Friday, November 03, 2006

Democratic Vision For The 21st Century


  1. Hold direct elections for president. Reorganize the primaries. Shift all elections to weekends.
  2. Stop the gerrymandering. Let autonomous, nonpartisan commissions draw the constituency boundaries. Divide the country into 100 constituencies of near equal population for the 100 seats in the Senate. Statehood for DC.
  3. Publicly funded elections.
  4. Lifelong education. All textbooks and journals should be online, ad based and free, through private sector efforts.
  5. Universal health. Introduce market forces into the health care sector to introduce information technology to bring the costs down across the board.
  6. Spread democracy the progressive way - the Nepal way, not the Iraq way - to win the war on terror. End all monarchies in the Arab countries. Goal: a total spread of democracy by 2020.
  7. Use nuclear energy to produce 80% of America's electricity. Universal, wireless, ad supported, free broadband through private sector efforts.
  8. Voting rights for all who have lived in America for a year or longer.
  9. Single page tax form. Corporate welfare reform. Raise the minimum wage to $10.
  10. Legalize gay marriage. Equal rights to gays. Fuck the fundies. The fundies can go to hell. They disfigure America.
The Energy Solution: Nuclear Energy
The Matrix
Barack Obama: This Is A New Century
Barack Obama: New Approaches To Old Problems
Where Is Da Contract?
Hillary's Formula For 2006
Three Pillars, Draft 2
Immigration, Duh
The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal
Can't Take Back Congress Without Strong On Defense
Rahm Emanuel: Big Ideas For America
Long War
blac
The Spectrum Concept: Wide Applications
A Different Kind Of Campaign, A Scientific Campaign
Presidential Primary Reform
Soviet Health Care In America
Politics At The Speed Of Thought
Social Progress: Show Me The Money
Obama Was In Town And I Missed It
Bill Clinton Had Icecream For Lunch
The Saudi Royal Family Has Got To Go
Takes Two Arms And Two Legs To Swim
To: The Good White People In The South
The Three Pillars

In The News

U.S. Web archive said to reveal nuclear primer CNet News Set up to make public Iraqi documents, Web site included some that may constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
Web tool splices filmmakers' global divide CNet News Software in the works for use over a high-speed fiber network would make it easier to collaborate from two different cities.
Amazon moves deeper into selling Web logistics CNet News Company has been positioning itself to supply underlying computing, data storage and other services to Web businesses.
Oracle acquires utility-industry software developer CNet News Acquisition of SPL WorldGroup will serve as a keystone for Oracle to launch a global unit focused on water, electric and gas companies.

The New Middle East Foreign Affairs As Iran and Islamism rise, U.S. influence falls.
The Future of Lebanon Foreign Affairs The government in Beirut might come out of the crisis better than people expect.
Israel’s War With Iran Foreign Affairs The fighting in Lebanon was just a skirmish; the big one is still to come.
The Syrian Solution Foreign Affairs Syria wants to be part of the answer, not just the problem.
From Conflict Management to Conflict Resolution Foreign Affairs Don’t just focus on the fighting in Lebanon, tackle the broader Arab-Israeli conflict.
Immigration Nation Foreign Affairs Bush has the right idea on immigration — but needs to open the doors further and let more in.
China's Leadership Gap Foreign Affairs Unless China can raise a new crop of competent leaders, its future progress will be in doubt.
How We Fight Foreign Affairs Even in Iraq, the American way of war is less hellish than people think.


Hamas Urges Women, Children to Shield Gunmen in Mosque
CNSNews.com
US closes 'weapons of mass destruction cookbook' website Telegraph.co.uk
Report Warns of ‘Global Collapse’ of Fishing New York Times
The Hubble telescope: A giant peep for mankind Independent
Nepal's rhinos threatened by resurgent poaching
Reuters.uk
Column: Poll finds that Barack Obama is too perfect for presidency
Natick Bulletin&Tab eight in 10 voters said they liked everything they had heard from and seen of Mr. Obama ... he would probably make his decision by January ..... 37 percent said they thought he may have already been elected president ...... In a head-to-head matchup, the poll found that Mr. Obama was leading former President John f. Kennedy by more than 3 to 1. If the election were held today, 64 percent of the voters surveyed said that they would vote for Mr. Obama only if he was running against George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or some other historically heroic figure, and 18 percent said they had never heard of Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln. ....... "Obama is the one without the track record that makes me think he's the one who could change the way things work" ...... recently appeared in Men's Vogue, Marie Claire, Vanity Fair and Washington Life , went on Oprah this week to announce that he would appear, barely clothed, in an upcoming music video with rap diva Lil' Kim
Menendez enlists support from Barack Obama at rally Asbury Park Press
3-month-old a prime suspect in bus heist in India
INQ7.net
Stars support Clinton senate campaign
Irish Examiner
Clinton endorses Chavez in San Jose mayor's race Fog City Journal
Clinton Discusses Future Of Country
Today's THV Clinton told the audience he's been traveling the country and that he sees great discontentment among voters. Clinton said, "People know there is something fundamentally wrong with the way our country is working." Clinton says the Democrats are "about common sense and the common good." He says Democrats will help unite the country.
Father-son duo Amitabh and Abhishek Bachchan may do a live concert ... Bollywood Mantra
Parties braced for election-night upsets
MSNBC
Energy Issues Top Russia-EU Talks
Voice of America
US warns Americans in East Africa of terrorist threats
Monsters and Critics.com
Google scrambles to `legalize` YouTube
Monsters and Critics.com
India, China Compared at BW CEO Forum
BusinessWeek
Dean: Bush 'Most Incompetent President'
NewsMax.com
Dems Do Damage Control After Kerry's Remarks
CBS2 Chicago
Contests for 36 governors races shape political battlegrounds for ...
International Herald Tribune
Intel Chairman Promotes WiMAX in India
Houston Chronicle
A nightmare for Bush?
News24
Bird flu to remain major threat for next decade: UN
Khaleej Times
Borat leads cultural revolution
Scotsman
Nigeria: Beach Soccer - Argentina Outscore Nigeria ..
AllAfrica.com

