Mark Pincus Blog

stephen colbert tears bush a new a-hole

one of the most heroic speaches i can remember hearing. check out his address (and part II) to the white house press dinner. amazing to actually see him stand a few feet from bush and totally roast him. according to democracy now, the mainstream media completely ignored his speach and chose to only report on how funny the president was with his impersonator. even the nytimes skipped it until they finally had to report on the internet reaction.

he takes the opportunity to roast every republican in the room and fox news. he hits every bad scandal from plume to the retired generals dissenting against rumsfeld. he totally mocks bush. he turns to him and says he admires his energy policy of cutting tumble weeds on his ranch to put into mesquitte powered cars.

Why the US is becoming China - arresting you for smoking pot

today's nytimes had a disturbing headline - the FDA now officially claims that marajuana has no medical benefits. this comes on the heels of the supreme court's recent decision that the federal government can arrest anyone using marajuana even in the 11 states that now approve it.

it just amazes me how similar the US is to china. both countries are ruled by conservative old regimes that are painfully out of touch with the needs and aspirations of their citizens. in both countries, the citizens naively believe that they can go on with their lives, pursuing their progressive goals - make money and have fun.

in both cases, there is the feeling of a vise slowly closing. in the US the conservatives have been playing a brilliantly patient chess game. with control of the supreme court and both houses they are in sight of the end game already. we can all see the last moves coming...

- abolish abortion...prosecute personal marajuana use...reinstitute the draft...checkmate...now they can throw any youth political movement challenging their authority in jail or at least draft them (arguable a worse fate).

its normal these days for people to tell me i should be careful what i say on my blog. implication - that i shouldnt risk pissing off the government lest i face the FBI, IRS, CIA. are they serious? i say fuck that and shame on them for being too cowardly to stand up for our rights. wow. our forefathers had to fight real wars and put their lives on the line. my peers are too concerned with their comfortable lives to even risk a bad tax return. what happened? maybe it's easier to have resolve against an enemy you can see.

now i'm not saying i'm doing much about this, cause i know i'm not. but we all have to start somewhere and saying out loud and in public what we all know in our hearts and share in our homes is a good start. revolutions start when with small steps. what's our equivalent of a tea party? how about the washington pot party? why dont we get a million of us to smoke pot on the lawn of the washington monument? would you do it or would you rather wait till they come for you and then ask your silent scared neighbors to help?

and how about our new 'leaders' like mark warner or barak obama? where's the outcry? their silence on these and many more issues is deafening. how is it that we dont have one mainstream leader, dem or republican, that's got the balls to stand up to this totalitarian regime? hmm...maybe it's because they all work for the same donors as we learned from mr. abramoff. 

i for one look forward to the checkmate. lets see the government clamp down. go after those pot smoking liberals. throw a few goldman sachs i-bankers in jail along with some rabble rousing ivy league kids. hell, maybe they can even nab mark warner smoking a J on his farm. overthrow roe v wade and arrest some prominant young women on murder charges. then just wait for the kids to start protesting. oh yeah. it's on. we've been waiting for you spoiled brats. maybe we can shoot a few and really shut you up....

only then will we see the everyone wake up. and then we will finally see the revolution that has been 14 years in the making. we will see real leaders emerge with real missions (to replace these hollow stick figures). there wont be room for apeasement in the midst of all out warfare. and we ants, armed with the internet will triumph.

here's my questions to those of you loony enough to still be reading this.

1. do you agree that we have a corrupt government that no longer represents the people?

2. if so, are you doing anything about it? why not?

3. would you fight if there was a clear path?

4. why is your voice silent? why arent you joining me in this fight?

finally, i am launching a web based political party - the ant party. (you will find it antparty.org once matt puts it up.)  i hope you will help me make this a reality. it's my attempt to fight back the only way i know how.  the idea is user generated politics. the idea is that we the people should set the agenda and pick the candidates and those people should be elected without selling their souls. i dont know if this is a good idea, and feel confident already that we arent getting the site right. so help us! we need people to think through the details of how the party should work, of site layout/UI.

