This deserves to go viral!

Finally! Edie Freedman explains the mystery of Barack Obama's presidency in a way that makes sense of the frustrating commitment to act weak in the face of intransigence, "They're Just Not That Into You, Mr. President."

What's "The Point"

I happened to stumble across "The Point" recently. I'd heard of it before, but never bothered to look. I'm glad I did.

This is the first time an entrepreneur's business spin-off from an activist site has led me back to the activism! (See Groupon.)

The Point has a nice approach of aggregating campaigns together. But it only does that for campaigns created there, as far as I can tell. Now that so many activist groups are using web-based tools, it would be nice to have it all in one place.

Personally, just as a result of being somewhat active in the Obama campaign, I get requests to sign petitions, send email, etc. using web-based tools from at least 15 different groups. Anyone who has ever discovered how much better it is to pay all their bills from their credit union's (or bank's) bill payer service, rather than go to 5 or 10 different sites will understand this concept.)

The Point does very little "editorial" work - there are featured campaigns, very broad lists of topical areas and listings of new campaigns. Tying campaign listings to major news events or similar editorial work to push those with potential to influence a current issue would be valuable. It would also be more valuable if it also aggregated outside campaigns, as discussed above.

A.E.

P.S.: I used The Point to sign up for a 'Net Neutrality campaign.

The Polish Woman: A Novel by Eva Mekler


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Worth a read. Set in mid-1960s New York and Poland. Evokes the complexity of Jewish camp survivors of that period and their conflicted kin.

View all my reviews >>

No More Wall Streeters Running Treasury

(cross-posted from my DailyKos blog: AaroninNM)

The Treasury, as the rest of the federal government, must be part of rebuilding the real economy, not protecting those who have led and benefited from the financial gamesmanship built on the deregulation movement started by Ronald Reagan beginning in 1980.

The conventional wisdom that we must have Summers or someone like him, an investment banker, a leader from the most speculative, least genuinely productive sector of the economy running the Treasury Department is just that, conventional wisdom drawn from a long period when the foxes were guarding the henhouse.

The Treasury, as the rest of the federal government, must be part of rebuilding the real economy, not protecting those who have led and benefited from the financial gamesmanship built on the deregulation movement started by Ronald Reagan beginning in 1980. The conventional wisdom that we must have Summers or someone like him, an investment banker, a leader from the most speculative, least genuinely productive sector of the economy running the Treasury Department is just that, conventional wisdom drawn from a long period when the foxes were guarding the henhouse.

Someone like Sheila Bair of FDIC, who has demonstrated concern for the real economy of homeowners and mortgage-payers, makes sense. (I should be clear that I know literally nothing about her politics.) It would be great if someone could comment on her and anyone else who should be in the running for the job. Why not a real banker, not an investment banker -- you know, one of those small town Republicans who makes loans to people who actually have businesses with employees?

What about getting a short list from Paul Krugman? He's ruled himself out as temperamentally unsuited to government, but surely a Nobel Prize-winning economist from the left whose NY Times columns and blog, Conscience of A Liberal, have shown him to be both capable of understanding and explaining economics to mere mortals might have a few suggestions.

And what about a finding out who is on Robert Reich's short list? The former Clinton Secretary of Labor is another credible progressive voice who is not intimidated by the Wall Street robber barons/bullies. Conveniently, he's also one of the Obama transition advisors.

So what about it Paul, Robert? Can we have a progressive Treasury secretary?

"New" Publication on International Criminal Law & Natural Resource Crimes

I'm very pleased to say that my print publication on the potential role of the International Criminal Court in natural resource crimes just became available to me in an electronic format. A PDF is posted here, courtesy of the Natural Resources Journal published at the University of New Mexico School of Law and my law firm, Popejoy & MacKenzie PC.

Well, I finally did it!

Having been writing bits and pieces everywhere I go, from dailykos to Stumble, I've finally allowed this place to be (one of) the home for my personal blog. When I have time, I'll link it to my other places or figure out how to cross-post or whatever. That is, if they're not all owned by Google by then. (BTW, my worst nightmare is Microsoft buying Google or vice versa) and combining all those good ideas with the disincentive to innovation created by disproportionate profits created by size and commercial dominance.)