Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Edition
GOP Convention Bounce Showing Up
Early
By Mark Impomeni (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:30:00 PM
Filed under: John McCain, Breaking
News, 2008 President, Polls, Republican
Convention On the day after the
Republican Party convention in St. Paul,
Minnesota, there are indications that the
traditional post-convention bounce usually
seen in opinion polling is materializing
early for the GOP. The Real Clear Politics
polling average has narrowed to show Sen.
Barack Obama with a 2.5 point lead over
Sen. John McCain. That is down four
points in the last three days. The reason for
the tightening can be found in two of the
components of the average, the Gallup and
Rasmussen Reports daily tracking polls.
Gallup shows the race as a 48-44%
Obama lead, down from a nine-point
Obama advantage on Aug. 29th, the day
after his acceptance speech. That was Sen.
Obama's biggest lead since Aug. 15th and
came on the same day that Sen. McCain
announced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as
his running mate. On Thursday,
Rasmussen showed the race as a two point
Obama lead, 48-46%. Both polls have very
large sample sizes, 2800 and 3000
Tommy, Caleb, and Denise to Co-Host Radio Show
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:05:00 PM
Filed under: Media Update: The show
will start at 11pm. You can call in to talk
to Caleb and I, and the other hosts will join
us tonight, too. Call-in Number: (347) 677-
respectively, and measure public opinion
over three days, averaging the result.
Gallup measures registered voters while
Rasmussen measures likely voters.
The news for the McCain campaign is
likely to get better. Both results only
include one day in in which voters would
have seen Gov. Palin's vice-presidential
1645
The Political Machine's own Denise
Williams, Tommy Christopher and Caleb
Howe announced today that they will be co
-hosts of a Blog Talk Radio show called "
Unusable Signal," debuting Friday, Sept. 5
at 11pm EDT. From my own
head:"Unusable Signal" will air Tuesday
20/08/08 - 06/09/08
acceptance speech. With the enthusiastic
response to her address, and the fact that
Plain is now more popular than either
presidential candidate, according to a
recent Rasmussen poll, the daily tracking
numbers should close even further as the
weekend progresses. By Monday, all three
days in the rolling average of each poll will
include post-Palin speech sampling. That
result is likely to show an even race or
perhaps a small McCain lead.
The pattern of this election appears to be
set. This will be a very close election, just
like the elections of 2000 and 2004.
Democrats still appear to have the built-in
advantages. But the selection of Gov. Palin
by Sen. McCain has energized the
Republican base like never before in this
contest. Conservatives for the first time
have a reason to vote for the McCain
ticket, rather than against the Democrats.
The first Presidential debate takes place on
Friday, Sept. 26th. Unless one of the
candidates has a major misstep before
then, the race is likely to remain even or
close until then.
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through Sunday, from 11pm to 1 am on
BlogTalkRadio. It will be hosted by a
lineup of progressive voices from the
interweb, and Caleb.
We haven't finalized the lineup yet, but
Caleb and I will host Friday nights, Denise
Williams has Tuesdays, Tom Fitzsimmons
on Wednesdays, and YesToDemocracy's
LibertyNewsprint.com U.S.
Back to Ohio
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/6/2008 4:22:00 AM
Filed under: Barack Obama, 2008
President Yahoo! News
Obama has long looked for a way to win
the White House without the 20 electoral
votes of Ohio, the prototypical swing state.
His top aides, including his campaign
manager, once said they could lose the
state and still win the election by picking
off states that typically support
Republicans.
...The campaign is quietly eyeing a states'
map similar to the one used in past
elections, with some exceptions. Obama
this week dropped advertising in Georgia,
a traditionally Republican state that he
considered winnable based on increased
voter registration among blacks and young
people. It looks like, just as in 2004, the
key state will be Ohio. Historically that's
not great news for Barack Obama. In 2000
Al Gore gave up early in Ohio and in 2004
Bush walked away with the state with a
narrow but solid victory.
Christina Cedeno on Thursdays. There will
be a show on Saturdays, host to be
announced.
"Unusable Signal" will take a raw, edgy
approach to mainstream politics. Check
your tin foil at the door.
The show will be available live, or if you
miss it, you can download it from the
The good news for Obama is that since
2004, OH has swept in Democrats in
almost all statewide offices, including
Sherrod Brown as a senator over the
hapless Mike DeWine. Ohio also has had a
record setting Democratic primary
resulting in a large registration of new
Democratic voters.
The bad news is that most of these turned
out to be Hillary supporters. Other bad
news is that the northeastern portion of the
state, a Democratic stronghold, has been
bleeding population at an alarming rate,
while the southeastern portion of the state
is basically Appalachian and it's worthy to
note that Obama is not a hit in Appalachia.
But Obama can still win by maintaining a
large gender gap among Ohio's suburban
women around Cincinnati, Cleveland, and
Columbus. Which is something that looked
easy for him to do, until Palin shook things
up a little. This is going to be interesting.
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archive. We'll have guests, and take calls
from our tens of listeners. Visit
the"Unusable Signal" homepage for more
details.
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2 Politico* Gadgets*
Oprah Denies Shutting Out Palin Plays the 'Retard
Palin Card'?
By Jay Allbritton (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:49:00 PM
Filed under: Breaking News, 2008
President, Media, Sarah Palin According to
Fox News, Oprah Winfrey is pushing back
on a report posted today on The Drudge
Report that she strongly opposes booking
Republican Vice Presidential nominee
Sarah Palin. "There has been absolutely no
discussion," Winfrey said via press release,
"about having Sarah Palin on my show."
Winfrey reiterated that when she publicly
endorsed Barack Obama (on the Larry
King Show) she made a decision not to
have any guests on her own show that
would use it "as a platform". Winfrey
expressed interest in having Palin on after
the campaign.
Senator Obama appeared on the show
twice, both appearances coming before he
announced his intent to run for the
presidency. The issue, however, is largely
a moot point since the McCain campaign
has turned down all requests for an
interview with Palin.
Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic writes:
A senior McCain campaign official advises
that, despite the gaggle of requests and
pressure from the media, Gov. Sarah Palin
won't submit to a formal interview anytime
soon. She may take some questions from
local news entities in Alaska, but until
she's ready -- and until she's comfortable --
which might not be for a long while -- the
media will have to wait. The campaign
believes it can effectively deal with the
media's complaints, and their on-the-record
response to all this will be: "Sarah Palin
needs to spend time with the voters."
Verne Gay of The TV Zone argues that
Winfrey should capitalize on the
controversy while taking the opportunity to
support her candidate by offering to openly
debate Palin on her show.
iPod nano 4G leaked in actual, factual, really-real spy photo
By Joshua Topolsky (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 4:09:00 PM
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable
Video
When Palin does start doing press, it
looks like Larry King has first dibs. Igor at
Think Progress reminds us that McCain
has already promised Larry King an
interview with his running mate. When
McCain appeared on Larry King Live in
July McCain said, "I want to say that that
vice presidential candidate will be on your
show. I will not risk the wrath of Larry
King. I want to assure you." McCain, Igor
also points out, recently canceled an
appearance on King's show in retaliation
for this classic exchange between CNN's
Campbell Brown and McCain adviser
Tucker Bounds.
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Look, you know the drill here. This may
be the painstaking result of some CAD-
school-dropout's nights home alone, or the
latest in cheapo knock-offs from the Far
East. You may be looking at a Photoshop
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:40:00 PM
Filed under: Republicans, John McCain,
Education, Republican Convention, Sarah
Palin A friend sent me an email for
publication today, and it contained the
inflammatory phrase in that headline. At
first, I wondered what idiot shock jock had
said that. It's actually from Mike Williams,
a medical staffing recruiter. Here's what he
says: Don't know if you caught the Palin
speech for the Republicans this week, but I
was offended at the pandering to
handicapped parents and playing the
"retard-card".
..."You can rest assured that you will
have no better advocate for special needs
children if elected"......
Before you gasp...just know that I'm the
parent of a special needs 26 yo daughter.
She was diagnosed with Down Syndrome
at birth and has acheived goals that few of
us can claim. She has a black belt in
karate, speaks 3 languages, has been on the
front page of the Cincinnati Enquirer and
is a proud union card carrying employee. I
thought I had heard about every card in the
deck, but this is a new one to me. For some
reason, this guy's email really fleshes out
the problem with identity politics. Here's
the rest of what he had to say: After 26
years of folks telling me the things that she
could not accomplish, I am sensitive to
folks playing up to those that may have
some special needs.
These kids and adults already have
excellent advocates! Their parents and
yes...even the Kennedy clan have provided
years of support and advocacy for the
handicapped.
It would be interesting to see her record
on handicapped legislation prior to this
statement. The notion that Sarah Palin will
be the best advocate for disabled children
spackled together from newspaper
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
because she has one is as ridiculous as
expecting her to heat your home just
because she lives in a snowy tundra. It's
also as ridiculous as thinking she'll be good
for women just because she has ovaries. Or
thinking McCain will be good for
veterans...you get it.
Editorial Note: This story originally
included linked material regarding Alaska's
budget for special needs children. While
the material was well-documented, its
fairness has been disputed. Out of an
abundance of caution, I have removed it
until I can evaluate it further.
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clippings, puppy dog tears, and Steve Jobs'
fever-dreams. Or, this could be a really
crappy, actual photo of the iPod nano 4G
in its packaging. It sure looks enough like
what we've been seeing lately to be any /
Fact-Checking
McCain/Palin
By David Knowles (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:04:00 AM
Filed under: Barack Obama, Rudy
Giuliani, John McCain, Democratic
Convention, Republican Convention,
Sarah Palin For a few years of my life, I
worked part time as a fact-checker at a
magazine. It's a tedious job, going through
text and ferreting out mistakes,
exaggerations, or outright falsehoods.
Thankfully, when it comes to politics, we
have the services of the good people at
Factcheck.org, a non-partisan truth squad
who make it their business to sound the
alarm when politicians start spinning their
improbable yarns. This week, they've
dissected the speeches at the GOP
convention, and their conclusions aren't
pretty.
Among the worst of the untruths were
those put forth by Sarah Palin and Rudy
Giuliani.
John McCain took some liberties
himself, mind you.
For comparison sake, you can see what
they made of Barack Obama's convention
speech as well.
They conclude that while both McCain
and Obama stretched the truth here and
there, Palin and Giuliani were guilty of
outright fibs.
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all of the above. Regardless, we'll know
the truth real, real soon. Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Will Hillary Rescue Barack from Palinmania?
By Dave (Political Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:01:00 PM
Filed under: Hillary Clinton, Barack
Obama, Featured Stories, 2008 President,
Sarah Palin Although Hillary has every
right to tell Obama to go fly a kite, her
chances of winning the nomination in 2012
in the "I told you so" primary will be
greatly enhanced if she appears to actually
care this time around. So she's going to
Florida.
Obama's erstwhile Democratic rival is
scheduled to appear on his behalf in the
swing state of Florida on Monday. While
both Obama and Clinton aides emphasise
that the programme was set before the
Republican vice-presidential nominee was
chosen, some analysts and Democratic
loyalists believe the former first lady is the
Cindy McCain's Outfit Cost More
Than My House
By Tommy Christopher (Political
Machine)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:34:00 AM
Filed under: Republicans, John McCain,
Republican Convention According to
Vanity Fair, Cindy McCain's outfit from
Tuesday night's convention cost more tha n
many people's entire domicile, including
my own: Cindy McCain Oscar de la Renta
dress: $3,000
Chanel J12 White Ceramic Watch:
$4,500
Three-carat diamond earrings: $280,000
Four-strand pearl necklace: $11,000-
$25,000
Shoes, designer unknown: $600
Total: Between $299,100 and $313,100
Wow! No wonder McCain has so many
houses: his wife has the price of a
Scottsdale split-level hanging from her
ears.
(All prices except Laura's shoes and
Cindy's watch are estimates, and the
jewelry prices are based on the assumption
that the pieces are real.) I wonder if Cindy
person best equipped to take Palin down a
peg.
"What [the Republican presidential
candidate, John] McCain has done with
Governor Palin's nomination is aim right at
a demographic that Obama needs to
address quickly: non-college-educated
women," said Mike McCurry, who served
as White House spokesman under Clinton's
husband, Bill. Actually that's been in the
works awhile, but it certainly does take on
some extra meaning now. The trick here is
to campaign just hard enough to show she's
doing her part, but not hard enough to
actually push Obama over the top. You
have to admit, so far her statements have
lacked a little fire, as noted in the WaPo
blog:
"After listening to all the speeches this
week, I heard nothing that suggests the
got stuck with one of those sub-prime
mortgages on that outfit? Tommy
Christopher co-hosts " Unusable Signal"
on BlogTalkRadio, debuting Friday at
11pm. Click here for the Unusable Signal
homepage.
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Republicans are ready to fix the economy
for middle class families, provide quality
affordable health care for all Americans,
guarantee equal pay for equal work for
Will Fannie and Freddie shareholders be
wiped out this weekend?
By Peter Cohan (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 2:01:00 PM
Filed under: Federal Natl Mtge (FNM)
Three weeks after Barron's reported that
a senior administration official -- my guess
is it was Hank Paulson -- leaked details of
a "rescue" plan for Fannie Mae(NYSE:
FNM) and Freddie Mac(NYSE: FRE) --
Bloomberg News reports that its
implementation could be imminent. And in
after-hours, shares of both companies are
down 20%. If what Barron's reported --
wiping out common shareholders and
slashing preferred dividends -- proves
prescient, both stocks have further to
tumble -- as in all the way to 0.
Bloomberg reports that Paulson met with
Ben Bernanke and the CEOs of Fannie and
Freddie and the head of the Federal
Carbon Planet Flight Emissions Calculator Determines
the Footprint of your Flight [Environment]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 7:00:00 AM
Ever been curious how much of an
impact your weekend trips have on the
environment? The Carbon Planet Flight
Politico* Business* Tech Tips*
women, restore our nation's leadership in a
complex world or tackle the myriad of
challenges our country faces. So, to
slightly amend my comments from
Denver: NO WAY, NO HOW, NO
McCAIN-PALIN." Clinton has been
exceptionally quiet since the selection of
just the second female vice presidential
nominee in history.
Is Obama likely to admit that he needs
rescuing with female proxies like Gov
Sebelius and Senator Clinton? And if he
does use them, wouldn't that bring back the
question about selecting Joe Biden as his
VP, who is pretty much useless right now?
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Housing Finance Agency which oversees
the two. And they have catering set for the
entire weekend. I wonder what they are
serving? I think PIMCO bond guru Bill
Gross knows. He said, "There's probably a
95 percent chance that the moment that
something will happen is Sunday or
Emissions Calculator estimates roughly
how many tons of CO2 your airline is
dumping into the atmosphere each time
you fly. [ via]
3
Latest Version of Gmail
Rolling Out for IE6
[Gmail]
By Gina Trapani (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 7:47:02 AM
The Gmail folks teamed up with
Microsoft to make the latest and greatest
version of Gmail compatible with Internet
Explorer 6, so you people in IT lockdown
can get label colors and Gmail Labs
features using IE6.
Saturday," according to Bloomberg.
Yesterday Gross called for the
government to use$500 billion to bail out
the real estate market. As I posted
yesterday, this bailout is for the benefit of
people like Gross and China's central bank
which owns$340 billion worth of Fannie
and Freddie mortgage-backed securities. If
you happen to be among the holders of
their common or preferred stock -- you are
going to lose it all. As I suggested this
morning, after the market lost 345 points
yesterday, the government needed to
announce another rescue plan by Sunday
night.
Continue reading Will Fannie and
Freddie shareholders be wiped out this
weekend? Permalink| Email this|
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4 Business* Tech Tips*
Calstrs pushes back on
Blackstone
By Tom Taulli (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:29:00 AM
Filed under: Private equity, Blackstone
Group L.P (BX)
With depressed markets, it would seem
that private equity funds have many
opportunities to pickup some good
investments at compelling valuations. In
fact, this environment seems particularly
good for top-tier operators, such as TPG,
KKR and Blackstone Group LP(NYSE:
BX).
Well, perhaps not.
For example, according to a piece in the
Wall Street Journal(subscription required),
Blackstone will likely snag a mere $250
million form the California State Teachers'
Retirement System (Calstrs) for its next
fund. Keep in mind that Calstrs pumped in
$1.7 billion in the prior fund from
Blackstone.
27,000 Boeing workers to strike Saturday
morning
By Peter Cohan (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:42:00 PM
Filed under: Boeing Co (BA)
At 3 a.m. Eastern Time tomorrow,
27,000 members of Boeing International
Association of Machinists (IAM) will
strike Boeing Inc. (NYSE: BA) according
to Bloomberg News. As I posted this
morning, IAM member anger is so deep
that I was not surprised to learn that the
federal mediator called in to find a solution
could not avert a strike. The cost to Boeing
is estimated to total $100 million a day --
reducing its Earnings Per Share (EPS) by a
penny a day.
IAM's web site said, "Despite meeting
late into the night and throughout the day,
Mazzick Puts Mouse Gestures on Your Thumb Drive [Featured Windows Download]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 8:00:00 AM
Windows only: Free application Mazzick
Is this a sign of a chill? Of course, we
won't know for awhile. But, Calstrs is
influential. Besides, pensions are probably
getting a little edgy as the credit crunch is
still in effect.
Although, another concern may be that
Blackstone is now a public company. As a
result, there is less confidentiality and
maybe even more conflicts. For instance,
may a private equity fund cash-out of a
deal too soon so as to meet the quarterly
earnings expectations?
If so, this could be bad for other private
equity firms planning to become public,
such as Apollo and KKR.
Tom Taulli is the author of various
books, including The Complete M&A
Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to
Decoding Financial Statements. He also
operates MergerBook.com. Permalink|
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continued contract talks with the Boeing
company did not address our issues,"
according to Bloomberg. And it quotes a
Boeing spokesperson as saying, "We
worked hard with the union and mediator.
is a simple mouse gesture utility that you
can carry on your USB thumb drive. Using
Mazzick is simple: just invoke it using one
of the default shortcuts (like holding Shift,
Are Republican presidents
better for the stock market?
By Peter Cohan (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:29:00 AM
Filed under: Major movement, Indices,
Market matters, Personal finance, Politics,
Presidential elections, S and P 500, DJIA
The Grand Old Party (GOP) is known for
supporting big business. So it pays to elect
Republicans to the White House, right? If
you analyze the stock market performance
under Republican and Democratic
presidents, the answer is a resounding NO.
Democratic presidents generate average
stock market returns in excess of the risk-
free rate of 10.69% -- roughly six times the
1.69% earned under Republican
administrations.
Investopedia describes the research of
Pedro Santa-Clara and Rossen Valkanov
who analyzed the value-weighted returns
on stocks between 1927 and 1998 under
Democratic and Republican presidents.
We pursued different options, but in the
end we were too far apart to reach an
agreement. We're open for further
discussion but no talks are scheduled."
No details have emerged about whether
Boeing changed the terms of its proposed
contract. However, it appears likely that
given the six points of disagreement about
which I posted this morning, this strike
could last a long time. Bloomberg quotes
one Wall Street analyst who calculates that
"a month-long strike would shave 31 cents
a share off Boeing's EPS and cost $2.8
billion in lost revenue."
