GeekPAC Jeff Gerhardt and Doc Searls are forming a PAC to fight the anti-copy technology that Eisner and Valenti are trying to buy. My question is: why hasn't someone done this earlier? What other geek-oriented lobbying groups are there?
posted by RakDaddy
on Apr 12, 2002 -
9 comments
A few laughs at the expense of a "pretty great state"
Legislators' Ignorance Is Embarrassing
Few would argue that "a proper understanding of American history and government is essential to good citizenship," as stated in a bill written this year by the Utah Legislature and signed into law March 18 by Gov. Mike Leavitt.
But in its zeal to put God back in government, the Legislature revealed an embarrassing ignorance of America's history and its Constitution.
posted by onegoodmove
on Apr 7, 2002 -
23 comments
Brand USA Naomi ('No Logo') Klein on Charlotte Beers' work to manage the US 'brand'. Sitting outside the US, a lot of what Klein says about external perception of the 'brand' (and of Beers' actions) seems quite believable to me, but I'd be interested in hearing an insider view.
Klein's assertion that "...
America's problem is not with its brand-- which could scarcely be stronger--but with its product" seems relatively solid, and if it is, it seems that Ms Beers' mission is all-but-impossible, or at the very least misdirected.
That said, the thrust of Klein's argument is the assertion that the US's values are basically incompatible with the whole idea of branding, and I'd suggest that the same could be said of many countries. I suppose the point here is that this specific exercise is rooted in the US's positioning of itself in the world at this point in time.
[Via
abraxas]
posted by jonpollard
on Mar 18, 2002 -
4 comments
Recidivism being what it is among terrorists, we should
kill 'em all, sez George Will in today's Washington Post. Does America have the stomach to do what its adorable chipmunk-cheeked pundits advise be done? Is he actually suggesting we line up the enemy against a wall and start shooting?
Again?
posted by luser
on Dec 27, 2001 -
33 comments
He does return favors, but how does it affect the workers? Eugene Scalia is President Bush's nominee for Labor Department solicitor. Scalia is one of nine children of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who was a driving force behind the court ruling that stopped the counting of disputed presidential votes in Florida last year.
posted by semmi
on Dec 17, 2001 -
11 comments
U.S. Will Monitor Calls to Lawyers According to this article in today's
Washington Post, the United States' Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided to "listen in" on telephone conversations between lawyers and their clients in federal custody—including people who have been detained but not charged with any crime "whenever that is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism." Sounds to me like an infringement of the right to counsel and attorney-client privilege. In a
related article, the DOJ has also decided to stop releasing a count of the thousands of people it is detaining—without charging them with a crime—just as civil libertarians and the media are starting to question the secret and possibly unconstitutional detentions.
posted by terrapin
on Nov 9, 2001 -
10 comments
National Review Cans Columnist Ann Coulter as a contributing editor after her call to "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." For a person who makes a living out of being as obnoxious, partisan and mean as she can be will this do anything but put her in the spotlight and help her career? The way she has slammed the
National Review since her axing seems to indicate this will be the case. And she's already blaming the "liberal" media and the "anti-Christian bigots."
posted by terrapin
on Oct 2, 2001 -
70 comments
From many voices, onevapproach via NY Times (reg req'd). Facts now coming out indcate that there are many cells, worldwide, that have been set in place over the years and are (or were) to be activated in a continupous terror assault. What our leaders are saying, then, about the length of time requried may in fact be in recognition of the huge job ahead in rooting these cells out.
posted by Postroad
on Sep 23, 2001 -
5 comments
Okay, so I am a little biased against the Democratic Underground. Occasionally I may even laugh at some of their insults of dubya. I am sure this page was placed on their website early in the day of the attack without thinking. Maybe I am being just a little too sensitive about the tragedy, but I really think they should at LEAST change the date of this letter to santa.
posted by Oxydude
on Sep 17, 2001 -
5 comments
"I am not a Bush Republican," Alan Keyes wrote Saturday for
WorldNetDaily. "The Bush administration is skillfully lobotomizing the moral conservative cause in America because it is unwilling or afraid to take the positions that are best for America."
posted by rcade
on Sep 2, 2001 -
24 comments
The tax bill was based on conservative ideology: not only did it offer the largest rate breaks to the richest people, but it had the explicit purpose of reducing the activities of the federal government.
posted by semmi
on Aug 29, 2001 -
21 comments
Liddy Dole does a Hillary (or a Cheney)....registers in a state where she hasn't lived so she can run for office in that state.....now, granted, once upon a time Elizabeth Dole
did live in North Carolina, but it was decades ago. Do you suppose the Republicans will cry out with the same moral outrage they did when Hillary decided to run for Senate? Can we all just accept that this stuff happens all the time on both sides (RFK, Bush the Elder, Hillary, Dickie C, and now Liddy)?
