Age of Reason

A Summary of All Copyright-related Ethical Issues

2005-04-23T13:28:00.000-07:00

One point is all that's needed. From an excellent article in the conservative British paper the Financial Times by James Boyle

Thomas Macaulay told us copyright law is a tax on readers for the benefit of writers, a tax that shouldn’t last a day longer than necessary

Macaulay is exactly right: copyright is a tax. No more need be said.

Rabbi Hammers Frist and the Rapture Right

2005-04-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

Via DailyKos

The news that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans to join a telecast whose organizing theme is that those who oppose some of President Bush's judicial nominees are engaged in an assault on "people of faith" is more than troubling; it is disingenuous, dangerous, and demagogic.

-- Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism

Barbara Boxer Defends the American People

2005-02-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

And apparently this is one thing that happens when you defend the American people:

Here is the thank you note she posted on Dailykos.

Howard Dean elected DNC Chair

2005-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

Reward the DNC for good behavior, and do it through this ActBlue donation link, to make sure everyone's aware that this money is coming from grass-roots pro-Dean activists over the web:

The New Republic Recaps the DNC Chair Race

2005-02-03T19:50:00.000-08:00

From Ryan Lizza at the New Republic

From the congressional leadership to the governors to the Clintons, top Democrats were all terrified of a Dean victory....And yet none of them could stop him.
...
At one of five candidate forums held around the country for DNC members to interview the aspiring chairs, Roemer rose and, glaring at Dean and candidate Simon Rosenberg, lashed out at the "secret e-mails" that were circulating about him. He angrily defended his pro-life record and testily challenged the DNC members to show some tolerance on the issue. It was a brave speech, but it was also the end of his candidacy. Applause was scattered and perfunctory. In New York the next week, he told DNC members, "We shouldn't let a special interest group decide our view on choice." This time, the audience hissed.

Now I understand better the second half of his closing statement that same week at the meeting in Sacramento (paraphrasing mine):

Thanks all -- and thank you for not putting me after Howard Dean. Churchill was once asked "Aren't you going to go outside? There are 10,000 people waiting to hear you speak." He replied, "If I was to be hanged, there would be 10 times as many". There are people here wanting to see me hang. If I believed everything I read, I might be out there watching. My mother is a staunch pro-choicer, and I hear from her every day. As DNC I would not overturn Roe v. Wade.

Howard Dean: On Borrowed Time

2005-02-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

From Yubanet (emphasis mine):

All Americans understand that there need to be some changes to our Social Security system because 40 years from now, Social Security will go into deficit if we do nothing. And it is always better to correct problems early than wait until they get worse.

But there is no truth to the Bush administration's claim that there is an imminent crisis in Social Security - the Social Security Trust Fund's potential shortfall is $3.7 trillion over the next seventy-five years. By comparison, the Medicare Trust Fund shortfall will be $8.1 trillion, and the deficit caused by the president's tax cuts will be $11.6 trillion. The crisis is not in Social Security - the crisis is the "borrow and spend" philosophy espoused by Republicans in Congress and the White House. Leadership which has no willingness or ability to think or act in our long-term interest is not leadership at all.

If America is to continue to be great and strong, we need leadership which is great and strong. We need to be told the truth about our financial problems and we need a plan of action motivated by facts, not scaremongering and propaganda.

The Republicans need to start thinking long term and make the following reforms.

* First, stop borrowing from the Social Security Trust Fund to finance tax cuts. These are not real tax cuts; these are tax postponements, which Americans will be forced to pay down the road - with interest.
* Second, balance the Federal budget. There are many ways that this can be accomplished, but they all involve tough choices requiring some combination of revenue increases and program cuts. There seems to be no serious effort in Washington to make these tough choices and our country continues to careen toward fiscal catastrophe.
* Third, reform the way elections are financed and run. The special interests that finance our candidates' campaigns make it virtually impossible for our leaders to make good choices for the long term. Fearful of losing this source of campaign funding and their jobs, they keep making bad choices that benefit the special interest at the expense of all Americans. In the end, of course, these leaders lose both their jobs, and their self-respect. And our children's debt burden continues to rise.
Sooner or later our children pay for this borrowing with a lower standard of living, an inability to pay for college and health care, and an inability to buy American products to create American job opportunities.

The debate over the future of Social Security - and every debate with this Administration - provides Democrats with an opportunity to drive home the fact that that we are the party of fiscal responsibility, economic responsibility, social responsibility, civic responsibility, personal responsibility, and moral responsibility. On issue after issue, Democrats are where the majority of the American people are. We just have to stand up for what we believe in.

If America is to continue to be great and strong, we need leadership which is great and strong. We need to be told the truth about our financial problems, followed by a plan of action based on facts, not propaganda.

Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, is the founder of Democracy for America, a grassroots organization that supports socially progressive and fiscally responsible political candidates

Dean Will Win, Most Now Claim

2005-02-02T06:50:00.000-08:00

Yesterday saw the withdrawal of of DNC Chair candidates Wellington Web, Martin Frost, and Tim Roemer (and Simon Rosenberg, and David Leland), and authoritative sources online (Burntorangereport and mydd) and off (NYT) are now reporting that Dean has won.

We here at Age of Reason are reporting that it ain't over till it's over, but we are pleased.

Barbara Boxer's Post on Dailykos

2005-01-27T21:54:00.000-08:00

Condoleezza Rice received 13 votes against her confirmation -- the most votes against any Secretary of State's nomination since 1825.

The note from Boxer is nice, but most important this is history in the making, which comments from 500 greatful Kossacks and an exchange with her staffer who says she did indeed write the post herself. Jay Rosen said at BloggerCon III that people running for Senate ought to write their own blogs. Barbara Boxer at leasty partly gets that.

How Many Bush Administration Officials Does It Take to Screw In a Lightbulb?

2005-01-27T17:15:00.000-08:00

None. There is nothing wrong with the light bulb. Its conditions are improving every day. Any reports that it is dark are due to bias from the liberal media. The light bulb has served honorably, and anything you say undermines the lighting effect. Why do you hate freedom?

Religious Right Threatens Bush Over SS, Gay Marriage

2005-01-26T07:36:00.000-08:00

A coalition of Christian leaders, including Jerry Falwell and James Dobson, have sent a private letter to Karl Rove threatening to pull their support from Social Security Piratization if the Administration doesn't make good on their promise for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Firedoglake has more.

Gonzalez

2005-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:00

Don't miss the massive, multi-blogger-signed letter to our Senators asking them to vote against the confirmation of Gonzalez.

My Letter to Hillary Clinton

2005-01-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

It emerges that Hillary Clinton is interested in standing in the way of Howard Dean's run for DNC Chair. Especially if you live in New York, I would urge you to contact Senator Clinton about this matter, with a polite and inspring note. Here's mine:

Sen. Clinton,

I am writing to urge you to support Howard Dean in the upcoming vote for DNC Chair. I know many in the DNC will value your opinion.

Howard Dean brings immense energy to the table, and many fresh Democratic troops . As you know, this past year John Kerry got millions upon millions of dollars from small donors, setting a new record for Dems -- and why he got all that money is because of people like me, people activated by Howard Dean. I'm proud to say that I was able to give Sen Kerry $1500. But I did it only because I have been so encouraged by the grass roots energy that surrounds me. I gave to John Kerry because I believed he could win in 2004 -- and I'll give in 2006 to the Democratic group that I think has the best chance of winning House elections and deepening the bench of statewide elected officials who can run to move up in 2008. I'll give my money to whatever organization I think will do the best strategic job of using it to fight for my values.

I'll give it, most likely, to an organization headed by Howard Dean. And that organization, I hope, will be the Democratic Party.

Fresh Horses

2005-01-23T01:27:00.000-08:00

A report from the DNC Meeting today in Sacramento, CA. This is also posted at mydd, where there are many comments from others who were there. A video will be made by the CA Dem party and will appear on their web site.

Condoleeza is my color, but Barbara is my kind.

About a dozen of members of our local DFA group drive the 100 miles to Sacramentoto support Howard Dean for DNC Chair. We arrive at 9:00, just as things start. Once we get there one of the locals tells me, "We originally thought 80-100 people." But by this morning they knew there would be 400+ of us, and indeed we fill the 400+ seats in the room where breakfast is being held. While we eat Cal state Sen Joe Dunn speaks, a progressive who represents the conservative Orange County California, who was involved in catching Enron with their hands in my wallet. The Reverend Al Sharpton enters, to applause, interrupting Joe. Ultimately Joe Dunn's highminded speech about freedom and justice receives a standing ovation at the end.

Sharpton begins speaking. During a short preamble praising Barbara Boxer Sharpton recieves three standing ovations. "I want the people of California to know: Condoleeza is my color, but Barbara is my kind.". Supports Marjorie Harris for one of the five Vice-Chair positions. We need young people in the party. We need to expand this party, stop having pity parties. They beat us because we were too cowardly to stand up and fight for morals. [hits the basics on why Democratic values are moral values: poverty and Iraq]. By the time his 8-10 minute speech was done he had recieved about 10 standing ovations. That man is an orator, and the only speaker who held a candle to him during the entire day was Dr. Dean.

Sharpton's protege, Marjorie Harris, then gave the 90-sec version of her stump speech. She spoke of bringing "the hip-hop voters" into the party, and said that being progressive on the issues is the way to do that.

We then stood for a brief reflection on our guys and gals in Iraq. I was shocked to find that it brought tears even to my eyes, which, through thick and thin, are almost always dry. It was a very sobering moment, to be among such a large group of partisan Democrats and share with them my support of our troops, which is the best kind.

Then members of the DNC were then introduced. There were perhaps 20 of them at breakfast, mostly from California of course, but plenty from throughout the west: 2 from Alaska and 1 from Arkansas and quite a lot from Colorado.

90 seconds each from the grass roots

Attendees had been told ahead of time that they could apply for the right to speak for 90 sec. Of those who asked, 5 were then randomly selected, and they spoke next, mostly in support of progressive values. The second spoke in favor of health care for all and said there is no one better to fight for it than Howard Dean, and that it should be the centerpiece of our domestic agenda. The third, also a Deaniac, spoke at length in favor of reform.

The 4th speaker was introduced as a young person -- a black woman probably in her early 20's who said she had been activated by seeing Howard Dean on Good Morning America. She introduced herself with an apology about her weak rhetorical skills, and proceeded to demonstrate speaking skills that would only occasionally be matched during the rest of the day. The 5th was a woman who just lost a Cal State Sen race in a very red district to a Republican who was much better financed. She began with the point that the Cal state party had given her $100, while her opponent had received great amounts of support. She talked about running an all-county campaign. She endorsed Howard Dean.

The grassroots talks were to continue, but after an intermission:

Candidates for DNC office begin speaking.

First Mike Honda, who is running for Vice Chair. He was running on regional representation. An unconvincing pitch.

Second Nelson Diaz: we've got to stop being lucky. "I go to church every day. We've got God in our corner."

Third Alvaro si Fuentes, current Chair of the Hispanic Member of the DNC. Decentralize and move away from DC. We have to assist state parties in electing Dems.

Fourth: Susie, running for Vice-Chair [currently Deputy Chair of the DNC]. Spoke out in favor of social justice and Roe v. Wade. "It's the counts, stupid"

In my book two and three are the reformers, I hope they do well.

Fresh Horses

And back to the 90 second talks from the grass roots. Five more attendees were selected. First: from a progressive Dem club that is here to revive the Dem Party. Endorses Dean. We need a leader that doesn't run from the Repubs, that stands up for our values. Second a Dean Dem club of Silicon Valley member: After losing 3 elections its time to stop being afraid of DLC warnings that we're not enough like Repubs. When Dean ran for governor he got votes from 1/3 of Repubs and then turned his state into a blue state.She was also a good speaker -- I hope she's running for office.

4th is the Chair of Sac'to for Democracy [Caryn or Karen Bernali?], with her 3-year-old daughter in tow: no more republican-lite. There is a disconnect between the grass roots and some of the Dem leaders. Since when did our party decide to cross the line between civilization and barabarism by voting for Gonzalez and Rice. There was more. Appeared to be Hispanic. She was rhetorically powerful to the point where again conchis began to tear up. Rhetorically, she was the 2nd-best so far. Somebody run this woman for elected office: ten years from now, I want her to be my senator

5th spoke of her win out in mostly-red eastern CA. Praised Boxer. Endorsed Dean. Next: I want a DNC Chair who isn't driven by fear. The Republicans are using fear of terrorism as a distraction. Next Ralph Hiller a founder of Latinos for America. Endorsed Dean. Next Kathleen Hill: Addressed her remarks to the DNC. I'm about nuts and bolts. I was Cal coord of Howard Dean's Presidential campaign. I would venture you have never seen most of hte people in this room. These people are the grass roots. Most of them were trained to do campaign work as part of the Dean Pres. run. Next speaker from Fresno (which is cow country). She spoke about how much rural Dems need clubs, seek them. Next a guy from Silicon valley who heads his Dem club, who says he was activated by Howard Dean, and then he went from 2 years ago not really being active to now spending 30-50 hours/week doing Dem activism. Next another Dean activist from Sil valley who represents the Dem wing of the Dem party. She worked for Montdale, she worked for McCarthy. She feels that in later years she has not felt Dems have represented her. Dean turned her libertarian son back to the party. Next a woman from Santa Cruz, about 150 miles away. Says she hadn't been active, for decades. After seeing Dean, she held half a dozen house parties. Next a rouser from an older white guy from a rural area, who spoke about the women they've gotten elected this year.