Continue reading 27,000 Boeing workers
to strike Saturday morning Permalink|
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for example), then draw the gesture you
want. Creating your own custom
gestures—like my 'l' for Lifehacker gesture
in the screenshot—is a breeze. If you're a
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
And they found that the excess returns of
stocks over the risk-free rate of return -- as
measured by the Center for Research into
Securities Prices (CRSP) indexes versus
three-month Treasury bill rates -- were far
higher for Democratic presidents (10.69%)
than for Republican ones (1.69%).
Of course, these are just long-term
statistics. Under the last Democratic
president, stocks rose an annual average of
17.4%. The current Republican White
House occupant has presided over an
average annual decline of 1.1%-- the S&P
500 was 1,342 when he took over and
stands at 1,233 today-- the only president
of either party of the last 11 to oversee a
decline in stocks.
Continue reading Are Republican
presidents better for the stock market?
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Oxford Club bet on Buffett: A
'no-brainer'
By Steven Halpern (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:50:00 AM
Filed under: Berkshire Hathaway
(BRK.A), Newsletters, Stocks to Buy
"Warren Buffett's holding company,
Berkshire Hathaway(NYSE: BRK.B), has
been the single greatest investment of our
lifetimes," says Alexander Green, noting,
"His compounded annual gain from 1966
to 2007 was 21.1% vs. 10.3% or the S&P
500."
In the Oxford Insight, the investment
director explains, "It is now time to buy the
'ultimate no-brainer'." Here's his
assessment.
"Despite this strong long-term
performance, Buffett experienced a rare
earnings letdown during the second quarter
fan of saving time and keystrokes with
global mouse gesture tools like prevously
mentioned StrokeIt but feel lost at a
computer without your favorite gestures,
Docstoc Sync
Automatically Syncs
Documents to the Web
[Featured Download]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 4:00:00 AM
Windows/Mac: Free application Docstoc
Sync automatically synchronizes files
between your desktop computer and
previously mentioned document sharing
web site Docstoc. Once installed, the
application monitors your documents
folders and automatically syncs any
changes you make. Documents can be
uploaded as either public or private (any
file in your My Documents folder defaults
to private), which means you can use the
app to either share docs on the web or back
them up privately. Docstop Sync is
freeware, Windows and Mac only. Docstoc
Sync[via TechCrunch]
of this year.
"Although revenue increased 10% to
$29.3 billion, insurance related write-
downs hurt the company's bottom line.
Still, the shortfall was far from
cataclysmic. For the quarter, earnings fell
7.6% to $2.88 billion.
"Despite the shortfall, the company still
maintains a top-notch credit rating and has
over $28 billion in cash, a war chest for the
world's greatest investor. How has Buffett
been so successful? He takes a disciplined
value approach to investing. And he sticks
with it.
Continue reading Oxford Club bet on
Buffett: A 'no-brainer' Permalink| Email
this| Comments
the portable Mazzick could be just the
ticket for you. Mazzick[via Shell
Extension City]
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Closing Bell: Despite poor jobs
& weak news, stocks surprise,
Dow, S&P up
By Jon Ogg (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:17:00 AM
Filed under: Nokia Corp. (NOK),
Lehman Br Holdings (LEH) While many
sectors were mixed and while there was
plenty of bad news, today was actually a
win for the bulls. Unemployment flew past
estimates to 6.1% to reach its highest
levels since 2003 as the economy has seen
roughly 600,000 jobs lost so far in 2008.
While the markets traded lower initially,
they came back over the course of the day
as the financial stocks used bad news to
buy weakness.
Below are the unofficial closing levels:
DJIA 11220.72 (+32.49)
S&P500 1242.31 (+5.48)
NASDAQ 2255.88 (-3.16)
10YR T-Note 3.66% (+0.017%)
52-Week Lows
Top Analyst Upgrades
Top Analyst Downgrades
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.(NYSE:
LEH) shares were up 7% at $16.27 on
Stocks have their worst week in six years
By Jonathan Berr (BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:51:00 AM
Filed under: General Electric (GE),
Lehman Br Holdings (LEH), Recession,
NASDAQ The global stock market had
more ups and downs this week than the
career of Britney Spears. Don't look for the
bottom to appear anytime soon following
the worst week for global equities in six
years.
A parade of superlatives continues to
weigh on the mind of investors, most of
them bad. Unemployment is at a five-year
high. Payrolls shrank by 84,000 last
further reports that a merger might be
headed its way or that it may break off
some of its risky and distressed assets.
Some reports put KKR and other private
equity firms being interested in investing
in the company or in its assets.
Continue reading Closing Bell: Despite
poor jobs & weak news, stocks surprise,
Dow, S&P up Permalink| Email this|
Comments
month, according to the Labor Department.
That's more than 75,000 economists
predicted, the Associated Press said.
Rising interest rates spurred the biggest
Could U.S. economy, American
people tolerate more
government intervention?
By Joseph Lazzaro
(BloggingStocks)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:08:00 AM
Filed under: Forecasts, Other issues,
Politics, Presidential elections, Recession
Could the U.S. economy tolerate, and,
equally significant, will the American
people push the nation's chief executive,
the president, in the direction of more
government intervention?
The view from here is: probably not.
Everything in the American ethos and
culture speaks against it.
Unlike in France, where the French
Government is simply, "France,"
Americans, for the most part, view their
government -- save defense spending --
increase in the foreclosure rate in almost
three decades, according to Bloomberg
News.
Sure oil prices are dropping to near $105
but they are still high. No car, truck or
airplane was ever designed with the
thought that oil would be anywhere near
that high. Gasoline prices have also come
down but they are still at levels that many
Americans can not afford.
Continue reading Stocks have their worst
week in six years Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
Business* Biz Buzz 5
usually as part of the problem, not the
solution.'Government is best which
governs least' is a longstanding
Americanism. And most investors/readers
know about candidates who say they want
to"get the Washington bureaucrats off the
backs of the American people" and"clean
up the mess in Washington!"
Americans are anti-central government,
and they are anti-state (they generally
dislike the limited federal government that
exists). In the United States, it is always
private first, public second.
Continue reading Could U.S. economy,
American people tolerate more
government intervention? Permalink|
Email this| Comments
Failure to Communicate
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets) Northeast—complained of service
troubles, as did some BlackBerry users
Submitted at 9/3/2008 12:30:00 PM
running on AT&T network.
Wireless giant AT&T suffered an The outage affected AT&T's 3G and
embarrassing service outage Wednesday,
causing iPhone users and others across the
EDGE networks starting around 1:30 a.m.,
infuriating users, some of whom have been
country to lose their data service for more able to get $20-$30 service credits from
than 12 hours. the company.
Some disgruntled users blamed AT&T For iPhone users, the service outage was
and Apple for overselling the iPhone—and just the latest problem to have plagued the
thus overtaxing the service provider's 3G popular phone. Many users have
wireless network. The companies have complained about spotty reception, and last
sold 8 million iPhones to date; they run month Apple was slapped with a lawsuit
exclusively on AT&T's network. by an Alabama woman who claimed the
In a statement, AT&T said: "There was a company falsely marketed the device as
routing issue affecting some wireless data "twice as fast at half the price."
use in the Northeast region. AT&T On Wednesday, reports of a second
technicians determined the cause and iPhone lawsuit emerged—this time against
restored service at 11:56 a.m. EDT. Voice AT&T as well as Apple—accusing the
calling, text messaging, and BlackBerry companies of having sold more units than
email were unaffected." the network can accommodate.Related
If true, that would be good news for Links
BlackBerry, which suffered some bad What's Wrong With the 3-G in iPhone
publicity during its own service outages in 3G?
2007 and again earlier this year. Bold Strike in the Smart Phone Wars
But reports from across the country What's Good for Apple is Better for
seemed to suggest that the AT&T Everyone Else
statement was not wholly accurate. Users
as far west as California—not just in the
6 Biz Buzz Tech*
What Good Is the Jobs Number?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 5:30:00 AM
The job market took another hit on today
as the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported
that the economy shed payrolls for the
ninth consecutive month. And even though
businesses have been cutting back since
December—and the unemployment rate
has risen 1.7 percentage points since last
March to 6.1 percent, the highest in 4.5
years—a group of vocal analysts, bloggers,
and journalists argue that the employment
picture is even worse.
The reason, these critics say, is that the
way government statisticians calculate how
many jobs are created by new businesses
and destroyed by dying firms is flawed and
is no more than an educated guess.
The B.L.S. has two ways of calculating
how many jobs are gained or lost each
month. The method preferred by most
economists is a survey of 150,000
businesses across the country—the
preliminary count for August shows that
84,000 jobs were lost. The problem here is
that the bureau does not have a way of
detecting when an entrepreneur has started
a business (which creates jobs), or when an
old firm has closed (taking jobs with it).
As a way around this, the B.L.S.
introduced what it calls a birth-death
model in 1999. It uses historical data and
fancy equations to estimate the number of
jobs added and lost by new and dying
businesses. But the model typically spits
out a positive number, leading critics to
charge that it doesn't know how to handle a
downturn. (For August, the birth-death
model added 125,000 jobs.)
This may well be true, but other data
Scammers Copying Big Copyright Extortion Tactics
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:31:04 AM
It really was only a matter of time. For a
while now, the entertainment industry has
been using borderline extortion tactics with
"pre-settlement" letters that promise
individuals they won't get sued if only they
pay a fee upfront -- ranging from a few
hundred dollars to a few thousand. These
point to benefits from using the model.
Once a year, the B.L.S. releases a
benchmark revision which is a much more
accurate tabulation of the number of jobs
in the country. This revision draws on
records of the number of employees
covered by unemployment insurance.
The B.L.S. says these records cover an
impressive 98 percent of all nonfarm jobs.
A revision based on this data is much more
likely to reflect the real employment
situation.
By 2003, the B.L.S. had increased the
coverage of its birth-death model to all of
the 10 major sectors (excluding
government) that it tracks. In the five years
before 2003, the average revision for the
monthly employment figures from when
they were first announced to the final
version was 440,000. Between 2003 and
2007, that number fell to 334,880,
according to data from the Philadelphia
Federal Reserve. This suggests that, if
anything, the addition of the birth-death
model has actually improved the accuracy
of the monthly numbers.
Now, there is another metric showing
bigger job losses than the payroll survey,
and that's the second of the two B.L.S.
methods mentioned above. The Current
Population Survey, a monthly survey of
50,000 households carried out by the
Census Bureau for the B.L.S., indicates
that economy has lost 1.17 million jobs
during the current downturn compared
with the 605,000 the payroll survey shows.
But you won't find too many of these
critics pointing to the household survey to
support their argument. The reason?
Back when the economy was growing,
the household survey detected much bigger
letters have proven to be incredibly
effective in getting people to simply pay
up, so it's no surprise that other scammers
have started copying the technique as well.
Right now it sounds like they're simply
calling people, but it's really only a matter
of time until they start sending nearly
identical "pre-settlement" letters on
threatening letterhead, and getting folks to
pay up as well. Of course, given the
job gains than the payroll survey. Since
most critics can be described as perma-
bears, they spent a good bit of time arguing
that the household survey was bunk.
Perhaps they think it would be unseemly to
flip-flop to now say it's good.
But all of this is not to say that
government statistics don't need
improvement; they surely do. And the
emphasis put on the jobs numbers by the
markets and the media aren't
commensurate with the forward-looking
information the data provides. Job growth
is a lagging indicator, and the wide
confidence interval around the reported job
figures typically mean it's hard to know if
the economy gained or added jobs in a
given month. Even our current Federal
Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, has
thought so.
But his predecessor, former chairman
Alan Greenspan, perhaps said it best in
1997, referring to another important data
point, the gross domestic product:
"I think we are getting to the point...when
we will have to move unless very clear
evidence emerges that the expansion is
easing significantly. I don't mean evidence
that G.D.P. growth is moderating to 1¾
percent or whatever the forecast is. The
G.D.P. is a nice number and it does have
some relationship to the real world. I'm not
terribly certain what it is, though everyone
tells me it does."
Related Links
What Good Is the Jobs Number?
Summer's Over. So's Your Job.
Jobs Crunched
extremely flimsy nature of the evidence
often used by the entertainment industry in
sending out those letters, we'll once again
note the very fine line between what these
supposedly legitimate companies are doing
and the out-and-out scammers are doing.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Comcast Strikes Back
Against F.C.C.
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 1:30:00 PM
Comcast, the nation's largest cable
company, sued the Federal
Communications Commission on
Thursday, challenging the regulator's
authority to sanction it for violating
government internet rules.
Comcast's lawsuit sets up a legal
showdown over whether the F.C.C. has the
power to enforce "network
neutrality"—the principle that all Web
traffic should be treated equally—or
whether new legislation is needed by
Congress to give it such authority.
The F.C.C. voted 3-2 last month to
punish Comcast after concluding that the
cable giant had run afoul of the agency's
2005 Internet Policy Statement, which
made network neutrality official
government policy.
Comcast has long argued that the F.C.C.
lacks the authority to enforce that principle
and, as widely expected, today formally
took its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals
in Washington, D.C.
"We filed this appeal in order to protect
our legal rights and to challenge the basis
on which the commission found that
Comcast violated federal policy in the
absence of pre-existing legally enforceable
standards or rules," Comcast executive
vice president David Cohen said in a
statement.
• Comcast's petition can be found here.
• A timeline of the Comcast probe is here.
Even as it filed the lawsuit, Comcast said
it intends to comply with the F.C.C. orders,
which "essentially codify the voluntary
commitments that we have already
announced."
The company does not dispute that the
F.C.C. has the authority to regulate internet
service providers, but said "we are
compelled to appeal because we strongly
believe that, in this particular case, the
commission's action was legally
inappropriate and its findings were not
justified by the record."
Unchallenged, the F.C.C. order would
have set a precedent giving it the right to
enforce its 2005 policy. Comcast says its
suit is less about the particulars of its case,
and more about the scope of F.C.C.
authority moving forward.
Throughout the government probe,
Comcast maintained that its actions
amounted to "reasonable network
management" designed to ensure that its
network functions smoothly.
The company said it was forced to
occasionally block peer-to-peer traffic,
which it said took up a vastly
disproportionate amount of its network and
caused congestion, to the detriment of
other users.
In March, facing intense F.C.C. and
public pressure, Comcast said it would
move to a "protocol agnostic" network-
management approach. That would focus
not on a particular type of network
activity—such as peer-to-peer traffic—but
rather on those users who consume the
most bandwidth.
Network neutrality advocates, who have
long battled Comcast over its network
management practices, called Comcast's
lawsuit against the F.C.C. predictable.
"We expected Comcast would appeal the
commission's order," said Gigi Sohn,
president and co-founder of Public
Knowledge, a digital-advocacy group.
"The company opposed it every step of the
way, even as they failed to disclose their
throttling of internet traffic. We believe the
commission will prevail and the rights of
internet users will be protected."
Ben Scott, policy director of Free Press,
which filed the original complaint against
Comcast last fall, said he wasn't surprised
by Comcast's lawsuit, and expressed
support for the F.C.C.
"Comcast's appeal is predictable—the
cable giant has a long history of appealing
any decision it doesn't like. The F.C.C. is
well within its authority to protect the open
internet, either by adopting rules or acting
on complaints," Scott said.Related Links
The Comcast Internet Cap Debate
Facing Sanction, Comcast Threatens 20-
to 30-Minute Web Slowdowns
Comcast's Compromise
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
A C-Double Win
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/3/2008 12:00:00 PM
It's baaaaack.
No, we're not talking about 90210, the
reimagined version of classic teen soap
Beverly Hills, 90210, which had its series
premiere on the CW last night. We're
talking about the network itself, which
seems to have been revived from near-
death by the success of its two most recent
series premieres.
In fact, against all odds, fall is off to a
very strong start for the CW, the teen-
oriented network from CBS and Warner
Bros.
On Labor Day evening, the season two
premiere of Gossip Girl scored 3.4 million
viewers, the series' second-highest
audience ever and one that, combined with
strong ratings for the sixth season of teen
drama One Tree Hill, helped carry the
CW's best Monday night in the two years
since it was founded.
And Tuesday night, the series premiere
of 90210 did the network even prouder. In
three categories—women 18 to 34, the
CW's sweet spot; adults 18 to 34; and
adults 18 to 49—the two-hour special was
the highest-rated telecast of any CW
scripted series, ever. It was also the highest
-rated premiere of a scripted series in those
three categories, all according to a press
release issued by the network.
That's a big relief for the CW, which had
If ESPN Can Replay Games With
Madden '09, Let Us Do It Too
By Dennis Yang (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 6:23:00 AM
In an effort to become more relevant to a
new generation of football fans, this
Sunday on "NFL Countdown," ESPN
anchors will interact with simulated
football players created using EA's video
game technology. Using Madden '09,
ESPN's football analysts can model
different variations of plays to demonstrate
possible outcomes. So, instead of just
drawing X's and O's on a telestrator, ESPN
anchors will be able to interact with the
virtual players on camera to illustrate
been banking on big ratings for the show
after an extensive marketing campaign.
That campaign took a page from Gossip
Girl' s playbook, relying on racy billboard
and print ads that featured the show's cast
lounging in barely there swimwear, and
that outraged bystanders including an
Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.
Despite—or perhaps because of—that
scandal, and thanks in part to a heavy dose
of nostalgia for its predecessor, 90210
attracted droves of viewers. The show
drew an average audience of 4.9 million
for the two-hour telecast—even more than
Gossip Girl the night before—and the 4.3
rating among women 18 to 34, the 3.0
among adults 18 to 34 and the 2.6 among
adults 18 to 49 were all sufficient to break
records for the fledgling network.
The question now is, can 90210—and
Gossip Girl and the creaky One Tree Hill,
for that matter—keep on delivering?
Unkind reviews for 90210' s debut episode
weren't hard to find. "At this point, adding
Tori Spelling to the mix would have a
calming effect," concluded Variety.
But numbers from the network proved
that audiences disagreed. Total viewers
increased 9 percent between 90210’s first
and second hours, which bodes well for
next week's second episode, and for the
series in general.
The CW's future had looked precarious
only last week, as the network's third
broadcast season approached without a
various football strategies and outcomes.
ESPN and EA forged a 15-year partnership
back in 2005, and this move strengthens
both brand's ties with their audiences.
As the video game has improved, using
Madden to illustrate plays has been done
increasingly over the past few years, but
football spectating still has to cross the
chasm of interactivity when compared to
the video game experience. In the video
game, you're able to change camera angles,
slow down the cameras, and highlight
things like passing routes and defensive
coverages -- all at the click of a few
buttons. EA's new system, EA Sports
bona fide ratings hit on the schedule.
While audiences of 3.4 million (for
Gossip Girl) and 4.9 million (for 90210)
aren't exactly American Idol territory, they
still represent great strides for a network
whose buzziest show only averaged
between 2 million and 3 million viewers in
its first season.
That upward trajectory is one that the
network no doubt hopes it can maintain.
But do these shows represent full-fledged
successes for the CW, or are they just
temporary reprieves on the path to
irrelevance?
"It's too early to tell," says Courtney
Burke, senior vice president and director of
network buying at Deutsch, a full-service
advertising agency in New York. "The
amount of promotion they put behind
Gossip Girl and 90210—no one could
walk through Manhattan over the past few
months and not know about those two
shows."
Because of that, she says, the level of fall
-off the shows sustain over the next few
weeks will be extremely telling. "They've
definitely succeeded with Monday and
Tuesday of this week, and we're all
interested to see what happens next."
