Sunday, October 19, 2003

Politics - A Chemical Change? Transformational Politics. The Washington Post runs a story this morning on how political players are contemplating the sea-change that your participation in our campaign represents: Howard Dean's success raising money and mobilizing voters has provoked a growing debate among Democratic and Republican strategists over whether the former Vermont governor has the potential to become a "transformative" political figure, altering... the financial and constituent base of the Democratic Party. Although assessments of the Dean campaign run the gamut, they generally fall into two camps. The first, and most favorable, contends that the former Vermont governor has found a way to compete with Republicans for money under the new rules of the McCain-Feingold law; that he has far outpaced rivals in both parties in the use of Internet technology, the newest tool to rally supporters and raise cash; and that he has broken new ground for voters to participate in campaigns. It also maintains that he has built both voter and fundraising momentum without depending on the special interest groups that have played major roles in picking nominees in the past.... One of the most outspoken proponents of the view that the Dean campaign will change the Democratic Party is Simon B. Rosenberg, president and founder of the centrist New Democrat Network. "Dean raising close to $15 million is like a baseball player hitting 75 home runs," Rosenberg said. By using the Internet... Dean has pushed politics into "a post-broadcast era" in which television may no longer dominate campaigns, Rosenberg said. At the same time, Rosenberg argued, Dean has found a means to directly deal with one of the Democratic Party's major liabilities, the perception that it and its candidates are beholden to a collection of liberal "interest groups." In every losing Democratic presidential campaign since 1980, Republicans have portrayed the Democratic nominee as a captive of such interest groups as organized labor, feminists and Hollywood liberals.... Dean is showing how the Democratic Party can become "a party that can transcend our interest groups, and that a candidate can get elected without owing anyone anything," Rosenberg said The short of it: Howard Dean is beholden to no one but the American people. [Blog for America] 11:35:12 PM

Like 'Dig' Dig Infinity. Hipsters, Flipsters, and Finger-Poppin' Daddies, Knock me your lobes! I came here to lay Caesar out, Not to hip you to him. The bad jazz a cat blows Wails long after he's cut out. A wigged-out take on Willie the... [Eye of the Goof] 7:06:16 PM

Wooden Plane Via 101-365 (Shades of Gridlife) Wooden plane: [101-365] 3:06:13 PM

Howard Dean and Strong Medicare Dean Responds to Continued Distortions of His Medicare Position. MANCHESTER, NH--Governor Dean made the following statement today: "I am disappointed that some of the other candidates in this race continue to distort my position on Medicare. I have dedicated my life to healthcare and have actually delivered it to thousands of seniors with my own hands. Because I am a doctor, I know better than any of the other candidates how much seniors count on this vital program. No one should question my commitment to Medicare. "Let me be very clear about my position - under a Dean Administration, cuts to Medicare are off the table. Cutting Medicare is not an option. Under a Dean Administration, Medicare will not only be preserved, it will be strengthened. "My opponents, unfortunately, continue to mislead Iowa's seniors about my position on this issue. I suspect this is because they would rather attack me than talk about why, with a combined three-quarters of a century in Washington, D.C., they have almost nothing to show for improving access to or quality of healthcare. One clear example of this is that Washington politicians have been talking about a prescription drug benefit under Medicare since Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and two decades later America's seniors are still asking for their prescription drug benefit. "While they were in Washington talking about healthcare, I was in Vermont actually providing it. As Governor, I delivered a prescription drug benefit for my state, and more than one-third of Vermont seniors on Medicare now receive state help to pay for their prescription drugs. America needs someone in the White House who has a record of getting things done. "I hope this clears this issue up because it's time to stop arguing about what people said a decade ago and start talking about turning this country around. The 36,000 Iowans who lost their jobs under President Bush deserve to hear what we're going to do to put them back to work and the 455,000 Iowa seniors who still do not have a prescription drug benefit deserve to hear what we're going to do about it." [Blog for America] 2:13:56 PM

PZEV: Great Low-Emission Vehicles Future Is Now for Green Cars. Environmentally sensitive drivers can take their pick of a variety of low-emission vehicles already on dealers' lots. The new breed of peppy PZEVs helps pave the way to fuel-cell cars. By David Snow. [Wired News] 1:35:54 PM

NEW TAB: "Ramble On" (Led Zeppelin). Power Tab and ASCII tab added. Contains only guitar score. [Mike's Guitar Site] 12:25:42 PM

UPDATED TAB: "Light My Fire" (The Doors). Bass score added. Contains guitar and bass. [Mike's Guitar Site] 12:23:25 PM

UPDATED TAB: "Tightrope" (Stevie Ray Vaughan). Bass score added. Contains guitar and bass. [Mike's Guitar Site] 12:20:43 PM

