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January 23, 2008The 'Random, Desperate Filler in a Celebrity Obituary Award' goes to...
... the New York Times, in its story about Heath Ledger: "Others in the crowd said their first reaction to word of his death was disbelief. Nicole Vaughan, 24, a law student at New York University, was in a seminar about Jesus when someone sent her a message about Mr. Ledger. She checked the Web, then walked to the apartment "because of the way our generation is; we sort of feel we're a part of each other's lives." Huh? How did Jesus get in there? Other than when the page editor shouted "Jesus, I need another column inch.... put in that pointless 'what our generation is' quote." Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:09am in Current Affairs, Is Tedious in the House?, Journalism | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (0) December 19, 2007Newseum -- wrapping fish around the world
Newseum, the interactive museum of news, has a dandy little application: Today's Front Pages Map. It gives you maps of regions of the world, dotted by cities. Drag your cursor over the city to see today's front page of that city's newspaper. Excellent for travelers who want a foretaste what their destination city is talking about, or (loosely) tracking the regional differences in coverage of stories. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 12:37am in Current Affairs, Expatriate Life, Journalism | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) January 26, 2007If that hadn't worked, she was prepared to brain it with a Moleskine
Actually, I made the Moleskine part up, but I do love stories about useful analog tool. Go paper! Woman fights off mountain lion By John Driscoll MediaNews A 65-year-old woman fought off a mountain lion attack in Humboldt County on Wednesday -- using a ballpoint pen to stab the animal -- and in the process probably saved the life of her 70-year-old husband. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:19pm in Bizarre & Unexpected, Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) November 09, 2006I don't think Lieberman is on the Cluetrain, yet
Joe "Joe Gun" Lieberman will be back in the Senate, unless he takes Rumsfeld's job (and who would want that?). I am sure I would have not voted for Joe, were I a Nutmegger, which I am most assuredly not, but the people in Connecticut seem reasonably ok with him -- and
that's good enough for me, since I have no say in the matter. From today's New York Times: Mr. Lamont’s campaign buoyed thousands of new voters and volunteers, and many of them helped the Democratic candidates in competitive House races here. In his victory speech Tuesday night, Mr. Lieberman offered somewhat of an olive branch, saying that Mr. Lamont had run a tough campaign. Even as he said that he would “make sure that the system is open” to bloggers and other active party members, Mr. Lieberman criticized the “netroots,” the Internet activists who had helped fuel Mr. Lamont’s candidacy. “Some of them have had a destructive effect on political discourse because they are so venomous,” he said. “Obviously, I was on the receiving end of a lot of it. And, you know, I didn’t recognize myself in what my staff let me see.” Excuse me? Well, the system is going to stay open to bloggers. Not because bloggers are a special interest, but because they are citizens with a printing press. Can't put that genie back in the bottle. As for the "destructive effect on political discourse" -- that's just the hum of the marketplace. Politicians (and companies) have dominated the discourse for way too long (usually them shouting at us through advertising, then putting us on hold when we try to talk back), so I am sure this is going to take
some getting used to. Get used to it. The funniest line, I am sure you will all agree, is the last: I didn’t recognize myself in what my staff let me see.” That's how out of touch this guy (and thousands like him) is. I am sure he grabs the NYT and the Hartford Courant without consulting staff, but staff gets to sift through the blogs and "lets him see" selected clips. Can you see that happening at a visit to a factory? "Staff, bring me a single mom, some hard hat whose grandfather
and dad and uncles worked here, and a black guy... and tell the venomous ones to go home." Folks, Joe, companies.... you will never recognize yourself until you stop looking in the mirror. The market always knows you better than you know yourself. Listen. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:17am in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) February 02, 2006What does the Denmark vs. Islam story teach us?
