Email me @
henry AT thinkingaheadllc.com
links: Thinking Ahead LLC
henry.sztul.com
gmail lifehacker google popurls RoR tumblr delicious
Text
Al Franken is Great! Sorry, Senator Al Franken is Great!!
Jamie Leigh Jones, the Halliburton/KBR employee who reported being gang-raped by her co-workers, only to then be held hostage by her employer, has been denied anything even resembling justice ever since because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations could only be addressed by private arbitration. That absurd (and implicitly rape-minimizing) contractual agreement was recently rendered irrelevant to her case, helping clear what will still likely be a very long path to justice.
As a result of Jones’ case, Senator Al Franken proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Speaking on the Senate floor yesterday, Franken said: The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law … And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. … The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.
…On the Senate floor, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) spoke against the amendment, calling it “a political attack directed at Halliburton.” Franken responded, “This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.” In the end, Franken won the debate.
His amendment passed by a 68-30 vote.
[via Go, Senator Franken! ]
Quote
At the same time, the rest of us can’t afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit. That drive is what has always fueled our prosperity, and it is what will ultimately get these banks lending and our economy moving once more.
Quote
I was talking to my friend Michael today and he used a term to describe our mutual fear of a populist revolt against wall street and the financial sector: Financial McCarthyism It got me thinking about the wisdom (or actually the lack of wisdom) in making wall street and the investors and executives that inhabit it the scapegoats of this financial mess we are in.
Link
Change.gov →
Just one of the reasons our next President of the United States (POTUS) is a cool character and a breath of fresh air…
Quote
The “Buffett effect” … white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Text
“Children running through the streets…”
Last night was an experience of a generation. Never before have I seen or felt the electricity that struck at a little after 11pm est last night. At first we heard yelps from outside, individuals cheering. Quickly yelps turned into children running through the streets. Thats right, when could you ever have said that in my lifetime (almost 30 years)?
There were children running through the streets excited about our new president. Later we heard what sounded like crowds cheering. And even people riding on top of cars, honking horns, driving down West End Avenue. It was truely remakable!
So now maybe, just maybe, ther can be some sort of redemption or vindication for the last 8 years of failed policy and failed diplomacy.
disclaimer: the city was THAT excited once that I can remember but that was when the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994. Sporting events dont count.
Quote reblogged from Fred Wilson Dot VC with 6 notes
To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
Quote
Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America’s allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America’s history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism. So Mr Obama’s star quality will be useful to him as president. But that alone is not enough to earn him the job. Charisma will not fix Medicare nor deal with Iran. Can he govern well? Two doubts present themselves: his lack of executive experience; and the suspicion that he is too far to the left. There is no getting around the fact that Mr Obama’s résumé is thin for the world’s biggest job. But the exceptionally assured way in which he has run his campaign is a considerable comfort. It is not just that he has more than held his own against Mr McCain in the debates. A man who started with no money and few supporters has out-thought, out-organised and outfought the two mightiest machines in American politics—the Clintons and the conservative right.
Barack Obama should be the next president of America | It’s time | The Economist
“must listen to The Economist…” (imagine me saying this in my robot voice)
Text
Terrorism
From wikipedia:
“Most common definitions of terrorism include only those acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants. Some definitions also include acts of unlawful violence and war.”
By this definition, or spirit of the word, a serial killer can be a terrorist, a bank robber can be a terrorist, and a schoolyard bully can be a terrorist.
Not to make this political, but this notion of terrorism IS political. The word, the use of the word, the fear invoked by the word are all Orwellian, Machiavellian, you name the ‘-ian’ and run with it.
This has become one of the more powerful words out there. Would you ever use the word terroris on an airplane or in an airport? (And better yet, what is wrong with saying that word on a plane or in an airport?)
So next time you use the word TERRORIST just think for a second what message it is you are trying to convey.
That is my daily public service announcement. Thanks for listining. Back to Ruby on Rails.
Quote
I don’t know what America’s overall plan is — I just know that 24 hours a day, seven days a week, there are soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines that are standing by to come and help if they’re called,” Cloutier said. “It makes me feel good as an American to know that my country has dedicated a force to come in and help the people at home.
Talking about the first active military unit on US soil… thats right… on US soil!
“Help” people at home… riiighhhtt… “Help”… that’s it let’s call it “Helping people at home”
ummm, this sounds funny to me!
