Okay, there are two reasons I love this story in the Orlando Sentinel scrutinizing NASA’s budget: 1) It’s way past time that the federal government bring some accountability to the space program. 2) It’s written by one of my best friends, Mark K. Matthews.
Mark and his colleague Robert Block have been all over the NASA boys (and girls) lately. Last week, they wrote about NASA administrator Michael Griffin’s attempts to stonewall the Obama transition team’s efforts to dig into cost overruns at the agency. Their story about a heated discussion between Griffin and Lori Garver, head of Obama’s space transition team, landed Matthews on Keith Olbermann’s show.
The Republicans are coming. The Republicans are coming. Just in case you were wondering what was causing that clickety clacking noise, it’s the rumblings and keystrokes of a conservative revolution (a true oxymoron if ever there was one) on the Web.
After getting their asses handed to them on Nov. 4, the Republicans have done a little soul-searching and they’ve realized that if they ever want to win a national election again, they’re going to have to figure out this thing we call the Internets.
One of the founders of this so-called “rightsroots” told Vargas: “The Republican Party cannot reboot if it’s viewed only as a party of old, crusty white guys.” As if a marketing makeover will change the fact that the Republican Party is run by a bunch of old, crusty white guys. continue reading » »
Michael Kinsley’s recent piece in Time online asked the question: “How many blogs does the world need?” Kinsley was wondering if, at this point in the history of the Internet, there was anyone out there without a blog?
The opportunity for us all to express an opinion is wonderful. Having to read all those opinions isn’t. In 2004 there were probably still more people reading blogs than writing them. Not so now, or so it seems.
I came across Kinsley’s piece after seeing a mention on Mashable about a new service for the would-be blogger who wants a blog but doesn’t actually want to, you know, do any writing.
Meet WordPressDirect, a blog-in-a-can service that will have your blog up and running in no time and all you have to do is enter some key words to describe what you’d like your blog to be about. WordPressDirect then scrapes different user-generated content sites, such as YouTube and Yahoo Answers, looking for content that matches your key words. continue reading » »
Well, I’ve decided there must be a reason I can’t bring myself to blog. I figure I’m either one of those Obamazombies in that hilarious Onion video or it’s because I’m still trying to get through this fascinating and very long series in Newsweek that takes us behind-the-scenes of the Obama and McCain campaigns (though, I probably should just wait for the movie).
Regardless, I’m sure I’ll snap out of it soon. I’m feeling too good about where this country is headed. Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I read things like how Obama is going to move quickly to reverse the Bush administration’s policies on stem cell research and offshore drilling. Am I dreaming?
There’s nothing I could write tonight that could be more poignant or powerful than the speech President-elect Barack Obama delivered in Chicago’s Grant Park:
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.
It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled – Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America. continue reading » »
I decided that I wasn’t going to sit this election out. If Sen. Barack Obama loses this election, I wanted to be able to look myself in the eye the next day and say that I did everything I could. So, I hooked up with two other D.C.-area folks and drove down to Salem, Va. a few days ago to help get the vote out for Obama.
Salem and next-door Roanoke are red Virginia. These precincts won’t be blue on election night but if we can turn out some numbers here, it may help turn Virginia blue for the first time since 1964 when Lyndon Johnson won the state.
One of the campaign’s rules is that you can’t blog about your experiences as a GOTV volunteer. So, I won’t. All I’ll say is that my feet are a little sore from all the walking I did today. I’ll be doing a lot more over the next four days.
If you’re planning to vote for Obama or already have, that’s great. But you should consider spending some time in the next few days volunteering for the campaign. There’s still time to get involved and we need all the help we can get.
You can find out how to volunteer at the Obama website or you can contact a group like MoveOn.org. You’ll meet great, passionate people, like my new friends above, and you’ll have done your part, win or lose, in the most important election of our lifetime.
Look, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m completely in the tank for Obama. I’ve phone banked for him and I’m heading to Roanoke later this week to work as a volunteer to get the vote out. If you’ve read any of the other entries on this blog, you know that I’m a flaming liberal.
I don’t support John McCain for many reasons, chief among them his decision to add the incredibly unqualified Sarah Palin to the ticket. Well, the truth is I wouldn’t have supported McCain no matter who he named as a running mate, but his decision to tap Palin made me feel a lot better about it.
It’s late and I don’t have the energy to go off on Sarah’s shortcomings — her fake reformer credentials, her questionable ethics, her lack of intellectual curiosity, her inability to form complete sentences, her eagerness to incite the fear, hate and insecurities of the mob. Shit, there’s really not anything I like about her.
I’m not sure why this YouTube clip contrasting WFTV-Orlando anchor Barbara West’s interviews with Joe Biden and John McCain makes me so angry. We’ve grown to expect media bias at the cable networks, whether it’s the unabashed right-wingers at FOX News or the liberals at MSNBC. So maybe it’s a little idealistic to still expect integrity and objectivity in our local news anchors.
West’s questions were pulled directly from the Republican Party’s talking points (see the entire interview here), which shouldn’t be surprising considering that her husband is a Republican operative. I don’t have a problem with West or any reporter asking the candidates tough questions, but these were less questions and more accusations. continue reading » »
Here’s the question of the day: How did the entire blogosphere and twitterverse know intuitively that Ashley Todd was some imbalanced attention-seeker almost immediately after the story broke but John McCain, Sarah Palin and their top staff did not?
Predictably, the liberal bloggers and tweeters were calling bullshit as soon as they heard Todd’s tale of getting mugged and having a backwards “B” carved scratched into her cheek while she was somewhere on the “wrong side” of Pittsburgh. The B, presumably, was for “Barack.” The mugger, a tallish, thinnish black man (apparently dyslexic) became enraged after he noticed that Todd, a McCain campaign worker, had a McCain bumper sticker on her car.
Of course, everyone knew it was a lie just by looking at the picture of her “disfigured” face posted at Smoking Gun. Why would the mugger carve a backwards B? And why did he take extra care not to break her skin with his knife after violently punching, kicking and throwing her to the ground? continue reading » »
How can you tell when a blogger is lacking inspiration? He posts a bunch of videos. I couldn’t resist putting this one up because it’s freaking hilarious. We’ve truly entered unchartered waters: The country is about to elect its first black president, the Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series and Saturday Night Live is relevant again (via UltimateJosh).