Next a Sonoma DFA guy [Malacondra on dkos and mydd]. I'm newly activated. I have immense respect for the people who've been fighting in the trenches for the Dems for all these years. You may fear that all these new Dean people are barbarians at the gate. "We're fresh horses". Next woman from a different DFA group. Improvises and picks up the previous line: we are fresh horses. Talks about the competence and energy in the grass roots.

Next another DFA member endorsing Dr Dean, activist since 1968, talks about how powerful the effect of Dean has been on doing the spade work of Dem activism. Next woman from Marin and Sonoma DFA groups endorses Dean. A woman from El Cerrito gives an impassioned issues speech and endorses Dean. Woman from Grass Valley stands up and almost tearfully spends 90 sec talking about how much the environment is under thread under Bush Admin. Closes by endorsing Howard Dean.

There were a few more, then a recess, after which Howard Dean was to speak.

Howard Dean gives his stump speech to 500 people

We ran a great campaign in 2004. The Repubs ran a better one.

Win races at all levels

Secretaries of State

When I made my Pres. run, to get power we gave power away

We enable your leafleting, but we let you decide what to say in the leaflets.

The Repubs have a great organization.

But it's top down.

We are not like that.

We are not gonna give you talking points from DC. We are gonna let the message be generated bottom up.

If this is a typical DFA crowd there are greens, Perot voters, McCain voters, even moderate voters who are tired of borrow-and-spend

We are gonna computerize your activism, so you don't have to look up the same phone numbers over and over

But we're not gonna tell you what the message is.

We're gonna fight to win races in CA, because if we don't, some day CA is gonna be a red state.

And we're gonna win in [he begins listing other states, and builds into his Dean Scream Parody, which is always is a big applause line and gets the biggest standing ovation of his speech.]

"Barak Obama was a Dean Dozen candidate before he was Barak Obama."

"You can't trust the Republicans with your money any more."

"We're gonna be the party of moral values. It is a moral value not to leave debt to your children. It is a moral value not only to have the strongest military in the world" but to also provide moral leadership. It is a moral value to have health care for every American. It is a moral value to tell the truth to the American people before you lead them into war.

Truman quote: the real Repub beats Repub lite every time.

Then did his nice bit on free trade. His main point here is that if we're gonna have globalization for corporations then we ought to globalize the rights of working people. Walmart is bringing down wages in China, and that's hard to do. I tell this to business leaders: We need to support organized labor and the right to organize, because that is good for capitalism and democracy.

Closes with the story of the Texas evangelical Christian, who tells him he disagrees with many of her most important convictions, but supports him because he is a man of conviction.

We are going to be the party of reform: political dialog, issues, party.

Nonlunchunch Break

Introduced myself to Sharpton and Marjorie Harris.

Talked to some folks from one of CA's reddest counties, out in Yosemite country. It was refreshing to talk to committed activists from so far out. They clearly would have appreciated more help from the DNC in building their local base. They complained about having so little support from the CA Dem Committee, which didn't even pay for the filing fee of the candidate who ran against their Republican US Representative. But what they spoke about most strongly is that they don't want outsiders sent in to help canvas. It seemed pretty clear that they viewed this as harmful, or at least as something that embarasses them in the face of the very voters they seek to persuade, rather than merely as inefficient.

Howard Dean provided free ice cream for all.

Afternoon: The Big Meeting

The meeting is translated into American Sign Language (ASL).

7 DNC Candidates are on the dais. Curiously, none of them is typing at a laptop.

50 DNC Members were present, seated at the front of the audience.

A number of people running for vice-chairs and other positions.

The candidates introduce themselves:

David Leland

Ohio Party Chair for 7 years, got Dem mayors in all 50 cities, there when Clinton won the state in 1996.

50 state strategy,

Dem Community Action networks:

365 days/year.

[In my view, it's easy for him to say all of this.

Not clear to me why this guy is bothering to run.]

Donnie Fowler

They've asked us to concede the South, West, rural, religious voters.

I am tired of conceding.

DNC doesn't mean Do Not Change -- It means Do Not Concede

Swing v. base voters -- this is a false choice.

[As a strategist about voting groups, he's not terribly convincing. Indeed, his riff about our base being women and minorities is recognizable as a Dean riff.]

Argues that he's the only candidate that has a lot of experience in the trenches in local races etc.

Howard Dean

Lays out his plan to pay for each of 50 states' Exec Dir, finance people, and 2 grass-roots organizers. For $250,000/year/state, it's worth it.

We will empower you to improve on the things you're already doing

...so that we can win Gov, Congress, Sen, and ultimately Pres 2008

Martin Frost

Starts by mentioning Matsui, and then weirdly talks for most of a minute about his role in getting the Japanese reparations bill through.

Tells us who he is: a civil rights guy, deeply committed.

Talks about his experience in retail politics

For years, I beat Karl Rove in Texas. I beat Karl Rove way beyond when he thought I could.

[This counts as an accomplishment? You're the guy originally responsible for losing civilization to the anti-Christ, but you feel you slowed him down, so you want us to appoint you as protector of humanity so you can lose some more?]

Wellington Webb

Appeal to base, e.g. minorities.

Talks about how the 447 DNC members just sit and applaud while they recieve their instructions: wants them to have a role and be listened to. This drew substantial applause from the DNC members, while the rest of us kept quiet and let them be heard. He scored some points here, now I see why he polled well in Orlando.

His message is very much a racial (and gender) justice message

Rosenberg

[said lots, I didn't get it all. This was a great stump speech.]

The people need a voice in this political system

We've got to build a media machine

We've got to fight and win every day of every year.

End monopoly of Iowa and NH

People from the south and minorities must have a voice in choosing the nominee

Roe v. Wade

We're on the right side of history

We've been on top before and we'll be there again.

Roemer

First a Dem, last a Dem, and always a Dem.

I'm a fighter.

Praises CA

Our national security message is better than Bush's? Goes on to give Kerry's stump speech on Bush's national security record and on jobs. [Does he know that the 2004 election is over, and furthermore that he's not running in it.

Curiously, he sounds just like the guy in the Firesign Theatre comedy troup who does the parodies of political stump speeches. Perhaps he has a future in comedy.]

Truman: doing the right thing, that's easy. Figuring it out: that's tough. [He brought this up in the context of the Jersey Girls, who he didn't mention explicitly, but he might have been talking about his whole speech: I don't see any concrete ideas here.]

Questions

These were given ahead of time by DNC Members. The audience had the opportunity to give questions to the DNC members, who were free to submit those to if they liked. Questions were randomly assigned to the 7 candidates. In each case I list the candidate who got the question, then the question in a single sentence, then, if I got it down, his answer:

Dean: How would you have won in 2004 [answered well, much as this morning]

Frost: How do we convince rural voters we represent them? Take back the issue of keeping them safe. By rights, we own it.

Leland: Western Primaries Terry Mac is organizing a commission to look into this: but probably what we need is less primaries, and instead more caucuses. [conchis begins coughing up blood.]

Rosenberg: How are you going to get youth involved? Only demographic we increased our percentage in during the last 4 years is young people. We must speak to their core values. Focus on letting young poeple have a leg up. The college Dems of America were kicked out of the Dem party by LBJ over View Nam -- I brought them back in during Clinton 1992. My investment in media has always been about winning in the coming America.

Fowler: How do you win Latino voters? You let Latino voters set the strategy. A lot of people don't understand that Latinos of different origins speak in different dialects, and when you're placing ads, you need to be developing tthem with people who know the relevant dialects.

Roemer: What have you done concretely to promote gay rights? He's proud of our position on gay rights.

Webb: What can we do to get acceptance for our message on gun safety? Chuckles at the irony of this question being given to an urban mayor.

...

[bagel finally]

...

Rosenberg: what have you done while on your state central committee? Simon answered with a cataloging of the ways in which he has, e.g. as the head of NDN, helped various state parties.

Frost: asked about getting the DNC and its staff out of the beltway: Spoke convincingly about this. First, says he wants to break the consultant class of losers. Talked about guys he'd hired when DCCC head and said they were all over the country all the time.

Leland: What grass-roots organization have you done in your home state. He seemed to feel incredibly qualified as a result of his experience as head of the Ohio DNC. [As an aside, conchis points out that we lost Ohio in 2004 and 2000. This is perhaps partly thanks to Leland's 7 years as head of the Ohio DNC.]

Roemer: ...

Dean: If not the next DNC Chair, will you pledge to support the party under its next chair, and ask your supporters to. [Remember, these are assigned randomly.] Of course, as pledged. This isn't about the Dem party for me. The reason I want this position is because I think helping the party is a way to give America back to the American people.

Frost: Do you support the Fowler rule. [Over my head.]

...

Fowler: How will you use technology to improve communication with the party? Answered that he has 6 years experience in tech, but offered no ideas. The big problem is the antagonism between the national and state parties. We need to stop this. I have the experience of doing grass roots work on the ground in 14 states, not just giving money from a national organization.

Rosenberg:...We must view the people in the party as participants. The old model was to think of you out there as an ATM. [props to tim tagaris]

Question for all 7: Specifically what role do you envision doing with the state parties, both structurally and financially, and what role do you envision for the state parties in helping you.

Dean: I want to see the state parties everywhere empowered with grass roots support to be able to go out and knock on doors. Chair in Kansas expressed his gratitude for all these new people. And we need not just people in the party, but we need people running for office. I want the state parties to get those people to run. This can't come from Washington: even if I were twice as smart and twice as rich, I'm not the right one to do it.

Leland: I've been doing this since 1995. A lot of what you're hearing up here are ideas that've been around. Grass roots. 365 days a year.

Frost: The key is partnership. The state chairs have asked that we put at least $200,000 into each state, and I will do that. I have worked with my state party for 35 years....We will win Govs, Reps, Senate seats in 2006.

Rosenberg: We begin by listening to all of you. There are people who know how to win here, and the foolks [typo retained] in DC need to listen to all of you. [Throughout the afternoon Simon repeatedly made it obvious that he was addressing the larger audience, rather than the DNC audience in the front that I would think it is really his job to persuade. I don't know why this is] 4 points: (1) Message, fight fiercely, take ideas directly to them in all 50 states every day every year (2) infrastructure, got to start by building the state parties. (3) Grass roots, nurture the passion that has exploded in the last couple of years (4) Got to feel like we're on the same team again. Our coalition has got to stand together despite our differences in position.

Roemer: [doesn't answer the question] I ran six times in red IA and I made it blue, winning against a Repub incumbent and then getting reelected as an incumbent. In rural CA we want to lose by 10 points, not 20. We need to go door-to-door

[Moderator Art Torres repeats the question.]

Fowler: I love being in the states. I love being a Colonel in the field more than being a general. Shout out to grass roots. Here's what I'd do about national/state antagonism. Dems: New Sen in CO. Atty Genl in GA. Montana. We have a lot to learn from the states. We need a ballot initiative strategy.

Webb: I was mayor for 12 years, and mayors think local. First of all, after this election, the 7 of us need to all work together. Money back to states. Talks about reaching out to women and minorites. As chair I'll visit every state, and I'll let you know before I show up. [laughter] Western primary earlier in the process. Young people on the party payroll.

If I was to be hanged, there would be 10 times as many people waiting to see

Final summations.

WebbGeorge Bush said he wants to fight freedom and liberty abroad. I think we should fight for freedom and liberty at home. Unions, Roe, Education, SS -- which demonstrates that Bush is neither compassionate nor conservative, environmentalism -- need to deal with the problem that ranchers dislike environmentalism. We need to stand up for our values.

Fowler As Democrats, we share so many core values and issues, we fight for the same things. Once we remember that we're more than a collection of issues and interests and we talk to the American people about our hearts and souls and not just our minds, we've going to take our country back for a progressive agenda: economic justice, diversity, etc. We are a party that believes in access: health care, education, jobs. We are a party that likes to stand up and fight, when we're lead the right way -- ask Barbara Boxer. Ask Christine Gregoire, who did not succumb. Ask Carol Migden, Eugen McCarthy, ask Napolitano. We need leadership that's going to get us back to the top. [The end was rousing in tone, but every bit as incoherent as my transcription makes it seem.]

Rosenberg Repubs have more power today than since the 20s. We have to have the courage in the next 4 years to do the things that are going to put us back in power. This is about the future of our country. We have to be better than the Republicans at: grass roots, modern party, internet arena, everything that's now different.

Leland. Strong Dems means building strong America. Dems led us to victory in 2 world wars. ....Dems put a man on the moon. Dems gave us longest period of prosperity in our history. We carry the aspirations of people who are voiceless without us. [More vacuous stuff given in a rousing and climactic tone.]

Roemer. Thanks all -- and thank you for not putting me after Howard Dean. Churchill was once asked "Aren't you going to go outside? There are 10,000 people waiting to hear you speak." He replied, "If I was to be hanged, there would be 10 times as many". There are people here wanting to see me hang. If I believed everything I read, I might be out there watching. My mother is a staunch pro-choicer, and I hear from her every day. As DNC I would not overturn Roe v. Wade. Let's talk about ways to achieve what we did in the Clinton years -- a redux in the number of abortions: they went up under Reagan and down under Clinton. Let's fight and win. [BTW, conchis agrees with him on this point: the Clintonian safe/legal/rare rhetoric is the one we should be pushing. That aside, Roemer is in no way qualified to be DNC Chair.]

