“People say ‘I’m not interested in politics,’ like it’s just another hobby, like skiing or needlepoint. But freedom isn’t free. It shouldn’t be a bragging point that, ‘Oh, I don’t get involved in politics,’ as if that makes you somehow cleaner. No, that makes you derelict of duty in a republic. Liars and panderers in government would have a much harder time of it if so many people didn’t insist on their right to remain ignorant and blindly agreeable.”

– Bill Maher

Here’s the Pop!Tech invite I’m preparing to send out to everyone I’ve communicated with in the past year or so…

I’d like to invite you to explore the unfolding global renaissance with us at our eighth annual Pop!Tech, taking place October 21 – 24. As you most certainly have already heard, Pop!Tech is a hypercharged intellectual and creative weekend when we explore …
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OK.. some of you know I’m researching cars because it will soon be time to say good-bye to my beloved and world-famous MaineI30 2000 Infiniti i30tr.

I hadn’t thought a Volvo would fit – never felt like their brand really aligned with what I’m looking for in a car. Great cars, but not my style. Then, the great Lord Randall, famed for his award-winning work at 5.1 Entertainment, suggested the relatively unknown S60R turbocharged racer .. and it has certainly caught my eye. It meets most of my requirements (with the added bonus of value – actually being worth its sticker price) so it has been added to the “short list,” which now looks something like this:

• Audi RS6 (my favorite, but at the moment it’s more than I want to spend)
• Volvo S60R
• BMW M5, but the used ones within my budget have the older electronics and have undoubtedly been driven very hard – and the RS6 has AWD, a big benefit
• Audi S4
• Mercedes AMG CLK55 or E55
• Infiniti G35 (just looks fun, but probably too small and racey)
• Lexus GS430 (if they do an AWD this fall)
• BMW 545 6-speed (nice, but hideously overpriced)
• Infiniti M45 (A solid sedan but currently very ugly. If it looks like it should for ’05, I’m tempted.)

I’m looking for something fast and fun to drive – tons of power but relatively subtle. And (although the Audis belie this) of course, I am seeking serious quality and reliability – I want to drive it, not a loaner while it’s in the shop for the fifth time in a month. That’s my primary reluctance about the Audis.

I want a sports sedan that the trained eye knows is something special, but doesn’t really scream “racer boy” or “mid life crisis.” So, something young and aggressive but understated. A 4-door sports sedan. AWD strongly preferred. 5 or 6 speed (or a fantastic tiptronic) is mandatory – prefer a stick. It must be a serious car that can be driven seriously and pushed to the limit. As many of my friends know, driving is a sport for me and I drive very aggressively … and enjoy it tremendously. I am not the type who buys a car for flash and drives it 25 mph three miles, in traffic, to work and back. I race them when I can, I chirp them between gears, I take corners in them as if I’m running from the cops (sometimes I actually am), and once in a while I’ll even flip or total one just to keep myself humble.

Ideas welcome.

I was very lucky to have joined a great luncheon at Harvard’s Berkman Center today with Howard Rheingold. Howard had joined us at Pop!Tech in 2002 and gave a great talk so I was looking forward to a refresh… some little-known personal history is that Howard was one of the few tech-community-gurus kind enough to respond to my e-mails as a college student in ’91 conducting a philosophy research project on the collision of technology and culture… it blossomed into a year-long thesis dress rehearsal and into a foundational piece of my life. He seems to enjoy it when I remind him of that .. it mattered and I am in his debt. I suppose I should send him the paper someday.

Today’s lunch was great and we covered everything from game theory to collective action to the mass media, neatly tucked into a one-hour slot. David Weinberger was there and wrote a quick blurb, and Dave Winer got it all on MP3.

Much of my interest was in hearing him speak about the intersections between mass media, political action, and technology. I still think the nut has not been cracked – there remains a mutual dismissiveness between the worlds of technology and that of public service that I’m not sure how to bridge. I think (generally speaking) technologists are dismissive of the entire political world, as if it’s almost not worth bothering with; and politicians for the most part don’t get it and so, they fear it. As a result, public officials do not attach the same value to ‘net-mediated political action as they do to meatspace-mediated political action.

