CNN posted a PDF of the first draft of the Congressional Bailout Bill, published today. The draft is 106 pages long, and is composed of many sections detaling much of the proposal.

The introduction:

[A bill] To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase

certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing

stability to and preventing disruption in the economy

and financial system and protecting taxpayers, and

for other purposes.

I will post more commentary in the future, after I have time to read the bill in its entirety. Please post any thoughts you have on the subject in the comments section.

Link: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/28/news/pdf/firstdraft.pdf

In the second part of our continuing Political Profiles series, articles and videos will be collected regarding Sarah Palin’s trackrecord and vision for the future.

Sarah Palin: What does the VP Do ?

Charlie Gibson Interview 9.13.08:

Palin interviewed by Katie Couric 9.25.08:

Sarah Palin on Glenn Beck

Speech by Sarah Palin at Local Church:

Part 2

Palin with Charlie Rose 10/12/07

More coming in the Sarah Palin Collection pt. 3!

Secretary of State Condelleza Rice admitted to initiating discussion regarding torture of prisoners of war held in custody by the United States military, beginning in 2002. Rice’s legal adviser, John B. Levin, described discussions between then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and Rice, regarding the inclusion of questionable interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, in the Army and Air Force’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape) course.

Rice’s excuse is that the techniques covered in the SERE program were to prepare soldiers for what they might encounter when captured, not methods for interrogation, but the discussions which she admitted to leading were regarding methods of interrogation. 

Read the rest of the story here: http://www.pubrecord.org/component/content/347.html?task=view

It has been some time since I last posted, but I have been paying close attention to the election, the decisions made, and the backrounds of the people involved. This will be the first of a few posts loaded with videos and articles detailing the backgrounds and opinions of players in national politics. I will try to keep a similar structure throughout all of the posts, starting off with personal information, then focusing on opinions and actions.

Governor Sarah Palin:

Education:

n 1982, Palin enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College but left after her first semester. From there she transferred to North Idaho College, where she spent two semesters as a general studies major. From the community college she then transferred to the much larger University of Idaho for two semesters. During this time Palin won the Miss Wasilla Pageant beauty contest, then finished third (second runner-up) in the Miss Alaska pageant, at which she won a college scholarship and the “Miss Congeniality” award. She then left the University of Idaho and attended Matanuska-Susitna College in Alaska for one term. The next year she returned to the University of Idaho where she spent three semesters completing her Bachelor of Science degree in communications-journalism, graduating in 1987

From Wikipedia.

Opinions Held:

On abortion:

On the Economy:

On Civil Rights:

On Education:

On the Environment:

On Energy:

On Government Reform:

On Homeland Security:

Facts from: http://www.ontheissues.org/sarah_Palin.htm

More coming in the Sarah Palin Collection Pt. 2!

One of the obscenely annoying anti-piracy ads from the RIAA. Source: http://flickr.com/photos/stephendann/

An article from Wired’s Threat Level described a new non-profit, called the National Center for State Courts, has distributed 50,000 copies of its twenty-four page leaflet on piracy, developed by judges and lawyers. Called ‘The Case of Internet Piracy,’ the booklet describes a teenage girl, crying in her grandmother’s arms after being summoned to court for downloading music illegally. She was depending on a scholarship to get her into college, but now it was lost. Her grandmother (her parent’s were killed in a car crash) had to fight to keep the house, and pretty soon the girl broke down: “Oh, Nana. What have I done? I’ve ruined everything,” she said. “I’ll lose my scholarship. I know I will.”

“The purpose is basically to educate kids — middle school and high school-aged about how the justice system operates and about what really goes on in the courtroom as opposed to what you see on television,” said Lorri Montgomery, the center’s communications director. That being said after falsely explaining that filesharing was a city crime, punishable by up to two years in prison.

More excerpts from the comic illuminate the gist of the situation:

“Many consider downloading music without paying for it to be a victimless crime, but nothing could be further from the truth,” the prosecutor says.

The prosecution added that “Her conviction sends a message that illegally downloading music is a crime, and anyone involved will be held accountable.”

What is more criminal? Distributing this to students who haven’t necessarily done anything criminal, or potential file sharing itself?

Photo By http://flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/

The Atlantic Monthly published a short piece by Joe Biden, on the ‘American Idea.’ Despite the length of the article, it gives me confidence that this man will be leading our country. Here is the article, with some notes.

The unique idea of America embodied in our Bill of Rights is that people of diverse racial, religious, ethnic, and geographic origins can live together in peace and pursue their own happiness. The idea has survived civil war, world wars, and economic depression. With each challenge the idea has grown more robust. It has made us the envy of the world. It is the source of our strength as a nation.

Only Americans themselves can destroy the idea. The ingredients essential to its survival are our faith in its wisdom and our confidence in its success.

He is aware of the precarious position of this idea, unlike Mr. McCain, and Mr. Bush.

