Scripting News

The Bridge to Nowhere

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 22:35:48 GMT

I don't know very much about it, but I know a lot more about it today than I did yesterday.

First, here's where it would have gone.

In no way is that "nowhere."

Second, Dave Luebbert explains the geography of Ketchikan.

There may only be 50 people living on Gravina Island, but that's a real airport, and Ketchikan is the 5th largest city in Alaska, population 7368 in 2007.

The bridge isn't a wacky idea, it actually looks like it might be a good investment, spend a few bucks to allow a city to spread in a direction that makes sense. Hardly cut and dry.

A couple more comments...

I watched a CSPAN interview with Palin from February of this year, and it was unremarkable. She sounded like what you'd expect the governor of a small state to sound like, maybe a little more intelligent than most. Nothing at all like the rude and disrespectful person who mocked Obama at the RNC. I think the Republicans did her a disservice by presenting her that way, why couldn't she give a thoughtful or even inspiring speech first, and save the bashing for later. There's no doubt that she has the skill to do it. What's wrong with America, does everyone really want politics to be reduced to professional wrestling?

In the last few months I've lost all respect for McCain, and I didn't have much left, after he acquiesced to Bush after losing to him in 2000. You can see the before and after of the Republicans. They take someone with some kind of a future and some kind of dignity and turn her into a caricature. I lost all respect for Palin before I had a chance to learn anything about her. Going back before the RNC, I see that there is something there, even if our politics are completely opposed (her position on abortion alone is enough to make me opposed to her).

As I've said before, I'm neither a Republican or a Democrat. I've voted Republican as many times as I've voted Democrat. I shouldn't be a lost cause to them, but I am. I have no respect for who they are, they might as well tear up the party and start over. My only concern is that if they win this election the same may be true of the United States. I'm not joking about that, and if I were a Republican I'd feel the same way.

Obama is absolutely right that this is a big election but it could end up being about small things. It seems that's entirely in the hands of the Republicans. The Democrats have practically been begging them to have a respectful discourse. And the Republicans have slapped them down, in a very humiliating way. I'm going to do everything I can to fight back on behalf of my country, and I'm going to urge everyone to do the same. If you look closely you'll see that the Republicans have the ability to run a clean campaign. So it's their choice. But I don't want to lose the country because we weren't willing to fight. I am, and I hope you are too.

Obama: Name your Cabinet

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:33:33 GMT

Okay, let's cede a point, the Republicans were brilliant, if cynical, in nominating Sarah Palin for VP. It one-upped Obama in newness, in a year when newness matters, and it shines a different kind of light on McCain, he got his "maverick" back -- even though he never really was that much of a maverick. Obama can try to refute it, but it probably isn't worth it, it probably won't work.

So is Obama stuck on the sidelines, like McCain was when he took his European pre-victory tour? Is there any way Palin's sparkly newness could fade before Election Day? The answers seem, at first to be yes he is stuck and there's no way to make her seem less new before we vote. So, do we lose, as Adam McKay thinks we must in today's Huffpost?

His theory is pretty solid -- he says that four companies own broadcast media, and they're incentivized to only air the hottest images. That's why McCain looked so sour when Obama went to Europe. In a golf cart looking old, with an even older Bush I, while our hero, Young Obama was greeting heads of states and speeching to hundreds of thousands of rapt Germans. The visuals were so compelling, it didn't matter that he wasn't President, he looked like one, and he looked good as one.

They don't care if you're lying, as Obama basically was (without giving voice to the lie), as the McCains are, as long as it's hot, you get air.

Ed Rollins says that Obama should have chosen Hillary, and maybe he's right, the thought had crossed my mind. Although I didn't imagine I could vote for her if she won the primary back in the spring, I had the thought yesterday, listening to Biden on Meet the Press (he was great, btw), that I could actually vote for her. Who cares if Bill is a bastard, I love the speech he gave at the DNC, and I'm sure if Obama had lost the primary he would have given an equally stirring speech on behalf of Hillary. He would have said "We have to defeat the Republicans, at all costs, including our pride," and I would have agreed wholeheartedly. I can get my pride back in December, as long as we win in November. We can't let them win by Swiftboating us again, not this time. We have to play to win, and if that means playing dirty, so be it.