Bush is Bad For Business, Dean Has a Plan Dean Announces Plan to Stimulate Small Business Growth. Plan Will Create 100,000 New Small Business Jobs In Three Years MANCHESTER—Speaking at a town hall meeting in Plaistow, New Hampshire, Howard Dean announced his plan to stimulate small business growth. The centerpiece of the plan is the creation of a Small Business Capital Corporation (SBCC) that will invest $1 billion in loans annually and create 100,000 new small business jobs in the first three years. “President Bush is not pro-business,” Governor Dean said. “His reckless economic policies only benefit select large corporations and an elite clique of CEOs like Ken Lay of Enron. Small business is America’s most powerful engine of economic growth. Small business provides seventy-five percent of all net new jobs in the United States, and those jobs are less likely to move overseas. More importantly, small business owners epitomize the hard work, innovation, and hope of the American dream.” Governor Dean’s small business plan consists of: - Creating a Small Business Capital Corporation within the Small Business Administration; - Reducing the health care burden on small business; - Simplifying the reporting and paperwork requirements on small business; - Redirecting federal support, in the form of subsidies and tax breaks, from large corporations to small business; - Connecting small businesses to existing sources of capital by identifying and better educating potential borrowers; and - Enforcing anti-trust laws to level the playing field for small businesses. Dean pointed out that many promising businesses founder or are unable to expand because financing is not available. The problem can be particularly severe for minority- and women-owned businesses. One government agency recently estimated demand for financing from such companies exceeded $140 billion this year. Dean’s pilot program, the creation of the SBCC, will begin to address the needs of the capital crunch facing small business. The SBCC will increase small business owners’ access to capital by guaranteeing or purchasing $1 billion in loans annually and creating a secondary market for such loans. This infusion of capital into small businesses will stimulate growth and generate jobs. The full text of Governor Dean's policy to invest in small business is available at www.deanforamerica.com/smallbusiness and his full economic plan is at www.deanforamerica.com/economicplan. [Blog for America] 11:36:57 AM

Via Marc Canter Report from DigitalID World. I just posted this to the Always On network,,,, Report from DigitalID World Marc Canter [Broadband Mechanics, Inc.] | POSTED: 10.19.03 @01:09 Doc Searls rapped it out thusly: the world is being turned upside down with the notion of one's Digital Identity. At the core of everything is MyIdentity - the individual's profile and behavior data which before has been thought of as "account information". The next level out in Doc's world view is OurIdentity, where one's relationship to others actually takes on importance - as well. It's those relationships and the importance of the individual which makes the world a different place. On the outside looking in is the status quo - TheirIdentity. This status quo actually believes that they own their membership databases. That all those names (and the clicks associated with them) are their companies family jewels, their base I.P. assets. The BigCos, government, power mongers and power elite who think they control membership databases, individuals and that worst of all phrases - consumers - are about to see the ground shift underneath them. The fact is that they control doodley squat. We are customers, not consumers. We choose where to spend our money and click our mouses, not you. The advent of social networking, instant messaging and blogging has raised the importance of the individual's voice and the importance of relationships between people. Collectively this new kind of software has been referred to as Social Software. Its the sound of millions of mouse clicks doing what THEY want to do. Its people flirting, finding jobs and selling things. Its people associating themselves with groups of people, whether it be around an affinity, a church group or similarly aged kids. Social software and all it's ramifications - is the foundation of the next big wave. You can look at Friendster going after mating dollars as just the tip of the iceberg. Tribe.net is persuing paid classifieds, LinkedIn is going after business connections. All of these efforts are just mimicing old businesses - bringing in a new twist. But what happens when eBay gets disintermediated? When huge P2P networks participate in the world's largest virtual garage sale - without needing a centralized service to skim money out of every participant and transaction? What happens when decentralized networks spread throughout the Internet - perfectly capable of taking care of all infrastrcutrue needs, while maintaining independance from centralized forces and control? Social networking will be a commodity feature that ALL modern software will feature in the future. By providing the means to connect people together and form a trusted web through one's social network new kinds of experiences will drive ecommerce, education and most business processes. Doc credits Andre Durand with this idea of the three levels of identity, but it (not surprisingly) mimics much of the thinking I've been evolving over the past few years. I knew that there was a new class of product coming - which we call a "digital lifestyle aggregator - but I'm getting ahead fo myself. Social networking and this topsey turvey way of looking at digital identity is already happening today. Take for example the Howard Dean campaign. Up until now - politics was the realm of rich people. Their campaign contributions controlled and dictated the behaviors of puppet polticians - until the Dean campaign unleashed the power of the everyman. By keeping his campaign based upon a decentralized network of web sites, each working at the grass roots level, they've been able to raise plenty of money to play the "run for President" game - but yet be beholden to no special interests groups. The only groups the Dean campaign is beholden to are his decentralized supporters - each with their own insights, local issues and needs. These are the folks he SHOULD be beholden to! It's that sort of topsey turvey thinking that will effect the world of enterprise and business soon enough. And it starts with one's Digital Identity. The sooner the status quo recognizes this, the sooner they'll join in this transition to a new world. [Marc's Voice] 2:29:54 AM

Thomas Jefferson. "Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies." [Quotes of the Day] 12:19:52 AM