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RE: Capitalism and economic struggles
by Vincent Penquerc'h 02 May '03

02 May '03

> Two people start businesses in the same town. Alice works hard, works > long hours, concentrates on her business. Bob fails to do this. Alice > drives Bob out of business. The point is to balance consequences of everyone's actions for everyone. In your case, Alice works hard and drives Bob out of business because she gains something in it (as the smoker did gain something (pleasure) from smoking). But the smoker could gain the same pleasure from smoking at another time (though if smoking was forbidden everywhere, that would be a different matter) for little annoyance. Alice could not do with changing business to help Bob, this would be a huge strain on her. So, you see, there is a large difference in the two examples, though I grant you they seem similar. Now, you might also say that being exposed to the smoke is only a small inconvenience, but this is to be compared to the small inconvenience for the smoker. As a side note: I'd have different views on your example if Alice was specifically trying to get Bob out of business, and depending on the methods she was using to further these ends. > capitalism is the process of creative destructionism Life as a whole is, whether at the micro level of one's life or at the macro level of evolution. -- Vincent Penquerc'h

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Re: Making Money in Digital Money
by Major Variola (ret) 02 May '03

02 May '03

At 08:14 PM 5/1/03 -0400, zem wrote: >> Why would Bob's "clients" care if the cost was low enough, or just >> casually traded? > >Spam. > >The reason clients pay Alice or Bob to receive their approval ratings is >to avoid downloading bogus files - incomplete, poorly encoded, misnamed, >or deliberately spoofed files (cf Madonna's "what the fuck?" example). Zem, the editor need not be a single or static entity. Consider slashdot, which uses its readers as ephemeral editors. Consider the (new) KaZaa ratings system which does the same. Consider ebay's user rating system. So yes, the editing *function* is valuable, but it needn't be implemented by a paid individual. --- E pur si muove -G Galilei

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Showdown at the FCC
by Harmon Seaver 02 May '03

