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Friday, October 28, 2005The Politics of TruthIs it time for a more expansive view of the Fifth Amendment? When the Amendment was written, there was a need to prevent forced confessions or, presumably, other situations in which you could be forced, coerced or directed into making statements that would unjustly incriminate you. Where in a new era where the people running the process and the people endangered are different, but the problem remains the same: you can be required to sell yourself down the river in order to cooperate with the authorities, with limited means for defending legitimate behavior. In the case of the Plame leak, a man claimed to have gotten information for the Vice-President of the United States that the Vice-President callowly ignored. Cheney was in no position, realistically, to sue for libel. But what Joe Wilson did was libel in the strictest sense of the word: he made untrue statements that damaged another person's reputation, causing harm to that person's interests. Joe Wilson needed to be countered. In this whole mess, there is one person, above all others, however, who should be behind bars. As far as I know, we don't know his name. But he is guilty of treason, even in a way that Joe Wilson is not. That is the CIA official who authorized Joe Wilson to go on a clandestine mission without signing any non-disclosure documents. The CIA official who sent Joe Wilson created a situation in which a single person with strong opinions could discuss classified information with impunity. Information designed to undermine the policies of the elected officials of the United States government and their Senate confirmed assistants. One single person at the CIA created a situation in which the President and Vice-President could be challenged but were not allowed to reply. It sounds like Scooter Libby made a real ass of himself, and for that he will perhaps get an appropriate shellacking. But who is talking about the CIA official who gave a private individual access to and the right to disclose classified information without the slightest obligation to national security - or, therefore, to the truth revealed by that information within a larger context. The TurkeyBlog's accounting: VP Cheney should sue Joe Wilson for libel. And most any tracking poll of Cheney's credibility and belief in the war should sustain Cheney's case that there was damage done. Scooter Libby should pay a large fine for not taking the Fifth on the grounds that talking in the charged atmosphere of the time would surely lead to him incriminating himself in one way or another. And the person who authorized Joe Wilson's trip should be shot for treason for his efforts to replace the elected government of the United States with an inner circle of like-minded bureaucrats. 
posted by gbarto at 1:32 PM Thursday, October 27, 2005Yum! Love those blogs!Forbes has apparently done a story treating blogs as the second coming of the Anti-Christ. And here I thought they had an intelligent and thoughtful mag. They clearly didn't think this one through. The fella who wrote the Forbes piece will probably feel justified; blogland is tearing him limb for limb. But I'm going to do better than Forbes when it comes to helping you figure out how to deal with blogs. Ready? Treat your customers and your people right. There's your article. The blogosphere isn't a problem if you're as sure in your gut as you are in your legal department that you're the good guy. One of the few places where Wendy's found a few safe harbors during the finger mess was in a blogworld where many withheld judgment and, suspecting fraud way ahead of the media, even suggested patronizing the firm to help out. Tonight, I'm going to illustrate two ways the world of blogs can treat your company: Yum? As ifI tried to order a Pizza Hut pizza today. I work in Campbell, CA, and the boss suggested we order pizza since we were working through lunch. I called a Pizza Hut that, if you're halfway fit, is within walking distance. I started to place my order. The person on the phone said, "Driver's gone, sorry, try another one." Well, actually, I'm not sure she said "sorry," but it's the least she could have said. She didn't go out of her way to make me root for her establishment to do better. (Did I mention that it's a Pizza Hut Express? - no seating, just delivery and pickup) I called a second Pizza Hut. I was told, "Call the one on Bascom, we don't deliver out there." Yahoo maps said it was 1.8 miles from our location. Did I have a Yum experience? No, I had Round Table pizza. It was pretty good, too. Next time, I'll just order from them. But... YUM = You Understand Me - And they really do!I went into the local Taco Bell tonight, as is my wont. I like to go there because they greet me by name, remember that I can't have cheese and make the extra effort to make sure that with good food I also get a more upbeat attitude. Reading Ken Blanchard's Customer Mania, you keep getting the question about getting the positive changes through the roof and into the teams that actually serve. At the Los Gatos Taco