Monday, February 19, 2007
Every Now and Then. . .
I just discovered that the editors of the Claremont Review of Books decided to publish my letter to Larry Arnn. (Maybe I should go ahead and renew my subscription after all).
That defies not only my original prediction, but also years of experience.
Added to my 2005 success at getting into the IHT, that makes two.
Those MSM walls are just a-tumblin’ down. . .
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Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Radio Play in Boston
I’ve been delinquent in commenting on the ripple that Steve Jobs threw into the DRM debate last week. Nevertheless, some folks in Boston found me--with the diligent help of Kimberly Hataway (of Hathaway PR).
I’ll be talking about DRM with Craig Peterson. The show will play in the Boston Area, on WGIR, WGIN, and WGIP, on Saturday February 19, and on WLMW during the week of February 19.
Here’s a blurb:
What is Digital Rights Management? Why is Steve Jobs calling for its elimination? Why has the RIAA been unsuccessful in stopping the “sharing” of music? What is the future of the music and movie industries’ distribution and sales? Selected guests will appear on pre-recorded telephone interview segments on “Tech Talk With Craig Peterson.”
I’m one of the “selected guests.” Stay tuned. . . I’ll post a podcast link when I get one.
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Monday, January 29, 2007
The Informationist Decides, 2008 (or at least he starts thinking about 2008)
As long-time readers know, I severed my longstanding affiliation with the Democratic Party in January 2005, when President Bush used his inaugural address to properly orient American foreign policy toward the promotion of liberal democracy abroad. The Democratic response varied from tepid to negative. To make matters worse, just as Bush was trying (with limited success) to get the Republican Party in line with his vision, the Democrats appointed Howard Dean DNC Chair. Eighteen months earlier, I had told Dean supporters that, had the Democrats chosen him as their 2004 nominee, I would volunteer to help reelect Bush. The party’s subsequent choice of John Kerry struck me as a bottom-of-the-barrel but still palatable choice. My take on Kerry from December 2001 (when friends first broached the possibility of his becoming the next nominee) was that he was weak and unimpressive, but likely an improvement over Bush. I did a bit of (unenthusiastic) volunteer work for the Kerry campaign during the fall of 2004, but spent the entire period wondering whether I was backing the right candidate. More than two years later, I remain uncertain.
So where does that leave me in 2007, looking forward to 2008? It frees me to consider the entire field, without reference to party labels. Here’s my current categorical ranking—with plenty of ties (listed in alphabetical order) because a fair amount of pertinent information remains unknown:
1. Rudy Giuliani (R)
John McCain (R)
[large gap]
2. Hillary Clinton (D)
Newt Gingrich (R)
3. Joe Biden (D)
Bill Richardson (D)
[enormous gap]
4. Barack Obama (D)
Mitt Romney (R)
Tom Vilsack (D)
[large gap]
5. Sam Brownback (R)
6. Chris Dodd (D)
John Edwards (D)
Al Gore (D)
[large gap]
7. Mike Huckabee (R)
[unbridgeable gap]
8. Chuck Hagel (R)
If you’re wondering, foreign policy dominates my thinking. Here’s a bit of preliminary analysis:
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Friday, January 19, 2007
A Local Issue
Well, I finally found a local issue about which I feel strongly enough to voice my opinion: the pathetic lack of taxis in San Francisco.
One of the Taxi Commissioners sent me the following e-mail:
The Taxi Commission is currently conducting research for the annual Public Convenience and Necessity Hearing, which will occur February 13, 2007 at 6:30 PM in Room 400 of City Hall.
At this hearing, the Taxi Commission will consider whether or not to add more medallions (permits) for taxicabs to operate in the streets of San Francisco. Research has been ongoing and involves several components. We are very interested in hearing from members of the community. We’re hoping that you can submit responses to the following questions:
What has been your experience with the San Francisco taxicab industry? Do you have problems obtaining taxicabs on particular days and times, or in your neighborhood? What are the best aspects of the San Francisco taxicab industry? What are the worst?
