Debates Matter: The Election Is On
Bill Clinton has got the hint. He just put out a bio of his wife in video format. He is the narrator of the story himself. Normally candidates do that for their convention. But he has realized that convention time is now. The actual convention will be a mere formality. The country is already tuned in. This might be something to do with the fact that the American people can't imagine how seriously W has bungled up Iraq and the deficit/debt. They want a new president, and they want it now.
February 5, 2008 is when the next President Of The United States will be elected.
I like the monthly debates format. I think handshaking is overrated. They are necessary, and I am so glad it is done, but how many hands can you shake really? It is much fairer to the larger electorate to have monthly debates. If you have monthly debates, you take pressure off those ridiculous TV ads. 30 second TV spots are the bane of civilization.
There is only one kink. Dean needs to go ahead and make sure videobloggers are also allowed into the debates. All debates should also be available in online video. The big networks should not have monopoly on the material. People should have the option to watch the debates as many times as they want. They should have the option to watch it live or later. If we can do just this one thing, we will have it made.
2008 is something brand new. The very architecture of the presidential campaign is being redone. Many of the old rules don't apply no more.
Look at Obama's 16 signatures campaign. To him it is not enough that we are going to take over the White House. We are also going to go after the 16 or 20 Republican Senators who will be seeking reelection at the same time. We are going to expand our majority in the Senate. We are going to work to get a comfortable majority.
Debates Matter: The Election Is On
In The News
A Debate Over Google's Power WebProNews IBM invented new industries, such as software. Microsoft controlled the operating system and extended that power into Office applications, with 90% share in each. Google has, by even the most charitable estimate, 65% of search. ..... Google is a very important company, but it controls less than what Microsoft and IBM did in their hey-days.
10 Mbps WiMAX Deployment in Ontario mediacaster With an extended reach of more than 15 kilometers, speeds of up to 10 Mbps, advanced encryption, quality of service (QoS) controls, VLAN capabilities, and ability to support up to thousands of users on a single base station, RedMAX enables Comcentric and other carriers, mobile operators, ISPs, enterprises other network operators to support heavy data and voice traffic on their networks.
Amitabh Bachchan writes a letter to Deepa Mehta Apun Ka Choice Deepa has been with her widowed mother and avoiding all public appearances since April. .... Mehta says she cannot say ‘no’ to Mr. Bachchan.
Amitabh Bachchan may face the heat from new UP government South Asian Women's Forum It is being reported that his land deal in Barabanki, a district adjoining Lucknow, is being scrutinized by the new government. ...... the new Chief Minister has decided to target the friends of Samajwadi Pary general secretary Amar Singh and Amitabh Bachchan's name tops the 'hate list'. ..... documents of Bachchan's land deal in Barabanki, a district adjoining Lucknow, are being scrutinized by the new government. The matter has been discussed in the first cabinet meeting. .... Mayawati has declared, however, that she will not resort to 'personal vendetta'."
10 Mbps WiMAX Deployment in Ontario mediacaster
Bausch & Lomb agrees to $4.5 billion buyout
Report: New York Sues Dell For Deception
Dell posts another quarter of solid earnings
Amazon launches MP3 store Irish Examiner Amazon’s DRM-free MP3s will free customers to play their music on virtually any of their personal devices -- including PCs, Macs, iPods, Zunes, Zens -- and to burn songs to CDs for personal use.
