Dave Farber’s IP List has an interesting post on controlled economies:
Einar Stefferud writes:
“Reminds me of efforts to [support] Wisconsin.
I well remember how we had to buy margarine by mail order and hand mix
in the yellow coloring because it was against to law there to sell it
any other way.
And, the law required that all apple pie served in any state institution,
like the University of Wisconsin had to be served with a slice of Wisconsin
Cheese. Most of that cheese went into the garbage because most people did
not want cheese with their apple pie.
This kind of foolishness does not help an economy to grow jobs. It just
causes stagnation and waste and loss of incentives.
And higher taxes to pay for the waste.
Economies do not thrive under central control.
Economies and Internets do better without central control of details.
And, in the international situation, this is the beginning of a trade war,
ala the beginning to the 1930’s depression, which lasted for approximately
10 years until WW-II finally bailed us out.
BTW, the trade wars were a major aspect of the causes of WW-II.”
Lott/Thurmond Blogsphere Case Study
From Dave Winer:
A milestone case study from the Shorenstein Center PDF [324K] was released today. It tells the story of Trent Lott, his talk at Strom Thurmond’s birthday party, and how the news flowed through professional channels, to the blogosphere, and back, ultimately resulting in Lott’s resignation as majority leader of the US Senate.
Fascinating, and it’s great that this report is publicly available.
Feingold votes with the NRA?
Wisconsin State Journal Editorial page:
“Beginning in September, the gun industry can resume making, importing and selling military-style semiautomatic weapons that were outlawed a decade ago. And in a hard-to-understand flip-flop, U.S. Sen, Russ Feingold, D-Wis., stood apart from President Bush and a majority of Feingold’s Senate colleagues of both parties by voting to dump the ban on these weapons.”
I dislike any sort of political posturing via votes that our representatives make knowing a bill will die. Politics…..
I’m Sorry, Dave, You’re Speeding
Electronic logging & authentication in your car.
“What we’re suggesting is the driver’s license in the future will be a smartcard, and it’s embedded with all the data required to operate the car more safely and efficiently,” Toyota project manager Paul Beranger said.
If you are concerned about electronic rights (and you should be), support the EFF.
Calatrava does residential
Architect Santiago Calatrava (Milwaukee’s Art Museum) is set to make his mark on New York City’s skyline with a new residential tower.
A day as election judge
“Avi Rubin, a well regarded Johns Hopkins computer science professor and leading critic of e-voting, has written an account of his experience as an election judge on super tuesday.
Maryland was experimenting with e-Voting machines. Rubin puts it this way, ‘this was one of the most incredible days in my life.’ He wrote his experiences immediately after the day was over, capturing his perspective on the subject. A very interesting read.”
Our Man in Ulan Bator
From the Atlantic Monthly:
A new breed of American soldier?call him the soldier-diplomat?has come into being since the end of the Cold War. Meet the colonel who was our man in Mongolia, an officer who probably wielded more local influence than many Mongol rulers of yore.
Thanks to John Robb….
Smart children left behind
In order to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind, New York State
and Illinois have stopped dedicating funds to providing enriched programs
for gifted students, The New York Times reports.
“As long as students pass the exams, the federal law offers no rewards for
raising the scores of high achievers, or punishment if their progress lags.”
We have special protection for the disabled, the various races, the two
genders (I think), ESL students–and we condemn the brightest to
intellectual starvation.
The consequences of abandoning a substantial percentage of the Republic’s
brightest students–even if the great cities, by virtue of their size, and
the wealthiest suburbs, by spending their own money, are able to protect
their brightest–will be severe. “Justice cannot sleep forever.”
Thanks to ALEX R. COHEN, J.D.
Health Savings Accounts
Avram Lank writes about health savings accounts (similar to IRA’s), and the success a Wisconsin Bank has had promoting them.
No child left behind – Ro vs. Lantos
Larry Lessig posts on a recent debate between California 12th District incumbent Democrat Tom Lantos and challenger Ro Khanna. The debate included a discussion of the No Child Left Behind Act (google) (teoma) (alltheweb) (yahoo).
And here’s a link to one of my favorite exchanges. Ro criticizes Congressman Lantos for supporting the “No Child (except public school childred) Left Behind Act.” Just “talking to teachers,” he says, would have told you that Act wouldn’t work. In classic DC style, Lantos’ response: Ted Kennedy supported it, so it is “outrageous” for a “newcomer” to criticize what people who have “devoted their whole life to education” say. Ro is cut off in his reply: “I’m assuming that teachers who have devoted their whole life to education know more…”