text:
Home » Sony joins mobile e-commerce organization
Sony joins mobile e-commerce organization
RCR Wireless News;1/29/2001, Vol. 20 Issue 5, p26
Reports that electronics company Sony Corp. has joined the MeT initiative, an organization working to develop safe and secure methods for e-commerce transactions on mobile phones.
Sony looks for shop in European DM review. Darby, Ian // Campaign;2/16/2001, Issue 7, p5
Reports the move of electronics giant Sony to review the company's direct marketing across Europe. Development of direct sales channels and cross-sell products; Details on the plan of Sony to move towards the electronic business model; Use of several direct marketing agencies to promote the...
Sony takes big e-plunge in Japan. Herskovitz, Jon // Advertising Age International;Feb2000, p3
Reports that Sony Corp. has started selling its consumer products online in Japan in January 31, 2000. Impact of the move on electric commerce and the retail business; Online sales forecast; Integrated provision of products and related Internet services, application software and information.
Sony Weighs Web Banking Venture in Japan. Snel, Ross // American Banker;12/13/1999, Vol. 164 Issue 237, p13
Reports on the plans of Sony Corp. to enter the retail Internet banking business in Japan. Study being conducted on how to establish the division; Background on the company's Internet infrastructure in Japan; Significance of the Sony brand on the company's marketing and advertising efforts.
Proposal to hive off the entertainment business. // Business & Economy;Jun2013, Vol. 8 Issue 6, p15
The article reports on the proposal of Third Point LLC. to spin off the movie and music businesses of Sony Corp. to help them with its burdensome debt and provide it with the financial resources for the improvement of its electronics business.
Sony bows e-tail site in Japan. Herskovitz, Jon // Daily Variety;02/02/2000, Vol. 266 Issue 44, p6
Reports on Japan-based electronics giant Sony Corp.'s establishment of Sony Style.com Japan, an Internet site for sales of its mainstay products. Major repercussions for electronic commerce; Expected sales for its initial year of operation; Products to be placed on sale on the site.
WEAVING A GIANT WEB. Goldsmith, Jill // Daily Variety;8/1/2001, Vol. 272 Issue 43, p4
Reports on Sony Corp.'s signing of a pact with Yahoo! Inc. for electronic commerce, branding and promotion. Sony Pictures' film releases being considered for marketing by the partners; Plans of the companies in developing a co-branded Web site.
GOOD BAD UGLY. // Network World;6/15/2009, Vol. 26 Issue 21, p7
The article offers updates related to information technology in the U.S. Sony Corp. has developed a mercury-free alkaline manganese button-cells for electronic devices. NetChoice released its first "Internet Advocate's Watchlist for Ugly Laws," in relation to the threat of bills in state...
Can travel industry follow Sony's lead? // Travel Trade Gazette UK & Ireland;11/18/2005, Issue 2691, p15
The article gives accolade to Sony Corp.'s lead to support high street retailers in Great Britain. The company argued that high street shops are an important and valued part of its distribution network where consumers can browse its products. The main purpose therefore is to eliminate the...
Sony authorizes e-tailer 800.com. Wolf, Alan; Smith, Steve // TWICE: This Week in Consumer Electronics;02/21/2000, Vol. 15 Issue 5, p3
Announces that 800.com has become the first pure-play Internet retailer authorized by Sony to sell its audio, video and telecommunications products. Launch of the offering in spring 2000; Number of consumer electronic products the site carries; Sony selection included in the offering.


text:
自由主義面對文化多樣性的兩難
loong5 2 5 月, 2008 學術文章
這篇文章的重點, 在於揭示自由主義在面對不同文化團體的要求時所面對的兩難。自由主義的預設有二─基於人人有相等的潛能去實踐道德, 每一個個體都應該互相尊重, 每一個個體也都享有平等的地位; 基於自由主義對平等自由人的理解, 任何有充足道德能力的成年人都不應被拒絕於任何的政治群體之外。這兩個自由主義思考的基點會和不同文化群體的特別訴求產生衝突。在捍衛自由主義基本價值的同時, 不少具有特色的文化團體無可避免地被邊緣化。本文嘗試以自由民族主義作為分析的框架, 指出文化多樣性如何為自由主義提出有效的挑戰; 筆者以香港的新移民作為引子, 自由主義在面對眾多複雜的文化與及種族衝突時, 其理論的一致性(coherence)會面臨相當大的張力。
Does the exclusion of immigrants by liberal states justifiable?—an observation from a Hong-Konger perspective
In Hong Kong, there are about 50000-60000 immigrants from mainland every year. The influx of mainland immigrants is never a single event. Most residents in Hong Kong are immigrants from mainland. Only very few of us are Hong Kong "aborigines". In 1950, due to the instability of the political situation in the mainland China, several hundred thousand people came to Hong Kong for a temporary stay. In response to the wave of illegal immigration, the British colonial government implemented a "touch base policy". Under the policy, those illegal immigrants who are able go to the urban area without being "stopped down" by the police can apply for a permanent residence in HK.
Because of this historical fact, many permanent residents in HK are "immigrants" from that particular wave. However, these old immigrants would see the new immigrants as an alien group, the outsiders that ought to be excluded by the government. The reasons for such exclusion are twofold. One type of reasons is mainly practical, most of the old immigrants or the Hong-Kongers believe that the influx of new immigrants will stress the limited resources in government policy. Another type mainly concerns the identity problem. Old immigrants believe that they are the "real" Hong Kong people. There was a popular rumor that the large amount of influx of mainland immigrants was a conspiracy by the communist government to "dilute" the original Hong Kong residents' composition before the handover of the colonial rule. Indeed, the image of the new immigrants is often portrayed as bad and inferior. In many Hong-Kongers' eyes, especially for the older generation, the new immigrants are simply outsiders that do not share the same entitlement as the "real" Hong Kong people do. As a result, the government remained prudent in immigration policy. There is a rather limited quota for the issue of one-way permit (that is essential for the residence in HK). Even one can get the permit, he does not share the same citizenship with the permanent resident in HK. The policy itself might be the result of political bargaining, but it surely points to a deeper inherent tension in the liberal theory.
Despite the political concerns, there is a philosophical interest in the problem of immigration. There are two main core assumptions in liberal political theory. First, liberals endorse a universal commitment to the moral equality of humanity. People are equal in terms of their moral worth as such and we are entitled to equal respect and concern. Second, rational, free and equal persons should not be excluded in the politics of a liberal community. All public political institutions and practices must be capable of justification to all rational agents. The contractarian tradition does not allow the exclusion of a competent adult being as an outsider of the community. However, the universalistic nature of the assumption introduces an inherent tension with the membership nature of the present nation-state. Membership implies exclusion of certain parties from an association, a community or even a nation-state (in this case, it is citizenship instead). The reasons for excluding some parties are not always morally non-arbitrary. Liberal states distinguish between "insiders" and "outsiders", but the basis can be morally arbitrary and result in the tension with the core liberal assumptions. Take the new immigrants in Hong Kong as an example. Although it is debatable about the liberalistic nature of the colonial or the HKSAR government, the exclusion of new immigrants in HK appeals to features that might not be endorsed by liberals: where one is born or who one's parents happen to be are not things under one's control. In HK's case, it seems that it is justifiable to have a citizenship if an "illegal" immigrant has reached HK before 1980 (the year in which the touch-base policy had been terminated) but not afterwards. From a liberal point of view, the exclusion policy cannot be justified based on these morally arbitrary features.