Related Links
Manhattan Housing Datapoint of the Day
Wine and the City
Urban Wineries Across America
Virtual Playbook, loads in actual gameplay
data from the previous day's game, with
which ESPN's anchors can then replay and
modify the simulation to become the
ultimate version of a Monday morning
quarterback. That's great and all, it would
be even better to let fans download that
data to their Xboxes, do their own analysis
and then share that back with the
community. Though, that scenario is most
likely a pipe dream, considering that the
NFL still freaks out about even sharing
more than 45-seconds of game footage.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
What Good Is the Jobs
Number?
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 3:30:00 PM
When the Bureau of Labor Statistics
reports Friday on how many jobs the
economy gained or lost in August, there's
one thing we can be sure of: A complete
lack of agreement on what the numbers
actually say about the health of the
economy.
Even though businesses have been
shedding jobs since December—and the
unemployment rate has risen 1.3
percentage points since last March to 5.7
percent—a group of vocal economists,
analysts, bloggers, and journalists have
argued that the employment picture is even
worse.
The reason, these critics say, is that the
way government statisticians calculate how
many jobs are created by new businesses
and destroyed by dying firms is flawed and
is no more than an educated guess.
The B.L.S. has two ways of calculating
how many jobs are gained or lost each
month. The method preferred by most
economists is a survey of 150,000
businesses across the country. The problem
here is that the bureau does not have a way
of detecting when an entrepreneur has
started a business (which creates jobs), or
when an old firm has closed (taking jobs
with it).
As a way around this, the B.L.S.
introduced what it calls a birth-death
model in 1999. It uses historical data and
fancy equations to estimate the number of
jobs added and lost by new and dying
businesses. But the model typically spits
out a positive number, leading critics to
charge that it doesn't know how to handle a
downturn.
This may well be true, but other data
point to benefits from using the model.
Once a year, the B.L.S. releases a
benchmark revision which is a much more
accurate tabulation of the number of jobs
in the country. This revision draws on
records of the number of employees
covered by unemployment insurance.
Biz Buzz Tech* 7
The B.L.S. says these records cover an
impressive 98 percent of all nonfarm jobs.
A revision based on this data is much more
likely to reflect the real employment
situation.
Now, there is another metric showing
bigger job losses than the payroll survey,
and that's the second of the two B.L.S.
methods mentioned above. The Current
Population Survey, a monthly survey of
50,000 households carried out by the
Census Bureau for the B.L.S., indicates
that the economy has lost 828,000 jobs
during the current downturn compared
with the 463,000 the payroll survey shows.
But you won't find too many of these
critics pointing to the household survey to
support their argument. The reason?
Back when the economy was growing,
the household survey detected much bigger
job gains than the payroll survey. Since
most critics can be described as perma-
bears, they spent a good bit of time arguing
that the household survey was bunk.
Perhaps they think it would be unseemly to
flip-flop to now say it's good.
But all of this is not to say that
government statistics don't need
improvement; they surely do. Even our
current Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S.
Bernanke, has thought so.
But his predecessor, former chairman
Alan Greenspan, perhaps said it best in
1997, referring to another important data
point, the gross domestic product:
"I think we are getting to the point...when
we will have to move unless very clear
evidence emerges that the expansion is
easing significantly. I don't mean evidence
that G.D.P. growth is moderating to 1¾
percent or whatever the forecast is. The
G.D.P. is a nice number and it does have
some relationship to the real world. I'm not
terribly certain what it is, though everyone
tells me it does." Related Links
What Good Is the Jobs Number?
Jobs Crunched
Summer's Over. So's Your Job.
8 Biz Buzz Tech*
K.B.R. Bribery Plea
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/3/2008 2:30:00 PM
Albert "Jack" Stanley, the former director
of global services for Kellogg Brown &
Root pleaded guilty Wednesday to having
paid bribes to Nigerian government
officials for more than a decade, including
while the construction and engineering
firm was owned by Halliburton.
Stanley, who was fired when the bribery
allegations surfaced in 2004, has agreed to
cooperate with prosecutors still
investigating how many people were
involved in the conspiracy. Vice President
Dick Cheney was C.E.O. of Halliburton
from 1995 to 2000; the company acquired
Kellogg Brown & Root in 1998.
Halliburton, which is based in Houston,
said late Wednesday that it "has not yet
reviewed the plea agreement, so it would
be premature to comment."
Stanley, 65, made his plea before U.S.
District Judge Keith B. Ellison of Houston.
Neither the plea agreement nor the
Department of Justice press release
mention Halliburton or Kellogg Brown &
Root by name.
But a separate, parallel civil complaint
and press release from the Securities and
Exchange Commission do name the
company.
In his plea agreement, Stanley has
Prisons Upset That Prisoners Don't Get
Discounts On Digital TV Converters
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 4:59:00 AM
As you probably have heard, the US will
be shutting down analog TV broadcasts
early next year, as the conversion to digital
is complete. For most TV watchers, this
won't matter one bit. For anyone who
watches TV via cable or satellite TV, the
change means nothing. It only impacts
those who watch TV-over-the-air and who
don't have a digitally-enabled TV or
conversion box. So, as part of the effort to
move the transition along smoothly, the
gov't is handing out coupons to individuals
admitted to participating in a conspiracy to
bribe Nigerian officials to win $6 billion in
contracts to build a liquefied natural-gas
plant on Bonny Island in the oil-rich Niger
River Delta region of Nigeria.
Kellogg Brown & Root was part of a
consortium of Western companies seeking
to build the plant, according to court
records. Stanley was K.B.R.'s senior
representative on the consortium's steering
committee.
In that role, Stanley and others met with
high-ranking Nigerian government
officials on at least four occasions to
arrange the bribe payments, the S.E.C.
says.
Stanley and the others funneled money to
Nigerian officials by using sham contracts
with two "agents," whom the consortium
paid more than $180 million over several
years. Some of that money—U.S.
investigators described them only as
"substantial payments"—was sent to
corrupt Nigerian government officials.
For his role in the scheme, Stanley
admitted that he received about $10.8
million in kickbacks, which were paid to a
dummy company in Panama or to a
numbered Swiss bank account. As part of
his plea deal, Stanley has agreed to
surrender that amount to prosecutors,
though it is unclear how much he still
controls.
that can be used to pay for a converter box.
Except, apparently, if you happen to live
in prison.
Prison officials are getting quite worried
that prisons that use over-the-air TV
signals for their televisions won't be able to
afford the converters, because the gov't
won't give them the coupons. As South
Carolina Corrections Department Director
Jon Ozmint notes:"We asked them for the
coupons and they said they're only
available for households. I said, 'We're the
big house.' But they didn't buy it." Now,
many might point out that this shouldn't be
a big deal, as perhaps the gov't shouldn't be
Separately from the Nigerian
investigation, critics have blasted K.B.R.
for having received billions of dollars'
worth of Pentagon contracts to feed, house,
and supply U.S. troops in Iraq.
Many of those contracts were awarded
without competitive bidding, and several
have resulted in allegations of
overcharging, poor management, and
corruption. At one point, for example,
K.B.R. billed the government more than
$27.5 million to truck $82,100 worth of
liquefied petroleum gas from Kuwait to
neighboring Iraq.
The Defense Contract Audit Agency,
which later dismissed that bill as
"illogical," has repeatedly criticized
K.B.R.'s billing system.
In some cases, K.B.R. employees took it
upon themselves to steal supplies intended
for U.S. troops or accept bribes to let
others steal them.
At a Congressional hearing in July, a
former Army contracting officer said that
the Pentagon's oversight of K.B.R.'s work
in Iraq and Afghanistan was "irregular and
highly out of the ordinary." Related Links
Oil Prices Climb
Oil Jitters
Weapons of Mass Production: Extended
Essay
using taxpayer money to subsidize the TV
watching habits of prisoners, but the prison
officials are claiming that most people
don't understand just how important
television is in keeping the peace within
prisons. The article includes some quotes
from folks that suggest that television is a
pretty important part of the prison
experience in encouraging good behavior
and keeping the prisoners connected to the
outside world. Who would have ever
thought that the conversion from analog to
digital TV might lead to prison riots?
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Seoul Salvation
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 9:00:00 AM
Korea is home of the Hyundai and the
Kia. It hopes to put a robot in each of its
households by 2020. It boasts the world's
first cloned dog.
So what does it want with our ailing
assets on Wall Street?
A number of Korean entities have
grabbed headlines in recent weeks as
leaders at banks such as Lehman Brothers
and Merrill Lynch travel the globe on a
desperate hunt for cash.
Korea Development Bank, which was
founded after the Korean War ended in
1954, has expressed interest in buying all
or a part of Lehman Brothers. According to
the Financial Times, the country's military
pension fund has said it would be
interested in joining K.D.B. in a Lehman
investment.
A state-run distressed investment
manager called Korea Asset Management
is in talks with Merrill Lynch about taking
some of its most troubled loans off its
books, according to Bloomberg. So far, the
two haven't been able to agree on pricing.
Korea Investment Corporation, the
country's sovereign wealth fund, owns a
7.4 percent stake in Merrill Lynch, going
back for more in July after investing
initially in January.
What does Korea see that the rest of the
world doesn't? Perhaps Korea Asset
Management's Lee Chol Hwi put it best in
an interview with Bloomberg: "The U.S.
market desperately needs capital. It's
practically a buyer's market there."
That's right, folks. We're desperate. And
Asian investors, who were the desperate
ones just 10 years ago, are now regarded as
our saviors.
Since the 1997 Asian financial crisis,
Korea has cleaned itself up economically.
It instituted government reforms and
dismantled some of its corrupted
conglomerates. Its economy has enjoyed
robust growth in recent years, and its per
capita G.D.P. is expected to surpass that of
the United Kingdom, Germany, and France
just five years after Korea hopes to have a
robot in each household.
So Korea has clout—and money. But, so
far, its interest in Lehman Brothers appears
to be limited to a bit of hot air. The Korea
Development Bank remains at the mercy
of the country's financial regulators, who
have expressed skepticism about a deal.
Moreover, the bank isn't doing so well
itself: Its net profit fell by half during the
first half of this year, prompting the Korea
Times to call it "old and reckless."
K.D.B.'s chief executive said the bank
was considering forming a consortium of
local commercial banks to buy Lehman,
but the Korea Herald reports that local
banks dismissed the idea. Even the Korean
military pension fund, which indicated
interest, has said that K.D.B. hasn't
approached it about the deal.
As for Merrill, Bloomberg reports that
Korea Asset Management and Merrill
Lynch don't agree on the value of the
bank's assets. Considering that Merrill just
sold a bunch of loans to Lone Star Funds
for the paltry price of 22 cents on the
dollar, what kind of bargaining is Korea
doing in these negotiations?
It appears that either Lehman's and
Merrill's desperation hasn't hit levels low
enough for Korea. Maybe Korea's real
interest in buying Lehman amounts to little
more than a tease.
As the weeks and months of this credit
crisis unfold, Wall Street's desperation
could intensify. But Seoul isn't likely to
overtake New York anytime soon.
Related Links
Special Situation: Lehman Subprime
Unit Shutdown
Awaiting Citi's Big Number
Mark-to-Model on Wall Street: The
Numbers
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
From Russia, Not With
Love
(Portfolio.com: News and Markets)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 6:00:00 AM
For foreigners, this is how business now
gets done in Russia: There is a long siege
of hostilities supported by the Kremlin,
followed by a peace that should leave
investors uneasy.
Consider the truce that oil giant B.P. has
reached with its partner TNK. After an
eight-month dispute, the two companies
have come an agreement over their
Russian joint venture that shakes up its
management but leaves B.P. with its 50
percent stake. The chief executive will
leave by the end of the year, and more
independent directors will be on the board.
The two sides may also sell shares in the
unit to the public, possibly as much as 20
percent.
The agreement comes after months of
demands from the four oligarchs who
controlled the Russian half that the joint
venture's C.E.O. step down because he was
favoring British shareholders.
The chief executive, Bob Dudley, an
American, complained of a "sustained
harassment." He had been forced to
manage the venture from London after his
visa was not renewed. Other foreign
employees' visas were not renewed, and
the chief financial officer quit.
Maximizing Profits Doesn't Mean Screwing Your Customers
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:42:00 PM
A few years back, we wrote a post
debunking the ridiculous notion spread by
some that Craigslist was somehow "anti-
capitalist" or not "maximizing profits"
because it actually offered most of its
services for free. As we noted, much of
Craigslist's long-term success was because
of these decisions -- which in all likelihood
did increase overall profits for the
The suspicious decision being made by
the government followed similar strong-
arm tactics that drove Royal Dutch Shell
out of a project on Sakhalin and led to the
takeover of the oil giant Yukos.
So now Dudley will step down, to be
replaced by a Russian-speaking executive.
Having got what they want this time,
does anyone really expect the oligarchs,
with the Kremlin's blessing, to stop
meddling in the future? Other standoffs
may come in picking the next C.E.O. and
choosing independent directors for the
board.
Yet shares of B.P. are up sharply in
London trading today. The Russian venture
is crucial to B.P., accounting for nearly a
fourth of its oil production.
It is "certainly positive to see a plan for
cessation of hostilities, with B.P.
preserving its 50 percent stake and an
opportunity to release part of the value via
an initial public offering,'' Ivor Pether at
Royal London Asset Management told
Bloomberg News.
"But it's hard to envisage who would
qualify as an independent director."
Related Links
Frank Quattrone, Whiner
Black Hole
China IPO Datapoint of the Day
company in the long run by building up
further trust in the company. It may not
have maximized profits for this quarter,
but it most likely was doing a pretty good
job in generating profits for the long haul
by keeping customers happy, rather than
trying to squeeze them for every
immediate dime (and who was just saying
that Silicon Valley doesn't have a long
term view?)
Now we've got another similar story, as
the LA Times is positively amazed that the
So Much Hate For
Microsoft's Seinfeld/Gates
Buddy Ad
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 7:44:00 AM
I wasn't going to comment on Microsoft's
new ad campaign featuring Jerry Seinfeld
and Bill Gates buddying around, but the
response among the press and bloggers is
almost universally negative-- often in
extreme ways, and I don't get why there's
such a virulent negative reaction. Just a
few examples:
• Tip for MS: Fire the Advertising
Agency
• MSFT Ad is to PC/Mac Campaign as
Zune is to iPod
• Bill Gates, Jerry Seinfeld ad airs - Apple
has nothing to worry about
• Internet disses new Microsoft
commercial
• New Microsoft Seinfeld-Gates ad
campaign starts with a dud
• What's the deal with this commercial?
No, seriously.
• Microsoft Commercial Is Anything But
Funny
• Microsoft Seinfeld Ad Not Exactly a Hit
• Bill Gates + Jerry Seinfeld =
What?!!???
• Seinfeld-Gates TV commercial --
vague, baffling and unfunny
• Seinfeld Vista ad is out, and it's bizarre
• First Microsoft/Seinfeld Ad Bombs
• Seinfeld & Gates: Was this ad supposed
to be funny?
popular virtual world Habbo Hotel limits
its users to spending no more than
$35/month, on the theory that many of its
users are teenagers, who could get sucked
into spending on stuff, which could lead to
eventual backlash. Its CEO made this clear
in a recent interview, saying: "We didn't
want a situation where teens were raiding
their parents' credit cards to be able to
play.... We really don't want teenagers to
spend more than the price of two movie
tickets a month on Habbo."
• First Gates-Seinfeld ad leaves us
scratching our heads
And that's just a quick sampling that I
grabbed in a few seconds. It goes on and
on from there. To be honest, I'm not sure I
get this massive negative reaction. The ad
itself is a little silly and barely mentions
Microsoft at all, but isn't that bad at all.
And, to be perfectly frank, you have to
think that Microsoft is thrilled with the
reaction. It's gotten a ton more people
talking about the campaign than any
normal ad program, and it actually does a
bit to humanize Bill Gates. And, it fits in
with what we've been discussing about
how advertising needs to be content first
and advertising later.
Also, I'm a bit surprised that none of the
commentators seem to be comparing this
to the very similar efforts that American
Express did four years ago also with Jerry
Seinfeld. They created a series of "shorts"
somewhat similar to the Seinfeld/Gates
episode, and people enjoyed them. Is it just
because it involves Microsoft that people
react so negatively? Already Microsoft has
been able to draw people into the storyline
(even if negatively), and it can now use
future episodes to continue to entertain and
educate. That seems like a good thing, not
something to be so widely trashed.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
So, how does the LA Times describe this
decision? It points out, partly in jest, that
"turning down money seems un-
American." Again, even if this wasn't
meant as a serious comment, it's similar to
the silly claims about Craigslist. Habbo
Hotel has simply made a strategic long-
term decision on ways to best maximize its
success for the long haul. And, part of that
probably included the calculation that
Habbo would have been in quite some
trouble if news stories started showing up
Biz Buzz Tech* 9
Why Does Facebook
Block Any Mention
Of BugMeNot?
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 8:58:00 AM
Remember back about four years ago
when all sorts of online publishers relied
on bogus registrations and freaked out
about services like BugMeNot that
required registration? Over the past few
years, BugMeNot has become a lot less
essential, because a lot of publications
have been getting rid of registration walls
or at least providing real value for
registering, rather than just forcing you to
input bogus info. However, apparently the
folks over at Facebook are so against the
concept of BugMeNot they won't even let
you mention it(via Slashdot. Apparently, if
you mention BugMeNot.com in your status
message, Facebook warns you that the
"message contains blocked content." I
guess that's what you get for relying on a
messaging system controlled by someone
else, but it still seems like a bizarre thing
for Facebook to block.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
about kids bankrupting themselves buying
virtual trinkets for their Habbo Hotel
world. Limiting how much people can
spend isn't anti-American or anti-capitalist
or even anti-profit maximization. It's just
taking a much longer term view of the best
way to maximize profits over the long run.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
10 Tech* Gadgets*
Court Says Employees Have No Disc Makers Convince
Expectation Of Privacy For Stuff Themselves That Discs Are
On Company Owned Computers
By Michael Masnick (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:06:00 AM
A court ruling in New Jersey doesn't
seem all that surprising, but may lead to
more legal questions in the future. The
case involved an employee who was
stealing from his employer. The employee
was eventually found guilty of the theft,
but argued that the evidence used against
him was gathered illegally, in that it was in
a password protected file on his company-
owned laptop. It's actually a little more
confusing, as the guy actually claimed the
laptop was his, but that turned out not to be
true. He had originally purchased the
computer using his employers credit card...
but then still pretended the computer was
his personal laptop. Yet, later, he "sold"
the laptop to the company -- so
realistically, the company had bought the
laptop twice.
So, then the legal question was whether
or not the guy had a "reasonable
expectation of privacy" for stuff stored on
that laptop, especially in a password
AT&T page confirms HTC Touch Pro as "Fuze"
By Chris Ziegler (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:22:00 PM
Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds
Before a single AT&T-subscribing soul
dreams of jumping ship for Sprint just to
pick up the Touch Pro in a few weeks, hold
up: we can pretty much confirm that it's
coming to your neck of the woods, too.
We've already seen some totally legit-
looking shots of HTC's hottest QWERTY
WinMo piece in AT&T trim, but now we
have some more damning evidence in the
How would you change Acer's Aspire One?
