See you at the Howard Dean Meetup tonight.

What’s MeetUp? It’s an online service that lets people organize real world meetings. Once a month, on the same day, supporters of Howard Dean meet in lots of cities around the country. If you want to go tonight – it’s just a meet-and-talk sort of thing – sign up at MeetUp and then show up at 7:00PM at Coogan’s, 171 Milk St., Boston, MA (map). (MeetUp seems to be quite a clue-y sort of outfit. Check the “about” page.)

Who’s Howard Dean? Oy veh!

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Larry Lessig urges us all to sign a petition:

We have launched a petition to build support for the Public Domain Enhancement Act. That act would require American copyright holders to pay $1 fifty years after a work was published. If they pay the $1, the copyright continues. If they don?t, the work passes into the public domain. Historical estimates would suggest 98% of works would pass into the pubilc domain after 50 years. The Act would do a great deal to reclaim a public domain.

This proposal has received a great deal of support. It is now facing some important lobbyists? opposition. We need a public way to begin to demonstrate who the lobbyists don?t speak for. This is the first step.

And, yes, if Larry Lessig jumped off a bridge, I’d jump off a bridge, too. But we really don’t want Larry even thinking of jumping off a bridge, so sign the freaking petition. The Public Domain Enhancement Act would have the effect of making reverting to the public domain the default after 50 years by putting up the lowest conceivable barrier against it. Great idea.

The public domain gives ideas breathing room, and we need some fresh air in this country!

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If you want to get together with other supporters of Howard Dean in your area, the next national set of local meetings (if you know what I mean) is the evening of June 4. Go here to get details.

The Dean campaign is making cool use of this MeetUp facility. And read the staff’s blog. Damn good.

BTW, did I ever mention that I wrote an article reviewing the candidate’s web sites? Heck, I’ll give it it’s own blog entry…

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Billmon has knit a noose out of quotes.

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Shock and Awe worked. It turned out not to work exactly as advertised in Iraq: the Iraq military didn’t fold once they saw our might on display. But that’s not what I think the aim of Shock and Awe was.

Take Shock and Awe as applying not to the three nights of massive bombing but to the entire Iraqi campaign. Its target wasn’t the Iraqi enemy but the rest of the world. And it worked. Our political system is in shock and awe: The Democrats have scattered like ants in shock and awe of the Bush Administration’s willingness to lie, threaten and stuff socks down its crotch to get a war that it wanted for reasons it couldn’t explain. The world is shocked and awed to learn that the US can and will slam anyone into the sand we want to, no questions asked, no recourse allowed.

Shock and awe worked.

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I’ve posted an article called “The Internet Constituency” that reviews the webbiness of the various presidential candidates’ web sites. Only two show any promise, IMO. One of them I actually like: Howard Dean‘s, especially his staff’s weblog. See, for example, the currently lead article on the Dean site which is an open letter to the FCC opposing the proposed rule change that would make it even easier for the media to concentrate itself into a ball so dense that no light escapes from it.

Here’s the opening of the article:

The Republic of the Internet certainly has been downgraded since the day John Perry Barlow declared its independence in 1996. The Internet is not a nation, it’s not a state, and it’s not even a county. But is it at least a constituency? If so, most of the presidential candidates are campaigning there about as seriously as they are in Alaska: it’ll be surprising if their campaign plane alights there even to refuel…with one encouraging exception.

(Disclosure: I’ve done a little volunteer work for the Dean campaign.)

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Here’s something else W can add to his presidential resume: He is the first president to know how to roll a joint with one hand.

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Here’s George Bush’s resume, as reconstructed by Kelly Kramer. An excerpt:

Accomplishments as president:

Shattered record for biggest annual deficit in history.

Set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period.

First year in office set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history.

Set the record for most campaign fund-raising trips than any other president in US history.

In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job.

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The ACLU is backing the Freedom to Read Bill that would tell the government to back off from routinely watching what we take from libraries and buy from bookstores. As Cory says in BoingBoing, “let’s get this bill passed and then take on the rest of the evil PATRIOT act.”

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Some pointers to articles about Leo Strauss’ effect on politics at One Father for Dean. The Asia Times article actually mentions Heidegger. Wow! Are my seven years of grad school becoming relevant? Can I use this to bootstrap myself into a senior policy advisor position? Let’s all hope not! (Thanks to Robert Walikis for the link.)

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