Amazon to sell unprotected music
RAZR2 – Motorola finally releases the true next-gen RAZR iTWire the ability to add a 2Gb of MicroSD card ..... the Opera 8.5 web browser for true HTML browsing, 3.5G HSDPA connectivity, the largest in-its-class ‘external’ screen on a phone at 2-inches, an internal screen at 2.2-inches with twice the resolution of the original RAZR, a 2 megapixel camera with a multi-shot feature, the ability to record up to 120 minutes of video, blogging and video blogging features and ‘slimmer, stronger and sleeker’ design. ......... audio improving ‘CrystalTalk’ technology ...... the ultimate mobile experience ...... the RAZR2 has a stainless steel internal frame to provide strength and durability. ..... the “huge exterior lens is made with chemically hardened glass to be more scratch resistant”. ...... letting you search contacts faster, with a customizable main menu ensuring we are never more than 2-3 click away from the applications we want to use ...... The internal ARM processor has been upgraded to a whopping 500Mhz in speed, with Motorola claiming a 10 times speed boost over the original RAZR. ..... improved ‘haptics’ technology, letting you better ‘feel’ what the phone is doing for better phone control, better mobile search capabilities, and on the V9, a ‘see what I see’ feature that lets those on a voice call turn on video streaming, so those with a capable phone can see what the caller is seeing right now. ....... Nokia’s stunning N95 with 5 megapixel camera, better video recording and a better feature set, along with the iPhone, new phone from Sony Ericsson and the Windows world
A Bit of Exercise Improves Fitness For Sedentary Heavy Women MedPage Today
NBC, Always Thinking of Us. But Do We Ever Call? Washington Post the people who run the television industry are godless people who do not love mothers. ...... 400th episode of "Law & Order" next season: "We are now one year closer to my ultimate dream -- to become the longest running drama in the history of television, beating 'Gunsmoke.' " ...... " 'Law and Order: Criminal Intent' is perfect for USA -- smart, character-driven programming that's already a proven hit with our viewers" ....... broadcast Siberia -- Fridays at 10 ..... Every year at this time, an eczema of television suits and Hollywood starlets erupts in Manhattan. ...... hoping to find the next "Heroes," the network went very high-concept, heavy on the space-time continuum ....... about a group of highly successful professional women in New York City.
Train driver in Bihar asks passengers to push
India's high court suspends arrest warrant against Gere
Obama proposes college loan plan The Post Online eliminate private student lenders from the loan process. ....... his plan would have saved taxpayers nationwide roughly $6 billion this year alone. ...... Student loans — part of an $85 billion industry, according to the Associated Press — come either directly from the federal government or through private loan companies. News reports nationwide have revealed numerous unethical and potentially illegal arrangements between private lenders and universities. ......... At least 200,000 students were qualified to go to college but didn’t because of financial limitations ....... tuition increases over the past five years of 11 percent at private universities and 35 percent at public institutions ...... college loans, climate change, federal debt and globalization.
Nepal PM fails to revive paralysed parliament India eNews.com Nepal's parliament was Wednesday adjourned till May 24 as dissenting MPs continued to disrupt its proceedings, disobeying party orders. ..... The house has remained paralysed for over a month now, first with the Maoist MPs preventing proceedings and then Terai MPs cutting across party lines adding their voices. ...... They want the government to scrap a commission formed to delineate new constituencies for the future elections and a high-level investigation into the violence dogging the plains since earlier this year, in which nearly 70 people have died.
India’s Supreme Court Suspends Shilpa Case Entertainmentwise
Richard Gere, Shilpa Shetty & India's Supreme Court
Royal statues razed nationwide in Nepal People's Daily Online
Mayawati will fail in Bihar: Left Times of India
Bush, Kennedy join forces over immigration law USA Today stronger border security and more stringent enforcement of laws against hiring illegal workers; a larger "guest worker" program; and a program to legalize workers now living here illegally. ..... Both were mediocre students at Ivy League universities .... Bush gave up alcohol at 40; Kennedy was involved in an automobile accident at 37 that resulted in the drowning of a female passenger. ..... "They're both sensitive people. They both bruise easily and heal quick."
Bipartisan deal on immigration is near
Students are the backbone of Barack Obama's campaign Seattle Post Intelligencer The ferment may be unparalleled since 1968, when young voters rallied behind Sen. Eugene McCarthy and his anti-Vietnam War platform .... Obama, 45, leads Clinton by 17 percentage points among students, an edge that evaporates among young people who aren't in college ...... on April 22, Obama held a conference call with the heads of campus chapters. ..... student support wasn't enough to elect candidates such as McCarthy in 1968 and Dean in 2004 .... The most important may be technology, particularly the growth of social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook. ..... 75 percent of college students have a Facebook account, and most of them check it daily ..... students make up one of their largest donor groups. ..... The new technology "is what's putting it over the top."
