When Freedom Was Born
Posted on July 4, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
OpenID Poll
Posted on July 3, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Identi.ca Spam Already
Posted on July 3, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Launched yesterday, spam today.
LA Times Downsizes
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
uh yeah, not enough time… that’s exactly why I don’t get a hardcopy newspaper anymore. I’ll sidestep the quality issues that have faced the LAT as well as the charges of liberal bias, and get to the core. The problem facing big metro newspapers isn’t too many stories (pages btw drive ad inventory, which makes this statement from the LAT a little incoherent), it’s the web and a regional footprint in a flat world.
The moves the LAT are making are good, merging the online/offline and downsizing the print side, but these are the symptoms. Better syndication, increasing the effectiveness of display ads, presenting related content from a variety of sources, and creating a social dimension through better profile management and community functions will all come together to do far more to turn the LAT around than simply reducing the amount of newsprint they put out each day.
Lastly, I would encourage any comments to be constructive instead of gloating about online beating offline. The fact remains that a lot of people are losing their jobs in an industry that simply is not growing new jobs.
“The number one reason that people cancel the L.A. Times is, they tell us, they don’t have enough time to read the paper that we give them every day,” Stanton said. “We’re going to be more picky about the stories we choose to write long and a lot more picky about the ones we write shorter.”
[From LA Times to cut 250 jobs, including 150 news jobs: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance]
Che Defeated Again
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
So now we’re down to 785 hostages that Columbian narco-terror group FARC is still holding. A great amount of the commentary on FARC has centered on 45 high profile hostages they were holding, but this number is paltry when compared to the conservative number of 3,000 hostages the group is responsible for taking. Hostage taking is a big business for FARC, who long ago abandoned any notion of revolutionary objectives instead focusing on their lucrative hostage taking racket, including over 300 children, and drug manufacturing and trade.
FARC is a loathsome group who are no better than common criminals except for the uncommon size of their criminal business. This year has been bad bad bad for FARC, with leaders captured or killed by Columbian President Uribe, and their Venezuelan financial backer, Hugo Chavez, run off after his bag man was captured by the Columbian military. Eight laptops were seized that contained extensive information about the activities of FARC, as well as linked the group to U.S. Congressman James McGovern (D-MA), who coincidentally ran point on Congressional opposition to the Columbia Free Trade Act.
That 3 American hostages who had been held for 5 years, more than any other American around the world, is great news but let’s not forget the misery that is the unknown fate of all the other FARC victims who are as of today unaccounted for. But it’s a good day and the part of the story that made my smile turn outward is the report that the military rescue team was disguised as aid workers wearing Che Guevarra t-shirts.
French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt, three Americans and 11 other hostages held for years in jungle captivity by Colombian guerrillas were rescued on Wednesday by troops posing as aid workers.
The bold rescue — without a shot being fired — was a huge blow to Latin America’s oldest insurgency, already badly weakened by President Alvaro Uribe’s U.S.-backed campaign to defeat the rebels and the cocaine trade fueling the conflict.
[From WRAPUP 6-Colombia rescues Betancourt, 3 US hostages | Markets | Markets News | Reuters]
The Long Tail: They are Both Right
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Marketing |
Theories like The Long Tail regularly get taken to extremes in this business, often elevated to the stature of law on the basis of will power alone. What is happening now is a natural correction that pulls back the scope and reapplies the learnings for a better outcome.
I think we all intuitively know that there is a lot more value in niches as a result of the web, but at the same time we know that our behaviors only change incrementally as a result. We have new channels to take advantage of but our consumer behaviors are largely the same.
Whether Anderson intended it or not, the Long Tail is spot on in predicting that social behaviors would amplify as purchase determiners on the web. Having said that, socially enhanced shopping has not transformed retail into a mass market of niches and brand companies and retailers alike still spend proportionately about the same on customer acquisition costs as they historically have.
The other book that deserves scrutiny is Gladwell’s The Tipping Point, which as it has turned out is a phenomena a lot less predictable to replicate.
