Other than in a handful of pockets across the U.S. - including Ohio, Vermont and Washington, D.C. - cable carriers do not give viewers the choice of watching Al Jazeera. That corporate censorship comes as American diplomats harshly criticize the Egyptian government for blocking Internet communication inside the country …
Also:
Readers can demand Al Jazeera English here. Here are the contact pages for Comcast, Time Warner and DirecTV.
Best new word I've seen all January appears in John Horgan's recent post on Scientific American's site. I won't give it away, but if you're too impatient to read the whole thing, just text-search the page for the first instance of cute. It comes right before that.
Though of course I agree with John that it is "not a counterargument," I do not think this word is just "cute." It's great!
Of course, who among us can really say what John Horgan means by "cute," in this or any other universe?
[Update] Not so neo: I see I am Not Even Wrong about this. I should try harder to suss this kind of thing out.
The consensus is that he'll run for governor of Indiana instead, due to the current occupant, Mitch "Heartthrob Of The Elites" Daniels, being already anointed for POTUSdom by everyone who matters term-limited after eight years in office. And in that light, especially, we must cackle at this:
“After years of falling behind, Indiana is on the verge …”
Wait'll a certain Surly Megalomaniac hears about that!
P.S. Our man in Indiana has further observations on Pence's announcement.
(h/t: Ken Layne | title: cf. | pic. source)
Matt Lewis, who before landing a spot at AOL's Politics Daily used to blog full-time at Clownhall, hears from Bill Scher about Bill's recent participation in a blogger roundtable at the White House led by David Axelrod.
Spoken like well-oiled cog of the RWNM, wasn't it?
As I noted in the Bhtv forum, that's a hell of a thing for a blogger to say, or for that matter, anyone who claims to be a political commentator worth listening to because he supposedly has an independent point of view. Evidently, Matt doesn't see the point in a government reaching out unless it's to those it can be sure will repeat its talking points.
Good for him, and good for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA). See Al Franken's blog or Reclaim the Media for the latest.
When considering the importance of keeping the Internet from being controlled by ever fewer, ever more powerful interests, you might reflect on the situation in Egypt. See recent posts by Don McArthur and James Cowie. Yes, the US is not Egypt. But the time to push back against the desire for totalitarian control is now, not when matters get worse.
[Added] These connections are already tighter than you might think.
[Added2] Correction: I had Sen. Cantwell's first name wrong in the original post. It is Maria, not Patricia. Thanks to Paul Chadwick for noting this in the Comments.
From The Hill, via @on_the_media:
Although Senate leadership already agreed to stop the practice of secret holds in a gentleman’s agreement Thursday morning, the passage of Res. 28, the Wyden/Grassley/McCaskill Secret Holds Resolution, will codify the change and will apply to future sessions of Congress.
Sixty votes were required for adoption.
The four Senators voting against the resolution were Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jim DeMint (R- S.C.), and John Ensign (R-Nev.)
Weren't these four among the loudest yelling about the supposed lack of transparency a few months back? Or was that some other teabaggers? Or is this just another case of IOKIYAR?
Also:
Secret holds gave senators the ability to anonymously stall legislation or the administration's nominees.
DeMint objected to a measure brought forth last year by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) that would have eliminated the practice.
"There are a lot of pressing issues that we face as a country," DeMint said at the time. "But one of them is not secret holds."
Shameless. Utterly shameless.
Swiped from Better Book Titles. A truly hilarious site.
(h/t: Charli Carpenter, whose post has more of her favorites, plus some links to serious thoughts about picking titles in many walks of literary life)
Following up on the earlier post concerning Wisconsin's all-Republican government looking to install Voter ID requirements, here's a recommendation from Scott Lemieux of Lawyers, Guns and Money:
The Vote Fraud Fraud
Texas edition. It’s also worth noting that most “Voter ID” statutes still allow for (heavily Republican-leaning) absentee ballots to be cast without ID.
@JohnFugelsang got himself a little RT love last night:
During Ryan's speech 'Eddie Munster' trended nationwide on Twitter & if that doesn't make u love the USA then I give up.
