Lawrence Lessig's plan to reform U.S. Politics

Two must-see videos about the present corrupt state of American politics and what can be done about it.

Lawrence Lessig's Google talk: Republic lost.

Lawrence Lessig's Ted Talk.

The solution: small-dollar campaigns, brought into being by MayOne.us.

Repost: why I am finding it hard to program just now

Consider what's happening today:

• one-dollar-one-vote democracy [0]
• "neutered, impotent and obsolete" U.S. corporate media [1]
• out-of-control military [2] and surveillance [3] establishments
• worldwide inaction on CO2 emissions [4]
• ongoing human-caused mass extinctions rivaling the previous "big 5" mass extinctions [5]
• all enabled by 24/7 corporate-funded right-wing propaganda [6] and  [7].

Two novels emphasize the need for courage in the present circumstances:  A Tale for the Time Being [8] and The Winter of the World [9].  I recommend either or both for those who think the issues listed above are no concern of ordinary people.

Edward

P.S. If there is one area where I might still make a difference in the computing world, it might be high-speed analysis of types for Python. Lest you think this is a minor business, it is a fact that any useful analysis of computer programs (for example, any kind of refactoring) requires robust knowledge of types.

EKR

References:

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCutcheon_v._Federal_Election_Commission#Subsequent_commentary
[1] http://www.democracynow.org/2014/5/14/glenn_greenwald_us_corporate_media_is
[2] http://www.pogo.org/our-work/straus-military-reform-project/
[3] https://firstlook.org/theintercept/
[4] http://www.motherjones.com/category/primary-tags/climate-desk
[5] http://www.amazon.com/Sixth-Extinction-Unnatural-History-ebook/dp/B00EGJE4G2/
[6] http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/11/28/meet-the-climate-denial-machine/191545
[7] http://www.desmogblog.com/
[8] http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Time-Being-Ruth-Ozeki-ebook/dp/B008EKMB82
[9] http://www.amazon.com/Winter-World-Century-Trilogy-2-ebook/dp/B007FEFLTO