What I Really Want to Say

My New Project Launches: ReelChanges.org

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:54:05 -0800

We launched ReelChanges.org today. I could not be more excited or more proud. It's the project I've been dropping hints about in this space for months. Given the trailblazing nature of our venture, I never knew exactly how much I should say or write about what we were doing before we were actually ready to do it. My big fear, of course, was that someone else or some other group would get a jump start on us in organizing the community of users whose participation is critical to our early success. But thanks to a high-profile launch at a well-attended conference and this week and some kind blog posts by two of those present (here and here) ReelChanges site registrations are already taking off. We could not be off to a better start. I feel like ten thousand pounds have been lifted off my shoulders. I may even start returning social phone calls again soon. The demo was well-attended. People were interested and supportive. In fact, I could almost see the wheels turning in some of their heads as they were stimulated by what they saw and by what ReelChanges could mean for them and for journalism. It was also an incredible relief to finally be able to "show our work" after so many months. So, what have we created?

Jokerman by Bob Dylan

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 14:00:32 -0800

Jokerman by Bob Dylan is one of my favorite songs of all time. A good friend just passed along this wonderful version: What an incredible talent. We won't see his likes again.

Google's "White Space" FCC Proposal Heralds New Day for Telecom and Broadcasting

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:42:05 -0800

I hope today's news today that Google has written a formal letter to the Federal Communications Commissions requesting permission to use so-called "white space" spectrum on an unregulated basis is the first shot in a long overdue legal fight to free our nation's airways from unnecessary, counterproductive over-regulation that primarily benefits a handful of enormously powerful, well-connected media and telecommunications corporations. As I explained in a column some years ago, the federal government's current spectrum allocation policies, which were established decades ago, have long since become technologically obsolete and completely unnecessary for the purposes that were originally intended and that were narrowly permitted under the Constitution, namely, to prevent signal interference that would otherwise have made commercial broadcasting impossible. That was true then. But it has not been true for many years, perhaps decades now. If Google puts up its dukes and really fights this fight it is hard to see how the U.S. Supreme Court will have any rational choice other than to throw out the fed's current rule-making authority in the spectrum allocation business in favor of requiring the FCC to enact regulations that permit spread spectrum or spectrum sensing technologies that enable anyone to use the airwaves without hurting anyone else and, most importantly, without government permission. In the end, it's a free speech issue. If the federal government does not have to restrict the use of the airwaves to enable broadcasting then why on earth should it do so? Up til now, the big money has all been behind allowing the federal government to allocate spectrum that just a few huge companies can then control. Google is the first big player to take the public interest side of this fight. The giant search engine company has the financial resources to prevail in the federal courts and, if needed, in Congress. So kudos to Google for taking the first step in what could be a long but very worthwhile legal battle. If Google forces the spread spectrum or spectrum sharing issue in the courts the only way they and the American public can lose is if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to shred constitutional protections for free speech and freedom of the press.

Eeeek! I lost everyone's email address!

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 20:58:26 -0800

Eeeek! Followed by ugh... I just realized that my email address book was one of the items not saved after my hard drive crash on Thursday. I was able to resurrect about a dozen addresses from memory, but the rest, 15 years worth maybe, are gone. Lost little electrons on a now inoperable encrypted hard drive. What a strange feeling. Anyway, if you are a friend or contact, even if you have recently been in touch with me via email, please do me a favor and send me an email asap, empty is fine, so I can add you back to my address book. It's a drag, but considering the stuff I did save, it could have been much worse. I know many of you check in here from time to time, so please do help me keep in touch.

Hewlett Packard is Back: Stock Price to Follow?

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 21:39:00 -0800

I went shopping yesterday at Fry's and online to replace my less than 2-year old Sony Vaio desktop PC after its very large and very unreliable hard drive went fully belly up, clunk, scrape, blue screen of death and all (yes, I was reasonably fully backed up, whew, and warning to the wise: these things do happen, although it is the first time it ever happened to me...) Anyway, I was blown away, really quite impressed, and totally surprised to end up buying a Hewlett Packard PC, my first ever HP-PC. If my experience is common, I suspect it means HP will continue to gain market share.

Memo to Blogosphere: Let's Drop the Term Mainstream Media -- "MSM" -- and Instead Use Corporate-Owned News Media -- "CONM"

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:21:41 -0800

I've been wanting to suggest this for quite some time, so here goes. Memo to bloggers everywhere, on both the Left and the Right: Please, let's all drop the misleading and unhelpful acronym "MSM" from our shared vocabularies as bloggers and use the term "Corporate-Owned News Media" or "CONM" instead. Here's why:

Not This Time: Obama on Guilt by Association

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 09:42:50 -0800

From Senator Obama's speech today, "Toward a More Perfect Union":

"We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies. We can do that. But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change."

