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The Corporate Death Penalty

"Greater worker insecurity" is what Alan Greenspan attributed to significant "wage restraint" on the part of employers, and the reason of the "fairy tale" economic boom of the late 90s in which median income was largely unchanged. Meaning, workers are too afraid to ask for money so they are taken advantage of by their employers.

You can read about here and here. Or get the big picture here.

Quoting Noam Chomsky from the first link:

"The facts of the matter are a little different. The economic boom is indeed unprecedented. It's the worst one in postwar American history, the slowest recovery from the low point of the business cycle in 1989. The growth in the 70s and 80s was far below the 50s and 60s and the current recovery is totally unprecedented in that it has left out the large majority of the population. So roughly 80% of households are working more hours just to try to stay where they were, they haven't yet recovered the level of 1989, the low point of the business cycle, let alone the early 1970s when the new economy was introduced. But it is a fairytale for some, the top 1% of the population are doing magnificently. The top 10% are doing reasonably well. If you look at the next 10%, it turns out that during the fairytale economy their net worth has actually declined. Their debts have increased faster than their assets. If you go below that it, gets worse and worse the farther you go down."

Just go here:

CommonDreams
CounterPunch
Bad News: Noam Chomksy Archive
AlterNet

Or read a book.

Any good and honest right-wing folk (if you want to set up such a arbitrary left/right binary) should reply with their favorite truth-speaking resources.

The entertainment industry's motive is profit, as well it should be--that's what industry is for.

That isn't entirely true. Corporations and the like exist because We, the People, allow them to. If they don't benefit the people, or especiallu actively work against us and our rights for profit, we should put them down.

I don't mean to be picky, as I agree with the rest of your post. I just don't like to see that meme propogated, so I am speaking out. :)

You couldn't be more right. OMG, would SOMEONE please start reading Noam Chomsky? Please?

Thank you for watching my back, I was indeed occupied elsewhere. :-)

I see no reason for me to refute the grandparent post, as the parent has done a very good job of it and besides, all the arguments of the grandparent amount to "the intended end justifies the means", which is clearly incorrect and I have refuted it elsewhere.

Nobody knows what is going to come of this war, and saying that it is right just because the actors claim to have good intentions is silly. The intentions of the actors are also highly suspect. Never believe anyone when they tell you they are going to do something wrong because of their supposedly good intentions. Actions speak louder than words.

I think the parent's quote from Matthew (which is Jesus Himself speaking in the Sermon on the Mount) is a clear representation of God's views on the subject, and is probably the most important quote in the whole Bible, as the quote itself clearly states is the case. You can argue with it if you like, but it is still Right.

I am done with this debate. I have taken a firm position on what is known as the Moral High Ground and defended it. The opposition claims the moral high ground in its propaganda and rhetoric, but they clearly have no legitimate claim to it. Pacifism is firmly positioned on the moral high ground and will continue to be so. Others can lay claim to it, but they cannot take it, as one person of conscience can defend the moral high ground against billions.

For a much more detailed defense of this position, and a great perspective on the situation surrounding this war, please see the text of this talk by Prof. Noam Chomsky, professor of linguistics at MIT, and also the Bad News Noam Chomsky Archive which has many of his recent articles. Prof. Chomsky knows way more about all this than I do, and is a brilliant speaker and essayist. If you are interested in this debate, no matter what your political or philosophical beliefs, you might find what he has to say interesting as well.

I want to thank everyone involved for a great debate, it has been enjoyable and highly instructive. I have nothing but the highest respect and love for all of you (on all sides of the debate), and consider you heroes for standing up for your beliefs.

I call upon all parties in this conflict to listen to reason, and to stop all killing and atrocities at once, and to try to settle your disputes like decent human beings. I have little reason to hope for this, but hope and pray for it I shall.

Peace out...

Joe Sixpack does not have the ability to think things through anymore, as a result of his upbringing. It appears, from here in Europe, that the average American has a very poor grasp of history and geography. It doesn't help that you are being lied to on a daily basis by your government and media.