The Youth Speak Back! check out the kids' bill of rights

you HAVE to watch this video. it's awesome.

i've finally found the seeds of the revolution of the ants. this kid does a better job of describing all that pisses me off about bush and our messed up government than anything i could have ever written and he does it in a brilliant poetry slam too!

when i first saw this live, i got chills and have to say i still get them. folks, here is the match flame we have been searching. what's ironic is that gavin newsome did the intro but then left before he could hear any of it. too bad. he would have learned more about the messages that will form our next election than any pundits or polls could have ever revealed.

please watch this, email it to friends - help fan the flames.

fred wilson's state of the union...

i missed bush's state of the union (thinking i didnt miss much) but managed to catch one posted by fred wilson. i applaud fred's courage of late in standing up and being counted as one of the few people in our industry willing to take a stand.

fred's not too happy with the state of our union these days and he worries he might be alone. fred, your voice may be a minority but your sentiment is not.

we need to work to find our collective voice, the common ground where republican, democrat and independent can join forces. i believe it's in our desire to reform our government. this system isnt working and we need to fight to fix it or watch it slowly disolve.

when our congress regularly admits to taking bribes; when our president says its ok to wiretap and torture; when the populace accepts voting for the lesser of two evils as normal, it's time for all of us to stop editing and start doing.

thank you fred. you have built a career on being ahead of the pack, so i fully expect the pack to follow.

essembly.com - a political social network

i've been playing with essembly for the past day. it's the coolest political web site i've seen (because it's about interacting over informing) but it stops short of enabling the kind of grass roots organizing i've been hoping and searching for.  [if you want to try it, email me and i'll invite you on.]

it seems like the founders are trying to keep it stealth for now as they have not responded to several emails from me (or they just dont want to talk to me.)

what's cool about it is the simple way it lets users create their own 'resolves' - kind of your own little survey or policy proposal that goes out to everyone to vote on. it's fun to watch the action in votes and comments.

also cool but not used yet are the groups functions which enable candidates, coalitions and issue campaigns to organize, set their platforms and recruit.

where it falls short for me...first, it appears to be for profit which is fine, but may drive the wrong incentives. which leads to my second issue, we lack any leadership on any front. everyone is so neutral that nothing changes. we need a web movement to reform the system (i've blogged about my hopes to create an eparty). a neutral site will devolve into a message board where people are forever fragmented.

what we need is a site that can help facilitate organization and collective voice. it should gently point out our similarities on many issues rather than essembly's simplistic (but fun) approach of showing your % correlation with another person on issues. while that's cute, i'm looking for a site that can promote my overlaps with seemingly disparate people and groups so we can form NEW coalitions that can replace the current power base.

overall, i'm psyched that these kids created essembly and see it as a big step in the right direction of 'radical democracy' and hope that they/we can take it further towards enabling real action and not just real interaction.

Can both sides work together to fight washington?

i got some great comments on my 'war on washington' post.

one in particular was striking gold for me.  don ryan, an ordained minister in ohio, sent the following...

Mark-

I am an ordained minister on the right end of the conservative spectrum but I completely agree with you. The system is broken and there is plenty of blame on both sides. I don't know if term limits is the answer but it's gotten so bad I find myself tuning out all together. That however, will not fix the problem. Conservatives and liberals alike need to engage in a civilized dialog about fixing the problems and then let's debate ideas. Love your blog! BTW- I live in Bob Ney's district (OH-18) so I have an acute understanding of corruption in Congress.

you have all also made it clear that i will get a lot further with a positive message than just a lot of whining. i will do my best to channel my frustrations into more constructive ideas on how we come together; and into policies and platforms that will improve the sytem by enabling more people to participate in real ways that go beyond just voting.

my eparty.org (there's not site there yet!) will be an attempt at this. i hope to build a web based system that can be used by candidates to run campaigns and their constituents to have an ongoing voice in setting platform agendas and even picking new candidates. i hope candidates will be able to use this platform to create viral campaigns, raise money and as a way to give mass numbers of constituents a real voice in their campaigns and more importantly in the way they govern after winning. [stay tuned!]

Conecticut sorry for bringing us Bush?

not sure if this is for real but i love it either way!

