Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died. As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, “I’m not glad he’s dead, but I’m glad he’s gone.” Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs’ malign influence on people’s computing.
Richard Stallman, self-appointed free software movement spokesman and toejam lover, on Steve Jobs’ death.
What an asshole. (via The Loop)
Mr. Obama, in a bit of political salesmanship, will call his proposal the “Buffett Rule,” in a reference to Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages.
Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More of Millionaires by Jackie Calmes for the NY Times.
This is merely another Obama proposal for the GOP to refuse to enact regardless of how much it makes sense, simply because Obama is not one of them and they protect their own.
So it’s now highly likely that the presidential candidate of one of our two major political parties will either be a man who believes what he wants to believe, even in the teeth of scientific evidence, or a man who pretends to believe whatever he thinks the party’s base wants him to believe.
Welcome to get-elected-at-any-cost, 21st Century America style.
Representative Gordon Hintz on the “Budget repair bill” displays the type of passion we need to see in Congress but which has been sorely missed throughout the years. Those elected officials who refuse to adhere to the democratic process the U.S. has instituted should be summarily thrown out of office.
Interesting and very relevant. (via stfuconservatives)
So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother.
Alabama governor: Non-Christians are ‘not my brother’.
Believe it or not this is the world we live in today, where religious intolerance is rewarded. WTF has happened to the U.S.?
Thanks to a recent Senate vote, 9/11 First Responders will not receive the health care they deserve because the good ole boy club known as the GOP is unwilling to allow the bill to be passed without first extending tax cuts to the wealthy.
The true story of Thanksgiving is socialism failed. Of course we showed them gratitude! We shared our bounty with them, not because we didn’t know how to make it. It was because we first failed as socialists. Only when we turned capitalists did we have plenty. The Indians didn’t teach us capitalism.
The fact is that one of our two great political parties has made it clear that it has no interest in making America governable, unless it’s doing the governing. And that party now controls one house of Congress, which means that the country will not, in fact, be governable without that party’s cooperation — cooperation that won’t be forthcoming.
So true. (via parasight)
Prosecutors characterized the former network administrator as a power hungry control freak who couldn’t be managed.
Keepin’ it real. (via bpio)
Bus driver tells passenger he is against having guide dog on board
The driver told the female passenger in February ‘‘the bus will be covered with dog hair’’ while she was on the shuttle bus, prompting the Japan Guide Dog Association to call for bus operators’ understanding.
But the same driver told the woman in May he does not want the dog boarding his bus, and the association again asked the local bus association and the bus company to which the driver belongs to deal with the matter.
Why did it take from February to May for this jackass bus driver to be dealt with regarding his not abiding by the law? Maybe he needs to be thoroughly educated on what its like to be blind in today society, so that he has a better understanding of what this woman is going through.
The ignominious fall of Dell
In his excellent piece in the New York Times this week, reporter Ashlee Vance refers to an internal study by Dell that predicted its Optiplex line of business computers containing Nichicon capacitors were expected to have a failure rate of 97 percent over three years.
Dell didn’t make those capacitors, but once the company knew they were faulty, it obviously had a duty to its customers to recall the affected machines. It didn’t. Instead it covered up the problems, relying on ridiculous excuses and blaming its customers.
I thought Dell was a better company than this. Apparently not.
ASCAP Claiming That Creative Commons Must Be Stopped; Apparently They Don't Actually Believe In Artist Freedom
But ASCAP’s blatant attack on Creative Commons (and EFF and PK; both of whom focus on consumer rights, but not undermining artist’s rights at all) shows their true colors. They’re not about artists’ rights at all. They’re about greater protectionism — which is not (at all) the same thing.
Is anyone really all that surprised at anything the copyright cartel does these days?
