things that I have discovered while roaming around the internet
OK maybe not, but the U.S. Pirate Party has a great mission
We seek to change global legislation to facilitate the emerging information society, characterized by diversity and openness. This is done by requiring an increased respect for citizens, their privacy, and the reform of rights ownership laws.
The Party has a legitimate platform, but the logo and the party’s name sold me though. Who says you’re too old to be a pirate?
Aaarrrrrghhhh!
I can add nothing to this. I am speechless. Don’t let anyone tell you Saturday Night Live isn’t funny anymore.
Hi. I have been skiing a lot, as we have had some great snow. My sons have gotten very good all of a sudden, and it won’t be long before they are better than I am. We spend most weekends on the slopes. Will is focusing on his park skills and skis mostly switch (backwards) these days. Max is a more of a freerider, and prefers trails, cliffs, and skiing in the woods.
Here’s Max collecting the goods at the Bridgebusters Race at our home area, Kissing Bridge this past weekend. He came in second in his age group and 3rd overall out of 70 kids. Check out his incognito look. His favorite part was winning a candy bar, and some slick new Leki gloves.
Work’s been slower than usual, like everyone else. I have been trying to do some marketing, and failing, any advice or ideas are always welcome. I am more of a project manager than a salesman, and it shows. I struggle to make 50 sales calls to get that one appointment. Once I get the appointment the work gets done, but just getting them. Urgh.
I am trying to write more. Actually wrote a bunch of drafts, but never made time to edit them. So I guess I am trying to publish more. I will be updating the site and posting some stuff over the next few days and weeks hopefully.
To those that have kept communicating, thanks. Keep the faith.
From the Huffington Post, It seems the bailout recepients are using our money to make sure that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is defeated in congress. The bill, according to Wikipedia, “is legislation in the United States which aims to “amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an easier system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes.” So the bailout recepients are using corporate bailout money to bust unions? Really?
Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community’s top legislative priority.
Participants on the October 17 call — including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG — were urged to persuade their clients to send “large contributions” to groups working against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.
Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.
“This is the demise of a civilization,” said Marcus. “This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I’m watching this happen and I don’t believe it.”
This is big stuff. It also shows how more interested people are going to be now in how the bailout money is used, and how these companies are operating. Watching 30-50% of their 401K dissapear into these companies coffers will make people a lot more interested in how the money is made and lost from now on I suspect.
The thought of all that money we will be paying for in taxes and lost services, and the recipients actively plotting against the very employees that have paid to keep them in business, is mind boggling. I guess there is no market on hubris.
Lawrence Lessig, Joe Trippi, and their Change Congress movement have introduced a new way for small political donors to join forces to put pressure on congress, where it hurts them most – financially. The Change Congress Donor Strike is underway and they are asking you to withhold financial contributions to any candidates that do not pledge to eliminate special interest money in congress. In their words…
Right now, special interests have more influence over our political system than regular folks because of our broken campaign finance laws. These special interests pump millions of dollars into congressional campaigns each cycle, and as a result, they block real change on issue after issue.
Here at Change Congress, we believe that politicians should work for the people, not special interests. But it’s not enough to push politicians to stay out of the system of corruption—we have to reform the system itself. That’s why we support a hybrid of small-dollar donations and public financing, to keep big money out of politics.
Lawrence Lessig founded Change Congress to find innovative ways to make government more transparent, and to eliminate special interest money in politics. Joe Trippi was Howard Dean’s campaign manager and is a pioneer in using the Internet as a tool for political activism and fundraising. Trippi’s blog looks a lot like mine, demonstrating that we both have a minimal grasp of CSS style content sheets. Cool.
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