I have a bunch of technical reading on PDF. I enjoy reading tech manuals and such on open source Apps, and their are a number of great sourcesgreat sources for free ebooks. So, over the years I have ran them off on a laser-printer and either carried them around in binders or stacks. Its a waste of paper and I would love to be able to just keep them on a computer or e-book reader.

Now I am a confessed geek and I have tried since, oh I don’t know the days of the sharp wizard to read e-books on a device, but none have been satisfying. Let’s peek back.

My first device for reading e-books was probably a handspring visor. It was gray and black and terribly unsatisfying to read with. It kept my schedule kind of, but there was not graphics in the e-books and the reading experience was horrible.

Next, I switched to the dell Axim. I had a X5…which was nicer to read on, but the screen was still small and the graphics didn’t come with the PDF. It became something I carried around less and less after I got a laptop.

The laptop was a good idea too, but its hard to read on and its big, heavy and impractical. It takes forever to boot as well.

Finally, I flirted with using my ipod. Nothing more need be said here. It’s a great media player, but text is ugly.

So, I have been following the Kindle and the Sony Reader. The Kindle has advantages, especially the built in high-speed connection. The Reader seems more elegant, but its a Sony product. Still, I would love to get my hands on one.

What would be great would be the Astak e-book reader that has been umored to be coming out real soon now. If it is uner 200 dollars and 6 inchesit might be worth jumping on. We all agree that the perfect reader would be:

• small (6 inches or 9 inches at the most)
• portable
• easy to read(e-ink seems like this fits the bill).
• open to multiple formats(unfortunately none of the readers on the net cover all formats without conversion).
• a good refresh rate, boot speed, etc.  There is some talk about lag with both the Sony and the Kindle.
• a good battery life.

If someone were to build a reader that does all of this for under 200 this would be the year of the e-book reader.

So, in terms of FISA, Gun rights, faith based intitiatives and capital punishment Obama has adjusted his rhetoric (which might or might not be pandering or flip/flopping) to focus more on the indipendant and the centrist. This, as I have heard and read over and over again is a necessary part of the process of switching to general election mode. The candidate has to run to the center. I understand the tactical reason for doing this. The party activists are already on board and will stay on board with a wink from the candidate or the campaign. The need now is to go find the voter that hasn’t made up their mind and convince him that Obama is your guy.

In many cases I even agree with O on the stand. In terms of Gun rights, I disagree with the supreme court ruling, for example, but I understand that we have to go about changing the Constitution through a different method. I also realize it won’t happen in a America. I know that keeping more firearms around will just make us less safe, and that more firearms will equal more deaths. I get that my side in this fight has to organize and develop an Amendment to the Constitution banning handguns. Not likely, but it is the prescribed method of changing the Constitution as it has been understood.

I’m OK with the capital punishment rhetoric as well. Its a way for Obama to express moral outrage and to appeal to those that also hold this moral outrage. Again, I disagree, but not by much. A civilized people should never kill other people. How does that commandment go….thou shalt not….hmm. I also think its more expensive and doesn’t provide any additional deterrant to the would-be rapist or murderer. In fact, this is clearly a GOP talking point (as is the firearms arguments) and will not play well for Obama except in the case of someone that finds Obama more right than they thought. I even heard someone on talk radio yesterday say that they would consider voting for Obama because they thought he was the candidate of the right.

But the other two issues I am more concerned with. FISA needs to be a stand. Our consitutional right to privacy needs to be maintained, and buying in that the FISA bill is any sort of a compromise provides two valuable advantages to the other side. One, it makes you a flip/flopper. Clearly the GOP is not going to push this, since their candidate is vulnerable here. But most importantly it buys into the frame that the GOP would have you consider: We need to give up privacy to keep us from the terror. It’s not true and its a loser, and I find it seriously a sign of weakness that Obama is not willing to fillibuster this flawed legislation. Obama would be much stronger if he were to go to the Senate and participate in the Senate Fillibuster and lead his party. Think of the face time and the strength that this shows.

Lastly, faith-based initiatives are a bad idea. It might work when Government programs have failings, but what’s the larger message. Government can’t solve your problems. Further its way too easy to allow a church to use the money to convert. Their are guidelines, but the Bush administration has proven that these aren;t so much guidelines as suggestions. Bad policy move and bad political move.

