In humble response to readers’ complaints

It’s a new year.  And I have an apology and a few changes to make.

As editor-in-chief of Dart News Online, my blog should never be left stale. But my last update was in November, and other updates were few and far between. So I am apologizing to you, my readers. You can expect frequent updates.

A little announcement:

In response to some feedback to some of my posts (which I did not publish due to obscenity) I have retitled my blog “Sydney Says” instead of “Nation”. Readers complained that I had no authority to comment on national news and needed to localize my posts. First of all, I don’t need authority to comment on national news. Second of all, I certainly do need to localize my posts. My bad. I will now comment on anything and everything I have an opinion on with an attempt to be relevant and local, and I will forewarn my readers that I have a lot of opinions.

Please, I truly want your comments and thoughts in response to my posts, but it is against Dart policy to publish insults or personal attacks or obscenities. So you can still be mean, but keep it clean!

Al Gore is allowed to profit from positive environmental legislation he advocates for

Read it at the New York Times.

Some skeptics call Al Gore’s environmental advocacy a profiteering sham. After all, the man stands to gain loads of cash from a spectrum of investments in environmental innovation companies if legislation supporting these companies is passed, as Republican congresswoman Marsha Blackburn pointed out.

Why should anyone fault Gore for being judicious in his investments? As he pointed out himself in response to Blackburn, he has been an environmental advocate for 30 years, and why shouldn’t he invest in what he advocates for?

I love the quote the Times concluded this article with. So I’m going to conclude this post with the same quote.

“And, Congresswoman,” he added, “if you believe that the reason I have been working on this issue for 30 years is because of greed, you don’t know me.”

The sun shines on Snowe today!

Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe made the vote 14-9 today in the Senate Finance Committee for a middle of the road health care reform plan. We’ll see what happens next week when a more liberal bill sponsored by Sen. Reid of the Senate Health Committee hits the floor.

But for now, we’re on the road to a healthier America. Thank you Obama and thank you Snowe!

Come on Republicans, we all want Health Care Reform!

The Senate Finance Committee votes on the health care bill sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus in just a little over an hour.

Passage of the health care bill was looking gloomy for a period, but recently bipartisan support for Obama’s push for reform has increased and there’s a glimmer of hope yet.

Republicans should acknowledge the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office research regarding the new reform: the reform will provide an $81 million deficit cut over 10 years.

No bill has come this far since Teddy Roosevelt’s days in office. Come on Republicans! 80 percent of America wants health care reform, don’t screw it up.

Quit complaining, people win the Nobel Peace Prize for a reason.

Read it at the New York Times.

Sure, Obama has only been in office since January. And sure, he’s young and hasn’t established world peace yet.

Who cares? He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for legitimate reasons.

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the most prestigious awards in the world, and as such, when it’s awarded news gets around. The point of the Nobel Peace Prize is not to just give someone a pat on the back for their great work and say “Well, that’s it son, you’ve done a good job, now you’re gonna be famous.” No. The point is to put someone in the spotlight who is making a difference in the world, to spread support for that person, to give them motivation to carry on the good work and not to give up.

This is why President Barack Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He’s shown he can rally hope, implement solid international diplomacy and peace negotiations, and give a formerly belligerent and widely hated world power a good name again. Obama isn’t just giving hope to Americans, he’s giving hope to the world. When the world sees the peace and good intentions of a nation as powerful as the United States, they’re going to feel hopeful too.

So quit complaining, those of you who don’t think Obama deserves the prize. He’s making a difference.

Complain against Google? Good luck.

Google’s informal motto is “Don’t be evil.“

Read it at the New York Times.

Book lovers, authors, academia, and librarians are raising an outcry against Google‘s plan to create a massive digital library and bookstore.  A federal court hearing today will review the digital library agreement which has already been re-drafted once by Google and its co-signs, The Author’s Guild and the Association of American Publishers.

Understandably, interest groups who hold stakes in book-world are wary of a plan that would make work open and free to the public. Wouldn’t authors and publishers lose profits? What about copyright laws? How will companies compete against Google?

The beauty of Google, Inc. lies in the answers to such questions. Google is one of the most powerful and wealthy companies in America, yet it’s almost entirely free to the public. When has Google ever been “evil”? In other words, why would Google want to harm academia for a profit? The answer is simply that Google wouldn’t. What’s amazing about Google is that it lets every party profit, from consumer to producer. The New York Times article reads:

Online users of Google’s digital library and store would get free access to 20 percent of any book and be able to pay to read the rest. Every library in America would be able to offer free, full access to Google’s library at one terminal. And universities would be able to purchase access to the entire collection. Revenue would be split among Google, authors and publishers.

People who want to shut down a potential universal library, free to the public, which Google, authors, and academia all profit from, are ignorant. Google has a golden record of being the harbinger of effective, useful, and free innovations. Good luck trying to stop them.