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Ezra Klein has an opinion piece in today’s Washington Post discussing the possibility of real tax code reform. In short: everything would be easier yet more taxes would be collected.

And while every interest group that benefits from an unwieldy tax code will protest, the loudest voice will probably come from CPAs and tax prep software publishers. They’re really losing their golden goose if this initiative passes.

[From Congress is long overdue for serious effort at tax reform - washingtonpost.com]

Going on record now with my predictions for 2012:

1. Sarah Palin does not get the Republican nomination for President.
2. “Tea Party” forms its own political party, nominates Palin as their candidate.
3. Newly formed “Tea Party” splits Republican vote; Obama re-elected.
4. Palin realizes there’s more money, influence in the media, quits politics.
5. “Tea Party” spends years infighting and disintegrates.

Just my thoughts here. This group seems to share a lot of the same disorganizing traits as the democrats.

Earlier this morning, while listening to a story about the use of social media in Iran, a thought occurred to me: would governments have a need for their own botnets?

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that governments have any such networks nor are actively creating them.  I am not suggesting, either, some massive international conspiracy.  Rather, I am curious if this technique would be useful for states.

Cyberspace will be, by all accounts, the next major battlefront in international warfare.  Given that there are few, if any, casualties on the battlefield, cyber-attacks will likely be more commonplace.  States who are merely hostile towards one another and not engaged in active combat may utilize cyber-attacks against one another, such as the recent war between Georgia and Russia.

In their current incarnation, botnets provide malicious individuals or organizations the means to tap into a supermassive computer network.  Malware infects the personal computers of unsuspecting individuals, allowing for   The most common use of a botnet is to conduct distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, but other uses are possible.

Governments of sufficient size, such as the United States, would likely not need a botnet.  These governments have more that sufficient resources and talent to conduct more sophisticated forms of attack. Furthermore, the political and social risks of being caught operating such a network would be too great.

On the other hand, smaller governments, especially governments that are much more restrictive or even totalitarian, would have every incentive to create such networks.  These governments have limited resources at their disposal, insufficient resources to dedicate to cyber-warfare, and a growing need to counteract the internet as a tool of political and social change.

In the end, botnets may not prove to be an effective tool.  States wishing to stifle true dissent may simply choose to disable access to the internet entirely.  A botnet may only prove useful as a tool of war between states, or between states and non-state actors (e.g., terrorist groups).  Still, it is worth considering the possibility of the botnet as a tool of warfare, if only to protect against it.

While I was in Georgetown today, I saw this on the window of an office suite. I think this qualifies as the emptiest gesture of all time.

A soon-to-be internet sensation: John Cleese comments on the absurity of Sarah Palin running for VP of the United States.

[From John Cleese on Sarah Palin: "Monty Python Could Have Written This." - Boing Boing]

A painfully funny commentary about McCain supporters.

I love that Sarah Palin not only cannot backup her foreign policy experience with Russia. It shows a level of evasiveness we haven’t seen in politics in a long, long time. Commentators have tried to call her out on this, late-night humorists have mocked her. Now, she has gained a new enemy: Russia.

Turns out, the Russians aren’t buying this claim, either. They are attacking not only this claim, but her entire qualifications to serve in office. One outlet has even dubbed her “Mrs. Nobody Know-it-All”.

If she thinks the NY Times hates her, wait until she feels the wrath of media outlets who could care less about winning her approval. She’s losing credibility at home; abroad, it seems, it’s already gone.

[From SAIS Next Europe: PostGlobal on washingtonpost.com]

The media and John McCain’s staff seems to have come down with a case of foot-in-mouth disease. The gestation period seems to vary from a period of days to a few months.