Pho's Akron Pages

"That One" Is 2008's "You Forgot Poland"

2008-10-08T09:56:00.002-04:00

Presidential debates are like open wheel auto races: The participants have little contact with each other making them generally dull, but the crashes are spectacular if they occur. And mercifully, they go by pretty fast.

But as tedious as debates generally are, they do occasionally contribute some few bytes to the popular culture data stream. This cycle, the contribution seems destined to be John McCain referring to Barack Obama as "that one." If I have found the last person in the Western Hemisphere who hasn't seen it yet, here is the clip:

I'm less scandalized by this than some. More than anything I find it curious to hear John "Western Maverick" McCain using what I always considered to be a mid-Atlantic colloquialism. I never heard it before my stint in the DC area, but there it was pretty common. And people generally used it affectionately but teasingly, rather than coldly dismissively.

I haven't been able to verify it's origins as "that one" is pretty much impossible to Google. Someone with a better working knowledge of linguistics blogs than I (*cough* K-Pho *cough*) may be able to help out with this.

In any event, just like "You forgot Poland" was up and viral within hours of the '04 debate, some enterprising souls have thatone08.com up and running, complete with merch. (H/t Dave Harding at ProgOH.) And because this is 08, not 04, we also have a Facebook page.

Debate 2.0 Liveblogged at BSB

2008-10-07T23:00:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the BSB guys for inviting me to participate in their liveblog of the second Presidential debate. Check it out here.

Q: Are We Not Dems? A: Devo to Play Benefit for Obama

2008-10-06T15:50:00.003-04:00

Word comes this afternoon confirming a rumor that Akron area natives Devo will play a show to benefit the local Democratic party. Details from the presser:

akroncivic.com

ticketmaster.com

So come on, all you spud boys. Grab the girl u want and exercise your freedom of choice. Devo benefiting local Dems? That's good.

Image from the band's MySpace page.

Summit Co Early Voting and Vote Protection Notes.

2008-10-01T23:37:00.002-04:00

Here's a couple things you need to know if you don't already. First off, if you vote early, it will count, no matter what some yahoo caller on WNIR says. And on top of that, it's way easier.

My Tweeps heard recently that I've joined the Dem-side voter protection effort. This is the same thing I did in the 04 campaign and is a better fit than phonebanking or *shudder* canvassing. Plus the regional coordinator is a friend who has some big favors to call in.

Unlike past election time work, I'm determined not to go dark this go round (though a recent unplanned two-week silence doesn't inspire confidence.) I have a confidentiality agreement, but it doesn't bar discussing what I've seen.

So for my first official act, yesterday I voted. We wanted to see what was happening at the early vote location and, since observers aren't allowed into early voting, I guinea pigged it.

Specifically, I checked out the Job Center of Tallmadge Ave. where Summit is one of a handful of counties that has set up a satellite early vote location. The space isn't luxurious -- raw space in a former shopping mall being repurposed as a county facility. But it's huge and for this job, huge works. The space includes folding chairs that seat well over fifty, though no more than twenty were waiting during the time I was there around midday. The Board workspace also has extra capacity -- ten or so monitors weren't in use.

The wait was about ten minutes once I filled out the absentee request form. They are printing the absentees on demand and have to print out the right ballot for the right precinct. The advantage is that they don't run out of ballots for a precinct which was my issue last go-round.

The info I've heard is 550 voted the first day. That's fewer than the ABJ reported, but still a hefty number and probably more than the Board could have handled.

In addition to idiot rumors about the vote not counting noted up top, there are also apparently rumors misstating the operating hours. Early voting, including the satellite, is open until 8:00 weeknights and 12-4 Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, if you are interested in being an election day poll observer for the voter protection effort, you can sign up here. Your you can contact me directly and we'll get you into the mix.

