We could be getting screwed right now and not know it.

It is at times like this that I am ashamed to have ever dreamt of being a journalist. It is at times like this that I'm glad no TV network ever hired me. It is at times like this that I'm embarrassed for those who take the job seriously, or think we should ever take them seriously for the job they do.

Right or wrong isn't the point here. The point is excess. The point is crisis. The point is that, for the Nixon Thesis of Conflict, the end is undoubtedly near.

Copyright and patent reform are going to become key issues as those who practice open source politics reach power. The abuses of our time need to be collected (they are being collected), documented (they are being documented), then used in the political battles to come.

A journalist is someone who won't spend five minutes on Google. And a blogger is someone who won't spend five minutes on the phone.

The Clue is that what is true for the software business is also true for the journalism business, and for business generally. It's also true for politics, and for society. The result may look messier, but it actually gets you closer to the real facts, faster, than a closed-source process.

Let's look into it. And then decide what to do.

Iran is paying less for more military might today than ever before, thanks entirely to Bush Administration policies.

Johnson was not an idiot. He was many things, but not an idiot. He was, in the end, a tragic figure. His whole term was a great tragedy. But the end of an era is always a great tragedy. From tragedies the Thesis of a new future rises, phoenix-like.

What is war good for? It holds us in amber, chains us to the past, and makes all those who yearn for peace, for real peace, seem like idealistic fools.