How the New Majority Governs
Washington Post: Amendment to Homeland Security Bill Defeated. Voting
52-47, the Senate refused to strip out seven provisions that Democrats said
were aimed at rewarding interests that were closely allied to the GOP and
help finance its campaigns.
There are so many bad provisions in this legislation, but one of the newest
stands out. It's the Republicans' effort to gut rules aimed at stopping
American companies from "relocating" offshore -- basically, creating a
post-office box in, say, Bermuda and calling it the headquarters, and then
getting a huge tax break in the process.
The majority party believes it is patriotic to be a tax cheat. The majority
party believes it's right to laugh at the rest of us who pay our taxes.
So, in a professed time of war, when security spending is rising through
the roof and tax revenues are plummeting, the Republicans are just thrilled
to help their sleaziest corporate friends. Welcome to Republican government
in the 21st century.
( Posted by Dan Gillmor, 11/19/2002 03:46 PM PST)
Corporate Interests Trump Public Domain for Science Info
Washington Post: Free Web Research Link Closed Under Pressure From Pay
Sites. The Energy Department has shut down a popular Internet site that
catalogued government and academic science research, in response to
corporate complaints that it competed with similar commercial services.
The correct word for what has happened here is "theft" -- because the
government has allowed private interests to steal from the public domain.
The claim that this was done to save money -- a paltry $200,000 a year --
doesn't even begin to pass the smell test. This was an arrangement on
behalf of corporate interests, and an absolute thumb in the eye to the public.
It's as if the book publishers persuaded communities to shutter public
libraries. (Not that they won't try; e-publishing could lead to that by
default.)
Now, anyone who wants access to information collected and/or catalogued
using our tax dollars will have to pay for it. Pay again, that is.
Watch this kind of thing happen again and again. America's government
doesn't work for the people. It works for campaign contributors and
corporate interests, for the rich and powerful who are getting just about
everything they want from the government they've purchased.
What to do? Some public-minded foundation should immediately offer to put
this back online, by covering the $200,000 cost. Or the collective brain
out there should find a way to put the data up on peer-to-peer systems.
Yes, any of these workarounds would set a bad precedent, encouraging more
of these information removals. But the bad stuff is already happening.
Since it's obvious that the government won't do the right thing, we're
going to have to go around the government that no longer works for citizens.
( Posted by Dan Gillmor, 11/21/2002 07:22 PM PST)
I seem to recall someone suggesting a republican vote?
...and it wasn't Perry arsehole Barlow.
