Of course, it goes without saying that all calls will be monitored. Still, unrestricted cell access opens up the Cuban market to much more revenue (which is what they’re after) and allows Cubans much less restricted access to information in the outside world. Will this new found freedom also extend to Wireless Internet?
Cuba allows unrestricted cellular phone service | Reuters
The Cuban telecommunications monopoly ETECSA said it would begin mobile phone service for the general public in the next few days.
“ETECSA is able to offer mobile phone service to the public,” it said in a statement published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.
O.K., I have generally avoided the Ron Paul thing where possible. He’s a principled guy and says what he honestly believes, and for that, he is to be commended in this world of otherwise duplicitous politicians. I can further understand the attraction for a guy who will not allow politics to dampen his beliefs or curb his message. Normally, such backbone is a sign of intelligence.
It’s just unfortunate that, in this case, the guy’s fucking nuts. That’s the only down side, though I must admit it’s a formidable obstacle to the presidency. Have a look at this supposed bedrock Republican trashing the only Republican I’d consider voting for:
Folks, this one’s like shooting ducks in a barrel. Ducks with unusually large ears. But let’s line ‘em up, shall we?
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The below-linked article on Pakistani President Musharraf’s vow to end the military emergency state in that country contains an interesting and perhaps enlightening epitaph to his military/political career. It’s a great lesson in what the politics of power will get you, in Pakistan or in the States:
Musharraf Says He Will End Emergency Rule by Dec. 16 – washingtonpost.com
At first, many Pakistanis welcomed the new military leader, a moderate Muslim with a winning manner who pledged to bring about sweeping political, social and economic reforms.After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Musharraf quickly sided with the West against the Taliban movement in neighboring Afghanistan.
But Musharraf began to lose support in Pakistan as his policies were resisted by domestic interest groups, Islamic extremism spread and he attempted to legitimize his rule by holding elections that monitors said were badly flawed. The low point came last March, when he tried to depose the chief justice of the Supreme Court, setting off a protest movement by the legal community that gained wide support among the civilian populace.
“This has been like a Greek tragedy. In his struggle for political survival, General Musharraf dismantled brick by brick the positive legacy he had built,” said Mushahid Hussain, a former senior aide to Sharif who later joined Musharraf’s political coalition.
Talking Points Memo’s “Table For One” today features author and professor of law Cass Sustein. He has used his Table time to discuss a fascinating study done in Colorado exploring the effects of socialization on political opinions. Groups of basically like-minded people were first polled on political subjects, then allowed to discuss them with the group, then polled again:
Colorado Springs and the Politics of Conformity | TPMCafe
The results were simple. In almost every group, members ended up with more extreme positions after they spoke with one another. . .. . . Aside from increasing extremism, the experiment had an independent effect: it made both liberal groups and conservative groups significantly more homogeneous—and thus squelched diversity.
“Extremism” is perhaps a poorly-chosen word for what he’s talking about, as furious commenting suggests. The point is that people of like minds, when discussing politics at any length, tend to become even more strident in their beliefs and swing harder towards their respective wings. In his second installment, he goes on to explain that not only was this not any kind of specific benchmark of Internet culture, but in fact that sitting Federal judges displayed the same “joiner mentality,” leading to far more extreme positions in situations where like-minded judges sat in the same court.
What this all means for modern politics is interesting to consider. Professor Sunstein insists that the conclusions of his book are not as dire for political expression online as one might think, but certainly we can see that the blogging community has had this case-hardening effect in many quarters. There’s no question that, while I certainly have always been politically-aware, there’s never been anything in my life quite like DragonFlyEye.Net. Moreover, DFE had originally started as just an “About Me” type of webpage, and only for the purposes of practicing some of my then-hobby, web design. w00t! How times have changed!
On a more disappointing note, you can’t escape the fact that the Supreme Court is now populated by the most Conservative judges in a generation. If this idea of like-minded individuals swinging harder is true, I am very, very concerned for the future of this country with such group of men chatting amongst themselves. I wonder if Thomas and Scalia have taken to throwing stuff at Bryer and calling him a wussie. . .
Here in Monroe County, we can hope that the thinning of the Republican herd in the Legislature might have the opposite effect: in addition to the fear of losing more seats, the fact that there are less Conservative minds to speak in the Lej might hopefully mean a smoothing over of the rougher Conservative edge just by virtue of this above-cited effect. Unfortunately, the rules of the Legislature as outlined by the Monroe Charter are, as I understand them, entirely weighted towards the majority party, so this might be a pipe-dream.
But back to the conformity and extremity question:
I think most of us assume that the ability for the average private citizen to blog means greater diversity of thought, not conformity. Are we wrong?
It’s been a remarkably busy day today, what with the holidays coming up, and all. One thing’s for certain: you will never find yourself with a lack of work as a web designer for a consumer product corporation around the holidays!
