Hasten down the wire

How the Masters of the Universe got that way

Last September, the US Federal Reserve Board bailed out American International Group (AIG) to the tune of US$85 billion. In return, the US citizenry received 80% of the company. This was one of those “too big to fail” deals.

Here’s how the New York Times explained the reasoning behind the bailout:

“If AIG had collapsed—and been unable to pay all of its insurance claims—institutional investors around the world would have been instantly forced to reappraise the value of those securities, and that in turn would have reduced their own capital and the value of their own debt. Small investors, including anyone who owned money market funds with AIG securities, could have been hurt, too. And some insurance policy holders were worried, even though they have some protections.“

Um, isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? When you make a bad investment, you take the loss—you can bet your ass that the individual AIG investors have already taken their losses. Insurance is another matter entirely of course, but as the Times stated, there are protections already in place for AIG policy holders. Because the value of investments in AIG are not being reset, the Federal Reserve has done nothing to prevent this from happening again. Worse, there’s nothing being done to address the “too big to fail” issue. If an entity is too big to fail it’s too big to exist. Pretty simple—not exactly rocket science.

Oh, but we’re not done yet. Not hardly.

The next 6,500 days

It’s been about 6,500 days since Tim Berners-Lee published the first page on the web. 6,500 days. Everything that’s happened on the web has happened in the last 6,500 days.

Earlier this week, Kevin Kelly spoke briefly—but deeply—at the Web 2.0 Summit on what’s likely to happen with regard to the web during the next 6,500 days.

I’ve followed most of what Kevin Kelly has done for the last 20 years because he’s a completist—he does something until it’s done and then moves on. He thinks deeply and completely. And he’s at it again.

Kelly begins by pointing out that what’s happened on the web in its first 6,500 days is impossible. “There’s not enough money in the world, 6,000 days ago, to accomplish all the things that have happened already,“ said Kelly. We have to start thinking differently about what’s impossible, he says.

First, we linked data and shared packets. Then we linked pages on the web and shared those links. Throughout both of these phases we were concerned about the sharing piece of the equation. We’ve mostly gotten over these concerns.

Election night with the master

Bob Dylan played the University of Minnesota last night for the first time ever. While the front-of-house sound was a mixed bag—the guitars were clear as a bell; Dylan’s vocals were incredibly mushy—it was an historic, yet vaguely predictable night.

Dylan’s shows are usually either spectacular or spectacularly lackluster. The US election night show was more erratic than John McCain’s campaign. Chalk it up to constantly different arrangements for the old chestnuts, I suppose. The mushy vocals were attributable to a crooner with a croak and bad microphone selection. But Masters of War, It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding), and Blowin’ In The Wind were exceptionally well done.

Last summer, Dylan told the Times of London, “We’ve got this guy out there now who is redefining the nature of politics from the ground up: Barack Obama. He’s redefining what a politician is, so we’ll have to see how things play out. Am I hopeful? Yes, I’m hopeful that things might change. You should always take the best from the past, leave the worst back there and go forward into the future.“ So you just had to know this show was going to be a political statement.

The setlist was carefully selected for US election night:

Holding my nose once again

Long ago, when I became a member of the Green party—having never previously been a member of a political party—I promised myself I’d never hold my nose and vote against my conscience ever again. I haven’t, and, frankly, that hasn’t worked out so well.

So this year, I’m finding myself holding my nose again. I’ll be voting for Barack Obama—and that’s not an endorsement—with anything but enthusiasm. Obama is a moderate-right centrist, not the leftist portrayed by the right and the corporate media. Moreover he’s a politician, and while certainly deft, not an especially atypical one. Don’t believe it? Here’s a simple example: Obama supports universal health insurance, not universal health care. Need another? Do the math on Obama’s “wealth redistribution” plans.

I took a vacation day because this is a historic event. Historic not solely because of the first bi-racial candidate for president but mostly because this is the year that the citizenry starts voting again. For the first time in a long time more people will vote this year than don’t. That’s worth celebrating, I suppose, in an ineffably dark and vaguely depressing way.

But tonight—tonight is also historic in that it’s the first time Bob Dylan plays at the University of Minnesota. I’ll be spending the evening in Northrop Auditorium, main floor section 5, row 35 on the edge of my seat. And that’s definitely something to celebrate.

Universal Studios oversteps copyright law

Redbox, the US DVD rental company that has kiosks in McDonalds and other retail locations, has filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios. The lawsuit alleges that the movie studio is abusing US copyright law and engaging in anticompetitive behavior. Redbox claims that an agreement Universal attempted to force upon it would prohibit it from selling used DVDs, limit the number of DVDs distributed through the kiosks, wait 45 days after a DVD’s release to rent it, and best of all—wait for it—give Universal 40% of its gross revenues.

Redbox rents DVDs for US$1 per day and sells used DVDs for US$7 at more than 10,000 kiosks throughout the United States.

The sale of used DVDs, in case you were wondering, is protected by the first sale doctrine, section 109(a) of US copyright law. It specifically allows a copyrighted item to be resold or given away without permission or license from the copyright holder.