Clinton Tops Obama in Harris Poll Wall Street Journal Mr. Obama leads Mrs. Clinton among independent voters
Clinton's YouTube boost for Hillary Telegraph.co.uk Mr Clinton is due to expand his public role in the autumn to back his wife's bid
Terror Attack Scenario Exposes Deep Differences Among GOP Hopefuls New York Times water-boarding, where a prisoner is strapped down, head beneath his feet, as water is poured repeatedly on a cloth covering the mouth until the person thinks he is about to drown. ..... “My fear is that McCain-Kennedy would do to immigration what McCain-Feingold has done to campaign finance and money in politics, and that’s bad,” Mr. Romney said. ...... “We’ve had a Congress that has spent money like Edwards at a beauty shop,” Mr. Huckabee said to roars of laughter at the allusion to Mr. Edwards’s paying $400 for a haircut. ....... “Mayor Giuliani, I’m going to give you another 30 seconds to actually answer my question,” Mr. Wallace said to laughter and applause.
A feisty Republican debate in South Carolina
DJ UPDATE: Motorola Unveils New Phones To Rival Apple's iPhone Onet.pl The phone has up to 2GB of memory and can store about 1,000 songs, the company said. Users will also be able to browse the Web and access email on the phone.
Review: Toshiba adds camera, n and Labelflash Orange County Register
Research: Microsoft Windows Vista Worth $120 Billion To Economy InformationWeek
Microsoft unveils new VoIP devices eChannelLine voice is moving from hardware to software. Like the transformation from the mainframe to the PC, software is changing enterprise VoIP and Microsoft is keen to lead the charge. ..... Workers waste 30 minutes per week in phone tag and for 50 per cent of calls workers make they have to look up the number ...... E-mail also has its shortcomings, with information overload and misinterpreted emotion. .... Scheduling, varying online identities, and differing communications technologies. ...... connect the workplace phone to e-mail, instant messaging, real-time presence information, conferencing, VoIP, and mobile communications. ...... all forms of incoming communication -- whether an e-mail, voice message, or instant message -- are posted in his/her Outlook inbox ..... "There remains a heavy reliance on e-mail . . ..... The 15 phones and devices include Internet protocol (IP) phones, Universal Serial Bus (USB) phones, wired and wireless headsets, conferencing phones, LCD monitors and laptops.
Oracle Buys Agile Software for $495M Houston Chronicle Oracle will have spent more than $25 billion snapping up smaller software makers since 2004 in an audacious challenge to Germany's SAP AG, the leading provider of business applications used to automate a wide range of administrative tasks. ....... Oracle muscled into SAP's turf with a just-completed $3.3 billion purchase of Hyperion Solutions Corp., whose products are also widely used by SAP customers. ...... The recent expansion into applications software helped Oracle boost its profit in by 28 percent ..... SAP considered bidding for Agile before deciding it would be better off trying to build a competing product on its own.
Ex-Oracle VP Puts Insider Trading Charges Behind Him for $198K
MySpace weeding out sex predators Melbourne Herald Sun an investigative company it hired in December of 2006 has ferreted out thousands of convicted sex offenders with profile web pages. ....... The "nation's first proprietary software dedicated to identifying and removing sexual predators from online communities" was created by MySpace and Sentinel and recently installed on the website ...... more than 175 million profiles ..... US law already requires people convicted of sex crimes to register their addresses with local police after they are released from custody.
Miami drivers named the rudest Reuters
Boston is listed third in road-rage survey
Perot Systems Targets First Municipal Wireless Broadband Mesh ...
