Clarification

I want to clarify a post I made earlier this week. I am willing to talk and listen to anyone who is intelligent and open-minded, not matter what their views and beliefs are. What bugs me is when people turn into broken records and just keep repeating the same crap over and over without listening to or responding to reasonable criticism or discussion. Automation of the human mind is a dangerous thing and should be avoided at all costs.

PS

Along the same line, "flip-flopping" is a normal human reaction to new information and should not be automatically criticized as bad or inconsistent. When someone "flip-flops" to a new, more reasonable position, they should be praised as adaptable and intelligent, not punished.

Extraterrestrial Update

I've come across two space related stories this morning.

The first is that the Mars Phoenix Lander team is slated to have a press conference at 2pm EDT. Rumor has it that they will be announcing that water (liquid perhaps?) has been found on Mars. Ice has already been discovered on Mars by the Phoenix team about a month ago. You can watch the press conference here.

The second item is the impending SpaceX Falcon 1 launch. SpaceX is the other company owned by entrepreneur Elon Musk. This is the third attempt at launching their rocket, the first two times didn't quite work out. This launch will carry a payload of two satellites (one for the DoD and the other for NASA) and will take off sometime in the next week. The launch is important because it will be the first time a privately funded spacecraft has achieved orbit.

Update: the NASA briefing didn't really have anything new, but it's still pretty neat. Check it out!

Congressional Twitters

I really love twitter. I really love that a lot of elected officials love twitter. I do not love a proposed restriction on elected officials using twitter. If you feel the same way, go to www.letourcongresstweet.org

Death of an Underdog

Something about this next election is really starting to bother me.

ACTIVIST LIBERALS AND DEMOCRATS ARE TURNING INTO THE CORRUPT CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS THEY'RE PROTESTING AGAINST

and it's disgusting. My first piece of evidence is the Huffington Post, an online newspaper. This publication is gaining prominence online with help from social networking sites like Digg. What's my problem with this newspaper? They don't even pretend to be unbiased. They attack and attack and attack while just regurgitating the party line. Do they have good articles? Yes, occasionally, just like how Fox News occasionally has a good segment.

Next up was a group of protestors I saw this weekend in Western Massachusettes. They had signs up asking passers by to contact congressional representatives to "Stop this illegal war". Problem is, there's a UN Mandate (PDF Link) that allows a multinational force to stay in Iraq. This mandate has been extended several times and currently runs out in December. Even without that mandate, the US is in the process of negotiating a treaty with Iraq that could allow troops to stay past the end of the Mandate. In any case, the decision to withdraw troops from Iraq is in large part IRAQ'S DECISION, as I have said before. The people that were on the street corner protesting did not appear to understand this.

I think I'm done venting, but it is still an alarming phenomenon. It's not too hard to imagine that the next youth movement will be a massive conservative uprising against the corrupt Democratic party, and so on and so forth forever. What's a centrist to do?

A Question for Unification

EBay has recently been sued by several manufacturers of luxury goods over counterfeits on their site. The manufacturers feel that eBay should be responsible for policing the site to stop people from selling these counterfeited items.

However you feel on this, I'm sure that everyone would agree that this is a legitimate and non-frivolous lawsuit. The problem for eBay is not really the result of the lawsuit, but which court to obey.

See, these types of lawsuits have been lodged against eBay in both the U.S.A and France. The French courts have repeatedly come down against eBay, while the US court came down in favor of them. EBay is appealing the decision in France, but what if the appeal fails? Could the French force eBay to change its practices worldwide? Unlikely, but the prospect must be making many companies worried.

This exposition brings me to my question: which nation's courts will ultimately have power in a fully globalized economy? The correct answer is no nation should have ultimate judicial authority in these types of disputes. The UN has the International Court of Justice, and there's also the World Trade Organization. But these bodies deal with nations themselves, and not businesses.

I think what we will start to see in the coming decades is a move towards a world "supreme court" designed not for nations but for regular people and corporations. Such a court would theoretically have ultimate judicial authority over all people and all companies. Such a court would also need to be accompanied by equally global legislative and executive branches. Will it ever happen? I think so. Will it happen during my lifetime? Probably not. But we will start to make progress towards this goal, even if it's only motivated by economics.

Mugabe and Non-Interference

Dear Zimbabwe,

Zim, we're concerned. We've noticed that you've changed a lot, what happened? You used to be such an up and coming country, flush with independence and vigor. Now your body has atrophied. You look like you're starving and you scaring us. And why? Because of a simple growth on your head? There are many ways to treat that growth before it spreads to your neighbors, ways we tried to help you with again and again and again. But now you leave us with no choice. It's time to bleed the infection. Hold still old friend, this won't take long...

Signed

A U.N. with Teeth

I believe in a United Nations with real power. One that has representatives in member governments and not the other way around. An organization like that would be able to effectively deal with all dictators, let alone Mugabe. Unfortunately, as we stand right now, no amount of trade sanctions or sabre rattling with change his way of thinking or force him to resign. There will always be another country or business that are willing to trade with who we choose not to trade with. And the policy of non-interference would say that is fine. We choose who we trade with and who we do not trade with, but we are not able to say who can rule and who cannot. Who is hurting their people and who is not.

Of course, this insulates our rulers as well.

Independence Week

As a Canadian living in the States, this is quite an important week in our history. I'd like to wish everyone in Canada and the United States, as well as everyone else around the world celebrating independence this week, a happy Independence Day.