Cyber Pulpit

Information About Politicians

In the not too distant past, the public had to solely rely upon the media for information about politicians.

For this reason, laws were enacted to restrict the number of newspapers, radio stations, and television channels a single corporation could own within each city. I believe the idea behind that law was to prevent the media from becoming too “one-sided” and/or having the power to influence elections.

Commondreams.org published an article with this statement that I think sums up the dangers of a cozy relationship between the media and political establishments:

The playbook in Washington often goes like this: When a measure that threatens the establishment builds enough momentum that it must be dealt with, it is labeled as “unserious.” The Washington Post editorial board, true to the script, called Paul’s measure “an unserious answer to a serious question.”

Fast forward to now, where individuals can access the internet to read up on their favorite or least-favorite politicians.

I did this today, not seeking information about specific politicians, but about which politicians are opposing a bill that I support: House Resolution 1207.

I wasn’t able to find a pre-compiled list of politicians who are for and against the bill, but I did find some interesting websites that make digging through political records a little bit easier. Here are the ones I found useful:

There are certainly some legitimate complaints that I’m sure some politicians have with how they are portrayed on the internet. For example, I looked up Bob Corker on Google and was presented with results which included the following:

Bob Corker in Google's Index

I doubt he’s pleased with that!

While doing my research, I happened upon this very interesting article written by Josh Gerstein:

I’m not sure what to make of it due to my lack of legal knowledge, but I can’t help but raise an eyebrow, and feel its necessary to spread the word.

UPDATE: Shortly after I posted this entry, I read about a public apology Google made because their image search for Michele Obama produced some potentially offensive pictures. Very interesting.

Obama Truck

I spotted this truck while traveling between New York and Bethesda recently:

Obama Truck

Not sure what it means, but it did catch my attention!

Pay Attention to Earmarks!

I’m so glad to see this headline:

House Ethics Panel Probes Earmarks by 7 Lawmakers

I only skimmed through the article right now as I’ve got to start work on another project but plan to review it later. Here at the lawmakers under review:

  • James Moran (D., Va.)
  • C.W. Bill Young (R., Fla.)
  • Peter Visclosky (D., Ind.)
  • Norm Dicks (D., Wash.)
  • Todd Tiahrt (R., Kan.)
  • Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio)

The lobbying company in question is the PMA Group, a company whose offices were raided by the FBI and dissolved afterwards.

McMahon

When watching ”Bigger, Faster, Stronger”, I was interested by the segment where the evaluated Bush’s ownership of a baseball team which employed players that later admitted to steroid use, while Bush enacted laws against steroid use.

I also found the segments inspecting Arnold Schwarzenegger’s position on drugs and steroids quite interesting.

Now I’m curious about the announcement that Linda McMahon is planning to run for the US Senate. I’m not saying that I have any inside knowledge about whether or not WWE athletes use illegal steroids. You’ll have to make you own judgement on that. However, I would like to ask whether or not you feel that someone like is fit to act on the behalf on Connecticut as a representative in Washington.

If you live in Connecticut, please sound off!

Good Show Mike Duvall!

If what he himself said is true, Mike Duvall is a scumbag.

Wow, this is some serious news, and unfortunately I bet that many will gloss it over because it is happening so quickly.

Too bad Mike Duvall isn’t more like Blagodovich, you know? Mike Duvall could try and say he was kidding about having sex with a married lobbyist and another woman. He could say he only said that because he didn’t know he was being taped.

Whatever. The guy apparently has no morals and is ethically corrupt, so why is he in office in the first place?

What does this have to do with the effect of technology on politics? Accountability and clarity.

I hope this type of behavior isn’t swept under the rug, so here’s my part:

UPDATE: Move over Blagodovich!

“My offense was engaging in inappropriate storytelling and I regret my language and choice of words. The resulting media coverage was proving to be an unneeded distraction to my colleagues and I resigned in the hope that my decision would allow them to return to the business of the state.”

Taxes and Government Spending

After griping with some other commentators at Informed Banking about Chase’s credit card interest rate hikes, I felt like the banks are becoming another way to tax citizens.

Thinking that there are enough taxes, I searched for a site about how the government spends its money. Took awhile to find the site I wanted, so here it is for future reference:

How the US Federal Government Spends Your Taxes

Its actually very cool that the site has an API (application programming interface) too, but its basically just an XML file download utility, and it limits the data to 1000 records.

I’ve just downloaded the same data from the Census Bureau for 2008. I really wish the US Government would use open source technology more - that’s just one example of government waste. Why use *.zip and *.xls instead of gzip and open office formats?

At least some of the sites use CSV!

Politicians in the Internet Age

Like businesses, politicians have a lot to learn about life in the world on the Internet.

No longer can politicians hide behind press releases and hope that not everyone reads the newspaper. When they are caught doing the wrong thing, everybody knows, instantly.

In my opinion, this is a good thing.

But what about Congress? How can it be fixed? I happen to personally agree with Lawrence Lessig in his campaign to change Congress, but I don’t think his strategy will succeed as much as I hope it will.

I believe that even though tantalizing tidbits of news spread across the Internet as fast as wildfire (actually a heck of a lot faster!), information about what sleazy but legal deals politicians make with special interest groups is not that exciting. The good thing is that the information is there.

I foresee events in the not too distance future where a serious problem will rear its head, and those outraged at its caused will not have to dig too deep to find its cause. They’ll be able to “connect the dots” back to the root cause with enough time to spread the word before the next election.

When it comes to politics, I consider myself an American first, an independent second, and a fiscally and socially responsible, morally grounded, and ethical individual. Yep, I’ll vote for whoever I believe will do the right thing. Are you that candidate?