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:50:00 AM
Filed under: Laptops
Judging by the amount of mods already
available for Acer's contribution to the
protected file. The court ruled no, that an
employee does not have a reasonable
expectation for privacy, and that,
effectively, anything on the computer is
fair game for the employer (even if it's
password protected).
You can understand the reasoning there,
as it makes sense that a company should
feel free to go through the contents of a
computer it owns. However, it does raise
some other questions. Earlier this summer,
we wrote about another case in which a
company continued to read the personal
email of a fired employee, because he had
left his personal online email account
logged in from the company-owned laptop.
While that seems different, is it really that
big a leap from data stored on the local
hard drive, to data stored on a remote hard
drive, accessed via a web browser? It does,
however, start to become a much trickier
question, especially as more data and apps
move from the local laptop into the "cloud"
and as work and life boundaries blur.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
form of a Google cached page detailing the
so-called Fuze on the carrier's own site. As
expected, we've got tri-band HSDPA,
netbook world, we'd say there's a fair
amount of things folks would like changed
on the Aspire One. Of course, that's not to
say the machine isn't worthy of praise as-
is, but there's nothing wrong with a little
dreaming. Would you have preferred a 6-
Here To Stay
By Kevin Donovan (Techdirt)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:22:05 AM
Remember all that hype about the
paperless office? The paperless home?
Heck, even the paperless life! Well, so do
some Sony executives who think the
persistence of paper proves that Blu-Ray
discs is here to stay. Speaking at an expo in
Denver, Sony SVP Andy Parsons said,
"I'm fond of recalling the old visions of the
past that the paperless office would
completely obliterate the need for paper. It
seemed like a very reasonable, logical
prediction decades ago that turned out to
be completely wrong." The only problem
with this self-promotional position (besides
the fact that recent research shows younger
people aren't interested in using paper) is
that it ignores the many formats of
information that have come and gone.
GPS, WiFi, and BlackBerry Connect
waiting for us when AT&T finally decides
to pull the plug on the Tilt and make this
thing happen. Follow the break for
AT&T's poetic Fuze verbiage -- and take
your time, since there's no indication that
we'll have this in stores in the next few
days.
[Thanks, Fred]
Continue reading AT&T page confirms
HTC Touch Pro as "Fuze" Read|
Permalink| Email this| Comments
cell battery right out of the box? Is that
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Paper is unique in its ubiquity, but Sony
should know all about formats which die;
after all, they invented a couple. While
discs may be around for a while due to
existing infrastructure, the clear trajectory
is towards digital only as evidenced by the
swing towards net-centric devices like
Apple's MacBook Air, the iPhone and
Dell's new netbooks. As bandwidth and net
-connected devices increase, shiny pieces
of plastic will disappear (for everyone but
the collectors) along with their tape-based
predecessors.
Kevin Donovan is an expert at the
Techdirt Insight Community. To get
insight and analysis from Kevin Donovan
and other experts on challenges your
company faces, click here.
Permalink| Comments| Email This Story
Energy Ball wind
turbine captures
energy for page
the11a home
Filed under: Household
As muchENERGY
as we prefer good old-
touchpad a touch too small for your
chubby fingertips? Would you rather it run
a little less like Zune Guy and more like
Usain Bolt? With the sudden surge in
competition in this sector, there's really no
excuse for a poor showing -- let Acer know
Runco announces
$20,000 VideoXtreme
VX-8 projector
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:02:00 AM
Filed under: Displays, HDTV, Home
Entertainment
The fun has just begun in the Mile High
City for Runco, which has followed up its
outlandish flat-panel announcement with a
replacement to the fabled VX-2 projector.
The 3-chip VideoXtreme VX-8 is squarely
aimed at those with fat wallets and the
word "videophile" stitched into their Ralph
Lauren scarfs, evidenced by the
superfluous (but very appreciated) video
processing capabilities via DHD with
Vivix and three SuperOnyx DMDs.
Additionally, you'll find the outfit's
ConstantContrast tech, which delivers
frame-by-frame contrast correction, while
the CorrectColor brings "complete color
calibration for D65 perfection." For more
technobabble on the January-bound unit,
hit up the read link -- but before you waste
your time, let us remind you that this will
cost $19,995. Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
exactly what you really wanted from the
tiniest Aspire. Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Ainol V3000 high-res PMP handled on
video
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:52:00 PM
Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable
Video
In a surprise turn for no-name PMPs, the
Ainol V3000 actually didn't seem so
shabby when we first spotted it in July. Of
particular note was the device's 4.3-inch
800 x 480 screen, and it always helps when
the device behind that screen isn't ugly.
Integra quietly launches DBS-6.9 Blu-ray player at CEDIA: hands-on
By Darren Murph (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 3:58:00 PM
If you'll recall, Integra surprised at last
year's CEDIA by trotting out its DHS-8.8
HD DVD player; this year, the company
Well, the folks at b4tech managed to nab
one and did a little video review
(embedded after the break). It looks even
more delicious in motion, and while the
menus look a tad weak and not very
English, we think we could overlook a lot
if the price is right.
Continue reading Ainol V3000 high-res
PMP handled on video Permalink| Email
this| Comments
has quietly (silently, in fact) released its
plainly styled DBS-6.9 Blu-ray deck.
While the design may not suit your fancy,
it's far from being the ugliest BD player at
the Expo, and reportedly, the Profile 1.1
unit will retail for a buck under $600
Zepto's Hydra A17 leaves no cliche
unturned
By Paul Miller (Engadget)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 2:05:00 PM
Filed under: Gaming, Laptops
Let's see, we've got tons of black, a semi-
gothic dragon thing, a "Z" in the brand
name and a mythological creature in the
product name. Yup, Zepto's new Hydra
A17 is exactly what gamers need. Sure, the
P9500 Core 2 Duo processor, 1920 x 1200
17-inch screen and NVIDIA GeForce
whenever it decides to ship. We can
9800M GTX with 1GB of VRAM don't
hurt. There's even a subwoofer and 4GB of
RAM, yours for a mere £2,029 (about
$3,585 US). Luckily, you can strip this one
down to £1,420 (about $2,510 US) but
you'll have to sign over your gamer cred at
the door -- we might not even let you
thread safety pins through your eyebrows.
[Via PC Launches] Read| Permalink|
Email this| Comments
already tell you're uninterested based on
the price alone, but feel free to peruse the
gallery at Engadget HD if you're hungry
for pics. Read| Permalink| Email this|
Comments
Gadgets* Tech Tips* 11
ENERGY
continued from page 10
fashioned bird-killin' three blade wind
turbine, apparently they cause a bit too
much vibration and disturbance for regular
home use. That's where the Energy Ball
comes in, with its spherical shape that
captures wind less obtrusively and yet
more efficiently. At least that's what we're
told, we're a bit short on details. We do
know that it's in the prototype stages and
was designed by Swedish company Home
Energy, who claims their smallest Energy
Ball can provide about 15% of the
necessary energy to power the average
Swedish home.
[Via Inhabitat] Read| Permalink| Email
this| Comments
LabelLinks4Gmail Nests
Labels in Gmail and Then
Some [Featured
Greasemonkey User Script]
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:00:00 AM
Firefox with Greasemonkey: The
LabelLinks4Gmail Greasemonkey scripts
creates nested labels in your Gmail
sidebar. If the idea sounds familiar, that's
probably because the previously mentioned
Folders4Gmail script has been included
with Better Gmail for quite some time. The
main difference is that LabelLinks4Gmail
soups up the sidebar so that clicking on a
top level folder will reveal the contents of
every label inside that folder—a feature
missing from Folders4Gmail.
Unfortunately the script doesn't use the
same label naming structure as
Folders4Gmail, so making the change isn't
as smooth as it could be (in fact, it's more
confusing all-around). However, if you've
been dying for fuller features from the
Folders4Gmail script, the
LabelLinks4Gmail script is worth a look.
T h a n k s B e n j a m i n !
LabelLinks4Gmail[Userscripts]
12 Web Apps* TV* Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper

10 things we'd like to see in Chrome New Microsoft Office

By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 5:43:00 PM
So far we're pretty smitten with Google's
Chrome. It's certainly not without its
faults, but for version 1.0 of a browser it's
pretty sharp. We've compiled a list of 10
things we'd really like to see added or
tweaked. Some come from other browsers,
and some are just improvements on some
of the existing features. Google, we hope
you're listening.
1. Profile roaming between multiple
browsers. This may be a pipe dream, but if
Foxmarks for Firefox has proved anything,
syncing up your bookmarks between
multiple machines is awesome. Doing the
same with passwords, settings, and history
would be even better. Considering Google
already has a way for your browser to send
data back to the mothership, and a hosted
Web history service of its own, a little sync
using my Google account doesn't seem that
hard does it?
2. Better bookmark management.
Speaking of bookmarks, the bookmarking
system in Chrome is about as basic as it
gets. "Stripped-down" might be a better
way to describe it. On the outset, it seems
as robust as Firefox 3's with a really simple
one-click way to save links. Where the
system falls apart is the lack of tools for
organization, and a complete lack of a back
-up tool to save your short (or long) list of
favorite sites. Of course, a bookmarks plug
-in like Delicious would help sort this out,
which brings us to the next yearning...
Chrome's bookmark management is
incredibly sparse compared with some of
the more mature offerings from browsers
like Firefox 3. (click to enlarge)(Credit:
CBS Interactive)
3. Plug-ins. Google has acknowledged
that plug-ins are on the road map, which is
The Daily Show: September 4, 2008 - VIDEOS
By Annie Wu (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 5:23:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Video, The Daily
Show, Episode Reviews, Reality-
Free"Sarah Palin: Vet This!": More of that
thrilling Republican National Convention
coverage. I think I either underestimated
just how super-snarky the right is or I just
a good thing. Here's how the search giant
can totally one-up Mozilla, though: let me
install and make changes to extensions
without having to restart the browser.
Nothing is worse than having 30 tabs open
and having to restart, even if it remembers
what I had open before. This reminds me...
4. Saved sessions/warning messages
when closing multiple tabs. Firefox's little
warning for when you're closing a group of
tabs was a huge lifesaver in version two.
Firefox 3 brought with it a way to save that
grouping of open tabs for later. Chrome
has neither of these features. Accidentally
closing your browser with a slew of tabs
open means they're gone for good. Chrome
is nice enough to tell you some of the most
recently closed tabs back on its special
start page, but that's it.
This feature in Firefox has saved this
author many hours of hardship over the
years. Sadly, it's missing from Google's
Chrome.(Credit: CBS Interactive)
5. A full-screen mode. I love the
minimalism of Chrome, but sometimes I
just want those extra 60-90 vertical pixels
back. Give me a keyboard shortcut for this
too, and I'll be in screen hog heaven.
6. A more customizable interface. The
blue is neat, but getting that great deep
purple found in incognito mode is enough
of a tease to make me want to change the
way it looks based on how I'm feeling.
Plus, you've taken away the nice special
Windows-theme coloring I had when you
got rid of the top of the application, so let
me choose how I want it to look. Bonus
points for a tie-dye mode or something that
changes depending on what time of day it
is--like your personalized homepage
service iGoogle.
Dragging tabs in and out of windows is
really cool. Trying to do this with sites
you've designated as applications does not
work though.
missed a hefty chunk of all the jackassery
from the convention coverage. I mean,
7. A way to drag "applications" back into
the main browser. The option to turn a
certain site into a self-contained browser
window with a stripped-down interface is
great. However, the inability to drag it
back into an open Chrome browser
window is maddening when you're trying
to re-open some real estate on the task bar.
You can do this with existing tabs and
windows, and it works great.
8. A Mac/Linux version. The lack of a
Mac client has left the growing percentage
of Mac users in a bit of a tizzy. Worse yet,
based on Google's track record with some
of its other cross-platform software
offerings like Google Earth and Google
Desktop search, the Mac has fared a little
worse with slower release schedules and
less features than its PC siblings.
Hopefully new features will be rolled out
to all the platforms at about the same time.
9. A pop-up blocker that blocks. Clearly
Google is trying to shake things up with a
pop-up blocker that really should be called
a "pop-up relocator," since it not only lets
them open but also load. Frankly, this
drives me nuts since I have to close them
down to get them off the screen. Also if it's
really important and something I meant to
click, I have to go drag it off from the
bottom of the screen.
10. A regular old search box. Yes
progress is good and the "omnibar" does a
pretty slam-dunk job of getting new
searches going, but let's get some of the
ambiguity away from that thing and have
an option to leave it for URLs only. Also, a
separate search box would let me pick
from the other multitude of search
providers in addition to Google without
compromising my screen real estate.
Any you think we missed? Leave them in
the comments.
Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani mocking
my community service alone would
probably leave me in a serious case of
playground tears.
Continue reading The Daily Show:
September 4, 2008 - VIDEOS
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
competition from Zoho,
Zooos
By Rafe Needleman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 6:00:00 AM
The third annual Office 2.0 conference,
which starts Thursday, is where people talk
about getting real work done on the Web.
There will be no robotic ice-cream
machines at the San Francisco conference.
Likewise, soft-core porn start-ups won't be
showing up.
Once again, I'm looking forward to
hearing what's new in the world of work
2.0. First up are two productivity suites,
one coming out Thursday from the
hyperactive Zoho and another from a
company you've probably never heard of:
Zooos.
Zoho Docs: This is a new integration app
on top of the company's suite of apps. We
continue to point to Zoho as a prime
example of how much productive work can
really be done on the Web, without
requiring downloadable software.
Zoho Docs integrates the main Zoho
applications--and all your online data files-
-into one application. So like Google Docs,
it's a launcher and a file system. But unlike
with Google, the files can actually be
opened up in the docs window, which
makes for a somewhat simpler experience
than Google, which opens docs in new
browser windows or tabs.
It's a good evolution of Zoho's product
set.
Zooos: This is a very interesting
development: It's a port to the Web of Sun
Microsystems' Open Office, a desktop
productivity suite. And it has some clever
tricks that even Sun doesn't support.
In addition to having the main Open
Office apps, Zooos also has real-time
collaboration, almost exactly like Google
Docs offers. (Zooos doesn't let two users
change text in the same paragraph in a
word doc at the same time. Other than that,
it does let them edit the same document
simultaneously.)
Offline support (and syncing documents
to the desktop) comes via a small browser
plug-in (Firefox and Safari at launch;
Internet Explorer to trail; Chrome
unknown). And Zooos has a clever file
management system. In addition to the
usual suite-specific storage service, people
can also access documents on their local
PCs via Box.net accounts, FTP servers,
and even YouTube and Picassa Web
accounts. All these show up as folders.
Since Zooos runs on servers and doesn't
require much on local machines other than
a browser, it's also a decent solution for
mobile users; most smartphones with
browsers should be able to run the
company's mobile-specific Web services
and be able to use all the Zooos apps.
Zooos will run its own server farm so
people can try out the suite over the Web,
but the real business is selling software for
companies to install on their own servers.
This allows businesses to take advantage
of cloud services without putting their
employees' data on some other company's
machines. The service will cost $999 a
year for 10 users, with significant price
breaks for more users and for extensions to
the subscription after the first year. CEO
Hishan El-Eman told me he hopes to
launch the product in October.
The Zooos system gives you access to
Web version of Open Office apps, as well
as a very flexible file storage
system.(Credit: Zooos)
Related:
If you're looking for another online
office suite, skip Microsoft
The love of work: Office 2.0
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Google: 10 ways the cloud is good for
business
By Rafe Needleman
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 10:49:00 AM
Matthew Glotzbach from Google's
enterprise products group took the stage at
the Office 2.0 conference Thursday with a
talk called, "10 Things I could do in the
cloud today that I couldn't do a year ago."
10. Everything on the go. Glotzbach
showed a picture of the iPhone, and talked
about how smartphones let us do "almost
anything" from the mobile phone. Of
course, Glotzbach's online life is "almost
entirely in the cloud," since he's a
Googlehead, but he's right. Smartphones
with access to tools like Google Docs are
workable backups to full-sized computers.
Google's Matthew Glotzbach at the
Office 2.0 conference.(Credit: Rafe
Needleman / CNET)
9. Search through all my e-mail. I take
issue with this claim, since I, like many
other corporate e-mail users, are slaves to
Exchange, and while I can occasionally get
a search to run on my PC's archive of mail
when I'm looking for something, I don't
have access to that data when I really need
it: on my iPhone.
Glotzbach also talked about how IMAP
(Internet Mail Access Protocol) opens up e
-mail access to other interfaces, like Web-
based and mobile clients.
8. Chat with customers and partners in
any language. The real-time translation
service in Google Talk has make
collaborations possible that weren't before.
Good point. Glotzbach did a demo on
stage, showing how one invites a translator
bot into a chat and uses that connection to
talk with a person who speaks another
language.
"It's a service you can mash up with,"
Glotzbach said. So "Why don't you have
this in Zimbra or Google Docs?" he
challenged.
7. Collaborate simply and securely on
projects with Sites and Docs. It's one place
for him to go to create and store project
info, and it can be easily opened up to
partners and other stakeholders (like
journalists or the public) when needed. It
helps "streamline the communication
flow," he said. In this case I agree: I'm
using Google Docs now for collaborating
on documents inside the CNET
workgroup, and when I need to share files
outside of our walls, it's just as simple.
6. Organize all my business travel with e
-mail. This was Glotzbach's paean to
Tripit, which is a pretty cool service I also
recommend. It's cool, he says, because it
uses a communication method we already
have, e-mail, to make things simpler for
everyone. One wonders if Tripit might find
itself in the Google stable at some point
soon.
5. Easily collect data from co-workers
and customers in forms. Google recently
added a forms collection tool to Google
Spreadsheets. It's a good feature.
Glotzbach demonstrated how easy it is to
embed a form in a blog.
See also Wufoo. Does anyone in your
business use an online productivity suite?
( polls)
4. Build any scalable business
application on the cloud platform.
"Everybody's got really good ideas,"
Glotzbach says, but they don't have the
capital or skills "to operate a large-scale
computing environment." But with cloud
services from Google, Amazon,
Salesforce, and the like, more companies
can build scalable businesses with far
fewer resources. Glotzbach says that these
platforms are also useful for building
mobile apps.
3. Use online templates for documents,
spreadsheets, and presentations. OK. Not
exactly a new feature, since nearly all
productivity software has this capability,
too.
2. Run fast, secure, and stable Web
applications. "Chrome was really a leap
forward," in terms of speed, stability, and
so on, Glotzbach says. "Anyone not seen
or used it yet?" At which point all the Mac
users in the audience raised their hands.
Basically this bullet point was just a quick
demo of the browser Google just
announced. Glotzbach reinforced how
important the browser's speed
improvements are for the development of
Web apps for everyone.
1. Securely share video in Apps. Really,
this is No. 1? In fairness, it's a nice feature,
and the launch of it was overshadowed by
the Chrome launch, but I was rather hoping
Glotzbach had a more rousing No. 1 point
here.
Glotzbach closed by talking about how
adoption of Google's business suite, Apps.
is taking off. There's a hockey stick chart
of growth, he said, and it's actual use, not
just sign-ups. He also said 3,000 new
businesses sign up for Google's Apps
every day.
