tankt

On the subject of George W. Bush’s recent speech comparing the Vietnam war with his war in Iraq, and suggesting in vain (yes, both meanings apply here) that leaving too soon was the error in the first just as it would be in the second, Josh Marshall saidbest:

We can debate the ways to fix things. But let’s not deny that Bush’s folly was an unforced error, a foreign policy catastrophe of truly unique proportions in the annals of American history.

This man is a farce and a disgrace. Need (more) proof? He willfully continues to destroy the entire country of Iraq, and both morally and financially bankrupts his own in the process, all in an embarrassingly futile attempt to deny these simple truths: the war is lost, his policies have backfired in the worst possible way, and perhaps more importantly to him, his legacy is now in shambles.

Slowly catching up on the past two weeks…

John Gruber, on the unique constraints and enormous potential of the iPhone interface, saidbest:

The iPhone’s screen measures just 3.5 inches, but it’s now the biggest frontier in interface design.

I am so much more dependent on my iPhone after traveling for the past two weeks. It performed flawlessly. In fact, I have since become very attached to Twitter’s mobile interface (it’s much less cluttered) and I am truly blown away by the iPhone specific Facebook interface (though far from perfect, it may be the one thing that keeps me interested in Facebook, for now). I have an idea for game too, but no idea how to make it happen. =)

Fred Wilson, on the near ubiquity of Twitter and his desire (mine too) to see it work natively with Facebook, saidbest:

I want to use Twitter to update my Facebook status. I don’t update my Facebook status. I twitter it to my blog, my friends phones, and countless other places on the web. I hope that Facebook will be another of those places soon.

Easy prediction: Twitter is the next big thing for everyone. My mom will never join Facebook, but I bet she’s following my tweets by year’s end, and adding her own shortly thereafter. Without a doubt.

Khoi Vinh, on consuming information online not for convenience alone but for the opportunity to do something with it, saidbest:

But, truth be told, the lion’s share of my recreational non-fiction reading happens online now. It’s not just that the diversity of content and the immediacy of that content is so much richer online, it’s the fact that there’s so much more one can do with content when it lives online.

Even my modest attempts at joining the conversation are incredibly satisfying and richly rewarding. I find I’m much more engaged with my thoughts, more coherent in their expression, and more passionate in their application (no doubt much to my father’s dismay).

Seth Godin, on using contrast to define an identity, saidbest:

One of the hardest things to do is invent a brand with no opposite. You don’t have an anchor to play against.

Perfectly obvious, yet often forgotten, and even then rarely done well. See the following for proof.

Digby, on the overwhelming data that indicates an incredible opportunity for Democrats to change the terms of debate in America, saidbest:

But you have to be optimistic, at least, that the American people are eager to hear a new story. The question is whether the Democrats can tell it.

I have some thoughts here, as you might imagine. Now if only I can find the time…

Peter Semmelhack, on the absolute brilliance of his just-announced Fred Wilson-backed company, BUG Labs, saidbest:

So what is BUG exactly? It’s Legos meets Web services & APIs. Imagine being able to build any gadget you wanted by simply connecting simple, functional components together. Now imagine being able to easily program, share and connect these gadgets in interesting ways. In essence, we’re building an open source-based platform for programmers to build not only the applications they want but the hardware to run it on.

You had me at legos. Sign me up now!!

Umair Haque on the creative bankruptcy, strategic blunders, and epic failure of imagination of old media’s new internet plays, saidbest:

More simply: before you can worry about capturing value, you’ve gotta understand how value is created.

There is a lifetime of wisdom in that one simple sentence, and a fortune for whomever figures out how best to apply it.

John Edwards, on the dichotomy of being hopeful by nature but incredibly frustrated by world we have allowed George W. Bush to dictate, saidbest:

“I’m a naturally optimistic person who feels an outrage that should be expressed, and I think that will come across as genuine and authentic. There is no strategy to it. I just have to be myself.”

This is me to a tee. Consider yourself warned. =)

On the indisputable fact that George W. Bush hides behind the troops to deflect criticism and deny the failure of his policies, and that the only way we can do anything about it is to change the terms of the debate, Wes Clark saidbest:

We need to stop arguing over the troops or their tactics but raise the debate to the administration’s strategies and policies in this region. Here’s why. We can’t succeed in Iraq with more troops, no matter how good they are, because we can’t succeed in this war just by killing people or intimidating the opposition.

He continues:

The administration doesn’t want to talk about this. They want to talk about troops. They want to say they support our troops, and if we question the numbers of troops or their effectiveness, they want to say we don’t support our troops. That we’re not patriotic, and if we’re not patriotic, then we don’t have a voice.