02 May '03

SHOWDOWN AT THE FCC MoveOn Bulletin Friday, May 2, 2003 Co-Editors: Don Hazen and Lakshmi Chaudry, AlterNet Subscribe online at: http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/ You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking here: http://moveon.org/s?i=1334-1692048-4yD_r3kLzrTkA0oje7vXpQ CONTENTS: 1. Eli Pariser: Why Worry About Who Owns the Media? 2. Jeff Chester: Showdown at the FCC 3. Neil Hickey: The Gathering Storm Over Media Ownership 4. Bill Moyers: Barry Diller Takes On Media Deregulation 5. Danny Schechter: The Media, the War, and Our Right to Know 6. Eric Boehlert: Clear Channel's Big Stinking Deregulation Mess 7. Paul Schmelzer: The Death of Local News 8. Caryl Rivers: Where Have All the Women Gone? 9. About the Bulletin ------------------------------ WHY WORRY ABOUT WHO OWNS THE MEDIA? MoveOn Bulletin Op-Ed by Eli Pariser It's like something out of a nightmare, but it really happened: At 1:30 on a cold January night, a train containing hundreds of thousands of gallons of toxic ammonia derails in Minot, North Dakota. Town officials try to sound the emergency alert system, but it isn't working. Desperate to warn townspeople about the poisonous white cloud bearing down on them, the officials call their local radio stations. But no one answers any of the phones for an hour and a half. According to the New York Times, three hundred people are hospitalized, some are partially blinded, and pets and livestock are killed. Where were Minot's DJs on January 18th, 2002? Where was the late night station crew? As it turns out, six of the seven local radio stations had recently been purchased by Clear Channel Communications, a radio giant with over 1,200 stations nationwide. Economies of scale dictated that most of the local staff be cut: Minot stations ran more or less on auto pilot, the programming largely dictated from further up the Clear Channel food chain. No one answered the phone because hardly anyone worked at the stations any more; the songs played in Minot were the same as those played on Clear Channel stations across the Midwest. Companies like Clear Channel argue that economies of scale allow them to cut costs while continuing to provide quality programming. But they do so at the expense of local coverage. It's not just about emergency warnings: media mergers are decreasing coverage of local political races, local small businesses, and local events. There are only a third as many owners of newspapers and TV stations as there were in the 1970s (about 600 now; over 1,500 then). It's harder and harder for Americans to find out what's going on in their own back yards. On June 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering relaxing or getting rid of rules to allow much more media concentration. While the actual rule changes are under wraps, they could allow enormous changes in the American media environment. For example, one company could be allowed to own ABC, CBS, and NBC. Almost certainly, media companies will be allowed to own newspapers and TV stations in the same town. We could be entering a new era of media megaliths. Do you want one or two big companies acting as gatekeepers and controlling your access to news and entertainment? Most of us don't. And the airwaves explicitly belong to us -- the American people. We allow media companies to use them in exchange for their assurance that they're serving the public interest, and it's the FCC's job to make sure that's so. For the future of American journalism, and for the preservation of a diverse and local media, we have the hold the FCC to its mission. Otherwise, Minot's nightmare may become our national reality. ------------------------------ Interested in taking on the FCC and other media-related concerns? Join the MoveOn Media Corps, a group of over 29,000 committed Americans working for a fair and balanced media. You can sign up now at: http://www.moveon.org/mediacorps/ ------------------------------ SHOWDOWN AT THE FCC Jeffrey Chester and Don Hazen, AlterNet Despite wide protests and the Clear Channel debacle, the FCC is about to award the nation's biggest media conglomerates a new give-away that will further concentrate media ownership in fewer hands. The impact on the American media landscape could be disastrous. Recent TV coverage of the Iraq war already illustrates that US media companies aren't interested in providing a serious range of analysis and debate. This overview describes what's at stake and offers an introduction to the following articles. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15796 ------------------------------ THE GATHERING STORM OVER MEDIA OWNERSHIP Neil Hickey, Columbia Journalism Review CJR's editor-at-large explains just what is at stake in this fight over media ownership. He provides an in-depth look at the issues, and major players in a battle that is pitting journalists against their bosses, breaking up old alliances, and gathering momentum as the day of reckoning draws near. He traces the snowballing trend of media consolidation and its implications for the future, revealing just how the drive for profit is eroding diversity, local control, and more importantly giving a few mega-corporations a monopoly over the dissemination of news. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15654 ------------------------------ BARRY DILLER TAKES ON MEDIA DEREGULATION Bill Moyers, Now with Bill Moyers The founder of Fox Broadcasting and present CEO of USA Networks is an unlikely but passionate opponent of plans to loosen media ownership rules. In an interview with Bill Moyers, the media mogul explains how deregulation creates corporations with "such overwhelming power in the marketplace that everyone has to do essentially what they say." Diller argues that government regulation is essential to prevent media companies from controlling everything we see, read, and hear. As he puts it, "Who else is gonna do it for us?" http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15768 ------------------------------ THE MEDIA, THE WAR, AND OUR RIGHT TO KNOW Danny Schechter, MediaChannel.org Why did the media do such a poor job of reporting on the Iraq war? The boosterism of news anchors, the suppression of antiwar views, and the sanitized images of war that defined television coverage are not a simple matter of bias or ineptitude, says media analyst Danny Schechter. He draws attention to the connection between the decisions made by journalists and the lobbying efforts of owners who will profit immensely from the upcoming FCC decision in June. http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/moveon.shtml ------------------------------ CLEAR CHANNEL'S BIG STINKING DEREGULATION MESS Eric Boehlert, Salon Clear Channel, the radio and concert conglomerate, has been the greatest beneficiary of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which stripped all ownership limits in the radio industry. The rapacious company, led by Bush supporter Lowry Mays, has grown from 40 stations to 1,225 since then, and now uses its power to routinely bully advertisers and record companies, and more recently censor antiwar artists. However, as Eric Boehlert points out, its "success" may be the most powerful weapon in the arsenal of media activists. Clear Channel's stranglehold on the radio industry is the best and clearest example of the effects of rampant deregulation. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15281 ------------------------------ THE DEATH OF LOCAL NEWS Paul Schmelzer, AlterNet Meet the Sinclair Broadcast Group, the "Clear Channel of local news." Since 1991, the company has managed to acquire 62 television stations or 24 percent of the national TV audience. The company's modus operandi is the centralized production of homogenized, repackaged faux "local" news. Its success offers an alarming glimpse of the post-deregulation world in which all news may be produced in one giant newsroom and from a single viewpoint -- which in Sinclair's case is wholeheartedly conservative. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15718. ------------------------------ WHERE HAVE ALL THE WOMEN GONE? Caryl Rivers, Women's Enews Once the war on Iraq took center-stage in the headlines of newspapers and magazines across the country, women writers became increasingly rare in the media. In their place are mostly white men who write on a narrow band of foreign policy issues, mostly recycling their views over and over again. From the all-male line-ups in the op-ed pages of the Washington Post and the New York Times to the dwindling female bylines in the New Yorker and Atlantic Monthly, women's voices have been caught in a "spiral of silence" that is unprecedented since the pre-women's movement days. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15677 ------------------------------ ABOUT THE MOVEON BULLETIN AND MOVEON.ORG The MoveOn Bulletin is a free email bulletin providing information, resources, news, and action ideas on important political issues. The full text of the MoveOn Bulletin is online at http://www.moveon.org/moveonbulletin/; you can subscribe to it at that address. The MoveOn Bulletin is a project of MoveOn.org. MoveOn.org is an issue-oriented, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that gives people a voice in shaping the laws that affect their lives. MoveOn.org engages people in the civic process, using the Internet to democratically determine a non-partisan agenda, raising public awareness of pressing issues, and coordinating grassroots advocacy campaigns to encourage sound public policies. You can help decide the direction of MoveOn.org by participating in the discussion forum at: http://www.actionforum.com/forum/index.html?forum_id=223 This is a message from MoveOn.org. To remove yourself (Harmon Seaver) from this list, please visit our subscription management page at:<br> http://moveon.org/s?i=1334-1692048-4yD_r3kLzrTkA0oje7vXpQ ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com