Security theater

I confess. Research for Information Eclipse got me all wound up about government and corporate surveillance in the United States. It only got worse when George W. Bush was installed in the White House and systematically expanded the unchecked power of the executive branch.

Last night my wife and I watched the first installment of The Last Enemy (no spoilers, please; we’re behind in our Tivo watching). It’s simultaneously fascinating and disturbing in a way that only our limey friends across the pond can do. Watching it didn’t help my internal spring one little bit.

But then I read something like Jeffrey Goldberg’s “The Things He Carried” and I breathe easier. Wait. What? Shouldn’t the fact that Goldberg got through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints at various US airports with “al-Qaeda t-shirts, Islamic Jihad flags, Hezbollah videotapes, and inflatable Yasir Arafat dolls” not to mention “pocketknives, matches from hotels in Beirut and Peshawar, dust masks, lengths of rope, cigarette lighters, nail clippers, eight-ounce tubes of toothpaste… bottles of Fiji water, and box cutters” (box cutters!) be at least upsetting? Or how about the Beerbelly, designed to sneak of to 80 ounces of liquid into concerts and athletic events?

Universal healthcare v. universal healthcare insurance

A simple question for the Obama acolytes: If the candidate truly believes—as he’s said—that healthcare is a right in the United States, and not a privilege or even responsibility, why is he campaigning on a program to provide not access to healthcare, but rather access to healthcare insurance.

There’s a big difference between the two.

Could the reason be that the candidate is bought and paid for by the US insurance lobby? That would certainly explain Hillary Clinton’s near-miraculous shift from supporting universal healthcare to supporting universal health insurance. Oh, and by the way, if you need a clear indication that the tide is turning in the US electorate just take a look at how the insurance lobby’s contributions have shifted in the last year.

I’ve suspected all along that Obama was little more than just another politician, and this does very little to assuage the perception. And don’t take this as any sort of backhanded endorsement of John McCain’s healthcare plans—McCain’s plan isn’t even worth criticizing.

Obama administration media transparency? Don’t count on it

If you thought the Obama administration would bring a refreshing new level of transparency—including transparency with the media—well, I guess you were wrong. Count me among the many.

Liza Mundy, writing for Slate, outlines the difficulties she encountered with the Obama campaign in getting access to sources for a book about Michelle Obama.

Mundy approached Michelle Obama’s relatives—both close and fairly distant—to have them “walk [her] through what they knew of her life” only to have the Obama campaign instruct the potential sources not to talk to long-form print authors.

It’s common practice during the political silly season to have campaigns instruct everyone to check in before talking to the media about anything. But keep in mind that this stonewalling by the Obama campaign comes after Michelle Obama told Michelle Powell and Jodi Kantor, writing for the New York Times, “I will walk anyone through my life. Come on, let’s go.“

Here’s Mundy on why we should care:

“Why should you care about one writer’s shaggy-dog story? In one sense, none of this is tragic; every reporter knows that being denied access to the usual contacts means you dig harder and turn up new voices. But you should care if you are expecting an Obama presidency to achieve new levels of transparency. Obama, if elected, may well bring many changes to Washington, but unusually open access to the media—and, by extension, the public—is not necessarily going to be one of them.“

Motivating the banks the simple way

On 23 September, US Treasury Secretary Paulson told the US Senate Banking Committee, “Some said we should just stick capital in the banks, take preferred stock in the banks. That’s what you do when you have failure. This is about success.“

On 10 October, Paulson said, “We can use the taxpayer’s money more effectively and efficiently, get more for the taxpayer’s dollar, if we develop a standardized program to buy equity in financial institutions.“

It’s time for Paulson to admit that he hasn’t a clue, has politicized the issue, and to step aside.

If the credit markets have, in fact, seized—and I’m not sure I believe they have—the resolution is straightforward, costs the US taxpayers nothing, but requires a backbone in US agencies and our elected representatives. At 7AM on Monday the US Treasury, Comptroller of the Currency, and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly announce that one of the core functions of banks is to make good loans. If said banks don’t immediately start making good loans they no longer meet the criteria of being a bank and will have their banking licenses revoked starting at 7AM on Tuesday. Deposits will immediately be seized and auctioned to banks willing to make good loans. Concurrently, the US Congress has to magically grow the appropriate anatomy and immediately reenact the Glass-Steagall Act in its entirety. If there’s something I’ve missed with this scenario, please advise.

Update: Sunday, 12 October 2008 1:20PM CDT: This, of course, has to be coupled with the banks writing down their questionable assets to their true values and the government helping recapitalize them. If the banks don’t revalue these assets—and do it now—as Thomas Friedman says, the market will do it for them.

Why we hate Wall Street executives

Just days—days—after the US government bailed out AIG to the tune of US$85 billion and the US citizenry collectively entered the insurance business, AIG executives headed to the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, CA. While there, the company’s executives ran up a US$440,000 bill—US$200,000 for rooms, US$150,000 for meals, and US$23,000 for the spa. The royal we wonder where the remaining US$67,000 went, but that’s what imaginations are for.