When we argue about troops, what we’re doing is we’re playing on George Bush’s home court. We’re not going to change the policy by arguing about the troop strength. We’ve done it. We’re on record. We want the troops home, but we must raise the dialogue. Take it away from George Bush’s safe ground of troops and people in uniform and “How dare you question these Generals and these people in uniform that are so patriotic,” and say, “No, we’re not questioning the Generals. Mr. President, we are questioning you.”

The only person who can make a difference is the person who controls the overall strategy in the region. We must make the debate about George Bush and his failure of leadership.

He’s absolutely right. In fact, I think this line in bold is the answer to a good number of recent battles we should have won but did not…

On the subject of the four seasons, and the joy of being back in the sweltering heat and humidity of my youth, rather than the distinct lack of either in my current coastal California life, Doc Searls saidbest:

So I’m thinking that now, in the middle of a summer night on a Baltimore porch, soaked in sweat, that I’m getting my edge back. If you’re not actually burning or freezing, heat and cold are just sensations. You can call them discomfort if you like, but they’re a small price to pay for experiencing nature’s cyclic perfections.

I wholeheartedly agree. I am back in Bryant Park again, where I have been for the past few days, sitting beneath a canopy of London plane trees and watching for my caterpillar friend. The sun is shining brightly, puddles from this morning’s thunderstorm are slowly burning off, birds are chirping above the din of sirens and traffic, and people are moving at a much more leisurely pace…

It’s 10:45 am in New York City, and already the temperature is above 80°, which feels like 100° due to the humidity. Gone are the three layers of clothing I normally wear just to get through a typical day in San Francisco. I am in shorts and a shirt, and already drenched with sweat. I am in heaven.

As I finished that last sentence, Jason Kottke twittered:

The city is in chaos today. Hot + flooded subway + fistfights to get on buses. Can the humidity be over 100%?

I <3 NY.

On the entrenched power of telecom companies and their blatant attempts to obstruct any innovation that they cannot exploit financially, Fake Steve Jobs saidbest:

Honestly, this is why Google wants the FCC to free up the wireless spectrum and let customers put any phone on any network. Well, okay, that’s not really why Google wants that. But anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Cell phone carriers suck. They’re orifices. They’re yet another example of an industry that thrives only by exploiting customers and treating them like shit. Lock-in, two-year contracts, screwing you on every little feature. Damn. Someday, I hope not too long from now, we are going to look back on this era of wireless telecom in horror, not believing we ever had to put up with such bullshit.

In a similar vein, but with respect to the music industry instead, Bob Lefsetz saidbest:

It’s like we’re living in a third world country, ruled by iron-fisted fascists, whose way of dealing with public unrest is through force and violence. Yup, a college student getting sued for file-trading faces violent upheaval in his life. But the copyright bullies don’t care. But those copyright bullies won’t continue to rule. How do I know? Because they’ve been cutting off their nose to spite their face.

I realized some number of years ago that our entire economic and political structure is predicated on protecting the status quo. Sure, the rich and powerful (republicans) talk a good game, droning on and on about the free market, competition, etc., but look beneath the surface: their power derives from an entrenched and incredibly powerful ‘big business’ constituency and their policies do everything possible to keep both of them in power. We need to realize that our continued silence makes us complicit in this charade.

With that in mind, I thought of a simple but potentially game-changing idea, something that cannot be reconciled with the policies republicans continue to advocate. It’s fundamental, foundational, memorable, and uniquely all our own: Profit from progress, not the past.

Progress by its very definition means“to move, go, or proceed forward; to advance; to improve; to become better or more complete.” That is what it means to be a progressive. Conserve by its very definition means to “save for later use; to protect an environment.” Let’s be clear here, the only thing conservatives wish to protect is their own power: just take a look at what they do and who they help with their power.

Republicans have masterfully manipulated America into permitting, but not supporting, their platform. America is begging for a change, but we must do more than just say “we’re not republicans.” We must articulate a much more promising future, a way out of the darkness of the past seven years of fear and outright failure.

A focus on progress suggests a true marketplace of ideas, where each and everyone of us has an equal opportunity to create and participate. We must continue to actively advocate for this world, it is perfect counterpoint to the George W. Bush era, and a much needed breath of fresh air in our national discourse.

On the sincerity and authenticity that comes only from allowing anyone and everyone to speak on the behalf of the company at large, Rob (the “CEO” of Etsy) saidbest:

As I see it, large corporations try to sanitize all their outgoing messages for the sake of keeping face. It is very easy to identify this kind of behavior. Whenever you read something and it sounds like a series of pre-made phrases strung together, instead of a human being speaking, this is sanitized communication. To me, this stuff sounds inhuman.

I want Etsy to stay human. This means allowing each person’s voice to be heard, even if it’s squeaky or loud or soft. I will not put a glossy layer of PR over what we do. If we trip, let us learn from it instead of trying to hide it; when we leap, let’s show others how to leap. Hence the title of this whole blog post: Open Etsy.

