The Internet Governance Forum is a site and organization that really is talking about using the internet for democracy. Most of what I've found there so far is using social networks for campaigning, but it's fair to say that the world is just in the early stages of using the Web for running government.

What's important is that these guys have been around for awhile. Here in the U.S. we have the tendency to be alerted to issues for the short term, such as the current Occupy Wall Street Movement, which uses Twitter on the model of the recent Arab Spring movement. But other places have been working on internet governance for years.

Let's all be aware of this trend and learn more about it. Certainly internet governing should have huge advantages over our 250 year old system (older than that if you consider what it was based upon.)

This analysis of the Arab Spring, to which some are comparing the Occupy Wall Street Movement, gives insight to political realities: When the ruling parties (in our case I think it's both Republicans and Democrats) tries to get on your bandwagon, it can give your movement a burst of momentum and then leave you flat.

This is more or less what happened to the so called Tea Party, which began as a platform from which to endorse or disapprove political candidates in support of smaller government. They were successful in getting seats in our legislature. They've been less successful at sustaining their momentum as they're now seen as a tool of the Republican Party.

The Democratic Party is trying to do the same with the Occupy Wall Street movement. My instinct tells me that the key for success is for the groups of citizens, Tea Partiers and Occupy Wall Streeters alike, to combine forces, find common ground, and get people into office that would really try to reform things. Granted the Tea Party congress faction has tried this, but they've misread their mandate. I'm sure many would disagree, but the key to a grass roots effort is to listen to your roots, find common ground with the general populace, and grow.

The ball is now in the court for Occupy Wall Street to do this. Otherwise, they will fall to the attempt by establishment Democrats to adopt them. The platform seems obvious: smaller more efficient government, achieved cutting out the get-rich-paid-by-special-interest group congressmen. The method of achieving this change will come through exposure of the rascals in Congress for the money-grubbing that they're on record for. Are there some "well-behaved" members of congress? The New Party needs to agree on who these are, who they arent, and institute real change. For example, why aren't we voting on-line? Why is government located in one central place in the twenty first century?

Come on, Wall Streeters! Your basic non-oligarchy stance is good! Let's write the middleman out of our government and use the web for some 2.0 Democracy!

For all my fellow conservatives, aren't you tired of Fox's agenda? And liberals, the same goes for Huffington.

The speaker giving Fox News the buisness is Jesse LaGreca, a vocal member of the Occupy Wall Street protests. This video comes courtesy of Kyle Christopher from OccupyWallSt.org‘s media team.

 Regardless of what you think of Occupy Wall Street or even Fox, the point is they gave this guy the impression he was speaking for television and then just didn't air it. I call that journalistic dishonesty.

I'm just enough of a conservative to believe that everyone, conservatives and liberals and in between have members of their groups who are not stupid. Ok? I've already heard enough about how stupid ALL of the liberals and conservatives are (from the other's viewpoint of course.) That's a false picture, but those in power seem to understand the mantra "Divide and Conquer".

We hold Freedom of the Press as one of those inalienable rights. I think the new free press is currently Twitter. The big guys are just in turf protection mode and owned by their advertisers.And it's just a matter of time before the boycotts begin, which is stage 2 of real protest.

RIP Objective news sources. Again.

This report is from Reuters.com. I used to consider Reauters a neutral news source, but here they are putting out what to me is a biased report.

The  article insinuates and implies that George Soros is backing the Occupy Wall Street movement, but if you read it closely, all you find are unsubstantiated claims of this. Then it goes on to list other sources, including  Kickstarter. 

Let me just say here that I'll be looking twice at anything from Reuters.com. This is in no way an endorsement of political views, I just want to call attention to shoddy reporting.    

Who's behind the Wall St. protests?

