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They just want to have a dry run at such lawsuits before their own gets going full speed.

Ummmm....you haven't been paying attention, have you?

heck

Ummmm....you haven't been paying attention, have you?

heck

the people currently running the US have opposite beliefs.

Just remember, unless a political miracle occurrs today, thanks to the SCOTUS's Kelo decision, people will have their homes taken away by the government.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/artic les/2006/05/30/deadline_approaches_but_no_deal_exp ected_in_fort_trumbull_dispute/

There is a diatribe by Ellen Goodman on "Nightmare Feature Creep" in the Boston Globe that echoes the same sentiments. http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion /oped/articles/2006/05/26/nightmare_of_feature_cre ep

That link is bogus. Your an idiot too for spreading that FUD.

FYI, Bush's four year grade average was the same as Kerry's at Yale. You can read about it here.

From the linked article... "Bush went to Yale from 1964 to 1968; his highest grades were 88s in anthropology, history, and philosophy, according to The New Yorker article. He received one D in his four years, a 69 in astronomy. Bush has said he was a C student."

History and philosophy are subjects all presidents should be proficient in.

The police are under the executive branch. When the President signs a law, he can make a 'signing statement'. This gives direction to the people in the executive branch for following the law. These 'signing statements' have been used to *IGNORE* certain parts of laws passed by congress. Bush has given more 'signing statements' than any other President in history.

This includes whistleblower laws. He's basically ignoring them.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/04 /30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/

The NSA doesn't give a shit that you ordered a che guearra T-shirt and hang out at ANSWER rallies 'speaking truth to power.' They don't care that whenever some new leak comes out of the CIA you're furiously typing away on your blog about how much this adminstration sucks and is the most evil thing since hitler killed a puppy for fun. They have more important things to do.

I'm not sure what you mean - but if you're saying Creative was another "Patent Troll", then I don't think you're correct.

Patent troll companies generally do not produce technology, just sit on patent portfolios. While Creative's suit has no merit, Creative have been selling mp3 players for far longer then Apple has (they even bought out a 'nano' branded model first!).

Oh - and there's another big patent threat to the iPod out there - the click wheel patent... and the company who owns that patent produces real (if crap) technology products too.

Not to be an ass, but what secret CIA prisons? The ones in Europe that Dana Priest reported on, after a leak from Mary McCarthy, that won him a Pulitzer? The ones that the EU investigated and found no proof of (http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/04 /21/eu_official_no_evidence_of_illegal_cia_action/ /)? Those?

And while Valerie Plame could be described as an active agent of the CIA, there is no law about divulging that info. There is a law against divulging it if she is a covert agent, but her appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair would seem to argue against that.

The thirty-six current co-sponsors of H. Res 635 to create a Select Committee investigating the grounds for recommending President Bush's impeachment are Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI), Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA), Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA), Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL), Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA), Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), Rep. Jackson, Jr., (D-IL), Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN), Rep. John Olver (D-MA), Rep. Major Owens (D-NY), Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. Martin Sabo (D-MN), Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Fortney Pete Stark (D-CA), Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), and Rep. David Wu (D-OR). Source. All Democrats, but still members. I'm not sure if any are up for reelection this term.

If no member of Congress is willing to stat the process, it does not start.

The US Constitution Article I, Section 2 grants the House "the sole Power of Impeachment." (Section 3 places trial of such impeachments with the Senate.) Under the House Rules, impeachment is governed by Section 603 (in sec. LIII) of Jeffereson's Rules. This states (ommitting crossreferences):

House of Representatives there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion: by charges made on the floor on the responsibility of a Member or Delegate; by charges preferred by a memorial, which is usually referred to a committee for examination; or by a resolution dropped in the hopper by a Member and referred to a committee; by a message from the President; by charges transmitted from the legislature of a State or Territory or from a grand jury; or from facts developed and reported by an investigating committee of the House.

Most of these methods (such as the abovementioned Select Committee) are internal, but not all. Since a trial necessarily can exhonorate as well as convict, it is not inconceivable that a President might demand his own impeachment trial, to confront and counter debilitating political attack by rumor and innuendo; however, I would consider it implausible given the personal and political character of President Bush. (The president referring the VP for impeachment is barely more conceivable in present circumstances.) Charges may also come from a state legislature, as folk in California, Vermont, and Illinois are currently pushing; if conveyed this way, it must be addressed as a priveleged bill, taking precedence over all other House business. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is currently investigating the executive, with Libby indicted by a grand jury, and Rove anticipated to follow; it's not inconceivable that Cheney or Bush might be next on his list.

