SBC enforcing all-encompassing Web patent. You've been Framed [The Register]

More absurdity.

Recycling pay phones into Wifi stations. Of course, pay phones represent an excellent solution. They can be upgraded with DSL technology. And they already are installed in high traffic public areas, like airports or hotel lobbies. [Smart Mobs]

Great idea.

The Snake is Back

Disclaimer:  I, Pesky the Rat, hereby register my absolute disgust at my agent Susan the Human's insistance that I allow Janet the Snake space on my weblog for "balance".  This ungrateful, slithering future fashion accessory has dirtied my page far too much in the past, and I am horrified she is to be allowed back for another go. I simply ask that you think no less of me for this transgression. 

Janet the Snake,
SuperSexy Reptile Pundit, 
defends tax cuts for the rich

Hello there my dear little readersss, Janet the Snake here, at your ssservice, ready to dish it out faster than that puny little rat can take it. Ssso today's topic is: why are those little rodents so upset about tax cuts for the rich? What on earth isss their problem?

I've got two words for all you whiny little lemmings out there: Food Chain.

Rich people, of which I am one, thanks to my bessstselling book, "Slander: Rodent Lies about Animals that Eat Rodents", are rich because we deserve to be. Because we have worked hard for what we have, unlike the unwashed minor mammilian massssssses who sspend their days thinking about poetry and eating granola barss.  We are at the top of the food chain because we have big, shiny fangs and we aren't afraid to use them.

I mean, let's look at my dear friend, Georgie, out there in the White Houssse. Georgie's family has basically gotten themselves where they are today through a long series of deliciously sneaky business deals, not all of them entirely legal. That's the sort of initiative that gets you ahead in thisss world, let me tell you.  If the rest of you weren't smart enough to track down the right loopholes, why should I have to pay for it?  After all, I'm going to eat you in the end, anyway, ssso why does it really matter?

96% of the taxesss in this country are paid by the richest half of Americans.  The ressst of you, clearly, no longer have any incentive to work. You prefer to lounge about in the lap of luxury, taking home hundreds of dollarsss--hundreds! a month in unemployment or welfare, sssipping cocktails on your government-subsidized yachts while the rest of us toil away, counting our dividend checks, dutifully sorting through our trust-fund money, looking for ways to enrich thisss great country of ourss.

You have forgotten your place, rodentsss. You have forgotten that asss ssoon as you are born into this world, your purpossse is to feed usss. If you are allowed a week on this glorious planet, it is a gift from ussss. We give more generously to some than others, but make no missstake, the clock belongs to usss.

Tamales

 

I live in South Texas, where tamales are an important part of life. We know from tamales.

 

...

 

In most South Texas towns you can find a restaurant that makes tamales in the traditional way, with lots of love and no shortcuts, but you will have to be on a serious quest.

 

Reynaldo's is that restaurant in our town. It took me 5 years to find it.

 

You don't go into Reynaldo's to buy tamales. You knock at the side door of the kitchen and speak with Lupe. There are three large stoves, each with 6 huge, steaming pots on top. You buy tamales by the dozen. Lupe scoops them out and wraps them in butcher paper and foil.

 

If you are smart you will ask for one and eat it right on the spot. At first you will not be able to speak. When you can speak, your words will be given by the Holy Spirit.

 

“Oh my God” seems to be the most common utterance among Anglos. “Madre de Dios”, among Hispanics.

 

Lupe has been making tamales at Reynaldo's for 40 years.

 

While I was in high school, she was making tamales.

 

While I went to college, she was making tamales.

 

While I struggled with God in seminary, she was making tamales.

 

While you and I pour out our souls and struggle with issues of faith and life, she is making tamales.

 

She makes and serves tamales. That is her life.

 

Do you think her life is less fulfilling than yours or mine, less interesting and less actualized?

 

You wouldn't think so if you ate her tamales with your closest friends. If you let the jalapeno arouse and the masa soothe you, if you felt the endorphins release into the buzz from your beer and felt your passion for your friends rise until you could not contain your laughter, then you would not think so. You would praise the name of Lupe and marvel at what she gives this world.

 

There would not be tamales if there were not people like Lupe.

 

She and others like her are the most Christ-like people in our town, literally giving their lives away for their friends.

 

The Preacher

 

[Real Live Preacher]

Comain.

So I just learned that this is the first political poster released under a Creative Commons license. Good poster too. Gets CC licensing in front of more folks, especially politicos.

[The Doc Searls Weblog]

The poster and the idea are good.  I'm definitely in favour of banning political campaign contributions and financing such things via the state.  It won't waste as much money as people think, because we don't have to give them much.  This will force politicians off the TV, where advertising is expensive, and onto the road where they might actually be forced to meet the people they are claiming to represent.  In particular, if a man is to be president of the United States, then let him walk (or drive) some good proportion of it on his way there.

Now I don't believe that just banning contributions will stop the corruption, it's too well entrenched, but it will redress the balance somewhat and that's still a good thing.

Another way forward is to do something about the revolving door between business and government.  The UK government is littered with hapless execs who have taken a couple of years out from their boardroom  careers to milk some opportunities out of government for them & their business chums.  Is it any different in America?

I agree that government, if it is to be efficient, needs a knowledge of business methods and good practice.  You'll get no argument from me there.  But public service should be about "serving the public" and not "helping one's self," and "lining the pockets of one's friends."

Here is my proposal, make of it what you will:

I would like to see the formation of a full-time corruption monitoring agency.  It should be state funded with oversight by the Public Accounts Committee.  The agency should be headed by a senior judge who serves a 3 year term and should be elected by the public (from a free list) and not appointed by politicians.

Other full-time members of the agency should be drawn from all walks of life including pensioners, business, the press, the judiciary, the police, and members of parliament.  There should be strict controls in place to limit the power of interest, i.e. members of one industry shielding their friends.  Important investigations should have oversight by a jury, drawn at random from the public.

The agency should have oversight over all aspects of government business and that includes the prime ministers office, the department of defence and the foreign office.  It should have the power to call anyone to answer, from me right up to the Prime Minister, with refusal carrying the same weight as refusing to appear at the house of commons.

Decisions about whether a report is made public or not should be made by the full investigating committee (including the jury if there is one) with the default being that publishing is in the public interest.  The agency should provide access via the web to all materials that are not held to be secret and the head of the agency should publish an annual report.

As a final protection this agency should not be directly controlled by parliament.  In particular, changes to it's constitution and it's funding should be ratified by public referendum.

All this will cost many millions of pounds to set-up properly but, in the long term, I think it will be worth it.

The price of freedom is never free.