Hillary and Barack are both at 70 plus million dollars each with Barack edging her out by a few million dollars. Hillary has made it absolutely clear, Hsu or no Hsu, that she is going to take insider money. Yes, she will take money from lobbyists, from special interests.
In so doing, she propagates two myths.
One, the lobbyists represent real people. An oil company lobbyist might represent the oil company, but that oil company hires "real people." That is her circuitous argument. Why did we not think of this before we made the McCain-Feingold mistake a few years ago?
Two, she takes money from them, but she is not beholden to them.
Both the myths fly in the face of reality.
If corporations felt that their interests and the interests of the American people at large were in complete sync, they would not hire lobbyists in the first place. They would let the public servants responding to voters do the good work of policy making.
Corporations giving money out to politicians are not in the charity business. They have very specific agendas. You don't have to go any further than Hillary's health care plan to see how corporate lobbying money influences agenda.
Hillary's health care plan is a sellout to the insurance industry. One, those with existing coverage get to continue that way: the status quo remains. Then she figures out ways to give those insurance companies more customers by making it illegal to not have insurance. And if you can't afford it, the government will help you pay for it. In essence, she wants the insurance companies to have more of public and private money.
How is that any different from Dick Cheney's oil pals increasing gas prices?
On Iraq Hillary's judgment lapse was to go with the establishment. On health care she is giving a repeat performance.
Tackling health care necessarily requires changing the way the insurance companies do business. If the sector were driven by market forces, it would be at the cutting edge of adopting information technology. It is not. There is no talk in Hillary's plan as to how she will do that injecting so as to bring the costs down across the board. She hopes costs will come down. Well.
Like someone said, there are only two groups of Americans that need to worry about Hillary's health care plan: the healthy and the sick.
In The News
Musharraf Wins Vote in Pakistan; Court to Weigh Bid New York Times The lawyers movement, which has opposed General Musharraf’s eight years of military rule on constitutional grounds, and all the main opposition parties, are backing the legal challenges. ....... Musharraf for his promotion of women. ...... and attacking an armored police vehicle with sticks after it ran over the feet of two senior lawyers. ........ Some 80 members of opposition parties resigned their parliament seats ... but Ms. Bhutto’s party, which has been negotiating a power sharing deal with General Musharraf, chose only to abstain from the vote, preventing an attempt to declare the vote invalid. ....... Coming just a day after successfully negotiating an amnesty bill with the government that will allow Ms. Bhutto to return to Pakistan later this month to contest parliamentary elections, her party’s protest appeared as a token protest.
Pakistan's Musharraf Sweeps Election
Brown calls for more EU sanctions on Myanmar Reuters "And we have very grave concerns about hundreds, possibly thousands, of monks, nuns and others who have simply disappeared."
Are Clinton, Obama, Edwards All The Same? CBS News she is militaristic and ultranationalistic; she would carry on Bush's policy of a long-term occupation of Iraq, define foreign policy around the "war on terror," support the hard-liners in Israel and promote the centrist-Democratic, left-smashing ideology of the DLC. ......... the strong, experienced woman; the black (but not too black) inspirer of hope; the hands-on economic populist crusader. ........ her health care plan .. a gift to the insurance industry. ....... my colleague Laura Flanders wrote that an Obama campaign rally in New York City was buzzing with progressive energy .......... followed Edwards in supporting the global abolition of nuclear weapons (a position originally put forward by Ronald Reagan, and now by Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn and George Shultz .............. nearly three in ten Americans are poor or near-poor ..... Clinton is notoriously unapologetic about receiving large donations from wealthy interests. ........ Obama, not antipoverty Edwards, has the progressive halo ......... there are still nearly four endless months to slog through ....... the disaster that is the war on drugs .... call for free college education
Obama's Judgment CBS News the latest shot in Obama's continuing campaign to highlight judgment as his key virtue ....... judgment and temperament are the most important qualities I look for.
UN chief 'disappointed' by Nepal elections delay AFP
Arroyo back Saturday night from India Inquirer.net President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was to return to Manila Saturday night after obtaining about US$2 billion in new investments from Indian companies. ....... a two-nation swing that also took her to China. China and India are among the fastest-growing economies in the world. ....... a new middle class of half a billion people, [India's] internal market demand and domestic consumption ....... the $1.6 billion new investment of Ispat Industries Ltd ...... Global Steel of Mittal ...... She later told reporters that steel magnate Lakshmi N. Mittal personally called her up to confirm the new investment. ....... the importation of cheaper medicines, expansion of business process outsourcing and call centers in the Philippines, deals on renewable energy and health care, and cooperation in fighting terrorism. ....... the President visited Mumbai, India's business hub, where she invited Indian pharmaceutical companies to set up plants in the Philippines to help cut the price of medicines by half.