Representative Henry Waxman (D-California) totaled up the figures in today’s House of Representatives committee hearing about AIG’s close call with the financial reaper. “Less than a week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation,“ Waxman said.

Sadly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, AIG executives continue to draw multimillion-dollar paychecks. In fact, documents provided by AIG to Waxman’s committee indicate that “as the company’s risky investments began to implode, the company altered its generous executive pay plan to pay out regardless of such losses,“ according to Peter Whoriskey’s Washington Post account. In March, after having lost more than US$5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007, AIG chief executive Martin Sullivan urged the company’s compensation committee to “ignore those losses” and award bonuses. Which, of course, it did, awarding Sullivan a cash bonus in excess of US$5 million and a golden parachute of US$15 million.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

Update: Thursday, 09 October 2008 05:37AM CDT: On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve announced that it would lend AIG an additional US$37.8 billion. Sigh.

Step aside, we’re coming through

Not that there’s much of anything left, but if you’re fed up with the lack of progressive action in Washington, you might want to consider this pledge.

“What does taking the pledge mean? It means that when Democratic ‘leaders’ tell Americans we must settle for watered-down solutions while bold back-benchers in the House or Senate are pushing strong progressive alternatives, we will clamor for those bold alternatives together until they are passed into law.“

I ordinarily detest this kind of stuff, but this is what it’s come to. I’m not a Democrat, but I’m willing to do what I can to get a fair hearing for the few true US Congressional progressives.

As Jane Hamsher said two years ago: “better parking spaces for Democrats” is not a worthy goal. It’s time to take the government—and our Constitution—back.

Socialism almost comes to America

While we were all busy looking at the financial crisis and its attendant bailout in the US government’s flailing, waving right hand, the left hand of the US government was quietly and deftly bailing out the Detroit automobile industry to the tune of US$25 billion. The bailout was included in a bill allowing the offshore drilling ban to expire.

This particular bailout takes the form of a “loan,“ except the loan payments are deferred for five years, making the cost to US taxpayers US$7.5 billion.

But wait, there’s hope. The bailout failed Monday in the House of Representatives vote, 228-205. Ian Welsh, writing at firedoglake, outlines four horrific provisions in the proposed bailout:

1. Changes the worth of a security from what someone will pay for it to what a mathematical model says it will be worth at maturity
2. Reduces mandatory reserve levels for banks to zero
3. Any equity position taken by the government will be non-voting
4. The bailout isn’t restricted to banks owned by US companies; virtually anyone can play

Here comes welfare for the super-rich

Why are the Democrats smiling like they just hit the lottery? Because they did. The Congressional leaders and the White House have apparently reached an agreement on the US$700 billion bailout of the super-rich. They’re overjoyed because the spotlight on them for allowing this to happen has been extinguished (they think) and they can scurry home to campaign for re-election.

When I began writing this, the New York Times had a completely different image accompanying its story, one with everyone in the frame laughing almost uncontrollably. Why was the photograph changed to the current one where everyone looks much more sedate? And why is the original image simply nowhere to be found?

And just what does the American taxpayer get for taking on this enormous, no-hope-for-a-balanced-budget ever again, staggering debt load? Pretty much a bag of rocks:

• Limits on some (but not all) executive compensation whose firms take part in the bailout.
• Requirements to make “aggressive efforts” to prevent home foreclosures (but no actual, specific requirements or plan).
• Equity in some (but not all) companies that participate in the bailout.
• Oversight by a Congressional panel (that’s right—the same Congresscritters that allowed this to happen are going to be overseeing this mess).
• “Conflict-of-interest” rules (unspecified, natch) for the same financial firms that caused this mess who get to run the bailout.
• Provided an option for the Treasury Secretary to issue government insurance on the toxic assets (like trying to insure a house that’s already on fire). The creation of the insurance program is mandatory but it’s implementation is not.

What a deal. Except we don’t know for sure because, as Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane report in the Washington Post, full details of the bailout plan have not yet been released. This performance, after all, is solely for the benefit and consumption of the foreign markets that open later today.

No financial Patriot Act

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has the best plan for resolving the US financial crisis I’ve seen yet. It’s not perfect, but it’s a pretty dang good start. Sanders proposes:

1. A five-year, 10% surtax on annual income over US$500,000 (US$1 million for couples)
2. Toxic assets must be purchased at a discount
3. The citizenry receives an equity stake in companies participating in the bail out
4. Creation of a major economic recovery package including the rebuilding of infrastructure and development of sustainable energy
5. Repeal of deregulatory legislation
6. Breaking up any company determined to be “too big to fail”

If you agree with this, sign the petition.

Fool me once…

First it was the war on Iraq. Then it was the Patriot Act. Now it’s the Wall Street bailout and Paulson’s ultimatum. The Bush administration insisted that each of these abominations (well, two abominations; one in-waiting) had to be resolved immediately, with no time for debate; only blind and instant action. “Trust me,“ was Bush’s mantra.

Well I call bullshit. In each case the corporate media received the Bush breathless warning of impending doom as gospel. It’s time to take a deep breath and look around at what’s really going on. Ask the questions that need to be asked.