With a Republican controlled House, the potential exists for bills so introduced to be p

Don't forget that some 750 laws do not apply either in whole or in part to the Bush administration. Unprecedented and dangerous.

At this point, the current administration has basically said (without using so many words) that they are above the law.

I agree with your entire post except the part above within the parentheses. Since taking office in 2001, President Bush has issued signing statements on more than 750 new laws, declaring that he has the power to set aside the laws when they conflict with his legal interpretation of the Constitution.

This is by very definition holding yourself 'above the law'.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/arti cles/2006/01/07/some_of_nations_best_libraries_hav e_books_bound_in_human_skin/
Ill be dammed. Skin bound books are everywhere. The one specifically that I was thinking of was the one mentioned on the second page.

Jeez, people write without knowing much around here. Oh sorry, i forgot where i am.

There is a whole flock of bicycle dudes who go out (in all weather, all year long) and take care of the cars. As well, Zipcar members are encouraged to inspect the car when they go to get it, and to immediately report any problems - dents, out of washer fluid, whatever.

If it's something dumb like washer fluid, you can even buy more and they'll reimburse if you can't charge it on the (provided in the car) fleet gasoline charge card.

Far as I know, the concept is flying and has been for like 6 years now. I am a very happy Zipcar customer. I've been able to get rid of my car altogether, saving many $thousands a year... and in exchange, I pay a few $hundreds per year for use of a practically new car, with insurance, maintenance and fuel provided, whenever I need one.

As far as "whenever I need one" they seem to add cars pretty aggressively to follow demand. I've never been totally closed out... maybe you have to walk an extra 2 or 3 blocks to get to one at a specific time, but that's not really a big deal. It does require some adjustments to how you think about getting around, but the only reason I had a car in the past was for those trips that totally don't work on a bike (and taxis - just forget it, they're miserable and expensive)... this provides it.

"Laws? We don't need no stinking laws!"

Check out the article below on why GWB has not vetoed a SINGLE bill in his 6 years of presidency.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/artic les/2006/01/04/bush_could_bypass_new_torture_ban/

The answer: "why bother when we can just ignore them...."

are you perhaps suggesting Bush has taken on the title of King Bush?

Given that Bush has repeatedly and persistently held himself to be above the law, suggesting that would be an excercise in redundancy.

President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/artic les/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/

And here's his campaign website, oozing sanctimony about protecting the children.

Meanwhile, here's what he does when two minors are killed in a car crash

All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Now read this report from the Boston Globe:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/artic les/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/?p age=full

The President and his administration have been systematically usurping or undermining the Congressional power of legislation. Consider Article II, Section 3:

He shall from time to time give to the Congress information of the state of the union, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper; he shall receive ambassadors and other public ministers; he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission all the officers of the United States.

Emphasis mine, obviously. This is a classic example of the problems with single-party power...even as their power is being illegally undermined, Congressional leaders will not challenge the president for fear of weakening the all-important party. They place personal gain over the Constitution and the nation.

The economy is booming; stock market is steady, unemployment is virtually non-existant, interest rates are low, and inflation is not a problem (except at the gas pump).

Which shows how economic statistics are disconnected from the reality of working class life. To all except the ruling class, the peformance of the stock market matters much less than the size of one's weekly paycheck.

Unemployment may be low but underemployment is tremendous; it is not economic progress when after a factory closes, a skilled worker can only find a job stocking shelves at Wal-Mart with the very Chinese-prison-made goods that put his old employer out of business. Wages are not keeping up with inflation, and you can't conveniently exclude the gas pump (and heating fuel). More and more people can't afford health insurance, and real estate prices are so high that new home buyers are saddled with enormous mortgage payments.

Economically these aren't the worst of times, but they sure as hell aren't the best either.

Meanwhile the Bush administrations kills tens of thousands, engages in torture, violates civil liberties, and treats the Constitution with even more contempt than the past few presidents, essentially asserting that "Commander in Chief" means "Emperor". In any sane society, it would be recognized that this man (who believes, you'll recall, that God speaks through him) would be institutionalized for his on protection and that of others.

ITMFA.

And meanwhile, Bush decides the Consitution isn't important anymore.

You think it's so important to give up your rights and the Constitution just because this chimp finangled his way into office? Give me a break. What Bush is doing is dangerous. If he can't handle the slightest of challenges, we should all feel very afraid.

