(This is really cool of John. Consider helping. - promoted by Karl-Thomas Musselman)
My 33rd birthday is Monday December 7th. Since the thing I need least is tons of presents, I wanted to help give back to those who need assistance. That is why I set up a Virtual Food Drive.
The online food drive will benefit the North Texas Food Bank. By using the provided link, you can choose from 7 food options, as well as choose individual cash donation amounts. For every $1 the food bank collects, it can provide 4 meals to hungry North Texans since it is able to buy in bulk and get a better deal than you or I at the local grocery store.
Go to http://vad.aidmatrix.org/vadxml.cfm?driveid=4022 today and give the gift of food to people just like you and me who have been hit by this economic situation and can not afford to feed themselves otherwise. This virtual drive will run from today through December 11th. And your donation is tax deductible. You will receive a confirmation email once you donate you can use as a receipt. And if you have an email list you can think of sending this to, please do so. The more money this drive collects, the merrier!
Let's make sure my birthday is no longer the date which will live in infamy, but the date you help needy people in North Texas.
By now many of you have seen the many YouTube videos of right wingers and libertarians "protesting" Democratic members of Congress as they attempt to hold town hall meetings or public forums during the August recess to discuss healthcare reform, among other things.
Be sure of a few things, but most importantly be sure that these are not meant to do anything other than raise hell, create a disruption, shut down discourse and steamroll anyone and everyone in the way.
Certainly it is well within the right of every American to voice their opinions, protest, and, yes, even raise hell...especially with their elected officials. But that isn't really what this is about.
This is about harnessing the frustration and anger of middle class Americans and working folks. The very same folks who were victimized and injured by the policies of the disgraced, former President Bush.
So why are they so mad? Is it really about health care? Does cap and trade really light their britches on fire?
Somewhat, perhaps, but not really.
I try and refrain from lenghty, Unabomber diatribes, but this is a special case.
Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign said Tuesday evening he is “truly sorry” about an affair he had last year with a campaign staffer, going public with an embarrassing admission about his marital infidelity.
The news certainly damages any hope Ensign has of running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012 – he had fueled speculation about a presidential run with a recent visit to Iowa — and it may also hinder what has been a steady rise in Senate GOP leadership.
Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada told POLITICO that Ensign began an affair with a staffer several months after he separated from his wife. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the sources said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways.
Democrats aren't immune from this -- John Edwards, anyone? But I've got to ask -- what is it about Congress, and politicians especially, that they can't keep it in their pants? These are people -- I think entirely men (I can't think of any women cheating) -- that have chosen to serve in possibly the most public and visible workforces in the country.
I think some armchair sociology/psychology about about the trends of infidelity in the workplace -- especially in regard to government work -- could be an interesting discussion, but I really don't even know where to start. Anyone have any ideas?
From Editor & Publisher, we get the news that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Houston Chronicle, and the Austin American-Statesman are among the top 15 newspapers to have gained in audience from this time last year. They actually list the top 25, but all the TX papers are in the top 15. From E&P:
Here are the top 25 dailies that had the biggest gain in audience when taking print and online readership into account. The papers are ranked by net combined audience (past seven days in print and 30 days online), according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations for the six months ending March 2009 compared to the same period in March 2008.
GREENWICH (CONN.) TIME -- 111,824 -- 30.74%
THE BIRMINGHAM (ALA.) NEWS -- 781,047 -- 11.85%
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE, NEW ORLEANS -- 820,374 -- 11.72%
WILKES-BARRE (PA.) TIMES LEADER -- 196,229 -- 10.45%
FORT WORTH (TEXAS) STAR-TELEGRAM -- 1,236,205 -- 7.09%
THE PATRIOT-NEWS, HARRISBURG, PA. -- 496,700 -- 6.45%
HOUSTON CHRONICLE -- 2,507,835 -- 6.13%
ST. PETERSBURG (FLA.) TIMES -- 1,297,866 -- 6.09%
AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN -- 861,105 -- 5.97%
NAPLES (FLA.) DAILY NEWS -- 265,181 -- 5.97%
The key, of course, is that these figures combine print and online readership. Not sure if you're counted twice if you read the print version and the online version (I imagine you are -- I don't know how they'd control that unless it was a survey, and these are raw figures). In any case, it gets to the quirk of the newspaper industry's problem:
They have plenty of readers. In fact, they have more readers. And as much as some want to wail and moan about the internet and the economic crisis, those aren't the real reasons why the newspaper industry is flailing. Newspaper industry leaders were aware of the coming rise of the internet over a decade ago, and basically sat on their hands. The recent economic crisis merely exacerbated problems that had existed for years -- (1) too many editors on staff, (2) companies demanding too large of a profit, and (3) companies refusing to plan for higher gas prices and increased cost of shipping/cutting their product -- paper.
