Sunday, November 7, 2010
New York Times - Chasing Pirates: Inside Microsoft's War Room
Microsoft, one of the huge software giants, makes its money from selling software, much like selling an apple: You give me money, and I give you something back. But one of the key differences between selling an apple and selling software is that I cannot copy an apple, but I can copy a program. Therefore, if someone buys one copy of a program, they can get as many more copies as they want by copying the one copy that they have. There is nothing to stop people from taking a program and putting it up for distribution on the internet. If people did this, Microsoft couldn't get any money, because instead of buying software from Microsoft, they would simply get a copy for free somewhere else.
Microsoft seems to have taken prevention of this to the extreme, as they are now raiding suspected "piracy" sites like the one in the article.
Some questions to consider:
* Is piracy a significant issue?
* Should people have the right to copy software?
* Is Microsoft being too extreme in its prevention methods?
Friday, November 5, 2010
Blitzer: Will Obama follow Clinton's 1994 playbook?
Blitzer: Will Obama follow Clinton's 1994 playbook?
By Wolf Blitzer, Anchor of CNN's 'The Situation Room'
cnnAuthor = "By Wolf Blitzer, Anchor of CNN\'s \'The Situation Room\' ";
(For some reason the video wouldn't post so heres the url to it- http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2010/11/03/obama.clinton.postmid.cnn)
Washington (CNN) -- Watching President Obama react to what he called his "shellacking" in the midterm elections had me remembering then-President Bill Clinton back on November 9, 1994 -- the day after he and his fellow Democrats lost control of the House and the Senate.
I was then CNN's Senior White House correspondent and I vividly remember attending Clinton's news conference. Like Obama this week, he was humble in defeat.
None of us knew what to expect from Clinton on that day 16 years ago, but he came out and was direct -- he said that he took responsibility for the political disaster.
On Wednesday, Obama was clearly somber and sad. But like Clinton in 1994 he answered questions for nearly an hour.
What a difference it was for both presidents from their election days.
Clinton was in Little Rock in November 1992 when he was elected: Obama was in Chicago on November 4, 2008, when he was elected -- exactly two years ago today. How quickly their political fortunes changed.
A fundamental lesson in American politics is that things can -- and often do -- change rather dramatically and very quickly. And that means that things can dramatically change over the next two years as well.
So the issue for Obama is what he does next. Does he follow Clinton's playbook and move toward the center -- what was called "triangulation"? Will Obama separate himself from the liberal base of the Democratic Party -- as Clinton did?
As much as Obama doesn't want to do that, he's a politician, and politicians have a very powerful instinct for their own political survival, especially when they face re-election in two years.
Just ask Clinton. He pushed for welfare reform and a balanced budget -- to the deep concern of his liberal base. But he beat Bob Dole and was re-elected.
QUESTIONS-
1. What do you think Obama will do next? Will he follow Clinton and move towards the center?
2. What are some potential risks and benefits of going either way?
3. In general, should a president do what he really thinks or what the majority of the people think?
4. If Obama really believes what he was doing was right, should he change his direction because that's what the majority of the people want?
5. Why do you think so many Independents voted Republican in this election?
By Wolf Blitzer, Anchor of CNN's 'The Situation Room'
cnnAuthor = "By Wolf Blitzer, Anchor of CNN\'s \'The Situation Room\' ";
(For some reason the video wouldn't post so heres the url to it- http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2010/11/03/obama.clinton.postmid.cnn)
Washington (CNN) -- Watching President Obama react to what he called his "shellacking" in the midterm elections had me remembering then-President Bill Clinton back on November 9, 1994 -- the day after he and his fellow Democrats lost control of the House and the Senate.
I was then CNN's Senior White House correspondent and I vividly remember attending Clinton's news conference. Like Obama this week, he was humble in defeat.
None of us knew what to expect from Clinton on that day 16 years ago, but he came out and was direct -- he said that he took responsibility for the political disaster.
On Wednesday, Obama was clearly somber and sad. But like Clinton in 1994 he answered questions for nearly an hour.
What a difference it was for both presidents from their election days.
Clinton was in Little Rock in November 1992 when he was elected: Obama was in Chicago on November 4, 2008, when he was elected -- exactly two years ago today. How quickly their political fortunes changed.
A fundamental lesson in American politics is that things can -- and often do -- change rather dramatically and very quickly. And that means that things can dramatically change over the next two years as well.
So the issue for Obama is what he does next. Does he follow Clinton's playbook and move toward the center -- what was called "triangulation"? Will Obama separate himself from the liberal base of the Democratic Party -- as Clinton did?
As much as Obama doesn't want to do that, he's a politician, and politicians have a very powerful instinct for their own political survival, especially when they face re-election in two years.
Just ask Clinton. He pushed for welfare reform and a balanced budget -- to the deep concern of his liberal base. But he beat Bob Dole and was re-elected.
QUESTIONS-
1. What do you think Obama will do next? Will he follow Clinton and move towards the center?
2. What are some potential risks and benefits of going either way?
3. In general, should a president do what he really thinks or what the majority of the people think?
4. If Obama really believes what he was doing was right, should he change his direction because that's what the majority of the people want?
5. Why do you think so many Independents voted Republican in this election?
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Elections 2010
(CNN) -- Democrats, as President Obama said Wednesday, took a shellacking in Tuesday's contentious midterm elections. They lost control of the House to Republicans but managed to cling onto a reduced majority in the Senate.
The election will reverberate throughout American politics, with the newcomers vowing to lower government spending, cut taxes and torpedo the president's health-care legislation. The Republican victory generated an outpouring of commentary. Here are some thoughts from CNN.com's opinion section
The election will reverberate throughout American politics, with the newcomers vowing to lower government spending, cut taxes and torpedo the president's health-care legislation. The Republican victory generated an outpouring of commentary. Here are some thoughts from CNN.com's opinion section
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Welcome
Welcome to our classroom blog! We will be using this blog during the course of the year to discuss current events in the world of U.S. politics and government, and to post news, homework and notes for everyone to use. Also, there are many other creative uses we can think of including posting video and pictures for all to comment on.
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