Frost. Thanks moderator and Cal State Party Chair Art Torres, thanks opponents. If I win I will ask each one of them to play a major role in taking our message to our country. One of the DNC Members asked me during a break to say more about myself. I was elected 13 times in the reddest of red states and I maintained a committment to core Dem values that entire time. I supported civil rights, human rights, choice, union organizers. You need a leader who can articulate the values of our party. I can go anywhere in the country and do that. We are the majority party in this country.....If I am Chairman I will wake up every day asking how I can beat Karl Rove.

Dean. [I only got bits of this.] Last week I was endorsed by Murtha, right winger. Last week, I was endorsed by a bunch of Oklahomans. Job: raise money: in Pres campaign we raised money, independent of corporate money. Job is to excite our base. In any of your states I can come and raise money, I can come and energize your base. I am working on a red-state special speech. I'll make sure you have the money 365/every year. But most important I stand for our values: [lists -- ending with balancing budget and moral foriegn policy]

And then we wrapped it up. All in all a very satisfying day. I'd be delighted to hear comments from people who weren't there (or were). My analysis: Dean is an ace, Rosenberg is a strong B+, and everyone else falls far behind.

Rathergate vs. Saddam's WMD - A Quantitative Comparison

2005-01-12T23:31:00.000-08:00

From the always excellent Poor Man:

	Rathergate	Saddam's WMD
Investigation recently concluded?	Yes	Yes
Use of highly questionable supporting documents?	Yes	Yes
Central claims disproven?	No	Yes
Media spread questionable information?	Yes	Yes
Number of firings resulting from investigation	4	0
Number of high-profile reassignments resulting from investigation	1	0
Number of wars started using flawed justification	0	1
Cost to American taxpayer	$0.00	~$150,000,000,000 (as of 1/12/05)
Number of American soldiers killed as a result	0	1,357 (as of 1/12/05)
Number of British soldiers killed as a result	0	76 (as of 1/12/05)
Number of other non-Iraqi allied soldiers killed as a result	0	84 (as of 1/12/05)
Number of Iraqi policemen killed over last 4 months as a result	0	1,300+
Number of Iraqi civilians killed as a result	0	10,000-100,000+
Number of al-Qaeda training camps destroyed as a result	0	0
Number of terrorist plots against the US foiled as a result	0	0
Percentage of Iraqi people who view the US as "occupiers" as a result	no data available	92%
Saddam Hussein removed from power as a result?	No	Yes
Saddam's torture chambers shut down as a result?	No	No
Iraqi people enjoying freedom as a result?	No	No (as of 1/12/05)
US's reputation severely damaged as a result	No	Yes
US's military stretched thin as a result?	No	Yes
Posts mentioning story on NRO's "The Corner"	10	0
Advantage blogosphere?	No	Please

Reform Democrats

2005-01-11T20:38:00.000-08:00

The fundamental goal of regular Americans for politics today is reform.

For Democrats, the fundamental kind of reform is to move away from corruption.

We need to move toward raising money in small contributions from individuals, from the grass roots, because an excess of corporate campgaign contributions has corrupted the Democratic party, and we need to move away from this. Now, make no mistake here, the reformed Democratic Party will be a friend of business. We stand for economic progress, in fact that's one of our core values. But progress benefits -- and must benefit -- all Americans. We will never let corporate interests get in line in front of the people -- business has to take a number and wait in line along with everybody else. In the last ten years Bill Clinton and the Washington Democrats have let corporations cut in line. This has got to stop.

Reform Democrats seek not only to clean up our party, but also to clean up the mainstream media. The mainstream media, too, is corrupted by corporations -- the corporations that own it. We reform Democrats speak out against the mainstream media: we prefer not to read it, because we read every day on the internet about how much right-wing bias there is in the mainstream media; when people call it "the liberal media" we stand up and you in the media do not represent my interest. Maybe you are somebody's kind of liberal, but you are not my kind of liberal.

Today's Democratic Party must stand for reform.

DNC: Tell Them You Support Howard Dean

2005-01-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

I've been encouraging people to support Howard Dean for DNC Chair, because he has the reformer spirit and the grass-roots know-how to turn the Democratic Party from the weak, corporate-beholden party that it is into the strong people's party that it must be. Why do I think so? Because his Presidential campaign raised unexpected millions in small contributions from indviduals over the internet, thus giving the party more fuel and giving corporate donors proportionally less influence. Because his campaign listened to individuals at the grass roots.

If you support Howard Dean, this is a good time for you to make your feelings known to the DNC Committe Membersfrom your state, most especially those from your local area. You can also contact your State Party Executive Director. Let these people know how you feel about Howard Dean and let them know who you are, especially if you're an active party member or hold office within the Party.

And if you live near LA, there's an opportunity this weekend to show up and make your voice heard in person:

SATURDAY, JANUARY 15TH/NOON - 4:00PM
Patriotic Hall
1816 S. Figueroa St, Downtown Los Angeles
(directions/location. Patriotic Hall is south of the Santa Monica (10) freeway, about 4 blocks from the LA Convention Center. The Metro blue line (Grand Ave )stop is 1.5 blocks away.

The DNC California delegation is looking forward to your input!

Approximately one third of the DNC members from CA are expected to attend

If you cannot attend, please feel free to provide your input by e-mail to: DNCListeninghear@aol.com
Or send written input, by mail to : L/O Pam Cooke, 6454 Van Nuys Blvd., Suite 209, Van Nuys, CA 91401.

Republican Noise Machine: A Quick Summary

2005-01-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

From Lewis Lapham, via mydd:

2 BILLION ASSETS CONSERVATIVE FOUNDATIONS (2001 ASSETS)

	(in $ Millions)
The Bradley Foundation	584
Smith Richardson Foundation	494
Scaife Family (Four Foundations)	478.4
Earhart Foundation	84
John M. Olin Foundation	71
Koch Family (Three Foundations)	68
Castle Rock (Coors) Foundation	50
JM Foundation	25
Philip M. McKenna Foundation	17.4

NATIONAL "THINK TANKS" (2001 BUDGETS)

(in $ Millions)

	(in $ Millions)
The Heritage Foundation	33
American Enterprise Institute	25
Hoover Institution	25
Cato Institute	17.6
Hudson Institute	7.8
Manhattan Institute	7.2
Citizens for a Sound Economy	5.4
Reason Foundation	4.9
National Center for Policy Analysis	4.7
Competitive Enterprise Institute	3.2
Free Congress Foundation	2.7
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis	2.5

MASS MEDIA DISTRIBUTION--$300M CONSERVATIVE MESSAGE MACHINE

TELEVISION

Pat Robertson's 700 Club

Fox News Channel

MSNBC's Scarborough Country

Oliver North's War Stories

RADIO

The Rush Limbaugh Show

The Cal Thomas Commentary

Radio America

PUBLISHING

Eagle Publishing, Inc.

NEWSPAPERS

The Washington Times

The Wall Street journal

STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS (200I ESTIMATES)

	(in $ Millions)
George Mason University	7
Harvard University	6
Intercollegiate Studies Institute	5.8
University of Chicago	5
Yale University	5
Washington University	4
Stanford University	3
Institute for Humane Studies	2.9
National Association of Scholars	1.2

Give to $10 your local thinktank today (see the sidebar for details).

What Liberal Media?

2005-01-11T01:23:00.000-08:00

Atrios has a catalog of reporters who lied about the Whitewater scandal in the 1990s, and yet recieved far less attention than the errorful Rather.

I could go on and on. But, the worst Rather has been accused of by sensible people is letting partisanship cloud his judgment. Accepting that as true just for sake of argument, it's still a far less egregious sin than most of the Whitewater-era horseshit which has never been acknowledged as horseshit by the liberal media, even though unlike the Rather incident, much of that horseshit was clearly deliberately manufactured by the producers and reporters. These events were recycled and echoed throuhgout the entire liberal media, with no one calling foul and no one calling for their heads.

Daily Show on Harry Reid

2005-01-10T23:37:00.000-08:00

Harry Reid's message to his party: At least we're not dying in a mine shaft.

Damn

2005-01-10T22:43:00.000-08:00

Malibu, CA.

Fire the Consultants

2005-01-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

A fine serious article from Amy Sullivan:

Hansen is part of a clique of Washington consultants who, through their insider ties, continue to get rewarded with business even after losing continually. Pollster Mark Mellman is popular among Democrats because he tells them what they so desperately want to hear: Their policies are sound, Americans really agree with them more than with Republicans, and if they just repeat their mantras loud enough, voters will eventually embrace the party. As Noam Scheiber pointed out in a New Republic article following the great Democratic debacle of '02, Mellman was, perhaps more than anyone else, the architect of that defeat. As the DSCC's recommended pollster, he advised congressional Democrats to ignore national security and Iraq in favor of an endless campaign about prescription drugs and education. After the party got its clock cleaned based on his advice, Mellman should have been exiled but was instead...promoted. He became the lead pollster for John Kerry's presidential campaign, where he proffered eerily similar advice—stress domestic policy, stay away from attacking Bush—to much the same effect.

Hansen and Mellman are joined by the poster boy of Democratic social promotion, Bob Shrum. Over his 30-year career, Shrum has worked on the campaigns of seven losing presidential candidates—from George McGovern to Bob Kerrey—capping his record with a leading role in the disaster that was the Gore campaign. Yet, instead of abiding by the “seven strikes and you're out” rule, Democrats have continued to pay top dollar for his services (sums that are supplemented by the percentage Shrum's firm, Shrum, Devine & Donilon, gets for purchasing air time for commercials). Although Shrum has never put anyone in the White House, in the bizarro world of Democratic politics, he's seen as a kingmaker—merely hiring the media strategist gives a candidate such instant credibility with big-ticket liberal funders that John Kerry and John Edwards fought a fierce battle heading into the 2004 primaries to lure Shrum to their camps. Ultimately, Shrum chose Kerry, and on Nov. 3, he extended his perfect losing record.

And why do these losers rise to such high positions?

The consultants are filling a vacuum....

All well worth reading.

Conference on Journalism and Credibility

2005-01-10T09:10:00.000-08:00

Harvard's conference on Blogging, Journlism, and Credibility has been announced. As you'll note from the list of participants, it doesn't involve many legitimate bloggers; despite its title, it appears to be meant for journalistic handwringing specifically. joshyelon gives his take as part of a discussion at mydd:

This is the second time I've read about a formal conference at which journalists scratch their heads and try to figure out why they aren't trusted any more. This is analogous to me hosting a conference of Ph.D. computer engineers at my house to figure out why my computer is unplugged.

If you want to know why journalists aren't trusted, pick a random day and read the front page of the New York Times. Usually, the errors and omissions are so blatant that anyone with half a brain can see them. And the NYT is a good paper, relatively speaking.

Fafblog Compares Alberto Gonzalez to a Baked Potato

2005-01-09T22:38:00.000-08:00

From Fafblog!

POWERS AND ABILITIES
Alberto Gonzales: Doesn't offer own legal opinions to the president, can't remember previous legal opinions for the senate, can't explain current legal opinions to anybody.
Baked potato: Doesn't offer own legal opinions to the president, can't remember previous legal opinions for the senate, can't explain current legal opinions to anybody, and is covered with hot melted butter and sour cream!
Advantage: POTATO

Social Security: Why Private Accounts Don't Work

2005-01-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

One reason of many, from the TalkingPointsMemo mailbag

You've mentioned Social security as insurance, previously, but I think the point deserves more emphasis. Reducing social security benefits and replacing (some of) the lost benefits with private investment accounts is still gambling EVEN if the accounts earn a relatively optimistic rate of return, and EVEN if the accounts are limited to conservative investment options. The reason why private investment accounts are RISKY is because people don't know how long they will live. Someone living to (say) 95 is going to do much worse with private investments, simply because the privately invested money is going to run out well before they die.

The scam here (on the part of those trying to sell private investment accounts as a substitute) is that they (implicitly) are talking about what someone who lives to the AVERAGE lifespan will be getting. But half (or so) of retirees are going to live LONGER than average. This half will either have to withdraw money more slowly (live less well) [and how will they be able to predict this?] or will exhaust their private investment accounts long before they die.

So with private accounts, those who die early end up with some (or much) of their money going to the heirs, and those who die late end up (potentially) in poverty. Only the hypothetical "average" person (the one who dies at an average age, having exactly exhausted his/her private investments at exactly the right time) is going to do as well as any "predicted" outcome for private investment accounts.

--JB

In the Google World, Newspapers' Impermananence Becomes a Serious Oversight

2005-01-09T21:08:00.000-08:00

Says Jay Rosen:

I think it shameful, not to mention a crisis in authority, that the solid journalistic achievement of most people in daily newspapers across the land is being lost to Google, lost to bloggers, lost to online forums and conversation, lost to the long tail where value is built up.

Does your average hard working environment reporter even know that her comprehensive portrait of an ecological disaster in the making won't ever make it into search engines so that people can see where it all began, so that high school kids researching an assignment would find it and get the whole story? Do the newsroom troops understand this "lost to the future" quality about their best work? Who was supposed to tell them?

San Fernando Democrats Resolve to Oppose Phasing Out Social Security

2005-01-08T19:35:00.000-08:00

This from The Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, i.e. much of suburban LA:

WHEREAS Social Security is the most successful domestic program in American history, having provided a guaranteed retirement safety net for millions of Americans since 1935, and

WHEREAS current Congressional Budget Office projections report the trust fund will remain solvent through 2052, afterwards covering 81% of promised benefits, with no change to the program, while transition costs alone for abandoning Social Security in favor of private accounts are estimated at 2 trillion dollars, and

WHEREAS the so-called "crisis" in Social Security is a manufactured scare tactic intended to bolster President Bush's plans to replace Social Security with an unstable market-based system,

BE IT RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley opposes any effort to phase out and/or replace Social Security, in whole or in part, in favor of a private accounts-based system, and

RESOLVED that the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley will not endorse or support financially any Democratic candidate who expresses support, advocates for, or votes for such a plan.