The above observation points to the dilemma of liberal immigration policy. There is a tension between the internal principles and external principles of liberal theory.[1]On one hand, the internal principles require the two liberal assumptions to be truly represented in the constitutional arrangements within the governance of its own citizens. On the other, the external principles, in which the ways for the government to treat the non-citizens, might not be consistent with core liberal values. The tension might make liberals' motto "all men are free and equal" become empty. Men are free and equal just within the nation-state boundary. Non-citizens cannot enjoy the same moral status as citizens and are excluded by different types of immigration measures. Liberals, in response, can have two strategies to resolve such tension. First, liberals can claim that there can be no immigration control at all. Libertarian would advocate a complete freedom of international movement.[2] However, little liberal egalitarian endorse this position. Second, liberals can admit that the principle of moral equality has a rather limited role in practical theory level. There are some local principles more overriding, such as adding communitarian or national ground into liberal theory. In what follows, I would examine this type of justification, especially on how national identity could provide a ground for exclusive membership. Liberal nationalists need to show that our constructed national identity outweighs other more local forms of community. In addition, they need to show that the content of a national identity can be compatible with core liberal principles. Nevertheless, to construct such an identity, there is a tension between the commitment to liberal constitutional politics and that to the historical and cultural context of this particular liberal state. If the historical and the cultural element contribute a little part of the constructed identity, then the notion is too thin to be sufficiently establishing a distinctive membership for immigration policy. If we add those elements too much, the nature of the identity shifts toward an ethnic understanding which liberals would find it too hard to be accepted. To conclude, I would argue that liberal coherence for internal and external principle is very hard to achieve at both the theoretical and the practical level in immigration policy.[3]
Why do we exclude some immigrants but not the others? In reality, most states do not exclude all the immigrants. Those immigrants with higher education level, higher social class and higher economical status are much welcomed than those who are political or economical refugees. Those economical refugees are usually the worst-off group in the society, but they are treated as "illegal" immigrants in many circumstances. The reasons to reject those refugees are based on some pragmatic concerns, such as limited resources of the state, national security or public order. But we have something more than pragmatic concerns here. Liberals cannot just simply ignore the fact that most people in the world is living in modern nation-states. When a state claims to exclude certain groups, the basis of exclusion can be the fear that the large influx of outsiders would threaten the insiders' cultural or national identity. Nationalism, probably as one of the most influential ideology in the globe, exerts much of its power on immigration policy. Some liberals, like Yael Tamir, try to accommodate nationalism with liberalism so that one's nationality can make sense to be a defensible component of one's cultural identity. In this section, the possible tension between liberalism and nationalism will be explored. In the context of immigration control, the focus will be on whether the idea of national identity can provide a test for membership. I would argue that even if the act was successful, there would have been great tension with the core liberal principles.
A nation, as Benedict Anderson defines it, is "an imagined political community [that is] imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign".[4] It is not an actual community as we do not experience face-to-face communication with everyone else in a particular nation-state. Although it is a socially constructed imagination, many of us still regard a nation to be a particular valuable form of community. Therefore, national relationship can justifiably be prioritized in some cases, at least as observed in some Asian or Middle-East countries.
There are many varieties of nationalism, one of which stress on the cultural-national impact on the construction of the identity of citizens. Tamir, one of the advocates of "cultural nationalism", argues that liberal philosophy needs to take the influence of culture in people's lives seriously. Liberals just focus too much on individual choices. We do not recognize that many of our choices are influenced by existing cultural as well as communal framework. We might even take a stronger claim that the existing cultural framework shapes the range of options that an individual is likely to make. Freedom is not an abstract entity; it is meaningful only if it is situated within a cultural context. Tamir therefore claims that liberal theory must recognize a right to culture—that individuals have the right to "live within the culture of their choice, to decide on their social affiliations, to re-create the culture of the community they belong to, and to refine its borders."[5] The right to culture, as she puts it, is something that "entails the right to a public sphere in which individuals can share a language, memorize their past, cherish their heroes, live a fulfilling national life"[6] In this sense, nation and culture are connected. It is the presence of nation that can preserve the distinctiveness of culture. There must be a public sphere in which the national culture is expressed. A national culture, according to Tamir, "is a set of specific features that enable members of a nation to distinguish between themselves and others".[7] Therefore, we must see "nations as cultural communities demarcated by the imaginative power of their members"[8] The national identity so constructed, therefore, rests on the cultural difference between different communities. The boundary between nations is culturally determined, and this line between "us" and "others" enables people to identify themselves. It seems that for Tamir, the valuableness of a nation is that it provides the very basis for the nurturing of a distinctive cultural framework for the people in order to live a good life. As she puts it,
The ability of individuals to lead a satisfying life and to attain the respect of others is contingent on, although not assured by, their ability to view themselves as active members of a worthy community. A safe, dignified, and flourishing national existence thus significantly contributes to their well-being.[9]
Despite this idealized picture of national identity, we should question about whether our goodness is always in phase with what nation/national culture defines. Presently in mainland China, there are many children having gymnastics training everyday in order to suit nation's goal to gain medals in Olympics games. Although we might argue that the children will be very happy if they can really get a medal in the end, we still have reasonable doubt on whether such a "cultural-or-national-determinism" is really a good to the development of our own individuality. Not all the children want to be a good athlete.
Another problem is also an old question from a liberal perspective: Is there any obligation of the state to promote a national culture? Alan Patten has analyzed four stages of the arguments for cultural nationalism:
1. Individual autonomy is a fundamental value within liberal theory.
2. A liberal state must establish the conditions for this autonomy.
3. A meaningful range of options requires a cultural framework.
4. The liberal state ought to promote a national culture. [10]
Patten has made an important point here. We can only move to the conclusion if we assume that "national" cultures are important to their member's autonomy.[11] Without this assumption, the argument runs like culture is important for human flourishing, but not national culture. In addition to the counter-argument that I have given in the previous paragraph, we can question on the importance of a rich and diverse cultural varieties in the development of one's well-being and originality. This moves us to J.S. Mill's individuality argument.[12] To promote individuality, the society needs to be pluralistic. In addition, we need to recognize the dependence of the good for each of us on relationships with others. To say that collective identities mean the collective dimensions of our individual identities. As Appiah puts it,
[To say that collective identities] are responses to something outside our selves is to say that they are the products of histories, and our engagement with them invokes capacities that are not under our control. Yet they are social not just because they involves others, but because they are constituted in part by socially transmitted conceptions of how a person of that identity properly behaves.[13]
To experience different lives in different cultures is one of the important ways to develop our individuality. We have our own reflective judgments on our ways of life. It is very hard to say the national culture, probably a uni-cultural one, is overridingly valuable over other possible forms of cultures and experiences. After all, culture is not a static or fixed entity without any additional element from and interaction with other forms of culture. If a particular culture is isolated from the world and stop interacting with other forms of culture, that particular, over-protected culture can be said to be dead. Therefore, it is not good for the state to reject immigrants in order to promote a national culture. It clings too much to the absolute sovereign will of the individual states. Such an act cannot protect our autonomy; rather it would impede our development of individuality, which constitutes an important part of our autonomy.
Let's us back to the question of immigration control. If liberal nationalism is to provide a justification on membership controls, it needs to provide a national identity that can be used to distinguish between insiders and outsiders. In spite of the cultural nationalism account, we will see another justification of national identity for deciding membership in this section.
For David Miller, nationality differs from other forms of identity in five ways: First, nationalities are constituted by belief as a shared imagined community. Second, there has to be historical continuity so that present members feel loyalty and obligations to past and future generations. Third, nationality is an active identity. Fourth, a national identity connects a group of people to a confined geographical place. Fifth, the identity requires people who share it should have something in common.[14] The phrase "something in common" raises a number of concerns here. Miller does not refer the common characteristic as biological traits; rather it is a "common public culture which is compatible with their belonging to a diversity of ethnic groups".[15] We can regard this "common public culture" as one of the normative test of an acceptable national identity. That means if we interpret membership in a boarder sense (citizenship), we could understand public culture as the way we relate to each other as citizens, as long as we note how fluid the public-private boundary can be.[16] The sign of a good citizen, therefore, is one who exhibits certain cultural characteristics such as language and religion. This claim of private-public boundary is supported by the following text:
National identities are not all-embracing, and…the common public culture that they require may have room for many private cultures to flourish within the borders of the nation.[17]
Other than common public culture, another normative test of an acceptable national identity provided by Miller is social myth. At first glance, it seems that there is no ethical justification for a national loyalty to be based on myth. However, Miller argues that national myths "provide reassurance that the national community of which one now forms a part is solidly based in history, that it embodies a real continuity between generations"[18]. In addition, "they perform a moralizing role, by holding before us the virtues of our ancestors and encouraging us to live up to them"[19]. Nations are ethical communities that has instrumental values, and there are reasons for us to hold such a belief even we are somehow aware that it is false.
