November 20, 2005 at 10:20 pm
(Civil Rights)
The winners of Kelo v New London haven’t moved their project forward.
While some of this seems to be due to the lost momentum that is inevitable when one faces a challenge that goes up to the Supreme Court, there may be some hope; from the story:
Instead, wary of public disapproval and challenges from groups like the Institute for Justice, the law firm that represented the holdouts in court, the state and the city have halted plans to evict the remaining residents. Investors are concerned about building on land that some people consider a symbol of property rights.
Let’s hope this is the case and the city and developers have decided that bad publicity and karma, if you will, may be worse than lost revenue.
Comments
November 16, 2005 at 5:28 am
(Political)
This editorial (and it’s high ranking) shows that we’re not going to let Bush off easy on Iraq’s causes. As do his low poll numbers.
And Bush is coming to Colorado to show support for Representative Marilyn Musgrave, who famously spent an entire term drumming up support for a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, no doubt the best way she could be helping her constituents. (They thought so too, and voted her another term, but apparently things aren’t looking so rosy in 2006.)
We seem to be coming around to the fact that certain leaders are perhaps not leading as well as they could be. Just a few things to keep in mind over the next year.
Comments
November 13, 2005 at 10:36 pm
(Science/Technology)
Clearly, Sony has ruffled a few feathers with it’s ill conceived plan to copy-protect certain CD’s.
One has to wonder what the music industry thinks they’re trying to sell. They seem to have little concept of music’s place in society. Otherwise, why would they be so hell-bent to keep people from sharing it or listening to it on their own terms? Especially since copying CD’s for family and friends (as opposed to for anyone in the world who happens to want to copy it off your computer) is nothing new? I mean, copying cassette tape was easier than copying a CD. Are you going to tell me there wasn’t low-grade piracy ten or fifteen years ago at a comparable rate to what you see today?
Profit is important, sure. But even more important is that the customer gets what they want. And if I pay fifteen dollars for a CD I really like, why is my friend, who only kind of likes it, going to pay fifteen dollars as well? As long a there is copy protection, there is going to be a way around it.
Comments
November 12, 2005 at 12:54 am
(Science/Technology)
The first computer I ever knew was a Kaypro II running CP/M. In order to start it up, one had to have the appropriate 5 1/4″ floppy disk in the drive when they turned in on. Since then, computers have advanced a long way, and now you have everything you need to boot the computer up right there on the hard drive. The drawback (as you know if you’ve ever tried to take the primary hard drive from one computer and put it in a completely different machine) is that everything a given computer knows how to boot is tailored specifically to it.
So I was fairly impressed when I was introduced to Knoppix, which is a distribution of Linux which you can put on a CD and insert into any PC to get a fully functional, flashy GUI, probably in less time than Windows will boot up. More impressive is that all of those different cards (ethernet, wireless, etc.) that Windows struggles so mightily with are available to use without any hassle at all. And, while their user-friendliness sometimes leaves a bit to be desired, so are many of the applications you wouldn’t dare take for granted in Windows.
And once again, I find myself booting my computer with a disk.
Comments
November 12, 2005 at 12:32 am
(Social/Economic)
I find Nissan’s decision to move their North American headquarters from LA to Tennessee somewhat interesting.
Nissan is a very profitable car company, so they’re probably ahead of the curve. The decision to leave LA for more affordable central Tennessee indicates that the need to find a sustainableskilled labor base is probably going to drive a continued labor shift from California and other expensive, densely populated areas to the heartland.
This will be a positive in the long term for at least a few states that have been getting the short shrift. I do see a few potential pitfalls that I hope these areas can avoid. For one, the dependence on the car severely handicapped LA and is now handicapping other sunbelt cities like Atlanta. Now, it may be a lot to ask of a small town (and especially one with a car manufacturer moving in) to set up mass transit and so forth. But that doesn’t mean they should avoid thoroughly planned pedestrian- and bike- friendly neighborhoods. Doing so now will help attract and maintain a strong labor force and commercial base that such a town might otherwise lose to a larger nearby town or a city elsewhere in the country. Good planning will combat brain drain.
I also find it interesting that states are willing to give tax breaks–it’s nothing new by any means but it does indicate a willingness to sacrifice in the short term for some perceived long term benefit–higher statewide employment, more sales tax revenue, etc. I wonder if the jobs in Tennessee will mainly transplants from LA or mainly locals? And if several hundred Angelinos move into Tennessee, and then several hundred more and so forth, what does that do the the various cultural aspects of the area?
I notice that California has several cities on the “most overpriced housing market” list. On my most recent visit to Kentucky someone asked if I was a “liberal northerner” with a twinge of disdain. I had to laugh.
Comments
November 2, 2005 at 9:07 am
(Culture)
Automakers reported their weakest sales month since 1998 in October, which is weird since half the people I know bought a brand new car last month. (Ok, I exaggerate. But I can think of five people, which seems like a lot.)
Honda Motor Co. reported an increase of 4 percent, which the company attributed to strong sales of its redesigned Civic sedan as well as the new Ridgeline pickup.
Yeah, the ‘06 Civic is something else. I wasn’t planning on looking at a new car very seriously until early next year, but one look and I was hooked. Well, good for them.
In the meantime, the domestics have realized they need to stop the bleeding fast, but one wonders if their reactions are too little too late. It takes a long time to rebuild a reputation– even if their current models are outlasting Hondas and Toyotas 15 years from now, well, it’s not helping them now.
Comments
November 1, 2005 at 10:42 pm
(Colorado)
Has an off year election ever been so much fun?
First, you have Referenda C&D which remind me of Thing 1 and Thing 2. You either love them or hate them. The only statewide issues in this year’s election also remind me of the Denver Broncos. They looked solid, then, as gas prices started to eat into people’s budget, it started to look as if the anti-tax crowd might pull off a come-from behind victory. Although as this publication went to press, it looked as if they’d hold off the opposition, it’s only the two minute warning.
My next favorite ballot issue is Denver’s marijuana initiative. Eventually, I think pot is going to be legal everywhere but the Federal government will still go after people for thinking about it. Well, Denverites are less enthused about this one than C&D (which are up by 30% in the City&County). But it’s still passing.
We Denverites apparently don’t mind taxes too much, as we’re also giving the nod to a couple other initiatives that are going to affect our pocketbooks negatively in the short term. But perhaps we’re just more patient than the rest of the state and can appreciate the long-term benefit of better public works and a merit-based compensation program for teachers. The usual junk is out there, too.
A few extras:
Who donates hundreds or thousands of dollars to defeat a proposal that will cost them less than that over a five year period? You have to think some people did. You know, no one likes paying taxes. I always thought good roads and good schools were a postive thing.
It’s always intersting to see what the national media has to say about our little ol’ state. The NY Times was nice enough to provide this story. Incidentally, if your state is looking at something like TABOR, here’s a hint. It’s NOT A GOOD IDEA!!! Sure, it looks good on paper, but how are you going to limit spending to consumer inflation when the things that government has to buy increase at, say, 10% a year (like asphalt) when consumer inflation, even with seemingly outrageous gas prices, are increasing only 2-3% a year? Keeping government spending in check is a noble cause, but the idea needs work.
1 Comment