So here's the dirty little thing Obama can and should do, imho.

Are you ready?

Hehe.

Name your Cabinet!

In a major break with tradition, in a year when tradition counts for naught, he should show us the depth of the Democratic bench and show us the role that powerful women will play on his team. And for the racist vote, powerful white people too (and Hispanics).

He should show voters who may be thinking about voting for McCain because of Palin that they can be inspired, they will be inspired, without compromising on health care, jobs, keeping their homes, getting their kids good educations, rebuilding our infrastructure, and bringing our troops home. This is what change looks like, says Barack Obama -- and show them, visually. (That's what really counts, don't yah know? You betcha.)

Now when each of the nominated Cabinet members shows up at a campaign stop they're not just surrogates, they're The Government.

Now, you might say, McCain will just match this move, but you'd be wrong -- he can't. The Republicans don't have that kind of depth. They just don't have it. That's why McCain says there will be lots of Democrats in his Administration, he has no choice, there aren't enough qualified Republicans to fill the positions.

And by the way, here's a second chance to put Hillary on stage in more than a ceremonial role, with more than a sliver of hope for her and her followers. Offer her anything to get her on board. First choice of any Cabinet position she wants. Secretary of State or Defense or Treasury -- FBI or CIA director or Homeland Security. Baseball commissioner. Doesn't matter. And at the same time, really help her retire her campaign debt. Again, the visual is what matters. Hillary on stage, with power and pride. That should push the Republicans off the air.

I like Jon Corzine, the governor of New Jersey. Now he's got some executive experience, and he's one hell of a congenial guy, and smart to boot. Don't forget Bill Richardson! I still wouldn't count out Al Gore.

And Janet Napolitano from (eeks!) Arizona, and Kathleen Sebelius from Kansas, Claire McCaskill from Missouri, Evan Bayh from Indiana, Jim Webb from Virginia. Chris Dodd from Connecticut, someone from Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Want to have some fun? As much as I don't trust him, make an offer to Colin Powell.

I would suggest just filling a few positions at once, to get the press to start speculating anew about who else you might tap.

What do you think??

Update: Cross-posted at Huffington.

Let me give money to an ad

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:48:42 GMT

I have another idea for Obama, though it could be equally useful to McCain (and any other candidate).

When you display an ad on your website, which is a great thing, thanks (I've been asking for this for a long time, there was believe it or not, a time when campaigns hid commercials from Internet users), put a Donate button on the ad. If I give you $100 you commit to using that money to run this ad.

I like the idea of putting dollars directly behind a message I feel strongly about.

PS: I really like this ad which says "bullshit" to McCain calling himself a maverick. Of all the things. He's a coward, and a liar and Bush guy, and a little creepy mama's boy, skirt hugger. He's not a maverick, not by a mile.

PPS: I've been asked what's a skirt hugger. Well, if you're a little child, you want to always be close to your mama's skirt, for protection. Here's a picture.

Citizen's media is the answer!

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:31:06 GMT

Okay, so Sarah Palin agreed to an interview with Charlie Gibson at ABC News, but we all know (right?) that it's going to be softball questions that can be answered with glib one-liners. Not going to get answers to the questions real citizens (i.e. taxpayers, voters) have.

But it turns out if you happen to run into Sarah Palin in a restaurant, she'll answer questions, and say things that her handlers almost certainly don't want her to say.

AmericaBlog: "I don't think this question will be answered until after Senator Stevens' trial in September and perhaps never. After all, Ted Stevens is still running for the Senate this year and a Republican vote, corrupt or not, is still a Republican vote."

One of the tough questions for the Republican Governor is whether she will support Republican Senator Ted Stevens for re-election. There's really no good answer for her. 1. If she doesn't support him, a Democrat wins and the balance in the Senate tips by another vote. Not good for her party. 2. If she does support Stevens, she'll be supporting a Washington insider who is indicted for corruption. There goes her claim to be a maverick coming to Washington to clean house.