What started as an example of appallingly poor judgment by a provincial Danish newspaper has become multipolar diplomatic crisis. Go figure. The story thus far: * back in September, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten ran a feature that included satirical cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammad. That was a serious breach of good manners, since the editors of the paper knew that Islam considers it blasphemy to create images of Mohammad. * Muslims, both in Denmark and abroad, complained. The ambassadors of several Muslim countries called on the Danish Prime Minister to "do something" about the newspaper. Rightly, he replied that they would just have to suck it up -- in democracies, governments don't interfere with newspapers. * the situation has escalated weekly since then. The latest: boycotts of Danish goods across the Muslim world, fatwas, death threats, more calls to punish the newspaper, burning of Danish flags in the Gaza Strip (that's a new one). * in response (the high minded call it solidarity, the cynical call it circulation-building) papers across Europe have been reprinting the cartoons this week, resulting in even more fatwas, flag burnings, death threats, etc. What's to learn from all this? One obvious lesson, one that most learn by age 6, is that it is rude to mock other people's religious beliefs. It insults them, and that's just not nice. Another obvious lesson, usually learned about the same time, is that some people are too easily insulted. Yes, any one of us would feel hurt to see a cherished belief demeaned, but the faith of the faithful is only strengthened by the brickbats hurled by the uncomprehending ( so I am told -- I'm a happy secular humanist). A more appropriate response than flag burning and beatings is "Oooooo K... last laugh's gonna be on you, brother!" But the other lessons... what are they? What do communicators need to think about in a world where an article in an obscure newspaper calls down boycotts on your company? When a controversy like this can leave employees pulled in several directions: loyalty to religious faith, a desire to do a good job, a desire not to be beaten at the factory gates. And make no mistake: the controversy is pulling Danish business leaders in several directions, too. While none have called for out and out curbing of press freedom, there have been some hints. Should managers put profit over principle? Should governments curb freedom of speech so business can go on "gettin' it done"? Do we sack the religious faithful, uncertain of their loyalty? Do we sack the religious faithful because it's safer for them if we do? Do we try to dissemble, saying "Our HQ might be in Denmark (France, USA, Japan) but we are not really Danish (French, American, Japanese), so don't blame us"? As globalization progresses (a good thing, I believe), these incidents will become commonplace. Professional communicators need to be considering strategies now... before it comes to their town. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:55pm in Bizarre but Expected, Civil Liberty, Current Affairs, Denmark, Is Tedious in the House?, Journalism, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (15) November 07, 2005From our "when stupid people do smart things before reverting to stupidity" department
Charles Victor Thompson is probably not the brightest guy on the planet: shooting your ex-girlfriend and her squeeze in Texas has never been a prudent career move. Still, you got to give the guy credit for flashes of inspiration, howsoever brief. Thompson is a death-row prisoner -- you know, the kind where they yell "Dead Man Walking" whenever they take them anywhere -- yet managed this: Investigators said Thompson escaped Thursday by changing into street
clothes, showing deputies a fake ID that indicated he was with the
attorney general's office and walking away from the Harris County Jail,
where he was being held for resentencing. Read that again. I'll wait. If that's not good for an extra helping of ice cream at his last meal, I don't know what is. But our sad sack, the inspiration wholly sucked out of him, doesn't get far: "Police found him about 8 p.m. on a pay
phone outside a liquor store in Shreveport, about 240 miles north of
Houston. "He appeared to be intoxicated," Matus said. The
officers walked up to the escaped killer and asked him his name. He
told them, "You know who I am." Authorities said Thompson had a bicycle with him. Officers determined he was too drunk to be questioned immediately." Frankly, I don't know what to make of all this. I do, however, have to admire the relative openness of the Harris County Sheriff's Department, under whose care Thompson was when he produced his fake ID: "Lt. John Martin of the Harris County Sheriff's Department in Houston .... said an investigation has already been launched. "There's
no scenario under which it's even conceivable that someone who's on
death row could simply walk out of a jail," he said. "It's not the case
that any force was used. He didn't use a weapon. He simply convinced us
to let him walk out the front door." Obviously, there's at least one scenario where this could happen, else he wouldn't be stuck in this mess, but I am giving Martin PR points for not running for cover at the first sign of a reporter.
