| Unsolicited Political Commentary: Citizens United v. FEC (08-205) |
[Jan. 21st, 2010|07:54 pm] |
It's all over the news today so I won't bother linking.
The thing that most gets me about this decision is that it makes the mistaken assumption that corporations are unitary, as if they make decisions like an individual. In fact, the decisions that corporations make are made by boards of directors and executives, and to a lesser extent their shareholders. Indeed, even if corporations made decisions as an entity, their decisions would not be based in the everyday human concerns of a real person - family, sustenance, safety, health, etc. - but in the interests of maximizing profit and reducing competition or interference.
People who are executives or on these boards already have their First Amendment rights of speech as individuals, but now they get special First Amendment privileges amplified by the corporations they work for. You can bet that these people do not act against their own opinions and biases when deciding on behalf of a corporation. Worse, board members often sit on many corporate boards simultaneously, giving them multiple opportunities to take advantage of these special privileges.
Two centuries ago, corporations threw off the yoke of the people's charter, allowing them to pursue unchecked profits and growth. For the past 150 years they have spent their financial influence in the pursuit of unchecked political power. With this ruling, they now have carte blanche to directly challenge our lawmakers and leaders at the polls, and to extort them while in the houses of power. Checkmate.
The right thing for Congress to do in the face of this ruling is to unambiguously define corporations as non-human, and therefore not eligible for the rights of the people - to reverse the flawed interpretation of the 14th Amendment late in the 19th century that started this precipitous slide. Their rights are defined in a commercial context, not in the context of individual rights and responsibilities. Alternatively, hold them accountable to the law like the rest of us. For instance, when is the last time you heard of a corporation being given the death penalty? Or life in prison? These questions sound silly, but they clearly show the inanity of corporate personhood.
Unfortunately, I expect no such thing from a political entity so thoroughly rife with the corruptive influence of money - and that is not just the current Congress, but pretty much every one for as far back as I can remember. For those brave souls left in the Capitol that actually try, best of luck to you. |
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| Ten Years On |
[Dec. 30th, 2009|10:32 pm] |
At the end of 2009 now, and I got to thinking about ten years ago... Ten years ago this week I was in such a very different place in life.
I'd just taken on a new DJ "persona" as 0x86 and was deep into the techstep D&B.
I lived a dual life as a clubbing/partying, liberal minded, tech bubble denizen on the one hand, and a National Guard officer on the other... and had a real hard time reconciling the dichotomy.
I had long since shed the Y2K fears, but paid too much attention to Alex Jones conspiracies for my own good. In the back of my mind during NYE 1999 I was waiting for the New World Order to spring it's trap, but was quite relieved when it didn't happen... that failure set such fears to rest for the following year and nine months and eleven days.
I had yet to attend a Burning Man or related event.
I just started to have designs on establishing a music club or venue and began taking steps ultimately to realizing the impracticality of such a notion for a person in my position. Otherwise, I thought little about my future while thinking a lot about the future in general.
Despite taking continuing ed classes, going back to school for an advanced degree was the last thing on my mind.
I was enthralled and in love with my soul mate, but hadn't a concern about anything in that arena beyond having fun.
And now here I am ten years later, married, a father, a former burner, a Masters degree holder, and with such different concerns and priorities than in my past life. Ten years seems at once like forever and not much time at all.
I don't lament the passing of those times - they were a necessary step to getting here, and I probably couldn't maintain the pace I was going at my current age for long anyway. Things are definitely good now. It's just weird how quickly things change. |
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| Political thought - not a typo |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|02:54 pm] |
Kicking and screaming, Republicans will be dragged into the 20th century.
Granted, it's mostly the "Conservative" wingnut faction that is being dragged as they drag their party down with them, but nonetheless... dragging.
And what is it with the term conservative anyway? Conservative implies to me that one cautiously or judiciously considers the issues with deference to stability and continuity, not one that distorts and lies while bludgeoning the discourse with simplistic invocations of God and country. Real conservatives should be ashamed that the term has been hijacked by the likes of Palin. Let's call these "Conservatives" what they really are; a term that isn't used quite enough these days: Reactionaries.
Here's to more spectacular failures. |
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| Communikey 2009 |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|12:25 am] |
Last weekend ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) double00range and attended the second annual Communikey Electronic Arts Festival in Boulder, CO. We've been to both of them so far, and this one was probably more of a blast than last year's, although both were great.
( Long, but with pictures! )
The techno festival circuit is becoming comfortable for me. It has a lot of the hallmarks of Burning Man in the community sense, while maintaining a focus on music and technology. There is a good balance between party and community. I see a lot of the same faces at completely different festivals and it feels like a sort of family reunion at times. For this particular festival, I feel a sense of satisfaction at having closed the loop between my involvement in the emergent Colorado scene in the early 90's and my participation in making this event happen. The CMKY crew has managed to pull off a diverse and extensive event that is still in its infancy, but already quite strong. Recommended. |
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| Commando Raid |
[Sep. 13th, 2007|11:12 pm] |
Tuesday Morning: "We've set a meeting for Thursday mid-morning... can you come?"
