Policy | Blacknell.net

The Debates Ought to Be Free

By MB

On October 15, 2008

On the heels of the BS attempts at private control of public discourse, the Open Debate Coalition is calling for a number of reforms to the US presidential debate process:

(1) Make raw footage of the debates part of the public domain, so that journalists, bloggers, and citizens can access it without concerns about a major network slamming them with a copyright suit. (2) Allow citizens to vote for questions in advance using the internet, so that town halls aren’t conducted at the whim of a moderator. And (3) reform or replace the Commission on Presidential Debates, a group which declines to make information on its funders public and has not released the debate rules to which both presidential campaigns have reportedly agreed.

I’m completely onboard with the first and third points.Â I like the idea behind the second, but wonder whether it would be too difficult to actually implement.Â The reasons behind my support for the first point are obvious, I hope – our political discourse should never be subject to the property claims or private control of anyone.Â As to the third, did you know about this?

This is not a commission that holds itself to iron-clad ethics rules. Anheuser-Busch has sponsored the presidential debates in every cycle since 1996 â€” as a result, its hometown, St. Louis, has hosted at least one debate in all but one of the last five presidential elections. Reports the Center for Public Integrity, “For its $550,000 contribution in 2000, the beer company was permitted to distribute pamphlets against taxes on beer at the event.”

I’m not really opposed to Anheuser Busch passing out its flyers – but what are the chances, you think, that any other flyers were permitted?

Free the presidential debates.Â More info here.

Another McCain Change of Convenience: Fair Use and Political Discourse

By MB

On October 15, 2008

In Distribution, Law, Policy, Politics, Society

John McCain, who has never previously missed a chance to play up the importance of the DMCA’s restrictions on public usage, has suffered a bit at the hands of the DMCA.Â His ads on YouTube have been the subject of takedown notices from CBS, NBC, and even CBN (the Christian Broadcasting Network).Â He’s now complaining about this to YouTube, writing a letter (PDF) that includes:

[O]verreaching copyright claims have resulted in the removal of non-infringing campaign videos from YouTube, thus silencing political speech. Numerous times during the course of the campaign, our advertisements or web videos have been the subject of DMCA takedown notices regarding uses that are clearly privileged under the fair use doctrine. The uses at issue have been the inclusion of fewer than ten seconds of footage from news broadcasts in campaign ads or videos, as a basis for commentary on the issues presented in the news reports, or on the reports themselves. These are paradigmatic examples of fair use…

Finally, something the McCain campaign and I agree on, 100%.Â But oh, wait, there’s more:

[W]e believe that it would consume few resources–and provide enormous benefit–for YouTube to commit to a full legal review of all takedown notices on videos posted from accounts controlled by (at least) political candidates and campaigns.

Ah, that’s more like it – McCain first, country second (perhaps McCain’s only reliable principle?).Â Fred von Lohmann, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, points out:

The obvious problem with this solution? It assumes that YouTube should prioritize the campaigns’ fair use rights, rather than those of the rest of us. That seems precisely backwards, since the most exciting new possibilities on YouTube are for amateur political expression by the voters themselves. After all, the campaigns have no trouble getting the same ads out on television and radio, options not available to most YouTubers.

This isn’t posturing – think about the most effective political videos you’ve seen.Â Were any of them produced by a campaign?Â I’ll bet they weren’t.Â One of the most important political projects to be undertaken in the coming years will be not only to put a halt to – but roll back – IP laws that reach beyond commerce to control political discourse and culture.Â Think we can count on McCain’s help when the time comes?

Where’s Wall Street?

By MB

On October 14, 2008

In Policy, Society

TPM highlights this Steve Pearlstein piece on the near-complete absence of the leaders of Wall Street from the bailout process:

In putting several trillion dollars in government funds on the line, the country has now done just about everything that Wall Street could have asked to address the financial crisis. The question now, as John Kennedy might have put it, is what Wall Street is ready to do for its country. So far, the answer is not much.

After getting their closed-door briefing yesterday from Paulson on the government’s latest initiatives, Wall Street’s finest literally ran from the Treasury to their waiting limousines, bypassing a media scrum eager to convey any scrap of wisdom or insight.

[ . . . ]

Their silence and invisibility throughout this crisis attests to the moral and political bankruptcy of a financial elite that is the perfect match for the financial bankruptcy they have now visited upon their investors, their creditors and their customers.

Pretty much.Â And remember, these are the same folks that the “free market” true believers will tell you ought to be left to their own devices, so (somehow) public good will result.

A Survey of Iranian Politics

By MB

On October 14, 2008

In Policy, Politics, Society

Since we’re likely to end up with an administration whose foreign policy toward Iran doesn’t begin and end with “Hulk smash!”, understanding a bit more about the power structure of the country just might be more useful than knowing about its military capabilities.Â This Foreign Affairs article is a good start down that road:

Ahmadinejad is only as powerful as he is devoted to Khamenei and successful at advancing his aims. Khamenei’s power is so great, in fact, that in 2004 the reformist Muhammad Khatami declared that the post of president, which he held at the time, had been reduced to a factotum. Blaming the country’s main problems on Ahmadinejad not only overstates his influence; it inaccurately suggests that Iran’s problems will go away when he does. More likely, especially regarding matters such as Iran’s foreign policy, the situation will remain much the same as long as the structure of power that supports the supreme leader remains unchanged.

It’s a long read, but well worth your time, I think.

A Headline You Don’t See Every Day

By MB

On October 14, 2008

In Policy, UK

From the front page of the Guardian, right now:

FTSE 100 up more than 6% as president confirms America will follow Britain’s lead

And all it took was a near-complete meltdown of the financial systems!

Like “Yankee Go Home”, But Different

By MB

On October 13, 2008

In Policy, UK

Iraq’s Prime Minister tells the Brits to get out:

British combat forces are no longer needed to maintain security in southern Iraq and should leave the country, Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, has told The Times.

Well, let’s go then.Â I’d aim for the end of the week.Â Whatever happens is on al-Maliki.

I Thought Krugman Was Good, But . .

By MB

On October 13, 2008

In Policy

I had no idea he was Nobel good.

This American Life: Another Money Ep

By MB

On October 8, 2008

In Policy, Society

Following This American Life’s extraordinarily well-received Giant Pool of Money episode, comes another look at the factors involved in the recent FUBAR’ing of the financial system.Â This episode focuses on:

[T]he 36-hour period, two weeks ago, when the credit markets froze. Plus, what itâ€™s like now for businesses to get short-term loans, and how the hardship is spreading to every sector of the economy.

[ . . . ]

[On the topic of “credit default swaps”], the show talks with Michael Greenberger, a former commodities regulator, who tells the story of when it was decided not to regulate credit default swaps. And how that decision was emblematic of the way we didnâ€™t regulate a lot of the toxic financial products weâ€™re hearing about now.

[ . . . ]

Was the $700 billion bailout bill signed into law today a good idea or a bad one?

I haven’t heard the show myself, yet*, but it’s been very well received by a number of people that I respect. You can download it for free here.Â (It’s free to listen to at the site anytime, and free to download as an MP3 until the end of this week.)

*I was driving through a part of Massachusetts when it aired. I never would have guessed that there was a a part of Massachusetts that didn’t receive NPR.