It is with much relief that I note the overthrow of a few incumbents in last night’s Primaries. While Ned Lamont had an early 20 point lead over Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut race, the gap narrowed as the evening wore on before settling on a 4 point difference. I was interested in this race, as it was an important indicator of the forces working to revitalize the Democratic Party.

The focus on Lieberman has been nationwide, even if the voters where limited to a single state. For them, the issues may have been simpler; a move against a representative who had ceased to represent. For the nation as a whole, his defeat removed a “Fox News Democrat” from the party and showed the growing influence of the progressive movement in challenging the flawed strategies of the major Democratic institutions.

Also, in a strike against the other extreme of the party, Cynthia McKinney has also been defeated in Georgia. The victor, Hank Johnson, ran on a platform of “anyone but McKinney” to claim 59% of the vote. Reports indicate Johnson is a moderate who should help bring some dignity to the seat.

This is prompted in part by the recent news of the Episcopalian House of Deputies voting to reject a ban on gay clergy, a few days following the announcement that a human female was elected to lead the Episcopal Church.

The Protestant Reformation can be viewed, in part, as a reaction to corrupted doctrines within the Catholic Church. To fully understand the Reformation, one must also realize the social, political, and economic mores of the era, which provided the driving motivation for a schism that took doctrinal differences for its raiment. However, the perception of a reality often matters more than reality itself, especially in matters that involve the masses. With the growth of large-scale democratic institutions, we must realize that the original forces at play are no longer relevant, while the public perceptions of them have taken on an existence of their own.

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There are a few news stories on the wire today about Robert Byrd becoming the longest-serving U.S. Senator. What grabbed my eye was this paragraph:

In many ways Byrd is out of synch with today’s political scene, quoting from the Bible and citing Roman history in his speeches. He carries a copy of the Constitution in his breast pocket.
-Andrew Taylor, AP

I have some words for Mr. Taylor, and they’re not exactly complimentary.

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There’s a debate going on in Congress now, a debate over whether ISPs should be allowed to determine which content users can access. Already signs of the future are emerging, with some ISPs announcing plans to degrade or block access to competing content. Even fierce competitors in both business (e.g. Microsoft and Google) and politics (Christian Coalition, MoveOn.org) both agree that this is a clear threat to the Internet, and must be stopped.

I’m asking everyone to take a few minutes to call your representative in Congress (202.224.3121) and voice your support for Net Neutrality, especially the Markey Amendment. You can also read Google’s request for help, an op-ed in the Washington Post, or click the image for more ways to help.

The protections that guaranteed network neutrality have been law since the birth of the Internet — right up until last year, when the Federal Communications Commission eliminated the rules that kept cable and phone companies from discriminating against content providers. This triggered a wave of announcements from phone company chief executives that they plan to do exactly that.
– Lawrence Lessig
Stanford Law School

 

The neutral communications medium is essential to our society. It is the basis of a fair competitive market economy. It is the basis of democracy, by which a community should decide what to do. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true. Let us protect the neutrality of the net.”
– Tim Berners-Lee
Inventor of the World Wide Web

Saturday was the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. According to the official AP story, the evening featured light-hearted banter with President Bush and his Doppelgänger, comedian Steve Bridges. If you read the New York Times version of events, that’s all that occurred.

It’s always a strangely disturbing feeling to see a disconnect between events and the reporting of them. When it comes to technical subjects, this to to be expected, as few reporters are selected for their technical acumen. When it comes to political events, there can be little doubt that the scrubbing of “undesirable elements” from news is not an accident of ignorance.

So, here’s what was left out. Stephen Colbert, featured entertainer for the evening and host of The Colbert Report, delivered a monologue of exceptional bite. (Favorite quote: “reality has a well-known liberal bias”.) Transcript here.