And now that his top-secrety-international-copyright-treaty is leaking like the titanic all over the internet (maybe that’s why he wants to kill it), he’s putting himself in the position as the man who might kill the internet.

This is perhaps the most egregious sin that I could imagine a president committing. The world wide web is perhaps the single greatest achievement of the human race to date. Wow, did I just say that?

Hyperbole aside, if this treaty passes, I see three options, all of them with big lose potential.

1. In three months time it will show itself to be completely and utterly unenforceable.
2. It gets overturned in a year by the supreme court for violating almost every intention of the bill of rights and the constitution.
3. It succeeds, and the internet as we know it dies a cruel and unusual death.

Stop the insanity folks. Pirated movies and music, DRM, and other anachronistic copyright fears are not worth the possibility of losing the single greatest platform for the freedom of speech and information, for the dissemination of knowledge network known to human being since the history of human being. Oh, and did I mention the fact that its also a nearly instant and global network for communication and business and entertainment?

Hands off folks. There are other ways to get your inner Big Brother off. ‘Nuff said.

Here’s a list of links to sites that talk about it in more detail. Please peruse before the bill is passed and all links go dead…

An open letter to the EU

Michael Geist Blog

Boing Boing

Kiwi Blog: A New Zealand perspective

Senator Bayh Responds on ACTA: From Electronic Frontier Foundation

If you have any other interesting links, or care to share feedback, feel free to respond.

Gone was the sizzle and spin of a century of American political speech writing. American politicians have spent lifetimes cultivating the skill of speaking without conveying meaning. They use as many words as possibile to say as little as possible. Today, president Obama displayed a rare political quality: he used an economy of words to convey a wealth of meaning. For as long as I’ve paid attention to politics, I have witnessed it drift further and further into the hyperreal of entertainment and doublespeak. Obama has appeared as the “unexpected” that interrupts the dissemination of the hyperreal.

My generation has been waiting for that speech. We have been waiting for an America that we could take pride in building. We have waited, and waited, and waited, and have not built a damn thing! Simply because it seemed that there was nothing worth doing. The American dream seemed feeble because its current iteration was just wealth for wealth’s sake. Approaching the primaries, the country did not seem ready for Obama. During them I remember saying: “Let Hillary win and clean up Bush’s mess, then Obama can come back when he has a little more experience.”

Today, maybe for the first time, I have hope for this country. I have hope for its leadership. I have hope for its future. And somehow, I believe that as one citizen, I can play a part in building America.

And yet, the critics were not so moved. Following the address I listened to some interviews on NPR, and was very surprised at the reaction. I paraphrase: “He should have sung,” said a former speech writer. “What we got was nuts and bolts; a very matter of fact speech. You could tell that the audience wasn’t really into it. Usually Obama soars in his speeches, this was low to the ground. It was the wrong choice.” At first I was aghast. Then I mulled it over I realized, this former speech writer is out of touch. He was expecting the same old thing: heavy on the rhetoric, light on the meaning. What he failed to realize is that the audience understood that this address was not entertainment. They understood that what they were witnessing was not spectacle. It was something new, something unexpected.

Two lines from the speech mark the difference between old America and the new America that is emerging from this election. Those of us who are young enough to have formed our identity in a global age resonnate deeply with the president when he says: “that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself.” We are aware that the world is full of human beings, not nation states; and that as human beings, our interests transcend geography, race, and religion. This awareness stands in stark contrast to the isolationist policies of our ancestors.

The second line interprets much of the rest of the speech, and it is spoken to a generation that has not known how to grow up, let alone know what to do once they did. It is a line that ushers in a new era of political thought in America. Out of many memorable ones, this takes the cake: “We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.”

I walked away from that speech a different man. Though I cannot speak for America, I believe that my reaction is not unique. In the midst of doubt and apathy about an uncertain future, in the midst of what seemed like an endless process of waiting for collapse, unexpectedly, someone decided to stop waiting. Today, he stood in front of us as our new president, and I found myself wanting to stand with him.