Timelope makes your
browser history public,
social
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 2:54:00 PM
I had a funny moment earlier this week
when I showed Google's Chrome to one of
my friends. She was floored that one of the
top nine most visited sites featured on the
browser's start page was Woot.com. Given
how much browsing I do as part of this job
I suppose it was surprising even to me, but
it's also a hint of how intriguing your
browsing history can be to others.
A service called Timelope is banking on
that idea, letting users share their browsing
history (or at least selected parts of it) with
the rest of the world. Unlike Friendfeed
which aggregates just the items you want
from the sources you have chosen,
Timelope posts all of your activity in one
large stream and does it passively without
requiring you to click on anything out of
the ordinary. You can then befriend other
Timelope users and see what they're
looking at (almost in real time) as long as
they're sharing.
All of this hinges around a browser plug-
in that currently only works for Firefox.
You simply plug in your user name and
password and it pipes over the data in the
background once the page has loaded. You
can turn it on and off with a just a click,
and it remembers its state between
browsing sessions so you don't
accidentally start sending off things you
don't want others to see.
Web Apps* 13
There are some obvious privacy concerns
here. Making what you're viewing online
public, able to be searched, and
timestamped is a very open window into
your habits and who you are. There are,
however, some decent protection measures
you can instate, like an anonymous log-in
and both a black and white list for
controlling which sites are shown to
others, even when the plug-in is turned on.
Another company that offers a very
similar service and a slightly deeper
analysis of your habits, along with a way
to create private groups is Hooeey, which
we profiled back in late 2007. I thought
then, as I do now, that these services can
be incredibly useful for a certain few, but
are likely to instill fear in people who are
already worried enough about having their
e-mail passwords stolen, let alone sharing
what they're doing with strangers.
Timelope is currently in private alpha but
was still accepting new sign-ups when I
published this.
Timelope lets you browse other people's
browser history as well as publishing your
own using a Firefox plug-in.(Credit: CBS
Interactive)
14 Web Apps* TV*
See Chrome's inner workings--and an Easter egg
By Stephen Shankland
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 11:06:00 AM
Google's Chrome browser has as Spartan
a user interface as possible, but the
browser's Omnibox also turns out to be a
window into a much more elaborate view
of the browser.
That's because Chrome users can type
several commands into the browser's
address box to uncovers a wealth of nitty-
gritty detail and an amusing Easter egg.
Google Chrome can display lots of
detailed information, such as which plug-
ins are running. (Click to enlarge.)(Credit:
CNET News)
Firefox can be fine-tuned by typing "
about:config" into its address bar, and
other about: commands shed light on many
details. Google followed suit.
Most folks won't care a whit, but the
feature is notable for programmers--both
those creating Web pages and those who
might want to toy with Chromium itself,
the open-source project behind Chrome.
Programmers are a key audience for
Chrome, which Google hopes will advance
the state of the art in particular for Web
applications.
One Firefox tool popular with Web
developers is the Firebug extension, which
permits detailed analysis of a Web site.
Although Chrome lacks an extensions
ability for now, right-clicking on Web
page elements offers an "inspect element"
option that reproduces some of Firebug's
abilities.
Happy Easter
Docstoc offers simple sync with your hard drive
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 12:00:00 PM
Online document-hosting service Docstoc
on Thursday is introducing a useful new
tool for PCs and Macs that will
automatically back up and sync documents
from your hard drive to your Docstoc
account.
Considering the growing trend of
Netbooks with relatively little built-in
storage, users with this desktop application
For you non-programmers, there's an
Easter egg, too: type "about:internets" into
the Omnibox. I'm not going to be a
spoilsport by revealing what happens, but
here's a hint: Ted Stevens.
Because I'm interested in browser user
interface limits, though, I'm very curious
what rendering technology is used to
produce the Easter egg output. Feel free to
offer your theories in the comments field
below.
Among the "about" features:
about:memory shows how much memory
installed with be able to offload whatever
they created without having worry about
running out of room.
By default, the syncing application goes
for your documents folder, though you can
set it to sync up with other folders on your
hard drive or folders within your home
network. Documents that are automatically
updated get set as private, so others will
not be able to see them, but you can set
specific folders as public too.
To help manage all these files, the
document home screen has also been given
the browser--and any other Web browser--
is using. Conveniently for Web developers,
it also shows how much each Web site in a
browser tab is using.
about:stats shows a wide range of
internal measurements such as the time
taken to initialize Chrome, load Gears, or
perform various operations while running
JavaScript programs with Chrome's V8
engine. The page also carries the amusing
note, "Shhh! This page is secret!"
Typing about:histogram into Chrome's
address bar shows many performance
an overhaul that the company is calling
MyDocs. It offers a little bit more than the
documents folder on your computer, with
simple thumbnail views, as well as a quick
preview mode that lets you open up
documents of any size and nearly any file
type in about a second.
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
details. (Click to enlarge.)(Credit: CNET
News) about:network tracks the detailed
network activity of using a Web site.
about:version shows details of what
version of Chrome is running, along with
the user-agent text that the browser reports
when identifying itself to Web sites. Why
"Mozilla" is in this string is a mystery to
me, though perhaps it has to do with the
way Chrome can use Firefox plug-ins;
why"Mozilla" is apparently in the iPhone's
user-agent text is even more a mystery.
about:histograms graphs various
performance measurements such as the
time taken to autocomplete text users type
into the browser.
about:crash crashes the active browser
tab.
With a little noodling around, I also
found out that some of these services, but
not all, can be retrieved with a different
syntax. Try typing "chrome-
resource://about/stats" for example.
One more tidbit for folks closely
following Chrome: TG Daily uncovered a
so-far hidden "themes" folder that's empty
for now but that presumably could be used
later to give Chrome different, well,
chrome. Depending on how Google
proceeds, this could be useful for adapting
the browser to the native looks of Linux
and Mac OS X, operating systems that
Chrome will support later.
This is the error page that results from
invoking the about:crash command in
Chrome.(Credit: CNET News)
(Via Google Operating System and Tech-
Pro.net.)
If you're a Mac user running Leopard,
you've been able to do this with the proper
quick-look plug-ins, but this is all on the
Web.
Docstoc creator and CEO Jason
Lawrence Nazar tells me that future
versions of the syncing tool will include
bidirectional syncing, meaning that
changes made to documents in the cloud
can be pushed back to your local machine.
This should be coming in "weeks."
In the meantime, a company called
Dropbox( review) has been offering
Spoilers
Anonymous
By Isabelle Carreau (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 5:02:00 AM
Filed under: Spoilers Anonymous,
Reality-Free
This is Spoilers Anonymous, a weekly
column here at TV Squad where we'll
supply you with the dirt on some of the
more popular shows on the air. We'll never
put spoilers up here on the main page in
order to help the reformed stay unspoiled.
If you have anything to add to the group,
feel free to step up and let yourself be
heard, either with our tips form or by
emailing us at tvsquad at gmail dot com or
call and leave a message at(775) 640-8479-
your anonymity is guaranteed, if you wish
to remain as such.
This week we have: 24, Bones, Brothers
& Sisters, Chuck, Desperate Housewives,
Dirty Sexy Money, Ghost Whisperer,
Grey's Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Private
Practice, and Pushing Daisies. (SPOILERS
FOLLOW!)
Continue reading Spoilers Anonymous
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
something similar. It also requires special
desktop software to get the job done.
Related: New Microsoft Office
competition from Zoho, Zooos
Docstoc now offers a bird's-eye view of
your Web documents, complete with live
previews and editing. Using the new
utility, you can also have it sync up all the
documents from your hard drive.(Credit:
Docstoc)
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Anonymize your phone
number with LetsCall.Me
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/3/2008 4:03:00 PM
LetsCall.Me is a smart new service for
giving out your contact information to
others without actually revealing it. At sign
-up you get a special vanity URL and the
option to have it direct callers to whatever
number you provide. People who have
your URL and want to call you can simply
enter in their phone number and it will call
that number to connect them to yours.
Unlike some other services that offer de-
centralized calling (see GrandCentral,
Jaxtr, JaJah, and iNumbr), LetsCall.Me
preserves the caller's number so you can
see it before picking up. I had my brother
help me test this and he was a little
confused to be calling Palm Springs,
Calif., whereas I knew it was him because
he was in my phone book.
Users who want to use the service as a
virtual business card can simply make
various bits of their contact information
publicly available, although the phone
number will always remains hidden. In
future versions, I'd like to be able to
display a wider array of profile
information, as well as have a simpler way
to manage multiple URLs with the same
account. As it stands you've got to
remember which ones you've set up even
though they're on the same account.
[via MakeUseOf and Lifehacker]
Just enter in whatever vanity URL you
want, and if it's available, anyone who
clicks on it will be able to see what contact
information you've made public, as well as
being able to plug in their phone number
and have it connect you.(Credit: CBS
Interactive)
Stalk your favorite TV
characters (legally) with
Whrrl
By Josh Lowensohn
(Webware.com)
Submitted at 9/4/2008 9:25:00 AM
Location-based social network Whrrl has
forged a rather odd partnership with
content provider HBO to place various
fictional characters from the show
Entourage as real users on its network.
Events from the television show will end
up as annotated items on Whrrl's user-
generated map. You can subscribe to
whichever of the characters you want, and
each of their items go into your central
friends feed along with regular users who
are providing "real" ratings and locational
bookmarks. As the series progresses,
locations seen on the show will continue to
be placed on the map.
This is a novel move in a time when
content is getting its own community-made
fan characters. Some of the first signs of
this were on Facebook with fake user
accounts, then later fan pages
Thoughts on the Republican National
Convention - VIDEOS
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 6:01:00 AM
Filed under: News, Celebrities, Reality-
Free Now that the confetti has been swept
away, all the balloons popped, and the St.
Paul cops are stowing their riot gear, it's
time to recall the surprisingly eventful
Republican National Convention in
Minnesota. Is it really only one week ago
today that Senator John McCain pulled a
rabbit out of his hat and introduced little-
known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his
running mate? She's not little-known
anymore. In fact, the 2008 Republican
Convention is forever more to be
remembered for her ascent, whatever her
Web Apps* TV* Food*
administrated by fans once Facebook
began to clamp down. Most recently, the
trend has ended up on Twitter with
characters from AMC's Mad Men and
Marvel comics getting taken down by the
parent companies who own that
intellectual property.
You can find the various characters from
the show on this page. If this ends up being
a hit, expect it to leech out into other social
networks and shows.
Whrrl now lets you follow characters
from the TV show 'Entourage'. The
characters will continue to update with
events from the show as the season
progresses.(Credit: CBS Interactive)
future portends.
Here's some other thoughts from the TV
coverage of the RNC:
Media matters
15
Mom's Warm Potato
Salad
By Elise
Submitted at 8/23/2008 12:53:16 AM
I don't know about you, but summer
around here has us making potato salads
more often than in other seasons. This is
the latest one my mother put together; my
father has made her make it several times
since, and my brothers have devoured it
with raves for mom. No mayo, just a
simple rice vinegar olive oil dressing.
Continue reading "Mom's Warm Potato
Salad" »
Having the two political conventions
back to back was a plus for the TV pros.
All the mistakes from Denver were
rectified in St. Paul. The MSNBC set ups
avoided train stations and noise
interruptions. Splitting up Keith
Olbermann and Chris Matthews worked
better, with Olbermann as the point man
throwing the coverage to the other news
pros. And there was less bickering and
fighting, at least compared to the week
before.
Continue reading Thoughts on the
Republican National Convention -
VIDEOS
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
16 TV*
TV Guide picks the best pilots
(and gets it wrong)
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 7:03:00 AM
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other
Comedy Shows, Programming, Reality-
Free
I'm sorry, but while I think that everyone
is entitled to their opinion about "best this"
and "best that" (not to be confused with
"favorite this" and "favorite that"),
sometimes such a list has some entries that
just make you scratch your head so much
that you have to throw the whole list away
and start over. Case in point, this list of the
10 Best TV Pilots from the new issue of
TV Guide.
While I'm not going to sit here and argue
about shows on the list like Lost, The
Sopranos, and Alias, I am going to take
issue with the inclusion of Desperate
Housewives, The Shield, and Football
Wives. Honestly, are these true
representatives of the best first episodes of
TV shows? Forget about what the shows
became (great shows can often have so-so
early episodes), just the first episodes
themselves. Was there truly anything
special about Desperate Housewives that
would place it ahead of...oh, I don't know,
400 other shows in the history of
television?
Continue reading TV Guide picks the
best pilots (and gets it wrong)
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
What's On Tonight: Stand Up To
Cancer, Monk, Bill Maher
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:01:00 AM
Filed under: Programming, What To
Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
• At 8, ABC, CBS, and NBC have the
Stand Up To Cancer benefit.
• FOX has two-hour season premiere of
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? at
8.
• The CW has a new Smackdown! at 8.
• PBS has a new Washington Week at 8,
followed by new episodes of NOW and
Bill Moyers Journal.
• At 9, NBC has an NFL Kickoff Special.
• USA has a new Monk at 9, then a new
Psych.
• Discovery Channel has two new
episodes of Discovery Project Earth at 9.
• At 10, CBS has the season (series?)
finale of Swingtown.
• ABC has a new 20/20 at 10.
• Sci-Fi Channel has a new Stargate
Talk Talk: John Malkovich, Chris
Matthews, Steve Earle
By Bob Sassone (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:05:00 AM
Filed under: Late Night, Programming,
Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
Here's who's on the late night talk shows
tonight.
• Charlie Rose: RNC coverage
• The Daily Show: RNC coverage
• The Colbert Report: David Paterson and
RNC coverage
• The Late Show with David Letterman:
John Malkovich, Hayden Panettiere, and a
tribute to Warren Zevon with Steve Earle
• Jay Leno: Eva Mendes, Chris Matthews,
and Shinedown
• Jimmy Kimmel Live: Taye Diggs, Sarah
Jane Morris, and Black Kids
• Tavis Smiley: Elisabeth Bumiller
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien: Jerry
O'Connell and Christian Lander
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Atlantis at 10.
• History Channel has a new Shockwave
at 10.
• Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new
Most Haunted.
• At 11, HBO has a new Real Time with
Bill Maher.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
• The Late, Late Show with Craig
Ferguson: Eva Longoria and Jamie Lidell
• Last Call with Carson Daly: Maria
Menounos, Benjamin Nugent, and Local H
(repeat)
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Harry Hamlin
heads to Harper's
Island
By Allison Waldman (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:02:00 AM
Filed under: Pickups and Renewals,
Casting, Reality-Free When CBS
presented their upfront last May, one of the
more intriguing dramas was a murder
mystery/slasher film/whodunit about a
wedding party on a Seattle island. It was
called Harper's Island and projected for
mid-season. The preview played like a
cross between Ten Little Indians and Twin
Peaks to me, and I liked what I saw. I
certainly plan on giving it a try when it
shows up on CBS.
It's still slated for early 2009, only now
the actor playing the groom's loud, fun-
loving and duplicitous uncle is going to be
Harry Hamlin. He has been added to the
Harper's Island cast as Marty.
Continue reading Harry Hamlin heads to
Harper's Island
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Big Brother 10: Live feeds report -
September 5
By Jackie Schnoop (TV Squad)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:20:00 AM
Filed under: OpEd, Big Brother (US)
When last night's Big Brother 10 live
episode ended, we were left with a Sumo
wrestler in the living room. Now, you
could wait until Sunday night to find out if
he's still there. Perhaps they're having him
go on a diet of BB slop to slim down. And,
what about that luxury competition which
could impact the game? You know, the one
Julie Chen mentioned at the end of the
show last night.
For the latest from the 24/7 live feeds,
read on past the jump. Beware, there are
Friday Five: Ways to Make a Cool
'Ghostbusters' Sequel
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:02:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy,
RumorMonger, Fandom, Remakes and
Sequels, Lists
Look, I'm thinking the same thing you
are: Here comes Hollywood to screw up
another one of our beloved franchises by re
-imagining it for this new, hip generation.
Whenever they try to mess with nostalgia,
it always comes back to bite them in the
ass -- but could things be different with a
franchise like Ghostbusters, which gave us
two films ... and, let's admit it, only one
real classic? Here are five ways to make a
cool Ghostbusters sequel ...
1. Get the Apatow crew involved
When you look back at the original
Ghostbusters, you see names like Bill
Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis,
Rick Moranis and Ivan Reitman. Back in
1984, these were the folks who made us
really laugh. These were the young-ish
voices of the time; the guys you wanted to
pay money to see because you knew they'd
be worth it. Today, the same can be said
for guys like Seth Rogen, Paul Rudd, Jason
Segel, Steve Carell, Jay Baruchel, Jonah
Hill, Michael Cera and Craig Robinson. At
least a few of those names should show up
spoilers on the other side!
Continue reading Big Brother 10: Live
feeds report - September 5
Permalink| Email this| | Comments
in the sequel in order for it to have a really
good shot of succeeding with fans.
2. Get a director who understands the
franchise (ie: Harold Ramis or Ivan
Reitman)
While there's a very good chance we'll
end up seeing Judd Apatow's name tossed
around as producer (no way he's directing
this), the best way to hold on to what we
love about Ghostbusters is to bring on a
man who was there for the first two and
knows what, exactly, makes this franchise
Cinematical's Friday Night
Double Feature: That
Lovely City Called Toronto
By FMonika Bartyzel (Cinematical)
iled under: Comedy, Home
Entertainment, Trailers
Submitted at 9/5/2008 and AM
11:15:00 Clips, Friday
work. Ramis has been working with the
Apatow clan a lot lately (directing Year
One, appeared in both Knocked Up and
Walk Hard), and is perfectly capable of
directing and acting in a film (Hello Egon
cameo!). He'd by my choice for this, and,
I'm sure, will also lend his voice to the
script.
Continue reading Friday Five: Ways to
Make a Cool 'Ghostbusters' Sequel
Permalink| Email this| Comments
TIFF Review: Nick and
Norah's Infinite Playlist
By James Rocchi (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 2:02:00 PM
Filed under: Comedy, Sony, Sony
Classics, Theatrical Reviews, Festival
Reports, Toronto International Film
Festival
Starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings,
Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist is a light,
slight, fleet-footed teen comedy of
romance and indie rock; there are logic
holes in it, and lulls, and moments that
seem devoid of sense, to be sure, but there
are also moments in where Cera or
Dennings will smile and your momentary
doubts and disagreements are washed
away and your head is filled with a sense
of gladness, not despair, that you're
watching our young, happy hipster heroes
on screen. Nick and Norah's Infinite
Playlist combines the shaggy-dog sprawl
of an early John Hughes film with the
blunt talk and softly-rounded feelings of
the Apatow comedies, and if it did not
have leads as charismatic and tonally
correct as Cera and Dennings, it would be
very close to dead in the water; however,
TV* Movies* 17
since it does, it isn't.
Taking place in some movie version of
Manhattan where parking is always
immediately available and everyone over
25 has, apparently, been executed Logan's
Run-style, Nick and Norah's Infinite
Playlist begins as Nick (Cera) is trying,
and failing, to get over his breakup with
the tedious-yet-tempting, hot-yet-hateful
Tris (Alexis Dzienia), leaving lengthy
messages on her phone and exquisitely
sequenced mix discs at her door. Tris
laughingly discards Nick's most recent
effort into the trash at school; sarcastic-but
-sweet Norah (Kat Dennings) retrieves it,
as she's done for several of Nick's
discarded offerings: "He makes the best
mixes ever." The fact that Nick's latest
effort is labeled "The Road to Closure,
Vol. 12" tells you that Nick has strong
feelings, and, in this case, weak vocabulary
skills.