I find it odd that the only people in politics that "say it how it is" can be found on the comedy channel. It's almost... funny.

There's historic precedent: in Imperial Rome, often the only public criticism of the Emperor came from comedians and satiric poets.

Additional comparisons to Rome after the fall of the Republic are left to brave commentors. (But hint: never-ending Proconsulships in the Middle East, a rubber stamp Senate ignored by the Emperor.)

Regarding the deficit, the author fails to account for is the huge savings to be realized when Bush implements phase two: remove the Legislative and Judicial Branches. This will save millions and streamline all functions of Government.
The population has already demonstrated their willingness to have a single all powerful executive branch by passively allowing Bush to govern however he wants.
As long as we are fighting a global war on terror that pesky Legislative branch just gets in the way. He is considering reinstituting the other two branches of government once we are done fighting the war, but since there are no objective criteria for when the war may be finished I'm not holding my breath.
This is the second time I've seen an article about Bush implementing dubious (outright illegal??) line item veto powers. See http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/artic les/2006/04/30/bush_challenges_hundreds_of_laws/

From Karl Popper's 'Open Society and it's Enemies':

"The people who have hailed him first as the champion of freedom are soon enslaved; and then they must fight for him, in 'one war after another which he must stir up .. because he must make the people feel the need of a general'."

The strategy is older than history. The Bush Administration isn't the first to attempt the transition from democracy to tyranny and unfortunately it won't be the last. That we continue to brook it is a complete disgrace.
There are two kinds of people in DC that should scare all patriotic Americans: the "true believers" who want George to be king and the Nihilists who take whatever side of the argument works to their advantage with no regard for the truth. Both groups should be purged swiftly and incisively. They have already done more damage than Al Queda could possibly have hoped for.

>why should we assume that their spying is illegal?

Because they didn't submit to the (minimal!) oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

This government says it can rape, torture and murder suspected terrorists.

Last I heard, the power to strip American citizenship by fiat was still only a proposal
This government says it can seize US citizensbut military tribunals have been reserved for non-citizens.

"Since the launch of the original Xbox in 2002, there was one thing that we have consistently said: Microsoft will inevitably succeed in Japan."
-- Takahashi Sensui, Microsoft Japan's Xbox division manager

From this Boston.com article:

"A major part of Xbox's troubles have stemmed from the lack of role-playing games, which are favored here over the shoot-'em-up and action games that tend to be hits in the U.S.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. has made a point of signing on game designers popular in Japan to deliver works like "Final Fantasy XI," set to go on sale later this month."

...Microsoft will also beef up its entertainment downloads catering to Japanese tastes, such as animation trailers, and online gaming available on its online service Xbox Live."

Back in September The Register described MS's problems with Japan the previous time around:

"In a bid to get the product right for Japanese consumers, Microsoft was forced to delay the Xbox's introduction, from December 2001 to February 2002. Hints that it was pondering such a move surfaced way back in March 2001. It did little good, in any case. Microsoft went on to take the axe to its Japanese Xbox workforce in March 2003, before going on to announce a strategic rethink of the Japanese market the following July. Xbox has yet to dent Sony or Nintendo's sales in the country, however.

This time round, Microsoft has made sure it has recruited some of the biggest names in Japanese gaming to the cause. It said it would be showing titles from Square Enix, Genki, Konami, Taito, Namco and others at the Tokyo Games Show."

They clearly wanted to gain ground in Japan. Based on the huge advantage in release dates you'd think they'd have some traction. Right now their sales are last in that market -- behind the GameCube.

Meanwhile I can walk to the nearest GameCube here in Minneapolis and find 360s stacked up on the shelf selling at list price. Huge demand: no. Not here anyway. Some mild interest -- it's the newest thing -- but the kids playing Call of Duty down at Target can't afford to buy the dang thing.

It also should be taken as another data point for a premise of mine: that contemporary conservatism has been jacked and is afllicted with a preponderance of moral relativism. Insulin as a mitigator for diabetes has been used for a very long time, and is not a patented med. There are some concerns because insulin and growth hormone are derived from animal cells, but testing of the manufactured product would suffice in assuring its purity.

This is antithetical to a true free market economy, and is nothing more than crony capitalism.

Even if it is allowed, insulin treatment of diatbetes may soon become obsolete.