This seems an absurd argument—how one can still hold a belief even he knows that such a belief is a "false-consciousness"? Sometimes we do act in this self-deception way. For instance, we know that the belief that smoking can release stress can be wrong—because the increased level of nicotine in the blood actually increases one's heart beat rate. But we still hope to believe that such a belief can be right. The case is more prominent in the post-Mao period of China. My observation is that most citizens in China, at least as observed in HK, do not believe what the communist party portrays. They think that many images of national successes are all propaganda from the national government. Meanwhile, they need something to fulfill the emptiness of their souls – The Great Cultural Revolution has broken down many traditional foundation of the conception of the good[20] in the good old days. History always involves writing someone else but not the others, however, we should note that filling empty spaces by national narratives rather than uncovering the distasteful truth can sometimes help citizens to forget their unhappy past. This type of normative test, though a sad practice, might still contribute as one requirement for an acceptable national identity. If we reject national myth at all, the standard might be too stringent to allow any citizens to live within such an "imagined community".
The above discussion leads us to the third test of national identity: authenticity. For Miller, national identity is not authoritative and is open to critical assessment. We need a conversation for such an assessment, and the method is a liberal one:
Without freedom of conscience and expression, one cannot explore different interpretations of national identity, something that takes place not only in political forums, but is the various associations that make up civil society.[21]
The authenticity of national identity, according to Miller, depends on the result of free and equal contestation between groups.
[T]he freedoms and rights defended by liberals are valued here as the means whereby individuals can develop and express their ethic and other group identities, while at the same time taking part in an ongoing collective debate about what it means to be a member of this nation.[22]
So we can conclude all those normative tests for national identity altogether. To accept a national identity, it must be authentic. For that to be achieved, we need a common public culture through which it emerges has to be liberal. We do care about historical accuracy of national stories, but the accuracy as such does not contribute much to one's understanding of his national identity.
Despite the very high standard of acceptance, there is still one more fundamental concern which is related to the immigration control. Whenever we are constituting a "we", at the same time a "they" is constructed out of this association. Miller's ideal picture is that there is a free and equal contestation between groups, but it simply cannot happen in the real life situations. Those outsiders simply do not get involved into the progress of "producing" a national identity. Many of them are too weak to represent themselves in so called common public culture. For Miller, all problems are a matter of inclusion, just like the U.S. "melting pot" policy. But it cannot be true. We might argue that the term nationalism, whatever its form, implies certain exclusion of "they" and inclusion of "us". The most fundamental flaw of Miller's argument is that he seems to assume that the excluded group can have a fair equality of opportunity in the contest of inclusion in the national identity, but it simply doesn't happen in most of the cases.
After all, the concept of liberal national identity cannot be "universal" that the identity is shared by all members of all liberal polities. Rather, each individual liberal polity will have its own distinct national identity. So, the matter of exclusion comes to the dialogue between different "nations" to talk about the identity problem.
Recalls Tamir's claim on liberal nationality. Based on a communal rather than a contractarian approach, she outlines two requirements for membership in a liberal state:
General civic competence—the readiness and the ability to communicate, argue, and discuss matters with fellow citizens, and to form judgments on the basis of this dialogue.
A shared culture and identity—the competence to act as a member of this particular society.[23]
From the above formulation, it seems that an immigration control based on liberal national identity works perfectly fine with the core liberal assumptions. Any rational adult that is capable of general civic competence and has a shared culture and identity with others in the nation can be morally justified having the membership in a liberal state. Tamir continues to argue, that "prospective citizens must be able and willing to be members of this particular historical community, its past, its future, its forms of life and institutions." A state that "views itself as a community" can issue citizenship only to those committed to respect its communal values.[24]
A shared culture seems to be the basis for membership for liberal nationalists, at least for Tamir and Miller. Nevertheless, it is rather an oversimplified picture for most modern-state's situation. We can consider the case of new immigrants in HK again to illustrate the problem. The new immigrants in HK do not necessarily share the same culture as the old immigrants. It depends on how we define the content and scope of the term "culture". Although both of us do write Chinese, we speak different dialects. Most new immigrants find very hard to learn the prevalent Cantonese when they first arrive HK. It is a common phenomenon that most students from mainland find reluctant to play with other Hong-Kongers because of the language problem. They are afraid of being laughed by the locals because of the lack of ability to speak Cantonese. Besides linguistic heterogeneity, we also have different life-styles that are sometimes hard to accommodate. Many new immigrants cannot stand the flamboyant life-styles that most Hong-Kongers experience everyday. Despite all these differences, we do share a lot given that all of us are "immigrants" from mainland. The factor that contributes our differences is time—we came to HK at different time frame. If a rather homogeneous community, like the new and old immigrants in HK case, also experiences a difficulty to constitute a "shared" culture, how comes such a principle be extended to a more heterogeneous situation in other places, like that between the Tibet and the Han ethnics in China?
Even if a shared culture does exist, the liberal state need to identify what is the ruling culture in the state in order to maintain such a "shared" culture. The identification is hard, because both political beliefs or commitments or culture are somehow invisible. As in HK, can we identify the new immigrants as having the shared culture as most Hong-Kongers because of the capability of speaking Cantonese (the most prevalent dialect in HK)? Even if the ability of speaking Cantonese can be quantified and tested, the commitment to be included in certain cultural community cannot be tested. If we move beyond language, it is likely that the nation-state would apply some ethnic and "anti-liberal" measures to distinguish between "us" and "they". One of the Tamir's judgments on membership is on the "respects on communal values and collective history". However, how can we really measure the respects of prospective members? Does it mean, for instance, the new immigrants in Hong Kong must be able to speak Cantonese fluently and able to pass the test on Hong Kong's history in order to show their commitment and respect? There is a danger of slippery slope in the argument. Cultural nationalism seems to be a matter-of-degree concept. If we want to make the membership measure more distinguishable, we need more measures on the shared cultural identity. The more the measure or the requirement, the more intrusive the policy is. If we stress too much on the importance on national culture, we might give too much to the state to exercise its sovereignty upon the promotion of nationality.
Liberal nationalism, in effect, is negotiating a space between a thin version of "liberal constitutionalism" and a thick version of "ethnic nationalism".[25] "Liberal constitutionalism" agree on national identity depends on civic competence but not on shared cultural identity. "Ethnic nationalism", on the other hand, includes essentialist view of ethnic features to define a nation. Liberal nationalists endorse the former but reject the latter. To prevent becoming too "thick", they have to draw some lines between ethnic nationalism and cultural nationalism that they endorse. One of the strategies, as suggested by Miller, is to draw the distinction between public and private sphere by stressing the importance of a common public culture. Following this, the difference between ethnic nationalism and cultural nationalism is that the former intrudes too much into the private sphere of individual while the latter preserves such a boundary. However, as Miller acknowledges, "both nations and ethnics group are groups of people bound together by common cultural characteristics and mutual recognition".[26] The line is simply unclear to be drawn. The reasons that liberals reject liberal nationalists are the same as those that liberal nationalists reject ethnic nationalists. Nationalism must contain some ethnic elements if we understand ethnicity as a body of cultural beliefs but not that of biological features. So the argument to protect national culture (which is a common public one) becomes more like a welfare question: the state need to promote national culture because it is for the individual's own good. The state is justified to be "non-neutral" in this sense. This act surely blurs the distinction between public sphere and private sphere, and it creates a great tension with the core liberal assumptions that I have mentioned in the beginning of the paper.