The stock market dropped another 160 points today but the lights are still on. If the credit markets were really on the verge of collapse, wouldn’t the banks be eager to renegotiate homes in—or on the verge of—foreclosure? Why isn’t this happening? Why aren’t we hearing stories of small businesses having their loans called in or their lines of credit being slashed? Do a Google search for “interest-only mortgage”—about 748,000 results. Why are these toxic mortgages—the root of the problem, remember—still out there?

Most importantly, where’s the evidence? Not hand-waving, not predictions, not scenarios, but evidence.

We’re told repeatedly and without mercy that the markets are failing. But how does that cotton with Warren Buffett investing US$5 billion in Goldman Sachs?

How, at the end of the day, does Bush explain that his administration has been planning the emergency bailout—and its attendant ultimatum—for months.

“[White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony] Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.“

Simmer down and ask the questions that need to be asked.

Capitalism doesn’t scale

The largest wealth redistribution plan in US history—a plan to transfer massive amounts of wealth from the middle class to the super-rich and massive amounts of power to the executive branch—is apparently garnering bipartisan support in the US Congress. The Bush administration has proposed raising the national debt ceiling to US11.3 trillion and letting the Treasury Department purchase up to US$700 billion in “toxic” mortgage-related assets without oversight or regulation.

The only restriction placed on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would be semiannual reports to Congress. Any reforms, according to Paulson, should come after the financial system is stabilized. Here’s the key bit:

“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.“

Should Paulson spend the entire US$700 billion, it amounts to more than US$2,000 for every American citizen, more than the Pentagon’s annual budget, and about the equivalent as the direct costs of the Iraq occupation. And it appears to be a revolving credit line.

Representative Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) told the New York Times of interest in limiting the compensation of executives of firms seeking aid under the plan: “There are going to be federal tax dollars buying up some of the bad paper. They should accept some compensation guidelines, particularly to get rid of the perverse incentives where it’s ‘heads I win, tails I break even.‘“ The Bush administration has been adamant that any compensation restrictions are off the table.

As for not regulating executive compensation, consider the following:

Liability insurance for independent media

One of the last bastions separating corporate and independent media has been liability insurance. Corporatists had it; independents didn’t. Now that final wall has come down.

The Media Bloggers Association on Friday announced the launch of a comprehensive program to provide independents with access to the legal resources long enjoyed by corporate media outlets.

BlogInsure, part of the program, provides liability insurance—covering defamation, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement (but apparently not errors and omissions)—for webloggers. The insurance is provided by Media/Professional Insurance, the world’s largest underwriter of media insurance and a unit of the Select Markets Division of AXIS Insurance.

Jay Rosen tweets that the cost for this liability insurance is about US$600 per year.

Insured members will have access to a legal hotline to help resolve issues before they grow into major problems. The hotline was created and is operated by Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, one of the top media law firms in the US.

Additionally, the trade organization developed an online course in media law in collaboration with the Poynter Institute.

DaVita closes another dialysis unit

A DaVita dialysis facility in Manhattan voluntarily shut down after the New York State Health Department found blood on equipment, unsatisfactory staff behavior, and at least one patient who had contracted hepatitis C as a result of the facility’s unsanitary conditions. More than 650 patients were instructed to get hepatitis and HIV tests. And 171 patients were forced to seek treatment elsewhere.

The facility’s medical director, Walter Wesser, was fined US$300,000, lost his operating certification, and faces revocation of his medical license.

When the DaVita facility was inspected last month—as a follow-up to previous violations—the Health Department found that employees regularly failed to wash their hands properly, didn’t change gloves between patients, and didn’t correctly disinfect equipment.

Interestingly, the Anemona Hartocollis’s report for the New York Times fails to identify the facility as owned by DaVita. Anna Bennett’s accounts for Dialysis from the sharp end of the needle (Bennett was a patient at the closed Manhattan DaVita facility) are much better written and more compelling.

Spinewatch will change political coverage

It started with CNN’s Campbell Brown holding a McCain aide’s feet to the fire, not letting him dodge a direct question asking for a single example of Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience. And it seems to have started a trend among other corporate journalists: they’re sprouting new appendages that could actually develop into something very closely resembling spines.

Now comes Jay Rosen urging his Twitter followers to point out examples of this phenomenon by including the “#spinewatch” tag in their tweets along with links to exemplary coverage. Because so many journalists follow Rosen, this idea will almost surely spread quickly. By tomorrow morning we’re going to be seeing “#spinewatch” tags everywhere and probably at least one Spinewatch weblog.

As I write this there are 61 Google hits for “spinewatch.“ That’s only three hours after Rosen first tweeted his initial “spinewatch#“ idea. Wonder what the Google count will be by the end of next week.

Oh, this just gets better. Rosen has created a spinewatch newsgroup on Scott Karp’s publish2.com. The meme has been loosed.

Update: Sunday, 14 September 2008 08:28PM CDT: Dan Gillmor extends the meme with the idea of a companion “spinelesswatch#“ tag. Finally got around to watching the pilot for Fringe and not sure yet what I think. Best line, by far, was “excellent! Let’s make some LSD.“ But then they injected it. Bad writing, no donut.