BW CEO Forum: India vs. China BusinessWeek
It's the Local Economy, Stupid BusinessWeek an unemployment rate of 4.6% ...... the war in Iraq is the No. 1 voter concern, as casualties mount and an exit strategy remains unclear ...... many American workers have suffered from rising health-care costs and stagnating wages ..... "Normally I vote for who I think the best [individual candidate] is, but this time it's [straight-ticket] Democrat all the way." ....... minimum-wage .. at $5.15 per hour, is at its lowest level in 50 years, adjusted for inflation .......nearly three-quarters of Midwesterners (74%) rate economic conditions in the country "only fair or poor," the highest percentage of any region. ..... "There's no middle class anymore..... You're either high income or you're just surviving ........ the real median hourly wage for American workers has declined by more than 1% since 2003, despite a steady rise in productivity ..... you can't win an election with the top 1% of the vote ....... 81% of nonsupervisory workers agreed with the statement, "No matter what you hear about the economy, working families are falling behind." ...... "I've split my ticket at times in the past, but this time it's straight Democrat."
Tom Cruise, partner to run film studio 2:15 PM ET BusinessWeek
Productivity slows to a standstill 1:05 PM ET BusinessWeek
Tech's Threat to National Security BusinessWeek
Disintegrating euros mystify Germans 11:44 AM ET BusinessWeek
Follow the Money—to Prison BusinessWeek Sanjay Kumar, the former chief executive of Computer Associates (now known as CA) faced a federal judge on Nov. 2 and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his part in the massive accounting fraud at the software maker. ...... the 81-year-old founder of Adelphia Communications, John Rigas ...... Rigas and his family took more than $2.3 billion in unreported loans from Adelphia coffers, according to prosecutors. In June, 2005, a federal judge sentenced him to 15 years ...... The former Enron boss, Jeffrey Skilling, has been sentenced to more than 24 years and must pay $45 million restitution. Worldcom chief Bernard Ebbers began serving his 25-year stint in September at a federal prison in Louisiana. ...... Tyco's (TYC) former chief, L. Dennis Kozlowski, is serving at least eight years, and possibly as much as 25, in upstate New York, after being found guilty of taking more than $400 million in company money for his personal use. ...... A loss at trial can lead to a draconian sentence that a plea agreement can avoid. ..... In the Dynegy case, people closer to the fraud decided to cooperate with the government probe, pleaded guilty, and ended up with sentences of 15 months or less. ..... Kumar, the Sri Lankan native .... "I know that I was wrong, and there's no excuse for my conduct," he said, according to Dow Jones Newswires. ...... The company paid $225 million into a "restitution fund" for harmed investors to avoid prosecution. It also overhauled its leadership team. ..... the company is "a dramatically different organization than we were two years ago, when Mr. Kumar left."
The Other Indian Outsourcer BusinessWeek
OhmyNews' Oh My Biz Problem BusinessWeek OhmyNews' English-language news division is produced by nearly 1,500 citizen reporters from more than 100 countries, plus five professional editors based in the U.S. and Korea. ..... its strength is in developing countries, where many people feel local views aren't fully reflected in Western media .... long on idealism but short on a workable business strategy.
Problems abound for Sony 2:24 PM ET BusinessWeek Sony Corp. has receded from its days of glory, when the Walkman was the synonym for portable music and PlayStation 2 was the pinnacle of video game consoles
Asia's Boy Wonder of the Web BusinessWeek Three years after starting his Web hosting company, Clara Online, Kentaro Iemoto was on the verge of bankruptcy. .... Iemoto was an 18-year-old high school grad at the time. ...... Iemoto quickly rounded up 20 investors, secured the quarter of a million dollars ..... A company with only $5 million in revenues, it's attracting an A-list of customers. ..... companies that store their data on Clara's 20,000 Linux-based servers ..... six data centers in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, and Seoul ..... Iemoto wants to build the largest Web hosting service in Asia ...... A jovial self-professed serial blogger, Iemoto belongs to Japan's Web 2.0 generation. ...... He's not only a good leader but ... 1&1 of Germany .... Raised in Japan and Soviet-era Poland in a family of academics, Iemoto wanted to be a pro baseball player. He gave up on that idea at 11, when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He spent all but two and a half months of junior high school lying in a hospital bed. ....... To stave off boredom, he whizzed through books on ancient Chinese and Japanese history, built his own computers, and wrote software for a database. ...... without a business plan or budget, they quickly burned through their money. Iemoto's status as Japan's youngest-ever CEO didn't help matters. ...... "Early on, I was doing lots of media interviews and I got cocky" ....... He's also got a progressive approach to management that's unusual in Japan. ..... he prefers a flat corporate structure .... Iemoto credits Virgin CEO Richard Branson's autobiography, Losing My Virginity, for showing him the way. "It taught me to make sure that work stays fun ...... before heading home where he'll post a late-night report of the day's activities on his blog ...... "It gives my customers an idea of the work this company does," he says. ....... Clara, which already offers server hosting services in English, Japanese, and Korean, will soon add Chinese and Arabic along with a few other languages.