Frankly, I couldn't care less what arguments you/other Americans provide as an excuse for failing to understand why the US is so hated, or why you don't like Michael Moore. He's doing his bit to inform people, such as those too lazy (or undereducated) to read a book. I`ve seen it, I liked it, I wished more people would see it. I like having my views and opinions challenged, as I don't pick a belief and defend it come what may, but actually form opinions based on the available facts, and change them as other, more facts become available. I used to, for example, think that Palestinian 'suicide attacks' were indefensible. But now I know that the facts are that Israel, backed by the US (40% of US 'aid' goes to Israel), invaded another country, tortures and murders the people there, most of whom were forced out at gunpoint. I don't agree that civilians should be subject to bombs and shootings. But that's exactly what Israel/US have been doing for 50 odd years. What do you expect the Palestinians to do? Play by different rules?

But to listen to your moron of a leader (what sort of message does the fact that he was considered the best of the bunch by the American public send out to the world?), you'd think that its the Palestinians who are terrorists!! Those evil doers of..evil, daring to fight using the only means available (they don't have tanks, helicopters, state of the art weapons and surveillance equipment, nuclear weapons etc do they!) to..uh..take back the land which has been declared illegally taken according to UN Resolutions. How dare they! They're terrorists, that's what they are. They and their evil Muslim followers hate America...all they are trying to do is make the world a better place.

Aren't they?

Why not spend a few minutes checking out some of the articles and interviews on the following links:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

Go on. You know you want to. Seriously, please do. For me. Or is Noam Chomsky a liberal extremist too?!

The poor ranking of the United States (17th) is mainly because of the number of journalists arrested or imprisoned there. Arrests are often because they refuse to reveal their sources in court. Also, since the 11 September attacks, several journalists have been arrested for crossing security lines at some official buildings.

*http://www.wernercohn.com/Chomsky.html
**http://monkeyfist.com:8080/ChomskyArchive/essays / utlook_html

But seriously, if you want to learn something about the evils of globalization as it is being played out, check out:

• The Noam Chomsky Archive
• Bad News: Noam Chomsky Archive

Is anyone else wondering why we are spending so much money on the missile defense system? This seems to have solved the problem of missile defense much more elegantly (and more cost effectively?) Maybe I'm missing something.

The military industry in the U.S. is so big and employs so many people that they will have to come up with these kinds of technologies as an addition to the already existing systems, as a justification for continued financial support and of their importance and supremacy. They will not stop spending money on that ballistic missile system, that would look as a failure. The U.S. army is not very keen on admitting failures.

A quote from Noam Chomsky (interview):

The Cold War may be over. But these days, the policies remain the same, only the pretexts have changed. It is another reason why the US military budgets have been increasing year after year. It is not a defence against Russia anymore. It is against the technological sophistication of the Third World. The US believes that globalisation has deeply polarised the handful of rich and the poor worldwide. To keep the poor nations in control, you need new military systems.

The Noam Chomsky Archives

I wrote "Web RPCs Considered Harmful" that briefly addresses the security issue.

Summary (and using more recent terminology): Web services that expose more new and unique code are more likely to expose bugs. RPCs, SOAP, and CGIs all encourage developers to write more exposed code by making that style easier to do.

One better alternative is to be more data-driven (some would say "functional", as in "functional programming"), so that you only expose data (via a standard server which would typically be more mature, heavily reviewed code).

Alas, that's an entirely different way of thinking that most people are not used to, since it flies in the face of "normal procedural or OO programming" that happens on the desktop. Some examples, though, are Linda Systems (TupleSpaces), REST (the traditional WWW architecture), and even P2P to a large extent.

It is deemed "un-newsworthy for Joe Public" because it doesn't flatter America's image of benevolent impartiality. Can you imagine a truly accurate headline about this ever being published in mainstream media? "Entertainment Industry Lobby Puts Constitution on Ropes", or maybe "Corporate Power Flexes Muscles: New Laws to Box Citizens In Begin to Bite", or why not, "Life Under Corporate Rule: What Can Ordinary People Expect?"

Really, yours is the most subtly deceptive reasoning because it infers that a "conspiracy" is required to silence dissident voices. In actuality, the people who write for these publications are only there because they have kissed the right asses. If they were any threat to write something rational or honest they would have been sniffed out long ago and had their access to power stripped from them.

