"Undermining my electoral viability since 2001."

Think Big: We Can Do Better Than Bomb Iran

I find this utterly terrifying:

It is believed that an American-led attack, designed to destroy Iran's ability to develop a nuclear bomb, is "inevitable" if Teheran's leaders fail to comply with United Nations demands to freeze their uranium enrichment programme.
...
The United States government is hopeful that the military operation will be a multinational mission, but defence chiefs believe that the Bush administration is prepared to launch the attack on its own or with the assistance of Israel, if there is little international support. British military chiefs believe an attack would be limited to a series of air strikes against nuclear plants - a land assault is not being considered at the moment.

Found via Echidne of the Snakes.

I don't think nuclear Iran is a great step forward for the world, but it might not be all bad, and I kind of think it's inevitable that more nations will get the bomb. You can't stop knowledge. And really, Iran is much less batshit crazy as a State Actor as compared to, say, North Korea. They're not on the cusp of anything anyway, and there's plenty of time to work this all out.

On the other hand, if this reportage from Britan is even remotely accurate, we're on the cusp of something much more awful. A US-led attack on Iran would have disasterous consiquences, starting with an enormous shitstorm coming down next door in Iraq, and ending who knows where. If it's a US/Israel show, then you can bet on open warfare and chaos throughout the region for the for the forseeable future.

We do not want to do this.

Read More

Tags: 

Tom DeLay Says He Will Give Up His Seat

TIME:

Rep. Tom DeLay, whose iron hold on the House Republicans melted as a lobbying corruption scandal engulfed the Capitol, told TIME that he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months. Taking defiant swipes at "the left" and the press, he said he feels "liberated" and vowed to pursue an aggressive speaking and organizing campaign aimed at promoting foster care, Republican candidates and a closer connection between religion and government.

Delay was a major behind-the-scenes player in how the GOP congress worked, beginning with his tenure as whip under then-speaker Gingrich. This more or less signals the end of the "Republican revolution" that went down in 1994. 2006 is going to be an uncertain cycle, but my guess is something really fucking crazy goes down in 2008. People are trying to pretend like Hillary Clinton vs. John McCain is a done deal, but politics is far too weird a business for that to really be the story. I'm guessing another rogue billionaire or other outsider makes some waves, and that a dark horse takes at least one of the major party nominations.

Given his stated ambitions, I'm hoping he gets a cushy job and spends more time golfing. Foster care is ok, but "a closer connection between religion and government?" Do we really need that? Now?

Read More

Tags: 

Holla Back New York City / "Wipe that DNA Off Your Face?!?!"

Holla Back New York City - If You Can't Slap 'Em, Snap 'Em!

Fuck yeah. Shift that power around. Found via Steve Gillard's News Blog, which also documents the most disgusting fucking comment on recently freed journalist-hostage Jill Carrol I've seen to date:

"I've been watching this traitor bitch fawn all over her captors this morning. "Nice furniture, safe, nice clothes, they NEVER threatened me". I'm very glad you were so comforatble while working to undermine our efforts in Iraq. Now, wipe that muslim DNA from your face and confess to pre-planning this?"

I'm telling you, some of thse people are insane. This is what happens when you construct a one-way propaganda network of newsletters, talk-radio, books and faux news broadcasts: people get nuts. Then you present a medium where they can be heard. Oh shit, your coalition's crazy ass-crack is showing!

Like I said, shift that power around.

Of course, it's just just the Orcs who recoil from prolonged exposure to sunshine. I don't think the pundit class is going to look to hot in hindsight either.

Read More

Tags: 

Holla Back New York City / "Wipe that DNA Off Your Face?!?!"

Holla Back New York City - If You Can't Slap 'Em, Snap 'Em!

Fuck yeah. Shift that power around. Found via Steve Gillard's News Blog, which also documents the most disgusting fucking comment on recently freed journalist-hostage Jill Carrol I've seen to date:

"I've been watching this traitor bitch fawn all over her captors this morning. "Nice furniture, safe, nice clothes, they NEVER threatened me". I'm very glad you were so comforatble while working to undermine our efforts in Iraq. Now, wipe that muslim DNA from your face and confess to pre-planning this?"

I'm telling you, some of thse people are insane. This is what happens when you construct a one-way propaganda network of newsletters, talk-radio, books and faux news broadcasts: people get nuts. Then you present a medium where they can be heard. Oh shit, your coalition's crazy ass-crack is showing!

Like I said, shift that power around.

Of course, it's just just the Orcs who recoil from prolonged exposure to sunshine. I don't think the pundit class is going to look to hot in hindsight either.

Read More

Tags: 

Holla Back New York City / "Wipe that DNA Off Your Face?!?!"

Holla Back New York City - If You Can't Slap 'Em, Snap 'Em!

Fuck yeah. Shift that power around. Found via Steve Gillard's News Blog, which also documents the most disgusting fucking comment on recently freed journalist-hostage Jill Carrol I've seen to date:

"I've been watching this traitor bitch fawn all over her captors this morning. "Nice furniture, safe, nice clothes, they NEVER threatened me". I'm very glad you were so comforatble while working to undermine our efforts in Iraq. Now, wipe that muslim DNA from your face and confess to pre-planning this?"

I'm telling you, some of thse people are insane. This is what happens when you construct a one-way propaganda network of newsletters, talk-radio, books and faux news broadcasts: people get nuts. Then you present a medium where they can be heard. Oh shit, your coalition's crazy ass-crack is showing!

