Will be back… Quick Break from Blogging… Time to get Married
September 6th, 2008
Okay this is probably the only personal post I will put on this site. Since I’ve been blogging close to everyday and sometimes multiple days, I want my you, my readers, to know why I won’t be posting for 7-8 days. I am getting married on Sept. 7th, 2008 and will be on my honeymoon until the 16th. So I haven’t given up on the blog, just starting a new chapter in my life. 
Thank you all for all your warm wishes.
links for 2008-09-05
September 5th, 2008Palin is more a celebrity that Obama. More like Britney and Paris
September 5th, 2008The below post from the Wired blog Threat Level makes some interesting points. One of them being that judging by what people are searching for Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin is more popular a search term than Obama. She is more of a celebrity like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton that Obama, based on these findings. Regardless of her Internet popularity, which I might add is mainly because she’s very attractive, the Millenium generations is more Democratic than Republican (2 to 1) than previous generations, which makes Palin a hottie that doesn’t sit well politically with most people who are looking her up on the search engines.
These are some of the most popular search terms online for Alaska Governor and Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin since Friday. Image: Wordle.net
Read on:
(WiredBlog - Threat Level: Palin Quickly Becomes A Part Of Celebrity Culture Online)
John McCain’s campaign team has often used Barack Obama’s popularity and the world’s interest in him as a tool to belittle his candidacy during the 2008 presidential campaign. The McCain camp has used videos such as “Celeb” and “Obama Love” to mock the Democrats’ leading man.
But for now it turns out that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has more in common with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton in internet-searchers’ minds than Obama.
That’s according to the audience measurement firm Hitwise, and search pattern statistics from Google.
Of course, since relatively few of the electorate knew who Palin was before last Friday, it makes sense that the top search term for Palin was simply the vice presidential candidate’s name. But the second and third top searches, of the 1,323 unique search queries tracked over the past few weeks were “Vogue Magazine,” and “Photos,” according to Hitwise’ general managing Bill Tancer in a recent article in Time and author of “Click: What Millions Do Online And Why It Matters.”
Other popular searches among the “American public,” he writes, are “hot photos,” “Sarah Palin Bikini Photos,” “Sarah Palin Nude,” and “Sarah Palin Naked.”
You might normally associate those terms with those other two women who are famous for being famous. Of course, in the short time that McCain announced his pick, Palin’s already become supermarket tabloid fodder too.
The spike in interest in Palin was also noticed by Chicago writer Nate Silver. Silver noted in a blog post yesterday that searches for Palin blew way past the search terms “Britney Spears,” “Paris Hilton,” “Michael Phelps,” and “Barack Obama,” combined.
Could all this online searching, and Palin’s good looks and relative youth at 44, translate into more of the online demographic learning about McCain’s position on the issues and liking what they see?
Michael D. Hais (a Democrat) and co-author of “Millennial Makeover,” with Morley Winograd, doesn’t think so.
“The Millennial generation identify themselves as Democrats two to one, and they’re the first generation in three or four generations where more people call themselves liberal than conservative,” he said.
Moreover, Palin’s confrontational style doesn’t sit well with this emerging political generation, who were born between 1982 and 2003.
Millennials want to work out issues by working together through compromise, he said. And the demographic research shows that they’re more concerned with civic duty than culture war issues such as abortion.
Palin’s speech, at least as far as he could tell from last night, Hais said, emphasized partisan differences and a right and wrong, which is not how Millennials like to approach the solving of problems.
“It’s: ‘We’re on one side of the issue, and the other side is wrong,’ and that is not the way Millennials approach things,” he said.
Rather, Obama’s approach of reaching out for compromise, like the way he did in his nomination acceptance speech last week, is more in tune with these young voters, he said. Hais specifically cited Obama’s comment on abortion.
Specifically, Obama had said: “We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country.”
Hais cites a USA Today/Gallup poll that re-inforces this hunch that Palin’s speech isn’t likely to have appealed to the Millennials to switch over. The poll, published Thursday, shows a decline in swing voters from 30 percent a week ago to 21 percent. He says that suggests that more voters have dug their heels in.
Points about Palin that need to be put out there…
September 5th, 2008We can’t afford as a nation to put the McCain/Palin camp in power.