(h/t: @azjayhawk47 | x-posted)
"I never took this as a State of the Union response, necessarily," she said innocently. The title above the text of her speech her office released Tuesday night: "Bachmann's Response to State of the Union."
Discovered via this.
(x-posted)
Breaking the News
The basic phenomenon is nothing new, but the only thing preventing me from saying that the ratio of articles about Rahm Emannuel’s mayoral bid to information about Emannuel’s views on urban policy is almost infinite is my strong suspicion that the denominator is actually zero.
(h/t: Atrios)
House Republicans will try to ban gay marriage in Washington, D.C.
(pic. source | x-posted)
[Added] Same shit, different issue: "Annals Of Libertarianism, Part 499,010," over at Roy's place.
Move over, Louie Gohmert. There's a new top bedwetter in town: Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana).
But how do we know what THE TERRORISTS will use it for?"
When you see surveillance videos of some creep mugging an elderly person in an elevator or apartment lobby, the universal reaction is outrage. But when the fat cats and the ideologues want to hack away at the lifeline of Social Security, they are treated somehow as respectable, even enlightened members of the society.
-- Bob Herbert
Bush White House Broke Elections Law, Report Says
WASHINGTON — The Bush White House, particularly before the 2006 midterm elections, routinely violated a federal law that prohibits use of federal tax dollars to pay for political activities by creating a “political boiler room” that coordinated Republican campaign activities nationwide, a report issued Monday by an independent federal agency concludes.
The report by the Office of Special Counsel finds that the Bush administration’s Office of Political Affairs — overseen by Karl Rove — served almost as an extension of the Republican National Committee, developing a “target list” of Congressional races, organizing dozens of briefings for political appointees to press them to work for party candidates, and sending cabinet officials out to help these campaigns.
The report, based on about 100,000 pages of documents and interviews with 80 Bush administration officials in an investigation of more than three years, documented how these political activities accelerated before the 2006 midterm elections.
This included helping coordinate fund-raising by Republican candidates and pressing Bush administration political appointees to help with Republican voter-turnout pitches, particularly in the 72 hours leading up to the election ...
[...]
The report found that during the Bush administration, senior staff members at the Office of Political Affairs violated the Hatch Act by organizing 75 political briefings from 2001 to 2007 for Republican appointees at top federal agencies in an effort to enlist them to help Republicans get elected to Congress.
[...]
The investigators also found evidence that the Bush White House improperly classified travel by senior officials as official government business, “when it was, in fact, political,” and the costs associated with this travel were never reimbursed.
Another one for the book.
(h/t: Jack Stuef | x-posted | pic. source | pic. source)
I mean, how else do you think they can sell those things for 99¢, or whatever it is these days?
In fact, the lawsuit claims, the "taco meat filling" used by Taco Bell contains is only about 35% beef, with binders, extenders, preservatives, additives and other agents making up the other 65%.
The worst part? After you say "binders, extenders, preservatives, additives," what else could there be? What are these "other agents?"
Or maybe the better question is who are these other agents?
(h/t: Ken Layne | pic. source)
... because that's how I always remembered that classic Python line (which involved elderberries also), but people, please, it's not an FAQ, it's a FAQ.
First, if there were ever an initialism that is indisputably an acronym, it's FAQ, and second, saying it as a word carries the sense that it is a thing (a list, a page, what have you). Saying "an FAQ" makes you think you should say "an F … A … Q" which then makes you think you should really expand the letters into the words they stand for, which makes you think the abbreviation needs to be proceeded by "a list of."
Do you want to pronounce each letter? No, you want to say things like "Just the FAQs, Jack."
Plus, think of the energy savings from omitting all those incorrect Ns.
Other than that, TweetProgress.us is a nice idea and a fine-looking website.
My new collection of political cartoons and essays, Twilight of the Assholes, is now available for pre-order on the Fantagraphics site, and several previews of the book have been posted on Flickr, Facebook, and Youtube. It contains nearly 300 pages of hilarious cartoons and incisive essays undimmed by the passage of time. It also has an introduction by my favorite living political writer, Matt Taibbi.
The official New York release for the book will be on February 17th, with a slideshow/reading at The Strand bookstore at 7:00 P.M., to be followed by beers at Burp Castle. It would make me look good if some people showed up.