Do you remember the moment you realized bush lied about iraq? see 'why we fight'

i recently saw 'why we fight', a terrific documentary that i would highly recommend. this movie by eugene jarecki, brother of andrew - creator of moviefone and more importantly 'capturing the friedmans' - does an amazing job of reminding us all of the very recent past.

i honestly had forgotten how emphatically bush, cheney and rumsfeld argued that a) iraq was connected to 9/11 and b) iraq had weapons of mass destruction. in fact, the previous night i backed down in a debate with a conservative friend when he said we were all just being monday morning quarterbacks and that it was easy to blame the messenger after the fact. i felt hypocritical as i had been slightly in favor of the invasion at the time.

however, this movie points out how clearly we were all deceived. jarecki interview a former military officers from a special pentagon office that was set up. she explains how political appointees issued memos stating how she was supposed to refer to any issues relating to iraq.

even more powerful is jarecki's interviews with a former nyc cop and vietnam vet who lost his son in 9/11.  this guy went from asking the airforce to put his son's name on a bomb to complete disgust for bush and for himself for being so wrong. at one point he pinpoints the exact moment when he realized bush was lying about it all and in fact jarecki shows a bush interview where he says he never tied iraq to 9/11.

if only jarecki could have narrated this film...afterwards he spent an hour talking about the point of the film, how it was the system that was corrupt more than just bush or either party. the film does a great job of showing how our country's industrial military machine needs wars to feed jobs.

anyway, the biggest point i walked away thinking about was -- when exactly did each of us come to the realization that we were duped into this war? do you remember a day or moment when you woke up and realized you didnt really support our original intentions for invading iraq? i cant pinpoint my moment.

somehow i feel like i've been in a passive daze just watching as events unfolded. seems like bush/cheney have been so gradual in moving us from the 9/11 connection to simply world security or extending freedom that even now it's all fuzzy.

the most ominous moment in the film is when pearl tells us that no matter what we think now, no matter who takes power next, we can never go back to the way it was. i dont think he meant it the way i took it, that we have so damaged america's reputation and so angered friends and foe that it's irreparable.

the movie has remained on my mind this week. i feel like we need a leader who can help us heal a lot of horrible, immoral actions we have brought into the world since 9/11. we have become a nation seeking vengence at all costs. like an angry parent, we have lost regard for other human life in our mourning the loss of our own. america feels more and more like a mean country, one that has lost all sense of community at home and abroad.

one of jarecki's final comments was that america under the republicans reminds him of 'it's a wonderful life' - we've had an oppty to see what life would be like under the most corrupt and evil of regimes. i agreed with this thought and the optimism he took away that we should be thankful to bush/cheney for so blatantly showing their true colors that we might wake up and choose to go back.

leadership or the lack of it matters a lot. i'm noticing its effects all around me. over new years a seemingly intelligent guy argued - why should we bother finding a moral justification for kicking ass in other countries? his point was we're the only super power, why ask for permission or need to justify? 

i never imagined i'd live in a time when our country's values and actions were indistinguishable from those of  criminal regimes and totalitarian governments.

and why is it that it's always the fucking, morals preaching, family values guys who are the most evil? if you think about it, it's really embarassing to have a george bush as our president. i mean i can forgive him for being an idiot (not the first), even for being corrupt as that's how you got elected in the 20th century, but talking to g-d? come the fuck on! and 'we' voted for this guy?

Buying off the US government is the best investment you can make!

thomas donlan has a great piece in today's barron's on the jack abramoff plea bargain. for those of you who missed it, abramoff plead guilty to funneling $25 million in 'bribes' to everyone from bush to a third of congress on behalf of indian tribes. what's really funny is that he even plead guilty to 'defruading' the bribers.

donlan makes a great point that the republicans managed to reach the same level of corruption in just 11 months that the democrats had to develop over several decades. guess that makes the republicans more adept politicians, but we all knew that after watching the last two elections.

he also points to a website, capitaleye, that lists the names of everyone who accepted these bribes. it's a veritable who's who of our most famous politicians. included on the list is SF's very own barbara boxer and diane feinstein. when donlan said there was a race amongst these politicians to give the money back which turned into a huge windfall for the american heart association and the boy scouts, i thought he was joking but it appears true.

