EFFector Vol. 22, No. 28 September 29, 2009

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EFFector 22.28: EFF Wins Release of Telecom Lobbying Records

EFFector Vol. 22, No. 28 September 29, 2009  editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424

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In our 519th issue:

EFF Wins Release of Telecom Lobbying Records A judge ordered the government Thursday to release more records about the lobbying campaign to provide immunity to the telecommunications giants that participated in the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White ordered the records be provided to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) by October 9, 2009.
The decision is part of EFF’s long-running battle to gather information about telecommunications lobbying conducted as Congress considered granting immunity to companies that participated in illegal government electronic surveillance.

For the full press release:
https://www.eff.org/press/releases

For the full order:

Click to access OrderGrantSJ-Sep09.pdf

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EFF Updates

* EFF Supports New Bills to Repeal Telecom Immunity Yesterday, four US Senators, led by Senator Chris Dodd, announced plans to introduce “The Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act.” That bill, endorsed by EFF, would repeal the retroactive immunity granted by Congress as part of the FISA Amendments Act (FAA) to phone companies that illegally assisted in domestic spying by US intelligence agencies and would revive EFF’s recently dismissed lawsuit against AT&T for its collaboration in the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program.
Another bill that contains a provision to repeal the immunity — called the JUSTICE Act — was introduced in the Senate earlier this month by Senators Russ Feingold and Dick Durbin, along with eight other Senators.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/eff-supports-new-bill-repeal-telco-immunity

* Hey TI, Leave Those Kids Alone!
After hobbyists tinkering with their Texas Instruments programmable graphing calculators discovered that the devices perform a signature check that only allows a signed operating system to be loaded onto the hardware, they used distributed computing to perform a brute-force cryptanalysis of the public keys embedded in each model of calculator to derive the corresponding private keys.

TI’s response has been to target programmers and bloggers with cease and desist letters, telling them, incorrectly, that the anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) require them to take down the keys, remove links to forum discussions, and delete blog posts.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/ti-leave-those-kids-alone

* You Bought It, You Own It: MDY v. Blizzard Appealed When you buy World of Warcraft (WoW) in a retail box, do you own the copy of the software you bought? That’s the critical legal question facing the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a pending appeal in MDY v. Blizzardk.

The case pits Blizzard, the maker of WoW, against MDY, the maker of a program called Glider that lets you play WoW on “auto-pilot” (what Blizzard calls a “bot”). Blizzard won in the district court, successfully arguing that WoW purchasers do not “own” their software, but merely “license” it. On this view, Blizzard owns every WoW DVD ever shipped for all eternity and may be able to use copyright law to punish WoW players who use the software in any manner not authorized by the “license” (like using Glider).
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/you-bought-it-you-own-it-mdy-v-blizzard-appealed

* Obama’s Disappointing State Secrets Procedures After months of internal review, the Obama Administration announced a new policy on the use of the state secrets privilege. The state secrets privilege traditionally allows the government to withdraw particular pieces of evidence from a court case on the grounds that the evidence would reveal sensitive classified information. Despite this limited purpose, it was repeatedly misused by the Bush (and now
Obama) administration  and is badly in need of reform.

Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s new policy falls far short of the real reform that’s needed. The Administration has essentially added several layers of Executive Branch bureaucracy before the privilege can be asserted, effectively promising to check with itself before invoking the state secrets privilege. What’s really needed is a policy that ensures the separation of powers is restored, where courts determine whether the secrecy is warranted.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/obamas-disappointing-state-secrets-procedures
For the full policy:

Click to access state-secret-privilieges.pdf

* Book Review: Bill Patry’s Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars Bill Patry is widely regarded as one of the leading copyright law experts in the United States. For the past several years, he’s also been Senior Copyright Counsel at Google. If you’re looking for a basic primer on digital copyright, or the DMCA, or DRM, this isn’t the book for you. Rather, Patry’s contribution is to focus on the importance of metaphors and rhetoric in the policy debates (past and present) surrounding copyright.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/book-review-bill-patrys-i-moral-panic-and-copyrigh

