Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Rick Barber was the second place finisher in the AL02 contest to run as the Republican against incumbent Bobby Bright in November. He is likely to lose to Martha Robey during said run-off in July based on the numbers from the primary: U.S. House District 2 GOP – Primary 418 of 418 precincts – 100 [...]
The Atlantic‘s Chris Good points out that, while some are grumbling over Elena Kagan’s lack of a paper trail, the far more common problem in the digital age is that most public intellectuals have so much information out there that it’s virtually impossible to corral it all. The last major judicial nominee reported out by [...]
Columbia MO SWAT raids a residential house. They find a pipe with residue, a small amount of marijuana (enough for misdemeanor offense) and a grinder. In the process of conducting this raid these brave and fearless cops shot and killed a (possibly crated) pit bull dog, and shot and wounded a welsh corgi. These highly [...]
Google has supposedly released a major change in its signature application, Google Search. The Official Google Blog: Using Google today, you may have noticed that something feels slightly different — the look and feel of our search results have changed! Today’s metamorphosis responds to the increasing richness of the web and the increasing power of [...]
I’ve noted repeatedly over the past few weeks my sense that Mitt Romney is the Republican frontrunner for 2012. Apparently, the Democratic National Committee agrees. Politico’s Mike Allen: DNC TARGETS ROMNEY with a video titled, “Wall Street’s Best Friend.” A Dem. official: “We’re not waiting until this fall to make a campaign issue out of [...]
Anya Kamentz has written a new book titled DIY U: Edupunks, Edupreneurs, and the Coming Transformation of Higher Education. She gives us a taste of the argument in a piece for TAP: Since 2001, a growing movement — from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford, and hundreds of other universities worldwide to insurgent bloggers and [...]
As predicted, a Hitler parody of Constantin Film’s move to YouTube to remove parodies of “Downfall” with copyright claims has been made: Warning: The language is decidedly NSFW but, then again, it’s just text. And, for once, “Hitler” and I are in complete agreement. DMCA gives way too much power to those who issue copyright [...]
The incredibly prolific Internet meme in which Adolph Hitler goes hysterical over happenings in American pop culture is under siege, thanks to an idiotic copyright enforcement decision. PopEater: ‘Hitler Reacts to…’ — that patron saint of YouTube memes — seems to be on its way out. The clips, which dub a scene from the 2004 [...]
Nike made Tiger Woods a multimillionaire before he took his first swing* as a professional. There’s one of the few major sponsors to stay with him through his recent scandal. Now, they’ve released a new ad that some are calling “creepy.” The Telegraph‘s Murray Wardrop has the setup: The commercial, in which a silent Woods [...]
A disturbing video which seems to show American soldiers shooting unarmed civilians just for fun is making the rounds. CSM’s Dan Murphy has the backstory: A video released on the Internet Monday by WikiLeaks, a small nonprofit dedicated to publishing classified information from the US and other governments, appears to show the killing of two [...]
This video clip from 1969 predicting a future of electronic shopping, online bill paying, instant communications and the like is rather fascinating: It’s apparently from some longer documentary film, although I can’t nail down more specific details. (Or, perhaps more accurately, I’m not curious enough to devote the time.) It’s been making the YouTube rounds [...]
Erick Erickson appears with CNN’s Howie Kurtz to answer for some of his sillier utterances to clear the deck for his future as a regular contributor to that network. Most of these things are sophomoric, at best, and it’s not unreasonable to expect better from a grown, intelligent man with a degree from a prestigious [...]
NRO’s Jonah Goldberg thinks the Republican Party should take a lesson from Domino’s Pizza, which has apparently admitted that their product is awful and is working to fix itself. You may have seen the commercials or the YouTube video touting the iconic pizza-delivery chain’s reinvention. But if you haven’t, Domino’s new campaign can be summed [...]
Reason‘s Nick Gillespie does his best John Stossel impression in explaining why whatever winds up in the final compromise health care bill will be just the beginning. [Y]ou don’t have to side with those who warn of euthanasia classes to recognize that government programs often end up doing all kinds of things that weren’t in [...]
Al Franken was presiding over a sleepy session of the Senate yesterday afternoon and took what AP calls “the unusual step” of denying unanimous consent to allow Joe Lieberman to finish his remarks. Franken was presiding over the Senate Thursday afternoon as Lieberman spoke about amendments he planned to offer to the bill. Lieberman asked [...]
Someone with a lot of time on his hands has compiled a 10 minute video purporting to be “A selection of the top 100 quotes from The Wire, the greatest TV show ever made.” Not surprisingly, virtually all of them contain NSFW language, with the F- and N-words being especially well represented. via Jason Kottke
Megan McArdle points me to this amusing video about which Gizmodo’s John Herrmann gushes, “I’ve read the articles, watched the instructional videos, and gotten an invite, but nothing—nothing—has done more to explain to me how this mind-melting Internet Thing works than Pulp Fiction, spectacularly adapted for Google Wave. (Warning: Tarantino language ahead)” It’s an entertaining [...]
Missouri native Rush Limbaugh has been dropped from membership in a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams and keep them in the city. This speeds up the inevitable conclusion fo the NFL’s owners refusing to let the controversial pundit join their ranks. Limbaugh was to be a limited partner in a group headed [...]
Matthew Moore marks the 40th anniversary of the Internet with a list of “50 things that are being killed by the internet.” My favorites: 1) The art of polite disagreement While the inane spats of YouTube commencers may not be representative, the internet has certainly sharpened the tone of debate. The most raucous sections of [...]