Passed 01/03/2005

Jon Stewart on the Gonzalez Confirmation

2005-01-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

Hearings began today to confirm San Francisco Board of Supervisors President Matthew Conzalez as George Bush's Attorney General.

-- err, not that Gonzalez.

No sign of due diligence in the Senate today. Orin Hatch, for example, fell all over himself and thanked Gonzalez for bringing his lovely wife and his tremendous mother. Retaliated Jon Stewart: "Yo, Senator Hatch. Yo mama's so tremendous that when she hauls ass she has to make two trips."

And Howard Zinn on our rulers: "They're addicted to power. They're addicted to war."

Ohio Vote Debate on C-SPAN and C-SPAN2

2005-01-06T09:59:00.000-08:00

A joint session of Congress is convening now (C-SPAN) to count the electoral votes from 2004. It is expected that an objection will be raised over voter suppression related to Ohio's electoral votes, by American Patriot-of-the-month Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH). There will then be separate debates on the subject in the House (C-SPAN) and the Senate (C-SPAN2).

Always strange to see these Republican crooks held to account by the American people. Fasten your seatbelts.

[Update] 10:22: They've just objected. Cheney has just announced that the houses will seperate for debate. The Senate is "retiring" (i.e. walking) to its chamber.

Harry Reid has just announced that Senators who want to speak should come to the chamber and speak now. The Republicans, it appears, might choose not to speak further. I presume they've decided that an intial 5-minute broadside by DeWine (R-OH) has provided enough soundbytes for CNN, MSNBC, and the rest of the corporate media, who naturally will be interested in covering this episode largely from DeWine's perspective: that of ignoring Boxer's objection, and referring instead to other, less-well-substantiated objections about the Ohio vote that have been made over the last few months by random citizens on the ground.

Boxer is In

2005-01-06T08:23:00.000-08:00

NOW reports that Sen. Barbara Boxer has agreed to call for Congressional debate on the Ohio vote count -- which means debate will occur. It's helpful now if you contact your own Senators and Congressman and ask them also to work today in the legislature to get to the bottom of voter suppression in Ohio. NOW also suggests that you "Take a minute to write a single paragraph to your local newspaper's editor, or call a radio talk show to praise Sen. Boxer and all of the House members, Democrat and Independent, who took a stand for democracy."

Voter Suppression. Contact Boxer. Now.

2005-01-05T22:46:00.000-08:00

At 1 pm EST Thursday, because of concerns about the massive voter suppression efforts by Republicans in last Novembers' election, Representative John Conyers will make a procedural objection in Congress, bringing about a debate over voter suppression and related issues. Lots more details are here from Olbermann. This debate will only happen if one Senator joins Rep. Conyers in objecting -- and the Senator most likely is California's Barbara Boxer. Californian? Contact her by 1 pm EST, via her email or her fax at 415-956-6701. Her phone, which I'm told is now always busy, is at 202-224-3553. Otherwise, contact your own Senator at Contacting the Congress.

From MoveOn's letter on the subject

When Congress reconvenes this Thursday to ratify the 2004 Presidential election, Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) will object to the vote count in Ohio, and if even one Senator joins him, Congress will have to debate the widespread voting problems that have been exposed. Nobody expects this election to be overturned, but it's time in this country to seriously grapple with the issues of voting rights, un-auditable computerized voting, and the suppression of minority votes.

Call your Democratic Senators today and ask them to join Representative Conyers in challenging the 2004 voting process. With your support, they can step forward and force this important debate. Just call [the numbers for your Senators at Contacting the Congress; for Boxer, see above]

Please let us know you've made these calls at our site

In November's election, Americans in inner cities were prevented from voting by eight-hour lines. Local officials changed the rules on which votes were counted. Technicians were allowed to tamper with balloting machines unsupervised. We've attached an editorial by Rev. Jesse Jackson with more details below.

The winners of these tainted elections assert that their outcomes didn't depend on the fraud. But even in sports, referees call penalties and enforce the rules, whether or not the game is at stake. Nowhere in the Constitution does it describe some acceptable level of denying Americans their votes. When Congress meets this Thursday, January 6, we'll have a good opportunity to make it clear that Americans want every vote counted, period.

A sound democracy depends on elections that everyone, winners and losers, can agree were held fairly and honestly. America doesn't have that now, and it's got to change.

Evangelicals v. Professors

2005-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

I've felt for a while that a big problem with the Democratic coalition is that the coalition between Christian Democrats and secular Democrats isn't nearly as tight as it should be. Here William Stuntz goes one step further. Stuntz is a Professor at Harvard Law School and worships at an evangelical church, where most people vote Republican. He argues that the two groups have a lot in common -- they just don't know each other:

Most of my Christian friends have no clue what goes on in faculty clubs. And my colleagues in faculty offices cannot imagine what happens in those evangelical churches on Sunday morning.

In both cases, the truth is surprisingly attractive. And surprisingly similar: Churches and universities are the two twenty-first century American enterprises that care most about ideas, about language, and about understanding the world we live in, with all its beauty and ugliness. Nearly all older universities were founded as schools of theology: a telling fact. Another one is this: A large part of what goes on in those church buildings that dot the countryside is education -- people reading hard texts, and trying to sort out what they mean.

Another similarity is less obvious but no less important. Ours is an individualist culture; people rarely put their community's welfare ahead of their own. It isn't so rare in churches and universities. Churches are mostly run by volunteer labor (not to mention volunteered money): those who tend nurseries and teach Sunday School classes get nothing but a pat on the back for their labor. Not unlike the professors who staff important faculty committees. An economist friend once told me that economics departments are ungovernable, because economists understand the reward structure that drives universities: professors who do thankless institutional tasks competently must do more such tasks. Yet the trains run more or less on time -- maybe historians are running the economics departments -- because enough faculty attach enough importance to the welfare of their colleagues and students. Selfishness and exploitation are of course common too, in universities and churches as everywhere else. But one sees a good deal of day-to-day altruism, which is not common everywhere else.

And each side of this divide has something to teach the other. Evangelicals would benefit greatly from the love of argument that pervades universities. The "scandal of the evangelical mind" -- the title of a wonderful book by evangelical author and professor Mark Noll -- isn't that evangelicals aren't smart or don't love ideas. They are, and they do. No, the real scandal is the lack of tough, hard questioning to test those ideas. Christians believe in a God-Man who called himself (among other things) "the Truth." Truth-seeking, testing beliefs with tough-minded questions and arguments, is a deeply Christian enterprise. Evangelical churches should be swimming in it. Too few are.

For their part, universities would be better, richer places if they had an infusion of the humility that one finds in those churches. Too often, the world of top universities is defined by its arrogance: the style of argument is more "it's plainly true that" than "I wonder whether." We like to test our ideas, but once they've passed the relevant academic hurdles (the bar is lower than we like to think), we talk and act as though those ideas are not just right but obviously right -- only a fool or a bigot could think otherwise.
...
There is even a measure of political common ground. True, university faculties are heavily Democratic, and evangelical churches are thick with Republicans. But that red-blue polarization is mostly a consequence of which issues are on the table -- and which ones aren't. Change the issue menu, and those electoral maps may look very different. Imagine a presidential campaign in which the two candidates seriously debated how a loving society should treat its poorest members. Helping the poor is supposed to be the left's central commitment, going back to the days of FDR and the New Deal. In practice, the commitment has all but disappeared from national politics...

I don't think my liberal Democratic professor friends like this state of affairs. And -- here's a news flash -- neither do most evangelicals, who regard helping the poor as both a passion and a spiritual obligation, not just a political preference. (This may be even more true of theologically conservative Catholics.) These men and women vote Republican not because they like the party's policy toward poverty -- cut taxes and hope for the best -- but because poverty isn't on the table anymore. In evangelical churches, elections are mostly about abortion. Neither party seems much concerned with giving a hand to those who most need it.

That could change. I can't prove it, but I think there is a large, latent pro-redistribution evangelical vote, ready to get behind the first politician to tap into it. (Barack Obama, are you listening?) If liberal Democratic academics believe the things they say they believe -- and I think they do -- there is an alliance here just waiting to happen.

Humility, love of serious ideas, commitment to helping the poor -- these are things my faculty friends and my church friends ought to be able to get together on. If they ever do, look out: American politics, and maybe American life, will be turned upside down.

Alan Keyes' Blog

2005-01-03T23:50:00.000-08:00

Finally, from Alan Keyes, a right-wing blog that's really readable. Start the New Year right.

Media Girl Recaps 2004

2004-12-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

Via Chris Bowers, a final year-end post from media girl:

If, over this past year, you've been feeling rather oppressed by the pinko atheist left wing media elite, ponder this: It could have been worse! There are many stories that were successfully filtered, censored and/or withheld from the public by our protectors in the board rooms that control our media outlets. Let's look at some of the stories that received virtually no attention in 2004...

#1: Wealth Inequality in 21st Century Threatens Economy and Democracy(...)
#2: Ashcroft vs. the Human Rights Law that Holds Corporations Accountable (...)
#3: Bush Administration Censors Science (...)
#4: High Levels of Uranium Found in Troops and Civilians (...)
#5: The Wholesale Giveaway of Our Natural Resources
#6: The Sale of Electoral Politics
#7: Conservative Organization Drives Judicial Appointments
#8: Cheney's Energy Task Force and The Energy Policy
#9: Widow Brings RICO Case Against U.S. government for 9/11
#10: New Nuke Plants: Taxpayers Support, Industry Profits
#11: The Media Can Legally Lie
#12: The Destabilization of Haiti
#13: Schwarzenegger Met with Enron's Ken Lay Years Before the California Recall

I feel better knowing that Rupert, GE, Viacom, Time Warner, Sinclair, Clear Channel, and all the other friends of the common man are watching out, making sure we don't learn something that may makes us think that maybe some of them liberals might be right.

-- media girl

American Casualties in Iraq

2004-12-31T09:58:00.000-08:00

AP has these graphs graphs counting American casualties and attacks American forces in Iraq.

Saying No to Unjust Wars

2004-12-30T23:59:00.000-08:00

From joshyelon

I think we have a remarkable ally in the form of the Catholic Church. They have beautifully and concisely summarized the liberal position on war, in a simple four-bullet-point format. Here is a copy:

"The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration. The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy. At one and the same time:

* the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
* all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
* there must be serious prospects of success;
* the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition."

2004-12-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

DeLong's two cents on outsourcing? Read Daniel Drezner and

Unfortunately, despite the fact that every single serious article or paper on this subject has shown it to be a non-issue, it continues to excite xenophobes and others who lie awake nights worrying about the trade deficit.

iPod Phone? But Do We Care?

2004-12-29T21:54:00.000-08:00

Forbes:

Jobs took pains to point out that the phone would not compete with Apple's popular iPod music player, but should viewed as an iPod accessory. "Wouldn't it be great if you could take a dozen of your favorite songs with you" on a cell phone, Jobs said at the time.

Well, no it would be stupid. Remember how the iPod became successful, even though there were lots of other MP3 players already? That was because those players only held a dozen of your favorite songs. I own an iPod that holds 15,000 songs. It's always full, and it's always in my pocket. Value added to a cell phone by adding space for a dozen MP3s? $0.

Regime Change (Iran, 1953)

2004-12-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

Stephen Kinzer has a fascinating history of the first CIA-orchestrated regime change: the overthrow of the Iranian government, 1953 (streaming audio). This first CIA overthrow was considered a success at the time. Today, not so much.

Voting Rights

2004-12-29T14:09:00.000-08:00

From Chris Bowers

Felony disenfranchisement laws have been on the books for decades. With the massive upswing in the prisoner population over the past twenty-five years, these laws have contributed to a systematic disenfranchisement of minority communities. As the Sentencing Project notes:

"Nationally, more than four million Americans are denied the right to vote as a result of laws that prohibit voting by felons or ex-felons. In 48 states (with the exception of Maine and Vermont) and the District of Columbia prisoners cannot vote, in 35 states felons on probation or parole are disenfranchised, and in 14 states a felony conviction can result in a lifetime ban long after the completion of a sentence. This fundamental obstacle to participation in democratic life is exacerbated by racial disparities in the criminal justice system, resulting in an estimated 13% of black men unable to vote."

It is not a coincidence that the rise in the prison population was concurrent with the rise in conservative politics nationally. By disenfranchising millions of potential Democratic voters, conservatives titled the electorate in their favor. However, these laws are now being challenged

more at mydd....

Podhoretz v. Markos

2004-12-29T09:52:00.000-08:00

John Podhoretz claims that Democratic "bottom-feeders" like those at dailykos "spew...bile at at our soldiers, sailors and Marines.". Says Markos,

I would love to see examples of "bile spewed" at soldiers on this site that haven't been troll rated out of existence. And it's always rich to have asshole chickenhawks like Podhoretz attack the bona fides of a military veteran like me.

Dramatic Tsunami Videos

2004-12-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

Video of Tsunami hitting Phuket beach.

Perhaps the best is this Sri Lankan tsunami video.

There are long lists of photos and videos from Jimmy Crackcorn and JL Golson.