Believe it or not, the progressive response to Obama’s press conference was a bit underwhelming. Sohighabove.com suggested that the president elect’s demeanor “bodes well…” for the coming years. But other than touting Obama’s eloquence, tone, and posture, the leftist pundits didn’t have much to say about policy. They focused more on how he said things rather than what he said.

Obama seems obsessed with the real. Sorry pundits, we’re not in a Disneyland Republic anymore. This is no longer just about entertainment. When he says that he will not underestimate the depth of this crisis, and that America is a strong and resilient country, he isn’t playing games. It will take a strong and resilient people to rebuild America. We are/have been complicit in this financial crisis, and it will take more than government handouts to set things right. This was the message that was between the lines of his speech.

I didn’t hear what I wanted to hear: new solutions. But I’m happy waiting till January.

Before the press conference Chris Matthews talked about the two ways that the government can stimulate the economy: lower interest rates and/or increased government spending (creating jobs at the expense of increasing the deficit). It will take new models to solve this crisis. Capitalism as we have known it for the last 80 years has passed away.

It is no longer a question of regulation and taxes for the rich or poor. We live in an immediate global market where we can no longer consider resource as a bottomless well. What this means is that we need to think–Obama and his cabinet need to think–in terms of the 21st c. It means we need to establish new models to deal with a problem that is both global and local, a problem that has exposed the unstable roots of western capitalism.

Alan Greenspan’s testimony revealed the carefully reasoned mistake at the center of free market ideology. I like how dispatchpolitics.com put it:

“Greenspan, 82, acknowledged under questioning that he had made a ‘mistake’ in believing that banks, operating in their own self-interest, would do what was necessary to protect their shareholders and institutions. Greenspan called that ‘a flaw in the model … that defines how the world works.’”

The flaw is that we don’t look out for our own self-interest because many of us are shortsighted enough that we don’t realize that our self-interest includes the health of those around us; it includes the health of the world around us.

In the coming months I’d like to hear Barack Obama, our president elect, clearly define an economic policy that is akin to his campaign policy. It would sound something like this: A strong and resilient America begins with a strong and resilient infrastructure. Yes, infrastructure, in this case includes people. This is where 21st c. economics shatters the economic dialogue of the last 50 years. Phrases like trickle-down economics and welfare state, the concept of a two lever financial control panel (interest rate, spending) are passe. Welcome to 2008. An infrastructure that raises the base level economic status in America is not a welfare state that ’spreads the wealth around.’

Unlike captain Picard, we don’t have di-lithium crystals. But we do have the technological means to rebuild the physical and social infrastructure here and now in our United States of America. To accomplish that, we have to adopt a new posture toward our fellow citizens, toward other countries, and ultimately toward the world. It is in understanding that our self-interest extends to our larger environment that we can rethink an infrastructure that increases the standard of living for any and all, not just the rich, not just those on welfare. Trickle-down and welfare are tired concepts; today, we have a whole new world in front of us. It is ours for the changing.

It has come to my attention that several people are slightly pleased with Obama’s election.  Some of these are so pleased that they decided to express themselves in song.  Grab a track and celebrate along . . .

Nas                 Election Night

Thom Yorke    Tchk Harrowdown Jump Remix

Common         Changes

Our group of loyal Obama supporters clicked over to Fox News to see how they were ‘covering’ the ‘news.’ Brit Hume looked like a lost child; when your reporting exists in the hyperreal, there’s nothing to do when the real comes crashing back in. We watched for a few minutes while the camera aimlessly followed a nameless blond anchor woman around the set. It wasn’t worth our time.

That’s when it started to sink in. Barack Obama is president elect of the United States of America. The words started to carry new connotations. President is no longer a word to be ashamed of. The United States of America no longer has to be a farce. I feel a little strange wearing my Planet Hollywood t-shirt today. Normally I love the irony of it. But this morning I want something more substantial than irony for breakfast. I want to wear more than irony on my sleeve.