Also I now have a Facebook page. Be advised I will friend no one.
For more information, see our new FAQs page.
(Here is a better link for the Strand event.)
While you're waiting for the big release date to roll around, do browse The Pain archives. And see the nav strip across the top of the home page for more galleries, &c.
(Artist's self-portrait(?), "After a photo by Sarah Glidden," was swiped from his Facebook page.)
Often it's wise to split the difference, but sometimes it's a bit like inferring from claims that 2+2=4 and 2+2=6 that 2+2=5.
-- @JohnAllenPaulos
Embedded below are two segments from this week's episode of On The Media that are worth your attention. Both of them are about eight minutes long.
There are two kinds of subpoenas that federal law enforcement can serve on internet service providers and online communications companies if they want to spy on a users' email or Twitter account. Both kinds frequently have gag-orders attached - which means, users are none the wiser that their account has been breached. And both types of subpoenas are being served to ISPs at an unprecedented rate. The ACLU's Jameel Jaffer explains why what you don't know can hurt you.
The most serious kind of subpoena - called a 'National Security Letter' - used to have a lifetime gag-order automatically attached. That is until Nicholas Merrill appealed his and won the right to talk about it. Despite 50,000 national security letters a year there are only three organizations who have ever won the right to say they got one. Nick Merrill explains why he's the exception and the rule.
Download MP3s and read the transcripts: first segment | second segment.
Visit Nicholas Merrill's website, The Calyx Institute.
(x-posted)
Ed. note: This post was modified to add the second segment.
Barack Obama failed to report wife's income, watchdog says
Michelle Obama earned over $680,000 from a liberal think tank over 5 years, a group says. But the President did not include it on financial disclosure forms.
Sounds fishy, doesn't it?
"Philadelphia sucks," Beck declares at the end of today's rant …
In possibly connected developments:
Yesterday [18 Jan 2011], hate radio hosts Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity had their nationally syndicated radio shows dropped from WPHT in Philadelphia, which is the second radio station to drop both of the conservative commentators.
Congratulations, and thanks, to the good people of Philadelphia.
And I'm sure you all won't miss hearing that speech that is totally not antisemitic!!!1!
__________
(Camaraderie has kept me from making any "second city" jokes.)
(Well, until then.)
And what does this mean?
That Wisconsin will be able to reduce its number of documented cases of voter fraud to zero! Hurrah! Which is a HUGE reduction from the previous number!
(Zero.)
And who will this new law hurt?
Eh, just people without a lot of money, a lot of English, or a lot of white skin.
Not yet, anyway.
And the real beauty of this? Don't forget: no more ACORN!
This is America, Saved. For RealAmericans™. Just like the Republican Party promised you.
__________
Hat tip to Kay at Balloon Juice, whose post is worth reading in full.
__________
("Colored Waiting Room" sign pic source)
Hateway Pundit claims: "Michelle Obama’s 'Get Up & Get Moving' Program Linked to Increase in Pedestrian Deaths."
To decorate his post, he has a picture of the First Lady jumping rope. And he gives an image credit, for once. Right under the picture. Probably had nothing to do with the name of the source.
The First Lady jumping. (African Sun Times)
Of course Jim Hoft's whole post is made of idiocy. And of course Tucker Carlson reported the same nonsense.
(x-posted)
We know he was every Republican's favorite Democrat, but it's a little early to start on the revisionist history, don't you think, David Brooks?
... Lieberman played an important role in saving Bill Clinton from impeachment.
Sadly, as they say, no.
Not sure if DougJ DougJson was the first to catch this, but he was the first that I saw.
As of this posting, no correction appended. Let us hope this changes soon.
[Update 2011-01-21 18:50] Still no correction. Much more importantly: Mr. Riley takes a longer, harder, better look.
[Update 2011-01-22 03:24] Still no correction. DougJ tried to get the NYT's Public Editor on it, with no success.
Tiger Mom or Octo Mom?
Does knowing that David Brooks is now writing about Tiger Mom change your mind? And what about this?
Stop winning the Internet, Randall Munroe.
(Click the pic to visit the source and see the hover text for another hint.)
(A short math refresher in the Comments.) ←a link I do not actually expect anyone to click.
