Happy

Finally on its way.

Nano-targetted advertising

I was just thinking about this kind of thing (via slashdot); it reminds me of the ads in the Metro for attack helicopters, clearly meant for only a few people in the Pentagon and Armed Services Committee staff. I think we'll see a lot more of this, but targeted at the more obscure decision-makers who will only be sussed out of the masses due to our retreating online privacy.

Google the vote

Not sure where to vote? Looks like Google Earth will help you:

Last night, Google released some new layer changes for Google Earth. The "Register to Vote" layer added a short while ago has been changed to the "2006 US Election Guide" and includes two sub-layers: "US Election Guide" (click on the placemarks for useful voting information), and "US Congressional Districts" (which shows the borders of those districts). These layers are NOT turned on by default, but the information is more useful.

Oh god

I think i just ran out of internet.

Trouble for Senator Clinton

Looks like Mark Warner's decision to bow out of the presidential race before it began won't end up leaving it wide open for Clinton. The newfound gap at the center may entice Obama into the mix, according to the Post.

Doonesbury

The Post has a great look at Garry Trudeau and his recent work on injured vets. It's worth the read, though it's considerably long.

Funny, though, that there's no mention of his other project.

WaPo wrap-up

Some interesting news in the Post over the past few:

Japan, doing the only realistic thing given their own taste of atomic death, have ruled out becoming a nuclear power, despite the Bush administration's failure to deter North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Kansas, in surely the only possible development that could confound me more than the state's opposition to evolution, seems to be swinging Democratic with the help of a good number of switchers. It'll be interesting to see whether the Dems can cobble together a lasting moderate coalition there.

Web 2.1 has arrived, with a wave of sites using the vast participation of crowds to suss out the lucky clever few. An intriguing idea, but once the crowd starts buying the stock picks of the geniuses, won't we need to have another round to figure out to which geniuses we should listen?

Finally, Harold Meyerson waxes prophetic about the legislation to be passed by the upcoming Democratic Congress. I just wish something here in the blogosphere were made of wood, that I might knock on it.

Ohio shenanigans

At first I thought it insane that we find ourselves three weeks from the election and Ted Strickland's elegibility to vote, and therefore to serve in elected office, is suddenly in question. Then I remembered that he faces Ken Blackwell, among the most cynical and power-hungry politicians of our day, who has more hubris than a Greek tragedy.

Blackwell denies involvement, of course, which only makes sense; he's obviously too busy accusing Strickland of being gay faulting Strickland for not protecting children.

Meanwhile, TV stations are busy pulling slanderous ads from the GOP, which erroneously claim that Sherrod Brown perpetrated criminal tax evasion:

WKRC-TV in Cincinnati said it dropped the ad, which aired Wednesday, after being advised by its lawyers that the ad was inaccurate. The Brown campaign said its lawyers were assured that television stations WSTR in Cincinnati and WSYX and WTTE in Columbus, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, pulled the ad on Thursday. Barry Faber, Sinclair vice president and general counsel, declined to comment.

For those who haven't been paying attention, Sinclair are the folks who refused to air a Nightline segment in 2004 on which the names of Iraq war casualties were read, and who threatened to preempt prime-time programming to show an anti-Kerry propaganda piece as news just days before the election. Classy folks.

Also consistently classy is Mike DeWine:

The DeWine campaign had to alter a previous ad when it was discovered that it contained doctored images of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

And I though Ohio was going to be boring this year.

My new hobby

Hey, the editors are doing it.

House of cards

Just how many in the GOP are involved in this whole Foley thing? Add Kolbe to the list.

Turning of the tide

Time's got a few fine things to say about the GOP prospects this fall:

Every revolution begins with the power of an idea and ends when clinging to power is the only idea left.

And it just gets better from there.

I really hope this country can see what a sham the Republican revolution has become, even if the revelation has to come in the form of a sleazy sex scandal/media orgy. It's time our more conservative neighbors wake up and see what has transpired over these last 12 years.

I hope that when their time comes, Democrats can exhibit better form, at least for a reasonable amount of time (hey, no one's perfect, least of all politicians). I know a lot of folks that have put in maximum effort to turn this thing around, and the promises of progressive action better get delivered upon.

Oh those Brits

Just watched a spot of political speech from our former masters across the pond. In front of an assembly of loyal party members, David Cameron, who I understand is the leader of the Conservative Party, got to talking about marriage. Predictably, he's for it. Thing is, he went into more detail, and it seems he feels the value of marriage stems not from religion or tradition, but a public decree of commitment and selflessness. Then he got around to really blowing my mind - he elaborated that the inherent value in marriage is present whether the union is between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and a man, and that he's proud that the party supported civil unions.

Um, where can we get conservatives like this?

Buck passing

Hmm. Republican congressman sends sexually explicit emails and instant messages to minors vaguely under his authority, a situation which is hidden by his party superiors. Who or what do we blame? Not Dennis Hastert, of course, but booze and priests! Oh, what fun.

Ze break

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