Remembering to remember

Sunday morning listening to the first two Santana albums—Santana and Abraxis—and reveling in how utterly fantastic they are. The richness, soul, and the vibrancy still takes my breath away. Mixing for real hi-fi sets and tube amplifiers, not .mp3 players really made a difference. Turn it up loud.

And that Abraxas album cover. I can still get lost in it for hours. The music and the visuals still trigger reactions in the deep folds of my brain tissue that don’t get exercised enough any more. Of course, 40 years ago they probably got exercised a little too much, but hey—I made it.

Santana was released in 1969; Abraxas in 1970. The times were full with possibility, it was just dripping everywhere. We—individually and collectively—could do anything we wanted, having made it through 1968. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older or because of my illness or both, but I don’t get a sense of that utter and total unending possibility any more. It’s just not there. What a special time. The music and the times were different in so many ways.

And here’s a shocker. I’ve archived pretty much every Grateful Dead show, but the only ones on my MacBook Pro’s hard drive are from the 1960s-70s. I didn’t set out to limit what I carry—I just picked my favorites; the ones I remembered the most fondly. Funny how it worked out.

Are there enough of us left to remember? Can we recall it?

Open source journalism: Watching magazine sausage being made

Wired magazine has a fascinating online experiment taking place: a weblog documenting the conceiving, pitching, writing, editing, photographing, and designing of a feature article for the November issue of the print magazine. For magazine insiders and readers alike, this is an absorbing peek under the covers.

The editorial side of things will be covered in Storyboard while the design process will be documented in Creative Director Scott Dadich’s The Process. So far, however, the two online publications are mirrors of each other.

The editorial and production processes at most magazines are, generally, quite secretive so this is a big deal. Getting to watch how a major feature for one of the world’s best magazines gets made promises to be fascinating. This was the idea of Senior Editor Jason Tanz who has indicated that everything—or something close to everything—including internal email, drafts, edit memos, and .pdfs of layouts and page proofs will be made publicly available in close to real-time.

One of the best aspects of the experiment is the subject matter: a profile of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). Kaufman’s first directorial effort, Synecdoche, New York, is scheduled for a 24 October release and Tanz’s profile will focus on the growth of Kaufman from screenwriter to auteur.

Affidavit purported to outline RNC conspiracy plans

Both the StarTribune and the Pioneer Press have published reports of an affidavit (.pdf; 3.5Mb) filed yesterday that, if accurate, outlines serious criminal actions planned by conspirators from 67 cities to “crash” the Republican National Convention here in Saint Paul. Criminal actions specified in the affidavit include kidnapping delegates, releasing dangerous chemicals, sabotaging the infrastructure of the Excel Energy Center, and injuring horses used by police.

The most disturbing alleged planned action is this one included in the affidavit:

“An individual by the name of ‘Henry’ told the action camp group that he was throwing a liquid filled balloon and that members of the group should stay away from the area where he was throwing it because it would be very dangerous. ‘Henry’ stated the balloon was filled with a chemical that would be very dangerous and if caught, he would go to jail for a long time.“

The primary sources for the information contained in the affidavit were two informers and an undercover member of the Ramsey County sheriff’s department—all unidentified. Unidentified sources are always problematic, especially so in an affidavit.

Nonetheless, if the affidavit proves to be accurate, evidence of a criminal conspiracy can’t be denied. A total of 284 arrests were made on Monday and 130 of them were made on suspicion of felonies. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher told the Pioneer Press that “most of the felony arrests were anarchists from elsewhere.“

Should the affidavit prove accurate, it fails to excuse the preemptive raids by the Ramsey County sheriff, the overreaction and brutality of law enforcement during the convention, nor the targeted arrests and detainments of journalists.

Instant ubiquitous reporting changes everything

Is there a political convention going on in Saint Paul? It doesn’t really matter because the big news coming out of my hometown is that the actions of law enforcement will never again be secret. The way the 2008 Republican National Convention is being covered by the independent, citizen, and participatory journalists has forever changed the way such “events” will be documented.

Cold Snap Legal Collective has been twittering non-stop since the day before the convention started with live updates from all across the city. Their updates serve to actively remotely control itinerant journalists and legal observers, guiding them to the current hot spot.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata has similarly been spot-on with twitter updates for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, albeit with a corporate media bent.

The Uptake has been providing live video feeds from all over the city with about a two-minute delay. The Minnesota Independent continues to update regularly and adroitly. Molly Priesmeyer spent Labor Day embedded with the “anarchists.“ And Brian Lambert’s encounter with Karl Rove is just plain hilarious.

One of the most fascinating aspects of this has been that the true, unvarnished, entire reality comes across instead of finely tailored bits and pieces. Because of the decentralization and near-real-time reporting of the journalists, the message can’t be controlled, manipulated, or spun. There’s simply not enough time. Corporate media and law enforcement are just not ready for this level of timeliness, this level of everywhere-all-at-once, and certainly not for this level of scrutiny. My guess is, looking at the output of the local broadcast outlets—with the at least partial exception of the AP (click the HD VIDEO tab)—they still haven’t figured this out.