Jerry Orbach is Dead at 69

2004-12-29T08:04:00.000-08:00

The long-time star of Law and Order, where he played Detective Lennie Briscoe, died Tuesday night of prostate cancer.

Media History

2004-12-27T23:51:00.000-08:00

From David Crisp:

What stuns me about this discussion is the notion that "citizens" had no access to media prior to the internet. Cincinnati got its first newspaper in 1793, when it had fewer than 500 citizens. Leavenworth, Kan., consisted of four tents in 1854 -- but it had a newspaper. In 1910, there were about 2,600 daily newspapers in the United States, nearly twice as many as there are now. There were six Yiddish dailies in New York City at the turn of the century, and African-Americans had founded more than 1,000 newspapers by 1900. In 1912, Appeal to Reason, a radical Kansas weekly, had a national circulation of 750,000 -- a figure most bloggers can only envy. In the 1920s, more than 500 U.S. cities had competing dailies (stats from Thomas C. Leonard). News came in all flavors, with a wide choice of biases and editorial stances.

Earthquake: a Report from India

2004-12-27T23:41:00.000-08:00

Our thoughts are with the people of coastal South Asia. One report from a traveler:

2 days ago, I was at the very tip of India, away out in the water visiting a temple, where you can admire the geographic glory of three bodies of water meeting and curving around the horn of India. Stunning. Millions of holiday travelers from all over India and the world. Impressive number of people. Then we were off for a lovely dinner at Kovalam beach.

Yesterday, I was in Alleppuzha on a houseboat for Christmas. We wandered around the backwaters of Kerala and marveled at how close people live to the water, as if it never ever floods there.

Today, we got off the boat at about 10 am and got on a bus to Cochin at about 10:20. By the time we got to Cochin, 2 hours later, we began to get the inkling that something was very wrong.

...

It's a sobering report.

Howard Dean Must be DNC Chair

2004-12-27T01:15:00.000-08:00

For two reasons.

First, only he has the power to fix the party, because only he has massive grass roots support and visibility that will continue to keep activists interested in taking over the party and fixing it. Donnie Fowler or Simon Rosenberg would simply disappear from view -- ok in some ways, but the fact that Dean has agreed to run for DNC Chair means he realizes that we have to fight from the inside. The grass roots need a man on the inside, and it matters that even novice grassroots activists can see that we have a man on the inside: it has to be Dean.

But more, I'm not yet convinced that either Rosenberg or Fowler can be an effective reformer. Fowler certainly knows how to kick ass -- frankly I'd like to see him run for Governor of his home state of South Carolina -- but does he have what it takes to tear down the Democratic Party and turn it into a grass-roots funded, reformed party? I don't know the case yet for that. Dean has famously run a grass-roots-funded campaign in the past. Him I know I can believe in.

Nor am I convinced yet about Rosenberg. I've read Matt Stoller's case for Simon and nothing in there persuades me that he has what it takes to turn the Democratic Party into a grass-roots funded party. Can anyone persuade me?

Cute Animal Section

2004-12-26T22:31:00.000-08:00

If you're looking for a Cool Photo Section for your blog diet I recommend Arablog. This week in cute animals he provides this cute kitty:

this cute, chilly orangutan:
.

and many other cool images that aren't of beguilingly cute animals. Arablog. Check it out.

Anatomy of a Malefactor

2004-12-26T22:02:00.000-08:00

Josh Marshall has begun trying to understand in detail how the Bush administration creates fake problems and then pretends to solve them.

The president and the White House have now compared their build-up to the Iraq war with their push to phase out Social Security enough times that it seems worth creating a detailed taxonomy of the Bush White House approach to major policy initiatives in order to predict their efforts over the next two years.

The Journal said last week ...

The president has yet to lay out specific ideas for changing the entitlement program; he and his aides are focused first on selling the idea of change. "For a while, I think it's important for me to continue to work with members of both parties to explain the problem," he said in a Monday news conference.

This would suggest that we're now in the lying and fear-mongering phase of the campaign, which would be followed of course by a later phase in which a specific policy remedy is brought forward, nominally meant to address the fake problem.

Perhaps if folks could note beginning and end points of various phases of the Iraq war mumbojumbo that could help us pinpoint signs to look for in the unfolding Social Security debate.

-- Josh Marshall

If you can shed any light on the relevant details, you ought to email Josh.

8.9 Earthquake Kills Thousands in Indonesia, India

2004-12-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

The BBC reports

More than 7,000 people have been killed across southern Asia in massive sea surges triggered by the strongest earthquake in the world for 40 years.

The 8.9 magnitude quake struck under the sea near Aceh in north Indonesia, generating a wall of water that sped across thousands of kilometres of sea.

More than 3,200 died in Sri Lanka, 2,200 in Indonesia and 2,000 in India.

Casualty figures are rising over a wide area, including tourist resorts on Thailand packed with holidaymakers.

USGS report here.

Right-wing Media: Think-tank Source Statistics

2004-12-25T23:17:00.000-08:00

From David Brock's Republican Noise Machine:

The mainstream media disproportionately relies on conservative think tanks for expertise, and interpretation, of the news. Thus the think tanks are a powerful source of conservative slant in the news. In 1997, for example, Heritage was cited by the media 1813 times, and the American Enterprise Institute 1323 times, as compared with 610 citations for the Urban Institute and 576 for the Economic Policy Institute, the top Progressive think tanks....

Often, the media does not identify the conservative think tanks as conservative, thereby obscuring their bias to the reader or viewer. For instance, The New York Times has referred to The Manhattan Institute as a "national policy research organization."

Re Iraq, Father Andrew Greeley Tears into Bush Administration

2004-12-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

American-style freedom and democracy in Arab countries are hallucinations by men and women like Paul Wolfowitz and Condi Rice whose contribution to the war is writing long memos -- Republican intellectuals with pointy heads.
...
This time of the year we celebrate ''peace on Earth to men of good will.'' Americans must face the fact that they can no longer claim to be men and women of good will, not as long as they support an unnecessary, foolish, ill-conceived, badly executed and, finally, unwinnable war. If most people in other countries blame the war on Americans, we earned that blame in the November election

There's plenty more.

Journalists Report Iraqi Captors Had Supported Bush for Re-election

2004-12-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Despite the Bush campaign's insinuations earlier this year that islamic terrorists supported John Kerry, there has never been any evidence of that at all. There have been reports, however, that terrorist supported George Bush for President. I've always been skeptical this, but now comes this AP report (via DarkSyde888) that one paricular group of Iraqi hostage-takers supports George Bush:

French journalists held hostage for four months in Iraq said their militant captors told them they wanted President Bush to win re-election.

In a four-page account of their ordeal, one of the reporters, Georges Malbrunot, also wrote that they saw several other hostages who were later decapitated. The journalists said their captors viewed foreign businessmen working in Iraq as their enemies.

One of the captors from the group calling itself the Islamic Army in Iraq said Bush's re-election would boost their cause, Malbrunot wrote in Friday's edition of Le Figaro, the French daily he works for.

"We want Bush because with him the American troops will stay in Iraq and that way we will be able to develop," Malbrunot cited the captor as saying.

Bush beat Democrat John Kerry to win the presidency last month.

Jon Stewart on Political Blogs

2004-12-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

The internet: combining the credibility of anonymous hearsay with the excitement of typing.

Ohio's Blackwell Calls for Reform

2004-12-23T21:45:00.000-08:00

It's about time. The Times reports that Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell (R) has 'called for updating voting machines, and also for early voting, multiple-day voting and other changes that he said would shorten lines and encourage people to vote. "I don't think it's wrong to have high expectations," he said.'

Democrat Gregoire Wins Washington Governor's Race

2004-12-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

Christine Gregoire has won the Governorship of Washington state. This is the conclusion of the second hand recount, initially given to Gregoire by a mere eight votes (initial Democratic count) which was then amended to 10 votes. This was, however, before coutning 732 ballots from heavily Democratic King County which were erroneously set aside before the first count. Republican candidate Dino Rossi made an unpatriotic attempt to block the counting of those ballots with a lawsuit, in which they argued some undemocratic gobledigook or another, but the Washtington Supreme Court gave them a much-deserved, unanimous fuck you. Now that the votes of those 732 voters have finally been counted, Gregoire has won by 130 votes. Further legal challenges are still possible, though any such challenge would have to allege actual fraud.

Hours of fun here.

Immigration Reform

2004-12-22T15:10:00.000-08:00

The Bush Administration’s policy on immigration has been, to no one’s surprise, designed to facilitate the erosion of worker’s rights, the exploitation of illegal immigrants, the further flow of money from the bottom to the top and the destruction of the middle class.

Part of a long essay from firedoglake called Taking Back the South.

Washington Dem Gregoire Wins Recount by 8 Votes

2004-12-21T23:04:00.000-08:00

That's state-wide; that's preliminary; that's without the 723 disputed votes. See the article at the Seattle PI:

"We're confident Christine Gregoire has been elected the governor of the state of Washington," Berendt said. "I believe Dino Rossi should concede."

Donnie Fowler Kicks Some Republican Ass

2004-12-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

There is a third reform candidate running for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. Donnie Fowler is a Southern boy who knows how to talk about values and God. This fine cut of red meat comes from the video (streaming, 11:00) of his C-Span appearance on December 11th:

I'm sorry to see that you're reading straight from the talking points of the Republican Party.
...
What I'm tired of as a Democrat is somebody like you...telling me that I can't be somebody for values and be a Democrat. I'm tired of hearing Republicans say you can't believe in God and be a Democrat. I'm tired of Republicans who take away pensions, who won't raise the minimum wage, who want to throw people out of work so they can outsource jobs overseas and who cater to the CEOs who make gazillions of dollars -- I'm tired of them saying the Democratic Party doesn't represent values and doesn't stand up for people. And what I'm tired of the most is for somebody to tell me as a Southerner that because I'm white I have to be a Republican, and because I'm a Southerner, but I'm a Democrat, I can't believe in values and God. Let me tell you something, and let me tell everybody here: if I'm Demoncratic Nation Chariman, nobody's going to take God away from the Democratic Party. I'm a Democrat because I'm a Christian, not in spite of it, Sir. And the Democratic Party, when they stand up and talk again about what we start for and what we believe in, then you who have these crazy beliefs that the only people right in the world are right wing Republicans that exclude people, you're gonna have a new day.

President Santorum

2004-12-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

That was a little motivation. (Yes, his name is being mentioned.) Now get out there and take over your local Democratic Club.

President Santorum.

You think it's funny now, but you'll think about it a little differently when you're living in a van down by the river.

Community

2004-12-21T16:55:00.000-08:00

From Dailykos diarist Devilstower, a story I take to be a recommendation rather than a horror story:

Arnold is typical in another way, too. It has come completely under the sway of a rapidly expanding, right-wing, evangelical church.
...
Arnold Baptist was designed from the outset to be your all-inclusive home away from home. It has sports leagues for your kids, so you don't have to bother with the local little league. It has an exercise gym that you can use for free, so you don't join the local Y. It has catchy music on a Sunday morning, with special services for teens and children. There are big family meals two nights a week. The church makes sure the facilities are always open to any Arnold event, so you can bet that the high school football banquet will be held there. Short of a hospital, there is practically no need that can't be fed by Arnold Baptist Church. And there's a genuinely warm welcome at the door.
...
The only way to stop these mega-churches from covering more and more of America in a nice conformist tone of red, is to offer an alternative.

You've already seen a hint of what this alternative looks like. It's called "Meet up for Dean."

To say nothing of dailykos. But he goes on to point out that Meetups only meet once a month, and that hardly constitutes a community. Where is the childrens' softball league, for example? Well, it's not at Dailykos either, but at least that's there when I need it. Within the link, a commenter suggests local chapters of Kos, an idea which has also been on my mind of late.

Monica Crowley: MSNBC's Plagiarizing, Right-wing Pundit

2004-12-21T09:48:00.000-08:00

From KingOneEye

Paul Johnson, 1988:
"So great was the inequity of Nixon's downfall that future historians may well conclude he would have been justified in allowing events to take their course and in subjecting the nation to the prolonged paralysis of a public impeachment, which at least would have given him the opportunity to defend himself by due process of law. But once again his patriotism took precedence over his self-interest ..."

Monica Crowley, 1999:
"Given the inequity of Nixon's downfall, historians may yet determine that he would have been justified in allowing events to take their course and subjecting the country to a prolonged process of impeachment, which would have given him the chance to defend himself by due process of law. His allegiance to the country, however, overrode his political self-interest."

There are more parallel quotes here. If you want to complain to MSNBC about the fact that they employ Monica Crowley, you can email them.

Markos Reflects on the Election

2004-12-21T09:34:00.000-08:00

Markos reflects on the Iraq war and the election.

First of all, Karl Rove got screwed by Time Magazine. He deserved that Man of the Year award after selling this lemon to the American people.

But what makes me angry was Kerry and his gang's inability to take advantage of the situation. I may regret saying this later, but fuck it -- they should be lined up and shot. There's no reason they should've lost to this joker.

And you can tell Time Magazine what you think of their crap choice for man of the year. The poll is at the lower left.

Man of the Year

2004-12-20T23:54:00.000-08:00

Fafblog nominates its Man of the Year.

By the way, Time considered nominating Bloggers as their wo/men of the year, but they didn't, because at Time Magazine, they're idiots.

