We don’t usually write about politics in this blog, but I was at a networking meeting of web entrepreneurs on Wednesday and listened to a presentation about Glassbooth.org. The site is timely, especially if you are still undecided about the upcoming primaries.

The founders of Glassbooth are interested in creating innovative ways to access political information, to make the political process more transparent for voters. (Glassbooth: get it?) They created an interactive site where would-be voters take a two-part quiz, ranking personal views on a range of issues and positions. At the end of the quiz, Glassbooth shows which candidates positions most closely match the quiz results on each issue.

For comparison, I also took WBUR’s interactive quiz. Interestingly, a different candidate appeared closer to my preferences than with Glassbooth. Both quizzes take about 10-15 minutes and touch on 10 policy issues that have been widely debated. Even if you have watched the debates (all two million of them), you may still find that you learn something from quiz results.

At the time of the writing of this post, I have no financial relationships with any of the organizations mentioned.

At Davos, Bill gates issued a call for a kinder capitalism which he calls “creative capitalism“. By now this is old news, but I have to comment.

First of all, I can’t think of a single system, program, etc. in the world’s history that has allowed more creativity than capitalism. If anything, the word “creative” should be a part of the definition of capitalism. With capitalism Bill has all the room in the world to be as creative as he wants - capitalism has always allowed him to do exactly that! Nobody stopped him in the past and nobody is stopping him now. This goes for Muhammad Yunus’ “Complete Capitalism” as well. Thanks to the “incompleteness” of capitalism Muhammad can also go and create his own version of what he considers to be a “complete capitalism”. John Mackey of Whole Foods seems to be doing what Mr. Gates and Mr. Yunus are trying to get at - more power to him.

I wonder if Bill either took no time at all, or racked his brain and frankly “creative”was simply the best he could come up with. In preparation for a talk at an event like the World Economic Forum in Davos, I like to think that Bill would have spent some time thinking about the word he would use to define the central concept in his speech. If so, then his choice just goes to show that capitalism can not be qualified with a human quality.

Can capatalism be creative? No. Can capatilism be loving? No. Can capitalism be mean? No. Can capitalism be funny? No. Why? Because capitalism is an inanimate economic system, and can not take on humanistic qualities. It’s amoral, apolitical, areligious, aetc. On the other hand - Can capitalism be modified as free-market? Yes.

What Bill should have said, and what would have made 100% more sense is - “we need kinder people in capitalism”. Aaaah, now that makes a little more sense. But, that would have admitted guilt. It wasn’t Bill that was oblivious and unconcerned with the poor when he led Microsoft - IT WAS THE CAPITALISTIC SYSTEM!

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Yesterday I attended the Seventh Annual Regional Sustainable Development Forum, which was put on by New Ecology, Inc. and MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. This was an interesting blend of students and corporate, nonprofit, and governmental professionals gathered to discuss sustainable urban development.

This leads me to an interesting question: what is the role of policy in this space?

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I recently discovered Global Voices Online, a non-profit media project founded at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society.

Global Voices Online aggregates and “curates” blogs, podcasts, videos, and photos posted by bloggers around the world. I have often heard bloggers quoted or interviewed and wondered how any journalist could sift through the blogosphere to find interesting commentary. And now I know.
You can search for blogs by country, region, or topic. For example, a summary of recent postings about the situation in Kenya post-election summarize the different ways that Kenyans are coming to terms with their political situation. Probably no surprise that bloggers think Kibaki is around to stay.

If you prefer, RSS feeds are available.

At the time of the writing of this post, I have no financial relationships with any of the organizations mentioned.

This quote is brought to you at the good folks at the Foundation for a Better Life. This quote is about perseverance. Enjoy!

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins — not through strength but by perseverance.”

- Jackson Browne (b. 1948), rock musician, songwriter, guitarist, pianist

There is an increasing need for people who are positive, who build up and construct instead of tear down and destruct. I sincerely hope PosiPeople can successfully create an online community where all members and visitors are truly positive.

Every once in a while I will go on a “read the comments binge”. I find that I’m driven to read more because of my fascination with how well practiced “commentors” are at the art of being nasty, angry and sarcastic. If I had more time to go around and add constructive ideas and opinions, I wonder if I would get any traction, or would I just be crushed by the entertainment factor of the flippant, crude and downright hateful tumult of opinions.

Visits to find out what people are saying about politics in the You Tube and Digg sites of the world remind me of a friend who would pull out his favorite trump card during heated conversations - “I’m talking louder, therefore I must be right” to which I would have to concede, with a smile, - “I’m at a loss, you win”. Of course this was a joke, but as with most jokes, there was some truth. Not truth in the sense that the statement is true, but that it represents what often takes place in society. Almost all people know either consciously or subconsciously that an appeal to the emotions can often wield much more power than well constructed thoughts can. Just ask my 2 year old about how effective crying is? In the adult world this behavior is often an outgrowth of an argument that has come to a stand-still - one man’s well thought out opinion against another’s, and if either is to come out looking victorious they must enter the world of politics where whomever can best appeal to the emotions of the masses “wins”.

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