Akron Press Club Presents "Buckeye Battlefield"

2008-09-30T15:17:00.002-04:00

There is still time to reserve a spot for the Akron Press Club "Buckeye Battlefield" program this Thursday. The panelists will be:

John C. Green, Director, Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, The University of Akron
Jason Johnson, Assistant Professor, Communication and Political Science, Hiram College
Connie Schultz, Columnist, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Check here for reservation info.

InterviewPalin.com: Computer Generated Satire

2008-09-29T21:54:00.002-04:00

Computer algorithm parody sites have been all the rage this election cycle -- the '08 equivalent to You Forgot Poland and johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com. Sandy Levinson at Balkinization put me on to my fav so far -- a Sarah Palin interview generator. The site clicks you through a series of questions, answered by a program using a Markov chain. Here's a sample.

Spot on.

Oh, and Hi again.

R.I.P. David Foster Wallace.

2008-09-13T23:22:00.005-04:00

Tonight came the heartbreaking news that writer David Foster Wallace apparently took his own life. Close readers of the Pages have heard at least a little of how much Wallace means to me as an influence and inspiration.

It would be easy to write up Wallace being the Great Underappreciated Artist, the agony-and-ecstasy archetype. Certainly that type has come and (too quickly) gone frequently enough to give the story as we know it tonight a familiar ring. But the trope gets more tired with each passing year. And Wallace got plenty of appreciation.

Which leaves whatever was going on inside. I can't understand how someone so gifted, so successful, so wise could be so apparently unhappy. What I know is that he was the best working writer of fiction and nonfiction I've read over the past ten years. I pray for his friends and family, mourn his passing and miss everything he leaves unwritten.

No, I didn't know him, but yes he was a man of infinite jest.

Brunner v. GOP, Absentee Ballot Edition

2008-09-12T22:55:00.003-04:00

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is again under attack from the state Republican party. Today the occasion is her decision regarding applications for absentee ballots prepared by the McCain/Palin campaign for supporters. Brunner ruled that if voters have not checked a box next to a statement that the applicant is a qualified elector, the application is not valid.

Abentee ballots are governed by section 3509.03 of the Ohio Revised Code, which states in part:

(G) A statement that the person requesting the ballots is a qualified elector;

At issue, obviously, is subsection G in bold. The McCain campaign topped their application with a legend in (est.) 20 point type "I am a qualified elector and would like to request an absentee ballot for the November 4, 2008 election." The type for this heading is larger than any of the information below. And the infamous check box appears at the front of it. Cincy Inquirer has posted a pdf of the form so you can follow along.

The GOP argument is that by signing the form the applicant makes the statement that he/she is a qualified elector. Brunner counters that because there is a check box, the implication of not checking is that the statement isn't true.

Generally speaking, I'm inclined to err on the side of voting and, based on her political persuasion, I expect Brunner is as well. But the legislature has spoken, and that isn't their inclination. With the passage of Ohio's voter ID law, the legislature has added a different guiding principle -- combatting the voter fraud chimera. Guiding principle like this serve as a touchstone for interpreting a statute -- if you know what was on the legislature's mind, you can interpret the statute in the way that best achieves that end.

Viewed in this light, the required statement of eligibility to vote serves two purposes. One is to put the applicant on notice that he should only be getting an absentee ballot; the other is to make it easier to prosecute Rampant Voter Fraud.^® When applicants don't check the box in the form as constructed, neither purpose is served. We don't know that applicants have gotten their notice because they may well have blown past the header. And as a prosecutor, I wouldn't be very confident that I could prosecute someone for falsely claiming that he was an eligible voter when he doesn't check the box saying that he is an eligible voter.

And no, the signature doesn't cut it. Generally when a form requires a signature to certify something, the statement appears directly over the signature line and explicitly states the effect of the signature: "By signing below I certify that . . . etc." Without that, a prosecutor can't prove that a defendant knowingly made false statements, which is the standard for prosecuting fraud.