Batshit Bush

2004-12-20T22:47:00.000-08:00

A review of today's Presidential press conferrence from Sam Rosenfeld of The American Prospect

The president got a tad petulant when fielding questions on Social Security. His emphatic response to any and all queries about his position on the subject was an indignant, righteous refusal to answer: “You’re not going to get me to negotiate with myself,” he repeatedly told the perplexed reporters. “I know what you’re trying to get me to do. You’re trying to get me to answer ‘Why this,’ ‘why that,’ to take positions -- don’t bother to ask me.” Rather than merely dodge the questions, Bush seemed intent on staking out an explicit, principled position in favor of dodging the question.

Batshit.

Absofuckinglutely "Tell Tony Blair we're going alone! Tell Tony Blair!" batshit.

List of Novak Distortions

2004-12-20T22:42:00.000-08:00

MediaMatters has begun publishing much more detailed content, including this list of distortions by Robert Novak, Douchebag of Liberty.

Simon Rosenberg on the DNC Chair's Job

2004-12-20T17:27:00.000-08:00

Finally, I understand fully why Kos has been so supportive of Rosenberg as a possible DNC Chair. For those of you have haven't read this at dailykos, here is Simon Rosenberg's letter to his group the New Democratic Network (NDN), in which he lays out the job of the DNC Chair:

As NDN has been discussing for the past several years, the modern Republican political machine has redefined politics as we know it. Years of investing billions of dollars in their infrastructure have created a vast and complex web of multimillion dollar operations which include think tanks, for-profit media outlets like Fox News, traditional political advocacy groups and, in recent years, a very healthy and strategic set of national, state and local party organizations.

The Republicans understand the division of labor required to run such a political empire, and have a diversified set of leaders to build and manage their affairs - spokesmen like Bush, Colin Powell, Bill Frist, Rudy Giuliani, and Arnold Schwarzenegger; strategists like Karl Rove, Ralph Reed, Grover Norquist; managers like Roger Ailes, Ed Gillespie and Ken Mehlman; intellectuals like those at Heritage, Cato and the dozens of other local and state think tanks; propagandists like Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge; and investors like the Coors and Scaife families.

They run their politics like a business. They have strategic plans, targeted outcomes, measures to gauge progress and accountability. As Democrats, we must come to terms with what they have built and how they run their affairs, for today they have a much better system that yields much better results than ours.

Finding someone who can take on Bush on TV is not the biggest or most important part of the job of chairing the DNC. Terry McAulifffe has repeatedly said as much, and the Republicans have clearly recognized this in their recent choices for chair of the RNC. We already have dozens of national leaders well-equipped to take on the GOP each day. They are named Clinton, Kerry, Edwards, Richardson, Gore, Dean, Reid, Pelosi, Obama, Hoyer, Bayh, Lieberman, Vilsack, Landrieu, Menendez, Graham, Salazar, Ford Jr., Nelson, Lincoln, Durbin, Stabenow, Granholm, Rendell, Warner, Biden, Holbrooke, Harman, Spitzer and Emanuel. We could all add more.

What we need at the head of the DNC is someone who can take on Rove, Reed, Norquist and Mehlman. Someone who understands how to defeat the modern Republican machine at its own high-level strategic game; someone who understands the demographic, attitudinal and socio-economic complexities of the coming America; someone who is deeply rooted in the emerging new media world of databases, digital media, satellite and cable television; someone who understands the internet and modern community-building techniques; someone who can speak for the mainstream of the party and connect with its increasingly youthful activist base; someone who has successfully raised money and worked in all regions of this diverse country; and someone who has a proven track record at running a business or political organization.

Save Social Security: Contact Congress

2004-12-20T02:00:00.000-08:00

[Updated.]

Why haven't our Democratic congressmen haven't taken the lead in saving Social Security? I don't know. But it's time we tell them to start doing their job. Email your Senators and Congressman now, and ask them to get on tv. Then call them on Monday morning. (For references, their previous records on Social Security are here -- but this is about leadership today, not voting yesterday.) Tell them the talking point is

George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.
Social Security is successful. Social Security is healthy. George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the only crisis.

And tell them that's going to keep being the talking point every day until George Bush's attack on Social Security is dead.

Why is this the talking point? Because the reality is that if we do nothing, Social Security will still be solvent in 2055. George Bush is pretending to "reform" Social Security -- the changes he is proposing will destroy it.

Why are we asking Democratic Congressmen to repeat this talking point? Because they are the ones with the tv appearances. They are the ones equipped to do the heavy lifting of saving Social Security. Because it is their job. Writing letters to the local newspaper helps too, but activating Congress is where the real money is.

We'll know our Congressmen are doing their job when every dialog on every tv gabfest looks like this:

Matthews: The President's planning to attack the Social Security Crisis --

Congressman: Let me stop you right there, Chris. George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.

Matthews: Trent Lott has called for Donald Rumsfeld to step down within a year. Do you think we're seeing the beginning of the end for Mr. Rumsfeld?

Congressman: George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.

Matthews: How 'bout them Iraqis?

Congressman: George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.

Matthews: Are you going to finish that sandwich?

Congressman: Chris George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.
Social Security is successful. Social Security is healthy.

When you talk to your legislators, make sure you find out what their position is on George Bush's war on Social Security, and send an email to Josh Marshall

Phraxos Cited by DraftGray

2004-12-20T01:38:00.000-08:00

We at Phraxos are proud to report that we are cited by Draft Gray, which supports Gray Davis for DNC Chair.

However, the best line on their sight is still

Texas energy traders spent years raping California and Gray Davis never once squealed. Gray Davis knows how to take it like a man, and a gentleman at that.

Call for a Hard Line on Social Security

2004-12-20T01:16:00.000-08:00

The Democrats don't just need to keep their caucuses overwhelmingly together on this issue. They need to avoid even a single defection in the House or the Senate. From what I hear from knowledgable sources this is already pretty close to doable in the House; and probably no more than three or perhaps four are even in play in the Senate.

Such unity has the obvious advantage of giving Republicans less breathing room in putting together majority votes in both houses. But it does much more than that. Making the elimination of Social Security a strictly Republican gambit raises the political stakes dramatically. Many Republicans will be far more cautious without bipartisan cover. Democrats must deny them even the thinnest of fig leaves. Making it a strictly Republican affair will also provide valuable clarity in the coming election, rather than the muddled picture created by Democratic defections on the 2001 tax bill.

Still another important benefit is the boon it will give to Democratic morale and energy in opposition. The coming debate over Social Security could become an engine for unity or disunity for Democrats. And the leaders of the party should be doing everything they can right now to lay the groundwork for making it the former rather than the latter. And party unity is the place to start.
...
The Social Security "crisis" is manufactured; there is no crisis. To the extent there are long-term financing problems, the president's plan will gravely worsen them. The problem we face isn't over Social Security, which continues to run up huge surpluses (just as it was intended to under the early-80s reform), but that our non-Social Security budget continues to run massive structural deficits. Or rather, it has returned to running massive structural deficits after getting into the black in the late 1990s through the combined exertions of a Democratic president and a Republican congress. Social Security isn't the problem, but rather George W. Bush's reckless fiscal policy.

In any case, as I say, the whole thing is lies.
...
Democrats should consider pulling together the major funders of the party, the official committees, the major organizations, basically the entire infrastructure of the Democratic party and making clear to individual members that if they sign on to the president's plan to phase out Social Security, those various institutions and individuals won't fund their campaigns. Not in 2006, not ever.

Similar committments can come from voters, activists and volunteers. And free rein to primary challengers....

Next, as we've discussed before, this isn't a debate about 'reform', 'privatization' or 'saving' Social Security. It's about phasing out the Social Security program, or not. Framing it any other way concedes half the battle before the fighting even begins.

-- Josh Marshall, 12/15

Weird Whining about 'Happy Holidays' From the Christian Right

2004-12-19T17:05:00.000-08:00

From Kevin Drum:

A quick Nexis search shows that in just this weekend alone the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holiday issue has been written up in the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Herald, the Akron Beacon Journal, the San Francisco Chronicle, the London Telegraph, the Tallahassee Democrat, the Arizona Republic, Newsday, the Winnipeg Sun, the Christian Science Monitor, CNN, and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel....

How do they do it? How do they get everyone to pay attention to this nonsense?

And most of all, how do we copy them?

CEOs Robbing from Their Owners

2004-12-19T16:54:00.000-08:00

Ever notice how huge stock option awards are often given to executives just ahead of bullish company news? The Securities and Exchange Commission apparently has.

Last Tuesday, Analog Devices, a maker of integrated circuits, disclosed that the S.E.C. had requested information about the timing of option grants given to company executives and directors during the last five years. In its disclosure, the company noted that its grants in some years "occurred shortly before our issuance of favorable annual financial results." The company added that it believed other companies had received similar inquiries from the regulator.

-- From Gretchen Morgenson of the Times.

Good News on Social Security

2004-12-19T16:38:00.000-08:00

That's just what the advocates of 'Social Security reform' with private accounts are up to. They want to phase out the program; but they're just too cowardly to say it. They lack the confidence of their ideological ambitions.

-- Josh Marshall

The Times is reporting that almost 'everyone' (I love when they do that) expects Bush to have a difficult time dismantling Social Security without bipartisan support. And they report that Democrats in Washington are on the case:

Democratic leaders dispute the Republicans' central assertions: that the problems facing Social Security constitute a crisis, and that diverting payroll taxes to private investment accounts is the way to solve it. Social Security trustees have estimated that without changes, the system will start running short of money to pay full benefits in 38 years.

"If we allow them to frame it that way - that there is a crisis, therefore we must go to private accounts - if we allow them to frame it that way, the fact is, we've perpetrated a huge fraud," said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee.

As for bipartisan support:

There is no question that the Republicans need some Democratic help, if only to make it through the Senate, where they are still short of the 60 votes necessary to break any filibuster. Moreover, even in the House, where the rules allow broad power to a majority, many Republicans do not relish the idea of having to produce all the votes for Social Security themselves.

While there is strong support among Republicans for private accounts, the details, like whether to pay for them by government borrowing, can be very divisive. Moreover, Republicans do not have the political cover of the AARP, the huge retirees' lobby, as they did when they tackled Medicare restructuring.

Pelosi and Reid Support Anti-Choice Roemer to Chair DNC

2004-12-18T16:08:00.000-08:00

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have trotted out candidate after candidate to oppose Howard Dean for the Chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. The latest is Tim Roemer, a former Indiana Congressman and 9/11 commissioner.

But Roemer isn't a reformer. He doesn't even come from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party. He is anti-choice. As Lifenews.com was delighted to report, 'the former South Bend-area congressman, acknowledged that the incoming chairman would have the power to help "shape the future organization, message and direction of the party." ' Lists of his positions on abortion are here and here; a more comprehensive voting record is here. There is also an article at blogforAmerica.

If you want to take action, see here.

Reform Democrats Article in USA Today

2004-12-18T11:43:00.000-08:00

Lest you thought eh echo chamber wasn't listening to us all: there's an article in Friday's USA Today

Simmons and his fellow "Young Turks" worry about the Democratic Party's dependence on interest groups, their relations with minority groups, the stereotypes that they are weak on defense and values, the Republican appropriation of the "reformer" label and the swaths of America that Democrats seem to have written off.

Bob Shrum: Tone-Deaf Chardonnay Populist

2004-12-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

We at Age of Reason think Bob Shrum sucks, so we were pleased to read in USA Toady. They start by quoting Dan Gerstein, who was writing in WSJ:

He called for more muscle in foreign policy, more respect for religion and "banishing Bob Shrum and his tone-deaf Chardonnay populism" from future presidential campaigns. Shrum, 61, was nominee John Kerry's top adviser.

Gerstein is among the many concerned about the Democrats' image. "We've lost the mantle of reform we had for the whole 20th century after Franklin Roosevelt," says Matt Bennett, 39, a former Clark aide and co-founder of a new group called Third Way. "We are seen as defenders of an old system that no longer meets the needs of the 21st century world we live in."

Gerstein, by the way, is a former Lieberman aid, and probably has no interest in what I would see as real reform. But if he wants to help with the much-needed work of shoving Bob Shrum aside, we're glad to have him.

Sirota Says Most Americans Hungry for Progressive Reform

2004-12-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

From Sexy David Sirota

The CEO of the corporate-sponsored Democratic Leadership Council and his wealthy cronies are in their regular postelection attack mode. Despite wins by economic populists in red states like Colorado and Montana this year, the DLC is claiming like a broken record that progressive policies are hurting the Democratic Party.

[CEO Al] From's group is funded by huge contributions from multinationals like Philip Morris, Texaco, Enron and Merck, which have all, at one point or another, slathered the DLC with cash. Those resources have been used to push a nakedly corporate agenda under the guise of "centrism" while allowing the DLC to parrot GOP criticism of populist Democrats as far-left extremists. Worse, the mainstream media follow suit, characterizing progressive positions on everything from trade to healthcare to taxes as ultra-liberal. As the AP recently claimed, "party liberals argue that the party must energize its base by moving to the left" while "the DLC and other centrist groups argue that the party must court moderates and find a way to compete in the Midwest and South."

Is this really true? Is a corporate agenda really "centrism"? Or is it only "centrist" among Washington's media elite, influence peddlers and out-of-touch political class?
...
The "centrists" tell Democrats not to hammer corporations for their misbehavior and not to push for a serious crackdown on corporate excess, for fear the party will be hurt by an "anti-business" image. Yet such a posture, pioneered by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, is mainstream: A 2002 Washington Post poll taken during the height of the corporate accounting scandals found that 88 percent of Americans distrust corporate executives, 90 percent want new corporate regulations/tougher enforcement of existing laws.

