On Liberals and Conservatives in America

The basic difference between Liberals and Conservatives appears to come down to this: Conservatives fear Liberal reform will limit their ability to manage their personal wealth. Liberals fear that Conservative reform will limit their personal liberty.

WAH 11/7/07

Regarding the ethical responsibilities of a modern society

Modern man has created for himself a paradigm of guaranteed global confrontation. We will either do battle with our planet, or we will do battle with each other. Either option results in our eventual destruction. Our ethical dilemma, then, is deciding how much other life on this planet we intend to take with us.

WAH 10/23/1007

Conference Waste - an easy place to get GREEN

I'm sitting at the O'Reilly and CMP Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco and listening to the CEO of Umbria about the power of blogging. Interesting. So I dig through my conference goodie bag - usually worthless but try telling them you don't want it and they shove it at you (at most conferences that is, plus you get the attendee list which all anyone really cares about).

There is a ton of crap in this bag. Not only is the bag worthless, thin, hard to use and meaningless as an item, but inside the bag is a bunch of paper and CD marketing materials from well known brands. I bet that most of this winds up in the garbage of local hotels within 1-2 days. Then, it gets transferred to SF landfills and left to rot with the rest of our garbage.

SO I HAVE A NEW PLAN

1. Contact your conference coordinators (look on the website for the email addresses) and tell them to stop contributing to the incredible waste in this country. They actually have control over a ton of information and have the opportunity to lead in this space. Here's O'Reilly's and CMP's managers (OReilly = Brady Forest, CMP = Jen Pahlka) they are at the front of the program.

2. Don't buy any of the stuff in the marketing package, and mostly DO NOT REGISTER AT THE MARKETING EMAILS AND WEBSITES PROVIDED IN THE PACKAGE. Lack of demand will reduce the effective value of this practice to ZERO and they'll stop doing it.

TIME TO GET ACTIVE AND HELP REDUCE WASTE.

Here are the advertisers by name
eBay Developers Forum
Salesforce.com
Adobe Apollo CD
IBM CD
zimki.com
WebEx
web2corp
oreilly (4 pieces in this bag alone)
Nokia
AOL

Next, stop buying or visiting these sites. Send a message that you are concerned about their business practices. These are good companies, they just need a little push from US, the consumer, to remind them that their choices bear environmental costs, and that those costs must be accounted for in their choice of marketing programs.

Enjoy your day.

Alex

The Beloved Republican Party

When the dust of history settles on the this early part of the 21st century, how will we be remembered? As with all history, it will be remembered by its politicians and political acts. We will be divorced from the 1990's by the mere fact that the first number of our years is different; that fact is monumental in reviewing time. (Think of the difference between 1776 and 1800 in the US)

Unfortunately for our future memories we will be the generation that destroyed 225 years of progress in personal liberty. Thanks for the memories President Bush and the Republican Party - you bunch of religious assholes. Don't let the Republican banner of Freedom fool you. They, as a party, object to most forms of personal liberty. The moralistic stance of the party requires them to condemn actions which are not explicitly approved in that most widely read piece of pulp fiction, the bible. Only an arrogant fool could actually believe that God is on his side.

The Republican establishment is so structurally bent on curtailing personal freedom and liberty that they are required to hide behind the rhetoric of small government and lower taxes to deflect attention from their social agenda. Also unfortunately for our future memories, the Republicans have the money in the USA on their side, and history remembers money too.

The time has come for us, as citizens of this ridiculous place we call our nation, to stand against the subtle tyranny of the Bush Administration. Let us start with real, accomplishable goals:

1. Block the confirmation of ANY and EVERY Bush nominee for the SUPREME COURT.
2. Call for removal of Cabinet members Rumsfeld and Rice. The WAR MONGERS. (If we could remove the Vice President it would be advisable to get Old Man Cheney out of office too. Do I hear a constitutional amendment in the works? No, he assassination insurance for Cokie Bush.)
3. Focus locally: get involved in local politics and shut the Republican machine down at its core. Remember, your Mayor's decisions effect your daily life far more than any idiot in Washington could ever hope to.

That's enough for today.

Welcome to the New Totalitarian States of America...you asked for it.

Welcome, welcome! Step right up and find your place in line, or shall we say your place in order as the new Totalitarian States of America is unveiled. You asked for it, you got it! It's all yours now baby. We are about to witness the most aggressive abuse of political power in 6 decades. The conservatives in this country are foaming at the mouth, just waiting to take a bite out of the liberalism they so despise.

Already in Congress, political power jockies have moved to absolve Mr. Tom DeLay of Texas and exempt him from the rules that govern our congressional body. Mr. DeLay is accused of a crime, one he probably committed and should serve time for. But criminal theft and fraud in Washington, DC is another post. However, intervening to save the day comes - da da da - Super Republican Man. Able to make sure that mo powerful member of their party is subject to the rule of the State.

What you are witnessing is abuse of power. It starts small and grows like a weed. Watch the conservatives in Congress, watch the President. They are all in a land grab right now, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The next four years will be a terrifying four years for any American who values personal freedom and self-determination. The religious are among us, upon us and out to get us.

Good Luck America.

comments please send to mail@11east.com

November 2, 2004 - U.S. Election Day

try not to participate in mass emails on politics, mostly because I still believe that voting is a personal and private decision, and because it is not good for my blood pressure. However, this election gives reason for concern. The list of recipients for this email is small. It contains only people with whom I have had reasonable conversations about the system, and who have the intellectual strength to consider something different.

Consider a 3rd party - don't waste your vote supporting our either/or system of government. Stand up and tell the politicians you are tired of living in a bi-polar political world. The US is one of the only industrialized democracies in the world without a viable multi-party government and look where it gets us - focused on personality bashing and inter-party war mongering.

Make the focus in Washington on coalition and cooperation between members, not on Whips and Leaders and party line votes.

Consider an alternative party. Start with the Libertarians, you may find that they represent you better than either of the majors. For a list of all candidates - click here.

Good luck and God help us.

Alex