RealPolitix.com – The Non-Partisan Blog about Politics and Technology Archive for March 2009

On Tuesday, March 31, 2009 the Road 2 Recovery Bicycle Team will be riding through Austin as part of their trip across Texas. Comprised of approximately 60 wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, the riders will be stopping at American Legion Travis Post 76 (2201 Veterans Drive) for a dinner at 5 p.m. It is free and open to public. Please join us in saluting some of our heroes as we welcome them to Austin for the evening.

For more information on this great program please visit their website at www.road2recovery.us.com

Yesterday a speech was made by Daniel Hannan, a conservative member of the European Parliament, in which he addressed with great force and conviction Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s failures in office. Brown is facing the increasing anger of the British voters and all polls indicate that David Cameron and the Tories are in good shape to take the majority whenever the next parliamentary election is called (likely by the spring of 2010.) What is most striking about Hannan’s speech is that it is delivered directly to a laughing Gordon Brown who is seated by the main podium. It should also be noted that Lannan never once uses a teleprompter and seems to be speaking straight from the heart. Here is the video. After it was posted yesterday it quickly received over 600,000 views and was the most popular video posted on YouTube.

Bush Bailout For US in Crisis

Back on September 20, 2008, when former President Bush made the announcement that the federal government would bail out financial institutions to keep the economy from collapsing, he declared, “Our entire economy is in danger,” also that the initial $700 billion bailout, “Is a big package, because it is a big problem.”

Did it surprise anyone that while Bush was playing global sheriff coercing other countries into democracy, his itchy trigger finger was turning his own country toward socialism? By shooting holes into U.S. economic and domestic policies as well as every policy and regulation he could shoot at, the U.S. today is not capitalism at its best; it is market socialism at its best.

While Bush was in office, vociferous republicans kept their grumblings to a minimum hoping the public wouldn’t notice the government transformation.

Now that President Obama has inherited an elephantine mess created by the Bush administration’s lax securities regulations that freely allowed corporate greed and corruption, what choice do we have? Yes, we are absolutely in a sort of market socialist system. If the government needs to step in to correct the problem and bail out malfunctioning financial institutions, along with bailing out financially hurting taxpayers, so be it. The government did it before during the Great Depression; it is simply doing it again.

I would like to hear from the GOP a single accomplishment of former President Bush that benefited the U.S. Perhaps the only good thing Bush has done was light a fire under each of us to finally care about the future of the nation and the world again. Granted, that was one thing he did, however unintentional. But sadly, it is simply a shame that George Bush needed to go through our pockets to finally get to our heads.

Since I started my job working at a joint-venture pizzeria in Beijing, China, I have met quite a few people from all over. Embassy employees celebrating their children’s birthday, rowdy study-abroad students, international high school kids, travelers, tourists, scientists, engineers, etc. It’s a mixed bag.

Surprisingly enough, many of the Americans I meet are not from “international” or “cultured” places like New York City of Los Angeles, but many of them are from the South or Midwest: Kansas, Illinois, Alabama.

A large party of about fifteen seniors came in the other night. I was shocked when they told me that they weren’t here for business. They were just here to look around. They were from Alabama, mostly. My stereotypes were thrown out the window. They relished in telling me, unprovoked I must add, about how beautifully different China was than how it is portrayed in the media.

To paraphrase: people here are nice, accommodating and polite. People take pride in their country, their own behavior and their treatment of foreigners. Sure, the driving may be erratic and the toilets are mostly, err, holes in the ground, but these people took it all in stride. They seemed to be very happy and excited to see China for themselves and to realize that it’s demonization in the media is false.

I met a father and daughter from California the other evening. He had won a vacation for two from his company for good job performance. I rarely meet travelers with such a good attitude. They were just there to learn and have a good time. When we ran out of Stella Artois, they didn’t complain at all and willingly downgraded to a Tsingtao. The father again felt the urge to tell me how China is so different from the perception of it that we have in the States: a dirty, chaotic, dangerous (if not hostile) place that is completely different from us down to the deepest and most fundamental values. A place where a bastardized version of communism and corruption rules over a inconceivably vast nation of billions of automatons.