In a way I find myself struggling just like Brit Hume–what do I do now that the real has crushed the facade? As Barack said in his acceptance speech last night (I paraphrase): “This election is not the change we seek, it is only the opportunity to make the change.”

For those of us here at Happy Mortal, let me say it: “Let the rebuild begin.” Or, in snappy talk: “Yes we can.”

Yes we can…do what? Well, that’s what we’re here to talk about. I never would have believed that so many of us would be in this together. In the hyperreal of American politics, we would have had our one night stand and gone on our merry way. Today, we wake up together with hope for the future, and a long day of work ahead of us. Somehow this changes everything, or at least it gives us the opportunity to change.

It is voting day. Most of my friends and even some of my family members are voting for Obama. I dedicate the following rant to their votes.

I am tired of old Republicans saying that young people are supporting Barack because of celebrity appeal–both his own and the celebs’ that support him. First of all, many people support Obama besides Ben Affleck and Nicole Richie. Who? Um . . . Let’s see . . .

• Jimmy Carter
• Ted Kennedy
• Colin Powell
• Madeleine Albright
• Wesley Clark
• Cornel West
• Francis Fukuyama (that deserves a whole post in itself)
• Warren Buffet
• Your Mom

Second, just because someone is a celebrity doesn’t make them an airhead (apologies to Mr. Cruz and Ms. Hilton) and just because someone is a politician doesn’t make them a smarty-head. McCain’s endorsements from Dick Cheney, George Bush, and Karl Rove don’t necessarily give him more street cred than Barack’s endorsements from Ben Stiller and Will Smith.

Furthermore (third), all of the “young people” that I know are not voting for Barack because of a celebrity’s endorsement. True, some may be swayed by Barak’s popularity, but so what? He’s popular and that makes him attractive. That is not the only reason my “young” friends are voting for him. Other reasons include:

• Willingness to engage in diplomacy
• Slightly saner energy plan
• Emphasis on education
• Running mate is not Sarah Palin
• Plan to end the war in Iraq

Fourth and finally, don’t slam “young” people just because you don’t like who they are voting for. They are the future and you should be glad they are getting involved. On that note, I still love and respect you grandpa and grandma, even though you are voting for John McCain.

Amidst the reheated rhetoric of the final presidential debate, McCain brought up a new character named Joe. This was not Biden, Lieberman, or even Six Pack, this was The Plumber. Yep, Joe Wurzelbacher, AKA Joe the Plumber, a plumber who claims he owns a business worth upwards 250k.

McCain gleefully related a conversation that Joe had with Obama on the Obama campaign trail.  Joe, an Ohio native, claimed that he wanted to buy his business outright, and complained that under Obama’s plan, his taxes would increase. And with higher taxes, he is not sure that he could make the purchase. Joe presented his “predicament” to Obama on the campaign trail, and Obama said,

“It’s not that I want to punish your success; I just want to make sure that everybody who is behind you that they’ve got a chance to success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”

McCain latched on to the “spread the wealth around” line like a bulldog latching on to a peanut butter covered flank steak, insinuating that Obama’s tax plan was ludicrous and socialist. In fact, before he even brought Joe up, McCain stated that Obama’s tax model was based on “class warfare.” Class warfare!?! Do Marxists even use that term anymore? Perhaps Obama’s plan is a little more socialist, in that it would increase taxes on a certain segment of the population (those earning 250,000 and up). But, let’s be honest, America already socializes plenty–roads, SOCIAL security, education funding, and big corporate bail outs.

Furthermore, Obama’s tax plan does would only tax someone if they earned over 250k, it does not calculate income tax based on the net worth of your business. Even more titillating are claims that Joe is not even a plumber.

So what about Joe? Will he survive? Does he even have a job? Personally, I wouldn’t worry too much. McCain’s remarks tonight have ensured that Joe will get his 15 minutes in the sun. My advice to you Joe: sell your exclusive interview to the highest bidder, so that you can buy your business no matter who wins the election. As for me, this hollow debate reminded me of my political impotency in the current system. So I’m off to join my proletariat comrades and overthrow some rich plumbers.