* How Online Tracking Companies Know Most of What You Do Online, and What Social Networks Are Doing to Help Them 3rd party advertising and tracking firms are ubiquitous on the modern web. When you visit a webpage, there’s a good chance that it contains tiny images or invisible JavaScripts that track and record your browsing habits. In a series of Deep Links posts, EFF is examining how this tracking occurs and how it is being combined with data from accounts on social networking sites to build extensive, identified profiles of your online activity.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/09/online-trackers-and-social-networks

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miniLinks

~ Google Book Settlement 1.0 Is History
EFF Board member Pamela Samuelson says the parties will go back to the drawing board to negotiate a new agreement.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pamela-samuelson/google-book-settlement-10_b_296343.html

~ A Writer’s Plea: Preserve Google Books Author Alexis Madrigal shares concerns about privacy and Google Books, but says the existing service shows how powerful a digital library can be.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/09/preserve-google-books/

~ Datamining the Private Sector
New documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reveal an FBI data-mining program that uses data from corporate hotel and car rental chains.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/09/fbi-nsac/

~ Netflix’s Impending (But Still Avoidable) Multi-Million Dollar Privacy Blunder Paul Ohm says that so-called anonymized data can still be linked back to individuals.
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/paul/netflixs-impending-still-avoidable-multi-million-dollar-privacy-blunder

~ Will the BBC Add DRM to Its HD Service?
Britain’s Ofcom extends its “broadcast flag”-ish digital TV consultation — after being swamped with comments.
http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=2532&blogid=14

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Announcements

* And The Winner is…EFF’s 18th Annual Pioneer Awards! October 22nd, 2009

Mark your calendars, and plan to join the Electronic Frontier Foundation for a fundraiser honoring the 2009 Pioneer Award winners. The ceremony will take place at the Westin San Francisco on Thursday, October 22nd at 7 pm.

Given every year since 1991, the Pioneer Awards recognize leaders who are extending freedom and innovation on the electronic frontier.

LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman will keynote the event, and the celebration includes drinks, fine food, and excellent company.

Winners will be announced later this week. Tickets available soon!

* Join EFF at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas!

Consumer Electronics Industry Professionals: Visit the EFF booth at CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow..
Hurry–registration to the show is FREE until October 1, 2009. To register, go to
http://registration.experient-inc.com/ShowCES101/Default.aspx?pcode=P7&edm=attendeeP7 .
Use priority code P7.

2010 International CES
January 7-10, 2010
Las Vegas, NV
http://www.cesweb.org

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Administrivia

EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/about

Editor:
Eva Galperin, Referral Coordinator
eva@eff.org

Membership & donation queries:
membership@eff.org

To support EFF:
http://links.eff.org/emaildonate

General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries:
information@eff.org

Back issues of EFFector are available at:
http://www.eff.org/effector/

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Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is encouraged. This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled electrons.

EFF appreciates your support and respects your privacy.
http://www.eff.org/policy

EFFector Vol. 22, No. 24 August 28, 2009 editor@eff.org

EFFector Vol. 22, No. 24  August 28, 2009  editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation ISSN 1062-9424

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In our 516th issue:

* CHICAGO DEVELOPMENT CRITICS FIGHT FOR ANONIMITY. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has asked an Illinois Circuit Court judge to quash subpoenas aimed at outing opponents of a controversial city project. In December, local residents filed a lawsuit in state court against the city of Chicago and local developers, challenging the legality of a development project in the city’s Uptown neighborhood.
In response, the “Wilson Yard Defendants,” six lawfirms associated with Chicago developer Peter Holsten, issued subpoenas directing Google and a local neighborhood association to unmask anonymous online critics who had discussed either the project or Alderman Helen Shiller, the primary governmental sponsor of the project.
For the full press release:
https://www.eff.org/press/archives/2009/08/21