Continue reading TIFF Review: Nick
and Norah's Infinite Playlist
Permalink| Email this| Comments
18 Movies*
CINEMATICAL'S
continued from page 17
Night Double Feature
When you live in downtown Toronto,
you quickly become accustomed to the
people calendar -- when the streets will be
silent, and when they'll be buzzing. It starts
when school lets out -- young kids hit the
playgrounds while the college kids head
home and free up the late-night sidewalks.
Every third person is now a tourist,
stopping every few feet for pictures or to
look at a map. On the weekends, the city
often becomes a ghost town, as hordes
head up north to cottages. But then it's
back to school, often marked by the eager
new engineers running around the city
painted purple.
And just a few days later, they're joined
by slick stars and a million press badges as
the Toronto International Film Festival
gears up. The stars are out, as are the press,
the movie lovers, and the eager onlookers.
Teeny boppers buzz like packs of bees
Robert DeNiro Drops 'Edge Maguire and Raimi Back
of Darkness' for Spider-Man 4 and 5!?
By Elisabeth Rappe (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 1:32:00 PM
Filed under: Drama, Independent,
Thrillers, Casting, Celebrities and
Controversy, Newsstand, Remakes and
Sequels The water surrounding Edge of
Darkness was already rather tepid -- I'm
going by the comments here on
Cinematical, and the dutiful, but
unenthusiastic reporting it's attracted. Were
it 1996, and Mel Gibson was still
everyone's favorite action star, the buzz
would be something else.
But now, the rumors might really start
flying. Variety reports that Robert DeNiro
has abruptly left the production, which has
been shooting since August 18th, though
this was his first week on set. The only
word came from his spokesperson, and it
was good and curt. "Sometimes things
don't work out; it's called creative
differences." The Boston Herald has a little
gossipy tidbit about DeNiro shooting a golf
scene, which hardly seems big enough to
have led to such unworkable tension. Was
it the delay caused by excavating the sand
pit? (I'm being sarcastic, of course, because
around the Four Seasons and other
Yorkville haunts for a peek at someone
famous. It's movies and fans everywhere.
But reviews don't give you a taste of the
city, nor do quick glimpses in films like
Chicago and Urban Legend. You can see it
retro-style with SCTV, but that city is in
the past. The best way to get a taste of
Toronto without being here is through
Canadian filmmaker Don McKellar.
Between the films he's directed and those
he's acted in, you can get many tastes of
this town, from exotic women to last nights
on Earth. In honor of the fest, and of the
wonderful T-Dot, I offer you: Childstar
and Monkey Warfare.
Continue reading Cinematical's Friday
Night Double Feature: That Lovely City
Called Toronto
Permalink| Email this| Comments
I hate not knowing the truth behind a dry
label like "creative differences.") We can
speculate all day as to why -- is it actually
worse than Analyze That, or what?
Shooting will continue, obviously
filming around scenes of DeNiro's
character as they run around recasting.
Frankly, this could work out for the best --
many last minute casting changes do. But
ROBERT page 19
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:40:00 AM
Filed under: Action, Casting,
RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand,
Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and
Sequels
Though nothing has been made official
yet, Nikki Finke over at Deadline
Hollywood says the deal is done to bring
both Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi back
for Spider-Man 4 and 5. Not only that, but
Finke also claims the exclusive on a story
we broke right here at Cinematical months
ago(thanks for the credit Nikki) -- that
Sony plans to shoot both films back to
back, not just because it's cheaper, but also
because we were informed that James
Vanderbilt's ( Zodiac) script included a
story arc that encompassed two films, not
one.
As far as Kirsten Dunst goes, she
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
currently does not have a deal, but Finke
claims her character will return and Sony
is not interested in recasting her. Villains?
While there's been no announcement yet, a
source claims that "once you find out who
the villain is, you'll know who's playing
him." Naturally, that leads everyone to
believe that Dylan Baker will reprise his
role and ultimately become The Lizard.
Should they continue along the same path
Spider-Man 3 went down, one imagines
another villain (or two) will show up,
perhaps as a way to tease us into the fifth
film. I'm sure more will arrive online soon,
so until then ... are you happy about
Maguire and Raimi returning to the
franchise?
Spider-Man 4 is currently scheduled to
arrive in May, 2011.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Review:
Everybody Wants
to Be Italian
By Nick Schager (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 1:02:00 PM
Filed under: Foreign Language,
Independent, New Releases, Theatrical
Reviews
The modern romantic comedy has long
treated novelty like a venereal disease,
fleeing any thought of invention as it foists
the same tired, rigid formula on viewers
content to consume familiar pap dressed up
in slightly different duds. Still, if the
average studio rom-com offers little of
worth aside from the occasional endearing
performance (and no, I don't mean you,
Ms. Bullock), there's something even more
noxious about the strain of ethnic-indie
romances pioneered by 2002's smash hit
My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which
charmed audiences by taking recognizable
conventions and spicing them up with
broad, brash stereotypes. It's this subgenre
to which Everybody Wants to Be Italian
belongs, since Jason Todd Ipson's film is a
lovey-dovey fantasy in which every
character is an Italian cliché save for the
two protagonists, who both pretend to have
descendants in the Old Country because
they think the other does. This posing-as-
an-Italian conceit is fluffy silliness, and
barely mined for humor or drama, as the
writer/director instead introduces this
central plot point and then immediately
relegates it to the far background of his
unoriginal tale of two unlikely people
discovering that they're, in fact, soul mates.
Continue reading Review: Everybody
Wants to Be Italian
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
TIFF Review: Burn After
Reading
By Kim Voynar (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 12:02:00 PM
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Theatrical
Reviews, Festival Reports, Brad Pitt,
George Clooney, Oscar Watch, Toronto
International Film Festival, Cinematical
Indie
When the worlds of Washington, DC
political intrigue, infidelity, fitness centers
and internet dating intersect and collide in
a darkly hilarious fashion, you must be
watching a film by the Coen brothers. Burn
After Reading, Joel and Ethan Coen's
follow-up to last year's critically lauded
award winner, No Country for Old Men,
was actually written by the duo as they
were adapting No Country, but the two
films couldn't be more different.
ROBERT
continued from page 18
this film hardly needs the hint of scandal,
not when the beleaguered Gibson is
involved.
Permalink| Email this| Comments
The colliding worlds in Burn After
Reading involve a CIA analyst named
Osbourne Cox ( John Malkovich), who's
summoned to a top-secret meeting only to
find out that the secret is he's being
demoted due to his drinking problem. Cox
blows a gasket and quits rather than taking
the demotion, planning to spend his new-
found spare time working on his memoirs
and refining his drinking. Cox is married to
Katie ( Tilda Swinton), a icy pediatrician
with the worst bedside manner imaginable,
and she's less than sympathetic to her
husband's life crisis.
Continue reading TIFF Review: Burn
After Reading
Permalink| Email this| Comments
Chicken Enchiladas Verdes
By Elise
Submitted at 9/1/2008 8:04:40 PM
The tomatillos in my garden are all
ripening at once. Have you ever cooked
with tomatillos? They look like little
lanterns, with their green papery husks.
Sometimes people mistake them for green
tomatoes (doesn't help that their Spanish
Watch This: R-Rated 'Sex Drive'
Clip
By Erik Davis (Cinematical)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 11:45:00 AM
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Movie
Marketing, Images, Trailers and Clips
It's Friday, and what a better way to
usher in the weekend than to watch a
couple of boys talk about not having sex.
Moviefone has just unveiled a pretty funny
clip from the upcoming teen comedy Sex
Drive, featuring a whole bunch of folks
like James Marsden, Seth Green and ....
finally ... Clark Duke, who makes his big
feature debut after starring opposite
Michael Cera in those hilarious Clark and
name is "tomate verde"); they are related to
tomatoes (same family, different genus),
but the taste is quite different. They are
used to make the distinctive Mexican salsa
verde or green salsa. In this chicken
enchiladas recipe, the sauce is made with
boiled tomatillos (you could also roast
them), serrano chile peppers, and sour
cream. The filling is made with shredded
Michael web videos. The film, which I've
actually heard quite a number of good
things about, follows a high school senior
who drives across country with his pals in
an attempt to meet a girl he met online.
The clip (which you can check out over
here) is R-rated, which means you will
need to fill out one of those age
verification forms. Also, check out a bunch
of brand new images from the flick below.
Sex Drive hits theaters on October 17.
Gallery: Sex Drive
Permalink| Email this| Comments
meat from chicken thighs; the deeper
flavor of the dark meat holds up much
Movies* Food* 19
Sloppy Joes
By Elise
Submitted at 8/27/2008 7:20:45 AM
Just hearing the words "sloppy joe" from
my mother used to send us kids into a
tizzy. There was something wonderfully
fun about getting to eat a burger/sandwich
that was messy by design. I've been
waiting to make this when my nephew was
in town because sloppy joes really are a
quintessential kid food. Well the kid is
here, and after he explained to me that he
didn't like tomatoes with his hamburger
and he wanted his onions on top, and I
explained to him that sloppy joes are made
with the onions mixed in with the beef, and
he eats spaghetti so what's wrong with
tomatoes, anyway?, he relented. And when
called to dinner he ate the whole thing
(with high praise), even though he had
been making and eating s'mores all day.
(Wouldn't touch the coleslaw though. Kids.
Lest you think we are the ones feeding him
s'mores, he knows how to make them
himself and sneaks into the kitchen when
we aren't looking.)
Continue reading "Sloppy Joes" »
better to the chile and tomatillo sauce than
chicken breasts. I made these for dinner
tonight and even the kid, my young
nephew, went for seconds. Not a smidgen
of sauce was left on any of our plates.
Continue reading "Chicken Enchiladas
Verdes" »
20 Tech Tips* Food*
Shelf Web Pages Instantly (and Get Back TabsLock Puts Your Browser
to Work) with ReadItLater [Screenshot One Keystroke Away [Featured
Tour] Windows Download]
By Gina Trapani (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 5:00:00 AM
Surely you come across web pages during
the workday that are completely unrelated
to actual work, but that you'd love to save
for later—and the previously
mentioned(and award winning) Firefox
extension ReadItLater does just that really
well. Once ReadItLater is part of your
everyday workflow, it's super-easy to park
long articles or interesting tidbits you want
to look at over lunch or at home in a
"staging area" that's available as an RSS
feed, in your regular bookmarks, and even
on other computers. ReadItLater may
appear unnecessary to power bookmarkers
who keep a "later" folder or tag, but on
closer inspection it does offer features that
make hitting the snooze button on a link
much easier. The Killer Feature: One-click
Park
Without ReadItLater, to save a web page
in your bookmarks in a "read it later"
folder or tag, it takes a couple of steps.
(Even with Firefox 3's one-click
bookmarking, you still have to tag or file
the link.) With ReadItLater installed,
Firefox gets a checkbox in the address bar
next to the regular bookmark star icon.
Click on that checkbox to automatically
add the current web page to your
ReadItLater list in one click. That's it. Now
you can get back to work.
Alternately, if you don't even want to
open the tempting link but want to save it
for later, right-click on a link and choose
"Read This Link Later" from the context
menu.
If you're want to add a bunch of links on
Lemon Mascarpone Blondies
By Garrett McCord
Submitted at 9/5/2008 9:48:36 PM
Guest author Garrett McCord of Vanilla
Garlic brought these blondies over the
other day, a variation of the blondies he
a single page to your reading list even
more quickly, then activate "Click to Save"
mode (Alt+M by default, or click the
ReadItLater icon in the status bar). When
you do, clicking on any link doesn't open
it, it adds it to your reading list. This
feature is especially good for shelfing
several items of interest you might find on
link-heavy pages like the Digg or
Lifehacker front page. Check Your
Reading List
Once you've added a few pages to your
ReadItLater list, you can click on the
ReadItLater dropdown on the right of
Firefox's search box to expand the list of
items you've parked there. ReadItLater
conveniently sorts the links by oldest
added (by default, you can change this), so
you see the stuff that's been hanging out
there the longest at the top. You can
quickly filter the list by tag, page name,
site, or URL, too.
See that handy number 10 on the
ReadItLater toolbar button? That's the
number of unread items you have. This
feature isn't turned on by default, but it's
nice to instantly see how many items are in
your reading queue. To turn it on, in
ReadItLater's options, under Appearance,
check off "Show number of unread items
on the toolbar button," as shown.
Read Your Pages
Now that you've built up a reading list,
you're eating lunch at your desk and want
to do some personal browsing. Click on
any link from that list dropdown to visit a
page. All done? Simply click the
ReadItLater checkbox to mark the item as
read and immediately take it off your list.
If you want tor permanently save it on your
made a few months ago. They were
outstanding. They lasted all of 20 minutes.
My father is still waiting for Garrett to
bring him another batch. ~Elise
This is a take on my favorite blondie
recipe after one of the commentors,
boomarks service of choice, hit the
dropdown on that checkbox and pick your
bookmark poison. Syncing Your
ReadItLater List
One of the really cool features of
ReadItLater is that it automatically saves
links to your Firefox bookmarks in a folder
you specify. So if you're already syncing
your bookmarks across computers with the
likes of Foxmarks, your reading list goes to
other computers even if you don't have the
ReadItLater extension installed on them
(but you don't get its neat interface).
ReadItLater has a syncing mechanism
built in, too. You set up an RSS feed of
your reading items, and then log in with
your feed ID and a password to get your
list on other computers with ReadItLater
installed. Visit ReadItLater's Options
dialog, under RSS/Syncing, to set that up.
Keyboard Shortcuts and Offline Reading
If clicking around Firefox ain't your bag,
baby, ReadItLater has you covered.
Customize your keyboard shortcuts for
even faster access to your queue in the
Options dialog.
ReadItLater also can save web pages you
want to read on an airplane, for instance, to
your hard drive for offline access. From
the ReadItLater list dropdown, while
you're online, click on the "Read Offline"
link to make ReadItLater save local copies
of the pages on your list.
Check out this three minute video demo
to see ReadItLater in action.
How do you save links of interest to read
later? Let us know in the comments.
Darby(aka The Dessert Diva), mentioned
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
By Adam Pash (Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 6:00:00 AM
Windows only: Free system tray utility
TabsLock launches and focuses a new tab
in Google Chrome (and Firefox... keep
reading) at the press of your Caps Lock
key to give you, as the download page
aptly puts it, "low-thought, global
keyboard access to web search and
navigation." Considering how much time
we spend on the web these days, a quick,
easy shortcut for going straight to your
browser (that's also just off the home row)
makes a lot of sense. Still want to use Caps
Lock from time to time? Shift+Caps Lock
toggles regular Caps Lock behavior. Like
the idea behind TabsLock but wish it
worked for Firefox? Keep reading to
download my own homespun solution for
Firefox users.
I know Chrome is all the rage right now
with all its shiny newness, but—call me
old-fashioned—my undying love for
Firefox hasn't yet wavered. Since the
functionality behind TabsLock is relatively
trivial to implement, I decided to roll a
quick alternative. If you don't want to hear
any of the details, go ahead and download
TabsLock Firefox( alternate download
link) and enjoy.
Still here? Okay, let's take a quick look at
how our old friend AutoHotkey came to
the rescue yet again. Here's the meat of the
very simple, lightweight script (you can
easily copy and paste the source minus the
first three lines into your existing AHK
script if you prefer that to running the
system tray app).#NoEnv ; Recommended
for performance and compatibility with
future AutoHotkey releases.
#SingleInstance force
SendMode Input ; Recommended for
mixing in some lemon and mascarpone
cheese. I was intrigued at the idea and
went ahead and gave them a try. They are,
to be succinct, astoundingly good. Creamy,
sweet, very soft and with a bit of zing from
the lemon they're incredibly rich with a lot
new scripts due to its superior speed and
reliability.
Capslock::
SetTitleMatchMode, 2
IfWinExist, Mozilla Firefox
{
WinActivate
WinWaitActive
Send, ^t
}
else
Run %programfiles%\Mozilla
Firefox\firefox.exe
return
+Capslock::Capslock
In a nutshell, when you hit Caps Lock,
the script looks to see if you have any
windows open with "Mozilla Firefox" in
the title (all Firefox windows do by default
in Windows). If a Firefox window already
exists, TabsLock Firefox activates that
window and then opens a new tab with
Ctrl+T; if not, TabsLock Firefox just opens
a new Firefox window altogether. Finally,
the last line of the script allows you to
toggle your normal Caps Lock operation
when you need it by pressing Shift+Caps
Lock (just like TabsLock for Chrome).
If you like this idea but have a
completely different program you'd like to
use it with, just edit the script to match the
application you want. And if Chrome has
won you over, follow the link below to
grab the inspired original TabsLock. If
none of this sounds good to you but you
wish you did have a better use for your
Caps Lock key, check out other ways you
can use AutoHokey to put your Caps Lock
key to good use. TabsLock(for Chrome)
TabsLock Firefox( alternate download
link)
of flavor. A cookie that's sure to satisfy the
most insatiable sweet tooth.
Continue reading "Lemon Mascarpone
Blondies" »
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
This Week's Best Posts
[Highlights]
(Lifehacker)
Submitted at 9/5/2008 10:00:04 AM
If Lifehacker's filling up your feedreader
faster than you can empty it, switch to our
trimmed-down, no-nonsense top stories
feed. Sick of hearing about Google
Chrome or the iPhone? Customize our
URLs to exclude the topics you don't care
about. This week's most popular posts
include:
• Beta Browser Speed Tests: Which Is
Fastest?"We've previously put the major
browser releases to the speed test, but
today we're measuring Chrome against the
second beta of Internet Explorer 8, as well
as the beta of Firefox 3's next iteration,
3.1."
• Enable Chrome's Best Features in
Firefox"Apart from a few specific issues
(namely process management), many of
Chrome's best features are already
available in Firefox 3, proving yet again
the power of extensibility."
• Google Chrome First Look"New beta
web browser Google Chrome officially hit
the streets just a few minutes ago, and
we've rolled up our sleeves and taken a
quick look at everything the newest
browser on the block has to offer."
• Google Chrome's Full List of Special
about: Pages"You already saw Google
Chrome's humorous about:internets Easter
egg, but Chrome's got several special
about: pages that reveal all sorts of
interesting information about what's going
on behind the scenes."
• Roll Your Own Lightning at Sunset
Desktop"reader Kaelri's customized
Windows XP desktop, pictured above, it
drew oohs and ahhs from everyone looking
to spruce up their Windows installation."
• How to Set Up a Laptop Security
System"As students flock back to the
library and the rest of us head back to the
coffee shop for a warm drink and free Wi-
Fi, the safety and security of our
laptops—and all of the important and
sensitive information they hold—are of the
utmost importance."
• Back to School Power Tools for the
Savvy Student"Before you head back to
campus this semester, arm yourself with
the most powerful software and webapps
to keep you organized and on top of your
class (and social) schedule."
• Featured Desktop: Vista Transblack
Head Up Display"If bright colors tire your
eyes and distract you from the task at hand,
check out how Windows user j33f darkens
Vista and subtly embeds system
monitoring details, RSS feeds, and
currently playing music information into
the desktop."
