The search (has) ended almost two years after President Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq, citing concerns that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction and may have hidden weapons stockpiles
CNN: Official: U.S. ends search for WMD in Iraq: 1/12/04
Prediction: Tomorrow Rummy will say that the search continues and this is all part of us handing off responsibility to the Iraq government.
…If you remember the old six degrees phenomena, anyone is 6 hops or less away from you. In the age of email and social software, I bet it’s more like 4 hops or less (Margret was 2 hops away). If there’s a lesson for other webloggers here, it’s this: if there’s something you’ve always wanted to ask one of your idols or you have an idea for an interview you’d like to see, there’s nothing stopping you from tracking the right person down and getting the answers you wanted. I urge you to give it a try someday.
A Whole Lotta Nothing: Don’t just read the news, make it: 12/8/04
Truer words have never been spoken. These past few weeks I have reached out and have gotten terrific advice and feedback on all sorts of different things. Be brave folks. The only thing you have to fear is a little rejection right?
Thanks to Bill for sending this along. I’ve really taken this to heart.
Yep Bill, that’s what we did too. “24” made it a TV day (or night that is…).
NYTimes: Exit, Snarling: “Mr. Stewart’s “Daily Show,” which is especially popular with young people, is a reminder that television was supposed to be a “cool” medium, best suited to people whose jugular veins aren’t throbbing. And last month, when the tsunami hit Asia, viewers got a chance to notice what they were in danger of losing to talk TV. CNN, with a comparatively large international army of journalists at its disposal, went out and covered the story. Fox News and MSNBC had to depend more on conversationalists in the studio, all of whom agreed that tidal waves were very, very bad.”
via dangerousmeta which makes a great point about primary sources.
I have spondylolisthesis. I’ve had constant lower back pain for over eight years. On a scale of one to ten, I’m always between a three and five. Regular exercise reduces the pain level down to a two. My doctor has told me there is an operation I can have, that would probably be successful, but told me to only do this if I can’t live with the pain. I can. For now. But I wonder what it will be like when I am older. I’m bad at doing my exercises now as it stands.
Why am I suddenly sharing this? Well I’m declaring my back pain brotherhood with Al. I’m also coming to terms that this is something that will affect my life in a bad way if I don’t handle it. Like smoking. I had to quit. Done. Now I’m going to do something about my back. I think. I hope. Maybe?
See thread at Philly Future on filing Freedom of Information Act requests.
And yes.. I’m spamming myself. Pretty pathetic ehh? One twist is I’m going to document how to do this locally.
Salon magazine has a great article that goes in depth about culture differences and just how special LiveJournal is.
Top three winners:
You policy wonks will want to bookmark GovTrack.us. What a service!
You media/newspaper folks will be interested in Whitelabel.org. It wraps BBC News articles to show what blogs are commenting on them.
Those of you interested in the intersection between Democracy and technology will want to bookmark Personal Democracy Forum.
Read about them and the rest of the winners here.
Here’s the deal: a little known TV pundit was paid a quarter million dollars in your taxpayer money to sell the Bush administration agenda. So far you won’t find this on mainstream TV news shows. The right wing blogger pundit clique is spinning the story on Williams being a sell out. Clearly it’s to avoid discussion that this administration illegally used your money to push its propaganda. Hypocrites.
Well, I shouldn’t say all bloggers on the right are being so weak, pstupidnonymous breaks the mold.
My prediction: Some stupid stiff at the Department of Education will be the fall guy and Williams will become famous.
Jeff Jarvis warns bloggers not to sell their credibility like Williams. Full disclosure of business arrangements is the only way for pundits and journalists alike. Agreed. But lets cast the light both ways. The administration paid off a pundit. A person people go to for trusted opinion. And while Williams might have lost a job – he just got a ton of free exposure. We all know what they say about “bad press” right? (Update: Jeff’s follow up post agrees with me and he’s actually doing something about it – a FOIA request.)
Garret points to Rafe’s great follow up question. I’ll take that even futher….
I didn’t know who Williams was before this story started to break.
If they were willing to pay a pundit with such a small audience (I know that’s an assumption on my part, but among friends and family, no one knows this guy either) who else have they paid? Which bloggers? Which pundits? Not just on Social Security, but the Iraq war and more. And lets get beyond money… how about other benefits this administration has bestowed on its media (including blogger) lackeys. How deep does this rabbit hole go?
BTW – Thanks to Oliver Willis for the poster.
Details at Blankbaby.
As I said at Philly Future, I just don’t see what this guy did that was so wrong. But then again, this is precisely why I don’t talk remotely about work here.
Hmmmm… I don’t like posting similar bits at PF and here…what to do?…