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EFF Updates

* The New York Times on Government Website Privacy Tuesday’s New York Times includes its editorial board’s take on revising the federal government’s web tracking policy. The recommendations align closely with those we made in coordination with the Center for Democracy and Technology earlier this month.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/new-york-times-government-website-privacy

* Op-Ed on Lawless Surveillance by Cindy Cohn EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn’s opinion piece, currently posted on the blog of the American Constitution Society, points out that the Obama Administration has embraced two of the most radical positions taken by the Bush Administration — that the Executive Branch need not follow the law and that the courts should not be allowed to review the core constitutional questions that the Executive Branch wants hidden.
For the opinion piece:
http://www.acslaw.org/node/13922
For the Deep Link:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/op-ed-lawless-surveillance

* Stomping Grapes for EFF in Indiana
Mike Wigren of WKID-FM Froggery Radio in Vevay, Indiana, has selected EFF as his beneficiary charity should he be one of the Top 3 winning Media Celebrity Grape Stompers at the  38th Swiss Wine Festival being held this weekend (August 27-30). Thanks, Mike, and good luck!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/stomping-grapes-eff-indiana

* PASS ID: REAL ID Reanimated
In February, opponents of REAL ID were given a bit of hope when Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said that she wanted to repeal the REAL ID Act, the federal government’s failed plan to impose a national identification card through state driver’s licenses. But what has taken place since is no return to sanity, as political machinations have produced a cosmetic makeover called “PASS ID” that has revived the push for a national identification card.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/pass-id-real-id-reanimated

* Warrants Required: EFF’s Big Disagreement with Google About Google Book Search Is Google’s exciting new digital library/bookstore going to maintain the strong protections for reader privacy that traditional libraries and bookstores have fought for and largely won? Despite significant efforts by EFF and our partners to get Google to provide these privacy protections in Google Book Search, it looks like we’ll be asking the court to intervene.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/warrants-required-big-disagreement-google-book-search

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miniLinks

~ Facebook Bows to Canadian Privacy Concerns The social networking giant promises to fine tune privacy controls and allow users to see when third party apps are requesting private data.

Facebook Bows to Canadian Privacy Concerns, Will Change The Way All Apps Access Social Data

~ Court Orders Google to Unmask Blogger
The blogger, who was identified for calling a model a “skank,” has promised to sue Google.

Court orders Google to ID anon blogger who called model “skank”/”ho”, blogger threatens Google with $15 mil suit

~ Apple Rejects Google Voice App
Was the Google Voice app rejected because it altered “the iPhone’s distinctive user experience,” or because it competes with Apple’s preferred carrier company?
http://www.informationweek.com/news/personal_tech/iphone/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=219401091

~ Wired Journalist Tries to Disappear
Evan Ratliff is testing his privacy to see if he can remain hidden while continuing to use the Internet.
http://www.wired.com/vanish/

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Announcements

* Help the EFF Technologists!

EFF is doing some research on the Amazon Kindle e-book reader. If you can donate a Kindle 2 or a Kindle DX to EFF, please contact kindle@eff.org. We can provide you with a receipt for tax purposes and our heartfelt gratitude.

* Help EFF Go to Ohio LinuxFest!

EFF is looking for donations of airline tickets and hotel points for Ohio LinuxFest in Columbus, as well as other conferences and speaking engagements. If you have enough airline miles for a free ticket and would like to send an EFF staffer to a conference, let us know, and we will help you with the process of making the reservation. Please note that at this time we are unable to combine miles from multiple individuals or airlines. We are also looking for hotel rewards points to help reduce our overall travel costs.

As thanks for your donation, we can offer a free membership and a mention in EFFector (if you’d like). Please contact aaron@eff.org if you can help!

* Attend the SC World Congress!

SC World Congress Discounts for EFFector Readers!