Sadly, the papers, especially the Inquirer, seem to be accepting the GOP's line that Brunner is making a technical ruling on a close question. Her ruling is right down the middle of the law. With the check box unchecked the application includes no statement that the applicant is a qualified elector. If Brunner had made the opposite ruling on a Dem application, you would hear weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth from the right.

Not to mention the hypocrisy. The line we hear over and over again from the GOP on voting is that if an elector makes a mistake so be it, his fault, if you want to vote, be responsible. But now it's their voters who can't negotiate the maze, so it's all someone else's fault. As happens so often, conservatives are for personal responsibility until they are against it.

I Never Metaphor I Didn't Like

2008-09-12T17:11:00.003-04:00

But obviously McCain/Palin have. The big political news this week was a fluffy controversy over whether Obama called Sarah Palin a pig.¹ Some of my friends have suggested that Obama set himself up for the attack by referencing "lipstick." But with McCain/Palin so settled on calculated umbrage as a campaign tactic, it seems unlikely Obama could have found a metaphor to convey the message that

Can't polish a turd: Sly reference at Palin changing diapers; subliminal attempt to touch off Mommy Wars.
Deja vu all over again. Quote comes from Yogi Berra who is old and dottering (though he was dottering when he said it and is old now). Clearly an agist attack on McCain.
Can't teach an old dog new tricks: Calling Palin a dog now? Completely inexcusable. Bonus campaign flip-flop after Biden opined that she is good looking.
A leopard can't change it's spots. Does Palin wear animal print?
Putting old wine in a new botttle. Now it sounds like he's asking her on a date.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. The original is in French -- Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. 'Nuff said.

Everyone has advice for Obama this week. The clear lesson from L'affair de la cochon? Stop speaking. Now.

¹Here's a close as I can come to a complete transcript of the infamous remark splicing together MediaMatters and Ben Smith:

But you know, you can't -- you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it's still a pig.

And as for Obama's second metaphor? I'm not going near that.

The Palin Mud Wrestling Strategy

2008-09-12T16:19:00.004-04:00

In the classic vulgar comedy Stripes, John Candy gets talked into Um, it was the Eighties. Anyway, the best bit is when he hits one of his opponents who cries "You hit me and I'm a girl." He lets his guard down to apologize and she decks him. I don't entirely trust AOL's embed code, but here goes. Warning, not entirely SFW.

"You hit me and I'm a girl" seems to be the running slogan for the McCain/Palin campaign. Specifically, Gov. Palin will feel free to jab at Obama/Biden (and embellish her own record) but any critcism of Palin causes collective vapors in the McCain campaign. "You can't hit her like that, she's a girl," they cry as she's rearing back for a roundhouse.

Jill opines that the campaign is sequestering her out of sexist concern for her weakness. I think it's a conscious strategy to immunize her from criticism. The Candy bit is funny because it touches on something primal -- we have a problem with seeing a woman being, well, manhandled. Whether it's cultural or instinctive doesn't matter -- it's there and it's powerful.

So will it work? That depends entirely on the willingness of voters to call BS, something we collectively seem incapable of doing. The media didn't help with their many missteps in the first week of Palin vetting. (It's reassuring to know that we don't have to worry about Palin cozying up to a treasonous separatist party just because it was falsely reported that she was a member.) Still, the capacity of McCain/Palin to piss on our collective legs and convince us it's the weather has thus far been breathtaking.

Perspective

2008-09-12T10:58:00.001-04:00

A New Knight Center and a New Freelance Piece.

2008-09-10T16:25:00.004-04:00

My latest step in my slow ascent up the ladder of freelance respectability is here, a lead in the Knight Foundation newsletter about the Knight Center of Digital Excellence. Attentive readers may recall that when the Knight Foundation and OneCommunity announced plans for an Akron WiFi zone, they announced creation of this Center of Digital Excellence as part of the overall effort. They moved into their new offices in the United 1 building a couple of weeks ago and hired me to cover the event for their members.

