"Tweeting the Dialectic of Technological Determinism"
by Ted Friedman / Georgia State University - Atlanta
Excellent article about Iran and the so called Cyber Revolution.
I don't necessarily agree with this point of view but the author is clearly pondering what I'm pondering.
Another Obama signing statement giving himself the right to ignore part of a law. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/27/obama-issues-statement-on_n_221821.html
Essentially, Bush (43) and Obama have both reclaimed the line item veto. Clinton briefly had this power from 1996-8 but the Supreme Court ruled the law as being unconstitutional and struck it down. Now both his successors have decided that the president can merely choose to ignore parts of laws they sign by stating that certain provisions would interfere with the powers of the executive.
Well, that's not how it works, my friends. If a bill does that, then you don't sign it into law. You veto it and tell Congress to try again. If Congress overrides it you have the Justice Department bring suit against it and go through the courts. I understand Bush doing this, he was not a lawyer and he was someone who was easily manipulated by his royal court. But Obama, someone who A) taught constitutional law and B) criticized Bush for doing this very same thing, knows better but has decided to try this out and see if he gets much push-back. Which I'm sure he won't. The media's criticism of presidents revolves around whether or not he endangers capitalism, i.e. the entrenched system of wealth distribution that funnels money upwards from the poor to the middle class to the insanely rich, i.e. the very people who pay their exorbitant salaries. So they have no problem getting tough on Obama when it comes to "nationalizing" General Motors (which it did not do) or trying to pass any kind of health care reform that doesn't consist solely of providing massive subsidies for everyone to buy expensive private coverage. That makes the media pat itself on the back for grilling the president and living up to the legacy of Woodward and Bernstein, an ethic that even Woodward and Bernstein couldn't maintain. But stories about the Office of the President abusing power, stealing power for itself, torturing people for political ends, refusing to play straight with the electorate? Bo-ring! Where's the percentage? Their bosses don't really care what laws presidents break so long as they don't have their taxes raised. And both Bush's and Obama's people know this.
Yes, yes, I know, Obama's very smart. And he probably knows things we don't know. And he's playing the long game. Biding his time. Waiting for the Republicans to trip up and drop from 25% approval down to 15%, or something, and then he can REALLY stand up and do the right thing. I'm not sure how much longer people will keep resorting to these excuses - and that's what they are, excuses. And I don't know what to make of a president who can't roll over the GOP in their current dessicated state. I can only conclude that he doesn't intend to. He's an adjuster, not a reformer. Even health care, I suspect, is going to end up being nothing but a big giveaway to the HMOs without any real guarantees that people can't be dropped whenever they actually get sick. And Obama will give his usual line about not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and no one will dare to tell him that sometimes the good just isn't good enough.
Sorry, but I'm more and more disappointed with our president lately. Being "better than Bush" is not a high enough bar, for Christ's sake. Khrushchev was not a great statesman simply because he didn't kill twenty million of his own people like the last guy did. A leader must be judged by his own actions, and we can't keep giving Obama a pass just because he isn't George W. Bush. Just my opinion.
Patrick
As an outsider I have watched in horror as the outrages of the fascist, theocratic, dictatorship in Iran have escalated. I am always resistant to advocate the use of force in political matters. I have tried to favor peaceful change through passive resistance. If, however, even a small part of the reports now coming out of that country are accurate; I don’t think that peaceful protest is still a viable option. The brutality of this corrupt regime has become unspeakable. It shows, more clearly than even their most zealous and verbose detractors could ever hope to, the depths of depravity the former leaders of that country have sunk to. I say “former leaders” because no matter what happens from here they no longer represent the people of Iran. These are your own people you are attacking!
Needless to say this is no longer merely about an election, or votes, or anything of the sort. By resorting to this kind of viciousness the situation has escalated into a full scale revolt. By letting their fear drive them, the former leaders have done what their enemies could not and turned the people of their own country against them. Like men, no country is an island. These crimes will long weigh on the minds of your neighbors and indeed the rest of the planet.
This is not the first time this has happened nor, I fear, will it be the last. What is also important here is the speed with which it all happened. The technology that facilitated this rapid change is more ubiquitous everyday. Imagine if North Korea allowed unrestricted internet access and Twittering.
Even as President Obama has maintained a hands-off approach from the US government (a decision I support by the way) the people of the US and the rest of the world have reached out and embraced the protesting Iranians. Their peaceful and reasonable demonstrations and cries for Democracy and Freedom reach us and we are with them. Not merely months or years after the fact, but in the moment. We hear their voices and we raise ours in support of them.
This will be even more and more the case as we move forward and these technologies expand and are refined. As more and more people around the world attain the ability to speak to each other directly the age of repressive dictatorships is gradually ending. As I watch the continuing events in Iran, I say, good riddance.
Well folks, things got a bit out hand for me yesterday. There was too much drinking, and then some more drinking, and then it all caught up to me. I remember telling some age inappropriate stories and jokes, and offending some some people I haven't seen in a long time, and I feel really terrible about it. Later it got so bad my wife and friends had to call 911. I remember some EMT's and then waking up in the hospital. My sister Denise, who is a nurse, was working at the time and her and Gina looked after me.
Later Denise drove us home, thanks again for that.
This morning I am, of course, dealing with the aftermath of my own stupidity.
I am, as I say, home from the hospital, and I feel as well as can be expected and better than I deserve.
I want to sincerely thank and apologize again to everyone involved especially Gina.
There are no words I can use to express the depth of my shame.
I hope that at least some of you will find it in your hearts to forgive me for getting so carried away and acting so stupidly.
Twitter is going wild today as it has become the primary source of information on the demonstrations and riots in Iran. This ties into something I was trying to explain to my friends a few weeks ago. The rapid advances in technology and communications are becoming tools for change, almost in real time. The days of a repressive state locking down the coverage so no one can see what they are doing to repress the people internally are almost at an end. Twitter was, almost certainly, never meant to be used this way but here we are watching what the authorities in Iran clearly do not want us to see. How long can these regimes retain power when the people of their countries and their neighbors stand together and say "ENOUGH!" remains to be seen. However, I believe it will be less time than it would have been with the technology of even ten years ago.
Power, and Freedom, to the People.