* Palin recently said that the war in Iraq is “God’s task.” She’s even admitted she hasn’t thought about the war much—just last year she was quoted saying, “I’ve been so focused on state government, I haven’t really focused much on the war in Iraq.” 1, 2
* Palin has actively sought the support of the fringe Alaska Independence Party. Six months ago, Palin told members of the group—who advocate for a vote on secession from the union—to “keep up the good work” and “wished the party luck on what she called its ‘inspiring convention.’” 3
* Palin wants to teach creationism in public schools. She hasn’t made clear whether she thinks evolution is a fact.4
* Palin doesn’t believe that humans contribute to global warming. Speaking about climate change, she said, “I’m not one though who would attribute it to being manmade.” 5
* Palin has close ties to Big Oil. Her inauguration was even sponsored by BP. 6
* Palin is extremely anti-choice. She doesn’t even support abortion in the case of rape or incest. 7
* Palin opposes comprehensive sex-ed in public schools. She’s said she will only support abstinence-only approaches. 8
* As mayor, Palin tried to ban books from the library. Palin asked the library how she might go about banning books because some had inappropriate language in them—shocking the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker. According to Time, “news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.” 9
* She DID support the Bridge to Nowhere (before she opposed it). Palin claimed that she said “thanks, but no thanks” to the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. But in 2006, Palin supported the project repeatedly, saying that Alaska should take advantage of earmarks “while our congressional delegation is in a strong position to assist.” 10Sources
1. “Palin: Iraq war ‘a task that is from God’,” Associated Press, September 3, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24701&id=13701-7909913-fh.t6Gx&t=62. “Palin wasn’t ‘really focused much’ on the Iraq war,” ThinkProgress, August 30, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24702&id=13701-7909913-fh.t6Gx&t=73. “The Sarah Palin Digest,” ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/4. “McCain and Palin differ on issues,” Associated Press, September 3, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24703&id=13701-7909913-fh.t6Gx&t=85. Ibid
6. The Sarah Palin Digest,” ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/7. Ibid
8. Ibid.
9. “Mayor Palin: A Rough Record,” Time, September 2, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=24704&id=13701-7909913-fh.t6Gx&t=910. The Sarah Palin Digest,” ThinkProgress, September 4, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/palin-digest/
Republican Pundits Can’t Make Up Their Minds! - Palin Gender Card - Daily Show
September 5th, 2008Nearly 400 arrested outside convention - CNN.com
September 5th, 2008
ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — Police faced off with crowds of protesters outside the Republican National Convention, arresting 396 people after using tear gas and percussion grenades to turn them back.
An officer in riot gear pushes back a protester near the Minnesota Capitol on Thursday.
An officer in riot gear pushes back a protester near the Minnesota Capitol on Thursday.
Protesters who had gathered near the state capitol, about a mile from the site of the convention, were repeatedly cut off as they tried to march to the convention center.
Thursday’s arrests brought the total for the week to 818, authorities said.
Police used tear gas when dozens of marchers — most in their 20s, some chanting “F–k the police! F–k the police! F–k ‘em!” — tried to cross a bridge leading to the Xcel Center convention site after being warned not to. Video Watch the protesters march »
Minnesota State Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion said the arrests were made at an interstate overpass that separated the marchers from the Xcel Center, where Sen. John McCain was preparing to address the GOP faithful.
He said the objective was to contain the protesters and keep them from reaching the convention hall.
Campion said the first night and the last night of the convention were expected to be big trouble, and they were.
As a line of police clad in riot gear and walking with bicycles approached a woman who refused to get out of their way, several sprayed her with a liquid.
She covered her eyes with one hand and gave the two-finger peace sign with the other.
A man standing nearby yelled, “I love you! Why are you doing this?” as the woman was shoved to the pavement. Video Watch police spray and shove the woman »
Police who were shown video of the encounter declined to comment.
Each time the protesters attempted to cross the interstate highway separating them from the convention center, police tried to stop them.
Police on horses, motorcycles and bicycles followed marchers on a street-to-street chase that led through a shopping mall parking lot.
A number of people wound up on the ground with their hands behind their heads.
This is just not right. I understand that the Police have to uphold the peace, but they are infringing upon the first amendment. The protesters should be allowed to protest in front of the Republican Convention. It seems that everything there is a protest someone gets ruffed up for what seems to be no reason. There definitely needs to be in an inquiry on these excessive force alligations. Honestly do you really think that more than 400 people needed to be arrested? I don’t. Are we living in a police state? I usually would say no, but now I’m begining to wonder.
McCain isn’t ready to lead. He doesn’t even know basic geography and he can’t talk.
September 4th, 2008No joke he actually says this stuff.
Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld Microsoft Commercial
September 4th, 2008This is a great commercial for Microsoft starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld. A long one too at 1:30.
Stumble It!
Loading ...