Profiles: The Conciliator: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker He tends to underplay his knowledge, acting less informed than he is. He rarely accuses, preferring to talk about problems in the passive voice, as things that are amiss with us rather than as wrongs that have been perpetrated by them. And the solutions he offers generally sound small and local rather than deep-reaching and systemic. .......... Twenty per cent of our patients who have chronic illnesses account for eighty per cent of the costs, so it’s absolutely critical that we invest in managing those with chronic illnesses like diabetes. ...... In these forums, he is tranquil and relaxed, as though on a power-conserve setting. He paces slowly, he revolves, he tilts his head. He comments in a neutral, detached way. He doesn’t express sympathy for sickness, or scorn for bureaucracy, or outrage at unfairness. He says that the system is broken and needs to be fixed, but conveys no particular urgency. ......... Obama has so far stuck to what appears to be an instinct that white papers belong on Web sites, not in speeches. ....... it’s not just strategy—it’s who he is ....... the mainstream is not ready for a fire-breathing black man ..... the election of a President Obama wouldn’t mean a revolution in race relations, any more than women prime ministers were a sign of flourishing feminism in South Asia ....... how extremely comfortable he is with himself. ...... There is something freakish about Obama’s self-possession—it’s conspicuous, it draws attention to itself, like the unnatural stillness of someone able to lower his blood pressure at will. ........ he may do to the tie what John Kennedy did to the hat ........ Bush can be goofy, Gore can be goofy; Obama is not goofy ....... the young Obama is confused and angry, struggling to figure out who he is, often high, wary of both white condescension and black rage, never trusting himself ........ That angry character lasts from the time I was fifteen to the time I was twenty-one or so. I guess my explanation is I was an adolescent male with a lot of hormones and an admittedly complicated upbringing. ........ When Obama was in law school, just before he wrote “Dreams,” he talked about wanting to be mayor of Chicago ....... ‘If you cannot bear the cross, you can’t wear the crown.’ ...... the third black U.S. senator since Reconstruction ...... the airless parochialism of the small-town Midwest ....... Obama’s other grandfather ..... He took to wearing European clothing and adopted European notions about hygiene and property with a convert’s fervor. ....... Obama’s father was expelled from school, and his father cut him off, but he managed to obtain a scholarship to attend college in America. ....... “In a land where fatalism remained a necessary tool for enduring hardship,” Obama writes, “she was a lonely witness for secular humanism, a soldier for New Deal, Peace Corps, position-paper liberalism.” ........ a second divorce and two bewildered children. ....... “if everyone is family, no one is family.” ....... the constriction of tradition, the weight of history, the provincial smallness of community, settling for your whole life in one place with one group of people ...... “I made a chain between my life and the faces I saw, borrowing other people’s memories” ....... He married Michelle Robinson, a woman who already owned the memories and the roots, who was by birth the person he was trying to become: the child of an intact, religious black family from the South Side. .......... “without an unequivocal commitment to a particular community of faith, I would be consigned at some level to always remain apart, free in the way that my mother was free, but also alone in the same ways that she was ultimately alone.” ........ he arrived at law school, when he was twenty-seven ...... When it seems that history has been defeated, that is only an illusion produced by charisma and rhetoric. ....... the weight of other cultures ....... He distrusts abstractions, generalizations, extrapolations, projections. ...... “I’m probably more humble now about the speed with which government programs can solve every problem. ....... Some of Bush’s top fund-raisers are contributing to Obama’s campaign. ....... Republicans for Obama .. chapters in six states ........ referring to his mother’s second husband as an “Indonesian oil manager” .... mentioning the year after college that Obama spent working at Business International Corporation ........ coming from Obama, the talk about unity isn’t boilerplate—he actually means it, and it’s substantive, which is to say that it has consequences that make people angry. ......... he gives too much respect or yields too much ground to the other side, rather than fighting aggressively for his principles ...... He tends to think of his opponents as deluded and ridiculous, rather than as demons. ...... the more time I spend meeting people in government or in the corporate arena, the more human everybody becomes ...... Even when he was very young, Obama was scornful of, as he puts it, “people who preferred the dream to the reality, impotence to compromise.” ....... ‘The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.’ ...... Lincoln is famous for believing that there are some principles that you can’t compromise in terms of speaking, but, in terms of what you do, there are pragmatic reasons and sometimes reasons of principle not to act on them. ....... A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, can not be safely disregarded. ...... compromise, for him, is not an eroding of principle for the sake of getting something done but a principle in itself—the certainty of uncertainty, the fundament of union ........ how he believes that it is crucial to avoid a Vietnam-syndrome-style retreat into isolation. ........ I would take some of the troops that we redeploy out of Iraq and use them to bolster NATO forces in Afghanistan. I think we still have the opportunity to succeed there. ........ he is not a dove, nor is he averse to thinking in international terms. ...... avian flu and nuclear nonproliferation ..... success is invisible, and failure could mean disaster of world-changing proportions ....... A white father from Winnetka had brought his two sons, the elder of whom, about nine years old, begged to wait as long as it took to spot Obama for even a second. ....... Small town after small town, street after street of one- and two-story houses with lawns, then the commercial strip, the same everywhere, McDonald’s, Burger King, Holiday Inn, Super 8, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Super Target, and then the smaller regional stores with names that rhyme—Rib Crib, Hobby Lobby, Taco Tico, Prime N’ Wine. ........ “Bill Clinton was far more into the tactics of politics” ....... “He was a voracious consumer of polls. Of course, he was so indefatigable that he could do that and still read four books a week and be President of the United States. ....... “Bill Clinton has preternatural ability as a listener,” Robert Putnam says. “Everybody always walks away from him thinking, For the first time in my life someone has actually listened to me ......... He seems to like people but not to need them. ....... his speechwriter, Jon Favreau, who in 2004 wrote speeches for John Kerry ....... “One weekend I was with him they were making a big deal about his school in Indonesia being a madrassa,” Valerie Jarrett says. “I said, ‘How could they have even run with this story? It’s so completely inaccurate!’ He said, ‘You know, we’ve contacted the school and the principal’s gonna explain what kind of a school it is and we’re gonna refute it all. You need to just calm down. This is gonna be fun! Valerie, you’re not a guy but let me explain it to you in sport terms. It’s like we’re in a basketball game, and I’m gonna fumble the ball, and someone’s gonna steal the ball, and I’m gonna miss a free throw, but we’re gonna win the game. You can’t get yourself worked up over every little thing that somebody says about me or you’re gonna go crazy.’ ” ................ “It’s difficult to describe to someone who hasn’t been involved how tough a Presidential campaign is. ...... I’ve seen candidates who, like a deer frozen in headlights, can’t find their way forward and have to be led around by staff. I’ve also seen candidates who, faced with adversity, turn into the stubbornest of mules and can’t adapt or adjust. Most candidates walk into the room asking everybody ‘How’m I doing? How’m I doing?,’ with no ability to look at themselves in the mirror. So the ability that Barack shows in the book to be brutally self-reflective—this is deep stuff.” .......... his talk of unity, his avoidance of blame, and his promise to end the war ...... After Harold Washington died suddenly, in his second term, his achievement, such as it was, fell to pieces almost at once. “There was no political organization in place, no clearly defined principles to follow,” Obama writes. “The entire of black politics had centered around one man who radiated like a sun.” .... charisma is misleading, that revolutions are illusory, that real change is slow ....... If he thought his winning would take a revolution, he wouldn’t have run.
Reassessing Barack Obama Bay Area Indymedia Obama’s basic sense is that one must take people and institutions where they are, and not impose too radical a change too suddenly. ..... comes off as very thoughtful around public policy, respectful of dissent ..... unlike Bill Clinton, Obama has strong progressive instincts and as President would impose progressive policies if he could ....... He does not appear to be temperamentally suited to standing firm against the rabid opponents of progressive change. ..... The New Yorker article traced Obama’s desire for collaborative over confrontation to his father’s eventual isolation through pursuing the latter approach. ....... Americans deserve a new deal, not reforms around the edges ...... in 1993-4. We were told that any “solution” that rattled the health insurance industry would not fly ...... Obama’s numbers are stagnant or declining in many polls while Clinton’s are stable or even increasing ...... thank goodness California Democrats will finally have a voice in picking the Party’s nominee, which will help move all of the leading candidates to adopt more anti-war, pro-environment, and pro-labor stands.