On the other side though, Hatch is certainly no friend of open and free markets, or a limited government, even if he pretends to be. A major element of Utah's economy is the 'food supplement' manufacturers, whose existing plant would be well situated to take advantage of generic insulin production. In the late 80s Hatch came to speak to a Las Vegas group of Libertarians. This was before the L.P. had been right-sided and was still fairly pure. Hatch tried to portray himself as a libertarian because of his adamant dissent against having food supplements regulated by the FDA. Many of us got to the microphone after his pitch and ripped him a new one, over the draconian mandatory sentencing guidelines, and immensely increased prison sentences for users of drugs defined as illicit by the US government. which were to a very large degree his handiwork.

His association with and contributions from certain Utah-based software companies should not be forgotten when contemplating his antiMicrosoft statements. Some of which have been downright Utarded:

"Microsoft is engaging in unlawful predatory practices that go well beyond the scope of fair competition."

"With every day, we are coming to live and to work in an increasingly networked, technology-driven world. There is little question that Microsoft, which now controls the PC software market, is seeking to extend its desktop monopoly in effect to control these other technologies and, to a large extent, the network itself."

I won't lay into Waxman right now, mostly because I believe that the danger to liberty is from the holders of power, and presently, that ain't the Democrats. Waxman has also been vocal about the horrible wastage of money by the CPA. An issue that has recently resurfaced. Expect a renewed round of Senate investigation of the Oil for Food scandal if it heats up, in an attempt to obsucre the issue of 8+ billion dollars unaccounted for in just over a year that the CPA ran things. Hell that makes Saddam look like a piker since his skim took over a decade, but since it wasn't covered by the US media the first time around, there's a good chance it won't be covered well this time either.

Unfortunately for surrounding major cities, crime is up.

I think that while it is a nice period for the working New Orleans, there is no guarantee once the city is back on track that it will stay free from freeloaders. Part of this is the bigger issue of people living on welfare that could work, but that's another discussion entirely. The wifi will be good to have for the working residents, but how long until the speeds drop, the networks deteriorate, and maintinence is not handled correctly?

Oh, and Marblehead is a roughly 3 sq mi town just south of Boston, on a small peninsula into the Atlantic.
Marblehead is just north of Boston. BTW, some towns in MA generate their own power. I'm not sure if Marblehead is one of them. Though you could be thinking of Hull, also an upper-class community that is south of Boston. I'm sure they're really opposed to having a wind..oh..huh. Maybe not.

Try putting something like wind turbines in places where people don't currently have their house. There's a lot of places where you could locate something like this.

Like Nantucket Sound?.

The same is true of just about everyone else. I hear the Federal owns a ridiculous potion of the US; how about we use *that* land?

Because it's set aside for public use (mountains), private use (grazing, mining, forestry), or the wind isn't right.

That's correct. Intel expert Steven Aftergood called this an attempt by the right wing to find "a retrospective justification for the war in Iraq." The bloggers have made some interesting finds, it's true, but so far the ONDI's warning that "amateur translators won't find any major surprises, such as proof Hussein hid stockpiles of chemical weapons" has turned out to be true. They have also given us some bizarre misinterpretation too, such as some bloggers' belief that one document (CMPC-2003-006430.pdf) is a manual for the Mukhabarat even though it is clearly a printout of a webpage by the Federation of American Scientists from 1997 (complete with FAS logo!). Another supposed "smoking gun" was a document that had pictures of Zarqawi, cited as "proof" that Saddam trained him -- when in fact the documents clearly show that the Saddam regime is on the lookout for Zarqawi and his group, and, according to Associated Press, "Attached were three responses in which agents said there was no evidence al-Zarqawi or the other man were in Iraq." There is a lot more misreading and jumping to conclusions from this document dump. It's interesting, and I think it is good to have these documents made public, for historical reasons mostly, but the idea that these documents are where we should look for justification of Bush's war effort just shows how desperate Pete Hoekstra and other Republicans who pushed forcefully for this move really are.

The Boston Globe gave an overall favorable review ... especially if you are a LOTR fan... the casual fan may be put off by the length and missing information (opposing forces)
Boston Globe Review

The FBI can afford to spy on Quakers, pacifists, and peace groups, but can't afford e-mail? WTF?

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion /oped/articles/2006/03/20/the_politics_of_pacifism _meets_fbi_monitoring/

As to the charge that global warming is a left-wing plot, how do you explain that John McCain, Paul O'Neil (George W. Bush's first secretary of the treasury and former CEO of ALCOA), Sherwood Boehlert (Republican head of the House Science Committe), and all seven of the living current and former EPA administrators (these include administrators appointed by Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and both Bushes) all agree that global warming is a real threat to the environment and that it's caused by human activity? Even President Bush agrees that global warming is real and is caused by people.

