This clip is great in that it shows the difference between a blowhard and a pundit. You don’t have to agree with Chris Matthews to see that Kevin James has no idea what he is talking about. He’s spouting off about appeasement and Neville Chamberlain with no idea what Chamberlain did, right or wrong, before World War II. James makes Mark Green look like a genius by virtue of his ignorance and refusal to shut up when called out on his ignorance.

As a society I think we can do better in our political discourse than this kind of shouting over each other to cover up ignorance. If you don’t know about something, just stop and ask or look it up before pressing your side. Hell, you might even change your views based on actually possessing a knowledge of history. I often enjoy talks with my Dad about these sorts of topics precisely because of his knowledge of history and ability to point out subtleties I might have missed. We had a great talk over the weekend about the differences between Communists in China, Cuba, Russia, and other nations and why those differences can lead to being trading partners with one country while having an embargo against another (though I still say this Cuba embargo has failed for far too long). We don’t always agree, I place more weight on civil liberties as a protective measure against tyranny, while he favors security through a strong military and intelligence presence and will sacrifice some civil liberties to fight terrorism (perhaps our ages and his experience in the Air Force help explain those differences). We share a healthy skepticism of governments in general.

Going into any argument armed only with buzzwords is a great way to look the fool. James is a great example of this, sometimes you can learn something and come out looking better if you just shut up and listen for minute, even to your opponent… wait, I think that’s what James was arguing against, perhaps he defeated himself in this one. Oops.

They also offer a nice embeddable chat widget you can add to websites. I’ve the one below to our Contact page. It took me about 5 minutes to customize and add to the site. I love that it lets a visitor instantly interact with me if I’m available. I’m looking at adding these to more of our sites to help with customer service. Google Talk has a similar feature that works much the same way. Both are free and easy as pie to add to a site.

One small thing I’d like to see in the chat widget is a change in the Edit Nickname at the bottom. It’s not obvious that you should select it and change it. I’d like to see that as a more apparent form field and for the text to highlight when selected… I don’t see many people putting in a useful name when they start chatting using the widget on a site.

So, it seems that a site that could help a kid learn about China and how to speak Chinese is not available at a school and who knows where else because someone set up this very dumb filter and the makers of this dumb filter went out of their way to make it hard to report the blacklisting of the site as foolish. It makes me ask how many other educational opportunities kids are missing out on because of these dumb filters. Perhaps it would be better if young kids were properly supervised when online at school and once they are given internet access, they are taught about what is and is not appropriate content to view. Instead of just using a stupid filter that blocks good things and can miss bad ones, lulling people into a false sense of security, we should focus on educating kids and teaching them about exercising good judgment when online. That is a basic life skill now and should be taught from a young age so it is ingrained as a habit. Kids need to know about not giving out private information, about using good judgment when deciding what sites to visit, how to sift out good things from bad in search engine results, and how to read a web site critically as a source of authoritative information.

But, if you are going to have a filter, at the very least make it one that uses a blacklist produced by smart people with good judgment. Reviewers who are smart enough not to put Mandy & Pandy in the “Sex” category.

STEP 1: Listen to the interview. Seriously, it’s awesome.

STEP 2: Read my comments on the interview.

Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer did an interview on NPR in which he talks about the Real ID program. This is an unfunded mandate from the federal government from the same bright minds that set up the TSA. I love how this guy talks. Stright to the point and no dancing around just how stupid the federal government has been in the last few years with regard to security. I love when the interviewer throws out the ol’ 9/11 pitch and he knocks it out of the park by pointing out that most of the hijackers would have been able to get a Real ID and that high school kids at Kinkos could make birth certificates that look real enough to get an ID under the program. It’s all built on crap documents that anyone can fake and then lulls people into a false sense of security, leaving them believing that the new IDs don’t require as much scrutiny.

Brian Schweitzer is my Hero of the Week for calling it like it is. More government officials need to speak out like this. No waffling or equivocation, just bluntly pointing out how stupid the current approach to dealing with terrorism is. It’s sad that we have so much time, money, and energy wasted due to fear mongering and security theater. It’s sad that the federal government has given up on the idea of getting warrants and due process for wiretaps, reading the mail, or detaining people. It’s sad that more people don’t seem to realize it or care that it is happening.

