Is Online Speech Really Free?
That is the dilemma facing a Georgia couple who created a website and comment forum to complain about some work they had done to their house. The service provider has filed a lawsuit claiming defamation.
The laws (and therefore the courts) are still murky on the issues when it comes to defining the limits of "free" speech, especially online. Is it opinion or libel? Read all about it in
Wired News: "Careful Where You Complain."
Where Do We Go From Here?
I see that John Kerry has conceded the election to George Bush, thereby avoiding the "who is it going to be" legal battles of 2000. Question now is, what does a deeply divided America do now?
Kerry urged his supporters to keep working on the social and economic issues he committed to in his campaign. On the other hand, House majority leader, Republican Tom DeLay of Texas is reported to have said "With a bigger majority, we can do even more exciting things."
Doesn't sound much like bridge building to me. More like the glee felt by a greedy child let loose in a candy store.
My friend
Zes says it's too late to put the politically active genie back in the bottle. Quit the whining and channel that energy into a new activism.
So what's it to be? Hate Bush for the next 4 years? Lambaste his poor "blinders-on" supporters whose jobs are lost and whose relatives die in a divisive, diversionary war but who share his Christian values and embrace his bumbling Texas cowboy schtick? He's a rich WASP who has screwed up everything he's ever touched, but he qualifies for Commander-In-Chief? Who wrote that job description!
Whew! Vitriol is best when released. I really meant to be foward looking because I truly want to know where we go from here.
Et Tu, Ohio?
According to the early morning tally, Bush has 254 electoral votes to Kerry's 252. Either candidate needs 270 to win.
Though New Mexico and Iowa have yet to weigh in, with 20 electoral votes in the pinata, it looks like Ohio is our new Florida. And, just like 2000, the courts may ultimately decide who lands in the big chair for the next 4 years.
Here's a sampling of this morning's headlines:
The Toledo Blade ("Ohio Provisional Ballots Key to Election")
Bloomberg News ("US Election Doesn't Yield Winner")
The Daily Bruin ("Decidely Divided")
Apparently,
Bush already has his people claiming a "convincing" victory, though as yet there is no factual basis for his assertion.
I'll end with Abraham Lincoln's words, written some 4 years after the famous "House Divided" speech:
"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We--even we here--hold the power, and bear the responsibility."
Lincoln's Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.
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