The seeds we sow today, we harvest tomorrow.

The killer app of the past few years has undoubtedly been the rise of P2P filesharing software. For the first time in human history, the creative genius of humanity has been available for public consumption for no more than the cost of their internet connection. Of course the contribution of Gutenberg can't be ignored, P2P democratized art where Gutenberg Feudalized it. All this, of course, came at a cost not readily apparent to the average consumer (and by "consumer" I mean user...not purchaser).

The threat of course is to the status quo. The system that has maintained a monopoly on music distribution is apoplectic at the thought of people all over the world contributed and sharing music with absolute strangers. But if you deconstruct their arguments, it all comes down to this...they are pissed that they are being denied to turn a profit off of album sales.

A lot has been argued about the ethics and morals of file trading. . . and I don't intend to rehash the positions of either side. Let me just point out that ethics and morality are largely defined by the contemporary age and culture. Many cultures throughout history have vastly differing ideas of property ownership, sexuality, divinity, etc... Our sense of these issues is a product of our culture...the values we inherit have been planted in the past. When we recognize this, we must consider what types of values we want the succeeding generations to uphold.

The question is on some level whether the rights of the corporation supersede the rights of the individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We talk today about the evils of file sharing...and point out that sharing files cheats musicians out of profits derived from the sale of their work. Yet we ignore the fact that the desire to create has been with humanity since humanity has been with the universe. Before there was money, there was music and art. The commoditization of inspiration has distorted our perceptions of what art is and is not.

I by no means wish to suggest that artists should not be reimbursed for their work. I have no problems with the exchange of money for art. But I do not agree with the criminilization of those who share art...especially low quality copies of art commonly available on the internet.

But, to get back to the question of how we want succeeding generations to value the public consumption of art and look upon the liberating forces of peer to peer software is still on the table. I think the commercialization and control of open access channels for the dissemination of art, files, etc... is ultimately a dangerous force.

Today we are talking about art...digital files that contain audio or visual content. In some cases we are talking about software, but in most we are talking about music and movies. If we accede control to the constructs of corporate power today, we make it all the more difficult when the stakes are raised tomorrow. Remember...it may be mp3's today, but tomorrow we will be talking about much higher stakes things.

We are not just talking about the ability to print out your own Walkman tomorrow. We are talking about the liberty to print out your own medicine to treat your own illness, all from your home PC. This technology has infinite limits. Today we speak of prototyping 3D models of solid objects, but tomorrow we will be printing replacement bio-compatible heart valves and custom patient specific medications for individual illnesses. Sure, someone out there will hold the rights to the medicine, and will want to make a profit from it... but should we allow them to control the means of distribution and prevent people who need access to such things from getting them all in the name of protecting intellectual property? I for one, think not. When the interests of the common good are in conflict with the interests of the corporation, justice should always prevail on the side of the people.

Just my .02...

-Michael

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. To be sure, this year I have much to be thankful for:

• The love and support of my family and friends.
  
• A week without my car breaking down.
• A new job.
  

Hope you all feel as fortunate and take some time out to reflect on the gifts life has given you. A special message goes out to the following:

• Jonny: Stay safe. If civil war breaks out, don't be a hero. There's no shame in keeping your head down...especially now that you have a family to think about. I'll continue hoping for a peaceful resolution to the conflict, but if there's anything I can do...
  
• Rebeka: I hope your feet feel better! Don't be afraid of the Dr.
  
• Ryan: Stay strong and continue to follow your heart.
  

-Michael

...because they're pussies!

Brought to you from our foreign correspondent: Jonny (name withheld do protect the complicit)

You have quite a bit of time on your hands yes? Checked out your blog. I don't know Mike, but I think I am loosing my edge. I have kept up with the US election and have always been surrounded by true Dems (here in PC and at SIT). The problem is that they are not as smart as they would like to think. It doesn't take a genius to deduce that there is a real problem with the Dems articulating their views in the rural US. The result is that as much as it makes people gag when they listen to the self-righteous Reps, it is equally gagging to listen to the self-righteous Dems.

I recall sitting in a theater in DC watching Moore's "Bowling" movie. What disturbed me more than the film was the way it was perceived by the audience. City folk laughing outwardly at what they see as the backwards ruralites. Quite frankly it pissed me off. As much as they like to say that there needs to be tolerance for the views of others they openly mock those same views. It is attitudes like this that caused Dean to say that the Dems need to appeal to the pick-up driving, gun toting, confederate flag waving members of our society (taken from the mouth of Jonny but I will leave him with the credit). Now we see why. And a duck hunt and store
bought hunting license is not going to do it.