Lastly we have the “Swift boating of John McCain” by Wesley Clark. This is over-blown spin (ironically brought to you by the person on McCain’s team who himself was a member of the Swift Boat Veteran’s for Truth)and seriously a tempest in a tea kettle. Really, Clark was simply saying being a war hero does not qualify you to make the decisions of President. McCain may have other experiences, but being a POW shows strength and bravery, but not executive decision making. How is that Swift Boating? The Swift Boaters made it seem that Kerry didn’t do anything that he said he did to win his awards. No one is denying McCain’s war hero status. For Obama not to point this out will give further cover to those who wish to further slander him–since the other side struck first.

There has been a lot of talk about how it is possible that given the most unpopular President in American History with a laundry list of crimes under his belt, that somehow the Democrats in the Senate are going to vote down cloture and allow the FISA *compromise* to pass.  I’m shocked, stunned and puzzled.

Here’s the thing.  The government after 9/11 (some timelines have it even before 9/11) went to the telephone companies and said we want all of your call data. By this we mean your calls.  Its not just the information about  who you called, but the content as well.  Basically, the government built a connection to the network to record everything.  Did they?  Who knows, but the government had access to every 1 and 0 that went down the tubes.  No warrant, no information about it, no court proceedings.  Nothing. They didn’t do this with every telephone company.  Some only allowed them to look at their records–Qwest, a hero in this for doing what they should have done asked for a warrant.

Now the government wants to protect the companies that participated in this by granting them immunity from prosecution.  But take that further, ths also means that they don’t have to testify against the government when asked to in one of the many civil cases.  That part is the worst part of the compromise.

Further, it grants the government the right to spy one nayone outside of the United States without any court oversight.  There is no court that is set up to insure that the spying in this bill is fair.  This is due to the fact that so many terrorists have a dirty bomb placed under a major city and are waiting for the international call to start the timer.  And you know what the timer is set to…24 hours.  blip blip blip

Actually there is a clause in the bill that would allow for review by the FISA courts unless there is a need for time to spy now.  I think the clause actually reads “If the Attorney Gen-
eral and the Director of National Intelligence make a determination under subsection (c)(2) and time does not permit the submission of a certification under this subsection prior to the implementation of an authorization under sub-section (a), the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the Court a certification for such authorization as soon as practicable but in no event later than
7 days after such determination is made.  blip blip blip”

The bill is 114 pages.  Many of the Senators don’t even know the specifics fo what they are agreeing to endorse, which makes for bad legislation as well.  Many Senators do not understand what the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security actually are doing.

More importantly the question is why? Here are some theories:

1. Many Dems don’t think America cares about this.  They think they will be held hostage to ads that state that they allowed the terrorists to win and we let the DHS not have what it needs to let Jack Bauer get the job done.   Isn’t that just like a politician.  I bet you are involved in the dirty bomb as well.
2. Many Dems think that it will make the base more angry which will get them out voting on election day.
3. Some Dems are complicit in allowing the governmetn to spy domesticly and want protection themselves.
4. Some Dems have received financial backing from their friends at the telephone companies.
5. Fear of the terrorists?

So which is it? My guess is that hte first one wins out and that the second one plays in as well.  In either case, it’s time to stop fearing the worst, most unpopular President and his party and start serving the will of the American people.  Its time to stand for something.  Its time to lead.  Speaking of, where is Obama on all of this? Oh yea.  Blip blip blip <cut to commercial>

  Watch this video
This is a wonderful little peice that shows how little journalism is done with Fox news. Show it to your conservative friends and ask for their comments. I will be peppering Gop Momma.

Ask yourself these questions:
-If this were a show run by journalists and paid for by a Green corporation, what would it look and sound like?
-What questions would be asked if Fox were owned by Robert Redford? Does that make a difference in how you view the world?

We’ve all heard about Obama’s decision to not accept public financing. Its the first since the laws chnged in 1976 and I’m not sure the decision is a good one strategically. I for one would love to see Obama keep with public financing for two reasons.

One, the voices that will be in front of Obama between now and November will make a difference in how he makes decisions. He will need to spend more time with the big money in order to finance himself, which grants more access to those that can afford to give him contributions. I understand that this won’t ultimately determine policy, but I am certain that many of us have complained about the power of money in the political process and this feels very much like what we are fighting against.

Second, the money issue will play into the republican narrative of this election. “McCain is a straight-talking outsider who has never taken a dollar of special interest money and will oppose all earmarks. Republicans are change.” I know it’s crap. Its utter nonsense, but it might sell, and Obama outspending his opponent by 2 or 3 to 1 will add emphasis to this talking point.

Gibson’s argument about fairness will have legs as well. I know this is not the whole story. 527s are not included in this equation and I can just imagine the “Americans for Christian America” 527 that forms to fight the secret Muslim and the woman who hates America. I even agree with this, but as a political move I wonder how it will play.