Bell/KFC, they seem to have it figured out. Every time I'm in there, I wonder if I could really stand out that much that they remember me so well. But every time I'm in there, there are at least two or three other customers they know just as well. The funny thing is that the little touches add up to real money. I go there three or four times a week, just because it's a great place to drop by. And I usually buy a soda, something I rarely do elsewhere, just because the friendly people suggested it and how could I say "no"? In an age where people no longer can stomach snooty waiters, nor maintain their appetite if their fine cuisine comes with an oversized helping of reservation hassles, long waits and overpriced menus, could YUM really be the new fine dining? That might be a stretch, but if YUM can keep making Champs of its employees the way they've changed their management culture, the organization will be hard put not to become the dining option of choice for those in a hurry, on the go or just in the mood for a simple meal pleasantly presented. --- Admittedly, Article 1 - Pizza Hut - is much more common than Article 2. But it's justified. Blogging about it, even spearheading a blogswarm about it, can only damage the organization if the typical reader is nodding. The wild thing about the blogosphere is that a really nasty article might just bring an unsolicited defense like the paean in article 2. Ultimately, lots of voices come together and fans and foes fight it out until one or two viewpoints emerge, bringing balance to the question but favoring the viewpoint most widely represented among those who are considered to be credible commentators on the matter. Bottom line: If you're afraid of blogs, you're really afraid that your old customers will ruin your prospect with your new suckers. If you're not confident that the blogworld will sort things out in your favor, the fault lies not in blogs but in the way you run and feel about your company.
posted by gbarto at 10:46 PM Monday, October 24, 2005Having kept quiet on this for some time, I feel I must now speak out. From the start of the Fitzgerald investigation until last week, I was Joe Wilson's attorney of record. And I am deeply disturbed at how he has played so coyly with the press without acknowledging that he has been informed that he is a target and the original source for Judy Miller. These are shameful times when a former ambassador drags our nation through an awful scandal to fulfill his own sinister aims against a democratically elected government with which he disagrees.Okay. Actually, I'm not an attorney, have never met Joe Wilson and have only seen obviously manipulated evidence for my claims. But it's at least good enough for a New York Times Op-Ed, right? Sorry if someone already did this bit.
posted by gbarto at 7:20 PM Sunday, October 23, 2005The conservative observer, Marcus, is taking a good look at liberal intolerance. He points out just how illiberal the typical modern liberal is. His focal point: how hard the liberals work to maintain control of public education. One might rephrase Voltaire: Though I disagree with what you believe, I will grudgingly let you believe it as long as I get to teach your child how wrong and ignorant you are.In spite of my thoughts on I.D., evolution and creationism, whether one or all three are taught is the least of our worries. What is worrisome is that civics education has devolved into classes where you learn to complain to the city about potholes and use your Rep's constituent service office to get your welfare benefits restored... Life sciences classes are increasingly a platform for that other religion, Mother Earth worship. And social sciences offerings have become the place where you learn that every religion and culture is worth honoring except for the WASP culture that founded the modern notions of freedom, liberty and law. The messing up of our education system owes, largely, to well-meaning liberals who are as baffled by people who don't agree with them as the Pope is confused about people who fail to get baptized in the Catholic church. This is a point Marcus makes far better than I, so I suggest reading the whole thing. But, two excerpts: The liberals, atheists, and materialists have spent three centuries claiming to be the party of liberty, persecuted by evil authoritarians of the right and of the church.And: The attentive reader will recall that, as for me, I actually stand with the liberals on about half the interesting issues and with the conservatives on the other half.I think, though, that here's where we go off the rails. If the liberals - and I would add the capital-l Libertarians - are as intolerant of dissent as everyone else, to whom do we turn to strike a balance where the various factions can co-exist? The answer, I suppose, is to ourselves, to the extent that we can keep the meddlers back. Which is why robust exercise of our First Amendment rights in the blogosphere is a must. Along with the insurance policy of a robust exercise of our Second Amendment rights, of course.
posted by gbarto at 5:53 PM |
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