Sunday, October 31, 2004

Andrew: "President Bush should be re-elected."

Having witnessed the three debates, assessed government processes, and studied the entirety of relevant issues pertaining to politics; presidential and otherwise; it is clear that President Bush should be re-elected. If anybody can find a policy implemented by Bush that hasn't been effective in accomplishing the goals of this nation; please post a response. Also, if anybody can find a reason as to why the Democratic party would choose to cause detriment to our nation by opposing quality solutions and policy, please post your comments. If there is a disagreement about the goals of our nation, please enlighten me to the goals of our nation that President Bush has not allowed us to further achieve or increasingly strive closer to attaining. Please refrain from restating the ridiculous allegations made by those who oppose the reelection of President Bush.

Andrew: Kerry's stance on the Copyright Act

Here's a link to an article discussing Kerry's position on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Jon Stewart on "Crossfire"

Here are the transcript and the video from the already famous Jon Stewart (of the Daily Show with Himself) vs. "Crossfire" (of CNN) encounter.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Why do we have an electoral college, and what happens if we have a tie?

Here's an explanation by a colleague of mine:

"The rationale for having an indirect election of the president (i.e.through the vote of electors who meet as a college to cast theirballots) is related to the constitutional importance of tipping the balance in favor of the small states. Without the provision of anindirect election, a candidate could literally spend all of his/her timein just a few very populous places and ignore those places that are notso. Thus, the political game would no longer who can win Pennsylvania, Florida, etc... but who could win New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, etc... Candidates would have no reason to spend any time whatsoever inrural Kansas, Maine or Nebraska.

What gets interesting, though, is that a tie will trigger a vote by theHouse of Representatives, in which each delegation will meet and cast ONE VOTE. Thus, the balance is tipped even further in favor of thesmall states as Wyoming suddenly has the same number of votes (one) asCalifornia (instead of 3 to 50-something).

Add to that, too, that Wyoming's one vote would be the consensus reachedby, you guessed it, one at-large house member... while that from California would be that reached by 50-something. Thus, it becomes possible that not just one state, but one individualperson could affect the balance of the election.

For those of you who haven't read it, I'd recommend Jeff Greenfield's The People's Choice -- a short novel about how this could happen (thoughunder slightly different circumstances).

Bias in the news

Check out "Two sides to every story: Issue of bias and partisanship in campaign press coverage scrutinized" from the Boston Globe.

Who decides the newspaper endorsements of presidential candidates?

We keep hearing these days about newspapers endorsing either Kerry or Bush. But what does that mean? Who exactly at the newspaper says "We like candidate X so we'll endorse him"? Here's an article from the Boston Globe which explains the process. ("Endorsement time: Who decides for the Globe?")

Wednesday, October 20, 2004

"How the Electoral College works"

A very interesting primer from CNN. Worth reading if you want to know what the Electoral College is all about.

Campaign Finance

Who pays for Bush's and Kerry's campaigns? Does your neighbor contribute? Better yet, does the person you are investigating as a journalist contribute to a political candidate? Check it out with the Federal Election Comission.

* Search for contributions made by individuals using contributor name, city, state, zip code, principal place of business, date, and amount.

* Search for contributions received by a specific campaign using candidate’s name, state, or party affiliation.

Media Framing and Elections

Here's the newest on the Sinclair docummentary scandal (if you don't know what that is, read here). Read through the article, till you get to the journalist who was fired for accusing Sinclair of bias.

Monday, October 18, 2004

Soft Leads

Here they are, folks - the soft leads for the "car theft & dead body" story. Please comment on them. Be merciless. Why do they work or why do they not work?

"A car thief found a suprise guest in the cargo van he stole yesterday; a passenger that put him in risk of being charged with another, much more serious, crime."

"Perhaps if you had stolen a vehicle with a dead body in the back of it, you too would notify the police and return the stolen property, just to be sure that you were not wrongly convicted of more than one crime."

"A dead body caused a frantic car thief to return the stolen vehicle, leaving him pleading that he had nothing to do with the man’s death."

"A joyrider with a death wish is nothing new, but a dead man on a joyride certainly is. A deceased New Orleans man was taken for the ride of his afterlife when the hearse carrying his body was stolen from in front of his home."

"Stealing vans these days could turn you into a hearse driver in an instant. So if you don't like to handle dead people, find another way besides stealing, to get a thrill in your life."

The NYT presidential endorsment

The New York Times has just endorsed John Kerry for the presidency. Read the editorial. (NYT requires a free registration prior to reading their articles).

Excerpt: "We look back on the past four years with hearts nearly breaking, both for the lives unnecessarily lost and for the opportunities so casually wasted. Time and again, history invited George W. Bush to play a heroic role, and time and again he chose the wrong course. We believe that with John Kerry as president, the nation will do better."

Saturday, October 16, 2004

Comments with regards to our visit to the Hampshire Gazette

Guys,
I would appreciate it if you could post some comments vis-a-vis our visit to the Gazette. Did you find it useful in any way? What did you like/didn't like? Did you find anything surprising? How could the experience be improved for other Newswriting people? Thanks.