Well our heroic citizen blogger not only asked the question, but also got a really interesting answer.

The funny thing here is if she really is going to Washington to do the people's work, how does she escape answering the people's questions? Heh.

So when you see her, don't be shy, step up and ask her about Ted Stevens.

PS: With all the talk about the Bridge to Nowhere, I wanted to know where it would go. Not really "nowhere."

New technology: TV on the passenger seat

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:25:13 GMT

Click here for a more detailed view.

When I pulled off the road in Grand Junction, CO to watch the McCain press conference introducing his VP pic, all I did was find an EVDO connection (worked the first time) and fired up the SlingPlayer, which connected to my TV at home, in Berkeley, and tuned to MSNBC, and it all just worked.

The only thing I'd like to see improved is that the EVDO modem be built into the computer, the thing dangling off the side is pretty ugly, don't ya think?

My hopes for BearHugCamp 1.0

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:13:16 GMT

Remember the BearHugCamp idea? Well... it seems like it's happening! Next Friday, Sept 12, in San Francisco. Steve Gillmor is the master of ceremonies, agent provacateur and visionary. Me, I bring a few used analogies and metaphors and experience with various gadgets and utilities that build on Twitter and FriendFeed and Identi.ca, et al.

Where? I think it'll be at CNET's offices in SF on 2nd St. I'll leave the logistics up to Steve. I've blocked out the whole day.

Who? Well, that's where it gets interesting. Here's my take on it. If you've been spending a lot of your free time puzzling over where this stuff is going, and how various systems should or shouldn't plug together, and where your data should be stored -- and if your thinking could benefit from other people's confusion (and certainty) on this topic, then come. However, it will be webcast (thanks to Leo Laporte and probably others) so if you're mainly interested in listening you don't have to reroute your life to get your body to SF on Friday.

Why? Well I'm coming to listen and fight for the coral reef. I want to build stuff on top of a great worldwide distributed notification system. It's got to be reliable, and permanently and irrevocably open, meaning no one can say who can build apps for it, as for example Apple controls who makes iPhone apps. That means that Twitter can't be my host because they don't pass the "irrevocably" test -- as they have been revoking functionality, and dealing the good stuff to very small numbers of people. I'm sure they think what they're doing is right, and I'm not here to argue right and wrong, but I want what I want, and that's why I'm coming.

Pretty sure the cost to participate will be $0. But I'm willing to pay some money to be there, even if everyone else doesn't. Maybe others want to make that offer as well?

I'm not organizing it myself because I reserve the right to be a vendor or join up with a vendor, and I don't want anyone to say at a future date that this was a vendor-sponsored event. And Steve doesn't make any promises either, but he's more neutral than me, so he's the host and benevolent dictator (a role that befits him), and I support him, and I hope you do too.

Why do they give Republicans air time?

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 14:52:46 GMT

Simple question...

If they won't sit down for an interview, to answer questions, maybe the TV networks should stop covering their speeches and campaign rallies?

The Republicans want to talk direct, so let them do it, without the help of the corporate media.

Has hell frozen over too??

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:51:30 GMT

Consensus is developing, I know because I'm endorsing the point of view of someone whose political philosophy is almost exactly opposite mine.

Frum: "I am not denying that Sarah Palin may have great skills. She may well. I am insisting that neither you, nor I, nor John McCain has any valid reason to believe that she does. This is not an argument about the attributes she lacks. It's an argument about the information we lack. I am pleading with my fellow conservatives: Please demand more and better knowledge before you commit yourselves to a political leader. That's all."

Amen. I know I'm not going to support her, unless it turns out that our beliefs about her positions are totally wrong. There's one reason to believe that they may be wrong.

LA Times: "I'm pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues," she said during a debate in Juneau.

Geez, this makes her seem almost like a human being, not the Stepford monster she appeared to be when she spoke at the RNC last Wednesday.

The conservatives may want to check this out cause if I like something about Palin, you can be pretty sure they don't.

Jay Rosen nails it

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:21:28 GMT

Jay is one of those guys, like George Lakoff and Steve Gillmor, who figure things out before anyone else does. When I'm stuck looking at individual trees, Jay often shows me the forest.

