Clothes Make the Man

Clothes Make the Man is an article on Philadelphia Weekly by Jonathan Valania about the president of Urban Outfitters Richard Hayne, a hippie-turned-republican.

"When PW asks Hayne about his financial support of Santorum, he initially denies it. And when presented with a computer printout of Santorum's campaign donors from the Center for Responsive Politics website--which cites a $4,650 contribution from Urban Outfitters--he responds: "I'll have to look into this. I don't think this is right." In fact, he and his wife have contributed $13,150 to Santorum and Santorum's Political Action Committee over the years."

Interesting.
(From Metafilter)

391: More Is Less

391: More Is Less is an episode of This American Life. It's a two-parter, this week and next week, on the current health care crisis/reform.   Kind of dry, kind of awesome.   

Also the medscape news alert tells me that, "The Senate Finance Committee today passed a massive healthcare reform bill — mostly along partisan lines — that would eventually reduce the ranks of the uninsured by more than half."  Whee!

Edited for accurate links.

(From my iPod subscription)

The Drugging And Gang Rape Of A KBR Employee! Senator Al Franken

The Drugging And Gang Rape Of A KBR Employee! Senator Al Franken is a poorly titled youtube video (from C-SPAN2!) showing Al Franken presenting his amendment. This is dry but important!

Boing Boing explains,

"Al Franken successfully introduced legislation that denies federal contracts to companies that have policies -- anywhere in the world -- that punish employees for complaining about rape or discrimination on the job. This is in response to a KBR/Halliburton employee in Iraq who was drugged and gang-raped by co-workers and denied justice or even medical treatment, then locked in a storage container for 24 hours and told that she'd lose her job if she left the country to get medical help. She was also prohibited from suing or seeking criminal justice because her Halliburton contract forbade seeking any justice apart from private arbitration.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) tried to block the amendment, saying that it was a 'a political attack directed at Halliburton.' Franken replied, 'This amendment does not single out a single contractor. This amendment would defund any contractor that refuses to give a victim of rape their day in court.' "

Yes. Violence against women makes me ANGRY. GAAAAAAAH!!!!111!

(From Boing Boing)

Slow Jam the News: Health Care Reform (9/14/09)

Slow Jam the News: Health Care Reform (9/14/09) is a self-explanatory video from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, where Jimmy and the Roots jam about health care.

Accordign to the Huffpo, "Jimmy Fallon and the Roots sexualized the health care debate last with a sensual slow jam about reform. 'Bipartisanship means everyone can partay,' they crooned.

Jimmy, of course, cracks up through the entire thing. It's incredibly juvenile. And sexey.

Highlights:
"Let's do it with the lights on" [crack up]
"...diaphanous... I don't mean to be too pedantic."
Enjoy!
(From )

Obama Health Reform Address Close - "The Character Of Our Country"

Obama Health Reform Address Close - "The Character Of Our Country" is the Youtube video clip of the last bit of Obama's Health Care Reform Speech that aired on C-Span.

If you didn't swoon, you better get that checked out--you don't have a heart. Fact. I'm going to be a great doctor.

PS: Who is the speechwriter? I would like a date with them, thx.
(From RE, TV)

Palin’s Resignation: The Edited Version

Palin’s Resignation: The Edited Version is a Vanity Fair piece where the magazine's editors wield their mighty pens in efforts to salvage the mess that was Palin's resignation speech.

The editor in me is really nostlagic for all these crazy editing marks in multi-colored pens. *Sigh*

Vanity fair quips:

"Just how poorly constructed was the governor’s holiday-weekend address? We asked V.F.’s red-pencil-wielding executive literary editor, Wayne Lawson, together with representatives from the research and copy departments, to whip it into publishable shape. Here is the colorful result."

My friend Jen explains:

"So, in what some could consider a passive aggressive attack, Vanity Fair has edited Sarah Palin's most recent speech. While the grammar and style corrections may seem humorous, the gregarious factual errors are simply shocking.

Moreover, it seems that Palin--or whatever ho-dunk kid with a working computer and printer wrote this speech--never learned the basic principles of good writing: be concise."

Word.

(From JenK )

WhiteHouse.Gov: Change Has Come To America

Whitehouse.gov got a makeover today even before Obama was sworn in.  This makeover, undubitably, is the best thing on the Interwebs today.

Not only does the new site look sleek, but according to Slate.com's Farhad Manjoo, new functions were added as well:

"The Obama site is leaner—understandably, the administration being just a few hours old—but also promises more interactivity. In the first blog post, Macon Phillips, Obama's White House director of new media, reaffirms a campaign promise—that the White House will post all nonemergency legislation to the site for five days and review all the comments that come in before the president signs or vetoes the bill. Wisely, the first blog post allows no comments—if it had, we'd have seen a mob of wiseasses posting "First!!!!" At the moment, the only way to send a note to the White House is to use this contact form.