Because internet-connected cameras are everywhere (as are cameras and internet connections) video of journalist Amy Goodman’s arrest was available minutes after it happened.

Politics will never be the same. Events will never be the same. Media will never be the same. We will never be the same.

The importance of habeas corpus

The six citizens arrested during the preemptive police raids prior to the Republican National Convention are all being held in the Ramsey County jail, without charge, under “probable cause holds.“ Authorities have 36 hours to charge them or let them go. Because it’s a holiday weekend, they can be held until Wednesday afternoon. Which is probably the point of this entire exercise—get them off the streets so they can’t exercise their First Amendment rights and keep them from encouraging others to do the same. Here’s a clue: anarchists don’t have or follow leaders, so that’s just another entire level on which the preemptive police action is wrong.

Probable cause holds are generally used to detain suspects while additional evidence is gathered. The problem in this case is that the results of the underlying search warrants are pitifully weak, at best, indicating that the warrants should never have been issued. With at least one member of each of the Saint Paul and Minneapolis city councils crying foul, one would assume that there will be some sort of investigation surrounding the issuing of the warrants, the evidence—or lack thereof—upon which they were based, and perhaps even the judge(s) who issued them.

I love the smell of fascism in the morning

A total of five people have been arrested after three homes and a “convergence space” were raided by authorities with automatic weapons drawn. So begins the Labor Day weekend preceding the Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

At about 9PM last night, a search warrant was executed by the Ramsey County sheriff’s office at 627 Smith Avenue in Saint Paul. The building, a former theater, is currently being rented by the RNC Welcoming Committee. While more than 50 people were detained (all, including a five-year-old child were handcuffed and photographed), no arrests were made at this location, but property was seized. The building was boarded up under an order from a Saint Paul inspector after fire code violations were found during the raid. The building was reopened this afternoon after Saint Paul City Council Member Dave Thune asked for an explanation of why the building was boarded up.

“This is all about free speech,“ Thune told the Pioneer Press. “It’s what my father fought in the war for. To me, this smacks of preemptive strike against free speech.“ Thune, apparently the only voice of reason in either city told Twin Cities Daily Planet, “this isn’t the way we do things in Saint Paul. I don’t want the city to get sucked into something that the sheriff’s office is concocting. Normally we only board up buildings that are vacant and ramshackle. The fire inspector has no idea what’s going on. He hadn’t been called. The person who is on 24/7 call was not called. I talked to him trying to find out who did issue that order and why.“

The RNC Welcoming Committee, in a media statement, insists the convergence center is “simply a gathering place and is not used for illegal actions—it is a place for workshops and trainings. Tonight we were watching films and sharing food.“

Wake up

I’m not a Democrat but if Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) had gotten the nomination, I might have been. Here’s why:

Dennis the Menace, hopping mad and in fine form.

Joe Biden: Wrong on both the net and tech

If you had any doubt that Barack Obama is a politician like any other, his selection of Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) should allay that doubt. Biden’s voting record on copyright, for example, is straight out of Disney. Declan McCullagh points out that Biden ranks “toward the bottom” of CNET’s technology voter’s guide.

Throughout the 1990s, Biden—as chair of the Judiciary Committee—authored two anti-encryption bills, the Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act and the Violent Crime Control Act. McCullagh points out that both pieces of proposed legislation carry the same language requiring government access to private encryption keys:

“It is the sense of Congress that providers of electronic communications services and manufacturers of electronic communications service equipment shall ensure that communications systems permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data, and other communications when appropriately authorized by law.“

Phil Zimmermann, the author of the PGP cryptographic software has written that Biden’s Comprehensive Counter-Terrorism Act “led me to publish PGP electronically for free that year, shortly before the measure was defeated after vigorous protest by civil libertarians and industry groups.“

Full recovery; time for vacation

We have a full recovery thanks to the wonderful Expression Engine support folks. It was a simple incorrect entry in a single record in a single database table. It’s fixed now and everything appears to be working as expected. Please let me know if you experience any problems.

Just in time for vacation. Karen and I leave tomorrow morning for Lake Vermilion, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. I spent every summer growing up on a lake in northwestern Minnesota, so this trip will surely trigger a lot of memories.

I wonder what it will be like on a lake that is totally foreign to me. I knew every bit of Lake Sallie‘s 1,246 acres intimately and could navigate it with my eyes closed. I knew where the rocks were and the weeds where the big walleyes hid. I could take our 14-foot runabout through the channel and into Lake Melissa (1,831 acres) by pegging the outboard high enough to clear the rocks, steering by pushing the big motor from side to side instead of using the steering wheel. Wally, the owner of the bait shop used to laugh at my struggles, but I made it every time I tried.

Once across Lake Melissa, and through another channel, I was into the Pelican River and could make it to any other lake in the watershed. Most ventures ended at Detroit Lake, the largest lake in the chain, about 3,067 acres. Mostly though I was content to stay on Lake Sallie—and not just because it was hard work to navigate the channel between Sallie and Melissa. It was a small, peaceful lake, with mostly fishing boats. I could ski wherever I liked, and even on holiday weekends, Lake Sallie never had many boats on it.

