In the news as of late there has a lot of discussion about the appropriateness of what the University of Florida Police did to Andrew Meyer, a student who disrupted an event involving Senator John Kerry by aggressively yelling out questions. While this video is disturbing and call attention to the enormous power that police have when executing their prerogative to use force, it not the first time that shocking video has come out. The following are other videos of police abusing their power to use force in disturbing ways.
(Warning: Some videos are graphic and depict actual death)
Well its taking me awhile, but I’m back to post on the news last week that Apple’s iPhone has been hacked and unlocked. On the blogosphere there have been no shortage of comments on just what unlocking the iPhone means, both for the average consumer and for Apple and AT&T. This was exemplified by a somewhat heated discussion between the crew of regulars on the Leo Laporte podcast Macbreak Weekly last week which can be found here. Within that conversation a broader theme seems to have emerged involving the dichotomy between what companies want or need, and what consumers want, i.e. is the increased choice that unlocking the iPhone brings a good thing for the market as a whole or does it hurt companies so much in the long run that it therefore hurts the consumer as well?
There is no doubt that unlocking the iPhone in the short term brings more choice to a locked down system and gives consumers at least a limited choice between using AT&T and T-Mobile. For the international market, unlocking the iPhone even has the potential to substantially increase Apples revenue from hardware sales by creating many potential hardware costumers in a place devoid of AT&T. While on its face this makes unlocking the iPhone look good, this is not the end of the our analysis. The story of bringing the iPhone to market has been a careful dance between the hardware development and partnering with AT&T for service. Apple has been careful to do something that no other hardware manufacturer has done in that it has carved out a share of revenue from service contracts sold through AT&T. Thus, Apple has a substantial amount of revenue to be lost by the iPhone becoming unlocked and consumers choosing other providers. Furthermore, with apple negotiating with overseas providers, an unlocked iPhone could represent the circumvention of a similar deal to its deal with AT&T from getting done in Europe and the loss of revenue from contracts for service in those markets.
As it seems to me that this presidential election cycle, the primary season has started earlier than ever. With three debates already having occurred and another set for later this week, it seems as though Presidential Politics is already in full swing. The media seemed to have swarmed all over this blossoming season running up to the the start of the presidential primaries partly because of the landmark campaigns of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Primaries are an incredibly important part of our political process bringing some semblance of order to a system that hardly any Americans actually understand to begin with. The staggered primary system that we use, allows candidates to build momentum and gain support and money or conversely provides front runners the opportunity to fall from grace. Perhaps the most important characteristic of the staggered primary is its direct link to fundraising. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday, a jury in Miami-Dade County, Florida reach a verdict of guilty in the trial involving Jose Padilla. I’m not entirely sure what his conviction actually means. Some pundits are claiming that this is a great victory for the Bush administration and their strategy for the war on terror. Yet others on the opposite side of the isle are claiming that Padilla’s conviction is proof that the Criminal Justice system, as is, can deal appropriately with terrorism cases and there is no need to set up an external military style terrorism court. At this moment the water is still murky and we will have to wait for history to tell us whether any one side is right, but if one thing is clear it is that the fundamental shift in the way Americans view their own civil liberties that occurred after 911 is still creating ripples 6 years later. Read the rest of this entry »
Apparently Dick Cheney has gotten dumber as he has gotten older. The profound nature of his own ability to fool himself into believing the bull shit that comes out of his mouth is incredible.
Finally a non-profit is starting to look at the world food market as global economy. For years and years the American government has sponsored a practice that at worst has resulted in littler more than “dumping” and at best has added another layer of transaction costs in getting food to the plates of those who need it most. It has long past the time when feeding the world has become a moral imperative for all humans, but we cannot do that by maintaining our antiquating, anti-competition subsidies of food farmers in the U.S. Bravo to CARE for taking a stand against American self promotion.
It is hard to see in the short term how CARE’s refusal of this indirect aid will benefit anyone. CARE will be loosing out on valuable funds and could potentially be shutting down an easy avenue to infuse undeveloped nations with a larger food supply. But, Ultimately, the shift of resources from buying food from the U.S., which re-enforces bad food subsidies and over production, to the development of technology and the implementation of better farming techniques, will allow farmers in developing nations to produce food for themselves and redistribute income into their own economy. Instead of providing money to foreign based non-profit groups, the income generated by the increased domestic yields could be reinvested into domestic economies which ultimately is key for these nations to get their food on the first rung of ladder of development.
It is time for Americans to remove our sole focus on our well being and focus on the global fight on poverty.
Having previously worked as a defense investigator I’d like to think that my understanding of the how our criminal defense system actually works is better than most. I, therefore, find it understandable that while talking to the lay person about Michael Vick and the torrent for trouble that he has landed in, that they would jump to the conclusion that he should be suspended from Football immediately. What I cannot stomach is those persons in the print and television media who continually sit upon their chairs of wisdom and through out snap judgments about his guilt our innocence completely based on the fact that he was been indicted. Granted that the innocent until proven guilty standard is more suited to the courtroom than our everyday life, but the shear lack respect for due process that some commentators and groups have exhibited is hard to stomach.
Due process is what keeps our system just. While Rodger Goodell may have a duty to protect the integrity of Football, we as Americans, have a duty to protect our system of Laws. It does a dis-service to our society when sports commentators raise there voices and scream at the top of their lungs for Michael Vick’s head on a pike.