There have been times when our confidence has waned. Even our Founders, who feared the anarchy of the French Revolution, passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798. In the last century, fear of fascism and communism led us to imprison fellow citizens based on their ancestry and to harass others because of their views.

He recognizes the past, but puts it in context (see this post by Mike Cohen).

The American idea faces a similar challenge today. The radical fundamentalists who struck us on 9/11 achieved by our reaction what they could not through their own actions: a blow against the freedoms that animate the American idea. Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, warrantless electronic surveillance, torture, and “extraordinary renditions” have made us less, not more, secure. We have alienated allies around the world and created disunity at home.

A truly valid and insightful point. By attacking us, they’ve done more than steal our lives–they’ve stolen our freedom.

Americans are pragmatic, confident, and idealistic. In 2008, new leadership will rekindle our faith in the idea of America. We don’t have to diminish the American idea in order to save it. Indeed, the only way to prevail in the struggle between freedom and fundamentalism is to enrich that idea in the face of threats.

Next year we will see a renaissance of self-confident freedom that will demonstrate to the world that the American idea is not just an ideal, but a living reality.

The crack graphics team from the New York Times cooked up an amazing hi-resolution panorama of the view from the 10m high dive at the Water Cube in Beijing.

http://tinyurl.com/59hr7l

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An insight into the massively successful game development company Blizzard Entertainment, shedding light on why they’re so successful, and containing more details of the merger with Activision.

http://tinyurl.com/64j5os

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Robert Scobel interviews Dan Miel, a decorated designer of sports stadiums for Scobelizer TV.

http://tinyurl.com/573rsg

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A new site that tries to interpret and display the collective activity of the blogosphere.

http://www.blogs.com/

Photo by http://flickr.com/photos/rednuht/

As our culture’s focus is gradually shifting towards the internet, many of our methods used to gauge and measure it have changed. Social media, and the advent of Web 2.0, have had the greatest impact on our traditional thought and measurement process, most notably by harnessing the collective mind of the users, versus a select group of analysts. Sites like Digg, Del.icio.us and Reddit have revolutionized the news industry, taking power away from large institutions, and making everyone an expert in their own right. On the internet, your success is now measured by what other’s think of you, not by your resources.

Similar tools have evolved that use the same concepts of social bookmarking to analyze the actual impact and reputation of organizations, content and products on their audience. These are called prediction markets. In these virtual markets, users buy and sell stocks with virtual funds, wagering on what they think has potential. In the past, these markets have proved to be extremely accurate, predicting such things as presidential elections, Academy Award winners and business trends.

Currently, there are several prediction markets on the internet; most notably Popular Science’s PPX, a general predictions market, trading stocks on all subjects, and ThotMarket.com, a technologically focused market, trading links (to companies, individuals, concepts, etc.) instead of ideas.  Both of these markets are very interesting to observe, as trends materialize before your eyes. Current events have an enourmous effect on the virtual shares, which makes the experience just as multi-faceted as real-world stock trading.

How would you used prediction markets to analyze your company’s future? What other ways could this technology be applied?

In the field of television advertising, very few developments are made, and almost none have the potential to challenge our traditional concepts of the field. Since the origin of advertising, only the wealthly and well connected could get any significant message across, using a combination of scientifically backed advertising routines and placements, as well as an enourmous amount of resources. These advertisers had the power to control the thoughts going through the heads of their captive audience, forcing them to buy their product, attend their event or vote for their candidate.

Seeing an obvious void for a contradictory opinion, the founders of SaysMe.TV have a noble cause: to make mainstream television advertising available to those who aren’t normally fiscally qualified to broadcast their opinion, however valid it might be. The site has accomplished their goal quite well, as twenty-five second ads start at around four dollars for mid-day airtime, in suburban areas. The interface allows you to either choose a premade video to broadcast, or to upload your own, and even allow other people to use it. The concept seems bulletproof on most levels, but there is a supreme flaw.

Only a select group of advertisers, mainly those who already dominate the air waves, would deem television advertising effective. The main market is growing old and even backward, while the younger generation is moving towards the internet, and new media. Paying for anti-McCain ads at 2:00 pm in suburban Wisconsin won’t make much of a difference, even if there actually are viewers. Plus, with the rise of DVRs, the majority of commercials aren’t even been seen and scrutinized by viewers. There are better ways to spend money.

Despite that detrimental fact, it would be easy for the company to negotiate similar, if not more affordable deals, with new media companies, like Revision3, and CNet. Those are the eye balls that are going to make a difference in the future.

A more solid venture might be a similar agency (although lacking the old-school flash website) that placed ads on medium to high traffic pod/vodcasts, targeting even smaller niches, and an even more aware, intelligent and active audience. Such an organization would have no trouble operating with two or three employees, allowing for an enourmous profit-margin.

Although SaysMe.TV is a brilliant venture, they came slightly late. Television viewership is visibly waning, while new media is being eaten up faster than anyone predicted. To truly democratize advertising, one should focus on a democratized medium, that has the possibility to carry any message, for anyone. Once that freedom exists, advertising will be better targeted, and therefore more effective.