i haight sounding so naive but here's what i dont get, what's the difference between a 'lobbyist' and 'briber'? is it lobbying when nobody gets caught?

donlan finishes with a suggestion that's near and dear to my heart. he wishes that all campaign contributions would be allowed so long as they're made completely public on the internet. that way the public can decide for ourselves who's the most corrupt.

i totally agree. in fact, it seems like a more efficient market if we can all have a shot at buying feinstein and the republicans. why not create an ebay like auction? maybe i can rally my fellow jews to bid on replacing indians as casino license recipients. think how much more money this might raise for worthy campaigns.

i for one love this idiot abramoff. in one fell swoop he has proven that both parties are equally corrupt. this isnt about the righteous democrats fighting the evil republicans. they're all part of the same corrupt system.

now i havent followed the sentencing for abramoff but who wants to bet that he gets a slap on the wrist compared to poor old bernie ebers? why? because politicians have to protect their own. you never know when you'll get caught so you better not set any dangerous precedants. throw away the key on those corporate titans. they dont have any more money to bribe you with anyway.

one last point. when you look at how little abramoff had to pay to buy our 'leaders', you realize that buying US government is probably the most undervalued investment there is. and what a great way to sustain patriotic giving! i say if groups like the indian tribes care enough to support our government, even both parties equally, they deserve a big reward. i mean, what have you apothetic slackers done for feinstein, the DNC or tom delay lately? nothing.

the times acting like big dumb old media that they are

david chappell, the deputy managing editor, has been responding to all of your inquiries with the same email. (thanks to those who forwarded back to me).  while i'm happy they responded at all and did print a correction, it's sad to see a news organization take so little ownership and responsibility for their actions.

chappell's response is basically that this was just a matter a mere omission. see, they forgot to add the word 'blog' after 'mark pincus'. guess that would have made a world of difference to print a racist quote and attribute it to 'mark pincus blog'. sure their readers would have all just assumed that meant an idiot posted a comment to my blog which the times did me the favor of broadcasting to a larger audience. why would anyone think i said that?

my friend jason calcanis (not afraid to tell anyone what he thinks) pointed out to mr. chappell that this would be no different than a blog taking a quote from an oped piece in their paper and republishing it as simply 'the times'. in fact, we should all try that just for fun.

what would be the right response from the times? how about starting with 'wow, did we ever fuck up'? how about admitting that their process is broken? how about stating clearly that they dont believe it's ok to lift qoutes from blogs that create gross mis perceptions about the author's true intent?

no, it's not enough to just say that the journalist, mr. ayres (who btw seems like a nice guy), was not 'culpable'. hey chappell, you forgot the second half of that sentence...'and our paper WAS culpable'. some editor (probably chappell) had to review the article, decide to add the sidebar with quotes and WAS responsible for this totally wrong and maligning mis-presentation...and that guy should be fired.

folks, here's what's wrong with big media. they suck ass as much as the leaders they cover. the message is clear. the buck doesnt stop with anyone but us. the ants are always left holding the bag because it's nobody's fault.

when waste management calls my cell phone because 'you've been selected for a customer survey'. when the president admits that he has instructed the cia to illegally put US citizens under surveillance. when ceo's can make windfall profits selling stock in companies that are 'mis-stating' earnings and when major newspapers can malign someone's reputation. THEY ARE ALL JUST DOING THEIR JOBS! IT'S NOBODY'S FAULT.

this is why we need a revolution. newspapers used to be the power of the people but then they just became shitty fucking corporations that 'serve shareholders'. this is why we need a new form of capitalism. this is why craig newmark will be king and the newspapers will all die.

must be a tough new world for mr. chappell and his media counterparts. they'll have to learn new rules of engagement. like the leaders of governments and corporations they cover, they'll have to learn to answer to the people.

in honor of mr. chappell and the times i'm starting a new tag/category on my blog, "dumb media".

i encourage you all to continue letting mr. chappell know what you think of their practices.