P.S. I know I’ve been writing a lot about politics and very little about web design of late, but that’s what’s been stirring my passion. I’ve been coding like crazy for months (we’ve been churning things out lately) and the writing about politics is kind of refreshing. I may stray back to code more as the election cycle wears on and I grow weary of that.

In my own techie world I’ve found that a similar take on things can help in reaching people about Digital Rights Management (DRM) and closed, proprietary technology choices, versus open formats and web standards. I’m proud to say that with AxiomTV we have just helped CrossRock to start selling DRM Free videos on AxiomTV. The videos work regardless of your choice of operating system or browser and help them spread their message to as wide an audience as possible. DRM would have restricted the spread of their message, which runs counter to their own goals. Locking up the videos also sends the wrong message to their fans and customers that they are not trusted.

I’ve found that it is very hard to make the argument that a Christian group trying to reach out to as many people as possible should put DRM locks on their video and audio content. They should trust that their audience will do the right thing and respect their copyrights with regard to making copies of the works. And if someone is willing to steal a video of a sermon or The Ten Commandments, aren’t they the one who needs it the most? You’d never find a church unwilling to give out a copy of the Bible or tell someone to leave a sermon if they can’t afford to pay to attend. It runs counter to their moral and ethical framework to do so. However, when it comes to the intersection of their church and the business of selling video and audio they sometimes lose sight of this and start to worry too much about theft and copying. It’s not manipulative to point this out in light of their original goals, it is helpful and enlightening.

This doesn’t just apply to using Christian principles to convince Christians. The same idea applies to dealing with all people. If you are dealing with someone who’s framework for making decisions is profit and loss then you need to approach them knowing and respecting that. In that case calling something un-Christian is futile, you need to get them to do the right thing by showing that that is also the best thing for the bottom line. It’s about looking at things from someone else’s point of view and then working within their decision making framework to communicate with them effectively to get you both to the right ends.

I’d love to see him run and if you look at his body of work and think he could make a difference too please consider visiting www.lessig08.org and encouraging him to run. I may not agree with him on every issue, and you may not either, but he is a bright, ethical, and rational individual who will fight effectively to end corruption and secrecy in government and to apply science and reason to governance. He would be a refreshing change on Capitol Hill.

Lawrence Lessig has created a 20 minute video about his support for Barack Obama. I’m impressed with Lessig in general - he has spent years working to improve the state of intellectual property rights and recently has decided to tackle transparency and corruption in government. I respect and listen critically to anything he takes the time to say.

He discusses the differences between Obama and Clinton and why Obama is a great leader, who can inspire real change in the way this country is run and why Clinton is more Rovean than Jeffersonian.

I find that more and more I am supporting Obama, not because I agree with all his policies, but because I see an intellectual honesty and moral courage in him that most politicians lack. I know Washington is a cesspool of greed and corruption and one man can only do so much. But I see Obama as a transformative leader in the way he can change the tone and approach to governing. He pushes to shine a light on what the government is doing instead of finding ways, legal or not, to hide anything and everything that is being done. Unlike our current administration that deletes emails, fights with the National Archive, hides old documents by Executive Order, and classifies anything and everything it can I see Obama fighting to open up the workings of the government to the people. I see him pushing for little things like setting the footage of the debates free. I see him pushing for a positive change toward accountability and transparency from the people that govern by our consent, the people that work for us.

Maybe I’m being suckered and he’s like everyone else. But hell, at least there is a hope he is better. That instead of asking which candidate I despise the least I can finally vote for one I admire and support. Living in Michigan, I didn’t get a real Democratic primary to vote in, but I hoe that come November I will get a chance to vote for Obama and see where he can take out country.

Xobni is a new plugin for Outlook that is in a private beta. A video on Lifehacker shows what it is capable of and it adds some really cool new ways to interact with your email. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on it.