The importance of "cultural membership" as a criterion for citizenship makes the label "liberal culturalist" more makes sense. The emphasis of cultural importance brings us to the question of minority group rights. In response, Kymlicka distinguishes "bad" and "good" minority rights. Minority rights are bad if they involve restricting individual rights while they are good if they can supple individual rights. The "bad" minority rights concern internal dissent and exert internal restrictions within the group (intra-group). This raises the danger of individual oppression. The "good" one, on the other, involves inter-group relations and concerns the unfairness between groups. Kymlicka believes that liberal culturalism would accept the latter. He claims that minority rights are consistent with liberal culturalism "if (a) they protect the freedom of individuals within groups; and (b) they promote relations of equality (non-dominance) between groups."[27] In the context of immigration policy, it seems to Kymlicka that we ought to include those immigrants given they can fulfill the above two criteria.
Understood this way, the major dilemma for minority culture is not the tension between liberalism and communitarianism (or nationalism). Rather, it is the danger of being marginalized from the major economic and political institutions of the society. There are four options for minorities when they face this danger. They can either emigrate; accept integration into the majority culture; seek for national self-determination (of self-government); or accept permanent marginalization.[28] For new immigrants in Hong Kong, my observation is that most of them favor the option of integration. Then, the problem they face is not to "preserve" their own distinctive cultural or ethnic heritage as new immigrants might not remain proud of their heritage; rather, many immigrants demand fairer terms of integration. Kymlicka outlines two basic elements for this demand. First, there is a need of special accommodations for immigrants on a transitional basis. For instance, mother-tongue services are required to help them, especially the children, to learn effectively in school. Second, there are institutions to ensure that immigrants can share the same degree of respect, recognition, and accommodation of the identities and practices as those of the majority group. For instance, government might need to examine the portrayal of minorities in school curricula or the media to see if they are "stigmatized".[29] For him, the matters are all the problem of fairness.
However, as I have mentioned in section 4, there is always a tension between thin "liberal nationalism" and thick "ethnic nationalism". Although immigrants are no means conceived themselves as a nation, there is still a cultural distinctiveness problem. Kymlicka's project, in the first sense, stresses on the importance of cultural diversity within the liberal framework. One problem that Kymlicka has not faced in the project is about the tension between core liberal principles and those more localized cultural or ethical principles that any minority group would face. In the case of immigrants, it seems that the problem is less prominent than those ethno-religious groups or national minorities. But still the line between public and private sphere is not always easy to draw. For instance, what if the new immigrants in HK want to maintain traditional Confucian practices in sex, love and marriage? Some of them might think that there is too much freedom in sexual behavior in modern city like HK. They might prefer a more perfectionalist view on a government role to promote the traditional culture. Indeed, it is sometimes very hard to say whether the predominating culture is a common public one. Even if it is, there is still a feeling of alienation, if not an oppression, for those marginalized groups (like the new immigrants) to be exposed in such a situation. After all, liberalism is just one of the various forms of good life; we have no reason to assume that most minorities or immigrants would like to live in a liberalist style.
It is hoped that the tension between liberal core assumptions and exclusive membership in present nation-states has been successfully illustrated in the paper. There is always a need for the state to exclude some competent prospective members. The exclusion itself inevitably introduces conflict with the core liberal assumption of a universal commitment to the moral equality of humanity. The strategy that liberal nationalism holds cannot effectively resolve the dilemma. The space between thin "liberal constitutionalism" and thick "ethnic nationalism" is not easy to negotiate. If we cling too much to the liberal side, we do not take cultural diversity seriously. If too much national culture protection is carried out, it violates the core liberal assumptions. A third solution for the tension is to reduce the problem of cultural conflicts into that of fairness, however, we cannot assume that the minority groups always want to get integrated into the mainstream. Integration can sometimes be another form of oppression. It is a lesson learned from our long history of cultural conflicts between nations, which appears to be one of the circumstances that are necessarily faced by all mankind.
Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined Communities , New, London, New York: Verso.
Appiah, K.A. (2005). The Ethics of Identity . Princeton University Press.
Cole, P. (2000). Philosophies of Exclusion – Liberal Political Theory and Immigration . Edinburgh University Press.
Kymlicka, W. (2002, 2nd edition). Contemporary Political Philosophy – An Introduction . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mill, J. S. (1974). On Liberty. Ed. Gertrude Himmelfarb. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Miller, D. (1995). On Nationality . Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Nozick, R. (1974). Anarchy, State and Utopia . New York: Basic Books.
Patten, A. (1999). "The Autonomy Argument for Liberal Nationalism". Nations and Nationalism 5(1): 1-17.
Tamir, Y. (1993). Liberal Nationalism. Princeton University Press.
[1] Cole (2000), p11.
[2] For instance, Nozick outlines a framework of utopia in which there is a free-formation of voluntary communities and a personal right to exit. See more on Nozick (1974), ch10.
[3] Except for libertarians who advocate free movement between boundaries.
[4] Anderson (2006), pp.6-7.
[5] Tamir (1993), p.8.
[6] Ibid, p.8.
[7] Ibid, p.67.
[10] Patten (1999), pp.1-17.
[11] Ibid, p.6.
[12] Mill (1974), ch3.
[13] Appiah (2005), p.21.
[14] Miller (1995), pp.24-25.
[15] Ibid, p.25.
[16] Cole (2000), pp.115-116.
[17] Miller (1995), p.26.
[20] Such as Confucianism and many hierarchical forms of communal life.
[21] Ibid, p.128.
[23] Tamir (1993), pp.128-129.
[25] Cole (2000), p.127.
[27] Kymlicka (2002), pp.340-342.
[29] Ibid, pp.354-355.
上一篇 悼念柏楊──我的歷史啟蒙老師
下一篇 香港的言論自由那裡去了?──奧運, 性火?
stillraie表示:
3 5 月, 20084:59 下午
謝謝你在我的blogger留言,
新朋友的來訪我很訝異。
瀏覽了一下你的wordpress,
你讀的許多文章確實和我在學校讀的很相似,
不過我目前已經離開學術圈,工作一年了,
很少再去閱讀理論書籍,
所寫的文章也都是一般的生活片段,
引起你的注意令我受寵若驚!
哲學確實很迷人,
學術研究的生活很充實。
祝福你,加油囉!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


At Radnor House, we have four guiding values: Excellence, Respect, Courage and Perseverance. Instilling these values in all Radnorians allows them to develop into hardworking, considerate and brave citizens that add to and improve society.
Teaching staff at Radnor House are passionate about their subjects and will seek to imbue their love of learning and inquisitiveness to their students. We have highest standards of teaching and learning through self-reflection, objective evaluation, and research-based practice.
Radnor House is an innovative and successful school. We provide a personalised education that seeks to identify the strengths in every child. The curriculum is engaging, enriched and challenging. Academic courses are supplemented by a broad and deep collection of co-curricular activities.
Radnor House is a co-educational selective independent school on the banks of the River Thames in Twickenham. We provide a distinctive mix of high academic standards with first class facilities and a caring, personalised teaching and learning environment.
At Radnor House we have a dedicated team of outstanding teachers. We are always on the look out for potential staff who will be able to contribute to our vibrant school community. We want staff who are passionate and determined to deliver outstanding results for our pupils by going above and beyond. In return we provide a really stimulating working environment with plenty of opportunity to learn and grow professionally.


I have a very new Chiayo 505 wireless portable Amplifier system, purchased in October 2015. I did considerable research before settling on this unit.
It has both a hand held microphone and a 'madonna style' headset microphone which enables me to be 'hands free'. The microphones operate from different channels so both can be used in a ceremony at the same time (me wearing the headset, and the hand held mike available to guests performing readings, and your exchange of vows.
