George Washington viewed the emergence of political parties as an unintended, and unwelcome, consequence of the republic he founded. Thomas Jefferson reveled in the viciousness of party politics and started the Democratic Party to cement his political ambitions. John Adams, the sober champion of the rule of law, tried to muzzle free speech because he […]
Obama Site to Use Social Networking, Blogs
Barack Obama said on video today that as he moves forward with the 2008 political race, he will need the help of his supporters–online. While he did not officially confirm a presidential run, Obama said in the video, "I’m excited about the possibilities of this campaign." The statement suggests that tomorrow, on February 10th at […]
Vetoing Violent Video in EU
EU Banning Violent Video Games After watching the video game "Manhunt" EU politicians agreed: Games like this must be banned. Germany the current EU president initiated the debate after several recent violent attacks in Germany committed by youths who played video games. The first example was in April 2002 when former Erfurt school pupil […]
Daylife is Epic: An Interview with Jeff Jarvis
The launch of news site Daylife almost two weeks ago was met by a flurry of feedback from thoughtful types across the web. So what happened? Bloggers alternately fawned over Daylife’s “engagingly pretty” interface and decried its lack of interactivity. TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, a Daylife investor, was disappointed at the absence of commenting and RSS […]
Iran: A Threat Ignored
In the dispute between the US and Iran it seems that the international community has shown little or no decisiveness. Iran has stated its dangerous intentions time and again yet most of the media seems too busy, too comfortable, and perhaps too confused to ask the hard questions regarding Iran. President Ahmedinajad has written an […]
Open Up the Business Model: How Citizen Journalists Get Rewarded
About 50 million Americans have added their original content to the Internet’s bounty. Most haven’t seen a dime. Five of the ten fastest growing brands on the Web rely on users for content. Most, like MySpace, Flickr and Heavy.com, do not pay their contributors. But the tide may be changing towards systems of compensation. Interestingly, […]