Visit the EFF booth at the second annual SC World Congress – Enterprise Data Security Conference, October 13-14 in New York City.
The Congress features a comprehensive program presented in four tracks
– including the unique Editors Choice sessions – and the industry’s largest fall product expo showcasing IT security solutions from leading vendors and hot startups.  EFF members receive a $100 discount on conference fees by registering with the promotional code EFF. No code is required for free exhibits admission. http://www.scworldcongress.com

* O’Reilly/Techweb Discounts for EFFector Readers!

Our friends at O’Reilly Media and TechWeb are offering discounts to the EFF community at two new events in the Gov 2.0 landscape in September. Both events will be held in Washington, DC.

Gov 2.0 Summit (www.gov2summit), an invitation-only, high-level dialogue between senior-level public and private sector leadership, takes place September 9-10. For more information and to bypass the standard invitation process, check out:
https://en.oreilly.com/gov2009/public/register
Save 30% on registration with code gvt09eff.

Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase (gov2expo.com) takes place September 8 and features 25 rapid-fire presentations of innovative Gov 2.0 projects happening right now. For more information and to register:
https://en.oreilly.com/gov2expo2009/public/register
Save 30% with code gxp09eff.

* Volunteer at EFF!

EFF is looking for volunteers to assist with operations in our membership department. If you’re organized, detail-oriented, and looking for a hands-on way to support EFF, contact us today!

Duties include:

* Sending out membership packets
* Organizing premiums
* Printing mailings
* Assisting with event

Learn about fundraising operations in the nonprofit world while supporting your favorite organization in a tangible way! Interest in grassroots fundraising is a plus, as is knowledge and familiarity with EFF’s issues. Send a letter of interest to aaron@eff.org

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Administrivia

EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/about

Editor:
Eva Galperin, Referral Coordinator
eva@eff.org

Membership & donation queries:
membership@eff.org

To support EFF:
http://links.eff.org/emaildonate

General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries:
information@eff.org

Back issues of EFFector are available at:
http://www.eff.org/effector/

Fight for Government Accountability Over Warrantless Wiretapping

Early last week, EFF asked for your help fighting the Obama
Administration’s cover-up of the Bush Administration’s warrantless
wiretapping program. In the week since we sent that appeal, we’ve seen further confirmation that the warrantless wiretapping situation is just as bad as we feared.

Help EFF fight to protect your civil liberties now:

http://secure.eff.org/wiretapping

On Wednesday evening, an article in the New York Times revealed
astounding abuses of NSA surveillance powers. According to the Times,

“The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year,” resulting in a “significant and systemic” “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans.

These revelations are just the latest confirmation that the NSA’s
surveillance dragnet is sweeping in the domestic phone calls and
emails of ordinary Americans in violation of the law. It is
imperative that there be strict oversight to ensure that the
government does not abuse its unprecedented access to the domestic networks that carry all of our most private communications. Increasingly, the courts — and in particular, EFF’s lawsuits against the NSA and the telecoms that cooperate with it — appear to be our only hope for government accountability and transparency when it comes
to warrantless wiretapping.

Please support EFF in our efforts to hold the government accountable for illegal surveillance against innocent Americans:

http://secure.eff.org/wiretapping

Sincerely,
Electronic Frontier Foundation

An Idea for News Networks – Letter to Corporate Media

Over the past several days, I have watched most of the political information programs on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC that have essentially discussed issues in the presidential campaign, and I have a wonderful idea that I believe will save you networks thousands of dollars per week. If this works, I would like a ten percent cut, and I believe most of you will appreciate what I’ve come up with. I will delineate my idea in a second.

Except for Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Real Time with Bill Maher, I can no longer sit comfortably and enjoy any of the nightly news programs on any network. It seems the regular and consistent practice is to get a Clinton groupie every time we get an Obama spokesperson. If we get a Democratic commentator, we get a Republican strategist or Right Wing person refuting whatever that person just said.