The player also has the capability of playing your music 'playlist', which you supply on an iPod or similar device. This generally comprises a piece for the entry of the bride, another for the signing, and maybe a third piece for immediately after you have been presented to your guests as husband and wife. I supply the 'lead' if you wish to take up this offer, and i ask you to provide me with an 'operator' of the iPod to hit 'start' and 'stop' at the appropriate times.
The Chiayo 505 does have 'bluetooth' capability but I am not fully satisfied with the quality of the sound from this and prefer to use a device and a cable to the speaker to ensure no crackles or 'dropping out'.
If you have booked a videographer and he/she wishes to place a lapel microphone and transmitter in the groom's coat pocket, this may interfere with my system and cause it to fail. It is preferable if they plug into my 'Aux Out' as they will then get the sound without the compromising my microphone.
Lastly, the number of 'signals' at any given place and time has escalated beyond anything we can imagine or control. Your guests mobile phones have the ability to affect the quality of the sound and for this reason it is preferable if phones are switched to 'flight mode' during the ceremony.
Having said all of this, most ceremonies go off without a hitch and the Chiayo system is a great asset to me, and a reassuring addition to the ceremony.


We remember when Siggi Hilmarsson's skyr (pronounced SKEER), Icelandic-style strained yogurt, first appeared on the shelves of Murray's Cheese in Greenwich Village.
Hailing from Iceland, the transplanted New Yorker found the yogurts in the U.S. too sweet and not thick enough—even the Greek-style yogurts. So in 2004 he started to make his own, in his kitchen. Today, Siggi's skyr is available nationally, to the delight of many.
This is not bargain yogurt. It's even pricier than Greek brands—and it's thicker than Greek yogurt as well. The reason is, more milk is required to produce the same quantity. You get what you pay for.
Greek-style yogurt is thicker than American-style yogurt because more water is strained out of the whey—it's triple strained. But skyr is drained even more. Think of it as quadruple-strained yogurt. One cup of Siggi's skyr requires four times more milk than a typical American brand.
The result is so thick that a spoon stands up straight in the cup; yet it has 0% fat (some flavors are lowfat, 2%). The concentration of milk also delivers more calcium and protein.
A bowl of Siggi's skyr with pomegranate arils. Photo courtesy Siggi's Dairy.
IS SKYR YOGURT OR CHEESE?
In Iceland, skyr is typically fat-free because all the cream has been removed to make butter.
If you look for information on skyr, you may find it referred to as a cheese. So is it yogurt or cheese? It depends on the recipe of the individual producer.
The recipe arrived in Iceland from Norway in the Middle Ages. It most likely was originally made as a cheese, with rennet. These days, some ism some isn't. Siggi's is yogurt.
The difference between a cultured dairy product, such as sour cream or yogurt, and a fresh cheese that looks just like it, such as fromage blanc or quark, is the addition of a coagulant, such as rennet.
With cottage cheese and ricotta, you can see the curds. With fromage blanc and quark (and most other cheeses), you can't, because of the particular recipe. You also can't tell the difference by tasting it. The textures of sour cream, yogurt, fromage blanc and quark are very similar.
Don't confuse these fresh cheeses with yogurt cheese like labneh.
Regular yogurt is made by combining milk with live cultures. It is available plain and flavored, made from whole milk (5% fat), lowfat (1%) and fat-free (0%).
Greek yogurt follows the same recipe, but is triple strained, removing a portion of by the whey. This creates a thicker yogurt that is higher in protein. It may or may not be tangier than regular yogurt, depending on the processes of the particular brand.
Skyr, Icelandic yogurt, is even thicker than Greek yogurt. Think of it as quadruple-strained. It is made from skim milk (0%)—the cream is skimmed off to make butter. In Iceland it is often made from raw milk, which is not legal in the U.S. for fresh dairy products.
The more concentrated (strained) a style of yogurt is, the costlier it will be because it contains more milk and less water.
Check out our Yogurt Glossary for much more on the different types of yogurt.
Siggi's coconut yogurt topped with toasted coconut and pumpkin seeds from the pantry. Photo courtesy Siggi's Dairy.
In addition to its much thicker body, Siggi's flavors have far less sugar. Mainstream flavored yogurts can have up to 25 grams of sugar per serving. Siggi's varieties have 9-11 grams, resulting in 10-20 calories less than brands like Chobani and FAGE. While that doesn't mean a lot for one portion, for frequent yogurt eaters it adds up.
The company also makes squeezable yogurt tubes in Raspberry and Strawberry, and filmjölk—Swedish-style drinkable yogurt—in Plain, Raspberry, Strawberry and Vanilla.
The brand is all natural, certified gluten-free and certified kosher by OU.
Siggi's is eco-friendly. The front of the label tells you the grams of sugar, protein and calories. The label itself is paper, and can be easily detached ffrom the plastic carton for separate recycling.
For a store locator visit SiggisDairy.com.
For a yogurt lover, pick up one or two containers of each flavor and tuck them into an Easter basket or a nice serving bowl.


This topic describes how to take a web application offline for the duration of an automated deployment using the Internet Information Services (IIS) Web Deployment Tool (Web Deploy). Users who browse to the web application are redirected to an App_offline.htm file until the deployment is complete.
In a lot of scenarios, you'll want to take a web application offline while you make changes to related components, like databases or web services. Typically, in IIS and ASP.NET, you accomplish this by placing a file named App_offline.htm in the root folder of the IIS website or web application. The App_offline.htm file is a standard HTML file and will usually contain a simple message advising the user that the site is temporarily unavailable due to maintenance. While the App_offline.htm file exists in the root folder of the website, IIS will automatically redirect any requests to the file. When you've finished making updates, you remove the App_offline.htm file and the website resumes serving requests as usual.
In the Microsoft Build Engine (MSBuild) project file that you use to control the deployment process, create an MSBuild target that copies an App_offline.htm file to the destination server before any deployment tasks begin.
Add another MSBuild target that removes the App_offline.htm file from the destination server when all deployment tasks are complete.
In the web application project, create a .wpp.targets file that ensures that an App_offline.htm file is added to the deployment package when Web Deploy is invoked.
This topic will show you how to perform these procedures. The tasks and walkthroughs in this topic assume that you've already created a solution that contains at least one web application project, and that you use a custom project file to control the deployment process as described in Web Deployment in the Enterprise. Alternatively, you can use the Contact Manager sample solution to follow the examples in the topic.
To prevent the file from interfering with the development process (you don't want your application to be permanently offline), you should call it something other than App_offline.htm. For example, you could name the file App_offline-template.htm.
To prevent the file from being deployed as-is, you should set the build action to None.
Open your solution in Visual Studio 2010.
In the Solution Explorer window, right-click your web application project, point to Add, and then click New Item.
In the Add New Item dialog box, select HTML Page.
In the Name box, type App_offline-template.htm, and then click Add.
Add some simple HTML to inform users that the application is unavailable, and then save the file. Do not include any server-side tags (for example, any tags that are prefixed with "asp:").
In the Solution Explorer window, right-click the new file, and then click Properties.
In the Properties window, in the Build Action row, select None.
The next step is to modify your deployment logic to copy the file to the destination server at the start of the deployment process and remove it at the end.
The next procedure assumes that you're using a custom MSBuild project file to control your deployment process, as described in Understanding the Project File. If you're deploying direct from Visual Studio, you'll need to use a different approach. Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi describes one such approach in How to Take Your Web App Offline During Publishing.
To automate these commands as part of a build and deployment process, you need to integrate them into your custom MSBuild project file. The next procedure describes how to do this.
In Visual Studio 2010, open the MSBuild project file that controls your deployment process. In the Contact Manager sample solution, this is the Publish.proj file.
The SourceRoot property is defined elsewhere in the Publish.proj file. It indicates the location of the root folder for the source content relative to the current path—in other words, relative to the location of the Publish.proj file.
The contentPath provider will not accept relative file paths, so you need to get an absolute path to your source file before you can deploy it. You can use the ConvertToAbsolutePath task to do this.
