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29 Jul 2009 09:19

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Politics: Arnold’s knife-wielding helped shrink California’s government

  • From the get-go, the governor was very tough in negotiations, and as a result we have a budget that substantially shrinks government. Conservatives have every reason to be overjoyed.
  • Republican Party officer Jon Fleischman • On California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger’s hard-line approach to cutting California’s huge deficit. Schwartzenegger, a fiscal conservative, scored a huge political victory with the budget cuts. He closed off multiple roads to closing the gap (higher taxes weren’t an option, really) in an effort to make sure the cuts, in the end, meant smaller government. And he brandished a big knife in the process. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

28 Jul 2009 10:26

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Politics, Sports: Is the NFL kicking Michael Vick when he’s down?

  • A man just spent two years in a federal penitentiary, but for Goodell — the commissioner of a sport in which a grown man runs around with a ball until someone else tackles him to the ground — doing real, hard time wasn’t enough.
  • ESPN.com columnist Howard Bryant • In a scathing criticism of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s handling of the Michael Vick saga. As opposed to just letting the man play after years of suspension and two years of jail, Goodell tacked another suspension on top of that. Regarding the possibility that Goodell could actually extend the suspension, Bryant says, “There is something childish and vindictive and personal about this, and that is the secondary, more sinister element in the ruling.” • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 3 Comments • Permalink

27 Jul 2009 20:14

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Politics, Sports: PETA grabs onto Michael Vick’s collar, doesn’t plan to let go

  • He has served his reduced sentence, but no child should ever look up to Vick as a role model. And for the sake of all the young football fans and all the dogs he electrocuted, drowned, slammed to the ground, and hanged, we are going to watch him like a hawk.
  • A statement from PETA • Regarding the release and conditional reinstatement of Michael Vick, which we’re sure will mean weeks of additional entertainment from animal rights group. SEA KITTENS WHAT?! (Disclosure: When we were laid off, we considered applying for a job with PETA, as we’re longtime vegetarians and are such for animal rights reasons. Plus, PETA is located in our adopted hometown of Norfolk, Va. But just because we have some positive opinions of what they stand for doesn’t mean we’ll agree with their means.) • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 4 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2009 23:55

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Politics, U.S.: Just when we stopped caring, Joe the Plumber offers his opinion

  • Does the Republican Party represent anything I stand for right now? Absolutely not. Right now the Republican Party doesn’t even know what it stands for.
  • Joe Wurzelbacher a.k.a. “Joe the Plumber” • Regarding the party which used him as a talking point during last year’s presidential election. Wurzelbacher is well-known for not pulling punches in his political opinion – he got into this whole mess by criticizing Barack Obama’s economic policies to his face – and remains a fierce conservative-leaning independent. His biggest issue remains the economy: “Instead of spending more of our money, they should cut back like ordinary Americans are having to. Why do they think they can spend their way out of this mess?” Since we last spoke to the the outspoken plumber, he’s aligned himself with the tea partyin’ wing of conservatism. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2009 22:37

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Politics: Worth reading: Slate’s in-depth Web-vs.-newspapers smackdown

  • The Web side Web proponents feel that newspapers are a product of an era that no longer exists – the media gatekeeper as primary news source. We’re in an era where everything’s decentralized. We don’t need the big source of news anymore. Who needs the New York Times when you can get news from 50 bloggers in an RSS reader? source
  • The Web side Web proponents feel that newspapers are a product of an era that no longer exists – the media gatekeeper as primary news source. We’re in an era where everything’s decentralized. We don’t need the big source of news anymore. Who needs the New York Times when you can get news from 50 bloggers in an RSS reader?
  • The print side One point that newspaper proponents can make pretty easily is that much of what shows up on the blogosphere originally appeared in various news sources. And there are many benefits to that whole organizational center that a newsroom provides. And newsprint is tangible in your hands in a way that a laptop isn’t. source
  • The Web side Web proponents feel that newspapers are a product of an era that no longer exists – the media gatekeeper as primary news source. We’re in an era where everything’s decentralized. We don’t need the big source of news anymore. Who needs the New York Times when you can get news from 50 bloggers in an RSS reader?
  • The print side One point that newspaper proponents can make pretty easily is that much of what shows up on the blogosphere originally appeared in various news sources. And there are many benefits to that whole organizational center that a newsroom provides. And newsprint is tangible in your hands in a way that a laptop isn’t.
  • What Slate did Rather than go for the Clay Shirky-style final word, they let Web news junkies and newspaper junkies say their piece (and there are many opinions, all of which are worth reading), tested them on their knowledge, then had them debate on a podcast. It’s an entertaining debate where – best of all – nothing’s settled. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 6 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2009 20:43

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Politics, U.S.: Max Headroom special edition: Sarah Palin is f#(^ing crazy

  • The resignation video
  • Our analysis
    0:05-0:09 – Sarah Palin’s speech, already crazy, takes a turn about here, linking the military to freedom of speech.
    0:09-0:14 – Oh God, please don’t.
    0:23-0:51 – In your analysis of the press, could you be more bitingly cynical, Sarah?
    0:52-1:04 – She just killed whatever credibility she had left with the press.
    1:05-1:28 – Just don’t tell her crowd of supporters. They still love her.
    1:29-1:38 – Trust us. Ricky Hollywood doesn’t regret his moment in the sun. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

26 Jul 2009 18:30

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Politics, U.S.: Hillary won’t be prez but hopes to see a female president soon

  • It will take the right woman who can make the case and win the votes and get elected. I am certainly hoping it will happen in my lifetime.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Describing her hopes for a future female president. Clinton, who was smacked down by Barack Obama in last year’s Democratic primaries but spent eight years in the White House as First Lady, ruled herself out of the running for that role. She also didn’t give potential presidential candidate Sarah Palin her seal of approval, either. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

26 Jul 2009 11:58

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Politics, Tech: Regarding Facebook’s privacy standards: Give ’em a break, OK?

  • As underhanded as this may seem, this should be a lesson to actually read the terms of service, vague as they may be, before signing up for a social networking service that wants to use your pictures in ads.
  • An editorial in the Los Angeles Times • Discussing Facebook’s privacy policy regarding advertising, which has its users taking this particular drama and running with it. We’re of the opinion that Facebook tends to go a little far sometimes, but in this case, users may in fact be overreacting. OK, this ad shows that Facebook needs to be a bit more careful, but their privacy policy does easily allow this to be turned off – and on top of that, this information isn’t supposed to be cached, anyway. Ah Facebook, it doesn’t matter what you do: You just end up pissing off your users. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 17:57

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Biz, Politics, Tech: AP’s news wrappers: Our brains just imploded, guys

ap0724
  • Wow, and we thought the Republicans’ health care graphic was bad. Basically, if we’re reading this right: The Associated Press needs to convince its members to agree to put digital wrappers on their content, wrappers that are a) invisible to consumers and b) can be tracked on the Internet. Um, OK. We don’t know if they know something about the ASCII type spec that we don’t, but what they’re describing sounds impossible to do with copy and pasting.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

24 Jul 2009 12:24

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Politics: The Obama “birther” movement gets an iconic smackdown video

  • Chris Matthews pulls no punches in laying the smacketh down on Republican Congressman John Campbell, who’s co-sponsoring a bill requiring presidential candidates to provide U.S. birth certificates. However, this video doesn’t put the issue to rest for some, as the YouTube comments clearly question Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth. We’re convinced this issue won’t die simply.source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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