Philippines, India agree to cooperate on trade, terrorism
Tiny start-up rival to Google? San Jose Mercury News the nightmare of any Silicon Valley CEO: The thought that a smart kid in a messy garage in Silicon Valley is right now developing technology that will make his company's products obsolete. ....... the firm's promising new search technology ...... contrary to stereotype, the extremely powerful software code was actually developed by a 54-year-old German mathematician working in a spick-and-span office near the University of Munich. ........ Thomas Nitsche's program matches Web pages with relevant advertising. ...... While Google looks at the words on a Web page, Proximic looks for patterns of characters. That means Proximic's approach is completely language-independent, so it works as well with German and Chinese as it does with English. ........ this makes Proximic ideal for the random spew of user-generated content posted daily on blogs and social-networking sites around the Web, material that often gets the better of Google's algorithms. ......... has the potential of being a game changer ...... Proximic raised $4.5 million in its first round of founding ....... he has tested Proximic and Google AdSense and that Proximic had so far come out ahead. "The matching seems to be of a very high quality" ....... A world microcomputer chess champion in 1984, Nitsche drew on that experience during the five years he spent writing Proximic's matching engine. In programming a computer to play chess, Nitsche also learned, by necessity, to write very efficient programs. The computers he was using had only about 5 kilobytes of memory. He said Proximic's core technology amounts to less than one megabyte of software code. ........ Nitsche and Pieper first met in 2001, at a party thrown by Pieper's sister, Loretta Wurtenberger, founder of Webmiles, a travel-loyalty program that was acquired by Bertelsmann. ......... At the time of the party, Nitsche was developing big trading systems for banks. Pieper had a start-up that focused on electronic data interchange. Pieper chatted with Nitsche about a technical problem he was having. Nitsche proposed a solution. "The next day we went off and started a company," Pieper said. ....... Polished and debonair, Pieper embraced the business side while Nitsche, straight-spoken and tweed-wearing, reveled in the abstract math. Uncomfortable in English, Nitsche frequently lets Pieper do the talking. ...... Nitsche worked alone the first few years in Bauhaus-style offices furnished through purchases on eBay. "It was a very hard time," he recalled. Pieper would join Nitsche nights and weekends, helping to hash out core algorithms. ........ Proximic, with its slender string of code and 14 employees, does not imagine itself slaying the Google Goliath. But he is hoping to do business with a number of Google competitors, and he promises Proximic will be making some major announcements soon
Pipex cries Freedom4 WiMax VNUNet.com Freedom4 has been given a national licence to deploy WiMax services in the 3.6GHz band, and will work with businesses and local authorities to build the necessary infrastructure to provide broadband wireless internet access across the UK. ....... symmetrical upload and download speeds of up to 8Mbps ....... Over half of those customers who took part in the trials saw the most benefit in the and ease of connectionfast speed, while 20 per cent were most impressed by the fully wireless nature of WiMax.
WiMax threatens to disrupt 4G strategies mobile operators and other service providers are planning mobile WiMax networks all over the world, mainly in the 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz bands. ........ forecasts "substantial numbers" of WiMax subscribers worldwide, more than 95 million using customer premises equipment devices by 2012, and almost 200 million using mobile devices, with some overlap between the two. ....... major semiconductor and equipment makers, with the exception of Qualcomm and Ericsson, are staking out their positions for this emerging sector, while operator enthusiasm, led by Sprint and Clearwire in the US, is rising sharply.
Mobile broadband users to pass 1bn by 2012 say analysts $400bn ..... driven by demand from North America, Western Europe and to a lesser extent by the Far East and China. .... the uptake of mobile broadband will hinge heavily on the availability of suitable devices, be they handsets, laptops, datacards, or other types of device such as media players and handheld gaming consoles. ......... Evolution-Data Optimised (EV-DO) technology, which is a standard for the wireless transmission of data using radio signals, will be the next most prolific technology driven by extensive penetration of the Americas and Far East.
Mobile broadband facing a revolution Only a third of the world's population is connected to a cellular network ........ mobile WiMax will initially target the ultra mobile PC or tablet markets rather than the mobile smartphone market. ....... xMax will potentially enable service providers to promote unlimited local and long distant voice calls as well as unlimited text messages at very low monthly prices.
