links, random thoughts, various opinions
Came across this amazing site with all the U.S. Presidential TV ads since they started in the 50’s. The Reagan ones from 1984 are particularly slick (well done) and the classic “Nixon, now more than ever” ‘72 re-election ad remains the standard for ‘dynamic shots of the leader’.
This is a great use […]
Back in Oslo for a week. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to the fact it doesn’t get dark at night, it’s not daylight out, but its still very light out. Unsettling.
I arrived the night of the election and it was strange to be away from local TV. All […]
The Lies Of Michael Moore
“…In general, it’s highly unwise to quote Orwell if you are already way out of your depth on the question of moral equivalence. It’s also incautious to remind people of Orwell if you are engaged in a sophomoric celluloid rewriting of recent history.
If Michael Moore had had his way, Slobodan Milosevic […]
Cursed By Oil, “Why are the Japanese making robots into humans, while Muslim suicide squads are making humans into robots?”
Whoa. web “blog”.
By the way, one of my favourite U.S. election blogs, [WatchBlog].
Blair says again what Bush can’t seem to…
“Of course [the terrorists] use Iraq. It is vital to them. As each attack brings about American attempts to restore order, so they then characterise it as American brutality. As each piece of chaos menaces the very path toward peace and democracy along which most Iraqis want to […]
eVoting 2.0
“Who cares if you got a paper receipt for a vote that never got counted? VoteHere is a new e-voting program that would make e-voting more secure and auditable than existing paper-based systems. “Voters would get an encrypted code on a receipt that corresponds to their vote, and at the end of […]
Ho-hum: Another day, another alleged criminal conspiracy involving the Prime Minister…
“Canadians, I think, are awakening to how profoundly corrupt our political system has become. We were so accustomed to it, we barely noticed any more. But the evidence is accumulating, and it is inescapable”
Dowbrigade:
“He seemed an unlikely Presidential candidate for an increasingly internationalized South Korea; he had no administrative experience to speak of, had rarely traveled outside Korea, and spoke almost no English. He was however, the first candidate. and now the first world leader, who understands how to write html.” [Scripting News]
Responding With Substance
“Say nothing. Deny the problem. Don’t answer questions. Deny responsibility. Minimize (or even better, trivialize) the issue.”
Howard’s End
“The experienced national political reporters wondered why he blew it. Up here [in Vermont], no one was surprised.”
I followed the Dean campaign quite closely, out of interest with its involvement in the social software movement and as an alternative outlet for political action. It was awhile before I actually heard or saw Howard […]
Annenburg Political Fact Check
Interesting site worth checking through this election year.
“Studying shelters in Philadelphia and New York City in the 1990s, Culhane found that although the long-term homeless made up only 10 percent of the homeless population over three years, they were using half of all shelter beds on any given night. And when Culhane compared the costs of supporting those with and without permanent […]
Of course political projections are vitually impossible…but I love making them. I’ve always studied U.S. politics intensely and the current race is heating up big time.
I watched John Kerry on 60 minutes tonight. I think George Bush might be in trouble.
As some of you may know there’s a leadership race (not that it’s drawing much interest) for Canada’s new Conservative Party (which is a merger of the two main ‘right wing’ parties). Anyways today a new candidate, Belinda Stronach announced her candidacy. It’s a good thing for the country to have a young […]
From Frank Rich, New York Times (Sunday Dec. 21/03)
“Should Dr. Dean actually end up running against President Bush next year, an utterly asymmetrical battle will be joined. The Bush-Cheney machine is a centralized hierarchy reflecting its pre-digital C.E.O. ethos (and the political training of Karl Rove); it is accustomed to broadcasting to voters from on […]
Scripting News has a post today about the new Canadian government RSS feeds. Very cool. From the page -
“Benefits of RSS
Receive news headlines and summaries in real time, as the news items are published on the Newsroom Web site, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
News is delivered to your desktop’s […]
Bush’s Really Good Idea
“Sometimes I think that President Bush’s critics need to put up a sign somewhere in their rooms that reads: “Some things are true even if George W. Bush believes them.” A visceral dislike for the president is boxing many otherwise sensible people into a corner because they cannot bring themselves to agree […]
Fables of the Reconstruction, interesting read.
“A new report by the Center for Public Integrity attempts to prove something that many people simply assume to be true: that the Bush administration has strongly favored cronies and campaign contributors in awarding reconstruction contracts for Iraq and Afghanistan. The CPI devoted six months to research and filed more […]
Bigger Than the Nobel
I don’t always agree with everything the Pope has to say, but his consistency and willingness to say it and to press the world to look at uncomfortable issues in the face has always amazed me. I’ve always wondered why he didn’t receive the Nobel prize for his remarkable work in […]