Technorati tags: Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:08pm in Bizarre & Amusing, Bizarre but Expected, Current Affairs, Humor | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (3) | TrackBack (0) October 11, 2005Recovery 2.0 Fiddles While Kashmir Burns: "We Don't Have the Tools" is OUT as an Excuse (Reprise)
Friend Neville Hobson urges us to Help Victims of Pakistan Earthquake. With a death toll climbing north of 20,000, the October 2005 Kashmir Earthquake knocks the entire Atlantic Hurricane season into the corner. After the earthquake & tsunami last year, the SEA-EAT blog/wiki project -- an entirely grassroots effort -- organized and swung into action within hours. After hearing Dina Mehta describe the effort at Reboot, I wrote about it, saying "We Don't Have the Tools is NOT an Excuse". Just as they did in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (my post here), many of the same team spontaneously assembled behind the South Asia Quake Help effort within hours of the quake: ("News and information about resources, aid, donations and
volunteer efforts after the South Asia Earthquake of October 8th, 2005.") And are doing an outstanding job. You can volunteer, by the way. These three efforts in nine months point, unfortunately, to the sluggishness and bureaucracy already clogging the arteries of Jeff Jarvis' Recovery 2.0 effort, which is aimed at doing what the SEA-EAT team already does far better. After weeks of talking about it, Jarvis managed to convene a meeting to talk about the project. The results of this meeting? * We need to work on standards and APIs for the tools and data bases people create
to help in disasters. The peoplefinder
standard is already underway and some of the folks from Yahoo at the meeting
— who had experience on the ground in Houston and also at the Red Cross network
operations center — are working on improvements. At a minimum, we need to do a
better job harnessing the internet to help people find each other. * We need to meet face-to-face with government, NGOs, and business to offer
help and coordinate. There is a meeting in Washington on Oct. 17 about just
that. In the meantime, the Kashmir was being leveled by an earthquake, and the South Asia Quake Help team organized itself and got to work. No meetings, no discussions of software options, no meetings in Washington. Jeff Jarvis: You have great influence; the members of your group have great influence. Instead of reinventing the wheel, why not use your influence to push funds and volunteers into the group behind SEA-EAT, Katrina Help, and South Asia Quake Help? The money your group has spent on travel alone -- just on the BART -- could fund any of these efforts. How about it? Technorati tags: Recovery 2.0Recovery2.0
pakistan+earthquake Posted by Allan Jenkins at 10:52am in Citizen Journalism, Current Affairs, Katrina, Online Media, Pakistan Earthquake, Smart Communities, Society, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2) October 05, 2005The New Orleans Diaspora
So where did everyone go in the wake of Hurricane Katrina? Here's a map, based on 40,000 entries to various "I'm safe!" Katrina websites. The map at the EPodunk website is interactive. Via The Map Room. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:57am in Cartography, Current Affairs, Katrina, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 04, 2005Shoreline Cruises Disaster Shows Why Little Businesses Need Crisis Communication Plans
The good ship Ethan Allen rolled over the other day on Lake George, drowning 21 people.
This is when crisis communication comes into play. Where, if you are smart, you listen to your lawyers, listen to your heart and head, and start communicating. Actively.
When Alaska Airlines lost a plane a few years ago (1998-99, if I remember right), they had a new homepage up within 40 minutes of the pilot declaring an emergency. That page stated, bluntly, that one of their planes was missing, and presumably crashed. It had phone numbers to hotlines. Constant updates. A passenger list. Maps. Links to the FAA and the Coast Guard (the plane crashed in the Pacific). It had a press inquiries section, with contact information to the airline, and links to breaking news being published about the crash.
They updated it constantly in the first days. About a week after, they moved it away from the front page, but kept it going, and linked to it from the front page. And when investigators decided that Alaska's own mechanic was at fault? They reported that, without spin. Superb crisis communication.
Superb, because they had thought it through in advance. They'd asked themselves "What if we lose a plane? How do we react?" Part of their response to those questions was to create a "plane crash" page in advance. A phantom page to be filled in and uploaded if the unthinkable happened. Which it did. Let's compare that response to that of Shoreline Cruises, owner of the Ethan Allen. You'll search in vain for any mention of the disaster (Update: their website is now mentions the event. In their note, they ask the public to refer inquiries to the NTSB and other "authorities"... without providing any clue as how to do that). Indeed, there's still a page for the Ethan Allen (Update: still not taken down).
Moreover, as I search Google News, I can find no response from the operators -- but plenty of "it was impossible to contact Shoreline for a statement".
You may be thinking "Well, it's a Mom-and-Pop business, they didn't need a crisis communication plan." Except they do need one, now, right?
Every company needs a crisis communication plan. Call it insurance. You don't expect the plant to burn down, but it might. You don't expect someone to be killed on the job, but people die on the job every day. Your CEO probably won't be hit by a bus today, but busses hit people every day. Your repairmen never drive the van too fast through a school zone.... PR students who don't get internships... look around. Family or friends with a small business? Do a pro bono crisis communication plan, with a mentor's help if necessary. Valuable training for you. A little more insurance for them.