Here it is Saturday after the Republican Convention and I'm just starting to figure out what mischief the Republicans are up to, but Jay had a hypothesis on Wednesday, and blogged it, and it's much more complete than what I have today.

Jay Rosen: "John McCain's convention gambit calls for culture war around the Sarah Palin pick."

He must have been a Republican in a former life.

Read the whole piece, and then come back here, please.

Oh it's devious. And cowardly, in contradiction to the hype about McCain the war hero, which leads me to believe that the best way to prosecute this is to firmly pin the coward label on McCain until he puts Palin on the same level as all the other candidates that passed through the electoral process in the 2008 election.

We need to see her in action, if she's going to be a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the Presidency. If not, we should know upfront that we're thinking about elected a gutless coward as President and a man who does anything but put America First.

Frum's annoying wrong idiotic argument

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:02:37 GMT

David Frum, a Republican, thinks the McCain campaign shouldn't put Palin in a box and hide her from the press. Good, he's right about that, and his piece is a must-read. But like most Republicans his disdain for "elites" is itself the height of elite arrogance. Only Kings and Queens, royalty, are entitled to that kind of arrogance, and we overthrew our King in the Revolution, 232 years ago. We don't believe in that in the United States. That's how far off course we've gotten, we've put up with this nonsense long enough.

To paraphrase Obama, Frum doesn't Get It. The reason you discuss your ideas publicly is that your ideas will get better. He assumes, like royalty, that Republicans always know what's right, but he didn't learn anything from the last eight years and this is why the Republicans have to sit on the sidelines and mull it over until they figure it out. You don't have all the answers. Some days (like today) I don't think you have any.

Frum, it isn't about winning a debate -- it's about doing what's right and smart and competitive, for America. Remember your slogan -- Country First. It's a great idea. Now practice it.

PS: He's right, Quayle is smart. I found out by surprise. I was listening to an interview on NPR, and had no idea who it was but the guy was smart. Imagine my shock when I found out it was Dan Quayle. Same thing happened with Hillary Clinton.

PPS: What struck me about Palin was her cowardice. Before letting us know anything about her intelligence or knowledge, or the quality of her ideas, she was sarcastically trashing a man we've gotten to know and respect over the last X months, a man who had to keep his cool as the press went after his church, community and family, and kept his grace even humor at every step. Palin, in contrast, not only hasn't been even slightly vetted, has absolutely no basis for her arrogance, no foundation. Giuliani, sheez, we know him. He's an asshole, always has been, we don't expect much from him, and we're rarely surprised. But he's not running to be a 72-year-old heartbeat from the presidency. She needs to slow down and sober up, she's asking for a big job. It's serious. If she were a man I'd say she was a dickhead. And since she's running for the second most serious job in the country, let's stick with that, until further notice.

Update: Cross-posted at Huffington.

What are they hiding?

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:12:56 GMT

Okay, we know that Sarah Palin can read speeches written by Karl Rove's speech writers. But if she's really ready to be Commander in Chief, why won't her handlers let her answer questions? Is she a made-to-order candidate, kind of a Stepford Vice-President? What are the Republicans hiding? Maybe they're still debugging her program? Can she think for herself? Does she have her own new maverick-like ideas? Why did she lie about selling the plane on eBay? Did she really run the PAC for indicted-for-corruption Senator Ted Stevens? If so, is she really a reformer? And why did she hire a Washington lobbyist to get her earmarks for the Alaska city she was mayor of? She loves moose but she also likes pork! Sure she's a great mom, but what kind of leader is she and would she take us anywhere we want to go?

Fresh Air on John McCain

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:34:29 GMT

If you want to understand more about John McCain esp his views of war, I highly recommend this FreshAir interview with David Kirkpatrick of the NY Times, who has been researching McCain's life, esp starting around minute 23, where he talks about lessons McCain learned from Vietnam. It does a lot to explain how he views the war in Iraq, and how he's likely to proceed if he wins the election.

The Real John McCain

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:00:23 GMT

I was going to write a piece today, after watching the Republican National Convention on TV, that said pretty much what the NY Times said in this editorial.

