Current Events

I've several people asking on various mailing lists for sample ballots for the upcoming election. Here is the scoop for Travis County residents.

The web page for the Travis County Clerk, Elections Division is here:
http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/default.asp

The sample ballots for the March 4 primaries are here:
http://www.co.travis.tx.us/county_clerk/election/20080304/sample.asp

You'll want to have your voter registration card in hand, so you can lookup your districts and see which items apply to you. Or, you can lookup your registration info here:
http://www.traviscountytax.org/showVoterNameSearch.do

The Texas Democractic Party took a pummeling when it announced the public would not be allowed to attend the presidential debate here in Austin. So, they carved out a small block of seats and setup a drawing to give them away.

The Statesman is reporting this morning that 20,000 people have signed up for the 100 seats.

I can calculate the odds of getting a seat and they aren't looking too good: currently 1 in 200 and dropping fast. So, a lot of people are going to be sad losers in this lottery. Even worse, I fear they may end up with a booby prize: a bunch of spam.

You (obviously) need to provide all your contact information to enter the drawing. The web page, however, doesn't specify what the group will do with the private information it collects. The Texas Democratic Party web site does have a privacy policy, but it doesn't shed any light on this situation.

Today, the US Senate passed a version of FISA that contains retroactive immunity for phone companies that performed illegal wiretapping. There was an amendment to strip the immunity clause from the bill, but it failed.

The three leading presidential candidates are all sitting Senators, so how they voted on this issue provides an important litmus test. The results are:

• Sen. McCain - voted for retroactive immunity
• Sen. Obama - voted against retroactive immunity
• Sen. Clinton - didn't show up to vote

So there you have it. Three candidates, three different positions on the issue. Which position best aligns with yours?

Complete vote data on the retroactive immunity amendment here.

I'm getting weary of community sites like Digg and reddit. I wish the dark Illuminati forces that are suppressing Ron Paul from the mainstream media would only find their way onto the net. (Oh wait! They have.)

A recent post on the NY Times site had a quote from Slashdot founder Rob Malda that nailed it:

“A lot of these community news sites are all about Ron Paul,” he said. “Ron Paul may be a valid candidate. But what that is really demonstrating is that you are seeing 1 or 2 percent of a community shaping where the whole community is going. A small dedicated group of people can manipulate these sites very easily.”

A lot of the community content sites have categories: programming, politics, etc. You can view the posts in any single category.

Maybe what we need are anti-categories, so I can read a digg with all the presidential politics suppressed. That way I can get just what I want: significant current events, technology stories, and cute lolpuppy photos.

The KOOP radio station fire was written up in Interweb A-list zine BoingBoing. See it here.

I thought the fourth comment from isadrone was particularly funny.

Excuse me, I believe you have my playlist... Can I have my playlist back? He took my playlist and he never brought it back.

It's not okay because if they take my playlist then I'll set the building on fire...

I could set the building on fire.

It's a movie joke. And, yes, it's in very bad taste.

Time Warner Austin and The NFL Network are battling like two burly tackles over televised football. Time Warner has pulled the NFL Network from their cable lineup. The NFL and football fans are furious, and the Texas legislature has been dragged into the melee. The NFL wants back on the air, of course, but if they get their way it will be bad news for everybody—including football fans.

The American cable market is structured as a basic subscription service, and the subscriber adds the premium content they want with extra-cost packages. The NFL Network is premium content, but the NFL wants to push it into the basic service package. That way they can collect fees for every single cable subscriber in the system—not just those who want an extra football channel.

I'm surprised the local news outlets haven't picked this up: local conspiracy theorist and media star Alex Jones was busted in New York City for...well...being Alex Jones. Apparently Alex led a group of people who crashed the taping of Geraldo Rivera's TV show.

Says Geraldo At Large host Geraldo Rivera to the crowd, chanting "9/11 was an inside job" at the beginning of the show: "Get a life." ...

Mark Geragos [article does not identify who this person is] contends with a man with a loudspeaker, who was later arrested and identified as 33-year-old Alex Jones, prominent figure in the 9/11 Truth Movement. Jones was later charged with operating a bullhorn without a permit.

You can read the original article (and weep over the poor editing, if you are so inclined) here: Fox News' Rivera ridicules 9/11 Truth activists, man arrested on camera

I've just returned from a week in British Columbia, which served as my belated honeymoon. It was a wonderful trip, except for the bits that involved airports. Airline security is maddeningly stupid, and just seems to be getting worse.

When I think about the current climate of fear and stupidity, I end up, well, exasperated. I don't understand how we've allowed our country to be remade into that which we abhor.

While paying my wireless phone bill last weekend, I was irritated over the number of bogus fees that Sprint Nextel charges.

Apparently the State of Texas thinks so too. Attorney General Greg Abbot is suing Sprint Nextel over the bogus "Texas Margin Fee", which is just a way of Sprint passing on a cost of business that should be reflected in product price.

This is wonderful—except this $0.30 fee is a drop in the bucket compared to the other bogus fees, many mandated by the state. There is the $0.40 TIF fee, which the state continues to collect, even though the Texas Infrastructure Fund has long since been disbanded. And then there are the various USF fees, which have taken a laudable goal (universal telephone service for all households) and turned it into one of the worst corporate welfare programs for phone carriers.

All in all, there are about $3.00 of bogus fees on my $35.00 bill. The Texas Margin Fee is only a small part of the problem. Maybe somebody needs to sue the Texas legislature to get them to remove the bogus USF and TIF fees from our phone bills.

Last week, Lincoln Properties, the owner of the Northcross Mall and the developer who plans to put a record setting mega-box store in the middle of our neighborhood, announced a stand-down. They said that they would freeze further action so they could talk to the neighbors to resolve the problems.

Last Thursday evening the issue came before City Council. The neighbors packed the room, wall to wall, Lincoln Properties, however, was a no-show. Not much talking happened there, I guess.

Monday evening, the Crestview Neighborhood Association called a meeting, so the Northcross developers could meet with the neighbors. Once again, Lincoln Properties took a pass.

Tonight, the North Shoal Creek Neighborhood Association—my neighborhood association—held a general meeting with the Northcross developers scheduled to attend. And again, Lincoln Properties was nowhere to be found.

Is Lincoln Properties ever going to talk with anybody, or are they just trying to run out the clock? The empty chairs are not a sign of good faith.