I made one statement at the lunch that I’d change somewhat if I could – what I said was that part of the problem with the way mass media handles American politics (driven in part by the perceived (or, sometimes, the demonstrated) interest of their audience) is that there was a problem with “the quality of the product.” I didn’t mean the networks themselves had quality problems – what I meant was that the candidates do – there’s no one for people to get excited about. Basically, even the relatively enlightened automatically assume that political candiates are full of shit. Unfortunately, they are all too often right. How to break this vicious cycle? Will there be a watershed moment or must we continue with the thousands of cuts?

Ok I’m going to take a moment to be juvenile. Some people still look at me like I’m crazy when I say Britney Spears is a fattie. It may be because *I’m* not the leanest dude on the block. Or even in the building. Or maybe even on the elevator. Well, for one, I am not the one on the Ryan Seacrest show with my shirt cranked up, grinding my exposed lard-coated gut and groin into some little Mexican kid while ear candy plays in the background. If I were, we’d all have something else disturbing to talk about tonight. For two, I am not compensated for being hot, which is arguably >75% of Britney Spears’ official Pop Icon Job Description.

None of you are to give me this “but she looked so great on that Rolling Stone cover” or whatever piece of artwork some brilliant Photoshop artist created. Here are some recent photos from the last few weeks of the Louisiana Piglet herself, whose career I declare is officially in full blowout:

Sausage in Stockholm
Some yummies from Mobil Mart..
Beaching.. I mean sunning herself
More sun
Oh, what a vixen!
Headed to the buffet

After Julie McMurry’s husband died last summer, Verizon Wireless told the Enumclaw, Wash. woman that she would have to pay an early termination fee on his cell phone contract. “I said, ‘This isn’t an arbitrary thing, I’d be glad to fax you a copy of the death certificate. The man’s dead.’”

She called Carl Hilliard, president of the Wireless Consumers Alliance. “I just happened to be in a meeting with Verizon Wireless’s attorney and mentioned it to him,” Hilliard said. “It was reversed.”

Source: Associated Press, “Complaints Over Cell Phone Service Abound”, June 6, 2004

Here, BoiFromTroy talks about his experiences driving in Presidential motorcades as a campaign staffer. I’ve done this myself a couple of times during Clinton/Gore ’92.. what fun. As someone who’s always been into politics, fascinated by the process of dignitary protection, and having been a sport-driver since I was about 12 … these are tremendously fun experiences. What made mine especially interesting is that I did so while (unbeknownst to me) there was a warrant out for my arrest. Nothing major, but a bench warrant for failing to pay a fine on a driving violation (I thought I paid it, I swear.) Still, I do hope the Secret Service does a better job these days of vetting their drivers. Perhaps they knew about the warrant, but knew I was such a great driver that they didn’t want my little issue to get in the way. Or not.

Washington Post: Judge Voids Law Against Drug Ads on Metro

In a major victory for rational public policy, and in what seems to me like one more baby step toward an environment where we can have a non-hysterical discussion about this nation’s drug policy, the draconian federal law that cut off funds to public transit agencies who run ads calling for legalization or medical use of an illegal drug (that is, transit systems who allow the purchase of paid advertising space with this point of view) was declared unconstitutional Wednesday by a federal judge.

Judge Paul Friedman said the amendment attached to a $3.1 billion transportation measure, signed in January by President Bush, violated freedom of speech by banning messages based on their viewpoint, saying, in part:

“The government has articulated no legitimate state interest in the suppression of this particular speech other than the fact that it disapproves of the message, an illegitimate and constitutionally impermissible reason,”

This was a suit brought by the Drug Policy Alliance, the ACLU, Change The Climate, and the Marijuana Policy Project. This is a solid victory for those groups and I congratulate them on their work.

Many of you who do not give a shit about drug policy think that those of us who do are just concerned about the legal status of certain chemicals, but it goes much deeper than that. It hits at the core of our fundamental right to engage in open discussion and debate without being squelched by the government, and to be free to make our own personal health decisions. Further, this could apply to any point of view – from abortion to civil rights to the war on terror.

Congress and the Bush Administration attempted to codify into law what is clear discrimination against a particular political point of view. The fact that this seemes acceptable – basically outlawing the right to express a point of view in a public forum – should be terrifying to every American who cherishes their sacred right to say what they think.

A good day.