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The Moderate Voice

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The Fundamental Problem In Publishing: ‘You Don’t Own The Audience’

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From Mike Shatzkin's sobering reality check about the business model of book publishing: Until the digital age, content was scarce. It wasn’t scarce because people didn’t create it; it was scarce because it required an investment to distribute it. That’s no longer true. Anybody with an Internet connection can make anything they write (or snap or video or … [Read more...] about The Fundamental Problem In Publishing: ‘You Don’t Own The Audience’

Glenn Greenwald Hits The Healthcare Debate Nail On The Head

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Many of the commenters I admire most have been saying that the Left/Right dichotomy is inadequate to explain current dynamics and that Insider/Outsider along with Incrementalist/Radical are better descriptors. Glenn Greenwald notes this pitch perfect: One finds [corporatism] in far more than just economic policy, and it's about more than just letting corporations do what … [Read more...] about Glenn Greenwald Hits The Healthcare Debate Nail On The Head

Will Progressives Listen to Krugman or Dean?

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Weighing in on the side of progressives who believe the Senate health care bill should pass, Paul Krugman admonishes his political cousins to "take a deep breath, and consider just how much good this bill would do, if passed — and how much better it would be than anything that seemed possible just a few years ago." I rarely read Krugman. He too often breathlessly demands … [Read more...] about Will Progressives Listen to Krugman or Dean?

The Era of Least-Worse Solutions

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As the century's first decade winds down, what stands out to someone who has lived through many of them is how America's problems today are being "solved" by angry confrontations, sour and inconsistent compromises, hopeless shrugs and variations thereof. Health care reform, the Afpak war, the crippled economy, the imperiled climate--all are being confronted, despite a … [Read more...] about The Era of Least-Worse Solutions

And a Merry Christmas to all

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For the last few weeks of the year, regardless of the heated debates going on in Washington and the various crisis situations plaguing the nation, I will be writing a bit less than usual. (You may have noticed a slowing of output already.) This is nothing unusual for me, as this is a season for some of us to focus on things closer to home, friends and family. But before those … [Read more...] about And a Merry Christmas to all

The Climate Summit and the Challenge of Governing a Planet: Le Figaro, France

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'CLIMATE FAIR' How should one judge the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen? While the event has another day to run, few believe a major overhaul of how humans conduct their affairs on this planet is in the offing, and almost no one is satisfied. Reflecting Europe's general consensus that more and better global governance is inevitable, Le Figaro's Pierre Rousselin … [Read more...] about The Climate Summit and the Challenge of Governing a Planet: Le Figaro, France

Tiger Woods: Fallen Star for a Public Age – de Volkskrant, The Netherlands

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Taking a break from earth-shaking issues like climate change, war and the never-ending difficulties in the Middle East, columnist Nazmiye Oral of de Volkskrant of The Netherlands writes that the troubles of Tiger Woods are a metaphor for life in the modern world - a period in history in which everyone seems to want to live life in public - as long as no blemishes appear on the … [Read more...] about Tiger Woods: Fallen Star for a Public Age – de Volkskrant, The Netherlands

Credit Where Credit is Due: YouTube Leads to Hollywood Contract; Million Selling Album

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Lots of Techmeme discussion around news that Uruguayan producer Fede Alvarez's $300 short film uploaded to YouTube in November 2009 (above) got him a $30m contract to make a Hollywood film: "I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios," he told the BBC's Latin American service BBC Mundo. "It was amazing, … [Read more...] about Credit Where Credit is Due: YouTube Leads to Hollywood Contract; Million Selling Album

Just a National Mandate to purchase Private Health Insurance

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That’s what healthcare reform has come down to: Every person who is not a government employee, and who is too poor or too old, would have to purchase private health insurance directly or through an employer. Those that make less than the Federal Poverty Level (about $21,200 per year for a family of 4 living in the lower 48 states) and those over 65 who have Government … [Read more...] about Just a National Mandate to purchase Private Health Insurance

Innocent Man Freed After 35 Years

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It's another of the sad yet joyful stories of DNA evidence helping prove a man innocent. In 1974 James Bain, then 19, was sentenced to prison for the kidnapping and rape of a 9 year old boy. Bain protesting his innocence and said he was home watching TV with his sister at the time of the crime. The conviction was based largely on the testimony of the victim who said his … [Read more...] about Innocent Man Freed After 35 Years

Al Qaeda and the Taliban Still Tied in a Knot

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Guest post by Michael Lieberman Michael Lieberman, a Truman National Security Project fellow, is an associate at Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington D.C., where he works on international regulatory and compliance issues. (The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.) This post was originally published at Partnership for a Secure … [Read more...] about Al Qaeda and the Taliban Still Tied in a Knot

The All-American Barack Obama Traveling Disaster Show

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We're a month short of a year since Barack Obama took office with sky-high approval ratings and the people prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt on a range of issues from the economy, to health care reform, to the environment. I think in order to be fair, we should acknowledge that unlike George Bush, Barack Obama has tackled head on some very difficult, and divisive … [Read more...] about The All-American Barack Obama Traveling Disaster Show

Have U.S. Drones Really Been ‘Hacked’ With $26 Off-The-Shelf Software?

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The WSJ says yes. And everyone else has picked it up and run with it. But what, precisely, does hack mean? John Biggs does some intelligent guessing: The story says, essentially, that insurgents in Iraq are “taking control” of our pilotless drones with a $25 piece of software called SkyGrabber. By “take control” the WSJ means “download video feeds … [Read more...] about Have U.S. Drones Really Been ‘Hacked’ With $26 Off-The-Shelf Software?

Full Participation for Our Women at Arms

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Did you know that, not taking into account the recent announced troop increase in Afghanistan, some 220,000 women have engaged in combat operations* in Iraq and Afghanistan? I had no idea that so many of our women in uniform had actually seen combat. And while I knew that women in our military are still barred from performing certain duties or from certain assignments, I … [Read more...] about Full Participation for Our Women at Arms

A Bird in Hand

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I have read Jon Walker's answers to Nate Silver's "20 questions for bill killers," and I don't find them very convincing. Many of them -- like the ones about the likelihood of getting a better bill through reconciliation -- are based on little more than wishful thinking. … [Read more...] about A Bird in Hand