In other words, we’re getting nowhere fast. We don’t learn anything on any of these shows, because the moderators of these shows let almost all comments go by unchallenged, no matter what is said. Joe Scarborough, Tucker Carlson or Pat Buchanan on MSNBC, for example, can be expected to speak against just about anything Barack Obama does no matter what question is posed to them, and David Gergen, Jamal Simmons or Roland Martin on CNN are much more likely to treat Obama very fairly or treat each incident on its own merit.

On almost every occasion, when a Clinton surrogate or an Obama surrogate appears on one of these programs to comment on the political condition, we can expect them 100% of the time to spin their answer in a way to show support for their chosen candidate. Some commentators, for example Dee Dee Meyers, can always be counted on to be harder on Barack Obama than she is on Hillary Clinton, for whom she worked with or more accurately her husband during his time in the White House.

I think at this point, it’s mostly a waste of time to place any stock in anything we hear from people representing one candidate or the other, unless their words are vetted and any misstatements called out immediately after they make them. Republican strategists, can be counted on to find fault with either Democratic candidate no matter what, and therefore their words and opinions must be discounted or completely ignored, as well.

The one exception is Michael Smerconich, who is a Republican talk show host from Philadelphia, who said on the Today Show and yesterday on Hardball said that he was in the audience and was “stunned” by Barack’s speech on race and is willing to take him at his word and is willing to move beyond this pastor incident. That position to me is stunning, and I was so pleased to see anyone who is willing to stand up and speak their mind and not be tied to typical Republican spin or ideology.

So here’s my idea: I would suggest that all news networks who present commentators to make statements about the news have guests that represent no candidate or have been known to be neutral on matters political as far as party affiliation. Or instead after the moderator has presented the news of the day, they can simply say, “And now let’s go to our comments. Pat Buchanan,” but instead of Buchanan actually being there, the host simply says, “Pat Buchanan would not believe what Obama said today in that speech.” Or the host says, “Amy Holmes,” a Republican political commentator, “would say that Obama should get off this topic and get back to his message or else he’ll be in big trouble.”

Can you imagine how much money your network will save? We already know what these people will say, so why do we need to hear from them? When I’m sitting in front of the TV watching HardBall with Chris Matthews, for example, I can listen to the topic, see the panel and then tape the rest of the program and feel very comfortable that when I view it later, I can almost word for word predict what each guest said. With all that money maybe you could investigate your own stories, so all these guest aren’t needed. News as news instead of entertainment would be refreshing.

I’m a complete and dedicated political junkie, but enough’s enough. I have stopped listening to you people and if you really think about it I feel confident that you’ll agree with me.

An Open Letter to the Media

OK. I’m officially confounded.

I have looked it up in several sources, and I have come up with a lot of definitions for the word “journalism.” Here are a few:

* the occupation of reporting, writing, editing, photographing, or broadcasting news or of conducting any news organization as a business. (dictionary.com)
* writing characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation (merriam-webster.com)
* the work of collecting, writing and publishing news stories and articles in newspapers and magazines or broadcasting them on the radio and television (dictionary.cambridge.org).

To me, this sounds like an honorable profession, a noble and worthy thing to aspire to. So why the hell do most of our most well-known “journalists” seem to subscribe to dictionary.com’s third definition, which reads as follows:

* writing that reflects superficial thought and research, a popular slant, and hurried composition, conceived of as exemplifying topical newspaper or popular magazine writing as distinguished from scholarly writing (emphasis mine) ???

I’m not talking about Fox. These are not journalists; they are the semi-official Bush Administration Promotions Department. I’m talking about the rest of the media. Our commander-in-chief acknowledges, after years of outright denial, that he and practically everyone of significance in his administration knew about and signed off on the official use of torture in defiance of the Geneva Convention, not to mention our own Constitution and everything that the United States of America stands for, and the pundits and talking heads of network and cable news spend all of their time worrying about, what?

