Todd For President
: Take a minute to check out the issues I stand for, then VOTE FOR ME!First Amendment Assailed Via Gun Bill
The House of Representatives is working on a bill, drawn up by the Republicans in the House, that targets youth crime. One of the key proposals, authored by Henry Hyde (R-Illinois), attempts to prohibit the sale to minors of material designed to appeal "to the prurient, shameful or morbid interest."
Mr. Hyde, who defines what is "shameful"? The Discovery Channel on TV runs occasional documentaries on forensic science and its real world application. Would you define this as being of "morbid interest"? And let's face it, just about every radio personality who wants to be like Howard Stern takes prurient to whole new levels.
No, this was added because the gutless, spineless idiots that inhabit run the Republican party care more about the NRA's dollars than they do about your kids. The put in language that would kill any bill or at least get it overturned in any court in the land. Get used to it. This is the GOP of the new millenium...
Microsoft Declares Itself A Monopoly
Apparently Microsoft has given up. They've decided to come clean about the fact that they are a monopoly, and they're tell us all to get over it. See, Microsoft is charging money for its Windows 2000 Beta 3.
Let me say that again: They are charging for a beta product.
For those of you that are new to computing, the Internet, and software development, let me explain; NO ONE CHARGES FOR A BETA PRODUCT. A beta product is recognized as having numerous bugs, both known and unknown, and is released for the expressed purpose of allowing users to beat it up and find the bugs that even the best professional testers would never find. Betas are free with the understanding that, if the beta causes some horrible problem, the user won't sue the pants off the developer. The user rolls the dice. They put their systems on the line, but the payoff is that they are experienced with a product before it hits the shelves. In an industry where experience is worth big bucks, that can be a really big payoff. On the downside, the beta may wipe out crucial data, take the system down for days at a time, screw up the company's network, etc. These can be really big penalties. And that's why NO ONE CHARGES FOR A BETA PRODUCT. Because there is a tacit understanding that the user is effectively doing the development company a favor by testing the software out in real world situations, and the user will take the hit if anything goes wrong. Of course the development company gives the highest priority to beta testers calling in to tech support, but if the system is down time is lost, productive goes to zero, and often data is lost.
So in effect, Microsoft is saying, "Hey, if you want our software early, you're going to have to pay. You can't get the industry's leading -- nay, ONLY -- business desktop operating system anywhere else, so we think you *will* pay for it. Forget the fact that NO ONE CHARGES FOR A BETA PRODUCT. Where else are you going to go?"
Microsoft, thanks for clearing that up.
Al Gore, Religion, & Government
Al Gore recently stated that he wants government and religion to become partners. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Al Gore for effectively stepping out of the race for President. He made a great effort and I think we should thank him for his input during his years in the highest office he'll ever attain as the Vice President. See, Al obviously doesn't want to be known as a quitter, but he doesn't really want the job of President. Otherwise, he'd have kept in mind that separation of religion and state is one of the reasons this country exists in the first place. Al, once I'm President I'll ask Vernon Jordan to find you a job suitable to your views. Like the Minister of Religious Affairs in Iran.
Internet Regulation and Deregulation
Having recently spent 5 months trying, unsuccessfully, to get a DSL connection from three different companies, one of which doesn't exist anymore, I feel that the communications industry needs some kind of consumer protection body. It's charter would not be to stifle the industry but to protect those who use the goods and services provided by it.
On the flip side, I am *very* against any form of taxation or extra charges on the communications required to access the Internet. I'm talking about states attempting to tax the user either on a byte volume basis or a per connection basis or whatever. States should collect sales tax on goods sold on the Internet if the business doing the sales is based in that state, but that's all.
The Internet must stay free.
Tianenmen Square
China is going all out to squelch any and all attempts to remember even one of the hundreds killed during the Tianenmen Square demonstration. CNN has an excellent write-up of the salient facts: http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9906/04/china.01/index.html. I think it's pretty amusing that China is all up in arms about the U.S. protecting a group of people from a mass murderer by bombing Belgrade. I also think it's no mystery why: they could be next. And you know what? They should be next.
That's right. We should pull every possible soldier of ours from around the world and put them on China's border. We should announce that 100% of all of our nuclear might is aimed at every major city in China. We should announce that we are swinging 100% of our intelligence agencies around to focus on ways to destroy China's government and eliminate those in power. We should park every one of our ships a stone's throw away from China's waters. Our demands would be pretty simple:
1. Get out of Tibet. Forever.
2. Publicly apologize to the relatives of those killed in Tianenmen Square and make remunerations to their families.
3. Abolish all restrictions on free speech.
There, now that wasn't so bad, was it? I would think that, given the obvious price to pay for refusal and the relatively low cost of the demands, this would be a slam dunk. On the other hand, a government that crushes the will of the people and even the bodies of the people it has been entrusted by its population to protect needs to be made accountable before more lives are lost, before its ideologies are forced on more bordering countries like Thailand and Tibet, and before they stand on our border and demand that we give up our rights and submit to their rule.
Back to Todd's Opinion Page (if you found this through a search engine)