Hat tip to Sara. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:15pm in Communication, Corporate Management, Current Affairs, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2) Harriet Miers is Blogging!
The humor may fade quickly, but so far it's a hoot. Hat tip to Catallarchy, via Political Calculations, via Drakeview, via BNET. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 08:43am in Bizarre & Amusing, Current Affairs, Humor, Law, People of Note, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) September 23, 2005Sanctimony, not Kate Moss, Source of Fashion PR Headaches
For my first post on the MarComBlog (which I talked about yesterday), I've chosen to look at why any PR damage suffered by fashion houses in the Kate Moss affair is largely self-inflicted.
Here's an excerpt. The headline takes you to the full post at the MarComBlog.
September 23rd, 2005 by Allan Jenkins Kate Moss, supermodel, mom, poster-child for the waif look is presumably giving PR folks across the fashion industry sleepless nights. If
you're following the story, Moss was recently photographed dividing
lines of cocaine in a dressing room, then enjoying a few of them
herself. I don't know for whose coin she was working, or even if she
was on the job, but her clients — department store chain Hennes &
Mauritz, and fashion houses Burberry's, Chanel, Dior and Vanderbilt —
have dropped her. She will no longer represent them, and that's a big
chunk of Moss' £7 million salary gone. At 31, Moss is no "new face", as
they say, and, anyway, the heroin chic look is out. Friend and fellow MarComBlog Contributor Neville Hobson suggests on his Nevon blog
that this presents a PR dilemma for high profile companies: what do you
do when your A-list celebrity star self-destructs in public? I
agree: the Moss affair presents H&M, Vanderbilt et al. with a PR
dilemma. But I'd go so far as to say it's largely, even mostly, one of
their own making.... Excerpt crossposted from my full post Sanctimony, Not Kate Moss, Source of Fashion PR Headaches at MarComBlog. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:03pm in Advertising, Current Affairs, Management, MarComBlog, Marketing, People of Note, Public Relations | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (1) | TrackBack (0) September 16, 2005Seek Not That of Which Thy Shall Not Speak
Hat tip to friend Lisa for passing on this cartoon about that of which we shall not speak. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:33am in Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) September 09, 2005Lesson for Communicators: Grassroots Tsunami Team Remobilizes For Katrina
What can ordinary people do in the face of catastrophe? Jeremy Pepper and Richard Edelman believe natural disasters are events that leave bloggers and wiki-builders powerless. Warren Bickford believes there's little that IABC can do. (Addendum: Jeff Jarvis is hard at work with a coterie to solve the next disaster -- Jeff, why don't you and your group help solve this one first: Keep reading for how you can volunteer.) Nothing could be further from the truth: bloggers can make a difference. While I agree with Pepper that few bloggers seem to be doing more than complaining about government efforts, I'd like to point out a huge exception. I've written earlier about the incredible South East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog/wiki effort that went into action hours after the tsunami. Grassroots- organized using blogs, wikis, IM, and Skype. And effective at a time with most governments and relief organizations were in shock. The same team has swung into action with the Katrina Help blog and wiki. The team, spanning three continents, including professional communicators, has used the blog, the wike, IM, and Skype to set up: So what can IABC and its members, PRSA and its members, any communicator -- or any one of us, for that matter, do to help this effort? The lesson here for communicators? Bloggers and micro-media users -- real communicators -- can make a difference. It's a question of rapid organization and will. We don't have the tools is no longer an excuse for us. Via Conversations with Dina and other sources. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:32am in Blogging for the Sheer Hell of It, Citizen Journalism, Communication, Current Affairs, IABC, Katrina, PRSA, Social Tools, South, Tsunami | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (5) | TrackBack (2) August 29, 2005Blogging Katrina
