Finland makes 1Mb broadband access a legal right | Webware - CNET

"Declaration of the Rights of Man" this certainly is not. Indeed, I wonder what civilizations living just a few decades from now will make of such a statement.

Imagine that it's 1843 and the US Congress is considering amending the Declaration of Independence to read, "life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and an annual allotment of 25 gallons of whale oil." Or perhaps that it's 1933, and FDR's first order of business is to allow everyone to send telegrams free of charge.

In the end, Finland, it's very nice, and good job; but wouldn't it have been less ridiculous to simply allow citizens free access at libraries or post offices?

President Barack Obama Wins Nobel Prize

When I saw this headline in the news this morning, I had to stop and ask myself whether today was some sort of autumn version of April Fool's Day. I just can't make any sense of it.

The Nobel Foundation's press release on the award makes interesting reading. Apparently there is a "new climate in international politics" that's due entirely to him; we also read that "[h]is diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." Whatever the hell that means.

Looking at the fact that we are still heavily engaged in two wars, one of which may well see a troop surge in coming months; looking at the fact that Obama's soft-touch approach to Iran seems to have emboldened the mullahs; looking at the fact that the "reset" (or was it "overload"?) with Russia appears to be an uncompensated rollover to their government's demands...I just don't understand how Obama's lofty rhetoric trumps his dubious record of accomplishment.