* Not our country’s diminished moral standing in the world.
* Not the administration’s lies and deceptions, once again acknowledged and once again given a pass.
* Not the painful realization that we are not living in a nation that always stands up for what is right.
* Not the absurdity of a President of the United States authorizing torture and then condemning China for human rights abuses.

Nope. The keepers of our national debate are obsessed with what Barack Obama ordered to drink in a small diner at a campaign stop. And they are fixated on whether his recognition of the anger and bitterness in the millions of middle class people who have been embattled by the policies of the last two decades and watched their once reasonably secure lives fall into the toilet connotes a latent elitism and fatal flaw in the Candidate of Hope.

Are these idiots out of their collective minds? Do they HAVE minds to be out of? It’s like watching the blogosphere on LSD. Same video clips and soundbites over and over and over.

Chris Matthews and David Shuster had a whole conversation on Barack Obama asking for orange juice when offered coffee in a diner. CNN spent several segments talking about whether Obama’s “bitter” comment were a mistake that would come back to haunt him. While I agree Bill Clinton opened himself up to criticism about bringing up Bosnia and saying Hillary is 60 and forgetful sometimes, I got the idea the first 50 times I saw the video and discussions of it.

HUH???? The inanity of these conversations does not even deserve the respect of dignified commentary, so I’m not going to bother. But I have to wonder who makes the decision to pay these news people for their alleged insight into the news, and what do we have to do to get that person’s attention. I mean I could definitely talk for half an hour about why Obama wears or doesn’t wear ties or whether Hillary’s pant suits should have been left in the eighties, but is that journalisnm? If it is my grandson could do it and for a lot less money than I’m sure the current bunch of journalists and pundits make.

But what about, I don’t know, news? What about a US President officially condoning torture? Is anyone out there? Matthews? Russert? Wolfson? Bueller? When are you supposed news channels going to redefine yourselves as the journalists whose writing and reporting is characterized by a direct presentation of facts or description of events without an attempt at interpretation.

An Obama Supporter – Letter From Middle America

By Brady a Republican Obama Supporter

I am a 29-year-old graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a full-time single father of two children under the age of four years. I work in the oil and gas industry as a petroleum land manager earning a top 5-figure annual income, and pay a very healthy amount in taxes. I struggle to pay for gas at the pump, daycare for my two children and groceries. Like most Americans, I find that saving for my children’s future is nearly impossible.

I am a registered Republican. The only democrat that I have ever voted for is my mother in local school board elections. However, my party is out of touch with America and I am not sure that it still deserves me. I consider myself conservative. I hold family values in high esteem and believe that behavior such as Bill Clinton’s should not be tolerated in positions of power. I also feel that low taxes and small government are the foundation of a growth economy. However, because I have gay friends and because I feel that there are strong injustices against people of color, immigrants, and those born into poverty, I feel like my party has no place for me.

Conversely, if I were a Democrat, would I really have to believe that government mandated health care is requisite? Am I supposed to agree, as Hillary Clinton suggests, in demonizing virtually every large, profitable company in America? You see, Democrats replace the national security fear tactics of the Republicans with a fear of rich people. We are told that their profits are motive enough to repudiate their existence.

Thankfully, I have yet to hear one politician turn one American on another. I have yet to hear one candidate blame one group for the misfortune of another. I wholeheartedly support Barack Obama for President: I am an Obamacan, if you like. I made my first-ever campaign contribution to him. I am part of the “movement.” I answer my friends’ questions about him using his first name as if I knew him, though I imagine that “Mr. President” will be appropriate very soon. And let me tell you why:

Here in Middle America, where most of us live, we sit idly on a road to the future and watch as shots fly over from right to left and from left to right. These attacks come in all shapes and sizes. Some are pointed and direct and hit policies that the attacker says cannot possibly help Americans, no matter how intelligent their authors are. Others are blanket missiles that seek to destroy the very foundation upon which an ideology stands. For we are told, you see, that only one foundation is strong enough to build America on, and it lies to either the right or the left of every educated Middle American. So we just enjoy the fireworks and go back to work, contributing to the GDP, raising our children, and improving our cities, silently.