If you aren't inclined to click through to review my work I'll say that the Knight Center (still getting used to saying that and meaning something other than the Convention Center) is a nationwide pro bono networking consulting service run in partnership by the Knight Foundation and OneCommunity. They work toward community internet access by playing what baseball teams call small ball -- small, focused connectivity projects here and there build out networks (mostly in what tech guys call the middle mile) and communities build on that to connect their populations.

It's no small thing for Akron to have gotten this. The effort is getting serious looks as a sort of next generation collection of connectivity models now that some high-profile muni wireless efforts have cratered. I was honored to have been present, if not at the creation, at least on moving day.

(Just so we're clear, my contract with the Foundation was fulfilled by the article; I'm writing this on my own because it's pretty cool and Pho-phriendly news regardless.)

Plain Dealer Among Papers Teaming with Politico

2008-09-09T14:17:00.005-04:00

From Editor and Publisher:

In fairly short order Politico has become a journalistic force, though who knows how the economics look. The received wisdom at the time of launch was that Politico needed a viable print counterpart to survive. This may be a way to accomplish that.

News organizations are working on all sorts of content/ad revenue sharing models as the economics of news gathering shift and tighten. The value of an outfit like Politico is that it can serve multiple segments simultaneously. They report the deep minutiae for us political junkies, but can synthesize that into more reader-friendly stories for normal people.

Something's Coming to Highland Square

2008-09-09T14:10:00.003-04:00

Once again, anonymous construction is happening in the new buildings in the Square. The last time a dumpster and Portajohn appeared in the parking lot and people were moving stuff around inside, Metro Burger happened. This time someone is building out the space next to Metro Burger, leaving two others to be finished. Thus far it looks like they have studs up for the internal wall and are roughing out electrical.

My usually well informed Highland Square elves haven't heard anything, nor has the Neighborhood Association, though they are somewhat preoccupied by billboards. The building permit is posted facing the inside, so whatever-it-is remains a mystery for now.

If you have info, feel free to drop a comment or an email.

Preachers Pulpits and the Proper Separation

2008-09-08T19:35:00.002-04:00

The hard right Christian exceptionalists at the Alliance Defense Fund are on one of their favorite crusades again -- challenging restrictions on political activity by churches. This time they are advising pastors to defy the restriction and preach political endorsements from the pulpit on September 28, and offering to defend anyone brought up on violation of IRS violations.

Not to be outdone in the Dubious Tactics category, an Ohio UCC minister has filed a complaint against the effort alleging that . . . um, they are trying get complaints filed against them. According to a WKSU story (which hopefully will be posted sometime) they are also planning a Sunday of celebrating separation of church and state.

I'm big on church/state separation, but that's not what this is about. Separating church isn't the same as separating religion and politics, which is probaly impossible. The IRS regulations are about separating partisan politics and charity. All nonprofit organizations -- not just churches -- are prohibited from engaging in electoral politics. In other words, the taxpayers don't underwrite political campaigning. What the Alliance wants is an exception for churches and churches only.

This sort of exceptionalism is the norm for groups like ADF, which is ironic. Their rap on opposing gay rights is that they are "special" or "exceptional" rights. The right to keep one's job irrespective of sexual orientation is exceptional. But the use of state resources to "celebrate" the country's Christian heritage (but no other) is simply curtailing discrimination against Christians.

It's so . . . special.

The Jennifer Brunner Rorschach

2008-09-07T09:56:00.005-04:00

Tell me what you think of Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and I'll tell you your politics. If you love her, you are a mainstream Democrat. If you think she's well meaning but doesn't do enough to secure, you are a Dem, but farther out on the left wing. If she's a useful idiot duped by the ongoing Diebold/Rove conspiracy to steal elections, you are a Green (genus Fitrakis.) If you don't have much of an opinion one way or the other, you are somewhere in the middle of the spectrum and/or one of those wise people who doesn't pay attention to politics until about mid-October.

And if you gnash your teeth at the very mention of her name, you are a Republican.