Like I said, shift that power around.

Of course, it's just just the Orcs who recoil from prolonged exposure to sunshine. I don't think the pundit class is going to look to hot in hindsight either.

Read More

Tags: 

How the GOP Became God's Own Party

Kevin Phillips: How the GOP Became God's Own Party.

This guy wrote the political bible for the Nixon Administration, and helped in the early days in which the modern Republican coalition was seeded. Today he warns that increasing religious fundimentalism, an energy policy that ignores reality, and an economy that's increasingly dependent on debt are threatening to lay the country low:

Conservative true believers will scoff at such concerns. The United States is a unique and chosen nation, they say; what did or did not happen to Rome, imperial Spain, the Dutch Republic and Britain is irrelevant. The catch here, alas, is that these nations also thought they were unique and that God was on their side. The revelation that He apparently was not added a further debilitating note to the late stages of each national decline.

I'm telling you. Energy Independence, a controlled end to the American Empire, and a renewal of our committment to science and technology (maybe related to the internet and health care) would clean up. Cut the fatbacks, god freaks and masters of war off from real businesspeople, actual Christians and true defenders of national security.

Read More

Tags: 

Jill Carroll

Jill Carroll is a journalist for the Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped and held captive in Iraq for about three months. Wikipedia as a timeline.

For no fucking good reason that I can see, she's been repeatedly maligned by Right Wing Pundits from Imus to the alleged intellectuals who produce content for The National Review. I find this especially infuriating, because it's the absolute worst in Armchair Soldering (or Keyboard Kommandoism, if you like). These jackoffs don't have anywhere near the courage to put themselves on the line like Carroll has, and yet they feel justified to pontificate on her plight, question her courage, and suggest that she's been sleeping with the enemy.

Ugh. How about you go get taken hostage for three months and then we'll see how everyone feels, ok? Maybe then you can bring us back some of that good news we're all apparently missing.

These people have no shame.

Read More

Tags: 

future culture

I think about it all the time -- 24/7... twentyfour-seven -- oh yeah. One more plug for the Kleptones. It's good stuff.

There are so many things to be excited about here... Look out baby, 'cause here I come.

Read More

Tags: 

Information Policy For Progress

A few weeks ago at Drinking Liberally someone asked me to explain my Skull & Crossbones armband so I gave my rap:

I don't believe in Intellectual Property. Intellectual Property is for Intellectuals. I am a man of action.

And I got some flack. "You don't believe in Intellectual Property?" The lawyers are incredulous. What? That's nonsense! You're an anarchist!

No. I'm a realist, and I understand the purpose of copyrights and patents.

The term "Intellectual Property" is fundimentally a mis-framing of how to understand laws that governs ideas, knowledge and information. You cannot "own" an idea in the same way you can own a thing; you can't "own" an mp3 in the same way you own a CD. Accept this and stop trying to fight reality.

Information, as far as human beings are concerned, is non-thermodynamic. There is not a fixed amount of it, as there is with matter and material items. You don't loose your idea when you transmit it to someone else, and when a new one is created it doesn't mean that some other resource is consumed.

Moreover, attempts to own or control the spread of ideas have always failed in the long run, even when massive amounts of effort are expended to do so. The British tried like the dickens to keep the US from getting the technical knowledge to build our own textile mills. More contemporarily, the nuclear powers that be are confronting the fact that it is impossible to control the spread of the know-how to make atomic weapons. Is it any wonder that the RIAA is having problems keeping the music industry locked down?

In contrast to the flawed model of "Intellectual Property," what does work with relation to ideas and information is creating a legal structure that gives innovators, artists and inventors the opportunity to have a limited monopoly (aka a patent) on their idea, or a copyright over the publication of their creations.

This suggests the model of Information Policy. That is: under what circumstances do we recognize the rights of creators and innovators to monopolize their ideas and how long do we grant them for?

These are legitimate questions. Copyright is in need of reform, as the ulgy realities of our governing process here in the US mean that whenever Mickey Mouse comes up against the limit of a copyright term, the timeframe is extended thanks to the lobbying power of Disney. Copyright now stands at the lifetime of the Author plus 70 years, 95 years if the author was working under the auspices of a corporation. That's just ridiculous.

There's a compelling public interest in having a large commons of information and content which is grist for the creative mills of the next generation. The constitutional mandate for Congress to manage copyright is as follows:

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

Copyright exsists to promote progress. That's what Information Policy is all about. Promoting creativity and progress. That means making sure that entrepreneurs and individuals who make can turn that into a living, and even maybe get rich if they strike gold.

However, the current corporatization of our Information Policy serves to prevent competition, cement existing business models and practices, and ensure that business institutions -- which are effectively immortal -- retain a perpetual monopoly over the creativity of the people they've employed, even long after those people have died. It makes perfect sense for businesses to be able to profit from their employees in a limited context. Corporations sometimes support important research and can provide stable employment for a lot of creators, and that's cool; but life-of-author plus 95 years? That's not progress.

One of the largest current frontiers of human endeavor is all about information. It is a revolution, just like industrialization. In this context, it's imperative that we start thinking seriously about what kind of 21st Century we want to have, culturally, economically, and politically. Information Policy is deeply tied to all these questions, and it's high time that the next generation made its voice heard.

Read More

Drupals

At Drupal Camp in SF. Nice to be out here. It's familiar and comfy and it's the West Coast and that's nice. Should be an interesting weekend.

Also, there's a new port coming out you should be aware of: Drupus.

Read More

Pages