The always-provocative Mark Cuban argues that the television networks should do something about a situation where pay for content in order to sell advertising whereas online players like YouTube sell advertising for content others paid for. I think the real approach is for the broadcast networks to “Game” Youtube. There is nothing that says that [...]
Now this is pretty cool: The folks at Kottke.org are bringing Walter Cronkite’s live, real-time coverage of the Apollo XI moon landing as originally broadcast starting at 4:10 Eastern. Just leave this page open in your browser and at the appointed times (schedule is below), the broadcast will begin (no manual page refresh necessary). Schedule: [...]
Andrew Sullivan writes that “No Recognition Of Ahmadinejad” must be considered “the first and absolute requirement of all Western governments.” In my New Atlanticist post “Negotiating with Iran without Preconditions,” I recall this famous exchange from the July 24, 2007 CNN/YouTube debate: More commentary and analysis at the link.
A month ago, we debated whether rock music died in 1980. While we decided that it did not, we concluded that it has changed quite a bit since then. Writing at Slate, music critic Simon Reynolds writes of “Grunge’s Long Shadow” and “In praise of in-between periods in pop history” as periods of transition in [...]
Members of Congress are flooding YouTube with scads of amateurish, unwatchable videos, The Telegraph‘s Mark Coleman reports. Two months ago, the website added an official Congress channel, inviting Democrats and Republicans to share quirky political messages with voters. But analysts say the move has been hampered by politicians’ inability to adapt to an online audience. [...]
The gang at Online Colleges Blog have compiled a list of “The 15 Strangest College Courses In America.” They concede that these courses “sound like lots of fun” but wonder “with tuition costs skyrocketing is it really worth it to spend thousands of dollars on fun diversions?” Among the offerings: Arguing with Judge Judy: Popular [...]
Sarah Palin caused a bit of a flap earlier in the week when she told a North Carolina crowd that she loved visiting the “pro-America” parts of the country, leading WaPo’s Juliet Eilperin to quip, “No word on which states she views as unpatriotic.” The campaign circulated a longer report, courtesy of WSJ’s Elizabeth Holmes, [...]
A new John McCain ad belittles Barack Obama’s legislative achievements on education reform and includes this gem: Obama’s one accomplishment? Legislation to teach “comprehensive sex education” to kindergartners. Learning about sex before learning to read? TPM’s Greg Sargent finds the charge “false” and “pernicious.” He cites this passage from the bill, as circulated by McCain’s [...]
Jerry Reed, a country guitar player, comedian, and actor perhaps best known for “Smokey and the Bandit” and other Burt Reynolds vehicles from the 1970s and 1980s, has died from emphysemia at age 71. Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante called Reed a larger-than-life personality. “Everything about Jerry was distinctive: his guitar playing, writing, voice [...]
Just when you thought Campaign 2008 couldn’t get any dumber, Paris Hilton weighs in with a video: For those unable to watch the video, ABC News’ Tahman Bradley has the rundown: Sitting on a lawn chair in a bathing suit, Ms. Hilton says to camera, “Hey America, I’m Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity too. [...]
Despite the fact that most of the official artists’ offerings I’m finding on YouTube disable embedding, I note with some interest that this video is part of the official Warner Bros. Records channel. Here’s hoping more record companies decide to make their artists’ stuff available this way. [UPDATE: Sadly, the foregoing appears not to be [...]
MoveOn has unveiled a new anti-McCain ad titled, simply, “Timeline.” CNN’s Emily Sherman has a summary. The opener: In Chicago, in Saint Louis and Seattle, the American people are demanding a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. In Baghdad and Basra and Tikrit, the Iraqi people……and now the Iraqi Prime minister are also demanding a timetable. [...]
Tony Snow has died. He was only 53. CNN Breaking: Former White House press secretary Tony Snow has died at the age of 53 after a second battle with cancer. Snow, who had been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a recurrence of the disease, left his White House job September. 14, 2007, and joined CNN as [...]
This song has been covered by many groups. The Village People sued to keep their version not-free, so the Pet Shop Boys do an equally good version. Lots of Commie symbolism. As a westerner this song has meaning that wasn’t intended by the authors. It is Horace Greeley. I wrote in my 2002 journey when [...]
John McCain’s secret plan for Iran: kill them with cigarettes. Presidential candidate John McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising U.S. cigarette exports to the country by saying it may be “a way of killing ‘em.” McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing [...]
As if to prove Robert Heinlein correct, the House Administration Committee is, apparently with honorable intent, considering effectively banning the use of popular social media sites, including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook by Members. Soren Dayton couches this in partisan terms: “In typical fashion, House Democrats are trying to pass rules that stifle debate and require [...]
John McCain’s latest ad, “Love,” contrasts himself with those dirty hippies who spent the summer of 1968 on sex, drugs, and rock and roll rather than being tortured for their country. The voiceover: It was a time of uncertainty, hope and change. The “Summer Of Love.” Half a world away, another kind of love — [...]
James Cason, the U.S. Ambassador to Paraguay, has achieved rock star status in that country. Literally. [H]e learned the obscure Paraguayan Guaranà language, recorded a music album of indigenous folk songs and sold 1,000 tickets to a concert in a downtown theater. Now, in the final year of his four-decade diplomatic career, Cason has suddenly [...]
Some Obama supporters are apparently taking advantage of Google’s terms of service to silence anti-Obama blogs, Simon Owens of Bloggasm reports. The company automatically shuts down sites upon receipt of TOS violation claims until they’re able to do a human audit, a rather slow process with given little priority on the free BlogSpot service. After [...]