We wait for someone to stand up. When he rises, we all seek to define him. For there is no way that a person can lead us unless they belong to, are endorsed by, and are funded by either the left or the right. And we know this to be true, for it is all that we have ever known. If this leader waivers on even one of the all-important “issues,” he or she cannot belong to either group, and must therefore be dismissed and told to sit back down. Our politics actually suggest that understanding and compromising are weaknesses that cannot be tolerated.

Allow me to let you in on a little secret: we don’t care about your issues in Middle America. We have gay friends and we don’t care if they get married. We don’t understand the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice.” We are personally pro-life and would likely not advise a friend to terminate a pregnancy, but instead would promise to help them through whatever decision they made. And if you question our spirituality for this belief then you have no place in America. So, put away your picket signs and move your efforts to educating and uplifting our young men and women. And for God’s sake, get that issue off of the political landscape.

In Middle America we also know a bit about economic policy. We find it amusing that the right seems to champion an economic theory from decades ago when the fact remains that it hasn’t worked for millions. Meanwhile, the left seems to ignore the teaching of the most learned economists. Yes, corporate greed exists, but at the same time there is a lot of money that trickles down. Those who have benefited the most from the free market should be paying a proportionate share to fund the “free market.” We don’t want more mandates or institutions or agencies. We want a limited government that uses limited power to make it easier for us to solve our own problems, and a leader that will inspire us to do so. And we true Americans yearn to reach out our financial hands and lift up our fellow Americans because we realize that we are only as rich as our poorest child. And if we are too lazy to do it first-hand, then using our tax dollars to do it is appropriate.

And of course we have views on foreign policy. We don’t view Presidential diplomacy as some divine experience that other nations must covet. We think that our President should meet with any leaders who request it. Why? Because we understand the world in ways that the establishment cannot. We see controversial leadership around the world as good intentions gone awry, not maliciously intended systems. We understand that you cannot use a cookie-cutter democratic approach to govern cultures that are far different from our own, and that you can’t change a culture with a condemnation or a missile. We have had the benefit and pleasure of learning and working alongside Iranians, Pakistanis, Iraqis, Saudis, Chinese, Germans, and on and on. And do you know what we fear? We are concerned that America looks malicious. For we have seen the WTO, IMF, UN and America fail countless global citizens, and we yearn for a leader of the free world that will bring a sincerely caring and calculated approach to global policy.

Our current President, on February 28th, said that Barack talking to our enemies would send the wrong message to our allies. Really, President Bush? Have you done such a poor job internationally that our relationships with our allies are so brittle? And are we to assume that we would not discuss our President’s diplomatic missions with our allies where pertinent? It’s the same thing as usual: “Be afraid, be very, very afraid!” If President Obama exchanges ideas with someone who views the world differently than an oil man with poor grammar from Texas, we should be very afraid of the repercussions. Give me a break.

Barack wants to converse, actually talk, to his colleagues in Washington, and to leaders all over the world. And because of that, he speaks to us in Middle America. He sees himself as no better than any one of us nor does he see his ideas as indisputably better than others’. He does not see America as indisputably superior to the other global players in the world. That fact is very unsettling to many in politics who have staked their careers on their ability to proclaim the greatness of this grand old land. Yes, our country is the greatest there is and the greatest there ever will be, but the margin is shrinking daily and only Barack understands.

The road of which I spoke, where we Middle Americans sit, is the expressway to tomorrow and it stretches up a mountain that has no peak. It is paved with the lives of great leaders, and we sit on the cusp of another mile. On the left and right the valleys are full, and in the lowest crevasses our current leaders dwell. They are surrounded by people who don’t mind being defined as liberal or conservative, and who even try hard to earn the definition. Each side takes their turn in Washington and we watch as they erase each other’s successes and replace old failures with new ones.