The obvious explanation for the Brunner Rorschach is 2010 reapportionment. If Gov. Ted Strickland and Secretary Brunner retain their seats, Democrats will control the reapportionment board which will influence what the legislature looks like which will in turn determine who Congressional districts are drawn. That's important any decade, but assuming Ohio will lose two Congressional seats as projected, it's crucial. At her Akron Press Club appearance Thursday, Brunner acknowledged the importance of her seat to both sides and noted dryly "It becomes a little prickly sometimes."

Throughout her presentation and the Q&A after, Brunner cited the work she is doing to make voting easier and more reliable for Ohioans. Her office is turning out directives to Boards of Elections, in an attempt to offer what she calls a library of resources for a variety of contingencies. She's working to get voter rolls online so people can verify that their registration is up to date. She is requiring counties to have backup paper ballots in case machines go down or lines get too long (touchscreen machine voting routinely runs longer.) She's rolled out uniform poll worker training, in part to make sure workers across the state enforce rules consistently.

Again and again Brunner talks about working proactively to guarantee people the right to vote. Which offers a second explanation for why she vexes Republican so. Democrats and Republicans simply have different philosophies about how to govern voting. For Democrats, voting is a fundamental right that the government should take pains to guarantee, if not encourage. For Republicans, voting is a privilege to be earned by just following a few simple rules, dammit, and pulled out of reach of anyone who even looks like he might commit voter fraud.

It is again, easy to dismiss all this as simple politics. Historically Democrat's coalition have included more population segments susceptible to vote suppression -- primarily poor folks who have less job flexibility and minorities for whom voting is associated with a long history of intimidation (these are the sorts of voters you get when you are the elite

I forgot my camera, so a crappy image from my cell phone will have to do. As you can see, she spoke next to an open nuclear reactor.
She began the talk with an anecdote related to her that some professer told someone from Uganda that he was from Ohio and the Ugandan asked if that was where Blackwell was from, and "Isn't he the one who stole the election for Bush?" Her point was that Ohio shouldn't have election problems that make news halfway around the world.
Stolen Election Guy wasn't there, nor was his Republican counterpart, Rampant Voter Fraud Guy. At least they didn't ask questions, and the odds of either Guy sitting on his hands for an hour are at least as long as the odds of a valid Columbus Dispatch poll.
Notwithstanding that, Brunner talked quite a bit about security. She is trying to get rid of touchscreen machines because, among other things, they aren't secure. She's also getting rid of "sleepovers."
She's predicting an 80% turnout in November.
She lauds Summit Co. for "superior" vote security. She also noted that she has to break BoE ties and some in places -- again Summit -- the boards deadlock a lot.

As usual, the program will be rebroadcast on local public access. Keep an eye out. Brunner's not the most dynamic speaker, but the program was heavy on information.

Righty Bloggers Complaining About RNC Treatment

2008-09-03T07:42:00.002-04:00

If you followed the convention posts on BSB or especially from Jeff, you know that they had impressive access. Indeed, the rise of the blog was a major story line, with the only point of controversy being who got the state credentials. Whatever bad feelings may linger from that apparently do not compare to blogger complaints from the Republican convention.

From Pajamas Media:

Here on what is passing for “Bloggers Row,” there is plenty of grumbling about the accommodations supplied by our hosts. Some descriptives are not printable. Most reflect a huge disappointment with the way the GOP has shunted most of the bloggers off to the side, far from the action, dispersed throughout a gigantic “Press Filing Center” where the working media comes to hook up to the net and file their stories.And in PM tradition, the post is hilariously overwrought: "The dungeon that the GOP has put bloggers in this time around would be familiar to Torqumada and his buddies who made the Spanish Inquisition such a great party."

Snark aside, wonder why the RNC has become so much less accomodating. My theory is that bloggers for a party in trouble are less likely to toe the party line (see also, lefty bloggers c. 2004) and therefore of less use to the party.

