Robert Wright has an interesting piece over at the Times: “The Internet vs. Obama.”

“The personal computer, the Internet and allied technologies have given a new fluidity to political opposition, spawning interest groups almost overnight in response to policy initiatives.”

Essentially, Wright argued that it is so easy for special interest groups to organize via the Internet, and such homogeneity exists within the members of those groups, that it’s too easy for the special interest groups to determine which string to pull to get the puppets all riled up.

“The new information technology doesn’t just create generation-3.0 special interests; it arms them with precision-guided munitions. The division of readers and viewers into demographically and ideologically discrete micro-audiences makes it easy for interest groups to get scare stories (e.g. “death panels”) to the people most likely to be terrified by them. Then pollsters barrage legislators with the views of constituents who, having been barraged by these stories, have little idea what’s actually in the bills that outrage them.”

Wright argued that this has nothing to do with partisanship, but rather that both ends of the special interest group dial are rocking the same strategy.

The end result according to Wright: Nothing will ever get done in government, unless the nation itself is truly in danger.

Daddy likey.
Of course, I’ve always been a sucker for pop melodies, banjos, upright basses, and F-bombs. Mumford and Sons’ debut domestic release, Sigh No More, is due out February 16.
Thanks to Ebay for sharing.

I’ll be here.

In my very humble opinion, here are the 15 best independent records of 2009. What’s most striking to me about 2009 is the diversity of good records, and I think this list represents that pretty well.

Listen to the Best of 2009 show now, via archived streaming.  Read the rest of this entry »