Friday, November 03, 2006

If the Dems win a majority of just one of the houses of Congress, it could mean a dramatic shift in politics, finally there's a chance for a real national discussion of our options in Iraq. With subpoena power, there may be hearings into every major decision, past and present. At least there will be a way to ask questions. That doesn't mean of course that they will be answered, or if they are, that we will like the answers. But just being able to have a discussion that's not dominated by a few smirking wiseasses could mean a lot for the future. 

Guardian: "British voters see US President Bush as a greater threat to world peace than either the North Korean leader or the Iranian president, according to a poll." 

Electoral-Vote.com is tracking the Senate races.  

According to BusinessWeek, next week's Web 2.0 conference is the "annual gathering of the digerati crème." To people who give me grief for being an A-list elitist (a-litist?) gatekeeper, hey I wasn't even invited to attend the conf, so according to my theory, I'm totally off the hook, so give the grief to someone more deserving.  

I bet you're all getting tired of my Apple peeves, but here comes another one. I tried yesterday to make an appointment with the Apple genius (no sarcasm) at the Emeryville store, but I must have tried too late, and they said they were all full for that day. So I tried again today, same result. I decided to pay them the $99 for ProCare, although I consider this bordering on unethical to have to pay them just to talk to me (the problem might be their fault after all), but there's no way to buy ProCare online, you have to go to the goddam store to buy it. Okay, don't they know how much gas costs, and have they heard of global warming? And is my time as a customer who spends thousands of dollars with them a year, worth anything to them? I suppose they figure (rightly) that I can't make a visit to an Apple store without buying something, but geez Louise, how about making something easy for the customer? End of rant.  

Thanks to Doc Searls for the pointer to the Donald Rumsfeld talking doll who says many of the clever things the real "Rummy" says. They have lots of others, including George Bush (elder and junior), Ann Coulter and Bill Clinton. 

If you doubted that PR plays a role in the today's news flow, check out this post from a PR firm that representing a client that too aggressively wanted coverage from TechCrunch (and didn't get it). See how Mike Arrington responds. Everyone is human, even the gatekeeper du jour, and deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt.  

BuyBlue.org tracks corporate campaign finance. There is a feed, although it's somewhat hidden. 

I'm a longtime subscriber to Thomas Hawk's photo stream, he does some great work. This picture is receiving justified accolades. Keep up the great work Thomas!