Technical Problems

Due to technical problems with Google, I am currently not posting to this blog.

Health Care

Like many people, I'm trying to figure out this healthcare thing. What I want to see is a reduction in overall costs even at the expense of some total government expenditure. In other words, a little more government spending to save overall health costs is well worth it With Medicare and the Veterans Administration we have the best healthcare in the world. Can't can't we share it with our kids, our unemployed, our homeless, and our small businesses. I would like to see our healthcare not be a competitive disadvantage for our companies. I would like to see our healthcare not drive our middle class into bankruptcy. I would like to see our healthcare shared among all Americans.

If our lawmakers can figure that out, more power to them.

Testing, testing my voice

I'm back. With new speech recognition software to really speak my mind. I had previously switched to primarily citing other articles of interest. But I've had a lot of trouble with blogspot since I added a second blog. Until I figure it out I thought I would try this new software. It's not that I don't like typing out my hands only have so many more words left in them while my mouth seems unlimited.

So on this hot and rainy Sunday afternoon I thought I would revive this blog. It's only been two weeks since my last post but I miss it in the opportunity that blogging offers. So we'll see how it goes.

U.S. Scientists See H1-B Visas as Major Issue Against Progress, Says Survey

The nation's scientists see H1-B visa issues as a major barrier to scientific achievement, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 56 percent surveyed felt that issues with the visa process for foreign students and scientists represented a massive impediment, second only to the 87 percent who saw lack of funding as a “very serious” or “serious” problem.

U.S. Scientists See H1-B Visas as Major Issue Against Progress, Says Survey

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E-Commerce News: Law: Obama Administration Plows Ahead With Controversial E-Verify Program

E-Verify is a free Web-based system operated by DHS in partnership with the Social Security Administration.It lets employers compare information from I-9 forms against federal government databases to verify employees' eligibility for employment in the United States.The Bush administration met with considerable opposition when it tried to extend E-Verify to federal contractors and subcontractors.The Obama administration is now moving forward with a requirement that will take effect on September 8 and apply to federal solicitations and contract awards. It will also cover businesses that receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

E-Commerce News: Law: Obama Administration Plows Ahead With Controversial E-Verify Program

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Bush’s Secret NSA Spying May Have Tainted Prosecutions, Report Warns | Threat Level | Wired.com

“This report leaves no doubt that the warrantless wiretapping program was blatantly illegal and an unconstitutional assertion of executive power,” Feingold said. “I once again call on the Obama administration and its Justice Department to withdraw the flawed legal memoranda that justified the program and that remain in effect today.”

Bush’s Secret NSA Spying May Have Tainted Prosecutions, Report Warns | Threat Level | Wired.com

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Report: Bush surveillance program was massive - Yahoo! News

The report says too few relevant officials knew of the size and depth of the program, let alone signed off on it. They particularly criticize John Yoo, a deputy assistant attorney general who wrote legal memos undergirding the policy. His boss, Attorney General John Ashcroft, was not aware until March 2004 of the exact nature of the intelligence operations beyond wiretapping that he had been approving for the previous two and a half years, the report says.

Most of the intelligence leads generated under what was known as the "President's Surveillance Program" did not have any connection to terrorism, the report said. But FBI agents told the authors that the "mere possibility of the leads producing useful information made investigating the leads worthwhile."

Report: Bush surveillance program was massive - Yahoo! News

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Sen. Kohl Demands Investigation of Wireless Carriers - washingtonpost.com

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, sent letters yesterday to the federal agencies overseeing communications and antitrust, calling for an investigation and for action on several regulatory proposals that could give smaller carriers and software firms a better shot at competing.

Sen. Kohl Demands Investigation of Wireless Carriers - washingtonpost.com

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NASA predicted Rift Valley fever outbreak

National Aeronautics and Space Administration researchers, including Assaf Anyamba, a remote sensing scientist with the University of Maryland and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, used a blend of NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration measurements of sea surface temperatures, precipitation and vegetation cover to predict when and where an outbreak would occur.

NASA predicted Rift Valley fever outbreak

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Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet

Originally Google had considered acquiring Facebook—a prospect that held no interest for Facebook's executives—but an investment was another enticing option, aligning the Internet's two most important companies. Facebook was more than a fast-growing social network. It was, potentially, an enormous source of personal data. Internet users behaved differently on Facebook than anywhere else online: They used their real names, connected with their real friends, linked to their real email addresses, and shared their real thoughts, tastes, and news. Google, on the other hand, knew relatively little about most of its users other than their search histories and some browsing activity.

Great Wall of Facebook: The Social Network's Plan to Dominate the Internet

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ThinkTech | ThinkTech blog, ThinkTech Hawaii | honoluluadvertiser.com | Honolulu, Hawaii

One, HB1405, would require Internet vendors to collect the Hawaii gross excise tax (GET) on purchases from Hawaii. 1405 would treat “advertising associates” in Hawaii as the “substantial nexus” required by Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case.The other, SB1678, would call for Hawaii to join 23 other states in adopting a cooperative “streamlined” (euphemism) national Internet sales and use tax. 1678 could not be effective until Congress passes a law to authorize this bill under the Commerce Clause.

ThinkTech | ThinkTech blog, ThinkTech Hawaii | honoluluadvertiser.com | Honolulu, Hawaii

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Gates Establishes Cyber-Defense Command - washingtonpost.com

In a memo to senior military leaders, Gates said he will recommend that President Obama designate that the new command be led by the director of the National Security Agency, the world's largest electronic intelligence-gathering agency. The current NSA director, Lt. Gen. Keith B. Alexander, is expected to be awarded a fourth star and to lead the cyber-command.

Gates Establishes Cyber-Defense Command - washingtonpost.com

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