"Under Attack as Never Before"

Here's an interesting article by the New York Times (who owns The International Herald Tribune, linked here) about freedom of the press under the Bush administration. Comments welcome.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Blogging Resources

Bryan Alexander's bookmark page is a great resource for many things one of which is blogging. Links to these articles found at it include:

Paul Andrews, "News by the People, For the People" (May 2002)
Cameron Barrett, "Anatomy of a Weblog" (January 1999)
Rebecca Blood, "weblogs: a history and perspective"
Thomas Burg, "Learning and Weblogs" (Java presentation)
Ellis, "All the News That's Fit to Blog"
_____, "Weblogs for Professional Web Sites" (Feb 2002)
Foley, "Are you blogging yet?" (July 2002) (.com value)
Gilmor, "Journalistic Pivot Points"
Grosso, "The Evolution of Blogs" (2002)
Harrsch, "RSS: The Next Killer App for Education" (July 2003)
Hiler, "Blogosphere: the emerging Media Ecosystem" (28 May 2002)
Meg Hourihan, "What We're Doing When We Blog"
Jenkins, "Blog This" Jerz, On the Trail of the Memx: Vannevar Bush, Weblogs and the Google Galaxy" (February 2003)
Kling, "Is Blogging a Fad?" - some good information metaphors.
Lasica, "Blogging as a Form of Journalism" - Part 1, Part 2 [May 2002]
Mayfield, "Ecosystem of Networks" (February 2003) Microdot, Dynamics of a Blogosphere Story" (May 2003)
Orlowski, "Back in the Bloghouse"
Pasick, "Blogs May Piece the Fog of War" (December 2002) (Forbes) Rodgers "Targeted Serendipity" (2002)
Shachtman, "Blogging Goes Legit, Sort Of" (June 2002)
Shirky, "Power Laws, Weblogs, and Inequality" (February 2003)
Stone, "The Blogging Revolution" (July 2000)
Sullivan, "The Blogging Revolution"Cross, "Blogs: Learn to blog, blog to learn"
Jenkins, "Blogs at the Heart of Cultural Change"
Kruper, "Blogs as CMSes: Is their biggest advantage also their achilles' heel?" (August 2003) Long, "Blogs: A Disruptive Technology Coming of Age?"
Oravec, "Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education" (April 2002)
Sinha, "Experiments in Designing Online Communities" (2002)

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Interesting Facts about the Internet

2002 Data:
* 72% of public Web pages are in English (a percent that is unchanged since 1999).
* The public Web containes 3,080,000 Web sites, or 35 percent of the Web as a whole.
* Public sites account for approximately 1.4 billion Web pages.
* The average size of a public Web site was 441 pages.
... Find other interesting stats in a study called "Trends in the Evolution of the Public Web."

Saturday, October 02, 2004

Andrew: Good job NY Times

In reference to the recent statements made by Simona Torretta, a former hostage in Iraq:
The section of television reel that made the cover of the New York Times on September 29, I believe, represents a job well done by the 'Times' editting staff.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Selective Debate Coverage

Here are the links, folks. I hope you take a look at them and comment on whatever catches your interest!

*NY Times: "In Debate, Kerry and Bush Stand Firm for 90 Minutes" (free registration might be needed)
*The Washington Times: "Bush rips Iraq flip-flops"
* Washington Post: "Media Notes: Kerry Gets the Nod" (subscription required)
* The Wall Street Journal, and LA Times, both need subscriptions, also.
* USA Today: "Candidates offer sharply different foreign policies"
* The New Post: "Foes pound each other"
* The Boston Globe: "Round One: Bush, Kerry trade tough words on Iraq"
* CNN.com: Various commentaries.
* The Boston Herald: "Challenger comes out swinging hard at Bush"
* TIME Magazine: "A Debate in Spite of Itself"
* Newsweek: "A Win for Kerry"
* PBS: "Candidates Clash Over War in Iraq, Homeland Security"


Andrew: Debate Analysis

Bush’s Republican Policy Prevails in Presidential Debate

The recent presidential, re-election debate highlighted the oxymoronic policy of the John Kerry campaign. If President Bush had not refrained from embarrassing Senator Kerry on every point, the presidential election would, essentially, be over. It is unclear as to why the President did not embarrass a US Senator on national television; however, Bush was continually provided the opportunity to pull the trigger on “loaded statements” made by Kerry. Clearly, Kerry is thoroughly unqualified to hold the office of President of the United States. Kerry attacks the President on issues of foreign policy, but continually ignores the logic of policy and the actual facts.

Kerry criticizes President Bush on acting in Iraq without UN support. However, recent speeches in the UN are in favor of nation building and any international support that implement, or assist, forms of government that represent the respective population of nations in need. (c-span) Despite a lack of physical support and continual criticism by the United States media, the United States has likely received more respect from the majority of the UN than in past years. The UN is not a subsection of the US military. In basic logical theory, the US is doing a favor for the UN and that would only strengthen ties.

The President’s last speech to the UN was very diplomatic and emphasized the importance of democracy. It was not a slanderous attack on UN policy or any other nation’s beliefs. (c-span) Most nations in the UN would agree that Democracy is important in the world today.

