That last line was missing a sentence before it. It should have gone:

"The game's the problem. We need a new game. Maybe we could call it 777."

Google will always stink for what it did to a good Chinese citizen. Always... until it's no more.

Otherwise, Yes, This Google-led initiative looks positive.

As for the above poster's pitch for 'no government', How does that work? There will always (for now) be governments, because capitalists - lovers of 'markets' - need them more than anyone. The question for most of us isn't 'government or no government?'. It's representation. Promised representation is rarely delivered.

My rotten Canadian government is pushing through a DMCA-like law and receiving lots of justifiable criticism for not consulting with all affected stakeholders. I expect capitalists to only care about their profits - even though one would wish that they could be socially responsible - but I should be able to expect that my government, elected by citizens from all walks of life, will care about my wants and needs and not just those of it's (powerful) partners in business.

But that's the problem right there, Isn't it? Politicians' 'partners' in business. When politicians and capitalists in the private sector join forces and run things, that's called fascism. When they do fascism with care, so as to not bring the rickety mansion they preside over down on all our heads, That's careful, less bloody (literally) fascism, such as we have today in Canada and the United States.

I try to encourage people - everyone - to care, because that gets to the core of it all. I believe that solutions flow from caring. I would rather suggest caring to those looking for answers than to prescribe specific solutions (I don't have all the answers and no one does), not that it's a bad idea for knowledgeable people (Google's engineers) to have specific solutions for specific problems.

But everyone - good and bad, right and left - is playing 'riches for the strongest' and only a minority that is willing to cheat, exploit and oppress are winning in this game. Folks on the Left and elsewhere in the majority too easily get caught up in just trying to win in this evil game whose main element is neoliberal capitalism. The game's the problem. Maybe we could call it 777.

re- "Afghanistan: Death sentence for downloading, distributing report on oppression of women" (posted by Xeni Jardin)

This stuff makes me nuts. I'm religious, but I don't believe that we have, at the moment, a religious organization on earth that Jehovah God approves of. And that includes the organization that embraces God's self-given name, which I once associated with.

Nor am I a fan of Christopher Hitchens, who I agree with on the subject of free speech.

I'm not of the view that all cultures contribute something to my community (which isn't to say that all those who embrace those problematic cultures should be persecuted). I'm Canadian, where, they say, racism is not overt but simmers below the surface. These days, here in Toronto, racism has been in the news due to the efforts of some to deal with statsitics that show that black students are dropping out of school at a higher rate than kids from other backgrounds. Those efforts include (efforts at) segregating black students into black focussed schools.

That's race. But is it also culture? If it is, then the focus on race here is a mistake, since gangsta culture has already migrated to the wider society and gangsta culture isn't any different, in essence, than a (fascistic) culture that produces citizens who think it's okay for it's country to quit using it's military to do genuine humanitarian intervention and start doing imperialism, which means military adventurism for economic gain (hence fascistic, since fascism means rule by the political and business class at the expense of the wider - civil - society). Canada, especially with Haiti under it's belt, is there. We now follow imperial America, doing our own imperialism on the side, careful to never cross the boss.

I don't think we Canadians benefit from the war mongering culture south of us. And I don't think we benefit from manmade religions and the presence of their fanatical adherents who regard women, not as subordinate to men, but as inferior (Islam), a different thing with seriously different ramifications, just as I also don't think we benefit from the presence in my country of Hell's Angels, mafia and triads.

Which isn't to say that I don't appreciate the rule of law that we have here (as poorly set out and regarded as it is), which may sometimes, due to imperfections in it, allow or seem to allow situations that normal people would consider unjust. At least we have enough freedom here that we can put up a fight to make an unjust situation, or law, just. That happens in proportion as there are godly people around inclined to fight for social justice and possessing the wherewithal, whether or not they are religious.

What a great article!