Health Care Protesters violating the spirit of the Constitution--shameful.

I've watched the debate on health care with some interest. As a person denied coverage due to preexisting condition, I have a dog in this fight.

The protests occurring at town hall meetings have me alarmed. Not because I think they are wrong, but because of their tactics.

"Why would you want to deny citizens their 1st Amendment Right?" you may ask.

I am the last person to argue for an abridgment of 1st Amendment rights. I think every citizen has the right to speak publicly their mind and opinion. I think the Constitution protects every citizen who endeavors to address their duly elected representatives.

The protests at the town hall meetings are different.

The purpose, it seems, behind many of the protests is not the free exercise of 1st Amendment rights. Citizens are exercising their 1st Amendment rights, not to engage in civil discourse, but to deny others the free exercise of their rights.

What do I mean?

Simply this: A person's 1st Amendment Right to flap their lips ends where it prevents me from exercising my 1st Amendment Right to flap mine.

By analogy: If I were to exercise my Right to Bear Arms in a way that prevented you from exercising your Right to Bear Arms, then my act would be outside the law.

Your right to swing your arm ends where my nose begins, so to speak. This utilitarian doctrine underscores many of our freedoms.

Now, if citizens wish to debate on the merits of health care reform, then by all means the law protects them in civil discourse. These protests are not civil and they are not designed to discuss, but bludgeon. Civil discourse demands respect for the rights of others.

But, if the purpose is to thwart discourse, then it defies Constitutional protections and smells of tyranny.

As a nation, we cannot allow the loud voices of a few to drown out civil dialogue necessary to the proper functioning of our Republic.

Crybaby complainers who lie and misrepresent because they can't get their way is not the American Way.

Adult discussions based on facts, based on civility, and based on reason--now, that's the American Way.

Apple in danger of Antitrust violations over App Store policies: The Rise of Cydia

For those of you enamored of the Apple IPhone or its litte brother the ITouch, the App store provided by apple may be your only avenue for finding those beloved features to make you phone work.

Yet, Apple draws many complaints because of its often "tyrannical" App store policies. Some make it through, while many others do not. Making matters worse, those successfully lighting in the App Store rarely make enough cash to justify their investment of time and money to create the App. Apple makes money regardless of how well an app sells because they invest no money nor time (save the approval process) to create the app.

What to do when you blow your life savings to create an app that fails to curry favor with the gatekeepers at Apple? You go to market anyway--just down the street at Cydia.

Cydia is the marketplace for all the misfit apps.

This was bound to happen sooner or later. Apple established a system demanding high investment for entry, low chance of return, and they topped it off with a gate-keeping system known more for whimsy than for integrity.

The market will always find a way around monopolistic aggression. When the market doesn't Antitrust Law will.

Either way, Cydia is the result.