The state of Colorado is under assault. Opponents of Colorado?s Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) are waging a well coordinated but misleading attack on Colorado?s reputation. This attack takes the form of a number of rankings and statistics that purport to show that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights has decimated Colorado. These rankings and statistics are based on the assumption that if Colorado ranks poorly on things like the adequacy of prenatal care and education spending, then Colorado is failing to adequately care for and educate its citizens, and that the Taxpayer Bill of Rights must be to blame. A closer look at the attacks shows that they fail to prove that the amount a state spends on health care and education determines quality, and they also fail to tell the whole truth about the rankings and statistics of the state of Colorado.
Daily Archives: March 29, 2005
Armstrong’s Notes on MGM vs Grokster
I would say the argument went a little better for Grokster than I would have expected it to. Not to the point where I’d actually predict victory for them, but to my mind at least, the questions Grokster got were not as difficult as those MGM got.
The big issue that the Justices were wrestling with, it seemed to me, is what the standard ought to be for deciding whether services like Grokster can be secondarily liable for their users’ copyright infringement. The Justices did not sound especially satisfied with either MGM’s or the government’s answers to this question.
David Byrne Launches an Internet Radio Station
Xeni:
Musician and artist David Byrne, known most widely as co-founder of the Talking Heads, has just launched an internet radio station that streams the music he digs. I spoke with Mr. Byrne earlier today about the project for NPR’s “Day to Day.” Part of the interview will be included in a segment airing on the show tomorrow about filesharing and cultural change — but here are more details about the radio project.
Saving TV….
Only you can save television. Well worth reading.
More on Carolina & the UW Badgers
Both versions of the Tar Heels were on display Sunday afternoon when North Carolina held off an outmanned Wisconsin team 88-82. North Carolina was so dazzling offensively it resembled an NBA team; unfortunately, it was so detached on defense, it did the same. The Tar Heels were so nonchalant, they left Wisconsin – Wisconsin – looking like Phi Slamma Jamma.
Florida WiFi: The Telco’s Play Hardball
via isen.com
Under the [three bills pending before the Florida Legislature], if the phone or cable companies don’t offer a proposal, the cities can go ahead with their own, but only after doing a feasibility study and asking residents to vote on the project at least once ? twice if bonds would be used to finance it.
That would take anywhere from two to four years, one group says.
“No city would look at that process and say, ‘Yeah! We’re going to go down that road,’ ” said Barry Moline, executive director of the Florida Municipal Electric Association, which represents cities that own utilities
Big Brother, continued: Amazon Knows Who You Are & Will Sell the Data
Amazon.com has one potentially big advantage over its rival online retailers: It knows things about you that you may not know yourself.
Though plenty of companies have detailed systems for tracking customer habits, both critics and boosters say Amazon is the trailblazer, having collected information longer and used it more proactively. It even received a patent recently on technology aimed at tracking information about the people for whom its customers buy gifts.