NY Times: "Mr. Obama, in reality, wants to give basic human rights to prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, only a handful of whom are Qaeda members, and shield them from torture. So, once upon a time, did Mr. McCain, but there was no mention of that in St. Paul, or of the bill he wrote protecting those prisoners."

The Times nailed it. I recommend reading the whole thing.

Andrea Mitchell attacked by Republican balloons

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:33:19 GMT

Today's links and ideas

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 22:31:27 GMT

It's super-hot here in Calif today. Oy!

If you read one political article today, read this explanation of community service by Time's Joe Klein. Yesterday two Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, mocked Obama for giving three years to community service betw college and law school. I wondered too what it meant, when I read this piece I couldn't believe how sloppy the Republicans were. This is exactly what McCain says people should do, and we all agree that giving to your country is a very American value. They should retract and apologize, and Republicans who applauded this should be ashamed. It's hugely hypocritical. The Republicans have been evangelizing faith-based community initiatives for decades, it's a big Republican thing -- what the heck do you think Obama was doing! Geez. Walk this one back, and vet your ideas before you run them in front of 40 million people. The corporate media hasn't figured this one out yet, but they will.

I wish more conservatives would write pieces like this. We agree on more than we disagree. I'm not voting for McCain for the exact reason he says he's reluctant to. "The only real risk in voting McCain-Palin -- and it's a huge one, possibly the biggest one -- is putting into office a bellicose, perhaps reckless, president." Yup. I've been impressed with how thoughtful and competent Obama is. That's why he's got my support. I also think our country is up shit's creek unless we can upgrade our economy, and to do so we need health and education, and that means public spending. It's not as if the Republicans don't believe in public spending, they do -- they just waste the money on destroying communities overseas. I want us to borrow to build strength here at home. I don't see it as a liberal vs conservative thing, rather a smart vs dumb thing.

When I was in Salt Lake City in August, I heard that ridership on their high speed rail link to Ogden (or is it Provo) went way up when gas prices went up. To me that says we need higher gas prices. Yes, we should help people cope with the economic hardship that causes, but we should build more of those high speed links. We need to reconfigure our geography in the US, we're totally set up for a cheap gasoline economy. If you can do that without government spending, let's go, but we've got to do it. The people who say we can drill our way out of this are wrong, we can't. Even if we had massive oil reserves, we can't afford to pump more carbon into the atmosphere than we are now.

Dell shipped their first netbook today. This is the hot new category. I have one, an Asus, and I love it. They're cheap, you can buy a Dell for under $400. Their netbooks only have 16GB of disk (and it's solid state, not really a disk). I think they're protecting (or trying to protect) their laptops. Others, such as the MSI Wind, have 80GB hard drives. They all come with either Windows XP or some flavor of Linux. HP and Acer also make netbooks. When oh when will Apple offer one? These beauties make the MacBook Air look like an overpriced albatross and as long as you use Firefox, you won't have the usual malware problems of Windows (or such has been my experience so far).

Why so little innovation?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:34:51 GMT

Judy Estrin, the former CTO of Cisco nails it.

"She warns that we are living off of the innovation investments made in decades past and that is going to be a problem in the future."

Obviously.

I've been saying this for decades and feel somewhat qualified to have an opinion about this. The capitalists of the tech industry eat the seed corn, and never put anything back. When you ask them about it, they laugh as if it were a silly idea. Ms Estrin understands. You have to put something back, try out lots of new ideas and be patient and let them have a chance. But the only way it happens is through individual effort, with very few rewards or incentives.

Glad someone else is speaking up on this topic.

IRC for the RNC

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:09:19 GMT

Live discussion of the speeches at the Republican National Convention.

irc://irc.freenode.net/#rnc

Let's have fun!

Palin is changing corporate media

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 15:12:06 GMT

There's a big change brewing in the MSM in the aftermath of the Palin nomination. Really impressive how the reporters are challenging politicians now, and it's good.

The first sign things were crumbling was an interview Monday on CNN with McCain aide Tucker Bounds and reporter Campbell Brown who asked Bounds what international experience Palin has. He kept trying to change the subject to Obama, which I've seen work with these reporters for years. It's a very typical Republican tactic.