Most political forces aren't helping matters...though I'd argue there are different levels of blame. Democrats get mad at things like this:
I'll stop there out of mercy for the newspaper industry. But that's how Democrats criticize the newspaper industry. Republicans, on the other hand...
The evisceration of the Fairness Doctrine in the 1980s by conservative Republicans allowed the rise of Rush Limbaugh, who then promoted more conservative Republican policies such as further media consolidation to spread Rush to more channels across the board, along with increased capital to fund more right-wing talk radio.
And...
In any case -- despite their faults and their attackers (those both fair and not so fair), the people are still going to traditional sources of news. They may also be getting their news from the internet -- which the latest Pew Report clearly stated -- but there is still a demand for information from traditional sources of news.
Tomorrow, I'll look at the absolute wrong approach, and hopefully on Wednesday or Thursday talk about the better approach. In the mean time, feel free to discuss your thoughts about all of this in the comments.
2008 has been a record year for Democrats in Texas. We had thousands of new people come out to the polls in March and in November. And as progressive bloggers, we led the fight to take back the Texas House. While we came up just short of a new majority, TexBlogPAC was there supporting the candidates who had the best chance at victory.
TexBlogPAC supported candidates like Diana Maldonado, Sherrie Matula, Robert Miklos, Chris Turner, and Joe Moody in tough races. And even if candidates like myself didn't have the PAC's official support, we still got the support on the internet from bloggers and readers just like you! And it was certainly enough to strike fear into the hearts of local GOP's across the state.
TexBlogPAC needs to reload for 2009 and 2010. If you donate between now and the end of the day on December 31, 2008, my campaign will match the donations dollar for dollar up to $500! Just click on the ActBlue thermometer, so we can keep track of what is raised easily.
December 31 is an important fundraising deadline for the next Texas Ethics report. Let's show the Republicans we don't sleep in the off season. Donate to TexBlogPAC today!
Coming home for the holidays allows me to catch up on what has been happening in my home state of Arkansas. Sometimes you find great things and other times you find idiotic actions like this couple in Huntsville. This greeted me in the morning paper and apparently has been an ongoing saga since the election. Granted Huntsville is not a big town with slightly more than 2,000 in the town. It's most famous resident was Orville Faubus who retired there after leaving office. It is in the NW corner of the state, known for being heavily Republican. It is also in Madison County which is next door to Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers (yes, Wally World). The Faubus Motel is no longer owned by the Faubus family and they will not comment on the matter.
What I find most interesting in the article is how people in the state and throughout the South have rebranded the Confederate flag as a symbol for Christian values and the principles of our founding fathers. That has got to be the biggest crock I've ever heard. I don't care what they say, the flag is a thinly veiled front for a racist agenda. Others quoted in the article come from around the state and the South. Loy Mauch of Bismarck in southwest Arkansas claims "the Confederate flag is a symbol of America's Christian roots, from which he believes the nation has strayed."
If American foreign policy had a gift shop, what would it sell? America the Gift Shop is an installation project that reflects the current foreign policy in the fun-house mirror of American Commerce. My palette is the vernacular of retail. Once the sugar coating of the ordinary dissolves, we are left with the hard and uncomfortable truth about where we've been as a nation. We buy souvenirs at the end of a trip, to remind ourselves of the experience. What do we have to remind us of the events of the last eight years?
I encourage you to visit it; it's worth eight years of your time.
When Keith Olbermann needs someone to guest host on Countdown he will no longer be able to call on Rachel Maddow, because she will now be busy hosting her own show.