Global demand for mobile data services soars Global mobile data revenues from services other than SMS exceeded $10bn in the first quarter of 2007 ....... Worldwide SMS traffic was up year-on-year by around 50 per cent to more than 620 billion messages in the first quarter of 2007.
Mainstream global mobile video 'years away' mobile handsets are only one way to receive mobile video services, and that PCs, portable media players, navigation systems and other devices are all in the mix. ........ broadcast, premium and pay-per-view TV, as well as on-demand video.
Chinese telecoms operators gear up for 3G different billing models, such as traffic-based, monthly and content-based billing, to cover voice, short message and Wap services.
Mobile email will eventually kill SMS say analysts a fifth of all email will be wireless by 2010 ......... expects wireless email to reach commodity status by 2012. ..... around 114 million text messages are currently sent every day ..... "By 2012, wireless email products will be fully interoperable, commoditised and have standard features. They will be shipping in larger volumes at greatly reduced prices." ...... A longer term trend that will accompany wireless email adoption is convergence, as users choose a single tool to help simplify communication. ..... hiding technology complexity from users and allowing them to focus on messaging content. ......... provide real-time communications for their expanding mobile workforce.
Cisco identifies mobile working psyche Many businesses are in danger of bungling mobile working initiatives through poor management, a failure to communicate adequately and the recruitment of " inappropriate personalities" ........ Mobile workers will account for a quarter of the world's working population by 2009 ....... the dominant personality characteristics of effective mobile workers and the cultural influences on mobile working. ...... "Managers must not fall into the trap of treating mobile workers in the same way as office-based employees. ....... the best mobile workers as self-motivated, resilient, extrovert and independent ........ Stimulation Seeker: extroverted, motivated by contact with people ... Tough Survivors: emotionally stable, low levels of neuroticism, resilient under pressure ... Curious Explorers: creative, open to new ideas, enjoys variety of experience ... Independent Decision Makers: maintains independent mindset, appreciates being trusted to work without supervision ... Disciplined Achievers: conscientious and self-motivated ...... Trust and communication are vital to ensuring that mobile teams remain motivated and productive ....... emphasise deliverables rather than activities ........... offer a range of options to workers based on a wide variety of factors, rather than a blanket approach that may suit only a small percentage.
Cisco wants peace with Microsoft Cisco chief John Chambers believes that a clash with Microsoft may be inevitable ...... both companies are expanding into each other's turf ...... companies often have a poor track record in combined cooperation and competition. ...... Microsoft is currently pushing into the unified communications market, where Cisco has been playing for a long time with its IP telephones. Unified communications allow users to route messages across several technologies such as instant messaging, telephone and email.
Cisco Reinvents The Corporate Incubator innovate the innovation process ....... creating start-up-like innovation inside a billion dollar corporation. ....... created an emerging technology business group last year that looks for new ideas that have the potential to turn into a $1bn market within five years. Its target is to yield 20 new ventures by 2012. ......... Nearly 18 months after the initial launch, an internal Cisco wiki has already yielded 400 ideas for new businesses. ......... Company incubators have a poor track record in delivering actual business results ..... Innovators and entrepreneurs tend to suffocate when they work for large corporations, and executives often prove less supportive when incubators start creating products that threaten the firm's core business and profit margins. .......... core business of routing and switching ....... a compromise between the uncertainty and excitement of a start-up and the security of a large corporation.
Cisco sets course for Data Centre 3.0 has started to unify its network application services into a new enterprise data centre platform, promising increased server utilisation. ....... Cisco considers the mainframe era as data centre 1.0, and the current client-server model as data centre 2.0. Data centre 3.0 combines the company's ideas for using the network to manage data with the rise of virtualisation technology. ......... "moving from a box mentality to an architecture mentality". ........ able to identify when a service or application suffers from peak demand and dynamically add additional server resources. ...... installation of the operating system, middleware and applications. .... several other products under the Data Centre 3.0 banner, including the Transted Wan optimisation software, which encrypts key data on the network to ensure integrity, and an XML gateway for securing web services. ..... Data Centre 3.0 will lay the foundation for new services and technology that will drive a new wave of business efficiencies and revenue growth. ........ By enabling collaboration across departments and between companies, these innovations will dwarf the economic growth achieved during the first wave of internet adoption during the 1990s ...... the increased communications as the true web 2.0 ...... "The next wave of productivity is not about personalisation, it is about collaboration" ....... "Collaboration is nothing more than working together towards a common set of goals. Web 2.0 enables communication."