Most Southerners share an affinity for New Orleans: Depending on your point-of-view and your religious bent, she's either a deliciously wicked sister-in-law or the wicked aunt who should have been put in rehab ages ago. So I watched CNN and the Beeb much of today, and kept checking in on the Times-Picayune website, esp their bunker blog. What I couldn't find were many on-the-spot bloggers (no surprise there; I sure has hell wouldn't have been blogging). Update: the Wikipedia article. Update: A map Update: A blog from the front lines. Update: IABC's leadership gets out safely. Update: Tom Keefe reports communicator looking to go back in to help with crisis comms. Update: a Slidell Blog. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:27pm in Blogging, Current Affairs, History, South | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (2) | TrackBack (0) July 21, 2005Guess the News Using BlogPulse Analysis | Key People
Been stranded on a desert island for a few days? To get a fast read on what's happened and what hoi polloi thinks important, you could turn to BlogPulse's Key People analysis. Looking at yesterday's analysis, you'd quickly realize a) Harry Potter has been in the news, but b) is being crowded out by late-breaking Star Trek news (and you would probably surmise that Mr. Scott is either dead or arrested). You'd also grasp that something was happening at the US Supreme Court. Of course, seeing both Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears with "UP" arrows will probably drive you quickly back to that desert island. Mightly yank of the forelock to Rubel. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:15pm in Current Affairs, Gadgets & Toys | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) June 14, 2005Judge: Parents can't teach pagan beliefs
The incomparable H. L. Mencken used to publish a volume called Americana, in which he gathered newspaper clippings from around the United States that tended to inadvertantly (and hilariously) send up boosterism, yokel-ness, Babbitry, and the general ignorance and benightedness of many of the people we let watch over us. It's hard to find a copy these days (published in the 20s; I have the 1923 edition), but if you find one, get it. You'll either like or you will hate it (Hint to red-staters: save your money). I've no doubt that if Mencken were still with us, this piece would make it into the Americana 2005 edition: "An Indianapolis father is appealing a Marion County
judge's unusual order that prohibits him and his ex-wife from exposing
their child to "non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals." "The parents practice Wicca, a contemporary pagan religion that emphasizes a balance in nature and reverence for the earth. "Cale
J. Bradford, chief judge of the Marion Superior Court, kept the unusual
provision in the couple's divorce decree last year over their fierce
objections, court records show. The order does not define a mainstream
religion." Posted by Allan Jenkins at 05:09pm in Bizarre but Expected, Books, Civil Liberty, Current Affairs | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) May 29, 2005Search for Creative Commons Content in Yahoo! Advanced Search
Via Joi Ito comes welcome news: You can search for Creative Commons content in Yahoo's Advanced Search. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:14pm in Citizen Journalism, Current Affairs, Intellectual Property | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) November 04, 2004Bloggers Fail to Prove on E-Night
BL Ochman takes issue with Frank Barnako, who claims "Bloggers Blew It." I have no brief for Barnako, but I believe he's mostly right. Ochman also claims timely reporting from bloggers, and there she's mostly wrong. Over
here in Denmark, it made sense to sleep early and rise early to catch
the returns. So at 5AM (11PM EST), I had the RSS rolling, CNN and BBC
on the telly, and my friend Adam Gould in my cellphone (Adam thinks
faster than 99% of the population). I fully expected to be
"ahead" by following the blogs. But, no, I always got my first news
from CNN and the Beeb. Not only that, but I felt I got far better
analysis of the news from "old media". While there were occasional
snippets of insight -- and to their credit, I should say jewels of
insight -- from Gadflyer and Joshua Marshall, Kos was overrun and
crashing with the banal comments of every sophomore in America. Bull
Moose and NewDonkey? Forget it. In short, if you wanted timely
news and generally good analysis, you were better off turning to old
media. And if you had any ability to read body language, you were even
better off -- Larry King's scowl, arm folding, and petulant silence
after Wolf Blitzer called Ohio "too close to call" showed the true fate
of Ohio better than any speculation on Kos. The truth is, old
media does events like election night pretty well. Better than bloggers
ever will. And there's no surprise in this: old media, when it focuses
all of its attention on one thing, is faster and better than tens of
thousands of independents. Sorry BL, that's just the way of it. But...
