[TriLUG] Linux / Solaris Position (OT Alert)

[Marty Ferguson]

Group, I'm going to put my 2 bits in here.

This OT topic doesn't really belong on the Linux group, per se,
but by the same token this conversation needs to be entertained
on every list that serves computing professionals, which TriLUG
does, although not by charter.

First, many of these are not US corporations.  They are Transnationals,
with offshore tax-dodging corporate offices.  They may do most of their
business in US and Europe, but the official corporate address is some
island in the Caribbean.  The are not aligned with the sovereign interests
of the people of the US.  The are aligned with the interests of their
stockholders.  Would it not be a shame to find out that part of your 401K
retirement dollars are invested in a company that decided to outsource your
wife/husband's job?

Secondly, workers rights have been slowly eroding over the last 20 or
so years. Keep an eye on the various kinds of legislation before congress,
such as to redefine "exempt" employees to include the shift-lead on the
overnight cleaning crew at Wal-Mart.

The massive loss of IT jobs in the Triangle is little IT is on the leading
edge of a decline, and fabric/garment industry is in the final throes.

So start sending a message yourselves.  You can vote with your pocketbook,
and communicate with letters to the Senate, the Congress, and to the
newspaper.
Not all conservative is Republican, and not all progressive is Democrat.

You can buy fair-trade coffee instead of the cheap stuff.  You can attempt
to do something before The New Deal and The Great Societies are totally
dismantled and your water bill no longer comes from the City of Cary, but
rather from MegaTransNationalCorp.

</rant>

Marty
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
PS I will not address this issue on TriLUG again.  I am co-chair at my
church
on an action group working the globalization issue.  Feel free to contact me
off-list.
For some underlying philosophies, see billionare George Sorros' article in
The Atlantic.  It will stike a chord with most open source advocates.

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/97feb/capital/capital.htm

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---


-----Original Message-----
From: trilug-bounces at trilug.org [mailto:trilug-bounces at trilug.org]On
Behalf Of Scott Chilcote
Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 2:38 PM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Linux / Solaris Position (OT Alert)


Magnus Hedemark wrote:
<snip>