The current system is deeply flawed. The 527 loophole is giant, gaping and ridiculous. I have a personal story that might illustrate it. In college in 89 I wrote a speech that rhetorically analyzed the Willie Horton ad. When I was looking for visuals to work with, I couldn’t find any source that would give me the original ad, because the organization ceased to exist immeadiately after the election. I made a lot of phone calls until i found a tv station in Boston that helped me out, but the source didn’t exist. They were not associated with the Bush white house, the GOP or any other organization. Everyone disavowed what was one of the central rhetorical arguments of the campaign and it wasn’t covered under campaign financing at all. The same with the swift voters.

So, my hope is that there is some larger ethical point being made when the argument is delivered that Obama is the party of the rich white establishment. The Obama rhetorical organization is capable of making this argument, but the rest of the party well, I think there isn’t many strong voices out there. Need I bring up the “compromise on FISA….”

This excellent video will be shown at the national insurance association’s convention. Its a sad gathering.

Unfortunately we won’t get what we really need on health care in this cycle of elections. That is why Edward’s was not seen endorsing Barrack Obama. She believes passionately in single payer health insurance–yes, socialized medicine and it is the right solution.

Let’s step aside from the hyped up rhetoric of this ad and look at the truth that it speaks to. The insurance industry is not inherently evil. but it does function in an environment where financial bottom lines are the critical measure of success. In that environment, it is in the best interest of the company to provide services that are efficient and withhold services that are too expensive. They have to make a bottom-line, its their purpose for existence. As long as this model controls health care we will get nowhere. We need to:
-Insure Americans under a national health care plan
-Deduct health care from payrolls of everyone involved and
-Pay doctors and hospitals directly from this program.
And I have yet to hear an argument that convinces me that this is a bad idea. I have heard the argument that it’ll be slow but there isn’t much to support this. I have heard the argument that it’ll b rationing, but it doesn’t hold true. Finally, the “government is bad and dangerous” argument convinces many teenagers going through their Ayn Rand stage, but ultimately social darwinism is what brought us to the pivatized, under-regulated society of haves and have-nots that we live in today.

Juan Cole says it best: “Kristol claims government is inefficient, ineffective, and bad, gets a bunch of his buddies elected, and proves it. He also rails against the MSM, claims they can’t get their facts straight, gets a job at the NY Times, and proves it.”

Don’t trust the media.  Too much corporation.  Too little reality.  Not a lot of Target shoppers.

Today is the day that i have decided to no longer follow the poliical media in this country. You should too. Our media has let us down in a profound and obscene way. If our country elects a president based on the issues that the media have let us beleive to be important, it will be an election decided on the following:

-Patriotism and the empty meaningless gestures that we associate with patriotism. How one properly respects the empty garment that represents the country, the flag and the national anthem.

-Whether our foreign policy reaps rewards and malice, as it did on 9/11 and other events in our history.

-Whether angry black people can be listened to.

the tone of questioning that has reduced Obama to an out of touch elitist liberal who went to the church of an angry black man just makes me sad. It is time that something be done. I think the only thing that can truly be done is that people across the country decide to boycott the news media. I doubt it can be done, because it calls on all of us to actively challenge what we passively take in, but it has made me think that I will be making some form of change. I challenge you to do the following:

1. Get your news, including news about the US from sources other than the big networks. BBC & Blogs are for me going to be the only source of news that I will listen to from now on.
2. Especially stop watching the angry conservative white men on Sunday morning. I’ve posted on my seed blog about this already, but it is time for people to decide that we aren’t going to be listened to by these corporate weasals.  The truth isn’t there, won’t be there, and its time to stop watching for it–it ain’t going to happen.
3. Let the corporate powers that be know that your are disgusted with their coverage and that you won’t be buying products from thier advertisers or buying the crap that they are selling.
4. The next time someone tells you how blogs have left you misinformed, just tell them that they aren’t wearing a flag lapel pin.

I have had the good fortune over the last week to get involved in developing a website for the MGF-USA organization. This is a non-profit organization with ties to a sister organization in Pakistan. Its been eye-opening work. I learned a great deal about the grass-roots work being done to build a pluralistic, human-rights focused organization in Pakistan.

The challenges for such an organization include:

• Pakistani governmental resistance to human-rights centered education.
• Intense poverty
• Religious intolerance

But this organization trains new leaders every year in a unique pluralistic human-rights centered curriculum. It also works to free families that are economic slaves.

Amazingly, one hundred dollars can free a family of from 2 to 20 from economic bondage. Find out more about this at the MGF-USA website.

I think this might be the most important work being done in the Middle East today.