The Great China IPO Haul BusinessWeek
A Remarkable Rally for India Stocks BusinessWeek
Innovation: Outsourcing's Second Wave BusinessWeek
China and India: Room for Reform BusinessWeek
Habitat Hammers Away on Indian Housing BusinessWeek
South Korea Due for an Economic Upgrade BusinessWeek
South Korea's Finance Minister Talks Trade BusinessWeek
Asia Desperately Seeking IT Talent BusinessWeek
How This Tiger Got Its Roar BusinessWeek the rise of India as a destabilizing force in the $650 billion worldwide tech services industry ...... Premji transformed a peanut oil company in poverty-ridden India into a tech powerhouse. ..... Aug. 11, 1966, Azim H. Premji was a senior at Stanford University ...... Rather than pursuing his dream of bringing aid to the developing world as a policymaker at the World Bank, he found himself thrust into the nitty-gritty details of saving a failing company in a backwater economy. ...... says Premji, who finally got his Stanford degree six years ago ..... software programming, engineering design, and back-office services for more than 500 of the world's largest corporations. ...... India's vast pool of young technology graduates willing to work for wages as much as 80% lower than those in the West. ....... first-quality work, top-notch customer service, super-efficient human resources, and, increasingly, technology innovation ...... 350 employees, mostly in and around Bombay, and just $3 million in revenues. ...... Premji, who was self-conscious about his age, had grown a mustache in an effort to add some gravitas. ...... he visited a professor at a leading management school in Bombay and asked him to recommend some textbooks. He bought a pile of them, and over the next year he stayed up late into the night reading every one ...... learned business basics and systematically built a company based on modern principles and practices ..... the necessity of continuous improvement ...... established Wipro's practice of routinely measuring every aspect of its business. ...... ``When IBM left, it created a vacuum,'' says Premji. ``So we decided to zero in on info tech. `` ...... Premji and his lieutenants knew nothing about computers ....... They rented a 4,000-square-foot office in Bangalore, home to several of India's top technical and management colleges, and decided to build a minicomputer that would sell for far less than an IBM mainframe but do similar work. Within a year, Wipro shipped its first one. ....... allowing them to underprice and outengineer Wipro ........ What Wipro did next set the stage for its emergence as a tech services powerhouse. ..... while the door was open for others to come into India, it was also open for us to go out. So we decided to become a global company ...... The solution: Focus on quality. In 1995, Wipro received certification from the International Organization for Standardization for manufacturing quality. Then it adopted the programming standards of Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute. ....... today it's busy applying Toyota Motor Corp.'s (TM) lean manufacturing techniques to its software programming and business-process outsourcing operations worldwide. ....... ``Nobody had heard of us,'' says Sudip Banerjee, president of Wipro's Enterprise Solutions business unit. ``We'd make dozens of phone calls. Nobody would return them.'' ...... engineering services, which already represent 35% of its $2.4 billion in revenues. ...... creating a sinewy management culture that thrives even under intense competitive pressure ....... The chairman is not king. ...... Premji believes in a zero-politics culture. At Wipro, backstabbing, playing favorites, and kissing up to the boss -- tactics that sap much of American executives' energy -- simply don't work. Open and honest disagreements are not only tolerated, but also required -- of everyone. ...... The man takes frontal criticism, and it's celebrated. ...... My job is to push you. When you reach your limit you need to push back ..... openness is more than a personal style. It's a strategy ..... An organizational ability to encourage and harness diversity of thought is a significant competitive advantage ........ It's expanding revenues consistently at some 30% annually, while the overall tech services industry is expanding at about 5% per year. .... With its work ethic and intense drive to win, Wipro is a reminder of the America of 100 years ago.
Reuters Adds Infosys Boss to Board BusinessWeek
A Growing Cadre Of Code Warriors BusinessWeek
In China's Net Cafés, Intel Pours It On BusinessWeek

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