Do You Know "Did You Know?"

2008-09-02T22:38:00.003-04:00

The story I'm currently working on covers a meeting where we saw the viral Did You Know video. It was the first time I saw it. The story goes that after video-savvy teacher Colorado Karl Fisch produced it for his colleagues, a friend encouraged him to give it a broader distribution. He took out the Colo-specific info, added this and that and posted on the Yube. If you haven't seen it yet here's release 2.0:

ShiftHappens has spawned a wiki space and Fisch has an education-related blog.

And I'm working on some original content for tomorrow.

How Far to the Right Is Sarah Palin? UPDATED

2008-08-30T15:37:00.003-04:00

Far enough to the right that she supported Pat Buchanan's run in 1999. You know, the isolationist paleoconservative who doesn't hate Jews or minorities, but just really really likes Christian white people? Yeah, that Pat Buchanan.

Game changer, indeed.

UPDATE: Much as I'd like to continue the dialogue with DJW, this story renders the discussion moot. I'm not sure I get a public figure showing up at a rally wearing a button, then saying "psyche." But for a part-time mayor of a small time in Alaska, we can let it pass.

Btw, the Obama campaign screwed up calling Buchanan a "Nazi sympathizer." Buchanan is a Nazi apologist. Let's keep that straight.

Welcome to the Blogosphere, Grumpy Guy

2008-08-30T08:43:00.003-04:00

Abe Zaidan, retired ABJ columnist and long the dean of NEO political commentators, has jumped into the web20 world with Grumpy Abe, a blog of "Politics and whatever comes to mind.

I've gotten to know Abe through the Akron Press Club and know that he's been considering the leap for some time. I'm glad he's finally added his voice, experience and wisdom to our little project.

Hardcore MSM-bashing blog triumphalists will have trouble with passages like this from his intro post:

I have cast myself into a disorderly crowd that has recast the tarnished badge of professional journalism into an unsightly free-for-all of gingham wolves and calico leopards. I dare say I will have to painfully adjust to the new media culture if I will have any chance at all of catching up with any of the sprinters on the other end of the dot.com.But I think he throws justified a punch in either direction and nicely evokes the world-in-flux we now live in. For myself, I'm a Glenn plaid ocelot.

By the way, his book Portraits of Power is an excellent primer on Ohio politics over the last half of last century. If you want to know how we got where we are, pick up a copy.

Will Sarah Palin Help? She Already Has.

2008-08-29T23:10:00.003-04:00

It's an open question whether John McCain's choice of half-term Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will significantly shift voters to McCain's side. But her out-of-right-field selection helped in two important, short term ways.

First, the announcement completely such Obama's air out of the room. Even the lefty blogs are entirely done talking about his speech last night, about the historicity of the moment, about the bounce. All anyone is talking about is Sarah Who? and what does it mean. It's Sarah Palin's news cycle, Barack Obama is just living in it.

If McCain had made a more conventional choice, it's unlikely he would have shouldered Obama out of the way quite so successfully. The most conventional choice -- Pawlenty, probably -- would have elicited something like "Yeah, that's what we thought, and how will that relate to the race after Obama's historic nomination last night . . ." By making a selection this unexpected and risky and historic in its own right, McCain/Palin has dominated the conversation since noon.

Second, Sarah Palin being a woman has softened somewhat the fact that Sarah Palin is a Christian Right darling. If McCain had picked a relative unknown and inexperience man with lockdown social conservative credentials, the move would be widely seen as a pander to the religious right base. Because Palin breaks a gender barrier (at least as far as GOP veep choices), her selection is seen less as a sop to the hard right than as more maverickiness from McCain.

Will this advantage endure in the long run? Time will tell. Palin's youth and inexperience cause problems, both by blunting the same criticism of Obama and heightening concerns about McCain's age. And it's hard to claim maverick status when you've picked the least qualified candidate on your short list purely because she might help win an election.

Still, no question that McCain/Palin have won this day.

