More on Patriot II.

I should have posted this ahead of the item that follows. Sorry about that. "It" in the first sentence refers to Patriot II. I am not sure that the Fourth and First Amendments are being dismantled, but I do think it is possible they are being impeded. Will Patriot II turn into the 21st Century Alien and Sedition Act? Stay tuned. This one is a long way from being over. -- BB

BTW, Wired News had an article about it in late November, I pointed to it and Jason Lefkowitz got angry and went into motion. I've heard Republican spin masters say that we need a positive optimistic vision for the future, not people who are angry about the past. Remember, when you hear that bullshit, they're not wanting you to think about the Fourth and First Amendments which are being dismantled. Do you think Uncle Sam didn't get angry about Pearl Harbor or the Nazis? Yeah I'm angry. And that's the correct way to be. [Scripting News]

11:07:17 AM    

Patriot II: Something to pay attention to.

The Patriot Acts, I and II, represent a serious bit of law that most people don't understand, other than "it's necessary to protect us from terrorists." The problem is that in the past, similar laws have been used to silence political enemies and religious denominations. There is no reason why they couldn't be used to strongarm small business as well. As Dave Winer asks in another of his posts, did any of the Democratic candidates say anything about this at the time? I don't think so. One has to wonder whether that's because they aren't paying attention either, because they stand to gain in some way, because they're afraid to say anything because it will be used against them in the election, or because Patriot II is really a benign piece of legislation and those of us who are worried are just being Henny Pennys?

Betsy Devine: "On December 13, President George W. Bush signed a big chunk of Patriot II into law -- but the 'major media' were focused on Saddam's spider hole." [Scripting News]

11:03:25 AM    

Political Campaigns and Television Advertising.

Taegan Goddard: "If you have ever wondered why a campaign can spend $1,000,000 or more on television advertising and still be in the single-digits in the polls, you need to read this." [Scripting News]

10:57:21 AM    

The Rising Influence of Weblogs.

I am doing something that I had resisted before. This post opens a new category, dedicated to politics. To the best of my ability, I will keep it non-partisan. The intent is to highlight the good ideas and the loony/dangerous trends that exist within all of the political parties, mainly to help entrepreneurs identify where they want to place their support in the coming US election and after. (For the record, I am not crazy about Bush and I think Dean is the wrong answer. If the Democrats nominate Dean, I'm voting for Bush. If the Democrats nominate Kerry, we have an actual race. If the Democrats nominate someone else, I'm still going to be paying close attention.) -- BB

The Rising Influence of Weblogs in Journalism. OJR looks back at 2003 and asks "What do you think were the most important developments related to online journalism (media, video, blogging, etc.) in the past year?" The most cited is the use of Weblogs in reporting. Jeff Jarvis says:

"Watch Weblogs and citizens' media bring freedom of expression and democracy to other lands next year. Whether in a small town in Iran or Iraq or America, citizens' media means that anyone can now own a printing press and has the power that goes with it. That will revolutionize news, media, politics, government, and marketing."

2004 is going to be such an interesting year in this field. It's still so cool to be out in front of it, to have at least some functional understanding of what this all means. I really think that with the crush of the election coming near, we're going to see the Weblog envelope pushed in ways we haven't yet seen, and that we'll be in much different company by the end of the year. [Weblogg-ed News]
10:34:48 AM