It's not just that Howard Dean was the initial politician slash blogger, but I really like the way he speaks. Many would charge that gephardt, kerry, or edwards have more charisma when they speak, but I like Dean's choice of content.

When Kerry speaks it's all about specific issues, like health care or jobs. For Gephardt the same thing. And for Edwards as it is with the other two, it's all about vague generalities like "change"

For me, Howard Dean talks about philosophies that I understand and find are solid reasons to reject Bush. The primary one I can think of is when Dean charges Bush with running a campaign that divides clearly liberals and conservatives on pure cultural issues. This is so true! And it BOTHERS me! I'm too young to care about specific policies, nor am I an expert... but when someone generalizes and summarizes what's messed up about Bush in a coherent fashion, that wins me over.

Another example is when Dean describes his foreign policy and how the Cold War was largely won because russians loved America. And how America must strike a high moral order. That's great! That makes sense. Instead the other candidates say something like, "we need to unify, blah blah" ... pooey.

Dean's anger does not bother me. And his lack of panache or style is also not important. What matters is what he says, and what he says convinces me that he cares about doing what is right.

(disclaimer: I'm not saying straightup that Dean is the best candidate, just that his oratory wins me over)

Interesting conceptual device:

the author of Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Lakoff argues that liberals, with their "nurturing parent" view of the world, have lost ground in the values debate to "strict father" conservatives.

In the middle, Lakoff writes, are "bi-conceptuals," who have internalized both parents. The question for Dean in reaching that small slice of swing voters is, Can he win over their inner mom without seeming like a too permissive dad?

ref

Interesting Discussion about the Left v. Right political spectrum on Plastic

Regarding the role of the state in public life, the two sides might be considered to differ to a greater or lesser extent on whether the state should prioritize equality (left) or liberty (right); whether the government's involvement with the economy should be interventionist (left) or laissez-faire (right); and whether the government should be secular and separate itself from religious beliefs (left) or should take a stance of religious morality (right).

From a more basic philosophical standpoint, divisions can be noted in areas such as whether one embraces change (left) or prefers rigorous justification for change (right); whether one favors fair outcomes (left) versus fair processes (right); and whether human nature and society are malleable (left) or fixed (right).

What truth is there to the statement that Al Gore "invented" the Internet? I found on slashdot a nice summary of positive support for this.

Continue reading...

Welcome the return of the king (George). Saddam is in the spider hole with gollum, and we can now hail the new american paternalism. Go Ashcroft-Cheney-Bush-Bremer-Ridge-Rumsfeld-Santorum-DeLay--we can all thank the fellowship of the white-male baby boomers for keeping America safe. After 9/11 it's time for women to go back into the kitchen and bake a red alert cake for American pride, and their husbands, whose testosterone-endowed biceps mean safety. The Left is bad, remember? liberal is a bad word, don't you forget. liberal means anti-war, means wimp, means PC, means Kucinich, means radical, means feminization. The Constitution doesn't say ANYTHING about privacy. The Constitution is not a SUICIDE pact. Lest we all die in our own boiling simulacra. Psst, LOTR and the Matrix are all about Christian tales. Tales of burden and self-sacrifice to destroy evil "at all costs." But what about forgiveness? When will we be forgiven? Why is decisiveness an absolute good while as rational thinking a petty "intellectual" (read: leftist) activity? 2003, the year of Lying Liars. Good evening 2004.

Disclaimer: The views represented are not indicative of actual policy positions. But why do I need a disclaimer? Oh yeah, that's right, I'm afraid it's unpatriotic to dissent. oops. my bad.

.. "The United States imprisons more people for drug violations than the European Union imprisons for all causes combined, and the E.U.'s population exceeds the U.S.'s by a hundred million" (The New Yorker, October 27, 2003)

Gen. Wesley K. Clark (ret.) - A War Criminal?

I haven't read analyzed this fully, but it seems worth your attention

Here is the link to a video that Wesley Clark made to his meetup.com fans. Now, I'm watching this and I can't tell how much of his charisma is what I'm putting into him or what he objectively has.

To be honest, in just watching him talk, he's more similar than dissimilar to everybody else out there. He hits some notes such as "you" and "greatness of this country" like any other politician. He speaks fluently (unlike Bush though) and is thoughtful. However, he has this drone-eye look and somewhat of a cue-card reading steelyness.