Must Obama Answer for Rezko, Power and Rev. Jeremiah Wright?

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:29:20 -0800

Is anyone else getting just a little bit sick of the corporate news media's relentless guilt by association smears on Senator Barack Obama? After months of pummeling him with charges that did not stick, his critics have evidently decided one way to cut him down to size is to continually link him with other people he knows who have screwed up in some way.

Weintraub Cites Kenworthy's Work on Income-Inequality

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 18:17:45 -0800

My cousin, sociologist Jeff Weintraub, just forwarded a highly informative post, must reading, that excerpts the work of his friend, Lane Kenworthy. Both deserve praise for bringing scholarly attention to a topic that is generally met with copious amounts of denial here in Silicon Valley. Perhaps some facts will help. Couldn't hurt. Here are some excerpts of Weintraub's excerpts of Kenworthy's highly useful post:

Gaining Traction in the Blogosphere

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:08:15 -0800

I just learned that Blogged.com has named my humble little outpost in the blogosphere the 10th best blog focused on higher education policy issues. Poking around, I also found out I am 12th on their list of best blogs with content related to the Democratic Party and, by the skin of my teeth, also on their list of the country's top 100 political blogs. Naturally, I'm flattered.

Obama Must Rise Above Clinton's Fear-Mongering

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 14:33:02 -0800

Okay, so I was wrong. I thought voters would see right through Senator Hillary Clinton's fear-mongering "kitchen-sink" tactics, and particularly that deplorable "it's 3 A.M" ad she ran, and toss her to the curb in Texas and Ohio. Instead, her tactic of literally scaring up votes still works despite the GOP's recent overuse of Reichstagian politics. We're sure to see more of the same from her. That's so sad. And a tiny bit scary, because it's beginning to look like Senator Clinton feels that to save the American political village she needs to burn it down first. I wonder if, deep down in her heart, Clinton really thinks it is a good thing, part of what she always wanted to do with her life, to spend millions of contributor dollars seeking to capitalize on the fears of the American public. That is exactly what she is doing with all those venomous ads, her many innuendos, and her increasingly personal derision of her opponent and his capacity to inspire others. So how should Senator Obama respond? First...

Friends Create Obama Works Website

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:23:57 -0800

Some of my friends recently created a new website that focuses on Senator Barack Obama's appeal to working families. In addition to trying to perform a public service, I think they also want to give the Obama campaign a new online resource they can use as the two remaining Democratic presidential campaigns battle for working class eyeballs online -- and for their votes. It's often said that people vote their pocketbooks. So putting together a website that focuses on bread and butter issues makes sense. You can check it out here.

Hillary Clinton Plays the Fear Card in Texas

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:27:47 -0800

I hate to sound like a Hillary basher. Really, I am not. In fact, I used to truly admire the woman. But I'm simply astonished that she has stooped to Karl Rovian fear-mongering in her now desperate attempt to derail the Obama juggernaut.

NAFTA Stance Hurts Obama and Clinton in Silicon Valley; Boosts McCain

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:54:51 -0800

I cringed yesterday as I watched Senators Obama and Clinton duke it out in Ohio over who is more anti-NAFTA. The whole thing left me wondering if the candidates realize they may be jeopardizing their ability to win California in the general election. To be sure, the stridently anti-NAFTA rhetoric plays well in certain sectors, including some rust bucket states. But it's poison here in Silicon Valley and, if it continues, the anti-trade rhetoric could help push Silicon Valley's generally moderate money and power base toward the likely GOP nominee, Senator John McCain, in the general election. It's that serious.

Stanford Finally Waives Tuition for Middle Income Families: It's About Time

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:18:12 -0800

Today's news that Stanford University plans, at long last, to waive tuition for students from lower and middle income families is so overdue, so incredibly overdue, the appropriate response is not "right on!" but "what on earth took them so long?" Along with many others, I started pushing for this morally imperative move more than a decade ago. Stanford's decision to finally do the right thing comes so late as to be a permanent embarrassment. Let's remember that it comes after Harvard and many other top colleges made similar changes in policy and after a U.S. Senator, a Republican at that, indicated he might hold hearings on the students-last endowment management policies at institutions such as Stanford. Facing competitive pressures for the best students, and a possible Senate hearing that would have been highly embarrassing, Stanford finally caved in and did what it should have done decades ago. In each of the essays I've written on this topic I asked a variation on the following question: "How much money does Stanford, and similar private schools, feel they need to have in their endowments before they will be willing to spend some of that money to provide free educational opportunities to the needy students whose faces are used on their fund raising brochures?" Apparently the correct answer was $17.1 billion.