Reason's Weekly Dispatch
By Jeff A. Taylor and the Reason staff

December 29, 2004
Vol. 7 No. 52

In this issue:

1. Quake Kerfuffle
2. Bin Laden's Mistake
3. Year of the Media Mash Up
4. Quick Hits
5. New at Reason Online - Poor, Sexy Berlin
6. News and Events

1. Quake Kerfuffle

When 55,000 lives are snuffed out in an instant, it seems kind of petty to immediately start harping about dollars and cents. Yet that is exactly what UN humanitarian aid chief Jan Egeland did, griping that the initial U.S. aid package of $15 million was stingy. Several things seemed to be at play here.

First, as the world's only superpower, America continues to get credit and blame for forces far outside of its control. A natural event that wobbles the Earth's very axis and moves entire islands makes a poor bad guy, so Uncle Sam gets to stand in as the villain. This also compensates for the feelings of utter powerlessness that anyone attempting to help the quake's victims must now confront.

Egeland's comments may also be part of an attempt by the UN to go on a PR offensive after weeks of U.S.-based criticism of the UN's handling of the Iraq oil-for-food program. But that sounds too dark and cynical even for your average UN bureaucrat.

More likely is that Egeland simply does not understand that the great American assistance engine takes some time to get up and running. Billions of dollars will eventually flow to Asia, but no one should be under any illusion that even unlimited aid will makes things as they were.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=365283<

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2. Bin Laden's Mistake

If his foray into U.S. electioneering was somewhat confusing, there is no mistaking Osama bin Laden's message with regard to the Iraq elections: Stay home or die. This would seem to be a huge miscalculation on the part of bin Laden.

There will be at least some voters, and some votes cast, and when those votes are counted the resulting government will have added legitimacy by being birthed into the teeth of bin Laden's threat. The groups that tried to disrupt the election will have marked themselves as enemies of a duly elected Iraqi government, not some foreign invader.

Of course, the relevant matter will be the new Iraqi government's ability to conduct offensive operations against those groups and, just as important, gain control of its insurgent-leaking borders. U.S. forces will no doubt continue to see the majority of the fighting in the months ahead. But bin Laden and his allies will have demonstrated to the Iraqi people that they are not omnipotent, and perhaps even relatively powerless.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=national&story_id=122804b6_iraq

http://www.juancole.com/2004/12/bin-laden-votes-in-iraq-and-shoots.html

3. Year of the Media Mash Up

Perhaps 2005 will be the year media conglomerates make peace with their customers, stop fighting the inevitable loss of control over content, and instead try to profit from it. But do not hold your breath.

There is still too much invested in the ad-supported mass audience model for a swift move by existing players to a subscriber-based model. That will leave the field to start-ups like the satellite radio outfits and entities like Netflix and Rhapsody, which allow consumers to rent content on their own terms. These entities may become ripe merger partners for some struggling old-line corporation in the coming months.

And let's not forget that there will be plenty of pointless struggles over the ownership of TV and radio stations in America's frozen-in-amber broadcast matrix. That will not change until, oh, 2525 or so.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_bi_ge/ye_media_1

4. Quick Hits

Quote of the Week

"I wonder if bin Laden is invested here?" -- Bob Beckel, a commentator for Fox News Channel, while bowling with his kids at Maryland bowling alley that received investment dollars from Yasser Arafat.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23662-2004Dec23.html

Beats a Gold Watch

Outgoing Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines, who leaves after five years at the helm amid question about the government-sponsored enterprise's books, will get $1.3 million a year for life. Under Raines, Fannie may have overstated profits to the tune of $9 billion.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=9&u=/ap/20041228/ap_on_go_ot/fannie_mae

Union Blues

The Department of Transportation plans to investigate the air travel snafus that grounded so many holiday travelers last week. Here's an idea: Jail time, or a good paddling, for any airline or airport official who used the handy "de-icing" excuse for delays they knew to be the result of something else.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30441-2004Dec27.html

The New Threat

Parents let inexperienced teen driver have "too much car," teen flips car and dies. The culprit? Yep, SUVs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29937-2004Dec27.html

5. New at Reason Online

6. News and Events

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