Come here and see for yourself.

It is not true that everyone supports the troops. This standard cliché phrase has become all too common in our society, but few understand what it truly means. Veterans that have attended meetings with members of Congress are often greeted with a profession that the congressman or senator, “Of course supports the troops.” It has become as trite as stating that everyone loves motherhood and apple pie. Clearly, not everyone does. Yesterday the Obama administration shockingly demonstrated how actions speak far louder than words when they proposed forcing injured veterans to pay for their own medical care. Is this the change we voted for? God help us if it is.

The Obama administration, fresh off an effort to pump trillions of taxpayer’s dollars into the economy under the guise of an “economic stimulus package”, is now discussing playing the part of Flinty McFrugal when it comes to the care of our wounded troops in order to save a possible $540 million dollars. $540 million? Why, our congress uses that much just to pay for their salaries, postage and perks every year. That’s not a joke.

Yesterday the leaders of eleven veterans’ organizations such as The American Legion, The Disabled American Veterans, and The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America met with Pres. Obama over this proposed change. They were furious over the results of that discussion when told that the plan will likely go forward. Afterwards the leaders of the groups called the administration’s plan, “immoral and unworkable.” That’s putting it mildly. How could any president, the Commander-In-Chief of our nation’s Armed Forces, ever allow such a disgraceful proposal to be considered?

This horrific idea of making wounded veterans pay for their own medical care breaks the bonds of obligation our nation owes to its warriors. The men and women that have served our nation in combat deserve nothing less than the best medical care that we can provide and with no price tag attached. If America decides it is prudent for the government to bail out corporations and deadbeat homeowners, but yet our wounded vets will be stuck paying their own medical bills, then surely our nation has lost touch with whom she once was. What would our ancestors think of this? How can any good American not be outraged by this proposal from Pres. Obama?

It is shocking that this idea is seeing the light of day, but to me it is not surprising. While serving in Iraq a blog update I wrote for a non-partisan political website often had some people that would spew their hate and vitriol about our military in the comments section. At one point I even received an anonymous card in the mail from someone that wished that all of us serving in Iraq would “die in our war of imperialism” and words to that effect. I threw it away and never told anyone about it, but I’m certain that person would support Obama’s proposal to make our troops pay for their own medical care.

Last fall in a congressional election here in Austin the candidate that was running as a supporter of Barack Obama stated that our troops had “killed children for oil” in Iraq. When pressed repeatedly for an explanation or apology the cowardly candidate chose to simply not respond. He chose to ignore letters, emails, office visits, phone calls, a protest in front of his office, and several radio shows that discussed his outlandish comments. Luckily for our nation this person lost his election by a wider margin than expected and surely his comments about our troops could not have sat well with most voters. Still, he was considered a legitimate candidate by his party and by the pundits. He was not thought to be a fringe kook and he was able to raise over a million dollars for his campaign. It would not surprise me in the least if more people felt like him, but lacked the courage to say so. Ultimately the defeated candidate never answered for his comments even after the election. Would it surprise anyone in the least however if he supported Pres. Obama’s proposal to save $540 million by making some of our vets pay for their own medical care? Fortunately his defeat spared us from having to find out. It also seems likely that this proposal by Pres. Obama will fail as well. We cannot take it for granted though. Our veterans deserve that we never let them be dishonored by some politicians who will never understand their sacrifices. Ever.

ABC’s 20/20 recently aired a segment discussing the new movement for universal Pre-K. Sounds like a great idea on the surface, right? Every American child should be entitled to free and appropriate pre-kindergarten. But there were just as many arguments against the proposal as for it.