Think you're hard enough to handle the truth? Try here.
WARNING: You're not gonna like it.

Proteus7

"Go to any elite university and you are usually speaking to very disciplined people, people who have been selected for obedience. And that makes sense. If you've resisted the temptation to tell the teacher, "You're an asshole," which maybe he or she is, and if you don't say, "That's idiotic," when you get a stupid assignment, you will gradually pass through the required filters. You will end up at a good college and eventually with a good job." - Noam Chomsky

1. Open source library of knowledge for developing nations (making the world's intellectual wealth available to all)
http://www.oneworld.org/globalp roj ects/humcdrom/
http://www.oneworld.org/globalprojects/& lt;/a>
http://www.oneworld .or g/globalprojects/humcdrom/copyrigh.htm
http://payson.tulane.edu:8888/
; http://www.globalprojects.org/
; http://www.humanitylibraries.net/ http://www.villageearth.org/
http://www.villageearth.org/ATLi bra ry/cdrom.htm

2. Open source knowledge management systems
http://www.bootstrap.org/
http://bootstrap.org/colloquium/ar chi ves.html
http://www.bootstrap.org/dkr/discussion /

3. Self-replicating space habitats (support trillions of humans in style without overrunning the earth)
http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs/s ett le.htm
http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs /sp acsetl.htm
http://www.permanent.com/
http://science.n as. nasa.gov/Services/Education/SpaceSettlement/
http://www.luf.org/
http://www.ssi.org/
http://www.ssi.org/alt-plan.html http://www.spacedev.com/
http://www.spacehab.com/
http://www.kurtz-fernhout.com/oscomak/

4. Pursue the "Ecocity Berkley" vision in the book by that name by Richard Register and look for related visions of sustainable development
http://www.amazon.com/exec/ob ido s/ASIN/1556430094/
http://www.co-intelligence.or g/y 2k_commtyorgs.html
http://www.fuzzylu.com/greencenter/h ome .htm
http://www.ulb.ac.be/ceese/meta/sust vl. html
http://www.rmi.org/

5. Work towards ending the drug war and pardoning hundreds of thousands of Americans imprisoned on non-violent drug charges. (I believe drug use is wrong and should be avoided, and by all means as it is now illegal, so don't do drugs! But as with alcohol and tobacco and caffeine, drug abuse should be considered a medical problem, not a legal one (except when like DUI it hurts or puts at risk others directly)).
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pag es/ frontline/shows/drugs/
http://www.drcnet.org/facts/

6. Teaching tolerance and compassion
http://www.splcenter.org/
http://www.splcenter.or g/t eachingtolerance/tt-index.html

7. Open source educational simulations and simulation construction toolkits (one of the most meaningful ways to use computers in the classroom).
http://www.gardenwithinsight.com/ http://riceinfo.ri ce. edu/armadillo/Simulations/simserver.html
http://www.creativeteachingsite .co m/edusims.html
http://www.workingmodel.com/
http://www.idsia.ch/~andrea/simtools.h tml

8. Preserving biodiversity (when it's gone, it's gone forever)
http://www.tnc.org/
http://www.environment.about.com/newsissues/enviro nment/library/weekly/aa091700.htm

9. Develop any specific sustainable technology in energy (e.g. solar), recycling (e.g. recycle computers), materials (e.g. plastics from starch), society (e.g. participatory democracy & social justice).
http://www.google.com/sear ch? q=sustainable+technology
http://www.edf.org/issues/Recycling.htm l
http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/

10. Make corporations more accountable to human needs
http://www.adbusters.org/inform ati on/foundation/
http://www.adbusters.org/c amp aigns/charter/death.html
Previous link vanished, try instead:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:www.adbuste rs.org/ campaigns/charter/death.html+corporate+death+penal ty&hl=en
http://www.cwsl.edu/news/n_corpo rat e_death.html
http://monkeyfist.com/articles/340& lt;br> http://www.chaordic.org/

11. Reform the "Intellectual property" laws and their related organizations, perhaps so that copyrights are for a couple decades and most patents are for a dozen years and only for true innovations. Ensure that any IP developed with any government money is immediately put into the public domain.
http://danny.oz.au/fre e-s oftware/advocacy/against_IP.html
(Lots of other Slashot links!)