The emerging image here is that the DLC supports crony capitalists just as much as Republicans do -- and that you're not alone if you feel very differently. And re taxes, healthcare, jobs:

A September 2004 CBS News poll found that 72 percent of Americans say they have either not been affected by the Bush tax cuts or that their taxes have actually gone up.
...
The [Washington Post's] 2003 national poll found that almost two-thirds of Americans say they prefer a universal healthcare system "that's run by the government and financed by taxpayers" as opposed to the current private, for-profit system.
...
A 1999 poll done on the five-year anniversary of the North American trade deal was even more telling: Only 24 percent of Americans said they wanted to "continue the NAFTA agreement."

These are the values reform Democrats stand for.

Washington Judge Tries to Steal Election for Republican Governor

2004-12-18T01:08:00.000-08:00

Will these crooks never stop? Another Republican who don't believe in elections. In this case, a judge

The state Republican Party's request to keep more than 700 disputed King County election ballots from being counted in the governor's race was granted by a Superior Court judge this afternoon.

Pierce County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Arend ruled that since the ballots had not been made a part of the first vote count, they shouldn't be included in the recount now underway.

"It's clear to me it is not appropriate to revisit the decision whether the ballots should or should not be considered," she said.

Democrats say they will appeal immediately to the State Supreme Court.

But in fact the votes in question are valid

King County Elections Director Dean Logan said Monday that approximately 561 absentee ballots were rejected because it was mistakenly thought that the signatures on the ballots did not match original voter registration records. However, he said the signatures simply were not on file in the county's voter registration system, and that original registration records should have been checked.

and are now believed to be 723 in number. King County is heavily Democratic.

The article doesn't go into the legal particulars, so we are left to wonder: Is Judge Stephanie Arend the unindicted criminal she appears to be, or just an unAmerican, undemocratic douchebag?

Buy Blue

2004-12-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

One of the latest and most powerful ways of being a Democratic Activist is to Buy Blue. The page looks like a mall directory: a list of well-known shops, separated into Clothing, Spirits, Retail and Books, Airlines, etc. The ones on the left, in pink, donate money to political campaigns, and most of it goes to Republicans like Circuit City, which bears the annotation "96% to Republicans". On the right, in blue, refreshing stores like Barnes and Noble, "98% to Democrats". It's the place to start your holiday shopping.

And happy holidays.

-- Conchis

Howard Dean: Reformer

2004-12-17T13:08:00.000-08:00

There's a nice interview with Howard Dean at Peopleforchange.

His goal: to remake the Democratic Party. Maybe “remake” isn’t really the right choice of words. And the focus on the Democratic Party, even that is too narrow. We are talking about no less than a Renaissance of the populace. Reinvigoration of long moribund participatory democracy free and unfettered by corporate lobbyists. A return to Core Values of the American Ideal. For Howard Dean and his legions, this is the goal. I march with them.
...
If we can reform politics in this country, reforming it through the major party is worth a try. If we can’t do it, then we can’t do it, but I think it’s worth doing. I think the Democratic Party will be, can be a vehicle for real reform, it has in the past .and I think that’s what the public wants. I think the common agenda that we have for the American People is reform. DFA [Democracy for America, which Dean leads] is made up of all kinds of people from the progressive end of the spectrum to the moderate Republican end of the spectrum, and what we all have in common is we want progressive reform.
...
You know, I don’t think we should dwell on [the DLC]. ... Instead of worrying about that there’s some other groups that want to move to the right, I think we ought to keep going straight forward. I think we are the moderate folks. They can tag us with the word “liberal” or whatever they want, and there’s nothing wrong with “liberal”, believe me, but I don't think we should pay attention to that any more. That’s one thing I would do differently if I were ,if I had to go back and do it over again, I wouldn’t bother with the DLC or the retrogrades, their forces in the party, I would try to move forward on our own agenda. You get sucked in to letting somebody else frame the agenda, that’s a problem. We shouldn’t let the Republicans do it nor should we let the DLC or anybody else like that do it.

Kerik Alert System

2004-12-17T11:58:00.000-08:00

Here it is, your color-coded Kerik alert system:

Kerik Pimp Killed Woman

2004-12-17T01:03:00.000-08:00

An Atrios reader points out that Anthony Bergamo, who supplied Bernard Kerik with his Battery Park City love nest, killed a woman with his car in September of 2000. The death was ruled accidental (and quite plausibly was, judging by the NY Daily News' description). Who was police commisioner at the time at the time? Why, Bernard Kerik.

Daily Show: This Just In

2004-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

In response to William Donahue, who said that "Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity" and "Hollywood like anal sex" Stewart says of Hollywood: "You cannot go to a restaurant there without getting sodomized."

"Social Security: because if we don't destroy it now...it might be there later."

"Justice oughtta be fair." -- George W. Bush

2006 Ballot Initiatives for Election Reform

2004-12-16T22:42:00.000-08:00

In 2004 the Republicans helped themselves by putting wedge-issue initiatives on ballots in a number of states: initiatives to ban gay marriage. This is an effective technique that Democrats should use.

Preparing for 2006 and 2008, we should begin now preparing language and positions to put election reform on the ballot. There are at least four different groups of reforms we should put on the ballot in each state.

1. "No one should have to wait in line to vote." Require that all voters be allowed to vote at any precinct in their county. Keep the polls open all week. Constitutionally mandate equal numbers of voting machines per person, regardless of location. Make the state pay for voting machines, not the counties -- so that poor areas are not disadvantaged.

2. "Get a Receipt." Fairness in Voting. Require voting machines to produce a paper record. To quote Howard Dean, "We need to try to get laws passed, by referendum if necessary, that say that no voting machines in a particular state or jurisdiction may be used unless they can be recounted by hand. Oregon has such a statute because Bill Bradbury (Oregon’s Secretary of State) got one passed in 2001."

3. Amend Ohio's constitution to provide nonpartisan supervision of the elections, removing the Secretary of State from the picture. And Florida's. And South Carolina's. And Wisconson's. And Pennsylvania's. And California's.

4. "Gerrymandering is wrong. It's politics as usual, and it has no place in our state." Gerrymandering is an unfair way for incumbents to use power to keep themselves in office. We need to put a stop to it.

Let me close by quoting Chris Bowers, who was writing about gerrymandering, but could have been talking about any of these reforms.

In 2006, we should put a series of constitutional amendments on state ballots to deny state legislatures the power to draw legislative and congressional maps. Instead, that power should be given to bi- and non-partisan commissions who should have the twin goals of insuring as many competitive elections as possible. This should even become a national Democratic position in the 2006 elections. It allows us to be ourselves, to seize the mantle of reform, and to call the right-wing power grab for what it really is. For an accountable government, end gerrymandering now!

Have Some Red Meat

2004-12-16T14:55:00.000-08:00

David Brock of MediaMatters, quoted in full:

Letter from David Brock to Bill O'Reilly

Bill O'Reilly
The O'Reilly Factor
FOX News Channel
1211 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 1003
Dear Mr. O'Reilly:

In May of this year, I asked that you allow me to come on The O'Reilly Factor to discuss your attacks on philanthropist George Soros. Your producer denied my request, saying you were no longer discussing the topic. Yet in subsequent weeks, you continued to discuss Mr. Soros on your radio and television programs. Despite my offer to discuss Soros, you still did not invite me on -- even complaining during your June 1 Radio Factor, "I mean, we really can't get anybody in here [to defend Soros] that's not a raving, raving Far-Left person, and why we would want to do that, I don't know."
In recent months, you have repeatedly attacked me and my organization, Media Matters for America:
On the June 28 O'Reilly Factor, you referred to Media Matters as a "Far Left website";

On the August 5 Radio Factor, you likened Media Matters to Mao Zedong;

On the August 5 O'Reilly Factor, you claimed your critics are "hiding"; in response, I reiterated my willingness to appear on your television show;

During your August 7 debate with New York Times columnist Paul Krugman on CNBC, you compared Media Matters to the Ku Klux Klan and Fidel Castro;

On August 13, Media Matters noted your recent attacks on us, and wondered how long it would be before you compared us to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. It took less than a month: On the September 14 Radio Factor, you referred to comments I made as "Joseph Goebbels Nazi stuff";

On the December 9 Radio Factor, you called Media Matters "the most vile, despicable human beings in the country";

On the December 14 Radio Factor, you called Media Matters "sneaky"; accused us of "tak[ing] things out of context"; called us a "Far Left, deceitful, disgusting website"; and called us "character assassins" and "despicable weasels."

As you can see, Mr. O'Reilly, you have repeatedly and personally attacked me, Media Matters for America, and my fine staff, calling us "vile," "despicable," and "weasels," and comparing us to the Ku Klux Klan, Castro, Mao, and the Nazis. And you have refused my repeated requests to appear on your broadcast.

You once offered your viewers your definition of the word "coward." On the January 5, 2004, O'Reilly Factor, you declared: "If you attack someone publicly, as these men did to me, you have an obligation to face the person you are smearing. If you don't, you are a coward."

Well, Mr. O'Reilly, you have attacked me publicly on numerous occasions, and you refuse to face me. You, sir, are a coward -- by your own definition of the term. You are "hiding under your desk" (to paraphrase your August 26, 2003, claim about a "coward" who declined to appear on your show) rather than allowing me on your program to discuss your insults. You are "gutless," to borrow the phrase you used on January 10, 2003, and February 8, 2001, to describe people who would not appear on your program. I attach additional examples of your pejorative descriptions of those who decline invitations to appear on your broadcast.

Your frequent complaint that your words are taken out of context appears to have spurred your recent assault on my organization. While reasonable people can disagree about conclusions we, or you, have drawn about your comments, you are simply wrong to say that we took you out of context. I remain willing and eager to appear on either your television or radio program to discuss your contention that my organization has taken your comments out of context.

Should you continue to refuse this offer, it is only reasonable that the American people will conclude that you are not only -- as you would put it -- a "coward," but a hypocrite as well.

Sincerely,

David Brock
President and CEO
Media Matters for America

And there's even more. These are the sorts of cojones I like to see on our activists.

Bush Employs Russian Arms-Trafficker Suspected of Links to Talaban

2004-12-16T10:11:00.000-08:00

This is Russian arms dealer Victor Bout, working "for" the Bush administration in Iraq. Bout allegedly sold airplanes to the Taliban for use in transporting arms into Afghanistan.

[Sen. Russell] Feingold [D, WI] said Monday, "What's obviously wrong is that U.S. taxpayer dollars are going to fatten the wallet of someone associated with the Taliban and with atrocities in places like Liberia and Sierra Leone."

Article in The L.A. Times

George Bush's War Against Social Security

2004-12-16T08:41:00.000-08:00

This is the best frame I've seen for talking about Social Security, from Jeffrey Feldman. The thing to say is

George W. Bush's war against Social Security is the crisis.

Jeffrey also supplies email addresses of media outlets who either use Bush's Scaremonger Frame for Social Security, or would benefit from knowing this better frame. And he supplies a carefully written letter you can use when writing to these people.

Blogs. Think Tanks.

2004-12-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

The left needs think tanks. We need them a lot. They are one of the three most important thinks we will have to work on after February 12th (which is the day the DNC elects its new Chair).

But we are not lost without them. This stuff Chris Bowers does at mydd-- this is serious thinking of exactly the sort that's warranted. When I first read Chris's posts on taking "Reform" positions it made a big difference to how I think. Now I (and I hope thousands of other people who read those posts) think about things in a more clear and persuasive way, integrated under the notion that we must reform: our party, our capital city, their SCLM. All of it must be taken apart and fixed (or scrapped), and that is the job of Americans who work for reform: that is why we are reform Democrats.

The biggest problem that Chris (and the Progressive Thinkers listed in the sidebar) face in their efforts is not having a big enough megaphone -- but here again blogs are think tanks: doing a better and better job of getting the word out every single month -- that's what mydd, and all of us in the left blogosphere, are doing. Yesterday Atrios hosted The Majority Report, a radio show heard on 40 radio stations and on countless computers and iPods throughout America, and his first move was to interview bloggers Kos and Chris Bowers. Call that a small step or a giant leap. This is us, slowly getting the word out.

From the Lakoff Book Club

2004-12-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

From tonight's mydd Book Club, highlights of Chris Bowers' thoughts on Don't Think of an Elephant

This is one of the keys to the entire idea of framing: progressives are so weak when it comes to using frames to articulate their beliefs that they do not even know how to talk to themselves about what they believe. We are unable to use short frames to evoke our own ideas, and instead resort to convoluted “hypercognition,” where long descriptions of simple ideas are required to explain our beliefs (read here: Al Gore and John Kerry). Because we have not invested the billions of dollars in think tanks and studies to learn how to talk to each other and evoke our beliefs in short frames, conservatives are far, far superior at framing than are progressives. Because of this, we are unable to evoke our frames in the minds of voters, end up reinforcing the frames of our opponents, and lose because their frame is dominant in the majority of the population.

Lakoff says that we must make the required infrastructure investment in think tanks, books, and language development that are required in order to better evoke our values to ourselves and to the 20-30% of the country that swings from one frame to the other. He notes that right now conservatives are able to invoke their entire worldview in just ten words: Strong Defense, Free Markets, Lower Taxes, Smaller Government and Family Values. However, progressive have a lot of work to do before they can reach that point:

"We progressives have a different ten word philosophy, but it won’t be as meaningful yet because it will take us a while to get our values, principles and directions out there. My nomination for a ten word philosophy versus theirs is the following: Stronger America, Better Future, Broad Prosperity, Effective Government, Mutual Responsibility."