Elsewhere, officials from 30 major corporations, including Ford Auto, ALCOA, American Electric Power, General Electric, DuPont, Whirlpool, and Intel, agree that anthropogenic global warming is a serious problem and have voluntarily pledged to reduce their companies' greenhouse gas emissions.

These people are not Communist or Green Party fanatics. They are mostly Republican capitalists who worry that their grandchildren will not have the same opportunities they had if they don't take care of the environment.

No, there have historically been very few security holes with CPS, Plone, Silva, or any of the other Zope-based CMSs out there. In fact, there have been very few security holes with Zope.

All that being said, there are a few sites that have built their own CMS on top of Zope (it has a decent CMF built into it, so it's far from impossible to roll one's own). The two biggest profile ones are probably Boston.com and Saugus.net, but I'm sure there are plenty of others.

If they are trying to ban things that cause violence then they should start with toilet paper. Check this out - a murder and an assult - both in the US and over toilet paper within a month of each other.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2006/03/09 /toilet_paper_dispute_overflows_into_fight/

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Man-charged-in -killing-over-toilet-paper/2006/02/23/114056388866 5.html

Oh, yeah. And some people do win these lawsuits.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/12/ 22/judge_rues_using_court_stationery_in_libel_suit /

The most disturbing part of the email was her princess tone. The attitude is just...incredible. It's like she lives in a whole other reality:

''The pay you are offering would neither fulfill me nor support the lifestyle I am living."

She said she ultimately decided not to take the job because the reduced salary ''might have been realistic for other people to survive on, but I like nicer things. I like the finer things in life."

Wow. Just....wow.

Montgomery County is one of the most liberal counties in one of the most liberal states in the country. The "Homeland Security" people in question work for the county, not for the US gov't. And I'm not surprised that they would stoop to bullying library patrons, although I doubt it's authorized, and the perpetrators will probably be disciplined (but not fired, oh no).

Although, you have to wonder if it's another hoax, like that other "Damning Homeland Security Library Story".

Although this was done by people working for a liberal county, in a liberal state, and the whole idea of "Homeland Security Departments" was hatched by liberals and just adopted by Bush after 9/11, I'm sure everyone here will blame Bush. Go Slashdot!

Does this give Google the right to search the data for advertising purposes?

Google plans to encrypt all data transferred from users' hard drives and restrict access to just a handful of its employees. The company says it won't peruse any of the transferred information.

Actually, Wasserman's Feb. 8th editorial cartoon in the Globe showed a group of rioting Islamists with one turning to the other and saying, "Watch - some cartoonist will twist this around to make us look bad."

Which I think is funnier than your idea.

In my personal experience, the more subtle the ad, the more effective I believe it is. Advertising a big out-of-place SUBWAY COUNTER-STRIKE SPECIAL on the side of an office building in my mind ruins the gaming experience. Putting in a Pepsi machine in the office break room and having Pepsi products dump out when someone blasts the thing is probably far more effective.

Can't slashdot keep up with the news? I mean this happened last week.

1. They are spying on people unrelated to domestic security issues like political opponents and anti-war protesters.
   
2. They are going on automated fishing expeditions against "suspicious" people, the vast majority of which are probably innocent or who have so little evidence against them that even FISA wouldn't support it.
   

Could you survive a 50-foot fall into a snow bank like Luke Skywalker did?

"It's plausible, depending on the exact conditions," Imahara explains. "You could survive, but you'd be pretty badly hurt. Let's just say you probably wouldn't be jumping up on a tauntaun and riding to the next outpost, if you know what I mean."

*cough*cough* ;)

But, since Meehan is a Democrat, expect this to get absolutely no mention in any news outlet.

Boston Globe
CBS 4

The Associated Press is also running this on their general news wire.

Ok, usually I don't step in to these crazy Slashdot arguments, but I have to voice the truth here.

The government is NOT ATTEMPTING TO SPY ON ITS CITIZENS.

It is asking for general information, i.e. nothing connected with names or individual identities in any way. As far as the information is concerned, it would be the same as the government asking Gallup to do a survey about how easy it is to find porn on the internet when you aren't specifically looking for it.

If asking for statistics is spying, then hundreds of survey companies have been doing it for years. And *GASP* they've been SHOWING THE RESULTS TO THE PUBLIC!!!!!11

While I don't know about the legality of the subpoena, the information itself is completely legal and is in no way spying on citizens.

