Republicans don’t like a lot of things, a trait for which they’re somewhat famous, but they do like to win. Naturally enough, they also take a very dim view of losing, and that’s what always gets them in trouble. When they lose, a whole passel of latent pathologies drive them to do the nuttiest things, most of which ultimately redound to their detriment, but they simply can’t help themselves.

The last two times they’ve lost the Presidency due to the usual rank incompetence and resulting widespread public revulsion, their reaction has been pretty much the opposite of what a sane person would do in such a situation, but the pattern is quite clear.

A variety of links to articles/interviews/speeches on current issues that may be of interest.

It’s come to this in America.

Micah Sifry’s been out in front of the new developments in transparency and media for quite a while. His work with the Personal Democracy Forum and his writing at techPresident continue to chronicle the ways technology leads to major changes in American democracy.

Now Micah has written a fascinating book, Wikileaks and the Age of Transparency. Particularly timely as we watch both Bradley Manning’s prosecution and the immense changes in North Africa and the Middle East, Sifry not only talks about Manning, Assange and the release of both the Collateral Murder video and the state department cables – but tells the bigger story of old closed hierarchical systems being overtaken by open, lateral relationships.