Thursday's iGoogle news

Today's most interesting article comes from a blog: Andrew Sullivan's "The Daily Dish." I thought this was an interesting take on President Obama's decision to not make a decision regarding U.S. action in Afghanistan. Instead of vilifying Obama for being indecisive, Sullivan praises him for being patient. Further, he says Obama's patience is a sign of strength, not weakness.

Sullivan says that in the past, decisions like this would have been made quickly, but Obama believes in letting the process take its time. Sullivan says this decision is one of the most critical decisions so far in his presidency, and I agree with him there. Sullivan refers to Obama's strategy as "a relentless empiricism in pursuit of a particular objective and a willingness to let the process take its time."

Obama also seems to be willing to involve the public in the decision making process. This is an unusual strategy politically, but one that Sullivan thinks will be effective. He's keeping his position to himself, while allowing the people to debate with each other, which can only increase public involvement and awareness on issues. He also has allowed other politicians to come forward with their own ideas for consideration.

Sullivan says that this strategy of indecision shows that Obama is very self-confident. Obviously, this strategy will draw criticism from political rivals and some memebers of the public, but Obama seems to be unfazed. By doing this, Obama seems to be almost inviting criticism, but Sullivan sees this as a sign that Obama is doing whatever he thinks is best for the country, regardless of how it impacts him politically.

Moving away from politics, I found a second interesting article from CNN. This is about a case out of New York in which a 19 year old man charged with robbery was able to use his Facebook status as proof of his innocence. The man, Rodney Bradford, updated his Facebook status at 11:49 a.m. from a computer at his father's house in Harlem. At 11:50 a.m., a robbery too place in Brooklyn, 12 miles away. Bradford was arrested for this robbery and he spent 12 days in jail. The attorneys working the case were able to subpoena Facebook to get documentation proving that Bradford had really updated his status at that time, from that location. Police dismissed the notion that this update could have been faked, because the update was an inside joke that would have been unclear to outsiders. A person faking an alibi would have made a clearer and more obvious attempt to disguise their location. I thought this was interesting because it shows the impact that technology is having on everyday life. Facebook has become such a big part of culture, that it can now be used as an acceptable defense in a criminal case.