old media can't stay focused on one event. If Ohio's vote count was in
doubt; if New Mexican voters were intimidated at the polls, if ballot
boxes in Iowa turn up three weeks from now, I'm sure my RSS Bandit will
bring me the news. That's the power of the blogosphere -- someone is
always watching and ready to report. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 11:13am in Bloggers, Current Affairs, Online Media, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) November 02, 2004Electoral-Vote.com Writer Reveals Himself
Electoral-vote.com
has been one of the most-followed websites for state-by-state polls
this year. One (well, the only) problem has been that the writer would
not reveal who he/she is... so while the math looked credible, and the
reporting was A+, readers always had to wonder "Who's behind this?" Fellow expatriate Andrew Tanenbaum
of Amsterdam is behind the site. I'm glad to see him come forth, and
wish only the best for him. If there's a Karma bank, he's entitled to
open his own branch. Andrew, if you get up to Copenhagen, I'm buying. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 01:28am in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 31, 2004Tanned, Rested and Ready
Osama bin Laden is enjoying the fruits of Paradise and 24 virgins, alright, but if he's still sending VNRs,
we have to assume it's an earthly paradise. Or resort. At any rate, he
is clearly still among the living, and has ready access to video
production and distribution. And he reaches more viewers than Sinclair. The sight of that man, more than three years after 9/11, looking healthy and happy, is just one more reason to vote for Kerry. GW
Bush claimed the war was won last year. I am not sure what "won" means,
but if the guy you're fighting is fit, healthy, and able to send out
VNRs at will.... you haven't won. AJ Lessig posts on this. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:23am in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 20, 2004Barlow on Iraqi Exit Strategy
John Perry Barlow seems to find interesting conversations all over the place. In his post Exit Strategies
at BarlowFriendz, he talks Iraqi exit strategies with a mercenary --
and mercenary and Barlow find themselves not all that far apart. "The
interesting thing was that we didn't disagree on much now. We both
believed that the invasion of Iraq and its subsequent occupation was a
tragic catastrophe that could only get worse. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:09pm in Current Affairs, Iraq War | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 17, 2004Electoral Vote Predictor
The Electoral Vote Predictor is tracking swing-state polls each day and updating the predicted "final" electoral map. "Kerry
is continuing to get a lift from the third debate. He has now overcome
Bush's 5% lead in Wisconsin and moved a hair ahead there, 48% to 47%
according to a Rasmussen poll conducted Oct. 14. Kerry is now once
again leading in the electoral college, but neither candidate has the
required 270 electoral votes because Florida, Iowa, and New Hampshire
are exactly tied." Not for the nail-biters in either party... Posted by Allan Jenkins at 07:46pm in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) More Republican Nervousness?
Bush campaign threatens schoolteachers with arrest. Their crime? Wearing "Protect our civil liberties" tee-shirts. More nervousness... or are they so confident that they just don't care? Posted by Allan Jenkins at 03:06pm in Current Affairs, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) Reinstating the Draft.... talking about it can get you sued
A few months ago, I noted why reinstating the draft is a poor idea. But
it's an idea that refuses to die. And now, with no end to the war in
sight, and military recruitment dropping, one wonders if the Bush
administration is considering it? Rock the Vote seems to think so. Josh Marshall points out that the Republican National Committee is nervous enough about anti-draft backlash that it has threatened to sue Rock the Vote for raising the issue. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 02:08pm in Current Affairs, Iraq War, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 11, 2004Economists give thumbs-down to W
I didn't get my Economist (the world's best newspaper, by far, if only for the droll captions) this week, but Sean Aday at the Gadfly did. He points to and discusses an Economist
poll of economists, asking them to rate Bush economic policies. If you
are an American out of work or without health insurance (or both), you
knew this already, but the marks are almost uniformly bad for W. Morever,
the 56 economists agree that Kerry would be far better for the US
economy. Go figure: 56 economists polled by a right-of-center financial
newspaper prefer the guy that W calls a "tax and spender". The raw numbers make good reading, too. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 06:36pm in Current Affairs, Economics, Politics | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) October 08, 2004Pre-emptive Peace
The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Wangari Maathai was a pleasant
surprise (simply not giving the prize would have been so tired). "Peace
on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment," said
Ole Danbolt Mjoes, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee. "We have
emphasized the environment, democracy building and human rights and
especially women's rights," Mjoes said of the prize. "We have added a
new dimension to the concept of peace." By giving the
prize to someone who tries to improve living conditions, the committee
takes the view that people who live well, who can provide for
themselves, and who can get into the world trade system, have every
incentive to avoid conflict. In a sense, it's giving the prize for the
prevention of theoretical conflicts, rather than attempts (not always
successful, as a look at the list of past winners shows) to resolve ones that were not prevented. I like the idea. I hope the award to Maathai is conscious act for the Committee, and not just an expedient one for 2004. Posted by Allan Jenkins at 04:04pm in Current Affairs, Society | Permalink | Comments Welcome! (0) | TrackBack (0) |
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What interests me about Lieberman today is that he doesn't seem to understand 
Crossposted from 
Well, not really. But within hours of Miers' nomination to be Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court, some enterprising wit put up 
