"Secret U.S. government cables show a stunning willingness by senior Canadian officials to appease American demands (more here) for a U.S.-style copyright law here. The documents describe Canadian officials as encouraging American lobbying efforts. They also cite cabinet minister Maxime Bernier raising the possibility of showing U.S. officials a draft bill before tabling it in Parliament. The cables, from the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, even have a policy director for then industry minister Tony Clement suggesting it might help U.S. demands for a tough copyright law if Canada were placed among the worst offenders on an international piracy watch list. Days later, the U.S. placed Canada alongside China and Russia on the list." Unbelievable. Suddenly I understand why the SFPD had no qualms about acting as henchmen for Apple goons to violate someone's constitutional rights. If a government is messed up, it only makes sense this is reflected in the corporate policies of its prime corporations.
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Member since:2006-07-04
And there are others in the US that think that the government is there just to take from the middle class and the rich and give it to the poor.
I think both sides are whack. Sure, the govt helps corporations when the govt thinks that it is in society's interest to do so, but that's not "fascism". And sure, there's a safety net to help those that are struggling, but that doesn't mean that the govt is stealing from the rich/middle class to give to the poor. The ideologues on both sides are so annoying.
Member since:2010-03-08
In Sweden, I have met someone who advocated random elections. People are picked randomly in the ID database and designated as part-time leaders of the country. To address things which they don't know, they refer to a public institution of people who work in the field.
This idea makes me feel a bit uncomfortable, though I can't find precise arguments against it, but it would certainly lead to more representative governments.
Edited 2011-09-05 10:22 UTC
Member since:2011-01-28
Neolander,
"In Sweden, I have met someone who advocated random elections. People are picked randomly in the ID database and designated as part-time leaders of the country. To address things which they don't know, they refer to a public institution of people who work in the field."
Interesting, however I dislike the fact that this system would not be democratic either.
I've proposed some ideas in the past myself.
1. Rank voting, to address the problem when people end up voting for the candidates most likely to win, rather than those they actually want to win. This one is a no-brainer, but would severely weaken the democratic and republican parties such that I doubt there is sufficient incentive among politicians to fix the problem.
2. Revolving door vote. Instead of voting at distant intervals, a public vote could be recorded for each voter until the person dies or casts a new vote. The majority vote would be tabulated continuously (something like every month). This would have significant ramifications, but the idea is that politicians would have a far greater incentive to listen to the public over their own agenda.
3. Vote directly on issues instead of through politicians. A representative might not follow through on his stated plans. And even if he does, our vote for him doesn't imply endorsement of the full plan. People must vote for the candidate on a restricted set of dimensions (which often turn out to be those promoted by political think tanks). This implies that most dimensions will never see the light of the democratic process, and can even result in elected officials pushing policy which completely contradicts the majority view on them.
4. Domain specific elections. Short of being able to vote on specific issues, maybe it'd be possible to vote in representatives on a finer granularity such that voters can cast a ballot which better reflects their choices.
Of course I've heard some people say that democracy doesn't work in the first place because people are too stupid to make the best choices for themselves without political middlemen. Maybe that's true, but I'd still rather live democratically among a stupid people than live under tyrants who are wise.
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.
Member since:
2011-01-28
"Why it is... so often wrong in promoting their new mythical honest idol?"
I'm insulted by this notion that honesty is mythical. I try my absolute best to be honest when it comes to my jobs and responsibilities. Despite the fact that I see dishonest people getting ahead of myself, I've remained honest. Perhaps my kind will eventually die off because we're not fit to survive, but I still will cling to the view that honestly is a virtue worth having even if it is a competitive weakness.
"Those are our failures."
To the extent that we have control over them, then sure, but you must be aware that many people over here in the US view the government as a fascist entity acting on behalf of wealthy corporate interests through both parties.
It may be a conspiracy to you, but in their minds, their government does not represent them.
http://newjerseyhills.com/observer-tribune/news/article_7074df6c-f7.....
"Despite the poor national economy, the report found that the personal wealth of members of Congress increased collectively by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009. It also showed that 261 congressmen, or nearly half of the membership of the House of Representatives, are millionaires."
The fact is wealth plays a large part in getting representation within government. Regardless of the reasons, government is overwhelmingly composed of wealthy classes who would rather keep pushing corporate interests over us.
I'm an advocate of real democracy, but it's gotta represent the people. What we have today does not.
Edited 2011-09-04 20:54 UTC