Tech Tips* Religion* 21
Palin coverage in the heartland
By dpulliam
Submitted at 9/3/2008 4:16:51 AM
Out in the heartland, much of the news
coverage of Republican presidential
candidate John McCain’s running mate
Sarah Palin has focused on how she has
thrilled evangelical voters.
In other words — surprise, surprise —
the focus is on the horse race and not on
the substance. Since the pick was
announced, there has been some coverage
of the substance of Palin’s beliefs and
career, but a lot of it still focuses on the
process that was involved in selecting
Palin.
In the heartland and in Ohio specifically,
newspapers have had predictable coverage.
The Columbus Dispatch ran an article
focusing on how Palin could draw
evangelicals (and women) to vote for the
Republicans in November.
Ohio Right to Life Executive Director
Mike Gonidakis praised McCain’s choice,
saying Palin will energize social
conservatives: “It’s a definite game-
changer, not only for the pro-life
movement, but for the (GOP) base here in
Ohio.”
But Emily’s List, which raises money for
female Democratic candidates, said Palin
won’t hurt Obama among women. Republican Convention were excited about has juggled her public and private life as a
That description of Emily’s List should Palin. The only suggestion of religious mother of five children, including one with
have noted that the group supports only issues is the mention that Palin is pro-life special needs.
candidates who are also support abortion and the fact her 17-year-old unmarried Much more could be said about Palin’s
rights. However, that almost goes without daughter is pregnant. personal religious views and how they
saying. The Dayton Daily News writes little on influence her public policies. From what I
Some articles have focused on local Palin’s personal views, but repeats the have seen most local newspapers have
Democratic Party responses to the Palin often repeated story about Palin’s pro-life either relied heavily on wire services or
pick. Others have mentioned local views and the way those views have other major newspaper’s coverage of the
Republicans enthusiasm. The enthusiasm influenced her personal actions: Palin pick. Part of the challenge is that
typically focuses on evangelical voters. Palin, 44, already has made history. She Palin’s religious views are hardly typical,
Other articles don’t mention religious is both the first woman and the youngest at least compared to what reporters are
issues at all. person to hold the Alaska governorship. used to seeing in national politicians, and
Since there is no real practical way for She is the first woman on a Republican remain somewhat of a mystery.
me to canvas all of the papers around the presidential ticket, and if elected, would be I am hoping there are some local
country, please send us local articles that the first female vice president. She is pro- heartland-oriented newspapers out there
discuss whether or not GOP officials life, and was celebrated in the anti-abortion with the resources to cover how the Palin
believe Palin will help bring out more movement when she refused to consider an pick is seen in their local community. And
voters that otherwise might have stayed abortion after learning Trig was likely to maybe they will mention religious issues.
home. My hometown newspaper, The have Down syndrome. Bookmark to:
Indianapolis Star, wrote in an article People have marveled at how well she
Tuesday that Hoosier delegates at the
22 Religion*
Evangelicals surprise the media
By Mollie
Submitted at 9/2/2008 3:29:33 PM
Sally Quinn, the atheist who professed
knowing “ practically nothing about
religion or the internet” when she started
the Washington Post/Newsweek religion
site On Faith, had a curious admission in
her most recent piece. Her essay is about
how the news of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy
will affect religious voters. She begins by
admitting that Sen. John McCain’s pick of
Gov. Sarah Palin angered her.
Anger seems to be a dominant feeling
coming from the current mainstream media
feeding frenzy. I have honestly never seen
anything quite like what’s happening here.
I know reporters can get a bit out of
control when dealing with their favorite
issue (politics) — but I am actually
shocked by the way journalists are
handling this story. CNN, for instance,
showed Barack Obama telling the media
that Palin’s daughter should be off-limits
— and then went right into a story that
used Palin’s daughter’s teenage pregnancy
as a hook to condemn abstinence
education. It didn’t sit well with many
viewers — and even a few of the
commentators whose time on air followed
the spot denounced it in the strongest
terms. The mainstream media notoriously
had to be forced to report on John
Edwards’ baby drama. But the story of
Palin’s daughter has made the front pages
of most major papers.
Anyway, Quinn’s piece is a great
example of why On Faith is better when it
involves actual reporting. After copping to
extreme anger and being insulted, she
alleges that McCain’s pick will not go over
well with “family values” voters. I almost
stopped reading after she accused McCain
of picking Palin because he’s trying to
“win an election.” (Yes, I imagine that
political calculation did go into his
thinking, Sally.) Anyway, here we go:
And now we learn the 17-year-old
daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. She and the
father of the child plan to marry. This may
be a hard one for the Republican
conservative family-values crowd to
swallow. Of course, this can happen in any
family. But it must certainly raise the
question among the evangelical base about
whether Sarah Palin has been enough of a
hands-on mother.
McCain claims he knew about the
pregnancy, and was not at all concerned.
Why not? Not only do we have a woman
with five children, including an infant with
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
coming months. Not to mention the
grandchild. This would inevitably be an
enormous distraction for a new vice
president (or president) in a time of global
turmoil. Not only in terms of her job, but
from a media standpoint as well.
Nice. Question her parenting skills and
push the idea that women must put
everything on hold until they have no
concerns at home. Yay feminism! She
actually goes on to say that women should
not get involved in politics until their
children are older. It’s like up is down in
newsrooms. Anyway, what about her
contention that evangelicals won’t support
Palin? Here’s the best part:
Southern Baptist leaders like Richard
Land and Al Mohler have praised
McCain’s choice. But these are the same
men who support this statement from the
2000 Baptist Faith & Message:
“A wife is to submit herself graciously to
the servant leadership of her husband even
as the church willingly submits to the
headship of Christ. She, being in the image
of God as is her husband and thus equal to
him, has the God-given responsibility to
respect her husband and to serve as his
helper in managing the household and
nurturing the next generation.”
Okay, Quinn. You’re a reporter. Rather
than quote this statement completely out of
context, how about you pick up the phone
(there should be one near your computer
where you typed this piece) and call either
of these men and ask them how this
statement on marriage relates to women’s
work outside the home.
Sheesh. Newsflash: Baptists believe the
Bible to be sacred Scripture. Now read
Ephesians 5. See how it says Christian
marriage is about wives submitting to their
husbands as the church submits to Christ?
See how it says husbands are to sacrifice
everything for and love their wives as
Christ did for the church? This is basic
Christian teaching. Does it play into
whether Land and Mohler support or
oppose Palin? I highly doubt it. But maybe
you should ask them before you quote
them completely out of context. I really
don’t get what that statement has to do
with Quinn’s story at all.
A far better story came from Associated
Press, which discussed how evangelical
special needs, but a woman whose 17-year
-old child will need her even more in the
EVANGELICALS page 24
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Blackberry singing in the dead of night
By tmatt
Submitted at 9/2/2008 5:11:12 PM
If you had any doubts, it has been proven
that we are in an age in which the
mainstream press is trying to figure out
where the blogging ends and the news
begins.
The official voice of newsroom water
coolers inside the Beltway — that would
be Howard Kurtz of the Washington
Post— has a piece up talking about how
the rumors about Gov. Sarah Palin spread
from the alpha site of the Democratic Party
netroots, the Daily Kos, over into terrain
closer and closer to the mainstream. It
should be noted that this is the left media
version of the role that talk radio has
played on some stories affecting
Democrats.
Out of all of this, the truly big scandal is
the role of Andrew Sullivan in validating
the rumors, but I will leave commentary on
that to others. Here is a crucial piece of the
wider debate, from Kurtz:
The controversy erupted as a debate was
taking shape over whether some media
criticism of Palin’s limited government
experience has been sexist. Liberal radio
host Ed Schultz was telling listeners
Monday that Palin was an “empty
pantsuit” who had set off a “bimbo alert.”
Shortly afterward, the pregnancy statement
was released and, without missing a beat,
Schultz said her daughter’s situation was
relevant because the governor is a
champion of moral values.
But a liberal reader posting on Salon
under the name Redstocking Grandma
denounced the pregnancy allegations:
“This is just creepy; it feels stalkerish.”
What some Democratic supporters were
doing, she said, is “revolting.”
The most interesting facet of all of this,
for me, is the way in which Palin’s family
Welcome Jaden!
By Elise
Submitted at 8/20/2008 3:50:22 PM
The first time I stumbled upon Jaden
Hair's Steamy Kitchen food blog I had
major blog envy. Who was this hilarious
and irreverent woman? And how was it
has turned the working-mom wars upside
down. I mean, back in the days of Promise
Keepers, it was the stuff of anecdotes that
some evangelical Dads made sacrifices in
order to further the careers and ambitions
of their wives and were even better around
the house than the liberated Alan Aldas of
the blue zip codes. Now, we have a test
case being lived out — flaws and all — in
front of the national press.
As the Divine Ms. MZ has stressed, a
number of times, this whole idea of
husbands and wives in conservative homes
living complex lives is not all that
surprising to people outside of mainstream
newsrooms. There are evangelical dads
with jobs and some with careers and the
same is true of the mothers, out there.
For me, the most interesting, and in some
ways infuriated, story that has surfaced in
the blitz of coverage today — there are
THREE, count ‘em three, stories in the
New York Times wave on A1— was the
Washington Post story with the double
headline: “Gov. Mom — The Land of the
Midnight Sun’s New Claim To Fame:
Being Led by a 24-Hour Mother.”
Yes, the big investigative story right
now: Is Palin still breastfeeding her baby,
Trig? Did Sen. John McCain’s crew vet
her on this policy question?
Clearly, the Post is getting feedback on
its coverage from readers. Meanwhile, how
are the working moms in all of these big
newsrooms feeling about this coverage?
Any folks there having children in their
’40s? Anyone there with complex family
dynamics? How are all of the small-town,
big-family evangelical moms and dads in
those newsrooms holding up? No need to
answer that one.
Back to that Post report. Here is a big
chunk of that, with many crucial details:
Palin has carefully portrayed herself
throughout her career as someone
that she could make food look that good? I
was hooked, an early convert to Jaden's
humor, playfulness, and drop-dead
delicious Asian food. (Actually, not only
Asian food, take a look at this post on
cooking steak, and her fresh ginger tips.)
Well, with the eyes of the world on
committed to both family and profession
— and tough enough to handle both. She
made a show of dismissing the chef at the
governor’s mansion saying she wanted to
do her own cooking, and that the kids were
old enough to make their own sandwiches.
And no one can recall her ever having a
full-time babysitter.
“You walk into her office and Piper is
sitting there, the baby is in the crib —
that’s just the way it is. This is how she
lives her life. Someone who was in a
meeting with her recently said she was
Beijing this week, I'm delighted to let you
discreetly nursing Trig,” said Palin’s
biographer Kaylene Johnson.
From interviews with those closest to
Palin emerges a description of a hectic
lifestyle, but one in which the hominess
and rural community of Alaska have
enabled her to have her kids around her
while she works and have offered a deep
bench of family and friends for child-care
support. She has shown up to meetings and
news conferences carrying Trig in a baby
pouch.
She and her husband kept their family
know that Jaden will be guest authoring a
series on Simply Recipes, focusing on
classic Chinese American food recipes. In
her first post Jaden shares her mom's
secrets to perfect fried rice. Welcome to
Simply Recipes, Jaden!
Religion* Food* 23
house in the small town of Wasilla, where
her parents, three siblings and closest
friends live. Most of the year, she is able to
commute back and forth from Anchorage
daily, except when the legislature is in
session in Juneau. Todd Palin is currently
on leave from his job as an oil field
worker, making it possible for him to be a
full-time dad, said two friends.
And on that life-and-death journalistic
question of the day:
The McCain campaign said it could not
confirm that Palin was still breastfeeding
Trig, but the governor said as much in a
interview with People magazine on Friday.
“What I’ve had to do. . . is, in the middle
of the night, put down the BlackBerrys and
pick up the breast pump,” she worked into
an answer to a question about whether she
was a morning person.
Now, does all of this make Palin more or
less attractive to feminist women in
newsrooms? How about working moms
and/or big-family moms in ordinary church
pews?
As strange as it sounds, both of those
questions are relevant at the moment.
Clearly this woman is no wallflower.
Then again, I know lots and lots of very
traditional female believers in a variety of
religious settings who are not wallflowers
either.
So here is what needs to happen next. I
hope reporters go take a long look in the
mirror, then go back to their computers and
call up the search engines. It’s time for
some humble, low-key visits to listen to
some women and men in some evangelical
church fellowship halls. Look for the folks
who have a bunch of kids and are getting
along just fine, thank you very much.
What a world we live in.
Bookmark to:
24 Food*
EVANGELICALS
continued from page 22
voters would feel about the pregnancy
news:
Key evangelical leaders rallied to Sarah
Palin’s support Monday amid news that
her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was
having a child.
“Before, they were excited about her,
with the Down syndrome baby,”
conservative, anti-tax activist Grover
Norquist said. “But now with this, they are
over the moon. It reinforces the fact that
this family lives its pro-life values.” . . .
Evangelical leader Richard Land also
backed Palin completely.
“This is the pro-life choice. The fact that
people will criticize her for this shows the
astounding extent to which the secular
critics of the pro-life movement just don’t
get it,” Land said in a statement.
“Those who criticize the Palin family
don’t understand that we don’t see babies
as a punishment but as a blessing. Barack
Obama said that if one of his daughters
made a mistake and got pregnant out of
wedlock, he wouldn’t want her to be
punished with a child. Pro-lifers don’t see
a child as punishment.”
The immediate support of these major
figures, who offered universal praise for
the Palins’ actions after learning their
daughter was pregnant, provides the filter
through which conservative Christian
voters will process the development.
Most important for Palin, an elder
statesman of the movement, Focus on the
Family founder James Dobson, released a
statement lauding the Palins for acting in
keeping with the group’s policies and
practices:
Bread and Butter Pickles
By Elise
Submitted at 8/24/2008 12:29:18 AM
Boxes filled with cucumbers from the
farmers market, scores of mason jars, big
pots, lots of activity in the kitchen, fresh
homemade pickles. These are some of my
memories from summers growing up. My
grandmother (dad's mother) and my
parents used to pickle a lot when I was a
kid. My dad's favorite was spicy carrot and
cauliflower pickles (I'm still waiting for the
recipe); my favorite was sweet watermelon
“We have always encouraged the parents
to love and support their children and
always advised the girls to see their
pregnancies through, even though there
will of course be challenges along the way.
That is what the Palins are doing, and they
should be commended once again for not
just talking about their pro-life and pro-
family values, but living them out even in
the midst of trying circumstances.
“Being a Christian does not mean you’re
perfect. Nor does it mean your children are
perfect. But it does mean there is
forgiveness and restoration when we
confess our imperfections to the Lord. I’ve
been the beneficiary of that forgiveness
and restoration in my own life countless
times, as I’m sure the Palins have,”
Dobson said.
I said it was better — but it’s certainly
not perfect. For one thing, I’m pretty sure
Grover Norquist is no “key evangelical
leader.” And while it’s well and good to
get quotes from Land and others, what
does it mean that they are the “filter
through which conservative Christian
voters will process the development”? Is
this a reference to Michael Weisskopf’s
Washington Post news article that claimed
evangelicals were poor, uneducated and
easy to command? And why is James
Dobson’s statement “most important for
Palin”? I don’t get why it would be more
important than anything else.
Otherwise, it’s nice to see the media
correctly quoting evangelical leaders.
Usually they make them seem like dour
fussybots intent on condemning everyone
for everything. While it is true that they
rind pickles (can't find watermelons with
thick enough rinds to make these
anymore). Sweet pickles like these bread
and butter pickles (who came up with that
name?) never lasted that long around here;
we kids gobbled them up.
Bread and butter pickles are easy to
make, and if you are planning to make
them as refrigerator pickles (storing them
in the cold fridge, to be eaten within
weeks), you can skip a lot of the canning
steps. This is a basic recipe which we
happen to love, cobbled together from
condemn sin — they also emphasize the
importance of repentance and forgiveness.
That part of the equation tends to be
ignored by the press. These folks may take
a hard line against sin that is proudly
displayed or defiantly defended but they’re
not going to condemn a teenage girl who is
about to give birth to a child rather than
abort it.
In other words, Quinn’s lack of
knowledge about evangelicals shows. She
should try talking to some and see if they
really do match up with her stereotypes.
Byron York of National Review has a
fascinating piece about how the McCain
team actually personally called “40 top
evangelical and other cultural conservative
leaders” and gave each a chance to
respond. York reports that the response
was unanimous support for Palin. He then
goes to talk to a few delegations about the
matter. Not surprising to anyone who
knows human nature, some of the
delegates speak about their own teenage
pregnancies and how it brought them into
the pro-life movement.
Another example of advancing
stereotypes was found in a New York
Times story a reader passed along. The
headline and first graph promise tumult in
the GOP and the story says that “social
conservatives” and “groups that oppose
abortion rights” may not continue to
support Palin.
But then the article goes on to quote a
ton of people and all of them — except for
one Democrat — are completely
supportive of Palin. The reporter even asks
if Palin will be thrown off the ticket —
various editions of the Joy of Cooking plus
some online research. The ice helps keep
the cucumbers crispy, as does cooking
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
despite the fact that no Republicans seem
concerned, not even the evangelical types,
and McCain says he knew (along with
everyone in Wasilla) and he’s not
concerned:
Early reaction among women at the
Republican convention to the news about
Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was almost
uniformly supportive.
“This happens to people in all walks of
life,” said Karen Minnis, 54, a state
representative from Oregon.
She also said she had no problem with
Governor Palin continuing to campaign
while her daughter is pregnant and she
herself has an infant son. . . .
When Pam Younggren, 61, of Fargo,
N.D., was told the news of the 17-year-
old’s pregnancy, she shrugged. “Well, she
wouldn’t be the first one,” she said.
So the religious voters are not in tumult,
as the New York Times claimed. It’s just
bizarre headline/lede writing.
I actually think this story provides the
perfect prism through which to analyze
some evangelicals’ approach to sin,
repentance and forgiveness. I think it has
to be one of the most misunderstood
aspects of evangelicals and would
contribute greatly to the public discourse.
Unless the media need to keep defining
evangelicals who are politically
conservative as bogeyman who should be
feared by all, that is.
Every time I write about evangelicals, I
want to include cover art from
Evangelicals, the band. And now I have.
Bookmark to:
them just a short time. You can experiment
with the pickling spices, and the pickling
vegetables for that matter. A friend
recently told me about an idea for bread
and butter jalapeño pickles that sound too
good not to try to make. Do you have a
favorite bread and butter pickle recipe? If
so, please tell us about it in the comments.
Continue reading "Bread and Butter
Pickles" »
Shrimp Fried
Rice
By Jaden Hair
Submitted at 8/21/2008 3:41:13 AM
Please welcome guest author Jaden Hair
of Steamy Kitchen who is doing a series of
Chinese American food recipes for us here
on Simply Recipes. ~Elise
The first time I attempted to cook fried
rice on my own, I was 15 and my parents
and little brother were in Europe on
vacation. I stayed home to attend summer
school and to enjoy a little freedom living
on my own for a couple of weeks.
Since my Mom was the queen in the
kitchen, I didnt really cook too much back
then. My job was just to eat and enjoy her
wonderful home cooked meals. But that
week, after 3 days of instant ramen, I was
longing for something a little more
substantial. Too lazy to bike to the market,
I decided on fried rice. I steamed a batch of
rice and found enough bits of vegetables to
make the dish.
It was a total disaster. Mushy, soggy and
goopy. Back to Top Ramen for another 10
days.