posted by briank
on Aug 24, 2001 -
12 comments
July 17th - The Day That Counts. These people have a plan to make their feelings known on the issue of public money being diverted to religious organizations. I had no idea that the atheists were so organized! Is this sort of thing a tremendous waste of time, or do you think it can, or will affect policy discussions?
posted by kristin
on Jul 13, 2001 -
11 comments
New Democrats or Old? On one hand you have the New Democrats (Clinton, Gore), who's agendas are more centrist (some would say right leaning) but have had victories (Clinton being elected twice). On the other hand, the more liberal wings seem to say that it's better to stand on principle and convince the populace to come over to your side.
posted by owillis
on Jun 27, 2001 -
37 comments
How to get $43 millions dollars from the United States
- Strip all your female citizens of their human rights
- Single out religious minorities (for their "protection")
- Agree to crack down on opium farming without any real monitoring
The War on Drugs finds a
new ally in
The Taliban.
posted by alan
on May 29, 2001 -
18 comments
Bush's strategy: court the Catholics. Bush won as high a percentage of church-going Catholics as did Reagan in 1984, as Reagan was winning 25% more votes than did Bush. There's a strong Catholic vote in many states Bush narrowly lost, suggesting that consolidating his Catholic edge could assure victory in 2004.
posted by MattD
on Apr 16, 2001 -
12 comments
What You See May Not Be . . . A memo, telling lobbyists to "dress down" as "real workers" for GOP photo op, provides rare window into a common practice on Capitol Hill. Both Republicans and Democrats go to great lengths to assemble average Americans who can convey the appropriate political message, and when they can't find any, they simply trade in their white collars for hard hats themselves
posted by frednorman
on Mar 9, 2001 -
6 comments
WSJ/NBC conducted a pretty extensive poll about the state of the country ranging from taxes to energy concerns to the Golden Dollar. I got the phone call to participate in the poll on Saturday and the questions were thought provoking and relevant...here are the results.
posted by Princess Buttercup
on Mar 8, 2001 -
5 comments
Women Urged to Run for U.S. Presidency -- A group called American Women Presidents is urging Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and more than 100 other women governors, lawmakers and business leaders to consider a run for the White House in 2004. Weirdly enough, this is the same group who offered Monica Lewinsky a job as its corporate VP last year.
posted by shauna
on Feb 19, 2001 -
20 comments
Winning isn't enough, it seems. GOP targets Florida Supreme Court Justices...
posted by black8
on Jan 9, 2001 -
19 comments
It's a split Senate. Democrat Maria Cantwell has been confirmed as the winner of the close Washington Senate race, thus bringing the Senate count to an even 50-50 split. And for 17 days, the Democrats will have a majority of sorts.
posted by solistrato
on Dec 2, 2000 -
2 comments
I looked at the Green Party platform for the first time today, as a followup to the Nader discussion below. I like the ideas, in general, but how would we fund them? I don't like current economic policies, etc, but the money sure seems to flow. A lot of us seem to be Greens. How's it work?
posted by Sean Meade
on Nov 29, 2000 -
46 comments
Trial By Combat - Since it seems that neither counting the votes nor suing in court is going settle this election. I suggest taking a more direct and final approach. A fight to the death with broadswords.
posted by y6y6y6
on Nov 27, 2000 -
3 comments
It turns out before the election, representatives introduced a bi-partisan bill in both the House (
H.J. Res. 113) and the Senate (
S.J. Res. 56) to amend the Constitution to replace the electoral college with the direct election of the President and Vice President.
Contact your reps to ask them to support the bills. If we're going to get electoral reform, it will be now.
posted by veruca
on Nov 12, 2000 -
17 comments
The House: Encumbered by Incumbents While the big prize is still up for grabs, plenty of pols will stroll into another four years of fun in DC. With a 97% rate of incumbent re-election, in spite of
Michael Moore's best efforts, is it time to separate the presidential and congressional polls, so that there's a decent debate over the direction of the legislative branch?
posted by holgate
on Nov 3, 2000 -
15 comments
Where Are The Hollywood Conservative? Does a liberal cabal of Hollywood executives destroy the careers of conservative performers? Or, is the conservative philosophy (opposed to change, antiquated morals...) just too boring for artists and performers?
posted by Doug
on Sep 12, 2000 -
23 comments
Too stupid to be president. The
Ethical Spectacle writes a condemnation of George Bush which is really a condemnation of the Republican Party which is really a condemnation of the American politcal system. What I wonder is, would the Democrats fare any better under the same magnifying glass?
posted by mrmorgan
on Sep 3, 2000 -
3 comments
