[there are six news stories in this post, on politics and statistics.]
Correspondences.org :: News for the people by people: Lost: Voice of Youth. Reward if Found
by Melissa Blaustein
...As a 15 year old non fiction student, I'm one to read the news and know what's going on. Recently I've been extremely interested in the recall election and who will be the next governor of my state. However, I'm overwhelmingly alarmed by the complete absence of any sort of acknowledgement of California's youth opinion. Sure, I'm not 18 just yet, and I can't vote, but does this mean that my ideas, values and what I want for my country don't matter? I wonder why children are even mentioned if we are completely irrelevant to anything until we can vote. When I turn 18, I know that I'd be much more likely to vote for someone who cared about me and my peers when I was 15 then someone who miraculously notices me when I turn 18 and am able to vote. The truth is, those under 18 today are the people of tomorrow. Unfortunately, no one really seems to realize that until such a tomorrow occurs.
So now that Arnold Schwarzenegger is our governor (as of 11:14 pm with 46% of the precint reporting) what do the "people of California" have to say about it? I'm sure everyone has an opinion on this controversial issue of governmental recall. But what about those who did not yet qualify to vote? Are we still the people of California, even though legally we are not considered to be? Not only were we not allowed to vote, but no one in the general media and none of the canidates asked; we, the youth of california our opinion. Does this mean that politically speaking we don't matter? I myself can't help but feel that I am powerless.
As far as I've seen, according to modern politics, who am i to even be writing this story? All I can say is thank goodness for blogs such as correspondences which allow some of those who might not otherwise be heard to speak out. But in the main stream media, as far as anyone who matters is concerned, all I am is a "youngster".
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not criticizing all modern media and all political candidates. I simply pose the question; where do I as an adolescent stand? Do my words, my ideas, and my peers words and ideas matter to you? Because simply the sporadic mention of the children and better education just don't do it for me...
internet.com :: As The Blogs Churn
By Robyn Greenspan
...According to Perseus Development Corp., a significant number of Internet users jumped on the blog [define] bandwagon and then jumped off, as the company found that two-thirds of the 3,634 hosted blogs that were surveyed were inactive.
Interestingly, The National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE) Blog Census finds almost the exact reverse: of the 1,372,266 Weblogs that are indexed by the NITLE, an estimated 905,695 are active...
Internet Magazine :: George W Bush weblog launches
...The Bush-Cheney 2004 Presidential campaign now has its own official weblog - and guess what? The regularly-updated diary seems to run on the open source weblogging software, Movable Type.
Although weblogs are often used as an opportunity for writers to post interesting links and opinions, many regard the Bush-Cheney weblog as a series of tacked-together press releases made to look like a weblog.
There's also no opportunity to comment under each post - usually part of what weaves weblogs together.
Whatever your opinion, there's no doubt that once the President himself has a blog, weblogging has gone mainstream...
MIT Technology Review :: Enter The Cybercandidates
By Henry Jenkins
...By now, you've probably heard that savvy use of the Internet has helped to push Howard Dean, the previously little known former governor of Vermont, into the front ranks of candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Dean has raised more money online than any other campaign in U.S. political history; his staff is using blogging technology to create a more intimate, real-time relationship with its supporters; and they are deploying "smart mob" style tactics to quickly launch rallies around the country. Dean won 40 percent of the vote in an online "primary" run by MoveOn.org - an event that attracted more voters than the 2000 Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary combined. Pundits are calling Dean the cybercandidate...
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette :: Wesley Clark loses campaign manager over 'growing pains'
...Sterling Newberry, who helped lead one of the two major draft-Clark efforts, told Wired magazine last month that "there has been a tremendous amount of confusion and paucity of information coming from the campaign to blogs [Web logs], news sites and news people who have been Clark supporters."
Newberry said, for instance, that he had not been contacted by the campaign. "I have had some dealings with people who seemed to be associated with the campaign, but they were unproductive, and it wasn't clear what direction they were going."
Matthew Stoller, who publishes a daily Clark e-mail newsletter, told Wired, "A movement is a movement, and it can't be controlled through top-down hierarchical methods."
COURTING LABOR Fowler has ties to the tech world. He took leave from Tech-Net, a California political organization that represents the technology industry, to join the Clark campaign. Fowler was in charge of Democratic outreach for TechNet. Newsweek magazine has reported that Fowler's ties to Clark go back at least to the spring of 2002, when Clark sought his advice on a presidential run. Clark, meanwhile, was in Tulsa on Tuesday, where he criticized President Bush's war and economic policies while courting union voters. Speaking before about 200 people at the Transport Workers Union Local 514, Clark repeated his promise to repeal Bush's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and use that money - $100 million - to create jobs. Information for this article was contributed by Kevin Freking of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Ron Fournier and Clayton Bellamy of The Associated Press...
FOXNews :: Hollings Retirement a Big Win for Liberty
By Radley Balko
...Each time progress has dared to poke its head into the hallowed halls of the U.S. Senate, Fritz Hollings has been there to beat it back with a Billy club.
Thanks in part to nearly $300,000 in campaign contributions from the entertainment industry, he's become a tireless champion of the Luddites. Last year, Hollings introduced an outrageous piece of legislation that would have required every piece of electronics sold in the United States to come outfitted with a copyright protection mechanism. The bill would have significantly increased the cost of everything from car stereos to home computers, and would have thrown a wet blanket over further development of digital technology.
Also last year, also with backing from the Motion Picture Association of America, Hollings attempted to circumvent the legislative process and directly persuade the FCC to prevent consumers from recording broadcast television programs in their own homes.
Hollings' shameless shilling for the entertainment industry has earned him the title "the Senator from Disney," or "Sen. Ernest 'Fritz' Hollings, D-Disney" in blogging and tech circles...
K-Collector