But I wanted to speak briefly about a particular theme of Republican and Conservative politics that deserves some exploration. This is also in relation to the theme of “Government as a Public Square” that I’ve been meaning to return to and haven’t.
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I posted this article to the DFE News Updates section a moment ago (BTW, pick up the feed!), but I thought this one deserved a lot more attention than the national media has given it. A little-reported and highly important battle is being waged within the Senate over the appointment of members to the Federal Election Commission. The line is being drawn over a Hans A. von Spakovsky, who was formerly a member of the highly-dubious “Justice” Department of the Bush “Administration.”
And the battle lines are of immediate concern to the primary antagonist of the battle, Barack Obama. His political future may depend on the makeup of that body, especially given all the hanky-panky the Republicans have been willing to play. But in putting up the fight against this nomination, Obama is playing a very dangerous game for which I see only very scant chance of victory:
Senate Battle Over FEC Nominee May Hamper Agency’s Ability to Act – washingtonpost.com
“Historically, they’ve been done as a group to prevent one party’s nominees from going through and not the other’s,” Stewart said. “That’s the way we’ve always done them, and Senator McConnell sees no reason that should change.”
Obama and three other senators who have formally objected to a Senate vote on von Spakovsky said they want each FEC nominee to be voted on separately. They said it should take 60 votes for him to be confirmed.
As for the fate of the FEC if the stalemate persists, those on both sides agreed that members of the commission’s staff would be able to continue to conduct routine work, but little else would get done, at least until Bush made four new recess appointments. Such a move would mean he was conceding defeat on the von Spakovsky nomination.
I don’t mean to suggest that there aren’t perfectly good ethical reasons for concern over the von Spakovsky nomination: he has presided over some very dubious Justice decisions including the Tom DeLay Texas redistricting scheme. Even if it means a partisan fight where there has previously been none, this does seem like a fight worth having. But if the end-game here is that Bush can just nominate whomever he so chooses in a recess appointment, that’s not a game Republicans can lose by playing. If the media won’t even pay attention to the story, where is Barack’s ammunition coming from?
Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Federal Election Commission, Disenfranchisement, Florida 2000, 2008, President
Ninety dollar hammers; sixty dollar ashtrays; 10-year studies of fly crap. We’ve all heard the stories. Everywhere you look, there is another story in the media discussing the wasteful nature of government spending, pointing out the most egregious and flagrant misuse of taxpayer dollars. “The Fleecing of America,” is what it’s called on at least one news show. Even in the most nominally frugal administrations, it seems, there is no end to the pork-barrel excesses of Washington.
And all of these stories fuel the argument that government is simply too wasteful to be effective at providing much of anything to citizens. Conservative thinking says that this waste is endemic to governments, and that the private sector would be more effective at providing services. As I watch these stories, as I listen to the crowing of fiscal Conservatives about the effectiveness of corporations over government and as I watch Joe Public nod his head in agreement, I am compelled to ask a question:
Dude. Don’t you have a job?
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No kidding. These people have absolutely no shame whatsoever:
Press Briefing by Dana Perino
Q And the protests, themselves, seem to have been stilled. What do you make of that?
MS. PERINO: Well, unfortunately, intimidation and force can chill peaceful demonstrations. And reports about very innocent people being thrown into detention, where they could be held for years without any representation or charges, is distressing; and we understand that some of the monasteries have been sealed. Now, obviously, this has, again, a chilling effect on protestors, but we would ask that everyone show restraint and allow those who want to express themselves to be able to do so in Burma.
Oh, heavens! What kind of country would lock up its own citizens without a right to trial?
Technorati Tags: Burma, Dana Perino, Civil Rights
The Washington Republicans have completely lost their shit, this time. And leave it to Duncan Hunter to shovel the last of it off the train:
Think Progress » Hunter: I Will Try To ‘Cut Off Funds To Columbia University’ Because Of Ahmadinejad Speech
Earlier today, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) said in a statement that if Columbia University President Lee Bollinger “follows through with this hosting of the leader of Iran, I will move in Congress to cut off every single type of Federal Funding to Columbia University.” . . . Appearing on Fox News’ Your World with Neil Cavuto after the speech, Hunter said that he plans to follow through on his threat and will now “initiate legislation, and try to get as many people as can see it my way, to cut off funds to Columbia University.”
Anything. Anything, anything, anything to get the votes of the hard Right in this election season.
Those clever little devils over there at Ratheon have cooked up a brand new crowd-control device that’s sweeping the defense industry circles. They’re calling this new technology “Directed Energy Solutions,” and the idea is to develop weapons that can cause the subject to flee without killing them:
Run away the ray-gun is coming : We test US army’s new secret weapon | the Daily Mail
A square transmitter as big as a plasma TV screen is mounted on the back of a Jeep. When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation – similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker – that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings. It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.
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