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RE: Cheese-eating surrender monkeys
by Trei, Peter 02 May '03

02 May '03

> Tim May[SMTP:timcmay@got.net] wrote: > > The right-wing columnist Jonathan Goldberg dubbed them "cheese-eating > surrender monkeys" several years ago, long before this latest matter. > Has a great cadence, and it's accurate. > No one expects the Pedantry Police! Goldberg used the phrase in a 1999 column, but he did not invent it. It's from a actually from a 1995 Simpsons episode, "Round Springfield" (production number 2F32) Here's the quote in context: ---------------------- [A little later, Bart puts his hand up]. Bart: Mrs. Krabappel, I'm done failing the test. Can I _please_ go to the nurse? Edna: Gosh, Bart, maybe you really are in pain. Well...it would be cruel not to let you go. [files her nails, hums the national anthem] [hums part of "Stars and Stripes Forever"] Heh heh heh, _now_ you may go. Bart: [walking into nurse's room] Lunch Lady Doris? Why are you here? Doris: Budget cuts. They've even got Groundskeeper Willy teaching French. Willy: "Bonjourrr", you cheese-eating surrender monkeys! ---------------- First broadcast: April 30, 1995 More info than you wanted to know: http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F32.html [I agree with most of the post, but couldn't let this misquote stand] Peter Trei

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RE: MailVault to sell of user mail, PGP keys (was: MailVault.com for auction (LFCity dissolution)]
by Trei, Peter 02 May '03

02 May '03

> LFCFA[SMTP:webmaster@lfcfa.org] writes: > > For seven years, the Laissez Faire City International Trust built and > planned Laissez Faire City, the first sovereign international city > domiciled in cyberspace. In 2002, Laissez Faire City closed its > doors. Since then, important steps have been taken to bring the > organization to a just and final dissolution. This week, we are > taking one of the final steps in that process: to auction off > remaining assets, both intellectual and physical property. > > Among the properties available for public bidding is Mailvault(R), > the first private, PGP-encrypted e-mail service on the Internet. The > LFCIT supported and funded the Mailvault(R) service; as of April > 2003, more than 5000 users take advantage of Mailvault's fast, easy, > PGP-enabled service to keep their communications private. > Mailvault(R) itself, as well as several other domain names, software > projects and more, are all available for sale during this sale. We > hope that this auction will help us settle accounts with our > creditors, and find new homes for these projects. > > The auction is available to the public at http://www.lfcfa.org > starting now. Bids will be accepted on items or lots listed for sale, > from now until Monday, May 5th 2003, at 5:00pm CST. Following an > internal deliberation period, winners will be announced at the > http://www.lfcfa.org web site on Friday evening, May 9th 2003. > I took a peek at the items on sale. Of particular interest to privacy buffs is Item U1 (see https://www.lfcfa.org/auction/prop.aspx) 4.User Data ITEM: U1 Mailvault service user data DESCRIPTION: all manner of user data currently stored in the Mailvault system - this includes user accounts, stored mail, PGP keys. If I were a Mailvault customer, I would find this perturbing. Peter Trei Disclaimer: My opinons! No one elses!

