FDR’s New Deal (“ill-conceived stimulus policies”)

Here’s a great article from some enonomists at UCLA about the effects “New Deal” programs had on the Great Depression.

“Why the Great Depression lasted so long has always been a great mystery, and because we never really knew the reason, we have always worried whether we would have another 10- to 15-year economic slump,” said Ohanian, vice chair of UCLA’s Department of Economics. “We found that a relapse isn’t likely unless lawmakers gum up a recovery with ill-conceived stimulus policies.”

Hold on to your wallets!  A government-induced prolonged economic slump could be on the horizon!

Prophetic Paul

5 years ago Ron Paul introduced a bill to help prevent the massive housing bubble and subsequent economic downturn.  In the speech he gave when introducing the bill, he predicts with incredible accuracy the exact situation we are faced with today.

About 6 years ago, Paul predicted, again with incredible accuracy, our current quagmire in Iraq.  Below is Paul explaining the situation to Bill Moyer’s

Section 508 absurdity!

**SEE The Addendum below for a correction to this post**

The Rehabilitation Act and specifically section 508 is one of the most ridiculous laws that only Washington bureaucrats who have absolutely no understanding of technology or web development could conceive.

The purpose of the law is to allow disabled people to browse the internet, especially those that are blind, or vision impaired.

To accomplish this, there are screen readers that attempt to verbally interpret what is being displayed visually.

In order for the screen reader to properly interpret the page, the HTML markup must be formatted in a manner that allows the user to understand the screen reader.

I think this technology is very cool, and I think it is absolutely great to help disabled people use the internet.

I commend any developer or business that cares enough about its disabled customers to accommodate their needs on the internet.

In addition, many of the requirements in section 508 are good web development practices.

The reason I think this law is ridiculous is that these practices are no longer voluntary, but mandated.

In many cases, it is very hard adhere to all of the mandates when a developer is attempting to offer a richer experience to non-impaired users. For instance drag-and-drop functionality, pop-ups, or any other visual experience such as animations, are very difficult (if not impossible) to convey to a visually impaired user.

Aside from the technical challenge this law presents. I am completely opposed to its premise: Viewing a web page and using the internet should be a voluntary interaction between the user and the developer/business. Nobody is forcing the user to view the web page, and consequently, the user can not force the developer/business to display the web page. It’s a violation of property rights, voluntary exchange, and freedom of expression to mandate a law such as 508 compliance.

A developer/business is now faced with one option. Either make it 508 compliant….or don’t make it at all.

My current company is spending countless man-hours and lots of money trying to make our websites 508 compliant. The Target corporation just settled a 6 million dollar lawsuit for violating 508 compliance.

Big companies can afford to make their sites 508 compliant. Small businesses and fledgling entrepreneurs will have a much more difficult time garnering the resources to adhere to 508 compliance. In many cases, a visually impaired person is not even in the customer base, or represents such a small portion its simply not financially viable to accommodate those customers.

In addition, amateur developers will have a much more difficult time entering the market. It takes a certain level of expertise and knowledge to make a site 508 compliant, and those that are learning to develop will have the added difficulty of learning 508 compliance.

This law, with admirable goals, looks harmless and beneficial to the community, but really its a violation of individual rights. It creates a barrier to market entry that aides big businesses and diverts resources from more productive endeavors.

Addendum **IMPORTANT**

After writing this post, I had a training session on section 508 compliance, that clarified a large misunderstanding that I had regarding 508 compliance.  In short, section 508 only applies to government websites, and contracts the government makes with private companies.  My company is concerned about 508 compliance because we seek government contracts which require compliance.

 The Target lawsuit led me to believe section 508 required all websites to be compliant, but that is not the case.  In reality the The National Federation of the Blind had very tenuous legal standing, and were suing under discrimination covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and not specifically under 508 compliance.

Some law makers, however, are trying to expand the Americans with Disabilities Act to specifically cover private web based technologies and internet sites, in which case this post becomes vitally relavant.

“The most destructive and damning social policy since slavery”

FORMER SEATTLE POLICE CHIEF NORM STAMPER ON THE HIGH COSTS OF THE DRUG WAR

Parasitic memes and terrorism

The last couple years, I’ve had a hard timing believing the common reasoning for terrorism:  “They hate us for our freedom…”  Or in general, I find it hard to believe that  a group could hate American culture so much they would kill themselves to kill us.  I think our foriegn policy of sanctions, bombings, and supporting oppressive regimes is a much stronger motivation for terrorism; however, I found Dan Dennet’s analysis very interesting in the video above…

5 dangerous things you should let your kids do

5 Dangerous things you should let your kids do

I saw this video on Digg, and thought it was pretty cool…I like the idea of not sheltering your kids and letting them be free to learn….I don’t like parental controls on tv and video games for similar reasoning….I feel like it shelters a kid from learning about the world, and I feel that making something taboo for kids only makes them more curious and more likely to engage in the behavior out of curiosity or rebellion….

Ron Paul is going to debate the Democrats tonight!

MTV and MySpace are hosting a debate between Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton tonight at 5pm central.

Part of me is excited for this since I think Ron could kill both democrats on foreign policy, civil liberties, and the economy; however, another part of me figures the media will manipulate it and make Ron look like some crazy man.

DSC kicks ass

I’ve really been digging Adam Curry’s Daily Source Code Podshow for the past month or two. I first listened to it for his interview with Ron Paul.

Here’s the
Ron Paul interview

and here is a
fubar Friday from two weeks ago. I dig the chick with the sexy voice (about halfway through the show) asking for the promo on this episode, and Curry asking for naked pictures around his wife.

The cool thing about DSC is that it has a CC license, and usually features music from the podsafe music network which allows podcasters to play the songs for free.

Another stubborn fact for John McCain to ignore

4th quarter fund raising numbers just came out: Here is an interesting fact:

Total Military Member Donations to McCain, Romney and Huckabee Donations Combined: 732

Ron Paul Total Military Member Donations: 931

So I guess some want to “Win” as John McCain suggests….But it certainly looks like a lot more want to come home!

Addendum:

I guess Paul got more donations from military members than all of his opponents combined, including Obama and Clinton

War on citizens

The “War on Drugs” is supposed to be a figurative phrase indicating how serious our government is about ending drug abuse. Unlike the “War on Poverty” or the “War on Obesity”, the “War on Drugs” has real casualties…

Here is a page showing the “collateral damage” of the “War on Drugs”.

What scares me about this map is that there is absolutely nothing to prevent my house from becoming another pin on the map. Many of these pins are innocent people, who suddenly have an armed SWAT team invading their homes.

To add insult to injury, in many of these cases there is no apology, compensation, or justice given to those whose homes are falsely invaded.

Sadly, it is not difficult to find a truly tragic story about someone whose life has been ruined by the very people that were supposed to protect him