About a Blog, and Other Stuff in the SocMedVerse

2008-08-29T21:16:00.004-04:00

It's been over a week since I posted here. As usual, I have my excuses. In the past week [deep breath] school started for the girls, the wife and myself, which necessitated the usual getting back into the groove, plus two open houses, and I got my biggest freelance job to date which included attending a day-long meeting, and I had one other meeting about a different business opportunity and two different repairs on the house, plus a marathon doctor appointment for one kid and the usual schlepping about to lessons and the Olympics ended and the Conventione happened. Oh, and I got sick (twice) and threw out my back (once).

So yeah, it's been a bit of a week.

One thing I learned (over again) from all this is that if I'm not writing all the time I get rusty. Pieces I should have banged out quickly felt like passing stones or something. So when I get busy in the future, I'll try harder to write something, anything, here just to stay fresh. And keeping you all entertained is of course a bonus.

Funny thing is I get nervous about blogging when on deadline. If someone is paying me and sees blogging happening, will they think I should be doing their work? etc. Thus far every job I've gotten has included some vetting by reading the blog. But since I need this to keep my chops (and get the next job, apparently), clients will have to deal.

With all that, I wasn't entirely dormant in blog world. First off, I'm integrating my social media lives, as you can tell from the shiny new widgets, stereo right. The first is links to the three other social networking sites I use, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Below that is a Twitter feed window showing my last n tweets.

As you can see, I've gotten into Twitter quite a bit. The really attentive reader may notice the de.lico.us (which thankfully is just "Delicious" now") widget is gone. I had fallen down on keeping it updated and now if I see a cool article I tweet it. Unfortunately the badge doesn't let you click directly through to the article, you have to click the tweet which takes you to a Twitter page on which the link shows up. Nonetheless, if you see something you like, that's how to get there.

And of course, you can always Follow me. My tweets are about 50/50 original versus replies to others. I realize that seeing the replies here doesn't help much -- hearing half the conversation and all that. So it goes. I'll also warn that the tweets range from substantive to pithy to quotidian. Oh, and that's where most of my snarky one-liners go these days. I will warn you that I've installed a utility that automatically feeds links the posts here. Other people feed their blog to their Twitter and post Twitter on their so I'm taking it on faith that this won't cause rift in the blog-time continuum.

My use of Facebook has evolved over time. Back when candidates started using Facebook and MySpace I started accounts just to see what the candidates were doing. Since I can't do so much as look at MySpace without getting a raft of pornspam friends ("come to my website which has my really fun pics, lol") I've let that go to seed. Meanwhile, old friends keep finding me through Facebook, so that's what I'm using it these days. Up next I'll be posting some family photos so various friends and family can see how the kids are doing. So if you're Friends with me, look for that.

LinkedIn is supposedly the grown-up, get noticed and get work social site. I know people who have gotten work through it, but thus far, nothing for me. Again have hooked up with some old friends though. As for work, nada. We'll keep playing with it to see what happens.

OK, so with that bit of a waggle, hopefully I'm back in the blog game and will try not to leave for days on end again. I've been thinking much about what I want this to be. Probably you will find more local stuff and more policy stuff, and less about the national race. On the other hand, I definitely have some thoughts about the last few days so you never know.

Just as long as it's fun.

APC Presents Jennifer Brunner. Ohio 16 Debate

2008-08-20T22:49:00.003-04:00

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner will speak before the Akron Press Club (and yr. humble blogger is on the programming committee, but did not arrange this one.) Secretary Brunner will speak Thursday, Sept. 4 at the Martin Center on the University campus. Lunch begins at 11:45.

Details and info on reserving tickets here.

In addition, APC's contribution to the Ohio 16th contest is nearly settled. PolitickerOhio reports that candidates John Boccieri and Kirk Shuring have agreed to three debates, on of which will be co-sponsored by APC and the Bliss Institute. Still a few details to be ironed out.

