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27 Jul 2010 10:01

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Politics: Unlucky Tea Partiers in Oregon unfamiliar with 4chan

A very unfortunate chain of events for the Oregon Tea Party, who shut down their Facebook page and closed off their Web site after 4chan got a hold of this. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2010 23:27

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Politics: Old media having a hard time keeping up with those Web kiddies

  • There are more tools than ever to check things out, but once things start flying at light speed as it did with Sherrod, nobody seems able to hit the pause button.
  • Politicifact.com editor Bill Adair • Regarding the speed of the news cycle and how quickly it can flip. The best example of this is how, at the beginning of last week, The Washington Post made a bold bid to grab the week’s news cycle with their “Top Secret America” series, only to have it quickly pushed aside by Andrew Breitbart and Tucker Carlson, who each scored cycle-grabbing headlines with much less work and much bigger payoff. And unlike the Post’s meticulously-checked series, some of the info Breitbart in particular had was straight-up wrong. And now this Wikileaks story proves it even more – the Web can own the news cycle far more easily than old-school media. And the old-school media, for good and bad, has to play catch-up. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2010 20:57

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Politics: The Fairness Doctrine: Why you should miss the broadcast balancer

  • Imagine a world where you didn’t hear only what you wanted to hear. In the age of the Fairness Doctrine, broadcasters were actually required to give time to the voices they might otherwise choose to shut out.
  • AOL News opinion guy Barry Weintraub • Lamenting the long-lost Fairness Doctrine, which created boring TV but led to a much more well-informed electorate. Now, let’s face it – in the age of blogging, we could never realistically go back to this, because technology has become more customized in the 20-odd years since the FCC took it away. But it’s probably important to note how it ended. Basically, Reagan staffer Mark S. Fowler, claiming that it violated the First Amendment, started tearing apart the long-standing policy as FCC chairman. Just seeing how television – let alone talk radio, that quickly-budding bastion of angry politics – has changed in the last 20 years suggests how necessary it or something like it just might be. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2010 10:37

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Politics: Andrew Sullivan: Wikileaks proves how tough Afghan War’s end will be

  • What do we really learn from the Wikileaks monster-doc-dump? I think the actual answer is: not much that we didn’t already know. But it’s extremely depressing – and rivetingly explicit – confirmation of what anyone with eyes and ears could have told you for years.
  • Mega-blogger Andrew Sullivan • Describing the nature of what’s inside the Wikileaks data dump. (We couldn’t have said it better.) The Atlantic Wire has a pretty succinct report of what the data shows. Sullivan, meanwhile, says that the data shows how politically treacherous all of this is for the U.S.: “A president who withdraws and then presides over a terror attack will be vulnerable to cheap political attacks of the Palinite variety.” Is he right? Should we take a more minimalist approach to the war, as Joe Biden is pushing? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 8 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2010 22:22

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Politics: Max Headroom: Alvin Greene has an official(ly supported) theme song


  • We miss Jake Tapper Jake Tapper’s last week headlining ABC News’ “This Week” was a bittersweet affair, and this interview with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie shows why Tapper was a natural at this. Christiane Amanpour, you have a lot to live up to.

  • Alvin Greene’s Rap While this video certainly makes it seem like Alvin Greene created it (and has an extreme LeBron James fetish) he didn’t. Doesn’t matter. His long-shot campaign needs whatever PR it can get right now, so why the heck not?

  • Howard Dean relevantBack in 2004, before that whole scream thing ruined his chances at the presidency, he was actually worth watching. Now, he’s on “Fox News Sunday” … calling Fox News racist for their Shirley Sherrod coverage. Welcome back, Howie!
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2010 20:48

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Politics: Why did Wikileaks contact the press before its big Afghan War leak?

  • Short answer: It gains little traction otherwise. NYU superhuman being Jay Rosen pointed this fact out on Twitter tonight. Last year, Wikileaks guy Julian Assange put it like this: “You’d think the bigger and more important the document is, the more likely it will be reported on but that’s absolutely not true. It’s about supply and demand. Zero supply equals high demand, it has value. As soon as we release the material, the supply goes to infinity, so the perceived value goes to zero.” So in other words, if they just put it up without talking to the press first, nobody would see it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

25 Jul 2010 20:47

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Politics: Why Wikileaks does what it does – even if people don’t like it

  • We believe that transparency in government activities leads to reduced corruption, better government and stronger democracies. All governments can benefit from increased scrutiny by the world community, as well as their own people. We believe this scrutiny requires information.
  • A note on the Wikileaks Web site • Noting why they do what they do, despite the controversy it creates. Let’s face it. They’re very self-promotional. They know how to get their name out there. And they want to get a message out there. The message this time? “[The leak] shows not only the severe incidents but the general squalor of war, from the death of individual children to major operations that kill hundreds,” said Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

24 Jul 2010 18:59

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Politics: Charles Rangel won’t resign; Democrats wet themselves big time

  • Well, it wouldn’t be the American thing to do. I think I owe it to the process to find out first what the investigative committee finds out.
  • Rep. Charles Rangel • On his decision to see his potential ethics trial through. Rangel, of course, is a legend in Congress, and could find his legendary status in jeopardy with this trial. (He denies the charges.) Rangel’s decision could be politically damaging for the Democrats, who honestly just want him to go away so they can focus on other things, like not getting their butts kicked in November. A separate New York Daily News report suggests, though, that the REAL reason he plans to stay in office is that he needs to pay for his legal fees. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2010 11:07

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Politics: Chelsea Clinton’s wedding upsetting her parents’ political allies

Were you invited to Chelsea Clinton’s wedding? If so, you know her personally. If not, you’re one of the thousands of hangers-on to her mom and dad. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2010 03:21

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Politics: Tea Party Express ditches Mark Williams over really misguided idea

  • Dumb move by mark williams In response to the NAACP’s chiding of the Tea Party, Tea Party Express leader Mark WIlliams wrote a blog post in the guise of a slave pretending to thank Abraham Lincoln for slavery. He called it satire. It was universally criticized, even by his own side.
  • Smart move by mark williams Realizing that the post was really dumb and hurt the Modern Tea Party movement as a whole, Williams resigned from the Tea Party Express. He says he’ll still remain part of the movement, but not hog the spotlight as its most well-known member. It’s for the best. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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