As a result, McCain pulled out of Larry King that night, but CNN stood its ground.

Then Wolf Blitzer of all people pressed Rudy Giuiani on the same subject and wouldn't let up. Rudy is the best skater out there, but Wolf cornered him. Lovin it!!

I just saw former Republican governor of NY George Pataki try to bullshit Nora O'Donnell on MSNBC and she (smiling all the way) wasn't having any of it.

I don't know what happened to give these reporters a backbone, finally -- but whatever it is -- don't let it go! This is how you do it. Let's push these guys until they start talking sense. Let's get our national conversation grounded, at least a little, in reality.

When I wrote the title for this piece I may have understated it -- the Palin story is not just changing corporate media, it may be revolutionizing it.

Why has the press all of a sudden declared its independence? I don't know. I'd love to find out. I have a couple of theories. 1. McCain broke an unspoken rule, he didn't use the press to vet this candidate, and that was enough for them. They're saying, in unison, "We know how to do this" -- finally they have a real role in the electoral process, not just to be bullshitted by everyone, so get out of our way while we do our jobs. I'd like to think this is the primary drive. But there's also this... 2. They are American citizens too, and they're horrified by the way McCain made this decision, and want to send a message to him and all other politicians in the future -- if you screw up like this, we're going to push you until you admit it. If that's true, then I would bet that no matter how good a speech Palin gives tonight, she has no future on the national ticket.

Update: Another possibility. 3. They learned from the National Enquirer beating all of them on the Edwards scandal, and made a decision not to accept non-answer answers to serious questions, like How well did you vet this candidate?

As I said yesterday, I think McCain screwed up, he should have gone with the boring predictable choice of Romney. They might have lost the election, but it would have been close. Now, with Palin, I don't think it will be close. It could be they make it through this process (but I doubt it) but everyone's had a look at how McCain uses all his much-touted experience. Get this -- He's turning Obama into the safe, conservative choice. Key point. Obama was going to have a hard time making that case, but McCain just made it for him. All Obama has to do is smile and give a few speeches and show up at the debates. He'll do well at all of that.

BTW, I'm posting regular updates to my FriendFeed and Twitter accounts, which if you're following the Palin story, you may want to tune into. FriendFeed has all of both of them.

Download the major DNC speeches

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:45:24 GMT

As promised, here's a BitTorrent with all the big speeches from last week's Democratic National Convention including Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Biden, Al Gore, Bill Richardson, and of course Barack Obama's fantastic acceptance speech. BTW, I'm still pretty much a newbie at serving BitTorrents, so if you can help by seeding this archive, that would be much appreciated.

Why Palin should be taken seriously

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:52:46 GMT

Three pieces that caution Democrats to not quickly dismiss the candidacy of Sarah Palin.

1. New Republic. "Sarah Palin is a living reminder that the ultimate source of political power in this country is not the Kennedy School or the Davos Summit or an Ariana Huffington salon; even now, power emanates from the electorate itself. More precisely, power in 2008 emanates from the working class electorates of Pennsylvania and Ohio."

2. George Lakoff. "Palin is the mom in the strict father family, upholding conservative values. Palin is tough: she shoots, skins, and eats caribou. She is disciplined: raising five kids with a major career. She lives her values: she has a Downs-syndrome baby that she refused to abort. She has the image of the ideal conservative mom: pretty, perky, feminine, Bible-toting, and fitting into the ideal conservative family. And she fits the stereotype of America as small-town America. It is Reagan's morning-in-America image. Where Obama thought of capturing the West, she is running for Sweetheart of the West."

3. Joe Trippi. "The McCain campaign plans on making an assault on Barack Obama's strength as a change agent. And challenge, what the McCain campaign will describe as, Obama's weak or non-existent attacks on corruption within the Democratic Party and other institutions throughout his career. Like the Swift boat attacks of 2004 on Senator John Kerry, a decorated Viet Nam Veteran -- this assault will be on what is now a strength of Barack Obama's -- his focus on changing a broken system in Washington."