It’s all goodness and we should all consider ourselves fortunate to be in an environment where these concepts are being developed and established brands are willing to push aside the old rules to try new things.
Prof. Elberse looked at data for online video rentals and song purchases, and discovered that the patterns by which people shop online are essentially the same as the ones from offline. Not only do hits and blockbusters remain every bit as important online, but the evidence suggests that the Web is actually causing their role to grow, not shrink.
Mr. Anderson responded on his Long Tail blog, thelongtail.com, saying much of the difference between his analysis and hers involved how hits and non-hits, or “head” and “tail” in the book’s lingo, are measured. Aside from that, he was generous in praising the article, and said he welcomed the sort of rigorous scrutiny the theory was getting.
[From Portals - WSJ.com]
Charlene Li Leaving Forrester
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
For me, Charlene IS Forrester. Sad to see her leave, but at the same time it’s not hard to understand why.
Forrester has bent over backwards to be accommodating and flexible, but in the end, I have decided that I need to have greater control over how I allocate my time between work and family. As any working parent knows, there’s no such thing as balance – only a series of compromises on both the work and home front. For me and for now, that compromise needs to happen on the work front, so I have elected to leave Forrester on July 18th to have greater control over exactly when and how much time I devote to work and travel. This was a difficult decision for me to make and I’ll be taking a few weeks off this summer to figure out my next step — it is my goal to remain involved in this space, in a manner yet to be determined.
[From Why I’m leaving Forrester]
Starbucks Bailout Plan in Congress
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
The slope is indeed a lot more slippery than it looks…
Rep. Pelosi’s bill would subsidize the 600 money-losing Starbucks locations by giving away millions of taxpayer dollars in so-called ‘Venti Vouchers’ to residents of these hard-hit neighborhoods. If the effort fails to revive the flagging stores, Rep. Pelosi said Democrats would “seriously consider nationalizing the coffee industry to ensure the free flow of java at fair prices.”
[From Congress to Halt Closing of Unprofitable Starbucks]
Marketing Triumphs
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Marketing |
Toyota is brilliant, their success as branding themselves as the “clean and green” car company and leading people to dismiss General Motors as some wheezing dinosaur of the rust belt is just about as big a marketing success as getting people to buy tap water in a plastic bottle. Furthermore they have done this while running nonstop advertising for the Toyota Tundra that highlights how big and powerful the truck is…
According to the EPA, Toyota’s average fuel economy across their product lineup is 22.8 MPG vs GM’s 19.4 MPG average. Take out the Prius, which skews the numbers up for Toyota and their average fuel economy starts looking a lot more sober.
Speaking of the Prius, Toyota recently passed the 1 millionth delivery after 11 years on the market, which sounds impressive until you realize that Toyota sells 9.3 million vehicles every year so in terms of altering their fleet makeup I think they have a ways to go. Personally, I signed up to get a Chevy Volt if for no other reason than it actually looks good.
In a reversal of recent trends, Toyota trailed GM in June with a 21-percent sales decline, reflecting a 31-percent drop in sales of its trucks like the Tundra pickup.
[From U.S. auto sales hit 15-year low | Reuters]
PIN vs. Signature Networks
Posted on July 2, 2008
Filed Under Uncategorized |
I admit it, credit card processing networks are a complete mystery to me. Having said that, whenever anyone talks about mobile payments the first thing I think about is those little keypads that are standard POS devices now. How exactly would these schemes work? Does the POS device need to be upgraded or is it a network upgrade?
keep looking »When a customer uses the debit card as a signature card, the transaction is processed over Visa’s network, but if the customer uses a PIN with the same card, it is processed over a separate network.
The signature waiver has reduced transaction processing time, the department said, potentially giving Visa’s signature network an unfair advantage over PIN networks.
[From Visa rescinds debit card rule]
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About
My name is Jeff Nolan and I write Venture Chronicles. These are my thoughts on technology, innovation, management, public policy and pretty much anything else that I find interesting.
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