When the family returned, I told Mom
about my fried rice misfortune and she
laughed, You better start learning from me
before you go off to college or youll
starve! And a crash course in fried rice
followed the next day.
So here I am to teach you what I learned
from my Mom. These are her secrets to
light, fluffy and flavorful fried rice, no
matter what ingredients you use.
Continue reading "Shrimp Fried Rice" »
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Religious outreach, DNC style
By Mollie
Submitted at 9/4/2008 6:32:29 PM
I’m here in St. Paul, and still processing
everything from last night. I was pretty
sure there was no way that the Republican
National Convention could come even
close to the excitement of the Democratic
National Convention but last night was
truly amazing. We’ll be sure to cover the
coverage of the religious angles —
although it’s funny that most of the fodder
for religion news seemed to come from
Rudy Guiliani, of all people.
The interesting thing about the difference
between the two conventions was that you
couldn’t go more than a few minutes in
Denver without hearing mention of the
party being welcoming to religious
adherents. There were prominent
invocations and benedictions, the interfaith
gathering, the faith caucuses (caucii?).
Here, every mention of religion I’ve heard
has been so different. Obama’s “clinging
to religion” comments get joked about a lot
— but there is no “appeal” being made to
religious voters. This is likely because
Democrats have a real image problem,
although it’s improving, with being seen as
“ friendly to religion.” It will be interesting
to see how the religious outreach will be
compared in press reports.
But before we get to that, I wanted to
highlight a very comprehensive piece
looking at the Democratic convention’s
religious angles. Reported by Religion &
Ethics’ Kim Lawton, she nailed what
religious outreach means to Democrats.
Watch it all. Leah Daughtry’s commanding
presence is highlighted. She quotes people
talking about moral issues facing the
nation. She shows the prominent display of
religion, beginning with the interfaith
gathering:
LAWTON: The gathering was part of a
Smoked Salmon Bisque
By Elise
Submitted at 9/3/2008 6:37:36 AM
A little trivia here. What makes a bisque a
bisque and not a chowder? Both bisques
and chowders are made with seafood and
vegetables, with a cream base. Chowders
new Democratic strategy to incorporate
religion and more aggressively reach out to
faith-based voters. Observers say it’s a sea
change from 2004, when the Democrats
appeared reluctant to address issues of
faith.
Reverend ROMAL TUNE (Clergy
Strategic Alliances): Four years ago, the
party was still gaining momentum in terms
of the outreach in the religious community.
But now the party is more willing to
express its views as people of faith, the
diversity of the faiths represented by the
Democratic Party.
Lawton notes the polling data that
suggest Democratic problems with
religious outreach. Only 38 percent of
Americans think the Democratic Party is
friendly toward religion. But she shows
how the efforts are playing out and how
they are completely different than the way
that Republicans reach out:
LAWTON: In addition, for the first time
ever the Democrats created special caucus
meetings where people of faith could come
together as other affinity groups do. At a
series of four separate faith caucus
meetings, national religious leaders held
panel discussions about key issues. In
another first, Muslims organized the
American Muslim Democratic Caucus.
Fifty-five Muslim caucus members were
delegates at this year’s convention. Former
Muslim Army chaplain James Yee was a
delegate from Washington State. After
working in Guantanamo Bay, Yee was
detained in 2003 and accused of spying.
The charges were later dropped, and now
Yee is mobilizing Muslims to get involved
in politics.
Chaplain JAMES YEE (Washington
Delegate): The values of justice, diversity,
equality, religious freedom — these are all
values that are not only reflected in our
Constitution, but they are also reflected in
tend to be more stew-like or chunky, and
bisques puréed. Bisques are traditionally
made with shellfish, though these days a
puréed tomato, cream-based soup can be
called a bisque too. We half-puréed this
smoked salmon bisque, which accounts for
the photograph. My father made this
the teachings of the Qur’an. . . .
LAWTON: Joe Turnham was gratified to
see the many expressions of Democratic
faith at this convention. Turnham is chair
of the Alabama Democratic Party and a
lifelong evangelical Christian. He has been
deeply frustrated by the Democrats’ recent
image on issues of faith.
JOE TURNHAM (Chair, Alabama
Democratic Party): Democrats are people
that pray. They are people that seek
forgiveness. They are people that seek for
higher meaning and truth in life and that
really do follow scriptural precepts for how
we live our lives. And it’s a barometer of
how we may govern.
As someone who was there, these quotes
resonate perfectly with the tone of the
delicious soup the other day after being
inspired by a bisque we had at a local
Religion* Food* 25
various events. It’s nice to be able to
compare a piece against actual events and
Lawton nailed it.
The big ghost of the religious outreach
efforts was definitely the abortion issue.
And not just because of the protests. Nancy
Keenan, the president of NARAL Pro-
Choice America, was given a prominent
speaking slot whereas Democrats for Life
met in a small room blocks away from the
convention.
NANCY KEENAN (President, NARAL
Pro-Choice America, during speech): I am
proud to say that my party, the Democratic
Party, is a party of many faiths and
Splitting
backgrounds united behind these core
moral values: we support and defend a
woman’s right to choose a safe, legal
abortion.
hairs over
LAWTON: The party maintained its
strong support for abortion rights. But this
year, delegates also approved support for
sexism
measures to reduce the number of By tmatt
abortions. Denver Roman Catholic Submitted at 9/5/2008 1:34:35 AM
Archbishop Charles Chaput called the OK, I knew that this was coming. Yet
measure a “distraction.” part of me really didn’t want to admit that I
Archbishop CHARLES CHAPUT knew it was coming.
(Archdiocese of Denver): The fact that
Care of the Boston Herald:
there’s a part of the platform that calls for Yes, Republican vice presidential
that doesn’t blind me to the other part of
nominee Sarah Palin has a lot on her plate:
the platform that is unconditionally a pregnant teen daughter, a son on his way
committed to the right to abortion. So,
to Iraq, an infant with Down syndrome and
quite honestly, I’m not impressed by it. a looming national election.
The piece also mentions that it’s a
But must her hair suffer? With her long,
delicate line between reaching out to straight, often pinned-up locks, Palin looks
religious believers and alienating some of
one humid day away from fronting a Kiss
the party’s secularists. Clergy and other cover band.
religious adherents were clearly enthused
“It’s about 20 years out of date,” said
about the new approach being taken. Boston stylist Mario Russo of the Alaska
Lawton managed to present that
governor’s ‘do. “Which goes to show how
enthusiasm without overselling what is off she might be on current events.”
happening. As we usually say when
I don’t know about you, but I’m waiting
looking at that fine show, great work. for the in-depth, investigative report on
Bookmark to:
whether or not the GOP focus-grouped the
decision on whether to let her keep the
hairstyle that she has used in recent years.
Or is it months? Did she change it? When?
Perhaps this is secret Pentecostal hair, a
bistro and wine bar. So creamy and good.
kind of code signal to theocrats in hair
Continue reading "Smoked Salmon
Bisque" » salons in Jesusland? Are people asking
similar questions about Sen. Joe Biden’s
hair? Wait a minute. Don’t answer that
one.
In the wake of Gov. Palin’s breakout
address, all kinds of people are asking the
SPLITTING page 26
26 Religion*
SPLITTING
continued from page 25
degree to which sexism is shaping the
mainstream coverage of her life and career.
The flip side of this, of course, is whether
feminists would be up in arms about the
coverage if the woman in the cross hairs
was a loyal activist in the Sexual
Revolution, instead of being a heretic and
rebel.
There is no way, of course, to comment
on all of the coverage. It would take 100
GetReligionistas to even attempt it. But
after wading through a whole lot of it, I
would like to offer readers this suggestion.
In the next few days, ignore everything
about Palin and her speech except for (a)
work critical (in the best sense of that
word) of her by conservatives and pro-life
liberals or (b) work praising her or
defending her by Democrats and/or people
who are cultural liberals (mainstream
media people are close enough). Trust me,
this will save you lots of time, because you
won’t have much to read.
I always find it interesting to pay
attention to people who cut against the
grain and offer dashes of critical
commentary about their own camps. In this
case, it would be pro-lifers who are
concerned about Palin’s stands on the Iraq
war or people who are pro-abortion-rights,
yet think people at the Daily Kos and
elsewhere really have crossed over the line
into, well, the left-wing version of the
Savage Nation.
So let me note one article out of dozens
today. The Politico has, of course, been in
the thick of things on the Palin stories and
many readers are convinced the webzine
has been out of bounds, a few times.
Then again, The Politico also published
this article by John F. Harris and Beth
Frerking, which ran with the headline:
“Clinton aides: Palin treatment sexist.” A
sample, from a scholar whose work I have
read for years:
Georgetown University professor
Deborah Tannen, who has written best-
selling books on gender differences, said
she agrees with complaints that Palin
skeptics — including prominent voices in
the news media — have crossed a line by
speculating about whether the Alaska
governor is neglecting her family in pursuit
of national office.
“What we’re dealing with now, there’s
nothing subtle about it,” said Tannen.
“We’re dealing with the assumption that
child-rearing is the job of women and not
men. Is it sexist? Yes.”
“There’s no way those questions would
be asked of a male candidate,” said
Howard Wolfson a former top strategist for
Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The sexism charge was hurled with new
intensity Wednesday afternoon by McCain
surrogates, all women, at a news
conference just hours before made her
acceptance speech here — a speech in
which she said this about the media and
Washington elite: “I’m not going to
Washington to seek their good opinion ”
I’m going to Washington to serve the
people of this country.”
The big hole in the article — the ghost,
in other words — is that the reporters did
not appear to ask anyone whether these
sexist attacks are linked to Palin’s stands
on cultural issues or to her openly
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
professed evangelical Protestant faith. In
other words, is she a safe target? Is she a
heretic, in the context of media
orthodoxies?
However, it should be noted that the
religion theme returned quickly when the
same publication published an article that
studied the impact of the speech on
potential voters.
It is hard to overstate how underwhelmed
most Republicans are by McCain and the
current cast of GOP leaders. This was
especially true of social conservatives,
many of them religious evangelicals, who
are most thrilled by Palin.
Now that Palin has cleared the bar —
truth be told, a fairly modest one — of
delivering an effective speech, McCain has
much more flexibility to follow his own
instincts. He can play up reformist rhetoric
and play down socially conservative
ideology — the exact combination that in
2004 had some liberal commentators
hoping McCain would abandon the GOP
and go on the Democratic ticket.
Before Wednesday night, McCain was in
big trouble when it comes to mobilizing
conservative faithful. Now, Palin can help
the party organize and turn out the same
base of Christian evangelicals, Second
Amendment supporters and abortion-rights
opponents that proved instrumental to the
back-to-back George W. Bush victories.
All this leads to one question: When will
The Politico connect the dots on these two
halves of the story?
Bookmark to: Not fully fleshing out death
By Mark Stricherz The Los Angeles Times about a
Submitted at 9/4/2008 10:03:20 PM
professional woman who specializes in
acquainting the living with the dead.
I have a confession to make. Before you reflect on the nature of this
I dislike criticizing newspapers stories woman’s work, read and appreciate
that are well reported, not to mention Hayasaki’s lede:
detailed and interesting. The dead man lies naked on a metal
As a former daily reporter, I know the table, a small cloth covering his groin,
difficulty of finding a story and sources, mouth open, arms rigid and cocked.
getting time from your editor to report the A blue-gloved autopsy technician thrusts
story out, and confirming details while a hefty razor into his chest, unzipping his
you’re writing. And in this era of massive brown skin to reveal a thick layer of yolk-
cutbacks on the print side, criticizing well- colored fat. He pulls marbled meat from
reported stories seems unfair, even petty. the bone.
Yet many stories require the reporter to The man was 30, an only son, married, a
show readers not only the small picture, father of three. Around 9:40 p.m. the night
but also the big picture, and if the reporter before, someone shot him in the head.
doesn’t show both, the story will Now, a technician at the New Jersey
disappoint in some way. Medical Examiner’s Office in Newark is
The preamble above summarizes my
thoughts about Erika Hayasaki’s story in NOT page 27
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
Amish church growth (think children)
By dpulliam
Submitted at 9/4/2008 2:03:48 PM
A few weeks ago I wrote about an
increase in coverage of the “diverse
Amish” lifestyles and found it curious that
there had been a great deal of minor news
articles on various legal conflicts the
communities were having with the
governments around them. An answer to
my curiosity arrived in the form of an
Associated Press article on the fact that the
Amish have nearly doubled their
population in about 16 years.
The article bases a lot of its facts on an
upcoming book by a leading Amish expert
from Elizabethtown College Professor
Donald Kraybill. The book found that the
states of Missouri, Minnesota and
Kentucky have had Amish populations
jump by more than 130 percent and now
number 227,000 across the country. New
Amish communities have been planted in
about 28 states and a lot of this movement
is due to their desire to acquire inexpensive
farmland.
The article is a bit short on the
theological aspects of the Amish (or
Anabaptist) faith, but the description of the
group is pleasantly descriptive, neutral in
tone and accurate:
Also known as Anabaptists, most Amish
NOT
continued from page 26
holding his lungs, tar-speckled as if
covered with spores of mold.
Rebecca Schmidt, 21, a ponytailed
biology major, stands over the body,
alongside a dozen of her Kean University
classmates midway through the eight-week
summer course Death in Perspective.
“They’re looking for the bullet; come
see,” says Professor Norma Bowe, 49.
Schmidt leans in, captivated by the
disfigured ball of metal lodged above his
left ear. She breathes through her mask
sprayed with perfume, which does little to
block the smell of death: feces and rotten
eggs.
This is so cool, she thinks. Schmidt has
seen death plenty of times, but never the
inside of a corpse.
reject modern conveniences and rely on
horse-drawn carriages. They began
arriving in eastern Pennsylvania around
1730. Along with English, they speak a
German dialect called Pennsylvania Dutch
or Pennsylvania German.
Amish couples typically have five or
more children. With more than four out of
every five deciding in young adulthood to
remain within the church, their population
has grown steadily. More than half the
For the last decade, Bowe has led her
classes of 30 students into the refrigerated
tombs of bodies stacked bunk-bed-style in
the morgue and into hospice bedrooms,
glowing from television screens, occupied
by the sickly and soon-to-die. She guides
them through the barbed-wire fences of
Northern New Jersey State Penitentiary,
past the outdoor recreation kennels where
gang members sweat and swear, to a law
library where they sit down with
murderers.
Hayasaki’s description was replete with
details — yolk-colored fat, marbled meat,
the gang members sweating and swearing.
As someone who has seen the body of a
person who has died from violence, I think
it captured the grisliness and funeral
population is under 21.
A small portion of the increase is also
due to conversions to the faith.
The Amish are attracted to areas with
relatively cheap farms, a rural lifestyle and
nonfarming jobs such as construction or
cabinet making that fit their values and
allow them to remain independent. In some
cases, they have migrated to resolve
leadership problems or escape church-
related disputes.
elements of death.
Yet detailed, it seems fair to say, does
not describe Hayasaki’s treatment of
Norma Bowe’s philosophy. Hayasaki gives
plenty of hints that Bowe might be
religious or that she has thought about
religion. For example, at the end of the
story Bowe tells a student the following:
Bowe keeps Schmidt in mind on the last
day of class when she reads them a
commencement speech written by Anna
Quindlen: The knowledge of our own
mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives
us. It’s so easy to waste our lives, our days,
our hours, our minutes.
Interesting, but the passage is never
elaborated upon. Why did Bowe mention
God? Do students talk about God and
More could be said of course on the issue
of church-related disputes, but that is
probably a subject for another in-depth
article on that particular subject. Note the
typical size of Amish families and the high
rate of decisions to remain in the church:
what goes unsaid is that one does not
become Amish until the point of baptism.
Baptisms do not happen until the person is
older (think 18 or 19) and understands
exactly what they are committing
themselves too. (Thankfully the article
doesn’t attempt to blame global warming
on large Amish families. Horse and buggy
communities don’t emit many fossil fuels)
The article notes the conflicts that arise
when the Amish move into areas, but the
article also notes the benefits of having
Amish in a community.
Journalists in communities with an influx
or new community of Amish should look
to this article and this book (when it comes
out) when reporting on the issues. I suspect
that the book provides an excellent
resource for reporters looking at these
issues.
Photo of Amish children playing baseball
used under a Wikimedia Commons license.
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religion’s consideration and treatment of
death? Hayasaki should have asked Bowe
a religion-related question, for it might
have shed light on the lessons that Bowe
seeks to impart to her students. Are
students to understand death in purely
personal terms or in philosophical or
religious ones?
Religion was something of a ghost in this
story. It was airy and ethereal, not fleshed
out. If only Hayasaki had given readers a
few details about Bowe’s examination of
the meaning of death, one that she applied
skillfully to the topic of the biological
processes of death.
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Religion* 27
AP strangeness:
Advice for
Palin
By tmatt
Submitted at 9/3/2008 7:45:14 PM
I tried, really tried, not to add another
post to the Sarah Palin parade today. Then
the Divine Ms. MZ Hemingway found this
piece of strangeness. But MZ is on her way
to St. Paul for more freelance work and
this online offering from the Associated
Press is so interesting and, well, strange,
that we really need to air it before the GOP
convention tonight.
Here’s the main question: What IS this?
What is this large piece of text?
It’s from the Associated Press, but it is
sure not your grandfather’s wire-service
report. It’s not a true feature or analysis
essay, either.
Instead, it’s four AP reporters offering
their advice on what the new Republican
lightning rod needs to do in her speech
tonight.
Of course, you know that religion-beat
specialist Eric Gorski is going to tell her to
go ahead and explain where she is coming
from, in terms of faith. So here’s another
sample, entitled “Tell Your Story.”
Dear Sarah:
Keep to your faith, stick to your
principles and be sure to introduce
yourself. This is the advice of your fellow
Republicans who are attending the party’s
convention.
“Remember who your faith is in and who
holds you in his hand,” says Crystal
Kennedy, a delegate from Eagle River,
Alaska.
STRANGENESS: page 28
28
STRANGENESS:
continued from page 27
Social conservatives and religious
leaders have praised your selection as John
McCain’s running mate. This is a group
whose support you and McCain will need
to win the White House.
Jim Edwards, a delegate from Plano,
Texas, has been watching you for a year as
he volunteered for former GOP primary
contender Mike Huckabee. Voters like
Edwards are attracted to your stance on
family values. He says he sees the news of
your 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy as
a chance highlight how families should
support soon-to-be parents and show love
for the unborn baby, rather than be
shameful of the situation.
Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
says you have much to offer, but the
country is not as familiar with you.
Tell your story.
“I’m sure the American people will love
her once they get to know her,” Gutierrez
Daily -Click and Print- Newspaper
said. “That’s all they need.”
By Ann Sanner
OK, that was probably some quotes out
of the reporter’s notebook, taken from a
quick trip through the convention hall.
But, again, what was this supposed to be
— as a journalism product?
You have to ask whether this is an
attempt by the AP to add some semi-
blogging edge to their online offerings. Is
this the AP tries to do“On Faith”? Or you
could say that it was supposed to show a
soft side of the mainstream press during a
time when — click here for Howard Kurtz
— many conservative religious believers
are convinced that journalists are trying to
get Palin, while failing to get her religion.
So GetReligion readers: What, pray tell,
was going on in AP land on this?
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