The first paragraph is nothing new, but the second (especially the part I bolded) is both brilliant and beautiful. It’s an amazing end to such an incredible post.

On the imperative that designers must be not only engaged early in the process of creating products, but also in the development of the marketing / messaging and even the larger business strategy, Joshua Porter saidbest:

Now, ask any designer and they’ll tell you that design is about communication. But, how effective can designers be if they don’t have any seat the table where the communication is being decided?

Design can be so much more than a simple veneer. Done well, it can permeate both the product and the process with a unique and instantly identifiable personality. And that, in my opinion, is a worthwhile endeavor, as it brings a competitive advantage that very few can duplicate.

On the 2008 Presidential election, and the blatantly bigoted and increasingly dictatorial “Rush Limbaugh inspired” platform of the republicans, Digby saidbest:

In spite of their paeans to patriotism and religion, I have always believed that the heart of the conservative movement was really just simple racism and authoritarianism and all their bleating about “values” is a nothing more than a weapon with which to hit Democrats over the head. After all, the highest rates of divorce, single motherhood and abortion are in the deepest of conservative red states. There’s a lotta preachin’ but not a lot of practicin’.

And on Rudy Guiliani in particular:

He has to go straight for the Republican id. And unsurprisingly the polls indicate that the Republican base is liking what it hears. And why wouldn’t they? Rudy’s campaigning as if he were a right wing talk show host. They didn’t care that Rush was a thrice married drug addict and they don’t care that Rudy’s a thrice married, pro-choice cross dresser. They just hate Democrats, period, and they don’t care what you do or even what you believe, as long as you hate Democrats too. Rudy is the first full-blown dittohead presidential candidate.

We’ll have to see if the country at large wants to take a trip to Limbaughland in the general, but if I had to guess, I’d say Rush’s schtick is way tired except to the hardocre talk radio haters. To the public at large it sounds like political Hootie and the Blowfish — a bunch of bad songs that were way overplayed and are now hideous reminders of an era that’s mercifully passed.

I do hope she’s right, but we have been waiting for the right’s implosion for far too long now For some strange reason the left continues to bail them out — witness their most recent capitulation on the TSP bill Bush pushed through Congress. Whatever happened to “When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.”

On the growing need for the right to shift attention and accountability from the Iraq debacle in particular and the George W. Bush presidency in general, Josh Marshall saidbest:

As the war for faux-democracy looks more and more like a debacle, the lure of authoritarianism at home becomes greater and greater for the war’s dead-end defenders. And as redeployment looks more and more likely, they have to keep raising the stakes on the consequences of doing so. Apparently our whole future, our honor, destiny, certainly our safety from the Iraqi insurgents who will restart the insurgency in the US — all of this is in the balance. The stakes must keep rising because that is, paradoxically, the only way for them to avoid taking responsibility for their failures. And cowardice that militant, in a faction within the body politic, is dangerous for the rest of us.

We clearly desperately need to come up with a response to this.

On the subject of Bill O’Reilly and his thinly-veiled, ill-conceived attempts at demonizing the vibrant community at Daily Kos, Nightprowlkitty saidbest:

I hear posters sometimes say “we’re better than that” or “we’re better than them.” I don’t agree. I think our faults, our weaknesses, as human beings, are no different than the 29%’ers. We can be just as petty and small.

But our ideas and values, those are very different indeed. We believe in giving folks a hand up, not leaving them to fend for themselves. We believe government can work for everyone, and that the people of this country, given a fair voting system, will do the right thing in electing representatives that reflect that notion. We believe that working together we can solve the problems of our country, that no one should be left behind and no one is not worth helping.

…

And that is what the O’Reilly’s and Coulters and Roves and Cheneys are so afraid of, why they attack us personally and try to shift the debate to that level — because they know they will lose if that debate is about ideas rather than who’s more holy and pure and without sin.

I have followed Daily Kos for as long as I can remember, well over four years (largely due to Howard Dean in fact), and I still frequent this site more than ten times a day, if not more. I read just about everything that gets front-paged and/or pushed to the top of the recommended list, but in spite of that I have never seen that picture of Bush and Lieberman. Yes, it’s tacky and tasteless (and funny too), but it’s so far removed from the typically thoughtful tone of the vast majority of posts.

Chris Dodd effectively and courageously echoed some of the same thoughts as well:

He did not apologize for engaging the Daily Kos community and neither should we for believing in it. It’s well past time for us to recognize our growing clout in the political process, and to use our power to shift the debate. We are far from perfect, but thankfully perfection is not our goal. We simply seek the opportunity to pursue policies that benefit more than the wealthy few, that support and nourish those in need, and that give life to innovation and new opportunities for all.

Is that hateful? Is that un-American? I think not, and I believe the American people will agree if we can find a way to cut through this crap. It’s demagoguery pure and simple.