There’s no place like 127.0.0.1

Is raising the minimum wage to $7.25 the best plan of action when unemployment can result?  I’m not convinced that it’s a wise move for the benefit of society considering that lower wage workers are the most likely to be affected in the form of unemployment.  Just like Hugo Chavez’s recent actions whereby the luxury taxes on boats and cars were increased, it’s the lower wage workers that suffer the most. 

It’s simple economics:  setting arbitrary price ceilings and floors rather than letting the market govern the price typically has less-than-desirable outcomes because of the surplus or shortage that can result.  But the American Samoans know better —- they were omitted from the wage increase and they know that jobs will be lost if the minimum wage rises. 

I hope the control of the American Congress was not turned over to the Democrats just for political grand-standing.  As Iraq continues to spin further out of control (if that was even conceivable), I hope the Democrats work to steer this ship back on course rather than further out to sea.

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One of the inherent difficulties in posting pictures to the web is that some idiot is bound to deep link directly to the photo file rather than download it and upload it to their own site and then link from there.  People go to Google image search, find an image, and link directly to it from there.  It happens to me on occassion, but this time I decided to exact revenge.  I goatse’d my first photo linker. 

Someone linked directly to a photo of Ted Leo, of Pharmacists fame, from their own music blog to this post I wrote a couple of years ago.

Here’s a screenshot from the offenders original page:

And here’s screenshot of his page goatse’d after I changed the deep-linked file:

I chose to use the cookie version of the goatse rather than one of the more graphical ones that are not work safe. 

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Every American citizen should take the time to watch the Frontline documentary entitled “The Dark Side.”    Much of the materially significant information regarding the current Administration’s press for war in Iraq didn’t make mainstream press.  I wasn’t aware of some of the infighting within the leadership ranks involving the Pentagon and the CIA.  And I didn’t realize that George Tenet allowed politically motivated agendas to shape American intelligence operations.

If you’re a documentary nerd like I am, this is required viewing.  Frontline in general puts out some of the highest class material I have come across.  It doesn’t get much better.

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I won’t comment on Jose Padilla’s innocence or guilt because there has been no evidence to support either state. But this article in the NY Times is overwhelmingly clear: Jose Padilla has been materially affected by his incarceration by the United States government.

I get enraged when I consider the fact that an American citizen has been denied rights under due process as stated in the Constitution. The egregious condition of his imprisonment is just another indicator of the callous nature of the current US administration.

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I didn’t plan on voting yesterday —– until my Netflix delivery arrived.  “The Tank Man” changed my mind.  I typically don’t pay much attention to mid-term elections and local politics here in Georgia bore me incessantly.  Moreover, being a left-leaning, vegetarian peace supporter in an overwhelmingly Republican state makes for a lonely place. 

“The Tank Man” is a Frontline documentary about the Chinese crackdown on the pro-democracy movement that was highly publicized with the Tiananmen Square massacre.  The story is much deeper than the news we received in the West.   Most of the US media outlets painted a picture that the movement consisted of a group of students alone when in fact it started weeks before that and involved citizenry of all types.  The Chinese were brutal in their crackdown. 

Thousands were killed during the incident or executed afterwards.  But that’s not where it stopped.  The crackdown on personal liberties continues unabaited in China fueled in part by American companies keen on servicing 1+ billion people.  Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Cisco and others contribute in material ways to allow the 30,000 people employed by China’s Internet Police to restrict freedom in egregious ways.  A reporter was sent to the gulag because Yahoo complied with the Chinese government’s request for personally identifiable information.  It’s obvious that these firms are working closely with the Chinese government to help it continue to deprive the people of basic human liberties. 

I stopped the DVD and drove to the polling station and voted regardless of the overwhelming obstacle of living in a Republican state.  I knew enough to vote for the major elected positions, but admittedly, I didn’t know some of the candidates for the minor positions.  In some cases, especially with the judicial positions, I wrote myself in as a write-in candidate.

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