Add a new Target element named GetAppOfflineAbsolutePath. Within this target, use the ConvertToAbsolutePath task to get an absolute path to the App_offline-template file in your project folder.
This target takes the relative path to the App_offline-template file in your project folder and saves it to a new property as an absolute file path. The BeforeTargets attribute specifies that you want this target to execute before the DeployAppOffline target, which you'll create in the next step.
Add a new target named DeployAppOffline. Within this target, invoke the MSDeploy.exe command that deploys your App_offline file to the destination web server.
In this example, the ContactManagerIisPath property is defined elsewhere in the project file. This is simply an IIS application path, in the form [IIS Website Name]/[Application Name]. Including a condition in the target enables users to switch the App_offline deployment on or off by changing a property value or providing a command-line parameter.
Add a new target named DeleteAppOffline. Within this target, invoke the MSDeploy.exe command that removes your App_offline file from the destination web server.
The final task is to invoke these new targets at appropriate points during the execution of your project file. You can do this in various ways. For example, in the Publish.proj file, the FullPublishDependsOn property specifies a list of targets that must be executed in order when the FullPublish default target is invoked.
Modify your MSBuild project file to invoke the DeployAppOffline and DeleteAppOffline targets at appropriate points in the publishing process.
When you run your custom MSBuild project file, the App_offline file will be deployed to the server immediately after a successful build. It will then be deleted from the server once all the deployment tasks are complete.
Depending on how you configure your deployment, any existing content at the destination IIS web application—like the App_offline.htm file—may be deleted automatically when you deploy a web package to the destination. To ensure that the App_offline.htm file remains in place for the duration of the deployment, you need to include the file within the web deployment package itself in addition to deploying the file directly at the start of the deployment process.
If you've followed the previous tasks in this topic, you'll have added the App_offline.htm file to your web application project under a different filename (we used App_offline-template.htm) and you'll have set the build action to None. These changes are necessary to prevent the file from interfering with development and debugging. As a result, you need to customize the packaging process to ensure that the App_offline.htm file is included in the web deployment package.
Create a custom project file named [project name].wpp.targets in the same folder as your project file.
The .wpp.targets file needs to go in the same folder as your web application project file—for example, ContactManager.Mvc.csproj—rather than in the same folder as any custom project files you use to control the build and deployment process.
In the .wpp.targets file, create a new MSBuild target that executes before the CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackage target. This is the WPP target that builds a list of things to include in the package.
In the new target, create an ItemGroup element.
In the ItemGroup element, add a FilesForPackagingFromProject item and specify the App_offline.htm file.
The BeforeTargets attribute inserts this target into the WPP by specifying that it should be executed immediately before the CopyAllFilesToSingleFolderForPackage target.
The FilesForPackagingFromProject item uses the DestinationRelativePath metadata value to rename the file from App_offline-template.htm to App_offline.htm as it's added to the list.
The next procedure shows you how to add this .wpp.targets file to a web application project.
In the Solution Explorer window, right-click your web application project node (for example, ContactManager.Mvc), point to Add, and then click New Item.
In the Add New Item dialog box, select the XML File template.
In the Name box, type [project name].wpp.targets (for example, ContactManager.Mvc.wpp.targets), and then click Add.
If you add a new item to the root node of a project, the file is created in the same folder as the project file. You can verify this by opening the folder in Windows Explorer.
In the file, add the MSBuild markup described previously.
Save and close the [project name].wpp.targets file.
The next time you build and package your web application project, the WPP will automatically detect the .wpp.targets file. The App_offline-template.htm file will be included in the resulting web deployment package as App_offline.htm.
If your deployment fails, the App_offline.htm file will remain in place and your application will remain offline. This is typically the desired behavior. To bring your application back online, you can delete the App_offline.htm file from your web server. Alternatively, if you correct any errors and run a successful deployment, the App_offline.htm file will be removed.
This topic described how to take a web application offline for the duration of a deployment, by publishing an App_offline.htm file to the destination server at the start of the deployment process and removing it at the end. It also covered how to include an App_offline.htm file in a web deployment package.
For more information on the packaging and deployment process, see Building and Packaging Web Application Projects, Configuring Parameters for Web Package Deployment, and Deploying Web Packages.
If you publish your web applications directly from Visual Studio, rather than using the custom MSBuild project file approach described in these tutorials, you'll need to use a slightly different approach to take your application offline during the publishing process. For more information, see How to take your web app offline during publishing (blog post).


Japan's tech giant Sony has filed two patents on blockchain hardware to boost distributed ledger performance.
The first application, entitled "Electronic Node and Method for Maintaining a Distributed Ledger," describes an electronic device for maintaining a blockchain based on multiple electronics nodes, including multiple blocks associated with at least one of the existing blocks.
The patent explains a scheme of adding new blocks on а distributed ledger in a compressed format, which contributes to the establishment of а competitive manner of nodes that perform mining process, implying that a smaller block produced by the node can achieve a bigger reward.
In the second patent "Device and System," Sony proposes a way of maintaining a blockchain by multiple virtual nodes, suggesting a mechanism of accessing the distributed ledger via at least one of these nodes.
By incorporating virtual nodes, Sony intends to ensure the integrity of the blockchain in cases "where the number of devices is small or becomes small;" for example, if a number of devices went down.
In 2017, the multinational conglomerate filed a patent application for a blockchain-powered multi-factor authentication system (MFA), proposing a combination of two different distributed ledgers to conduct the login process.
Recently, U.S. retail giant Walmart applied for a patent on the management of smart appliances via blockchain, which would maintain the private keys in order to authorize a transaction. Earlier in July, Bank of America (BoA) filed a patent for a blockchain-powered system of data validation that offers tracking of sources of information by confirming resource transfers.


text:
I. In Focus This Week
A Profile: Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed
After 12 years, Reed set to retire at end of term in Jan. 2013
By M. Mindy Moretti
Electionline.org
Washington's Sam Reed isn't spending his last few months in office resting on his laurels.
After 12 years overseeing elections for the State of Washington and before that running elections for 20 years in Thurston County, Reed is preparing to retire at the end of his term in January 2013.
But before that, he's got a lot to get done.
Besides overseeing a smorgasbord of local, state, federal and special elections, Reed has also embarked on his final college civics tour — an endeavor that has the 70-year-old visiting 45 Washington college campuses throughout the spring.
"The college civics tour is always fun for me and students, and it's a great way to help get them more interesting in voting and being involved," Reed said in a press release. "I really look forward to visiting campuses across the state."
In addition to the annual college civics tour, during his tenure Reed oversaw the implementation of the state's new top-two primary system, helped the entire state transition to a vote-by-mail state, and was honored with a Gonzaga Law Medal for his handling of the 2004 gubernatorial race.
Reed wasn't just active in Washington elections, but also in the field of elections nationwide. He is a past president of the National Association of Secretaries of State and served as an advisor to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
"Sam Reed is, in my opinion, the model of what a Secretary of State should be: a thoughtful source for new ideas, a firm and steady voice for nonpartisanship and integrity and, above all, a friend and ally both to voters and to the women and men who conduct elections across his state – and across the nation," said Doug Chapin, director, Program for Excellence in Election Administration Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota "He will be missed but I am grateful for his service and for the legacy he leaves to the profession of election administration."
ElectionlineWeekly caught up with Secretary Reed for a quick Q&A before he had to head off to another college visit.
After 12 years in office, you'll be retiring in January. Why now? Why did you choose not to run again?
It has been such a deep honor and privilege to work for more than 40 years in a field I love, but it is time for me to have more flexibility in terms of my service and to spend more time with my family. Also, after 12 years, it is time for new ideas and a fresh face in the Office of Secretary of State. I wish my successor well, and know these will be amazing years ahead, as the new Secretary builds on the reforms and successes we have built together in this state, Republicans and Democrats and independents.
What would you say has been the biggest change you have seen in elections during your tenure?