And so it goes; I am back in Austin. Arrived last night and connected with my dad (who is growing a beard for the first time in his life). Early to work this morning, replete with ups and downs, delayed lunch, and a generally upward trend in productivity.
Met up afterwards with my dad, his new girlfriend, and her friend to go to a Kirk Watson pre-ACL fundraiser party at Zilker; Kelly Willis and Robert Earl Kean headlining. It was nice to see the park waiting, empty, for the imminent throngs. I realized that I like those calm moments before the storm. Not exactly my scene, but it still moved me, and was nice to share with my dad.
After a quick change, met up with the crew on the newly revitalized E. 7th Street for a beer and some pinball gawking. Then headed over to Mag for some long overdue dinner while perusing the Chronicle.
There's some things I miss about this town, but I am still glad to be living in Seattle.
See you soon? |
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| Checking in with my past |
[Jun. 8th, 2007|04:52 pm] |
I've finally figured out the industrial music that is played out these days...
it's vocal progressive/Euro trance with a serotonin problem.
Which makes me laugh thinking about all of my industro-goth peers back in the nineties who vehemently despised "rave" music :-) |
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| It's Alive!!!!! |
[Jun. 2nd, 2007|03:15 am] |
The Hot Tub is alive and well!
It took a few hours, but we finally got the temp and the treatment chemicals done enough to have a post-BBQ, 100 degree soak!
( before and after ) |
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| Rejuvenation |
[Nov. 9th, 2006|03:19 am] |
Two years ago today I was hurting – mentally, spiritually, and physically. We'd spent the previous night watching the dismal election returns pour in while out at Emo's. With the bar close at hand, we moved from cash only to a tab in no time. I lost count of the number of drinks I had by the time last call came around. Needless to say, I wasn't on time to my 8:30 am class. Apparently we weren't the only ones in such disrepair. I've read and heard stories about how several Capitol Hill bars completely ran out of alcohol that night while blue voters drowned their sorrows.
As some of you may remember, my conspiracy instinct kicked in as I convinced myself that the election was rigged. That feeling tainted my expectations of this week's election. I had actually reached the point of being jaded – not enough to not vote, but enough that I wouldn't have been surprised if it had gone completely the other way. At least my reticence made for less emotional engagement and a much more relaxing night than two years ago.
Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised.
So, on it's face, it would seem that the vote fraud was not as extreme as I once thought. I don't doubt that there were many problems yesterday, but compared to the roar of accusations in '04, the silence thus far is a welcomed relief.
I can't help but wonder about the reasons for this. Perhaps the '04 problems triggered enough disgust in enough people that, in turn, created a desire to remedy the problems in the interim and/or put mechanisms in place to deal with issues. Perhaps the original problems in '04 were due to an extremely unfortunate confluence of mistakes instead of a coordinated Black Ops effort.
The conspiracist in me won't shut up, though, and wonders if maybe the Black Ops folks are just too busy in SW Asia, S. America, and elsewhere to be bothered with a midterm election in the states. Or perhaps Dubya really pissed them off with his CIA and military purges? Or maybe they let this election slide so that people will become complacent again in '08? But anyway.
Coupled with the sheer adolescence of the Republican campaign strategies – pulling out the race card, crank robo-calls, trotting out he same old FUD – perhaps the conspiracy never really was there. Or perhaps the little there was has been dealt a death blow.
I'm beginning to think in terms of a metaphor: the rise of the Republican proto-fascism from 2000-2006 as an infection of the human body (please overlook any poor biological descriptions that follow). Prior to 9-11, the "virus" was in place, though the nation was still relatively healthy and could readily resist bald-faced grabs for power. Once 9-11 hit, the American immune system collapsed under stress and the virus began to run its course. T-cells were overrun. Poor, overreaching laws were passed without having been read, wars were started, criticism was effectively silenced, and the resistance didn't know how to fight back. By '04 a good fight was being put up, but there were still plenty of dirty tricks to go around and the American immune system still wasn't up to snuff. Now, here we are in '06, and the virus is weakening, the resistance has figured out the structure of the threat and is strengthening – the immune system is finally working again. Let's just hope this virus isn't herpetic.