One owner of a pre-kindergarten pointed out that many parents already send their children to Pre-K but because it’s offered by private businesses, they pay for it. Those who can’t afford it use Head Start. Because these Pre-K’s are catering to a clientele, they are forced to show results; otherwise parents will just take their children to another Pre-K. It’s educational capitalism at work. Public schools are not providing quality education and yet they keep operating, wasting taxpayer dollars and sending generations of children out into the world unprepared for college or the workplace. If the government were to mandate universal Pre-K, this kindergarten owner would have more business but she is against the idea, saying that it suggested that parents were not adequate at choosing an appropriate environment for their toddler whether that is home or a private Pre-K and because our government is already failing at K-12 public education.

Universal Pre-K was one of President Obama’s campaign promises. Sixty seven percent of Americans thought it was a good idea that the government pay for all children to attend pre-kindergarten. The “government” of course means taxpayers, We the People. I tend to agree with the owner of the Pre-K in the 20/20 piece in believing that if we can’t get Head Start right, and our K-12 system is so inadequate that it warranted emergency stimulus funding to fix the broken system, what makes people think the government will do any better with pre-kindergarten? And just wait until the teacher Unions get a hold of your toddlers and start warehousing them, doing the minimum required by law and holding schools hostage to contract negotiations.

The Obama Administration uses as its argument in favor of universal Pre-K a very small, flawed experiment which followed only 58 children who received specialized services like home visits that could not be done on a large, national scale. They also point to gains in Head Start but do not also reveal that the gains made by Head Start students disappear by the third grade. Other studies have shown that too much pre-school also creates children who are more aggressive and disruptive once they reach elementary school. Proponents of universal preschool also point to government programs in Oklahoma and Georgia which have been existence for the last 10 years. Oklahoma’s performance has dropped relative to other states but the proponents say they aren’t focused on IQ scores. Rather they are concerned for children’s social and emotional well-being. Excuse me for saying this but that sounds like the “politically correct, feel good, self-esteem, it’s all about me” police are running these preschools and we’ve all seen the results of that educational experiment! We now have students who feel entitled to college and a top job and so justify cheating as a means to that end.

On average, our public schools are two years behind their private school and European counterparts and in post secondary education we rank even worse compared to other countries. In many states, we have teachers that teach to the state assessment tests. Classes like history are marginalized because it’s not covered on those tests. Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor recently commented that only 1 in 5 people interviewed could  name the three branches of government for the United States (but they all knew who the American Idol judges were). Science is not really science as states teach pseudo-science while the debate over the teaching of evolution or Creationism rages on. Art, Music, PE, and other subjects that aren’t part of state assessments are the first to fall under state budgetary cutbacks. Critical thinking skills and problem solving that are crucial to the information and technology based jobs of the future as endorsed by the Obama Presidency are not even in the curriculum. Why should we trust that government will do any better with preschool than they have done with k-12 and at a cost in the billions to taxpayers at a time when our economy is in shambles? Better to use the Education stimulus money to bring our existing schools up to the educational and technological standards required to put us on a level playing field with the rest of the developed world.

AUSTIN – A local company is helping politicians step into the digital age. The guys behind Piryx believe e-mail, text messages and social networking sites are the new norm for campaigning.

Today begins Piryxtopia! 5 days of Politics, Technology and Pop Culture Goodness. For those of you without a SXSWi badge, we offer a great opportunity to catch the first panel of the season.

Today at 4:30 pm CT, RealPolitix.com presents the Government 2.0 Panel — Technology for Tomorrow. This panel is an opportunity for State Legislators, staff and the general public to learn how State and local governments can use technology to better serve and communicate with their constituencies. Hear from government, business and technology leaders as they discuss advances in technology, the challenges governments face in adopting new technology, and how technology can positively impact the government’s ability to serve the public today and in the future.