12. If you don't want to get you hands dirty volunteering your own time, look around and find good people (not organizations, although the people may be in organizations) already doing good things. Pick people with a track record of years of fighting for the common good or who have already made a major accomplishment demonstrating commitment and just anonymously give them $100K without strings attached. Example: Marty Johnson at Isles, Inc.
http://www.isles.org/mileston.html& lt;br> Find people just starting a career of public service or a charitable venture and struggling to do good things and give them $20K and tell them you believe in their promise and cause. Expect a bunch of the money to be wasted but give it anyway and learn how to give effectively. For ideas, look at the grantees list of any foundation. Then ask those people who they know who are just starting out and trying to do a good job.
http://www.beldon.org/grants2000_07.htm l

When I was about thirteen, I got about seven books out of the library on money thinking I wanted to become a millionaire. Six told me how to get rich (start a business and run it well.) One of them asked me "why do you want to be rich?" That is the one whose name I remember and the ideas in it have changed my life. For advice on setting a direction of what to do with wealth, read the Book "The Seven Laws of Money" by Michael Phillips and Sally Raspberry, especially the chapter on how foundations fail in their mission and how grants go to people who sound good but usually can't deliver (i.e. how hard it is to give money away).
http://www.seeingmoney.com/SevenLaws.ht m
http://www.hallbusi nes ses.com/biographies_primers/1420.shtml

My wife and I are working on a few of these issues ourselves (and a few example links are to our stuff). We make money contracting and spend it to "buy" our own time for making quality software the market can't or doesn't seem to want to pay for. Even without IPO riches, any competent software developer can make $75K-100K in today's market. Graduate students can live on $20K a year, and so can many software developers (kids make it harder) if they follow the path of Voluntary Simplicity. It's a question of priorities.
http://www.life.ca/subject/simplicity .ht ml
http://www.simpleliving.net/slj/ http://www.scn.org/earth/lightly/ http://www.thegarden.net/simplicity/

Voluntary simplicity leaves a lot of funds for doing good deeds - even if they are done on your own time by using your own money to take time off and develop open source software or do other worthwhile ventures. Or take a job that doesn't pay as well but involves helping an organization that you believe in.
http://www.idealist.org/

There are awesome things happening over the next twenty to forty years. According to Moore's law, desktop computers in twenty or so years will be a million times faster than today's. Already computers can drive cars somewhat well and identify vegetable better than humans.

http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/magazine/199 9/number_3/machine399.html ;

Other breakthrough innovations are happening in technological areas like energy, materials, nanotechnology, communications, agriculture, biotechnology, and robotics. Use your wealth to think deeply about what all this means and do something to ensure human survival with style.

It is saddening to see people spend so much money on less important stuff (another night club in this case). Now if it was a night club where these issues are discussed, then maybe it makes sense.

Capitalism without charity is evil, because capitalism only meets the needs of people with money.

So the question becomes, what can we do to help maintain and improve our position in a world which is increasingly hostile towards us?

Perhaps instead of trying to improve our position (is it really in danger?) we could try to address some reasons why the rest of the world is increasingly hostile towards the US. In The Political Economy of Terrorism, Kendall Clark's response to the perceived threat of terrorism and the recent National Commission on Terrorism report, Clark writes:

"In fact, the solution to terrorism is elegantly simple, though certainly practically impossible to implement without sustained and intense social struggle. The only realistic way to reduce the terrorist threat is to remake American foreign policy according to just and humane principles. Terrorism against the U.S. -- which is already exceptionally unusual -- would be all but imperceptible if American foreign policy were just and humane. But there's the rub: foreign policy cannot be either just or humane as long as U.S. corporations and elites, through their agents in government, will do anything to maintain the U.S. Empire. In other words, if you want to reduce terrorism globally, dismantle the American Empire. The burden of Empire is terrorism. For as long as U.S. corporations and elites fight to maintain their global Empire, there will be people around the world -- largely, if history is any guide, though not exclusively, people of color -- who object, often violently, to being made to pay the price and bear the burdens of that Empire."