-
Zera Lee commented on the diary post Gun Enthusiasts To “Send Obama Message” With Gun Appreciation Day Two Days Before Inauguration by Dennis Trainor Jr.
I was just reading about 51 gun shows that ban loaded guns on the premises. For safety reasons. I wonder how safety conscious they are going to be on their national play date.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Great Moments In Tucker Carlson
I read an article that interviewed a military expert on the subject.
He said that between the movie, the initial presumption that it was a staged stunt related to the movie, the smoke bombs, the mass confusion, and the ballistic helmet & body armor, patrons having guns would not likely have made much difference. The shooter had planned too well and had too many advantages.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Oh Puhleeze, As If! NOM Sez “Boycott Starbucks!” for Supporting Marriage Equality
Weren’t they already boycotting Starbucks over a no-gun policy?
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Is it A-OK for potential employers to ask for your Facebook password? Some think so.
I use a password generator, and I do not carry the passwords around with me. Even if I had a Facebook page, I wouldn’t be able to give them the password anyway.
I wonder if they would ding me for being security conscious.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post So long James Madison, hello Robert Heinlein
Did someone warn Gingrich that The Moon is a Harsh Mistress?
Gentlemen, Be Seated. Newt certainly has the cheek for it.
-
Zera Lee commented on the diary post Life in Freedom Plaza by Anthony Noel.
What is described here has some of the characteristics you might expect of a movement flirting with the idea of forming a new political party. Though it would take years to develop the commitment, determination, experience, and organization necessary to establish a new and effective political party, I think the country is desperate for a [...]
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Schneiderman Intervenes in Bank of America MBS Settlement
Moral hazard. So far, who has faced the hazard and who has avoided it has been immoral. It’s good to see the hope of justice finally make an appearance.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post ACLU’s New Project to Uncover Details on Law Enforcement Use of Location Tracking
I don’t know about the law cited in the article, but there are a couple of things I think are worth noting:
1) After the H-P spying scandal, there was an anti-pretexting law passed. One thing I particularly remember about it was that law enforcement was exempted. The police can still pretend to be someone they are not in order to get phone records without a warrant.
2) During the FISA scandal, I learned about pin registers. In plain English, the touch tones you generate when you call an automated system are not considered part of a conversation and are therefore not protected by privacy laws. Account numbers, IDs, passwords, all are fair game without a warrant needed.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post In Seeking Waiver, BofA Admits They Violated Numerous Laws
BofA participated in the crime of the century (to date). They are not the party who deserves economic relief.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post In New York, Mystery 32nd Senator “Comes Out” for Marriage Equality
Anything funded or subsidized by tax dollars should not be exempt from anti-discrimination laws. If they feel the need to discriminate, they should do it on their own dime.
I would have to check the actual language, but I smell a loophole.
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Consumption – To Repeat the Obvious – Is the Sole End and Object of All Economic Activity
In general, it is what I’ve been saying for the past few years – without the benefit of a class in economics (not even the old household econ class).
However, I think that mass advertising has created the ability for large businesses to manipulate consumers and create artificial demand that distorts the normal flow of the economy.
Hidden fees and unavoidable fees also take a degree of choice out of the consumption process. I am not interested in rewards programs, they are largely useless to me. I have rejected cards that wanted a fee and offered a rewards program in return, but with the swipe-fee regulation I may no longer have a choice.
How many other ways do businesses distort the supply/demand paradigm?
-
Zera Lee commented on the blog post Joe Lieberman Wants to Increase Medicare Eligibility Age
Better to raise the FICA cap.
Just for fun: take the ratio of CEO compensation to median compensation, and apply it to the poverty income threshold to calculate the FICA cap.
At 400x, that works out to charging FICA on the first $4.6M for an individual, $8.9M for a family of 4.
I wonder how much that would help fund Medicare and Social Security.
-
Zera Lee commented on the diary post 9 of 10 Americans Think ENDA is Law by Teddy Partridge.
I did not think that GLBT rights are protected by law already, quite the opposite. But this is the first time I have heard of ENDA. At least that I can remember. Conservatives have a well-tuned propaganda machine – that I call the “crap factory” – but if liberals have a messaging machine of similar [...]
-
-
-
-
Zera Lee became a registered member