Lake Vermilion, by comparison, is a whopping 40,000 acres with 1,200 miles of shoreline, and 365 islands. The plan is to rent a boat and get to know one small piece of the lake really well.

A shaky recovery?

Houston, we may have at least partial recovery. While there are still some problems with the database, I think I’ve recovered the lost entries. Here’s how I did it; don’t try this at home:

1. Ran a SQL query with a record ID that matched the first missing entry. That created a bogus record in the titles table.
2. Through the Expression Engine control panel, I edited the new bogus title and it’s associated entry.
3. Searched Google (it may be evil, but it has its uses) to locate the entry; loaded Google’s cached version in a browser window.
4. Edited the entry in the Expression Engine control panel to match the title, category, date, and time in the Google cached record. (Found a lot of splogs that have stolen my content as a bonus benefit.)
5. Saved the edited entry in the Expression Engine control panel.
6. Rinsed and repeated for each of the remaining lost entries.
7. Backed up the database and promised myself to do so regularly.

There are clearly still some problems, and I have no idea how serious they are. When I try to upload an image, I get the following error:

Notice: Undefined index: last_cache_clear in 
/www/xxxxxxxx/public_html/xxxxxxxx/core/core.system.php on line 944

This is probably related to corrupted/incomplete information in the exp_stats MySQL database table which is also most likely responsible for the error messages I’m receiving in the Expression Engine Control Panel.

Recovering from a train wreck

Several days ago the server that runs this website failed catastrophically, taking its backup disk with it. I’ve mostly recovered the database, although the last two months of published entries are gone and some fairly serious problems with the database remain to be resolved.

As a result, I’ve moved the website to a professional hosting service associated with the good folks that make the software on which the site runs. The support from both parties has been incredible, and I fully expect to have the remaining issues resolved soon.

If the issues prove irresolvable, however, a decision will have to be made about continuing the website. Having already been confronted with losing all 16 years of content, I had already resolved to take it down.

So, fair warning. I’m going to give this 30 days (the time window in which I can still cancel my hosting account); if serious problems remain after that, a decision will be made with the very real possibility that the site will be permanently decommissioned. Here’s hoping that doesn’t become necessary.

Recovering from a train wreck

Several days ago the server that runs this website failed catastrophically, taking its backup disk with it. I’ve mostly recovered the database, although the last two months of published entries are gone and some fairly serious problems with the database remain to be resolved.

As a result, I’ve moved the website to a professional hosting service associated with the good folks that make the software on which the site runs. The support from both parties has been incredible, and I fully expect to have the remaining issues resolved soon.

If the issues prove irresolvable, however, a decision will have to be made about continuing the website. Having already been confronted with losing all 16 years of content, I had already resolved to take it down.

So, fair warning. I’m going to give this 30 days (the time window in which I can still cancel my hosting account); if serious problems remain after that, a decision will be made with the very real possibility that the site will be permanently decommissioned. Here’s hoping that doesn’t become necessary.

Lawrence Lessig: Change Congress

FannieMae controls about US$2.6 trillion in mortgage-backed securities. The government-created institution was set up to provide low-income loans. The top 20 FannieMae employees each make more than US$1 million a year; in the last five years, almost US$250 million in bonuses was distributed. With these kinds of numbers, how can the institution be on the brink of insolvency?

According to Larry Lessig’s Netroots Nation keynote, it’s because of long-standing structural problems that have gone ignored. According to Rep. Richard Baker (R-Louisiana), the ignoring bit comes “because the entities had enormous political allies and were always able to squash any reform effort that might look like it would go somewhere.“

FannieMae has spent US$900,000 on campaign contributions this year. That’s right, Lessig says. “A government-created entity lobbying government.“ The result is what Lessig calls “crony capitalism: socialized risk, privatized benefits.“

It’s suddenly less perplexing that the approval rate of the US Congress is currently nine percent.

Trust, Lessig points out, is built by keeping money out of the equation. “Money,“ he says, “poisons trust.“

Study finds ESRD patients less likely to get cardiovascular medicine

Kevin McKeever, writing for HealthDay News, reports a study published by the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology found kidney failure patients are less likely to receive recommended medications after a heart attack. Even though kidney function is a known risk factor for cardiovascular events, end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients are “often deprived of heart-protecting medicines such as beta blockers and cholesterol-lowering statins.“

“The researchers analyzed data on medication use after a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, in approximately 21,500 patients, 17 percent of whom had kidney disease. After adjustment for other factors, those with chronic kidney disease were 22 percent less likely to start beta blocker treatment. Those with end-stage renal disease were 43 percent less likely to be treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or angiotensin receptor blockers and 17 percent less likely to be put on statins.“

Why?

Meanwhile, Frank Sietzen Jr. has written a pretty good hemodialysis overview for the Washington Post. My experience over the past eight years matches Sietzen’s, except I use larger (14-gauge) needles.