Here is a good article about the privacy issue:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/01 /21/google_subpoena_roils_the_web/

Here is an FAQ from CNet:
http://news.com.com/FAQ+What+does+the+Google+subpo ena+mean/2100-1029_3-6029042.html?tag=st.num

From the second article:

"Google even displays a list of live search terms on a screen that visitors can view in its Silicon Valley headquarters. That's probably one reason why the company's lawyers have been careful not to raise privacy arguments."

I don't see how what the government is doing is any worse than that.

You can probably deduct the cost of looking for a new job.
http://www.boston.com/business/taxes/articles/macp a/new_2005/JOBHUNTINGCOSTS/

There's been an ongoing discussion about this same topic over at Macintouch.

Personally I'm a fan of the Zope / CMF series of content management systems; the built-in CMF is quite powerful and flexible (and actually fairly efficient -- don't be fooled by the slowness of some CMSs built on top).

There are many such systems. There are some in private use (like Boston.com and Saugus.net. There are also some commercial options (like Icoya). Most though are free and open source, like Plone, Infrae Silva, and Nuxeo CPS. Each has its own focus and tends to do certain things better than the others. Each has its own special plug-ins and extensions, but since they all utilize the same underlying base framework, it's usually a doable thing (although typically not trivial) to port a product from one to another.

The capabilities of Zope's built-in CMF are also good enough that it's not at all unreasonable to fashion one's own CMS on top of it if none of the existing products seem to suit one's own particular needs.

You might find this Globe article interesting:
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/10/29 /senators_question_file_storage_shift/

I can't tell you for sure who the Senators were that cut funding to Quinn's unrelated IT projects, but I've got a good suspect.

The two people who are mentioned as being probably against the ODF move are one Senator Marc Pacheco, D-Taunton, chairman of the Senate Post Audit and Oversight Committee, and Secretary of State William F. Galvin.

For those who don't want to read the linked article, it's nominally about some manufactured controversy over whether ODF would work with accessibility addons (Braille terminals, screenreaders, etc.) as well as MS Word does. Personally I find this ironic, because I know one blind person who says that the GUI was the worst thing that ever happened to sightless-accessibility in computing; interacting with a command prompt using a Braille terminal ain't no thing, but using a screenreader can be a real pain by comparison.

In my mind the article is pretty well biased against ODF: it opens by saying "Massachusetts lawmakers are questioning an effort by the Romney administration that could jettison Microsoft's popular Office software from thousands of state computers. ... The Romney administration wants documents stored in a particular format that would allow the records to be read by a variety of software packages -- except Microsoft Office." Smells like FUD in the presentation to me.

• Their publication record. Have they extensively published in mainstream peer reviewed journals? Incidentally, if there is an ideological criterion, this is it. If the journals are not mainstream journals, the candidate is either shown to be deficient in this area or out in left field.
• Do they earn their department funding (perhaps THE most important at some schools!)
• Can they collaborate either interdepartmentally or between institutions (now a big one)?
• Are they able to teach? Most candidates have to give a seminar and/or teach an undergraduate class to show their qualifications
• Do they have a record of service to the universities they have worked at and to the community at large?
• Do they have people skills? Can they get along with the undergraduates, graduates, and professors who interview them?

I have also seen intentional baiting of professors in class. A religious student takes a class on evolutionary biology (which may happen to be the professor's bread and butter) and then spends classes trying to get the professor to debate ID. Or a student takes a class on climatology and when the hockey stick graph showing a recent change in climate is brought up and its origins (dozens of studies dating from the 1950s onwards) explained, they will say "but isn't that a political move by the left to try to justify opposition to big oil?" Hint: Most scientists who teach the Big Bang, or evolution or climatology are making their statements based on their professional opinion and research, not specifically because of their political viewpoints (though often their research in the area they teach has lended to such viewpoints). In many cases such students are attempting to create heat and not light. They have a personal issue that detracts from the point of the class - and which they should be debating in the appropriate arena, and not wasting the rest of the class' time.

Most universities already allow for such debate where it is constructive. One can debate religion in religion classes, politics in political science classes, philosophy in philosophy classes, and science in science classes. This whole monitoring of classes for ideology is a bit frightening when mechanisms are already in place to deal with inappropriate professors. Put it in the context of the recently republished It Can't Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, and you'll understand why there is such a hue and cry about paying students to monitor professors.