In a state that is home to Microsoft and many high-tech companies, we've been called America's most "wired" state and I really have experienced that in connection with the administration of elections and the explosion of really good, convenient voter information that is available at the click of a mouse. Technology has changed how we do business – and for the better. We have a wonderful Voter Registration Database that we can scrub regularly. We have amazing online voter resources, including digital and video voters' guides, and people enjoy registering online, by mail and visiting our personalized voter vault we call MyVote. We are crosschecking voter registrations across state lines, and we have other improvements up our sleeve – including a cool partnership of our state with Facebook and Microsoft to drive more people to our voter registration website. Eventually, I would think we'll see online voting, once the process is secure and accountable.
How we vote has also changed over the course of the last decade. We have switched entirely to vote-by-mail, and it is quite popular. We also pioneered a "Top 2 Primary" that has been adopted by California voters and spurred interest in other states.
What was the most difficult time/issue you faced during your tenure?
Easily, the biggest challenge was the 2004 gubernatorial recount after the closest finish in our state history – 133 votes – and two recounts, followed by an election challenge that lasted half a year! The election was upheld, but the close scrutiny uncovered myriad shortcomings that needed attention. We used this as a huge "teachable moment" and implemented bipartisan reform – over 1,000 changes in legislation and administrative code.
What do you feel was your greatest accomplishment and why?
I am very proud of our office and our county election departments working so diligently to restore voter confidence that was battered in the 2004 election. At the end of the day, people say they will remember the integrity of this office and that we did not once play partisan politics with election administration. That was really a remarkable period of our state's modern political history.
I also am very proud that we were able to achieve a wide-open primary process that the people want. After the blanket primary was thrown out, we were able to work with the Legislature and with a voter initiative to create a similar Top 2 process that I recommend to all states. We went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to preserve the Top 2 and got a 7-2 opinion. Likewise we got a strong Supreme Court ruling on "Doe v. Reed" that was a landmark public records case that upheld our belief that initiative petitions are releasable public records. We struck a blow for transparency in government.
Is there anything specific that you still hope to accomplish as secretary of state before leaving office in January?
As part of my "farewell tour," I am stressing civility, moderation and civic engagement. I find that audiences are hungry for a message that takes issue with the strident, nasty politics that seem to have gripped Congress and infected some of our legislatures. People want problem-solvers to get serious, and to leave campaign rhetoric and vilification behind when it comes time to govern.
I have high hopes for an excellent 2012 election cycle, with record registration and turnout quite possible in our state. We may vote on gay marriage, marijuana decriminalization, and tax limits, all on one ballot. We have big turnover in Congress, statewide offices and legislative races, so there will be a generational feel to the election. People are really engaged, and that's very good.
I also plan to continue promoting a new Washington State Heritage Center on our Capitol Campus that will bring together the State Archives, State Library, an education center, and exhibits that will describe our amazing political process and rich heritage. That will give us some context for when we have elections and choose our leaders.
What will you miss most about being secretary of state?
I have to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed public service and dealing with all of the public policy issues, all the players and the process, the citizens and citizen engagement, legislators, the news media, the other Secretaries of State, the County Auditors who run the elections, and all the rest. As an old political science grad from Washington State University, I have really enjoyed that part of it – never a dull moment!
As an expert in the field of elections, where do you see the administration of elections going in this country?
I think we will continue to see this trend of everything being electronic and digital, including online voting some day. I don't know how long that will take, but I think it will happen.
I also think we will continue to see decentralization of election administration, with the role of state and local government growing.
What's next for you, besides being able to sleep in on election day?
I plan to stay involved in my community and my state, as a "senior statesman," working on non-profit boards and commissions, doing a bit of writing, maybe teaching and speaking, and definitely I'll be talking about civility, civic involvement and political moderation. I hope to mentor candidates. And I really look forward to spending more time with my wife, Margie, and my grandsons and the rest of the family. I am curious to see what the next stage of my life looks like! I'm in great health and, right now I'm feeling very, very grateful and content.
Editor's Note: In the coming weeks electionlineWeekly will also profile Missouri's Robin Carnahan who chose not to seek reelection after two terms as the Show Me State's top elections official.
II. Election News This Week
Louisiana Secretary of State Tom Schedler testified before a state Senate committee last week expressing concerns about the impacts proposed changes to the state's pension system would have on voting in Louisiana. Schedler testified that about a dozen top officials in his office are eligible for retirement and, according to the Times-Picayune, at least five have told him they will retire if the proposed changes become law. "These jobs are not jobs that I could train someone to do in 60 or 90 days," Schedler told the paper. Without experienced employees working the election, Louisiana elections could become as notorious as Florida's did in 2000, he said. Among the employees who may retire include the worker responsible for handling the creation of ballots and employees responsible for programming voting machines.
According to consultants hired by the DuPage County, Ill. board, the county's election commission needs to operate in a more open and efficient way. According to the Sun-Times, the consultants recommended much closer oversight of the commission's purchasing practices. "We're not talking about the accuracy of election results. We're talking about internal operations," County Board Chairman Dan Cronin told the paper. Election officials, Cronin said, initially questioned the county's authority to demand information from the commission, which receives its funding through the County Board. The consultants told the board documentation confirming proper procurement rules were followed was lacking in all but one of the 13 contracts the firm examined as part of its assessment. In a statement, members of the election board stressed that their organization is independent and bipartisan, designed to function "shielded from the day-to-day political winds of the central county government" — and noted that they have succeeded in conducting accurate, fair elections.
Texas State Attorney General Greg Abbott's office inadvertently released the Social Security numbers of millions of Lone Star voters to lawyers on the opposing side in the voter ID case. Abbott's office claims that the numbers were never released to the public and were always password protected.
Primary Follow-Up: Five states — Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island — held primary contests this week. With the GOP presidential nomination all but sewn up and few hotly contested local races, turnout was low in all five states. The low turnout gave officials in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island an opportunity to ease into each state's new voter ID laws. In the Keystone State, it was a dry run before it becomes law in advance of the November election. In the Ocean State, where the law is officially in place, officials reported that only about 25 people failed to have the proper ID at the polls. And even though the surprise spring snowstorm didn't seem to cause any problems at the polls, the day wasn't completely without cause for concern. Early Tuesday morning there was a shooting near a polling place in Chester, Pa.
Personnel News: Northampton County, Va. General Registrar Theresa A. Wiser has officiated over her last election. Wiser, on the job since 1999, will retire at the end of June. Stephen Graves, a system analyst for the New York City board of elections has resigned following accusations of soliciting $25,000 from a voting machine company. Former Sumner County, Tenn. Administrator of Elections Darleen McDougal will not face criminal charges. She had been accused of sabotaging her office — including deleting important files — after she was fired in November. R. Gene Smith has joined the Campbell County, Va. electoral board. After 12 years in office, Bay County, Fla. Supervisor of Elections Mark Anderson has decided not to seek re-election. In a press release, Anderson said he wants to "move on to other things." Long-time Bowie, Md. Clerk Pamela Fleming retired this week after 41 years on the job. A year after announcing plans to retire and become a full-time grandmother, Volusia County, Fla. Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall is back in the race.
In Memoriam: Longtime Lisbon, Conn. Democratic Registrar of voters Ivy Mathers died this week. She was 86. Mathers was one of the town's longest serving employees serving as the registrar since the mid-1960s. "She knew the Connecticut statutes and election laws as good as anyone I've ever met," Mary Grant, Republican registrar of voters told The Bulletin. "She always did everything right to the letter of the law. Everything was done with perfection."
III. Research and Report Summaries
electionline provides brief summaries of recent research and reports in the field of election administration. Please e-mail links to research to sgreene@pewtrusts.org.
Legislative Action Bulletin – National Conference of State Legislatures, April 23, 2012: This update summarizes state legislation related to candidate qualifications and voter ID.