Cisco to step up telepresence push a $299,000 advanced video conferencing system that uses three high definition televisions and requires a 10Mbps connection. ......... Analysts have cited the $299,000 price tag as an obstacle to wide adoption. But Chambers claimed that savings in travel expenses mean that the systems offer a return on investment in less than a year. "Price is not an issue. This is about process change"
One mobile phone is never enough more people choosing to own a second or third subscription. ...... the price per minute for traditional mobile voice services declines.
Vodafone joins the WiMAX forum other key industry bodies such as the GSMA, 3GPP and the Next Generation Mobile Network initiative ...... "The prospects for WiMAX to play an important role in the future development of mobile are better in those parts of the world where large numbers of people do not yet have access to telecoms or the internet" ...... joining the WiMAX Forum just seems like an obviously sensible thing for Vodafone to do ....... The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led non-profit organisation that now comprises more than 470 companies including 141 operators worldwide, and although mobile WiMAX is less mature than 3G LTE at present, it is being strongly touted as the future of wireless data transmission due to its faster speeds and longer range.
Korea to open up telecoms markets so-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), which rent bandwidth on mobile infrastructure to run their own distinct mobile voice and date networks. ....... Korea's government has hitherto tended to stage-manage competition in the country's telecoms markets.
$4,000 phone bill for porn leads to suicide A Korean teenager committed suicide after running up a $4,000 bill viewing pornography on his mobile phone ...... the mobile-crazy nation. ...... The country has 40.2 million mobile phone subscribers out of a population of almost 49 million.
Mobile porn set to explode over next five years
Korea becoming a nation of phone junkies Addicted teens suffer stress and hallucinations ....... they sometimes imagine hearing them ringing when they are not. ...... Forty per cent send over 1,000 text messages every month ....... a fifth refused to be parted from their phones even while bathing. ..... Almost 80 per cent of the country's 48 million people have mobile phones ...... Among teenagers, owning a mobile phone is seen as essential to having a normal social life
Chinese teens go crackers over web porn
South Korean hackers declare war on US
Fixed voice disappearing rapidly in EU says analyst fixed voice is going to suffer not the slow and lingering decline many have predicted, but a rather rapid one ........ 90 per cent of all voice minutes in Finland will originate on mobile phones by 2008
Mobile payments to generate $22bn by 2011
Firms prepare for mobile VoIP Seven out of 10 global businesses expect to be using VoIP regularly on mobile devices over the next two years
Wi-Fi world record set at 304km The link extended from Sardinia to central Italy and achieved data rates of about 5Mbps. ....... "After successfully interconnecting the whole Italian country with analogue FM repeaters, we would like to realise a new wide-band digital network to connect all Italian ham radio users to each other and to other services such as Echolink, ATV and Dstar"
Wireless standards battle looming
Video networking drives 802.11n adoption
Early Adoption Of Mobile WiMax Gets Underway InformationWeek Razzolink's main target has been rural subscribers who can't get or don't want DSL or cable. ....... setting up a new customer is as simple as delivering a modem and "flipping up the antenna." On rare occasions, an antenna is placed on a subscriber's roof. ...... "over-the-air software upgrade" ..... Navini has supplied its Ripwave MX product line to 70 networks on six continents. The largest is Unwired Australia, a 70,000-subscriber deployment in Sydney and Melbourne.
Bachchan to endorse Dabur's Chyawan Jr
End Of An African Nightmare what until recently was a horrible war zone, but is now a place of hope .......... Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman elected head of state in Africa ...... the 14-year civil war had killed 270,000 people – an astonishing one out of every twelve Liberians – and forced another 250,000 to become refugees. ...... The economy had completely collapsed, with GDP falling by more than 90 percent between 1989 and 1996, one of the largest collapses ever recorded anywhere in the world. ....... United Nations peacekeepers put an end to the conflict in 2003. Taylor first went into exile in Nigeria and is now in The Hague facing war crimes charges ........ rebuilding institutions, restoring basic services, reviving the economy and beginning to heal the deep wounds of war. ...... the resolution of its massive foreign debt. ....... electricity and water are being restored (there was no piped water or electricity except generators anywhere in the country for 14 years) ......... there are a small number of people that profited handsomely from the conflict and seem prepared to do anything to regain power. ...... 14,000 U.N. peacekeepers ...... The major creditors all have pledged to forgive Liberia’s debts, but the process is stuck at the IMF, where the Board has been debating for a full year how to share the costs of the write-off. ........ I hate to be a sexist, but maybe we ought to put more women in charge in tough places around the world.
Vatican buys soccer club News24
Study of US child health takes big step forward
Video: New York City For Barack Obama 7
