28 July

Kevin Martin, champion of Net Neutrality?

According to Freepress.net, Martin joins a “Bipartisan FCC Majority” to punish Comcast for its peer-to-peer blocking funny business, already discussed here lots of times.

Like everybody else, I'll await the in depth analysis sure to come from Harold Feld.

But assuming that this is what it appears to be, I hereby congratulate Chairman Martin. As I reported here, I had a chance to talk to him at the reception following the FCC hearing in Boston. And I found him sympathetic to the point of view that net neutrality was about more than consumer rights, it was about preserving the Internet as an engine of democracy. I wouldn't be surprised if that argument figured in the deliberations on this ruling. In any event, I'm cautiously optimistic.
16:30:10 - John - No comments

16 July

Shocking News! Rich People Cheat!

Via Suburban Guerilla Suzie, to whom I was sent by a dog-barking surrogate Atrios, this little newsbite:
This will be a lot of fun, I think:

Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.

A good apetizer for the magnum opus essay I'm working on as a sequel to Harold's recent Gods of the Marketplace story. Filthy-rich tax cheats with secret accounts in Liechtenstein, a brave young Licthensteinian data entry clerk convicted Licthensteinian fraud selling purloined bank records to German & British & American tax investigators, now in hiding with a new secret identity. . . trust me, it's great stuff. Check it out.
11:19:43 - John - No comments

09 July

The words seem oddly familiar. . .

Dogbark Master had this “deep thought” up today:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

I know I've heard that before. It's right on the tip of my tongue. . .

01:19:35 - John - No comments