My biggest fear is that the gains we saw yesterday will be squandered. If the Dems don't move swiftly and decisively to address the issues that supposedly gave them the lead – Iraq to be specific – we'll be hearing conservative gas-bags spewing out one liners about Democratic failures in Iraq... they will turn the Republican failure into a Democratic one. I've already been hearing calls to the Dems to begin the inquisition against the Administration, but that is sure to drag out into a two year finger pointing fest and get us nowhere. As much as I'd like to see Bush impeached, it would not be a sure thing and will likely backfire.
I stopped writing to my reps about three years ago (while still in Texas). They weren't listening – at least they weren't after Tom DeLay ripped Lloyd Doggett off my ballot (didn't stop me from writing him one last time though) – and my feelings of conspiracy didn't exactly bolster my desire to participate in the usual way. But rather than relax and breathe a sigh of relief, I feel that it is now time to get working and to let my new reps know I exist. We need to not only repair the damage from the last six years, but to make an effort to improve things beyond what they were in 2000. From this perspective, the fight has only just begun. |
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| Crossing Paths |
[Oct. 7th, 2006|12:57 am] |
Twice in one day even.
Episode one: When we moved in to our new place, the name of the male of the previous tenant couple sounded really familiar to me but I couldn't place it. Today I get some junk mail for him - a credit card solicitation via the University of Colorado Alumni Association - and it clicks: I went to CU too! Later I went over to my library shelf and pulled out the old program guides for the university radio station, and lo and behold: we volunteered there at the same time! Now, if I could only remember how exactly I knew him...
Episode two: Along with digitizing all of my music, I have been syncing my collection with discogs.com - particularly the obscure, local bands that I collected while in Colorado back in the mid/early 90's. One of these artists was Heather, a girl I used to raise hell with around Boulder and Denver back then. While updating her profile in Discogs I figured I'd Google her and see what she's up to... I knew she had gone into audio production work for game design, but I found out that she's now working for Sony Online -- right here in Seattle!
Synchronicty and all... but, wow! |
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| Because I just _know_ you need more online distractions |
[Jul. 20th, 2006|11:11 am] |
Wikimapia: a Google Maps / Wiki mashup
The short of it: a Google Maps implementation that allows users to add arbitrary regions to areas of the map. You can add a brief title, a free text description, and folksonomy tags to each region. It's multi-lingual too.
At first I was dubious, but then I focused in on my 'hood and saw how much was not yet described. The result is highly addictive.
I like this concept because not only can you fully name a place, including arbitrary places, but add context as well. The implications for passing on local tacit knowledge are exciting. Network effects should help keep the signal-to-noise ratio low, but a reputation component would be a nice way to enhance the overall quality of the submitted information and reduce the tragedy of the commons effect. We'll see where this goes. |
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| Camping -- For real this time |
[Jul. 18th, 2006|09:18 pm] |
When I want to avoid explaining to someone why I am going out into the countryside for Flipside, BM, etc., I often tell them I am going camping. This isn't totally untrue, but as many of you know, it is stretching the truth just a bit. I haven't been camping outside of a Burn or related event in years (a couple of trips to the primitive areas of Pedernales Falls probably notwithstanding -- but, come on: coolers? air mattreses?), so the opportunities that we now have for outdoor adventure are really too much to pass up.
Besides, with all of the doom and gloom over disasters and the sobering realization that we are ultimately on our own when the sh*t hits the fan, I've been thinking a lot about self-sufficiency and survival. Sure, going out to Black Rock does quite a bit to toughen you up, but not as much in the way of real survival skills; the desert is more like learning how to live in spontaneous communities than how to keep yourself alive against the elements. Or, as I related to double00range this weekend: BM is more like training for a refugee camp rather than raw survivalism.
With a painful trip to REI and some quick planning, we readied ourselves for some wilderness hiking and camping at Mount Rainier National Park.
( deer, foxes, and bears, oh my! ) |
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| Wallace Falls |
[Jul. 2nd, 2006|03:09 pm] |
With Sumer in full-swing here in Seattle, we've been turning our attention to outdoor activities. We have some lofty goals consisting of multi-day wilderness hikes, but we are not yet fully equipped, let alone prepared for such trips. To begin remedying this, we thought it best to start small; so yesterday, disconnecteddot, libbyt, double00range, and I went for a hike in a nearby State park.
( About Wallace Falls ) |
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| Not really trying to start shit, but... |
[Jun. 28th, 2006|12:18 am] |
cNet article about Critical Massive.
Flipizens may want to skip to page two where the following was written:
"Glenn, who currently lives in Oakland, Calif., joked that he came to Critical Massive this year to ensure that the event could hold its head up in comparison to other regionals.
'The reason I'm telling people I came is that I heard that (Burning) Flipside had less fire,' Glenn said, 'so I wanted to make sure that Critical Massive had more fire than Flipside.'" (my emphasis)
By the way it is written, this means Flipside has less fire than Critical Massive? This is certainly a misquote. |
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0x86 Live at Chillography 102
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