Yesterday it felt to me like rabbits were at work and their progeny was Facebook privacy apps. Four crossed my screen within a space of hours: Privacy Check, ProfileWatch.org, ReclaimPrivacy.org and SaveFace. The first three are useful in helping identify the types of Facebook information that have made it to the public web, but they aren't helpful in the shades-of-gray … [Read more...] about Concerned About Facebook Privacy? Check Out These Tools
Souder Affair
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The Day the Mountain Blew Up
It was 30 years ago today. A huge ash cloud moved across the country over the following days, reminding anyone who cared to look up what had happened. Many considered it a disaster. People had died. Property was just plain gone. After all, a forest had been destroyed. Surely life would never get back to normal with the ecosystem blown up. Those experts were wrong; the … [Read more...] about The Day the Mountain Blew Up
Can Independent Voters Participate in Today’s Primaries in Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania?
Today is primary day in some key states for independent voters: Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Arkansas. Lots of media including this one from Liz Halloran at NPR talking about the anti-incumbent mood. Pennsylvania primaries (thanks to FairVote for these definitions) are closed (winners in 2008 2343 Clinton, McCain in the primary; November: Obama), meaning that only registered … [Read more...] about Can Independent Voters Participate in Today’s Primaries in Arkansas, Kentucky and Pennsylvania?
NEWSWEEK’s “Catcher in the Rye” Role
In his “Top of the Week” editorial a week ago, after a brief history of NEWSWEEK’s ownership and after unemotionally stating that “NEWSWEEK was going to be sold,” editor Jon Meacham turns melodramatic, even effusive: There is a place for NEWSWEEK in some form in a fragmented culture… The moment of focus may be fleeting, but there are fewer and fewer common denominators … [Read more...] about NEWSWEEK’s “Catcher in the Rye” Role
Hypocrisy Is Bipartisan
The blogosphere is all atwitter today with the latest joyful celebration of schadenfreude at the spectacle of a "family values" Republican caught with his pants down in a sex scandal. What would normally be protected as private sexual and moral issues is, when it involves a conservative Republican, considered fair game for public ridicule and derision. Ok, fair enough. … [Read more...] about Hypocrisy Is Bipartisan
By Almost Every Metric, Digg Likes Ron Paul Much More than his Son Rand
Does this mean Rand doesn't have as much online viral support as his father? During the Republican primaries in 2008, nary a day went by that candidate Ron Paul wasn't mentioned on the front page of Digg, sometimes several times in a single day. Diggers dug up on YouTube videos, favorable articles about the candidate, blog posts by Ron Paul fans, and "money bombs" intended … [Read more...] about By Almost Every Metric, Digg Likes Ron Paul Much More than his Son Rand
Health Care Reform Critics Were Right
During the bruising and often inflammatory political debate over health care, reform advocates frequently condemned critics as dishonest or at least hyperbolic in their predictions of what "government-controlled health care" would be like. Concerns about rationing were dismissed as products of elitism and clearly-rigged cost estimates from the CBO (which must use assumptions … [Read more...] about Health Care Reform Critics Were Right
A Thousand Dead and Counting
"If I did not think that the security of the United States and the safety of the American people were at stake in Afghanistan," President Obama said almost six months ago, "I would gladly order every single one of our troops home tomorrow." Now, a Kabul suicide bomber raises the toll of our dead there to more than 1,000 as threats of terrorism on American soil are clearly … [Read more...] about A Thousand Dead and Counting
How Bad is the California Economy?
How bad is it out here in California where yours truly lives? Two weeks ago, after a long job search, my former foster son started a job as a fundraiser for a major charity. Today he learned that he and virtually everyone else in that office were being laid off. Then, two hours later, he learned that his sister-in-law and her husband were both laid off from the company for … [Read more...] about How Bad is the California Economy?
Fists Fly In Burqa Ban Feud In France
The rising tension of Muslim women wearing veils covering their heads erupted in a fist fight among three women in the town of Trignac, France, this past Saturday.. One woman, a lawyer, 60, ripped the burqa off the head of a Muslim convert, 26, in a small clothing shop. The younger woman said she heard someone making "snide remarks" about her black burqa. As the fighting … [Read more...] about Fists Fly In Burqa Ban Feud In France
CBO Puts Same Sex Benefits In Doubt
The future of the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act is in doubt as congressional Republicans and Independent Senator Joe Lieberman have expressed doubts over its cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that extending benefits, particularly health care, to same sex partners will cost $310 million over the period extending to 2020. The Office of … [Read more...] about CBO Puts Same Sex Benefits In Doubt
Throw the Bums Out
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GM Reports Profit, Glimmer Of Recovery
In case you missed it, your $85 billion bailout investment of General Motors and Chrysler will cost you $34 billion, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, but give GM credit for trying to return your money. GM posted a $865 million first quarter profit for the first time since 2007 but Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell cautioned not to set your hopes too high. … [Read more...] about GM Reports Profit, Glimmer Of Recovery
Those damned Tea Party patriots
My opinion of the Tea Partiers resembles my opinion of Sarah Palin. I'm not naturally attracted to either, but their critics seem so closed-minded that I've become deeply skeptical of any of the charges leveled against them. Case in point is the standard liberal assertion that the Tea Partiers are conspiracy theorists and crypto-racists. John Judis makes the case for that … [Read more...] about Those damned Tea Party patriots
George W. Bush = James Madison
What? Who dares mention W. in the same breath as the author of the Federalist Papers and framer of the Constitution? Well, as I mentioned before, I've been listening to Empire of Liberty, a history of the United States from 1789-1816. Although there are no references to W. in the book, the description of Madison's conduct of the War of 1812 bears a striking resemblance to … [Read more...] about George W. Bush = James Madison
Mt. St. Helens – 30 years later
On this 30th anniversary of the catastrophic eruption of Mt. St. Helens I'm going to share some of my memories and some of the photographs that I took at the time. You may have seen better pictures but these are pictures you have not seen before. One of the memories I have is of my friend Bob Kaseweter who had a cabin at Spirit Lake. He went up to the lake on May 18, 1980 to … [Read more...] about Mt. St. Helens – 30 years later
Washington Politicians Big On Commissions, Little On Results
Well, excuse me, if I don't feel warm and fuzzy that President Obama plans to name an independent commission to investigate the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. I've lived long enough to know these special commissions are more feel good exercises by politicians than vehicles from which we learn and legislate. Some of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations were abandoned and … [Read more...] about Washington Politicians Big On Commissions, Little On Results
Is Talk Radio the REAL Power in the Republican Party?
The New York Times' Paul Krugman raises an issue that's old hat to readers of The Moderate Voice but his mentioning it shows how the issue is coming to the forefront: is it turning out that conservative talk radio -- radio with hosts who have never seen anything they can't turn into a partisan rant and ragefest -- is the real power in today's Republican Party? Power -- … [Read more...] about Is Talk Radio the REAL Power in the Republican Party?
Brit Hume Has Sold Out
As a news anchor for Fox News, I had some respect for Brit Hume. As a senior analyst for Fox News, I take issue with Hume on two fronts -- the Gulf oil spill and Tiger Woods' religion. It befuddles me that a man of Hume's intelligence can ask "Where is the oil?" That was Sunday. In January, Hume said scandal-plagued golfer Tiger Woods should drop Buddhism and "turn to … [Read more...] about Brit Hume Has Sold Out