Featuring Panelists: Gregg Burt (President and CEO, Hart InterCivic) Brewster McCracken (Austin Mayor Pro Tem), Tom Serres (CEO, Piryx), Rep. Mark Strama (Chair, Technology, Economic Development & Workforce), Rep. Tan Parker (Vice Chair, Technology, Economic Development & Workforce), Michael Quinn Sullivan (CEO, Empower Texans), and moderated by Elise Hu (Political Reporter, KVUE Austin)

Details: March 12, 2009 4:30pm – 5:30pm @ Texas Capitol Extension. More information is available at http://www.piryx.com/piryxtopia/

For those unable to make it downtown this afternoon, Live Streaming is available through UStream.TV. Tune in at 4:30 CT this afternoon for the feed right here:

Join Piryx and nGenera this afternoon for the Government 2.0 Executive Roundtable with Don Tapscott.  Tapscott – the author of the acclaimed book Wikinomics – will lead a roundtable of Austin and State of Texas government leaders and local business executives as they discuss the future of technology enabled government.

The live stream will be broadcast from 3:30pm – 4:30pm CT on Wednesday, March 11th.

Free video chat by Ustream

This event is part of Piryxtopia:  5 Days or Politics, Technology and Pop Culture Goodness.

This has to be one of the biggest jokes I’ve seen in a while. Are they Serious? Yet another example of followers pretending to be innovators

This is one of the biggest problems with Politics and more recently the Republican National Committee. You essentially have non-experts in the field of software, trying to build a system that will “Rebuild The Party”. Bottom line is they don’t get it. Technology is only 1 of their many problems. No amount of technology is going to win them the elections. How about paying some attention a little problem they have called “Branding and Message”…someone needs to remind their leadership. Obama’s use of technology was only a delivery vehicle. Message is why he ultimately won.

I had the unpleasant opportunity to participate in one of their “young tech meetups” in a staunchy old club house in Washington DC after the election. They proceeded to tell every young person in the room that if they expected to do anything the with the Republican Party – they had to “Follow The Rules” – otherwise they would be locked out of their little club. Of course this was probably said about 9 or 10 times throughout a 2 hour bore fest. Well, I’m sorry folks, but that’s a horrible way to invite others to help you. Silly. Just plain silly.

It’s interesting to note, that attending this meetup as an outsider not involved in the daily DC scene – these folks are clueless about what goes on in the real world. Let alone innovation and technology. It was funny, I’m pretty sure I was the only person that showed up in blue jeans and a t-shirt. I couldn’t help but think “What would the democratic equivalent look like”. I snickered excessively when they invited all the “bloggers” to the front of the room…3 people walked to the front. I thought to myself, “Seriously…had this been a dem function…half the room would have battled their way to the front”.

Here’s a couple hints for those who authored Republican Party’s RFP and quest for technological change – quit being followers, try being innovators for a change – and lastly let the experts do what they’re best at, and quit trying to reinvent the wheel.

Now on to Nancy Scola’s review of their 2 page RFP

Michael Steele’s Republican National Committee is circulating a Request-for-Proposal (pdf) to rebuild the RNC website. The sketchiness of the document is raising speculation that Chairman Steele is simply going through the motions, having already picked out a consultant for the job — despite his pledges to pump some oxygen into the party’s tech ecosystem with outreach like the recent GOP Tech Summit. That, or there’s something funny in the air over at party headquarters. The RFP lays out RNC HQ’s tech vision in a way that might make more sense were hallucinogenic substances involved: "If we haven’t thought of it — think about it. If it hasn’t been tried — why not. If it’s going to be ‘outside the box’ — then not only keep it outside the box, but take it to someplace the box hasn’t even reached yet." Like, woah.

Red State’s Erick Erickson is a bit circumspect, but see if you can suss out his take on the RFP by reading through the lines: "[T]here is no way any competent person would put together an RFP like this. It’s crap. It is not legitimate. It is unprofessional. It is illusory." The RFP is all buzz words — "Flash," "widgets" — but little in the way of specifics. No matter: the RNC wants all bidder to attach a firm price tag to their proposals. How much is “some place the box hasn’t even reached” going for these days? On the Next Right, Dale Franks is holding on to some glimmer of hope: "Surely this is all some sort of elaborate joke. Perhaps on Monday the RNC will tell us that they were just having us on. Then, once we’ve all had a good laugh, they’ll release the real RFP."

RNC Website RFP

Source: TechPresident’s Nancy Scola