Ok, so it hasn't passed yet, but Ol' Joe Lieberman has brought a bill up in the Senate that gives the government the ability to effectively turn off or alter the internet in the case of a national emergency.
http://gizmodo.com/5567094/new-bill-would-give-the-president-an-internet-kill-switch
No part of that sounds good to me. I can't really think of a situation where the internet would need to be turned off by my government. I'm okay with government regulations involving public safety, but this is too far for my tastes.
Another interesting page I found recently on google shows how many site removal requests have been submitted by each country. The US ranks 4th (China is not included though).
http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/
Maybe these were just requests to remove terrible things (ie: child pornography, "snuff" films, etc.), but who draws the line? I guess that's always the trouble with increasing regulation though; at some point, "regulation" becomes "paternalism" which eventually becomes "totalitarianism". Give Orwell's 1984 a read sometime before the next election, and think about it.
And before you blame it all on the Democrats, read up on the USA PATRIOT Act sometime.
Showing posts with label regulation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label regulation. Show all posts
June 18, 2010
May 7, 2010
Stop all the Asian Crap...I mean Carp!
This may be a little-known issue here in Tennessee, but it's gotten $78.5 million in tax-payer funding, and the attention of the White House to boot:
Asian Carp are invading the Great Lakes!
Rather than get into the specifics of this singular situation, I'll leave you the above link to check it out for yourself, and I'll address the more global issue of the spread of invasive species:
I grew up in Memphis, where Kudzu has become a dominant force in the ecosystem. While Kudzu is not native to the Americas, it has found a thriving environment with little natural competition here in the southern US. It swallows telephone poles, trees, fences, and sometimes houses, and while it may be cool to look at, this sort of invasive plant is clearly harmful to the natural ecosystem that it invades, and of course, this is just one example.
Since people began traveling, they have spread countless non-native plants and animals. It's impossible to tell how many natural ecosystems have been altered or destroyed by humans in the course of history, but it is now becoming something that we can do more quickly and unintentionally than ever before.
We have the ability to cross any continent, any ocean, and even go beyond our terraform in very reasonable lengths of time, and as we are beings in need of other supporting life-forms, we tend to bring some of our favorite animals and plants along whenever we travel or migrate. Global trade has only increased our ability to inadvertently ruin a foreign ecosystem by bringing in invasive species, and now that we have recognized this problem, action needs to be taken.
We are realizing more and more as humans that we are coming to the point in history where our actions could physically end the world. I'm not just talking about a nuclear holocaust, although that is a valid possibility, but also our continued disregard for maintaining stable ecosystems on the earth. Species variation is a key aspect of balance in the world as we know it, and while understanding the way the world works could lead us to the ability to recreate or restore ecosystems, we are destroying life on this planet faster than we are learning about it. The focus of science and engineering since the industrial revolution has been relatively micro in scale, and by that I mean that we try to invent new ways to improve our individual lives at that very moment. We tend to shrug off researching and understanding the long-term effects of what we may think are revolutionary, beneficial inventions.
I hold out hope for humanity though, and I think the more we can learn about this world, the more we can do to ensure its continued ecological health. In the mean time, we need to continue to move our public policies in a direction that is in favor of environmental improvement, including, the prevention of the spread of non-native invasive species.
Asian Carp are invading the Great Lakes!
Rather than get into the specifics of this singular situation, I'll leave you the above link to check it out for yourself, and I'll address the more global issue of the spread of invasive species:
I grew up in Memphis, where Kudzu has become a dominant force in the ecosystem. While Kudzu is not native to the Americas, it has found a thriving environment with little natural competition here in the southern US. It swallows telephone poles, trees, fences, and sometimes houses, and while it may be cool to look at, this sort of invasive plant is clearly harmful to the natural ecosystem that it invades, and of course, this is just one example.
Since people began traveling, they have spread countless non-native plants and animals. It's impossible to tell how many natural ecosystems have been altered or destroyed by humans in the course of history, but it is now becoming something that we can do more quickly and unintentionally than ever before.
We have the ability to cross any continent, any ocean, and even go beyond our terraform in very reasonable lengths of time, and as we are beings in need of other supporting life-forms, we tend to bring some of our favorite animals and plants along whenever we travel or migrate. Global trade has only increased our ability to inadvertently ruin a foreign ecosystem by bringing in invasive species, and now that we have recognized this problem, action needs to be taken.
We are realizing more and more as humans that we are coming to the point in history where our actions could physically end the world. I'm not just talking about a nuclear holocaust, although that is a valid possibility, but also our continued disregard for maintaining stable ecosystems on the earth. Species variation is a key aspect of balance in the world as we know it, and while understanding the way the world works could lead us to the ability to recreate or restore ecosystems, we are destroying life on this planet faster than we are learning about it. The focus of science and engineering since the industrial revolution has been relatively micro in scale, and by that I mean that we try to invent new ways to improve our individual lives at that very moment. We tend to shrug off researching and understanding the long-term effects of what we may think are revolutionary, beneficial inventions.
I hold out hope for humanity though, and I think the more we can learn about this world, the more we can do to ensure its continued ecological health. In the mean time, we need to continue to move our public policies in a direction that is in favor of environmental improvement, including, the prevention of the spread of non-native invasive species.
April 8, 2010
All hail mighty coal
Is it just me, or does the coal mining industry seem to be stuck in the 1950's? I understand that the nature of digging a massive mine into rock and pulling out tons of coal is dangerous by its very nature, but while manufacturing in the US has become a very safe and highly automated process, coal mining has not come up to par with the safety standards held in other industries.
The recent mine explosion in West Virginia has reminded me of this fact again. In 2006 the federal government passed new regulations on mining safety in the US, but last year, only 1 in 10 mines across the country had made the upgrades to conform to these standards. I'm not a huge fan of coal as a power source to begin with. It's environmentally one of the more destructive forms of energy production, and the working conditions for miners and coal power plant workers are far less than ideal in most of the country, but I am a realist. I understand that our infrastructure is based on coal in much of the country, but companies need to be held accountable for the safety of their workers. Many times a violation of federal safety standards that leads to an accident will cost the company some fines, but the fines are often less financially detrimental to the company than upgrading the mine's safety.
It is likely that we will be moving away from coal within my lifetime as supplies diminish and nuclear energy becomes more prevalent, but respect for human life is a huge issue here. Federal regulators and companies themselves should not turn their back on this accident.
The recent mine explosion in West Virginia has reminded me of this fact again. In 2006 the federal government passed new regulations on mining safety in the US, but last year, only 1 in 10 mines across the country had made the upgrades to conform to these standards. I'm not a huge fan of coal as a power source to begin with. It's environmentally one of the more destructive forms of energy production, and the working conditions for miners and coal power plant workers are far less than ideal in most of the country, but I am a realist. I understand that our infrastructure is based on coal in much of the country, but companies need to be held accountable for the safety of their workers. Many times a violation of federal safety standards that leads to an accident will cost the company some fines, but the fines are often less financially detrimental to the company than upgrading the mine's safety.
It is likely that we will be moving away from coal within my lifetime as supplies diminish and nuclear energy becomes more prevalent, but respect for human life is a huge issue here. Federal regulators and companies themselves should not turn their back on this accident.
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