The times they are a-changin'

Wednesday was Bob Dylan's birthday. Forty years ago he was a leader in a growing revolution which scared the hell out of the power structure at the time.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Earlier I wrote that what the powers that be in the Catholic Church really feared about the Da Vinci code was not ideological but that they saw and feared that they were losing power. Well this new revolution impacts more than the church.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Yes the internet has put the press on the defensive. Their monopoly on punditry has been broken. Until recently if you had a problem with a commentary about all you could do is scribe a letter to the editor. Now you can post your response within hours or minutes and that response will be read by hundreds of even thousands of people. The same can be said for poor reporting. The power of the press is being eroded and the response of the press is to attack those who are real time critical.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Senator Joe Lieberman is finding out that "the times they are a changin'". He and his friends at the DLC feel their power eroding. As I have pointed out here the DLC spokeman, Marshall Wittmann, has gone into the attack mode, for example:

These netroots types think they are something cutting edge when they are merely McGovernites with modems.

And the establishment favorite for 2008, Hillary Clinton, is getting a cold reception from the Democratic base.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

Yes, the times they are a-chagin'.