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Re: Fake News for Big Brother
by Nomen Nescio 02 May '03

02 May '03

> On February 14, a Florida Appeals court ruled there is absolutely > nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a > major press organization. The court reversed the $425,000 jury verdict > in favor of journalist Jane Akre who charged she was pressured by Fox > Television management and lawyers to air what she knew and documented > to be false information. The ruling basically declares it is technically > not against any law, rule, or regulation to deliberately lie or distort > the news on a television broadcast. It's significant that a United States Court of Appeals has a stronger commitment to the First Amendment than supposed arch-libertarian Tim May. Look at May's response when confronted with the idea that a newspaper has the right to print what it chooses: > But the journalist and his editors are still alive. > > When they have been necklaced and lit, we can rest easier. > > Burning down the entire newspaper office would maybe be overkill, but, > hey, what the hell. > > Fuck them dead. That's right: Tim May believes people should be tortured and killed for saying the wrong thing in their own newspaper. Apparently he believes that he has the right to set rules which everyone else must follow in what they say, under penalty of a horrific death. Needless to say, nothing could be further from the letter and spirit of the First Amendment. Thank God for the protection of anonymity. With people like Tim May throwing around death threats towards those who say the wrong thing, this may soon be the only way we can communicate without fear. Please join me in condemning this savage trampling on principles supported by all men of honor.

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Re: Fake News for Big Brother
by James A. Donald 02 May '03

02 May '03

-- On 30 Apr 2003 at 12:00, David Howe wrote: > Which of the two will 98% of the public believe, and which > will be derided as a crackpot theory (hint, the answer isn't > "whichever is true") > > remember that more than half of americans are firmly > convinced saddam was responsible for 9/11 You are demented. This much reported fact is not a fact. You, not americans, live in a deranged world of your own. Very few americans believe saddam was responsible for 9/11. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG nyGGBaDcPbxvHeeaxPrVstyxhpCdk2/CSYXN8x5i 4eP9dWr2HeA5nEHeHmfVREVaoq4YL32ytKew35bN3

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Re: Making Money in Digital Money
by James A. Donald 02 May '03

02 May '03

-- On 1 May 2003 at 10:20, Sunder wrote: > Really they are? If Joe P2P User wants to hear a Metallica > song, does he really give a shit who signed it and said it > was authentic? Is it the signature or the song what he's > after? Go find some P2P users and ask them. My library is nearly all old songs. I would value some source of good songs, whose recommendation was sufficient for me to try something I had not heard -- indeed, if there was some convenient way to make micropayments, I would put a quarter in their player, to see what was playing. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG a53K6g90F+W3lpSUE83AfxHTo1Jjzh1726kciUj4 4u/+InWapRqXUJ813rOSnG1spl5BFB7d7cL5k0qEQ

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Re: patriotism considered evil
by James A. Donald 02 May '03

02 May '03

-- On 30 Apr 2003 at 11:15, Tim May wrote: > Of course, this isn't a survey of the _prevalence_ or > _magnitude_ of the claims, but it's an example that at least > some Brits on the pro-war side are using slurs about the > patriotism of the opponents. Galloway was paid the equivalent of half a million US dollars a year by Saddam, and that is why they think him unpatriotic. By the way, every time I defend free trade and so called sweatshops, I ask Nike to put me on their payroll, but so far they have not replied. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG N0mPTEGvv6f4r9v6Qj1IzfvUzTngQhZTpTfgWkS3 4PzoR0ZyFqhFp3kizgfP+09cN94WufYCU4JLEIpZg

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stuff
by Shawn K. Quinn 02 May '03

02 May '03

This message contains the word "fuck" just to trip the silly content filter at uspto.gov. Have a nice day. -- Shawn K. Quinn

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