But you see, Mike, the Dems are just really a bunch of pussies. And they picked a pussy to fight-the-fight for them during the last election. Flip-flop stuck because it was right. You can couch his votes in terms of high-headed, deliberative senate speak if you want (and that is what happened) but people need to face the facts that Kerry is nothing more than a professional campaigner who every 4-6 years comes out and gets his hands dirty before reclusing himself once again at his wife's mansion in Penn,
Idaho, Wyoming, DC, and MA.

So what is the problem? The problem is that Dems are turning into the Gingrich Reps of the Clinton era. They are shrill, confused, disorganized and demonize the administration in their attempts at scapegoatism. They have taken cry-me-a-river to a point where the Hoover Dam wouldn't be able to stop that flood. But most of all, they have turned the Rep Party into the seemingly big-tent party that the Dems once was. The Dems are still trying to be everything to everyone and that just doesn't work. I wouldn't vote for them. Hell..I quit voting all together!!!

Have you ever thought of why bloggers are more articulate than the Dems.....It is because the Dems are pussies.

Have you ever thought of why people like Bill Cosby are coming out and starting to raise some pertinent issues....It is because the Dems are pussies.

Why are we at war right now?....It is because the Dems are pussies.

Why was the election lost?....It is because the Dems are pussies.

Why do the Dems want out of the war (which would undoubtedly be the wrong and irresponsible thing to do now regardless of whether or not you were for or against the action)...It is because the Dems are pussies.

You can't be everything to every one and at the same time stick it to the rural guys while strutting around poo-pooing about this issue and that.

RANT OVER

Well, there you have it. Fresh from the field...

Fuck the South

Lest it be forgotten as quickly as it became part of the national post-election coping, make sure to visit FuckTheSouth before it goes away.

A humorous site, to be sure. But also representative of the us-v.-them mentality in the US political sphere.

-Michael

Disturbing, but hardly surprising...

OK, so spend a little mental capital and read this article from the Boston Globe. As my friend so appropriately put it, "Disturbing, but hardly surprising." Why is that?

This illustrates what I was saying about the corporate voice being the one that matters in the halls of congress. Who, regardless of political affiliation, could possibly think this is a good thing? I ask you, is this how you want our government to run?

It's news like this that makes we wonder just how much of a Democracy we are. Perhaps it is time to acknowledge the fact that we aren't so much a Democracy as a Capitaligarchy. Alas, suggesting America is anything but a Democracy is tantamount to treason in this day in age...but if you look at the facts, its really a stretch of the truth to suggest that we are a democracy. Business has more influence these days than the demos. (Yes yes I know...we never were a pure democracy...we were a representative democracy. It's an important point, but my point is not to split hairs between pure democracies and representative democracies...rather to point out that the populace no longer exercises significant influence on the legislative branch. Rather, its big business.)

The Politics of Repression

It’s all fucked up, isn’t it? I mean, twenty years from now, our children are going to look back on these days and question us: “Didn’t you see how bad this regime was?” They will look at as with sadness, and all their problems in life will be traced through to our complacence in allowing government to take the shape it so desperately trying to take.

What gets me is not that the government is doing what it is doing…after all, the nature of power is to acquire and consolidate power. What bugs me is how as a nation, we have caved in and acquiesced and allowed the government to take what it wants.

From the FCC to the USPTO, government is illustrating every day how it is the servant not of the people, but of industry. And we, collectively, roll over and let them continue on this course because we have a war president, or because we have been told that what is good for business is good for the citizenry, or because our commander in chief believes in God. Well, it’s all BS and really, we should be ashamed of ourselves for letting things come to this.

Big Business Does Not Need a Voice:

The idea that the halls of congress are open to big business and their lobbies is repulsive. Our elected officials play a game with us. They need our votes to get office, and they tell us that our Yet once in office their door is open only to the monied lobbies paid for by business. I mean, can you honestly say that it is in the public interest to ensure the Walt Disney Corporation gets to control the likeness of Mickey Mouse for another 50 years? It is looking more and more likely that nothing of perceived value will ever enter the public domain again so long as those who are faced with the prospect of losing their asset to the public domain have the money to pay for legislation to protect it. needs are the most important.