The ‘war against terrorism’ is a global assault against a faction of people that are defined by, support of, or actions of, terrorism. This statement seems to be in support of Kerry, except for one fundamental fact; Iraq was using government funds to support terrorism rather than provide for its people. Although in contrast, it is equally fundamental that the United States should use funds to support US troops.

The proper allocation of funds that balance safety and prosperity is the fundamental purpose of any modern government. Kerry seems to be unable to grasp this point, in policy, or debate. With President Bush as leader, one thing can be sure; if anybody attacks the United States, they will pay. Kerry doesn’t seem stand strong on this point either. Kerry doesn’t seem to hold any stable, solid policy besides continually deceiving the American people, and playing towards the most ignorant political ideology.

The central issue is whether or not the war in Iraq was appropriate. Kerry’s argument would be easily debunked if the President had stated the facts about Saddam Hussein to the US people. The facts are that Saddam Hussein was supporting terrorism, and President Bush waged a war on all terrorism. (c-span) The President has never lied to the American people about his attempts to end terrorism against the US.

On the issue of nuclear proliferation, the United States now knows of increased production in countries such as Iran and North Korea. Kerry said that he would break a five nation alliance, created by Bush, and take on North Korea in, one on one, negotiation. In contrast with President Bush’s policy in Iraq; Kerry would lose strong allies, and Bush is gaining them. Bush does not support limiting focus on nuclear weapons, in any form, and Kerry has a fundamental misunderstanding of the reality of the nuclear world.

Kerry proposed increasing worldwide intelligence, which was introduced and implemented by the Bush administration. Furthermore, when Kerry addressed the threat of future terrorism, he neglected to mention the fact that many of the people who were a direct threat to the United States are dead; which, as a side-note, in no way diminishes the President’s focus on homeland security. Kerry’s arguments continually, either agree with President Bush, or negate Kerry's own proposed policy.

The Democratic candidate did have one successful outcome from the debate; he did prove the ability to manipulate information and deceive the American people with confidence and precision.

Personally, when I look at Senator Kerry, I see a candidate who could lead the United States in traditional, domestic affairs. Even then, I couldn’t see him handling foreign policy with the necessary level of proficiency. Unfortunately, the United States is not presently focused on the traditional, economic, domestic agenda. Given the knowledge Kerry displayed, tonight, on the issues of foreign policy, it seems clear to me that Kerry should not hold the position of President of the United States of America. He is wealthy, though.

Kerry campaign media initiative

Below, I've pasted the text of an extremely interesting email sent by the Kerry campaign to some of its supporters. This message was written last night, and it advises Kerry people to contact media outlets and tell them that John Kerry won the debate.

"Dear ____,

John Kerry won tonight's debate on foreign policy, and we need you to make sure the media reports this right.

Jump into the post-debate debate and keep the record straight.

America saw John Kerry as our next President tonight. Bush had a record of failure to defend, and he failed to defend it. Bush refused to take responsibility for his go it alone rush to war. Bush had no plan, no clue for ending the chaos. Bush can't fix the mess in Iraq because he pretends things are fine. Pretending is no substitute for planning.

Your assignment: Immediately e-mail and call all the major networks and programs listed below saying that John Kerry won the debate. The Republicans are going to do everything possible to spin the debate in their favor. We need you on the offensive.

Everything you need is in this e-mail, including contact information for the major news networks and programs.

Here are some things to emphasize:
* America saw John Kerry as our next President tonight.
* Kerry showed strength, conviction, and a steady command of the facts.
* Kerry left no doubt he can lead the fight to hunt and kill the terrorists.
* Kerry offered hope for a fresh start in Iraq so we can finish the job. Kerry has specific plans: Bush had shallow promises.

Here is a phone/e-mail list for the major news networks. Commentators like Larry King, Chris Matthews, Sean Hannity, and Alan Colmes are on TV right now offering their view of the debate results. Hosts of network news shows on ABC, CBS, and NBC are also busy offering their reviews. Hosts of tomorrow's morning shows, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and American Morning, are sure to do the same beginning at 7:00 a.m. EST tomorrow morning. Don't let your voice be cut out.

CNN(404) 827-1500
Larry King LIVE: http://activate.johnkerry.com/t?ctl=551840:26FA53D
American Morning: http://activate.johnkerry.com/t?ctl=551841:26FA53D

MSNBC(212) 664-4444
Hardball with Chris Matthews: hardball@msnbc.com

FOX(212) 301-3000; 1-888-TELL-FOX
Hannity and Colmes: colmes@foxnews.comFOX Morning News: foxfeedback@foxnews.com

ABC(212) 456-7777
Nightline: nightline@abcnews.com
Good Morning America: http://activate.johnkerry.com/t?ctl=55183E:26FA53D

CBS(212) 975-4321
CBS Evening News: evening@cbsnews.comNBC(212) 664-4444
Nightly News: Nightly@NBC.com
The Today Show: today@nbc.com

C-SPAN(202) 737-3220

Everything you do right now will bring us closer to electing John Kerry as our next president.

Thank you,
Kerry Debate Team"