After the election, many wondered how Obama would transform his campaign's online network into a force for pushing his policy goals. As far as I can tell, the White House Web site is not—or not yet—a social network. You can't build a profile, connect with friends, and start groups to advocate for certain positions—the functions that allowed millions of supporters to take part in his campaign. What you can do is give the site your e-mail address and ZIP code. When I did so, I got a pop-up message thanking me for my submission, and that was that. I hope they don't spam me.

The site is not without its bugs, either: A flashy slide show of past presidents fails to include anyone past Gerald Ford. In addition, the Web masters were so thorough in their attempts to erase the old site that they broke many legitimate pages. For instance, when you Google George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, FDR, or any other past president, you get now-broken links to their bios on the White House site."

Enjoy!

(From Slate and Kottke)

Paris Daily Photo

Paris Daily Photo is a self-explanatory website by 48-year-old self-described "friendly Parisian" photogapher Eric. Eric explains his site:

You love Paris? You have never been to Paris but you would like a sneak preview? Then come here every day and you will find a brand new picture, taken by one of its inhabitants: me! Wish list (of photos!) welcome.

What makes the site charming are the little added descriptions of the photos and places. In particular, I like the November fifth entry:

It's a tradition that has almost never ceased since 1924: the "straw vote" at the famous Harry's Bar... The principle is simple: any American citizen (who can show an American passport) and who is older than 18 can participate in the vote. The results are posted in front of the bar (and on the Web site) every week leading up to the election until the very final moment (I took this photo at 7 pm on November 4th Paris time). The interesting part is that ever since 1924, the straw vote at Harry's Bar was wrong only twice: in 1976 (Ford/Carter) and in 2004 (Bush II/Kerry).

This concludes politics week here on TOTI. And by week I mean trio of posts. I live life on the FAST lane.

(From your eyes tell lies your mouth can never spill)

Barack Obama wins presidential election

"CNN projects that Barack Obama will be the nation's 44th president."

This is hands down the most awesome thing on the interwebs today.

A World Enslaved

A World Enslaved is a totally depressing article by E. Benjamin Skinner, that ran on Foreign Policy magazine. According to the article, there are now more slaves than have ever been in human history.

"Here, 600 miles from the United States, and five hours from Manhattan, you have successfully arranged to buy a human being for 50 bucks.

In the popular consciousness, 'slavery' has come to be little more than just a metaphor for undue hardship. Investment bankers routinely refer to themselves as 'high-paid wage slaves.' Human rights activists may call $1-an-hour sweatshop laborers slaves, regardless of the fact that they are paid and can often walk away from the job. But the reality of slavery is far different. Slavery exists today on an unprecedented scale. In Africa, tens of thousands are chattel slaves, seized in war or tucked away for generations. Across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, traffickers have forced as many as 2 million into prostitution or labor. In South Asia, which has the highest concentration of slaves on the planet, nearly 10 million languish in bondage, unable to leave their captors until they pay off 'debts,' legal fictions that in many cases are generations old.

...

But more must be done to educate local police, even in the richest of nations. Too often, these street-level law enforcement personnel do not understand that it’s just as likely for a prostitute to be a trafficking victim as it is for a nanny working without proper papers to be a slave. And, after they have been discovered by law enforcement, few rich nations provide slaves with the kind of rehabilitation, retraining, and protection needed to prevent their re-trafficking. The asylum now granted to former slaves in the United States and the Netherlands is a start. But more must be done."

(From Mefi)

Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video

Link to a Point of Time Within a YouTube Video is a short article that tells you how to link to a specific point in the Youtube video. 

Basically just add this to the end of the video URL:

#t=0m56s

Those aren't random letters and numbers. Put the minute number before the letter 'm' and the seconds number before the letter 's' to direct people to the portion of the video you desire.

Simple and awesome.
(From Melondrama)

We used to count votes, now we count bacon

We used to count votes, now we count bacon is an article on Radosh.net concerning the importance of post-election "game". I haven't really been paying attention to politics, and Bill Maher usually annoys me... but I just really liked the linked video with Chris Rock. Plus, I like the word "game" when used to describe non-sporting things.

From the article:

"The Obama campaign is famous for its ground game. The question is, does it have a post-game ground game? It's time to consider what happens if Obama goes into the election with an insurmountable lead in the polls, and ends up losing thanks to manufactured chaos at the booth."

Chris Rock touches on this possibility with humor, hypothesizing that someone will say, "Oh you got the most votes? Too bad you lost. We used to count votes, now we count bacon." Check it:
Ace.

(From Radosh.net)