Compare to the words at the top of the page here at Age of Reason (which come from here).

Meanwhile, Paul Rosenberg has this to say about the Right Wing Power Grab frame, which Democrats still haven't learned to transmit well enough:

Although Lakoff doesn't discuss this, the Right Wing Power Grab makes perfect sense in Strict Father terms. If conservatives really are so virtuous, and liberals really are so vile, then it makes perfect sense to say that only conservatives deserve to rule, and that virtually anything they do to win is therefore justified. I believe that this is actually how conservatives think--although not necessarily consciously.

The book club also spent some time discussing the essentials of succeeding at the debate:

Show Respect
Respond by Reframing
Think and Talk at the Level of Values
Say What You Believe

They are part of a much longer list. Among the gems.

An opponent may be disingenuous if his real goal isn't what he says his goal is. Politely point out the real goal, then reframe. Example: Suppose he starts touting smaller government. Point out that conservatives don't really want smaller government. They don't want to eliminate the military, or the FBI, or the Treasury and Commerce Departments, or the nine-tenths of the courts that support corporate law. It is big government that they like. What they really want to do away with is social programs -programs that invest in people, to help people to help themselves. Such a position contradicts the values the country was founded on-the idea of a community where people pull together to help each other. From John Winthrop on, that is what our nation has stood for.

But my favorite is a funny one: "If you remember nothing else about framing, remember this: Once your frame is accepted into the discourse, everything you say is just common sense. Why? Because that's what common sense is: reasoning within a commonplace, accepted frame," funny to me because I've always been acutely aware that to think of something as common sense is to cop out of arguing for it rationally.

Let's Save Social Security.

2004-12-15T10:10:00.000-08:00

Josh Marshall has begun hammering on Bush's attempts to destroy Social Security.

Do your part by contacting NBC about Tim Russert, who repeated the administration's inaccurate "crisis" rhetoric on Meet the Press this weekend. Media Matters has been on the case, and will continue to identify instances of the press repeating the administration's bogus views about social security.

For anyone who has begun wondering if maybe Social Security is in trouble, Brad DeLong's chart once again:

As a footnote, this seems a particularly good time to remind readers that I often refer to the "mainstream" media as the right-wing media. As they mouth Bush Adminstration social security talking points day after day after day, you can easily see why. Let's start calling the right-wing media what it is.

Rush Limbaugh

2004-12-15T07:02:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't read Atrios

FCC Action Alert!!!

1. Go to rushlimbaugh.com and find your Limbaugh station.
2. Send an email to fccinfo@fcc.gov with your own version of the following:

On Monday, December 13 in the 2nd hour of his program (1pm EST) broadcast on [CALL SIGN HERE], Rush Limbaugh used the vulgar, sexual term "dick" when referring to a Miss Plastic Surgery pageant. Specifically, Limbaugh said:

"LIMBAUGH: Miss Plastic Surgery. (chuckle) And – I’d – I’d – I – I don’t – I don’t know what the winner – I – and, oh, I didn’t print out both pages, so I don’t know what the – I don’t know what the winner gets. Probably a certificate to go to San Francisco to have an add-a-dick-to-me operation. "

The silver lining here is that Rush is a pretty funny guy. It's a pleasure to be entertained by his wit, even in transcript.

Reform Copyright

2004-12-15T02:00:00.000-08:00

I've bought in to Chris Bowers' notion that reform is key to political success. Reform is everything: we must reform the Democratic Party into something competent, we must fight for reform against the entrenched interests of crony CEOs and the Republicans in Washington. Law Professor Tim Wu of U. VA Law School has this to say about the special interest legislation that Disney bought:

My vision of copyright will sound conventional: I think copyright law should serve authors and consumers. But that turns out to be a radical view. Because if we took those ideals of copyright seriously, as opposed to paying them lip service, the law would look a lot different than it does today.

Today’s copyright law problem is structural. The law does too much to serve the interests of disseminators—the film industry, recording industry, and publishers—often at the expense of both authorship and consumer welfare.
...
Copyright needs to accept fully the idea that competition can be a good thing.
...
Copyright is too easily abused by incumbent disseminators to block the market entry of new technologies. Too many technologies – cable television, digital radio, satellite broadcasting—have at one time of another fallen into the “Copyright Gap”—facing stiff government regulation even before getting off the ground. ... Today you can often use copyright to stop a new technology, but what about making the new entrant pay a fee to the incumbent? It is an idea that even the Supreme Court has talked about but it will take a courageous judge to put the idea into practice. That would help prevent copyright from becoming a bottleneck that blocks new technologies from emerging.

Hitchens: Reform Illegal Immigration

2004-12-14T21:45:00.000-08:00

From the mydd diaries.

It is clear where America stands on illegal immigration and our porous borders. Americans don't like it and want something to be done.

There are three arguments that are against the oppostion to illegal immigration:

It is racist to oppose illegal immigration, rights, and benefits for illegal immigrants.

It benefits America more than it hurts America, and people don't want to do the work illegals do anyway.

Military intervention to seal the borders just won't work.

None of these arguments stand up.

Hitchens is right. The lefty moral argument that I sometimes see -- that enforcing immigration laws is somehow unfair to illegal immigrants -- doesn't stand up. It's true that foreign nationals, in as much as they'd like to come to America, are marginalized by (or beyond the margins of) the U.S. But if you truly want give people who "were born in the wrong place and were too poor" full access to America, the only fair way to do it is to actually legalize more immigration, perhaps emphasizing specific countries, most obviously Mexico.

But when you do something else instead, when you condone illegal immigration, you promote a culture of cheating. That's why George W. Bush supports illegal immigrants: because he is a cheater. The reality is, when we condone illegal immigration, we still keep people out -- specifically honest people who won't cross borders illegally. And why should these honest people risk their lives trying to cross our borders? It seems a preposterous thing to encourage. Now, you might say that the cheating being done by the immigrants is understandable -- it is.

What's not understandable is the cheating being done by employers, who are delighted by illegal immigration, because it depresses the wages of the poor Americans they employ. And this gets to my second point. Once we decide that we want to reform our immigration system, the key tool to use is the prosecution of George W. Bush's (and Rudy Giuliani's) good friends, the cheating employers.

All of this serves to protect one Democrats' favorite constituencies, and one who could use a lot more help: people who work for a living, especially at low-wage jobs.

Sente Democrats Will Investigate White House

2004-12-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

Finally.

New Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Monday his party will launch investigative hearings next year in response to what he said was the reluctance of Republicans to look into problems in the Bush administration.

"There are too many unasked and unanswered questions and the American public deserves better," the Nevada senator said at a news conference. He will formally succeed Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., as party leader next month.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (news, bio, voting record), D-N.D., who heads the Democratic Policy Committee, said the first hearing will be at the end of January and he suggested it might focus on contract abuse in Iraq (news - web sites). He said the policy committee, which has held occasional investigative hearings in the past, planned to convene at least one such hearing a month.

-- Jim Abrams, Associated Press

Give 'em hell, Harry.

Google Plans to Allow Search for Physical Books

2004-12-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Apparently Google's plans now include not just returning results that come from inside books, but giving the locations in local libraries of the books themselves. From Harvard's Library

Plans call for the eventual development of a link allowing Google users at Harvard to connect directly to the online [Library] catalog for information on the location and availability at Harvard of works identified through a Google search. This would merge the search capacity of the Internet with the deep research collections at Harvard into one seamless resource—a development especially important for undergraduates who often see the library and the Internet as alternative and perhaps rival sources of information.

I continue to be impressed.

FEC Sued Over Norquist and Bush-Cheney '04

2004-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

Finally, the beginnings of legal action against Norquist.

A group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is filing a complaint against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that it "abused its discretion by failing to enforce election law against Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform and Bush-Cheney '04."

In February of this year, CREW had filed a complaint with the FEC alleging that Norquist gave Ken Mehlman, the campaign manager for Bush-Cheney '04 a "master contact list," including the names and information of conservative activists in 37 states compiled by Norquist over a period of 5 years.

Another Thing to Reform: Crony Capitalists Comitting Patent Terrorism

2004-12-14T01:07:00.000-08:00

From Jason Schultz at Salon

Many have compared these new patent licensing firms to terrorists, and in some ways, the analogy is apt. When the Soviet Union collapsed, one of the biggest worries was that rogue military personnel might sell off one or more of the USSR's nuclear missiles to a terrorist group. Securing those weapons became a top priority. The reason was fear -- fear that the terrorists, who had little to nothing at stake in terms of world peace and national stability, would use the missiles to extort or manipulate the world political climate.
...
With the patents of bankrupt dot-coms, the dynamics are similar. Rogue licensing firms buy up these patents and then threaten legitimate innovators and producers. They have no products on which a countersuit can be based and no interest in stable marketplaces, competition or consumer benefit. Their only interest is in the bottom line.

While profit itself is often a worthy objective, it is not always synonymous with innovation. Every dollar a tech company pays to patent lawyers or licensing firms is one less dollar available for R&D or new hires. Thus, many companies that offer new products end up paying a "tax" on innovation instead of receiving a reward. When this happens, it's a signal that the patent system is broken. Forcing companies to pay lawyers instead of creating jobs and new products is the wrong direction for our economy to be headed and not the result our patent system should be promoting.

Google Starts Digitizing Books

2004-12-14T01:04:00.000-08:00

From The Times:

Google, the operator of the world's most popular Internet search service, plans to announce an agreement Tuesday with some of the nation's leading research libraries and Oxford University to begin converting their holdings into digital files that would be freely searchable over the Web.

It may be only a step on a long road toward the long-predicted global virtual library. But the collaboration of Google and research institutions that also include Harvard, the University of Michigan, Stanford and the New York Public Library is a major stride in an ambitious Internet effort by various parties. The goal is to expand the Web beyond its current valuable, if eclectic, body of material and create a digital card catalog and searchable library for the world's books, scholarly papers and special collections.

This Should Win Us the Washington Governor's Race

2004-12-13T23:38:00.000-08:00

Our candidate for Governor of Washington, Christine Gregoire, is within a few dozen votes of winning the seat. 561 uncounted votes have just been discovered in the heavily Democratic county that contains Seattle. From KOMO Channel 4 News:

King County Elections Director Dean Logan said Monday that approximately 561 absentee ballots were rejected because it was mistakenly thought that the signatures on the ballots did not match original voter registration records. However, he said the signatures simply were not on file in the county's voter registration system, and that original registration records should have been checked.

"In the case of these ballots, the mistake was on our part in not finding signatures of what appears to be eligible voters," Logan said in a news release. "We take full responsibility.

"An error has been made that has prevented valid ballots from being counted. We need to correct the error and count those votes."

How refreshing to hear an election official take responsibility and count votes!

Draft Howard Ad Video

2004-12-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

Draft Howard and Driving Votes are airing this ad inside the beltway.

A Call for Daily Talking Points

2004-12-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

I've been impressed by how the press slavishly repeats the Republicans' talking points all the time, and I guess it's because.....they have them. This has been so successful for the Repubs that I've wondered for a while why Democrats don't have daily talking points.

So I've started proposing that we have daily talking points.

And when I say we, I mean the Democratic and liberal blogs. Essentially what I'm proposing is this:

(1) Once or more a week, Chris Bowers or Jerome Armstrong, Markos, Atrios, and Josh Marshall (or some such group) exchange a series of emails proposing lists of talking points for the coming week. One of them is the moderator each week, and that moderator tries to let everybody get a point or two in, but he gets final say. The moderator position rotates.

(2) How do our fearless leaders (FLs) decide what talking points to submit to the above process? Presumably Josh Marshall just makes his up himself, because that's how he works. On the Scoop blogs it could be done with suggestions from the community in comments and polls, or, if it was worth the effort, with a Wiki. It could be done all sorts of ways.

(3) Once the ubermoderator has chosen the 7 talking points, he assigns them to seven days, and assigns whoever is most passionate/available to write them. Let's say Tuesday's talking point is social security reform, Atrios had agreed to write the talking point. Last thing Monday night he posts the talking point. It's written so that the post's title makes the talking point succinctly, the first sentence makes the point a bit less succinctly but still very persuasively, and the whole post is less than ten lines long. Often it'll include two or three zingers.

(4) The other FLs wake up Tuesday morning. They either take Atrios's post verbatim or, if they feel like writing a bit, they can write it differently. It's labelled today's talking point. Maybe it even has a spot in the sidebar.

(5) Other bloggers also echo it if we like. If we want to influence the stream of daily talking points we do so as members of the big community blogs.

(6) When each of us read it we know it's the point of the day. It's the point to bring up over lunch with the people at work. It's the point to call a radio talk show about. If you're one of the people who goes to mediamatters and sends complaints about right-wing bias to news organizations, then when you see the talking point one of the things you do is look for items related to that talking point, and you complain about them. It's the point you mention to your mom if you talk to her about politics on the phone.

That's about it. It seems like somebody needs to do it. It seems like it could be done without too much effort (easier said, I know). It seems like the lefty blogs are a unified, rising group that could take control of this problem and fix it.

Wednesday: Chris Bowers Leads Book Club on Lakoff

2004-12-13T22:10:00.000-08:00

Chris Bowers is one of the best political thinkers around. We're lucky to have him as a blogger. This Wednesday at 7 pm PST, he'll be leading a discussion of George Lakoff's Don't Think of An Elephant at mydd, where he writes on the front page. Highly recommended.

And remember, it's a short book, so if you can find a copy, there's still plenty of time to read it before Wednesday.