The Brunner program is up now on the Upcoming badge and subsequent Press Club programs will be added as things get posted on the website.

Craig Simpson: D'Oh!

2008-08-20T07:59:00.005-04:00

Craig Simpson is a reporter on the Rubber City Radio stations and a frequent guest on Eric Mansfield's NewsNight Akron. Now he also runs a blog and last week posted about Akron's JCC hosting Maccabi Games, a Jewish youth athletic event. The post is, ah, problematic and Jill pointed it out. In response to comments from Jill and I, Craig says he's only kidding.

Actually, he says he was kidding and that some of his best friends are Jewish and that if anyone is offended, he's sorry. Yes, the Lighten Up crackback, the My Best Friends defense and the If You Were Offended non-apology apology. The three favorites of people who say stupid crap and won't own it. A trifecta of douchebaggery. Well played, sir.

Oh, and he tells me to be a real man. So apparently my offense has to do with my lousy bench press, or something.

*Sigh*

We shouldn't have to keep having this conversation, but apparently we must. So here are a few tips for navigating the treacherous straights between effective satire and actually trafficking in hate. And I'll type slowly so even Craig can understand.

First off, people have to know you are kidding. No, really. Because, you see, the reason that these stereotypes are so powerful and destructive is that people actually say them and mean them. And mean harm by them. By this measure Simpson's post fails. He starts off arguing that Jews shouldn't sequester themselves from the rest of society for exclusive activities. This is a stock Limbaughian rant. Without knowing whether Simpson is actually Limbaughian, it's impossible to know that he's kidding.

Then he segues into a bit about what interfaith games might look like. This is painfully unfunny but at least it looks like it's supposed to be funny.

Then the head-snapping last paragraph:

Come on, the Jews have most of the money and run most of the business world…do you REALLY need to rub it in our faces have your own freakin’ Olympics!? Just stick to penny-pinching, lawyering and filling up the upscale communities in America’s suburbs.

I'll wait until you recover from the spasms of laughter.

There.

This, apparently, is where he goes so over the top that he thinks anyone would know he was kidding, Would that it were so. In fact I know intelligent professional people who think think nothing of trafficking in the standard money-grubbing Jew stereotype.

In his defense Craig maintains that his Jewish friends thought this was all Big Laffs. Setting aside the real possibility that his friends were just being abundantly polite to their ignorant but harmless goy friend, this argument still falls. His friends have a context for knowing that he's kidding -- the context of knowing Craig Simpson. Without that context it looks like he started a standard right wing diatribe and in the last paragraph shared too much.

Which brings us to a second problem. If you are going to satirize hateful stereotypes, actually satirize them. Just reiterating them isn't satire. Simpson is engaging in the Andrew Dice Clay method -- pretend to be a bigot by actually sounding like a bigot, but do nothing to make the bigotry sound ridiculous. In the Diceman's case, the satire claim was just window dressing to make his actually bigotry look something close to respectable, but his audience was laughing at the objects of his rants, not with them. In Simpson's case, it just turns out to be not funny, unless you share the actual views he posts.

By the same token, understand that if you are satirizing, you are still trotting out ideas that hurt people. It's a project you should approach with some delicacy.

Finally, if you try this and it doesn't work, admit it. I've worked this line myself -- in the immediately preceding post in fact. It's easy to make a mistake and hurt people. Where I come from, a big part of being a real man is to admit when you've made a mistake. And no, "I'm sorry you were too sensitive to know I was kidding" is not actually an apology, it's an insult.

Looking over Simpson's work, it doesn't look like he has the chops to thread this needle. Stick to sounding smarter that Phil Trexler, Craig. It's about as high as you can aspire to.

I'm Sure It's Just a Coincidence

2008-08-16T23:50:00.002-04:00

That controversy erupts over a donation to McCain from a board member of a gay pickup site the same week that Blender reports that McCain's favorite song is The Gayest Song in Pop Music History: