet the press, Tim Russert asked Al Gore, "Would you want Mr. Nader and Pat Buchanan included in the presidential debates?" Gore replied, "I think that most people would like to see a set of one on-one debates between Governor Bush and myself." Bush and Gore were wrong.
On July 12, 2000, FOX News released a poll showing that 64 percent of registered voters wanted Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan included in the presidential debates despite CPD's criteria. Only 25 percent said that Nader and Buchanan should be excluded. The FOX News poll also found that 73 percent of registered voters believed the debates would be "more interesting" if Nader and Buchanan were allowed to participate.These popular convictions were maintained even after the debates. A Time/CNN poll taken two days after the first 2000 presidential debate found that 54 percent of adults believed Nader should have been allowed to participate, and only 32 percent still opposed his inclusion."
no debate by George Farah, how the republican and democratic parties secretly control the presidential debates (page 105).
______________________________________________
The people are no longer being represented by our leaders and it is due to a lack of participation. It is important for us to be more active in the legislative process, don't let the will of special interest groups overpower the will of the general public like this.
Think of the second law of thermodynamics. Basically, it says something similar to, things tend to go from a state of order to a state of disorder unless work is done to put them back into a state of order. If you have an office (and use it), no matter how well the office is organized, if you don't put effort in keeping it organized (cleaning up, putting things in order, etc...), it will eventually become a mess. If you have a car and you don't fill it up of gas, change the oil, and put effort in keeping it in good condition, no matter how well the car was designed, eventually it will break down and stop working (things break down). The same thing goes for our society. If the general public (IE: non special interest groups) don't put the time and effort (work) required in keeping the system running properly, no matter how well our system was designed, things will break down (they tend toward disorder and corruption) just like anything else. There is no "magical" governmental, political, or economic system that can stay in a state of order (and not tend toward corruption), with no maintenance, all by itself just like there is no magical car that can stay functional all by itself with no maintenance. I also think that without God, we can do nothing.
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."John 15:5 (King James Version)
"The wealthiest 5 percent have 59% of the wealth and pay 38.4 percent of federal taxes. The wealthiest 1 percent have over 38 percent of the wealth and pay 24.8 percent of federal taxes. These households have an average wealth of $10.2 million and pay only 3.5 percent of their wealth in taxes. By way of comparison, the bottom 40 percent of taxpayers have an average net wealth of $1,100 and pay 163 percent of their net wealth in taxes."
http://blogs.kansascity.com/unfettered_letters/2006/07/support_for_est.html
(broken original)
(also see)
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/mar2001/tax-m13.shtml
http://www.ctj.org/html/gwb0602.htm
http://www.beggarscanbechoosers.com/2005/04/ceo-pay-soared-in-2004-as-us-economy.html
http://www.ethicalinvesting.com/monsanto/terminator.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsanto
http://www.noooxml.org/petition
(Wal-Mart related information)
http://www.slate.com/id/2113954/
