In May, I wrote about The Deleting Online Predators Act (PDF), a bill designed to ban access to social networking sites from schools, libraries, and other federally funded locations. Unfortunately, the language was so broad that the bill would end up banning everything from MySpace to Wikipedia, and everyone on Blogger, Live Journal and DailyKos. [...]
Monthly Archives: July 2006
Jul 26
WMD Delusion Disorder
A new Harris poll finds that: Despite being widely reported in the media that the U.S. and other countries have not found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, surprisingly; more U.S. adults (50%) think that Iraq had such weapons when the U.S. invaded Iraq. This is an increase from 36 percent in February 2005. [...]
Jul 26
From Ally McBeal to Ann Coulter?
Well, probably not. But Calista Flockhart, formally of Ally McBeal, will be playing a conservative pundit on a new ABC series debuting this fall. “Brothers & Sisters” will follow “Desperate Houswives” and will also feature Sally Field as Flockhart’s mother. Asked to describe the pundit, producer Ken Olin (formerly a star of “Thirty Something’) said, [...]
Jul 19
Is The IRS Meddling In Politics? Again!
The Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI). Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? That’s what the IRS is calling its program to investigate churches and other non-profit groups that they suspect of engaging in impermissible political activity. Tax-exempt organizations are properly prohibited from overtly engaging in partisan politics. It’s entirely appropriate to keep religious institutions and others from [...]
Jul 14
Jonah Goldberg Doesn’t Care
In his most recent op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Jonah Goldberg demonstrates again what a lousy trade the Times made when they picked up Goldberg in place of Robert Scheer. In the second paragraph of his column, Goldberg prefaces his citation of Times colleague Jonathan Chait saying, “…and I’m not making this up…” It [...]
Jul 13
Designs On Dissent
The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum recognizes the works of designers in an annual ceremony held in conjunction with the White House Millennium Council. The purpose of the program is to celebrate “design in various disciplines as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world.” Some of the winners of the 2006 awards did their part [...]
Jul 10
When News Is Classified
In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of stories that test the boundaries of publishing when classified data is involved. The NSA wiretapping affair, phone companies handing over records to intelligence agencies, and the tracking of the SWIFT financial transactions. Now, the deans of several big dog journalism schools are weighing in with an [...]
Jul 07
Stalking Points Memo – Terror Times
Terror Times President Bush takes on the New York Times, and O’Reilly’s got his back. In fact, Billy goes after the whole of the committed left media. He says he doesn’t want to prosecute them, but he does a pretty good job of persecuting them. (Click the pic here to go to Stalking Points Memo [...]
Jul 04
Happy Birthday: Freedom of Information Act Is 40 Today
July 4, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Its purpose was to ensure the public’s right to access information from the federal government. For the first time, the government would bear the burden for certifying why requested information should not be released, and any refusal to release information [...]
Jul 03
Shameless Self-Promotion
I entered my George Bush Voodoo Doll in the Huffington Post Contagious Festival. By clicking on the link above you can help move me up in the rankings. While I’m being shameless…..if you click on the Bush Voodoo Doll in the ad to your right, you can actually buy one. Or you can buy many [...]
