October 28th, 2008
Democratic lawmakers are joining the chorus of Americans asking how slumping banks could hand out executive bonuses during the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.
Following a letter from Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), has opened an investigation into the matter, according to a release from his office.
In letters to the heads of nine major U.S. banks getting propped up with billions of taxpayer dollars, Waxman said he “question[s] the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry’s worst years on record.”(ABC News)
A few years ago this would have all happened quietly, we wouldn’t have heard a word about it. Let’s hope the exposure this type of should-be-criminal behavior causes some lucid, honest person in a position of power to stop these payments. It seems that shameless greed is required to be the CEO of a financial institution, not a conscience. Makes you long for the day that people like these, who have orchestrated the theft of thousands of citizen’s money, were run out of town after being tarred and feathered.
I know, I’m a humanist, I’m supposed to understand and accept these situations. So sue me. Some humans behave too badly toward their fellow citizens for easy forgiveness. They don’t even have enough compassion to kill their victims and end their suffering. They leave their victims alive, just barely, some looking forward to decades of just getting by. I cannot find the words to express my utter contempt and disrespect for these creatures. It’s not that they’re criminals that so offends me. It’s that they can ignore the damage they’ve done all of us to one degree or another. They’ve added insult to injury on a grand scale that may change capitalism profoundly. They’ve increased the possibility that your children will experience poverty at some point in their lives. They’ve consigned many former college students to a life of fewer opportunities. They’ve made many of us near retirement age have to face the reality that we won’t be retiring.
We’re subsidizing their recklessness. We are paying poor performers as if they’d done a good job. We are rewarding very anti-social, dangerous behavior. It’s our money they’re using.
All bonuses should be confiscated in the name of the people to pay back toward the 700 billion. If anyone wants to call that “spreading the wealth around”, let them. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea. If these guys are the pinnacle of capitalism then capitalism is in need of repair. It is unthinkable to me that anyone would aspire to a life of luxury at such an expense to so many.
Business, Government, Society | 
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March 24th, 2008
Originally submitted to David Farber’s Interesting People mailing list:
Clearly whatever it is that Dutch politician Geert Wilders wants to talk
about in his film is going to be the end of the internet. The news that
Network Solutions decided to pre-empt his use of a domain name registered
through them for the purpose of promoting his film need not be re-hashed
here.
However, before bemoaning yet another registrar freely deciding, as is its
right, with whom it chooses to do business, it’s important to look at the
big picture. No, it is not “censorship” for Network Solutions to decide how
it wants its services to be used. There are a number of internet registrars
all over the world, and as recently demonstrated with Enom having been
notified by the US State Department that, yes, the OFAC SDN list means
something, one might do well to select one’s registrar based in part on an
understanding of the legal climate where that registrar is located.
But, perhaps we might understand Network Solutions policy more clearly by
looking at domain names registered through NSI which freely promote killing
Muslims rather than merely making films about them. Take for example the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, affectionately the Tamil Tigers – a nearly
universally recognized terrorist group perhaps best known for the
assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, but which has engaged in far more numerous
outright massacres in predominately Muslim areas of Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Tigers maintain at least two, if not more, domain names through
Network Solutions – eelam.com and eelamweb.com. Here, one can learn the
answers to all of your frequently asked questions about ethnic cleansing
such as at: http://www.eelamweb.com/faq/ which states “Muslims have been
asked to leave the Tamil Eelam territory until the independence of Tamil
Eelam.” This polite request is normally made at gunpoint during operations
of the Tamil Tigers.
So, the takeaway from these two actions of Network Solutions: (1)
prohibiting an NSI domain name to be used to promote an anti-Muslim film,
and (2) permitting two NSI domain names to be used to promote the mass
eviction and murder of Muslims in Sri Lanka; indicates that one needs to
apply a balanced perspective of how NSI would like its domain name services
to be used, before making rash judgments of alleged “bias”. If the
continued operation of eelam.com and eelamweb.com is any indication, NSI’s
view would appear to be that Mr. Wilders just isn’t going far enough.
Next up, the Islamic Army of Iraq, and their Louisiana brigade, courtesy of
iaisite.info, registered through Directnic.
John Berryhill, Ph.d., Esq.
While humorous, Mr. Berryhill’s comment does raise a serious question. What is the role of a host in monitoring and controlling the content of sites that register through them? If AT&T gets its way, webhosts may soon be legally and financially liable for the content carrid on their networks. Can we trust private companies to decide what is available on the internet?
Business, Politics, Technology | No Comments »
January 8th, 2008
Here’s a suggestion I hope someone follows up on.
If you own or work for a virtual reality lab and would like to contribute to the happiness of a terminally ill adult:
Get together with the Make-A-Wish Foundation (or do this on your own) and create a way for terminally ill parents to enjoy a virtual adulthood vision of their children. The technology exists to age a person from an image of them. This would allow a dying parent to enjoy a vision of their children grown and happy. The adult/child could be shown in a scenario that the parent selects, like college or business.
I know Make-A-Wish deals with children. This would allow them to increase their outreach in to parents as well. If they don’t appreciate the opportunity this presents, it would be worthwhile to pursue on your own.
I can’t think of too much else that would put a dying parent’s mind at rest than to be able to “see” their children going on to become successful in life.
Business, Society | No Comments »
January 5th, 2008
For crying out loud. Will companies please either: hire professional network engineers who can build a secure network and understand vulnerabilities and encryption or, stay out of networking until you can afford to/care to.
Despite what should have been an unavoidable lesson in pathetic networking by TJMaxx, companies continue to roll out networks apparently without a clue as to how to set them up or secure them.
Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner passenger jet may have a serious security vulnerability in its onboard computer networks that could allow passengers to access the plane’s control systems, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
The computer network in the Dreamliner’s passenger compartment, designed to give passengers in-flight internet access, is connected to the plane’s control, navigation and communication systems, an FAA report reveals.
The revelation is causing concern in security circles because the physical connection of the networks makes the plane’s control systems vulnerable to hackers. A more secure design would physically separate the two computer networks. Boeing said it’s aware of the issue and has designed a solution it will test shortly.
“This is serious,” said Mark Loveless, a network security analyst with Autonomic Networks, a company in stealth mode, who presented a conference talk last year on Hacking the Friendly Skies (PowerPoint). “This isn’t a desktop computer. It’s controlling the systems that are keeping people from plunging to their deaths. So I hope they are really thinking about how to get this right.” (Wired News)
Business, Technology | No Comments »
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