Is it in the public’s interest that it would be a crime to fast forward through a commercial on your TiVo? Sound ridiculous? Well, pending legislation will make it a crime. Is it in the public interest to prevent people from using certain types of software for legitimate purposes just because that same software can also be used for nefarious purposes? It is frightening how much legislation is aimed not at promoting the common good, but rather, ensuring that business can maintain their own particular strangleholds on whatever market they enjoy.

We can change the shape of government tomorrow, make it more responsive to the needs of the citizenry if we simply made it illegal for big business to lobby government for legislation. If business wants a voice, they should have to work the system as individual citizens… Under such a model, RIAA couldn’t lobby congress…but individual citizens could try to run the maze and make appointments as citizens. Really, it’s time to level the playing field. Since we can’t compete as individuals with the money and resources of industry, it is time to make those factors less decisive in determining legislation.

Get out and Protest:

Where are the protest marches on Washington demanding health care? The reason why the public gets the shaft on so many issues is because we aren’t being heard. Get 10 million people to march on Washington shouting “Health Care Now!” and see how quickly we get safe, effective, and cheap health care for all citizens. It would make your head spin…

Reintroduce the Estate Tax:

The whole notion of repealing the estate tax does nothing but ensure the reign of robber barons and ensure the continuing disparity of the American caste system. This is not a condemnation of personal wealth at all. The ambition to make buttloads of money is as American as apple pie (which itself is shares a European lineage that can be simultaneously traced to Germany, England, and France…long before this nation was ever concieved).

Look, it’s simple… make a lot of money in this life…but when you die, some of it goes back to the government and some of it goes to your heirs. When we are talking about estates, we can speak in terms of numbers that will not affect the large majority of us. What’s wrong with saying that upon death, you can give 5 million tax free to each of your heirs. Assets beyond that first five million (per heir) are taxed at increasingly higher rates. So the first 5 million is 0 tax. 5-10 million is taxed at 10 percent. 10-15 million is taxed at 20 percent, and so on and so on. Such a scheme will not remove the motivation to build wealth and it will give something back to the society that allowed such wealth the be amassed in the first place.

But, make no mistake about it…great fortunes heald in the hands of individuals and their families en perpetuity does not benefit the nation. Wealth becomes just a means of aquiring more wealth. And since wealth is a metaphor for power, the more wealth one aquires the more power can be amassed and passed on from generation to generation.

I say that it’s time to put the power back into the hands of the citizenry. Not through punatative means, mind you…but through rational redistrubtion.

Free Education:

Its time to get serious about education. Right now, education gets paid nothing but lip service. I don’t know the answers to the problem, as the problem itself is very difficult to quantify. But I would like to see a few things happen.

1) Reintroduce Civics into the core curriculum. People are becoming more and more disengaged from the political sphere and do not understand their role in a democracy.

Don’t believe me? Then go tell someone that you wrote your senator recently… Explain that you wrote him/her to explain your position on some issue and watch their expression. Chances are they will look at you as if you had three heads.

It saddens me that most people either don’t know that you are allowed to write your representatives. Those that do know this is possible wouldn’t even know how to find their contact information. But the saddest thing of all is that even for those that do know you can contact your representatives, and might have a clue as to how to get their addresses, most see it is an exercise in futility. They have already given up on participatory democracy. Get civics back into the classrooms of our Nation’s schools. Teach kids how government works, their roles in a participatory democracy, and the connections between how they can affect legislation. We can bemoan voter apathy, especially in the younger generations all we want…but we are disingenuous if we criticize this without acknowledging that most kids who graduate high school never even take a class in government.

2) Guarantee a college education for everyone who wants to go. An educated citizenry makes our country stronger. Why shouldn’t the government pick up the tab? I’m not saying that the government should pick up the tab for Harvard… but the state school system should be free. Yes, all the way through graduate school. It is, after all, in the vested interest of our nation to have an educated populace. Of course, it’s not in the best interest of business and consolidated power to have an educated populace. Rather, their needs are best met by having a complacent and technically literate populace. Don’t confuse yourself…technical literacy does not a thoughtful or educated person make.

Break the Two Party Duopoly:

The rules governing presidential debates should not be dictated by the two largest political parties. We need more parties in government. We need more voices heard.

Prevent Media Monopolies:

The very idea that a handful of companies control the news for the majority of citizens in the US Especially when these companies have vested interests in policy and political candidates. Companies should only have the ability to own one media outlet per market. is frightening.

The Start of It All

OK. This is where it all starts. Several years late to the game, as usual... Trying this whole Blogspot thing out to see if it works.