732 results found
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Raise awareness regarding energy consumption and wastage
Most of us don't realize or are simply unaware how much energy we waste by keeping TVs, computers, heaters and air conditioners on even when not needed. Its not only a waste of energy and money, but it has a big impact on our energy production machinery and global climate. We can reduce dependence on foreign oil and thus stop funding terrorism if we are more efficient. People need to be educated and I am sure they are smart enough to realize the benefits of efficiency.
4 votes -
Require Houses of Worship to have complaint cards
Too many community religious leaders tell their congregations to vote for a political candidate. Broadcasters have equal time rules. Isn't a religious leader a broadcaster to some degree? There should be postage-free cards at every religious organization that could be mailed directly to the Internal Revenue Service if someone witnesses a religious leader endorse a political candidate. The person making the complaint should have the option of being anonymous. If Broadcasters pay taxes, churches should have to also. Each card could have a bar code to identify the church. If enough members of the congregation complain, tax exempt status should…
4 votes -
outsource the US government to India...
...and rebate the savings to tax payers.
4 votes -
Pass Law: ISPs cannot hold rights to content
Net Neutrality is misunderstood. The key is this: A company should not be both an ISP and a copyright holder. Time Warner is both an ISP and the owner of HBO. It's a conflict of interest that undermines the company's inclination to treat other content owners fairly. Time Warner, Comcast, etc should divest themselves of their ISP businesses to eliminate conflicts of interest.
4 votes -
Get rid of the Orphaned Works Act.
This act will allow companies to start using whatever digital works they find online with "adequate effort" put in to finding the creator of this work. After such a time they can just use the digital work without paying the artist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work4 votes -
National Recommended Reading List
Create a national recommended reading list. Classify it by age and subject and include a short explanation with each book why it made the list.
Theodore Sturgeon said, "90% of everything is crud."
How is a young child curious about the world supposed to find a "good" book? Libraries jus accumulate they do not filter.
4 votes -
Protect more Americans from identity theft
Protect more Americans from identity theft by requiring Big Credit to provide citizens with the option to completely restrict access to their credit score similar to how victims of identity theft are allowed to do today. Except don't offer the restricted access AFTER they have been made victims but allow people the chance to restrict access BEFORE they are victims. Currently a victim of identity theft has to prove they were a victim with a police report or something similar. Why not give everyone the chance to protect themselves from the start? Contrary to companies that say people want instant…
4 votes -
my.gov (Brian McConnell's outline of Google for Government)
"a personalized front end for government services. Think “Amazon for government,” where a vast array of products and data is personalized and displayed in simplified form. Many people view the government, the federal government specifically, as a remote entity that imposes taxes and provides little tangible benefit in return... What I would like to see is my.gov, where I can go to get a snapshot view of government services I use or for which I am eligible."
4 votes -
Restore NASA's SETI program
In 1992, the U.S. government funded an operational SETI program, in the form of the NASA "Microwave Observing Program (MOP)". After some time, MOP eventually drew the attention of the U.S. Congress, where the program was strongly ridiculed, and was canceled a year after its start.
Since then, SETI research has been based in private funding, non-profit organizations and donations from individuals and corporations.
The great popularity of the SETI@home program showed that people are willing to contribute with the resources they have available to this cause. Over 5 million computer users in more than 200 countries have signed up…
4 votes -
Elect Steve Gibson CTO
Elect Steve Gibson (of GRC.com) as the CTO. Who else would you want to trust with your rights online?
4 votes -
require politicians to make public reasons for their votes
Many laws and bills signed and voted for have crazy wording and extra nonsense spending for private sectors. If the laws and the reason why the particular politician voted/didn't vote for a particular law or decision were made public it would hold our politicians accountable more to their constituents.
4 votes -
nationalize tools for goverment, such as a purchasing system
Government agencies are rife with waste and duplication of effort. Do something remarkable at the national level that will benefit everyone down to the smallest local levels.
Creating a web-based bid & purchasing system is just one example of a system that stands to reap great rewards for the people by consolidating.
The purchasing power of this magnitude of scale would stand to benefit every single American. If local fire departments and police agencies and public works and so on have the ability to streamline their efforts, the benefits could be huge.Another example of a national IT system or…
4 votes -
Transparency in govt. regulation and lobby monitoring reform
Post all regulations by industry and companies that are in compliance and those who are not. The simple act of this audit will allow citizens to check in on both companies and those assigned (govt.) to regulate. If a checks-and-balances system were actually in place, maybe the credit derivatives market would not have transacted $256 trillion of business on the OTC without someone screaming "STOP!"
Lobby groups should have transparency by registering online and all meetings with congress and senate persons must appear in an online calendar with all documents (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) posted so we see how discussions…
4 votes -
decriminalize copyright violations and make them a tort
Right now, people can be jailed for violating copyright. Copyright violations should not a criminal offense and public funds should not be used to enforce essentially contract disputes.
Decriminalize copyright violations and place them int he proper courts, the civil ones.
4 votes -
Public access to economic data
The Secretary of Commerce is responsible for producing economic metrics, such as the GDP, inflation numbers, cost of living, etc. This information is supposed to be publicly available, but is difficult to get to. Wider dissemination and easier access for the public, especially to the underlying census and economic data, would allow a much richer understanding of our economic climate, and promote more rational decision making in business and personal finance.
Imagine if public economic metrics, such as tax revenues, gov't funding, avg. income data, consumer spending, housing prices, were all available to anyone, and as simple and easy to…4 votes -
form indep. agency to scientifically evaluate govt. programs
Government programs are created with specific aims in mind, frequently relying on advanced technology, or on scientific research. These programs sometimes succeed or fail, both of which are valuable outcomes. In our current paradigm, failure isn't admitted (e.g. DARE), vested interest perpetuate bad programs, and successful programs languish for lack of recognition or support.
We need an independent agency, staffed by retired scientists, academic faculty, and smart independent parties who are responsible for evaluating and grading existing and potential government programs based on their technical merit. It is expected that any member will recuse themselves from evaluating any program in…
4 votes -
Fund ultracapacitor technology research for electric cars
Battery technology will never catch up to the power production of fossil fuel vehicles. It takes too long to recharge and they will go bad before the car is no longer useful.
Ultracapacitors on the other hand have a longer lifetime and recharge much, much faster than batteries. Funding and research needs to be done to make a fully electric vehicle that will compete/replace gas and diesel vehicles, in an effort to drive down fuel costs for Americans.
4 votes -
4 votes
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Bring public school education completely into the 21st Centu
Besides the obvious need for hardware in puclic school, attitudes toward technology need to change and more integration of technology needs to occur - especially at the elementary school level... <A HREF="http://gregcruey.edublogs.org/2008/10/08/21st-century-learning-a-video-series/">More here</A>...
4 votes -
increase funding for teacher prof. development in technology
schools need to evolve into the 21st century by adapting successful teaching strategies to encourage technology integration. the only way this is possible is through an increase in professional development directed at teachers, schools and university programs preparing future teachers.
4 votes