Obama Visit Overshadowed by Clinton Campaigns & Elections (press release) "Enough with the talk, enough with the speeches," she said. "Let's have an Apollo project that says once and for all that we're going to end our dependence on foreign oil." ..... The New York television stations couldn't stop replaying that one. They also made repeated mentions of the many African-American legislators who were in Albany endorsing Clinton. ..... Bill Clinton, grabbed some of the precious newscast minutes to inform viewers that they could now text message his wife's campaign via YouTube. ..... the relatively sedate Q&A session just couldn't match the Clintons in Albany in terms of television pizzazz, and that was reflected in the roughly two-to-one amount of screen minutes given to front-running Clinton.
Nasdaq plans China office to woo more IPOs San Diego Union Tribune “China is our most promising market at least in the near term” ..... In the first quarter of this year alone, seven Chinese companies have gone public on Nasdaq ..... China, the world's fastest-growing major economy. ..... Nasdaq, where about 3,200 companies are listed ...... India would become Nasdaq's second-biggest source of listings in Asia this year. ....... Five Chinese firms listed on Nasdaq last year, raising a combined $534 million, according to market data firm Dealogic, down from seven companies raising $803 million in 2005. ..... China itself is seeking to keep its start-ups at home. .... China was likely to launch a Nasdaq-style second board by 2008.
Comcentric Deploying WiMAX Networks in Canada Broadband Wireless Exchange (press release)
Dell's Brazilian manufacturing plant open
Open-source software violates 235 patents: Microsoft Daily News & Analysis Microsoft Corp. made its broadest challenge to date against open-source software, including Windows rival Linux, claiming that such programs violate 235 Microsoft patents and saying it will seek licence fees....... The packages, which are often available for free, have gained in popularity over the past decade, taking market share away from Microsoft........ called on Microsoft to disclose the patent numbers of the 235 patents it believes are being infringed upon so that the free software community can evaluate its claims.
Obama promises universal health care BusinessWeek bringing 600 union workers to their feet ...... saving $75 billion per year through having more people use regular doctor checkups instead of more expensive emergency room visits, improving treatment of chronic illnesses and relying more on technology to reduce paperwork. ....... medical records can be put onto a digital chip that can be carried around on a key chain ........ "If the credit card company can do it, I don't know why the medical system can't do it" ...... received the backing of two prominent New Jersey mayors: Newark's Cory Booker and Jersey City's Jerramiah Healy. ..... "Barack Obama is expanding a vision for America that's inclusive, that's exciting, that's innovative, that's competitive," Booker said.
Senator Obama Leads In South Carolina AHN
Reassessing Barack Obama - May 15 Beyond Chron his ability to frame progressive positions in non-divisive terms ..... compared to a left-wing Ronald Reagan in his ability to communicate strongly partisan values in nonpartisan rhetoric.
Google: 1 in 10 Web pages carry malicious code
Walking in countryside beats depression Xinhua taking long walks in countryside could help alleviate symptoms of depression. ..... instead of relying solely on drugs people should also receive ecotherapy. ..... After a walk in the country, some 90 percent said they felt a rise in their self-esteem, while 71 percent said they felt less tense and depressed. ...... patients are prescribed agricultural work, to be introduced as a treatment for mental distress.
Barack Obama plays down racial threats
Spitzer endorses Clinton for president
In New Role, Senator Clinton’s Strategist in Chief
Obama's Sister Debuts As Campaigner
Chelsea Clinton, now grown, remains in political background Ocala.com Chelsea Clinton now is a 27-year-old single woman working in the financial sector in New York City. ..... those who know her describe an exceptionally bright and grounded young woman who will decide for herself ...... "But Chelsea is such a poised young lady in her own right, if anyone has the maturity to deal with the situation, it's her." ...... the Clintons are mindful of their daughter's privacy and have been determined to protect her from the campaign fishbowl. ....... She recently joined her parents onstage at a campaign fundraiser in Manhattan, but did not address the audience. ...... For now Chelsea is busy with her work at Avenue Capital, a $12 billion New York-based hedge fund run by Marc Lasry, a longtime Clinton donor. ...... Chelsea often is spotted around New York with her boyfriend, Marc Mezvinsky, an investment banker and the son of former Democratic Reps. Ed Mezvinsky of Iowa and Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky of Pennsylvania. ..... Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky have known each other since they were teenagers in Washington.
Bill Clinton -- strategist off camera