Having recently started using the buttonhole needle placement technique (needles, my ass; they’re big as nails), I’m finding that it’s less painful and I have fewer bleeding problems at the end of each dialysis run.

Fair use and the DMCA

Corporate copyright holders have taken to issuing Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown orders with wild abandon. Such wild abandon, in fact, that they’ve begun to overstep legal bounds.

Take Universal. In May of last year, the media conglomerate went after conservative columnist Michelle Malkin for embedding clips from American Idol and several music videos in a video criticism published on YouTube. That this clearly met any reasonable fair-use test didn’t so much as slow down Universal and its DMCA takedown order. It was of apparently no consequence that the entire music videos were available on YouTube. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a counter-notice on Malkin’s behalf, informing the video service that the use was non-infringing, and the work was eventually restored.

Then, a month later, Universal issued a DMCA takedown order for a Stephanie Lenz video on YouTube of her infant dancing to background stereo music to which Universal holds copyright. A 30 second video clip. Lenz immediately responded to Universal’s takedown demand with a counter-notice, but YouTube never reinstated the original work. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit against Universal, claiming the music used in the clip was “self-evident non-infringing fair use.“

The DMCA provides protection against misuse in that lawsuits can be brought against false takedown notices. Viacom, for example, was forced to apologize for its takedown notice of a video clip satirizing Stephen Colbert after the EFF filed suit against the media giant.

After a series of what had to be embarrassing successful counter-notices, you’d think the corporate media conglomerates would quickly learn and back off. Apparently they were incapable of either.

In an update to the suit filed by the EFF on behalf of Lenz, this week Universal told Judge Jeremy Fogel that Lenz’s video clip was an infringement even though it may be fair use. Simply Orwellian—and I use the term advisedly—political manipulation of the language by obfuscation. “Are you saying there cannot be a misuse of a takedown notice if the material is copyrighted?“ asked Judge Fogel. “I don’t think ‘fair use’ qualifies,“ Kelly Klaus, the Universal lawyer, replied.

In case you’ve lost track, the fair use doctrine permits limited use of copyright-protected materials without permission.

A tale of two papers

Indicative of just how far the Washington Post has fallen is a comparison between lead stories in the Post and the New York Times. Gretchen Morgenson’s “Given a shovel, Americans dig deeper into debt“ for the Times is the keystone of a series on consumer debt in the US and is a good piece of journalism committed by corporate media. Morgenson’s piece is accompanied by a trio of video presentations, an interactive debt analyzer, and an infographic with annotation of the course consumer debt has taken in the US since 1920.

Morgenson’s reporting is excellent, the videos are compelling, and the annotated infographic feature, “The American way of debt” is remarkable in its clarity and is exceptionally well-produced, as is the entire package.

The interactive debt analyzer is the weak link. Because it doesn’t consider assets, it’s terribly misrepresentative of the true fiscal picture of the American citizenry. Fully 40% of the households in my age and income bracket carry no debt whatever, according to the analyzer. I suspect it’s because that 40% don’t own homes, not because they’ve paid off their mortgages.

Morgenson’s series leaves little room for doubt that the entirety of the various lending industries in the US need to be severely reigned in.

Contrast the Times package with Ovetta Wiggins’s monstrosity for the Post, “Calling on gospel to call off debt.“ Praise Jesus, cut up your credit cards, go to our debt management classes, and oh, don’t forget your 10% tithe. It’s just pitiful.

We need corporate media in our media diets because that’s where the money still is. For now. And it takes money to produce packages like Morgenson’s. So take a pass on the Post and pick up the Times. A really good profile of Si Newhouse and an absolutely stunning adaptation of David Carr’s forthcoming book are well worth your morning.

They’re back….

JibJab is back with an outstanding new cartoon:

FISA revision bill passes US Senate

By a vote of 69-28, the US Senate today passed legislation to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The bill includes retroactive immunity for the nation’s telecommunications conglomerates and broadens the government’s power to surveil its citizens.

Minnesota’s senators voted predictably: Senator Amy Klobuchar voted against the bill; Senator Norm Coleman for. Hey, Norm! Pay attention on 8 August (more on that later). Klobuchar may have voted against today, but she voted for the measure last month when it really mattered—when the US Senate voted to invoke cloture. Cloture is a parliamentary procedure that prevents a filibuster.

Senator Christopher Dodd‘s (D-Connecticut) amendment stripping the retroactive immunity provision failed by a vote of 66-32. An amendment offered by Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) that would have required assessment by a district court judge to determine the legality of the warrantless wiretapping before immunity was granted also failed by a vote of 61-37. A final amendment, brought by Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) that would have postponed immunity for a year, subjecting it to federal investigation, failed by a vote of 56-42.

Eric Lichtblau, writing for the New York Times, reports that Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Missouri), vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, “there was nothing to fear in the bill ‘unless you have Al Qaeda on your speed dial,‘“ in closing arguments.

Indeed.

Lichtblau calls the measure “the biggest restructuring of federal surveillance law in 30 years.“

Bush’s warrantless wiretaps whacked

Chief Judge for the Northern District of California, Vaughn Walker, ruled Wednesday that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is t