They often choose, as is the tendency, the most experienced to lead. This is to say, the most established, the one who has the strongest commitment to the ideals of rightism or leftism. It is important to realize in the experience debate that our President is never the most learned person in the room when discussing different issues and policies. He can’t be. He has spent his past years in public service, while his peers have studied and worked exclusively in their fields. The President surrounds himself with people more specialized than himself. Barack will have the best economists, the best military strategists, the best educators, the best environmentalists, the best energy experts, immigration experts, and health care experts at his disposal when making decisions. We are not meant to elect a policy expert, but a leader with judgment, vision, and character. That choice has not been offered in a recent election, but finally, through the son of an immigrant father and a single mother, we have an option worth choosing.

America is a tolerant nation. However, our two parties are completely intolerant of one another. And our media makes it worse. They allow Senator Obama to be painted as the “most liberal” in the Senate. They don’t tell us that one vote here or there would have changed the color of that paint to a much lighter shade of blue. They don’t discuss what issues made it to vote in that year, nor have they detailed the bills authored and introduced by each candidate, which is the true teller of how they legislate. Our media fuels the petty politics to make for good stories, and to prolong a primary race that should have been over long ago.

There is a good reason that the “educated vote” goes to Obama, a fact that is drastically under-played on the news. It is quite interesting that the candidate with “speeches not substance” gets the vote of those who are probably, with the risk of pretentiousness, the best judges of the substance. But the media glances over this as they dice my neighbors, friends, and co-workers into a thousand little voting blocks, as if we all want something different from our government. The truth is that we don’t ask our government for anything but efficiently and effectively upholding the Constitution and the standard set by our forefathers, men who would hardly recognize this country today.

In Middle America we understand that the ingredients in our Melting Pot must be kept safe and intact, but we know that the flavor is, and always will be, Middle American. And finally that pot has produced a leader that can bring us into a new kind of politics, in a new global economy. He looks the part, he speaks the part, and he just may have the most brilliant voice I have ever heard.

Patience Beats Adversity

“The key to everything is patience. You get the chicken by hatching the egg,
not by smashing it.” ~ Arnold H. Glasgow

The tomato falls naturally from the vine when it is ripe, because it naturally knows when to hold on and when to let go. Learn from it, so that your entire energy field would open up and make you receptive to whatever the Universe brings your way.
“He that can have Patience, can have what he will” ~Benjamin Franklin

So where does impatience come from? It is an ego based energy that stems from not choosing to be at peace with what is. It’s an old habit brought on by not loving yourself, your body, your friends, family, and your experience of this world just the way it is. You tend to push or rush through an experience when love is not present. Rushing is truly an act of violence to your soul. It’s all about the ego trying to make the river flow faster because it thinks once it gets through this experience THEN the goodies will arrive and it will finally be happy, rich, fulfilled and at peace.
“Misery does not exist in reality but only in mere imagination.” ~Ramana
Maharshi

By rushing to get things done, your body becomes contracted, your mind narrows and your being misses this divine moment. This is a suffering caused by years of believing in the Great Illusion that you are not connected to the Infinite Source of love, intelligence, and power. The ego is obsessed with its own private agenda. It has its own “separate” desires, time schedule, and has completely forgotten about merging with God and experiencing bliss.

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.” ~ Saint Augustine

Patience is a major aspect in the process of consciously manifesting what you desire. With infinite patience, you can send any request into the Universe and it will easily manifest! It is important to let go of attachment to your future outcome and patiently allow the Universe to answer your request. The question is can you relax enough to wait for it?

“Hurry up…and wait!” ~John Oswald

One of the best ways to master patience is learning how to live in society in a relaxed, open, and receptive body. This means living IN the world, yet not OF the world; being connected to the big rat race, yet not rushing to get ahead of the other rats. Know that the more you rush, the more impatient energy you are creating.

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties
disappear and obstacles vanish.” ~ John Quincy Adams