By Mark Egan and Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK | Thu Oct 13, 2011 11:09am EDT

(Reuters) - Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer while average Americans suffer, but the group that started it all may have benefited indirectly from the largesse of one of the world's richest men.
There has been much speculation over who is financing the disparate protest, which has spread to cities across America and lasted nearly four weeks. One name that keeps coming up is investor George Soros, who in September debuted in the top 10 list of wealthiest Americans. Conservative critics contend the movement is a Trojan horse for a secret Soros agenda.
Soros and the protesters deny any connection. But Reuters did find indirect financial links between Soros and Adbusters, an anti-capitalist group in Canada which started the protests with an inventive marketing campaign aimed at sparking an Arab Spring type uprising against Wall Street. Moreover, Soros and the protesters share some ideological ground.
"I can understand their sentiment," Soros told reporters last week at the United Nations about the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, which are expected to spur solidarity marches globally on Saturday.
Pressed further for his views on the movement and the protesters, Soros refused to be drawn in. But conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh summed up the speculation when he told his listeners last week, "George Soros money is behind this."

The Federal Reserve Plans To Monitor Facebook, Twitter, Google News

  Here you go. The Fed is the first to react to Occupy Wall Street. Government by social media, prelude 1. (Well, unless you count Wall Street's announcement that they may be laying off 10,000 MORE financial workers.)

The New York Federal Reserve Bank is embarking on an ambitious social media monitoring project. Starting this December, the Fed will be monitoring Facebook, Twitter, and the broader web to gauge public response to economic policy. Civil libertarians and anti-big government activists are upset, but should they be?

As Occupy Wall Street gains stream, the New York Federal Reserve Bank wants to know--for better or worse--how they are perceived. And they're going to monitor social media to figure it out.
A vendor proposal request (or RFP) from the Fed, which describes a "Sentiment Analysis and Social Media Monitoring Solution," surfaced on Scribd on September 25, and was quickly featured on gonzo finance blog Zero Hedge.
According to the document, the Fed is now evaluating bids for a social media analysis system that will mine data from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, and web forums--beginning in December.

From fastcompany.com


That was quick. Good work, OccupyWallStreet. Around here,  "...it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"  -The Red Queen,  Lewis Carroll, Alice In Wonderland.

I think I posted uh, this morning?  That something like this was coming. Of course, the Red Queen didn't discuss running around in circles.

The 53 Percent

The internet. It cuts both ways. Ok, more than two. Here is a blog of the so called 53%, self named people who aren't rich, but are proud of the fact that they support themselves.

Let's face it, all of us are partakers in this mixed up economy called the USA. The 53% has a point, so do the 99% so even does the 1%.

What's exciting is that all this dialogue is taking place outside of the authority of the unions, the political parties, and the other power players who really have played the system since the signing of the Constitution.

The internet is becoming a new way of doing Democracy. This is awesome.

I'm optimistic that this will ultimately help the cause of Democracy, which has always had real problems with efficiency. Have you got an opinion? Log in and voice it! Others are listening!

Occupy Lake Charles

 
Lake Charles residents joining "Occupy" movement - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

This Saturday, residents of Lake Charles will be demonstrating in front of Books-A-Million on Alamo Street from 12-3 pm. This demonstration is an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street demonstration currently going on in NYC.

The movement has gotten toghether a list of grievances (my term, you can call them demands or whatever you like) that was read by Keith Olbermann and is available here.  Keep all these folks in your prayers and pray for our country. We certainly need it. 

Having listened to the statement, it sounds to me like there are some pretty smart folks up in NYC who are pissed off. The whole event is an education for all involved. Someone recently described Democracy as "endless meetings". It's easy to see how a group of people trying to govern themselves could over the years morph into the political dinosaur that our government has become. It takes so much time to keep the machinery running. As a result, we the people delegate the work. Now, through our own lack of attention over the years, those we have pushed the job to have built a nice little business for themselves.

I think both the Tea Party movement and the Occupy Wall Street movement have a lot of learning to do. They're going to find out that self government is hard work. Hey I'm not saying it isn't necessary, quite the opposite. It's our own apathy and inattention that has caused the whole mess. Fact is, Americans DO have the power to change their government completely during elections. So let's do it! Vote the suckers out and vote in people who will represent you, not the rich lobbying groups.