IV. Opinions
National: Voter ID; Voting Rights Act; Universal registration; Military & overseas voters; Vote fraud, II; Felon voting rights
Alaska: Special investigator
Colorado: Voter ID
Connecticut: Proposed election reform; Voter rights; Online voter registration
District of Columbia: Nonpartisan primaries
Florida: Palm Beach County; Election reform law, II
Georgia: Voter fraud
Illinois: Election system
Michigan: Budget cuts
Minnesota: Hidden costs of voting
Montana: New website
New Hampshire: Voter ID
New York: Polling places
Ohio: Bulky ballots
Oregon: Kate Brown
Pennsylvania: Voter ID, II, III, IV, V; Primary system
Texas: Voter ID; Election confusion; Wichita County
Virginia: Voter ID
Wisconsin: Waukesha County
Wyoming: Rural polling places
**Some sites may require registration.
V. Job Openings
electionlineWeekly publishes election administration job postings each week as a free service to our readers. To have your job listed in the newsletter, please send a copy of the job description, including a web link to mmoretti@electionline.org. Job postings must be received by 5pm on Wednesday in order to appear in the Thursday newsletter. Listings will run for three weeks or till the deadline listed in the posting.
Computer Engineer, U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Washington, D.C. — incumbent will assist with and consult on technical reviews, and is directly responsible for assisting with and consulting on technical reviews of documentation submitted by manufacturers and test labs during the testing of voting systems applying for EAC certification. This includes review of (1) Technical Data Packages, (2) Test Plans, and (3) Test Reports. In addition, the EAC will work with the laboratories as they develop test methods and specific test cases for manufacturer specific electronic voting systems. Reviews shall ensure that a plan was in place to properly test each voting system to the applicable voting system standards, that these test were properly performed and documented, and that the test results demonstrate conformance with applicable voting system standards. As the employee develops expertise in this area, he/she may also be tasked with serving as the EAC program manager for specific voting system test engagements. Experience in: computer architecture, testing methodologies and network principles; technical standards and standards sett; voting system testing and/or election administration practices. Salary: $59,383-$91,801. Application: For the complete job listing and how to apply, click here. Deadline: April 30, 2012.
Elections Supervisor, Marion County, Salem, Ore. — administers and directs all functions relating to elections including: Voter registration; candidacy filings; ballot preparation; voting; vote tally; jurisdictional mapping; petition management; publications; reporting statistics to the Secretary of State; community outreach; community education; customer service; and budgeting. This position reports to the Marion County Clerk and is responsible for the supervision of all employees within the Elections division, including regular clerical and technical personnel, temporary employees, and Election Board members. Supervisory duties include hiring; training; planning, assigning and reviewing work; conducting performance evaluations; and responding to disciplinary issues. Salary: $4,194.67 – $5,622.93 Monthly. For job announcement and online application, click here. Deadline: This recruitment will remain open until filled. Applicants are encouraged to apply as soon as possible as this recruitment may close at any time, without further notice.


For 48 years, Beatrice was unable to look people in the eye. Born in Rwanda with chronic foot deformities, she had crawled her entire life and could not stand.
Flip-flops protected Beatrice's hands as she moved around; she was forced to view the world from the ground up.
Her parents were desperate to help her.
Life in their remote village in southwest Rwanda offered limited medical assistance beyond traditional healers. Her community ridiculed and marginalized the disabled. Beatrice and her family turned God for help; they believed He would find a way.


text:
Payment for delayed allotment of plot by Housing Board not interest liable to TDS u/s 194A-High Court
administrator August 30, 2018 High Courts, Income Tax No Comments
Payment for delayed allotment of plot by Housing Board not interest liable to TDS u/s 194A. Expression 'interest' was used merely for quantification of the liability – High Court
ABCAUS 2499 (2018) 08 HC
Viswapriya Financial Services and Securities Limited Vs. Commissioner of Income Tax
Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. Dr. Sham Lal Narula
Commissioner of Income Tax Vs. H.P. Housing Board
Ghaziabad Development Authority v. Dr N.K.Gupta
The Central India Spinning and Weaving
Empress Mills v Municipal Committee
The aforesaid appeal was filed by the Revenue against the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (Tribunal / ITAT) in in holding that payment of interest on delayed delivery of plot was not in the nature of interest as defined in Section 2(28A) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (the Act) and therefore, the provision of Section 40(a)(ia) of the Act was not applicable
The assessee was a company engaged in the business of development of land, housing and infrastructural facilities in New Town Projects. The entire shares of the assessee were owned by the State Government and all the directors of the assessee were nominated by the State Government.
In the course of assessment proceedings for an amount was found debited in the profit and loss account of the assessee. The nature of this expenditure was explained before the Assessing Officer (AO) as compensation paid for delay in delivery of plots.
It was explained that as per the offer of allotment of plot of land developed by the assessee, the assessee is under an obligation to hand over physical possession of the plot to the allottees on payment of the entire cost of the land. If possession of handing over of the plot is delayed for more than six months from the scheduled date of possession, the assessee has to pay interest on instalments already paid by the allottee during such extended period at the prevailing fixed term deposit rates for similar period offered by the State Bank of India.
The assessee submitted that although the as per the relevant clause of the allotment letter the expression "interest" was used, the actual nature of payment was in the nature of damages for delayed allotment of a plot and not in the nature of interest.
The explanation of the assessee was not accepted by the AO who opined that the payment was in the nature of interest and by reason thereof, the assessee should have deducted tax at source under Section 194A of the Act.
The AO further held that since the assessee failed to deduct tax at source on the amount, the claim of the assessee for deduction of the said sum cannot be allowed by reason of Section 40(a)(ia) of the Act. Accordingly, the AO accordingly disallowed the claim for deduction of the assessee.
The order of the AO was confirmed by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) and the assessee's appeal was dismissed.
The Tribunal held that the amount in question could not be characterised as interest within the meaning of Section 194A of the Act and hence there was no obligation on the part of the assessee to deduct tax at source.
Aggrieved by the order of the Tribunal, the revenue preferred the instant appeal before the Hon'ble High Court.
The Hon'ble High Court observed that as per definition given in Section 2(28A) of the Act, the term 'interest' has been made entirely relatable to money borrowed or debt incurred and various gradations of rights and obligations arising from either of the two. The parenthesis in the section is in the nature of a qualification of the borrowing of money/incurring of debt and what it includes.
The Hon'ble High Court noted that under identical facts, the Himachal Pradesh High Court, relying on the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and Madras High Court, had held that the money paid on account of for the delay in handing over possession of the flats was in the nature of damages suffered by the allottees.
Accordingly, in view of the judgments of various High Courts and the Hon'ble Apex Court, the Hon'ble High Court opined that that the payment made by the assessee to the allottee was in terms of the agreement entered between them where the liability of the assessee would arise only if it failed to make the plots available within the stipulated time. Hence, the payment made under the relevant clause was purely contractual and as rightly held by the Tribunal, in the nature of compensation or damages for the loss caused to the allottee in the interregnum for being unable to utilise or possess the flat.
The Hon'ble High Court clarified that the flavour of compensation became evident from the words used in the particular clause. The expression 'interest' used may be seen merely as a quantification of the liability of the assessee in terms of the percentage of interest payable by the State Bank of India.
The Hon'ble High Court held thatin the absence of any borrowing of money or incurring of debt on the part of the assessee, interest as defined under section 2 (28A) of the Act had no application to such payments. Consequently, there was no obligation on the part of the assessee to deduct tax at source and consequently no disallowance could have been made under Section 40(a)(ia) of the Act.
The decision of the Tribunal was confirmed and appeal of the Revenue was dismissed.
Tags:disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia), TDS 194A
CBDT denies social media report of changes made in ITR forms leading to difficulty in filing
TDS deduction exemption on payments to bank listed in the Second Schedule to the RBI Act, 1934 or or any payment systems company-CBDT Notification 47/2016
Non-recovery of income tax demand where tax has been deducted but not deposited by deductor-CBDT
No disallowance u/s 40(a)(ia) can be made for short deduction of TDS or deduction under wrong head