We’d love to hear it all - the good, the bad, and the ugly. At a respondent’s request, we will keep identity confidential.
I could think of nothing good, but I remain undecided as to which aspects of SF taxis are bad and which are ugly.
I replied:
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Something vs. Something
Anyone watching Israeli politics these days would have to notice a shocking incoherence--even by Israeli standards. Most of the folks that I know figured that we were witnessing weak politicians jockeying for power amidst a failed government. Over the past couple of days though, I’ve seen a couple of people suggest something else. In their view, all of the talk about “achieving peace” by forcing Israel to commit suicide has motivated Israeli politicians to throw their own individual peace plans into the ring. After all, you can’t beat something with nothing.
While I’m not going to jump on that bandwagon to let a failed government off the hook, I do think that Israel needs to say something--particularly to counter the resurgence of PR surrounding the non-serious “Saudi Plan.” Here’s my suggestion:
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Thursday, January 04, 2007
The Secret Circuit: Coming “Soon”
The Secret Circuit: The Little-Known Court where the Rules of the Information Age Unfold is now in the hands of its publisher, Rowman & Littlefield. I hope to see it in print before 2007 is out.
The Secret Circuit is the second entry in my ongoing inquiry into the nature of the global transition from industrial age to information age. My first entry, Digital Phoenix, explored the “front page stories” of the commercial transformations of software and entertainment. The Secret Circuit is an institutional study of the appellate court granted exclusive jurisdiction over the rules governing innovation and globalization. I plan to continue this inquiry with at least two more books: one describing the ways to leverage the lessons of the early information economy into successful new information-based technologies; and one showing how the patterns that have buffeted the information economy are beginning to play themselves out in broader sociopolitical context as we become a fully information society. Stay tuned! (And I mean “stay tuned for the long run.").
In the meantime, Rowman & Littlefield asked me to prepare a 75-word blurb for the book. Here’s what I’ve got:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was born in the early 1980s as part of the drive to liberalize and reinvigorate the American economy. Its docket covers the rules guiding patents, innovation, globalization, and much of government. Are these rules impelling the economy forward or holding it back? Are the policies that we have the policies that we want? The Secret Circuit demystifies this Court’s work and answers these questions.
Intrigued? Curious? Want more? The book’s draft prologue is below; you’ll have to wait for the rest (unless you ask me very nicely for a sneak peek).
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Wednesday, December 27, 2006
And Now, for Something Completely Different
My friend Evan caught me on video telling the Chanukah story at my Chanukah party last week. The kids are all in the foreground, but parents are scattered around my living room.
Here’s a link to me as storyteller. Feel free to peruse Evan’s other video clips while you’re there.
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Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Last Public Liberal?
With Tony Blair’s recent defection, the stable of folks willing to proclaim liberal values is dwindling. Somehow, eighty years of “realist” foreign policy promoting stability through the creation of a dangerously unstable Middle East, followed by four years of incompetent liberalism trying to promote individual rights, dignity, and self-determination, is now seen as a repudiation of liberal values. The architects of our criminal abandonment of our basic values when it comes to the people of the Middle East are reasserting themselves at center stage. Perhaps, if they have their way, we will soon return to the status quo ante. The Bakers and Gateses and PapaBushes and Carters and Brzezinskis of the world will all draw a sigh of relief as we once announce our abandonment of the people unfortunate enough to live int the Middle East to the hands of dictators, capable of imposing stability upon them for their own good. Perhaps our European friends will soon return to their secure little caves, confident in both their own superiority to the non-white savages of this planet, as well as the misguided do-gooding Americans.
Fortunately, at least someone out there notices the moral bankruptcy in this position--someone, that is, with something of a bully pulpit though not much authority. Christopher Hitchens says what needs to be said over at Slate. Sadly, his is one of a dwindling number of liberal voices. Has everyone else lost the ability to differentiate right from wrong? Have they abandoned their values? Casual conversations around San Francisco are hardly encouraging. Many of the folks I meet deny the existence of right and wrong. Most of the others accept the distinction, but are too lazy to think through its implications.
We are entering very dangerous times.
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