So, so far, I'm impressed only by his resume. I want to know how good this kid debates. Either way, let's throw him in the hat anyways, I think the Democrats need some help.

But seriously, why the hell am I looking at this anyways. I vote, sure, but man, as for meaningful contributions to society through government, there's probably more effective uses of my time, such as trying to get rid of intellectual property laws. So yeah... there's my confession that I use politics for entertainment... especially presidential politics.

I've also met very ppl who actually genuinely give a damn about making this country better. Even the feverent anti-war protestors I've met are just playing on underdog-biases, or succumbing to college-student memes, or are afraid of blood, and usually haven't formed their opinions well. Plus, they also preach to the choir, by protesting in SF...

Whatever, when I get into my ranting voice, I know I'm committing some logical fallacy here and there, so I'll stop. But you get my drift.

According to an e-mail I got from draftwesleyclark.com, Wesley Clark is going to announce whether or not he wants to run for president. Expect an announcment by the end of the week.

From deoxy read Intellectual Property Myths.

This is in reference to...

It looks like the RIAA has rushed to settle with 12-year-old Brianna LaHara, after serving her with a lawsuit on Monday. It looks like her single mother will be paying a $2,000 fine to the RIAA for her daughter's song-swapping, which they had thought was legal. Said Brianna: 'I am sorry for what I have done. I love music and don't want to hurt the artists I love.' What a relief this must be for the Rolling Stones.

read more

Are there anymore embedded reporters in Iraq? If there aren't, then I guess maybe bush's "end of major operations" partially helped prevent the media from reporting on the quagmire.

Political Quotes

Hey out-of-state kids! I scanned in California's Sample Ballot that they sent me. Jesus look at this thing. Scan through it, it's like, picking out characters for "Guess Who?" It's so cool to see ppl like Bill Simon and Tom McClintock in the same category as Mary "Mary Carey" Cook (Adult Film Actress) and other yo-yos.

Click here to view California's Recall Ballot with Candidates for Governor.

The Wes wing? (salon.com)

And what a résumé it is. A Southerner from Little Rock, Ark., who graduated first in his class at West Point and became a Rhodes scholar, Clark was awarded the Purple Heart in Vietnam. He became a four-star general, later serving as supreme commander of NATO troops, and he defeated Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and stopped the Serbs' ethnic cleansing of the Albanians.

A source associated with one of the Democratic candidates doubts Clark will enter the race. "I think he'll play it out and get attention and make himself the front-runner for the vice presidency."

Read This Column by big shot PC Magazine writer John C. Dvorak.

But where is the leverage? In the past I've complained about the inability of net-heads to make any real impact on politics. The Computer Decency Act, for example, waltzed through Congress without a hitch despite the online grumblings all over the place. The blog community may be different. It's more politicized than any other online movement, with Democrats, Republicans, and mostly Libertarian variants each yakking loudly and getting re-quoted everywhere. The real influence is still an unknown. It's possible that this newer form of carping will be just as ineffective.

Realistically, the idiotic Conyers-Berman bill is not going to happen anyway. But you can sense that something really dumb is going to get close to passing and the bloggers will have their shot at proving that the Net can make a difference.

One way is that just by the large dissemination of ideas and truth, people will then naturally spread that to the offline crowd, hopefully convincing them. However, politicians have been very disconnected with the concerns of the people and instead focus on big business... which is odd because WE vote for them, not the businesses. I think an informed public is the key to sound government

The Drug Reform Coordination Network

The statement, "The War on Drugs is like the Inquisition" struck a chord with me. It made me think about societies thrawting the potential enlightenment of individuals for its own societal expediency. It also made me re-examine the cloud of assumptions that have been imprinted through my years of education in the public systems.

I used to think, "man, those SpA**** Inquisitors were baad", but I bet they thought about atheists like we think about drug-users today. We must check our assumptions so that we can live to up the ideals of truth, freedom, and human development.

What I felt was encouraging was that the conservative Cato Institute is also calling for the Reform of the Drug War.

Thanks to the Internet, the truth about things is finally getting heard.

U.S. reportedly seeks Iraq oil CEO Washington is seeking an Iraqi chief executive officer to head a multinational board of up to 16 to kickstart post-war Iraqi oil operations, industry sources said on Saturday Oh, the irony.