Happy Monday. Wait, Monday, good? Well, it was for me. I hadn’t been properly rested in two weeks thanks to CPAC, weekend travel, and catch up work after.

You want to know how desperate the Obama/Reid Democrats are to pass that cybersecurity bill? Janet Napolitano is lying about the ACLU to try to gin up support.

Speaking of lies, Soros-funded radical PIG Free Press apparently lied to Marsha Blackburn. Under oath before the House committee. Oops.

And Google wasn’t exactly ethical when it apparently circumvented people’s privacy settings on Apple iOS as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So much dishonesty, so little time. Fortunately we observed Washington’s Birthday today, so the only other story I’ve got is that China continues to persecute Apple while the “We can’t wait” adminstration… waits.

Happy Monday. Wait, Monday, good? Well, it was for me. I hadn’t been properly rested in two weeks thanks to CPAC, weekend travel, and catch up work after.

You want to know how desperate the Obama/Reid Democrats are to pass that cybersecurity bill? Janet Napolitano is lying about the ACLU to try to gin up support.

Speaking of lies, Soros-funded radical PIG Free Press apparently lied to Marsha Blackburn. Under oath before the House committee. Oops.

And Google wasn’t exactly ethical when it apparently circumvented people’s privacy settings on Apple iOS as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

So much dishonesty, so little time. Fortunately we observed Washington’s Birthday today, so the only other story I’ve got is that China continues to persecute Apple while the “We can’t wait” adminstration… waits.

So, Google is integrating its websites more. As a result, some privacy settings will apply network-wide, and one site will be able to use data from another site. People are flipping out, naturally. People have been giving Google this data for ages. People have known that Google was watching them, and yet they chose to keep using Google and in fact use one account for many Google services.

Note that the new policy changes nothing about what Google already knew about you. It just changes what certain Google sites will use about you. As Marsha Blackburn and other members of Congress begin to look into it though, Google isn’t helping its case by pleading that it’s alright because certain users are excluded, which just furthers the premise that there’s something wrong with it.

But ultimately, you’re in control of what you do online. Personal responsibility: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.

I feel vindicated though in having about a dozen Google accounts for the limited times I had use for their services, usual in the course of helping somebody else. Different accounts for different uses and different sites. It was never hard. You just had to do it. Oh, and not use their email.

Read More →

So, Google is integrating its websites more. As a result, some privacy settings will apply network-wide, and one site will be able to use data from another site. People are flipping out, naturally. People have been giving Google this data for ages. People have known that Google was watching them, and yet they chose to keep using Google and in fact use one account for many Google services.

Note that the new policy changes nothing about what Google already knew about you. It just changes what certain Google sites will use about you. As Marsha Blackburn and other members of Congress begin to look into it though, Google isn’t helping its case by pleading that it’s alright because certain users are excluded, which just furthers the premise that there’s something wrong with it.

But ultimately, you’re in control of what you do online. Personal responsibility: it’s not just for breakfast anymore.

I feel vindicated though in having about a dozen Google accounts for the limited times I had use for their services, usual in the course of helping somebody else. Different accounts for different uses and different sites. It was never hard. You just had to do it. Oh, and not use their email.

Read More →

Tennessee neither gains nor loses a seat in the House, but because of population shifts in the state, the political power has moved to the central regions. Also, for the first time since Reconstruction, the GOP controls the redistricting process. In terms of needs, one first looks at the ideal population count for each district within a state. The 7th and 9th districts show the greatest deviation from that ideal population. So it stands to reason that the most impacted incumbents are Republicans Marsha Blackburn in the 7th and Democrat Steve Cohen in the 9th. The 7th is over populated while the 9th needs population. Also, as a black majority district, any decision to weaken Cohen’s hold on the area must pass muster under the VRA. The 7th could b adjusted by shedding those parts of Memphis currently in the district, which would help the GOP. Additionally, by shoring up Cohen, Steve Fincher in the 8th could benefit if he cedes Democratic precincts in his district to Cohen’s 9th District. In the end, it eventually boils down to Democrat Jim Cooper, who represents the Nashville area.

But first, there is a Senate race as Republican incumbent Bob Corker seeks reelection. The former mayor of Chattanooga currently has no declared Democratic opponents. Although Corker may face a primary challenge, no opponents are really considered serious threats. However, in polling of likely Republican voters, on a generic basis, 43% of voters stated they would prefer a more conservative candidate to Corker’s 38% preference. In order for any Democrat to prevail against Corker, since Tennessee is a conservative state, they would have to run to the right of Corker (fat chance), or Corker would have to be scandal-ridden to lose. Although there are conservative options to him, they come from within his party and to the extent that they exist, no one has stepped forward as of yet.

However, there are some potential Democratic candidates starting with former representative John Tanner. A former leader of the Blue Dog Democrats, at one point there were serious rumors that he may switch parties, although he later dismissed them. State senator Roy Herron, who lost his bid to succeed Tanner in the 8th District in 2010, is also a possibility based upon that 2010 effort. Bart Gordon may be considered too liberal for the voters of Tennessee on a statewide basis. An intriguing choice would be Lincoln Davis, a former representative, who remains fairly popular. By Tennessee standards, he is considered a moderate Democrat, but by national standards he would be considered a conservative Democrat. Regardless of who steps forward, if anyone, it would appear the seat is safely in the hands of Corker.

As far as presidential politics is concerned, it is a safe bet that if they failed to vote for favorite son Al Gore in 2000, they will not support Obama in 2012. Nor will he come close. Although he may carry some traditional Democratic urban areas, the eventual nominee will win their 11 electoral votes.

At the House level, because of the shift of political power to central Tennessee, the final scenarios are hard to discuss since the final plans have not been completed. But it centers around two dynamics- what to do about the Nashville-based 5th District, and the political aspirations of Bill Ketron.

Lets first look at the easy districts. Republicans Phil Roe and Jim Duncan are safe, as is Chuck Fleischmann in the southeast section of the state. As mentioned earlier, Steve Cohen’s 9th District needs to gain population and that means the 7th will lose certain parts of Memphis to the 9th. While that would simultaneously help Republicans Diane Black and Steve Fincher, it would also bolster Cohen.

That leaves the 4th, 5th, and 6th Districts. One goal of the Republican-led legislature is to shore up Diane Black in the 6th and that can be done by removing some of the central Tennessee counties. Unfortunately, that would then cause Cooper’s 5th District to shift eastward and pick up some more Democratic areas. Although that would make any Republican’s job tougher in an attempt to unseat him, state house speaker Beth Harwell has been mentioned as a good candidate to run against Cooper. This then creates what amounts to a non-problem in the 4th District. If Rutherford City is drawn into that district, then Bill Ketron would likely enter the race and set up a primary battle between Ketron and Republican incumbent Scott Desjarlais. The Democrats would then likely run state senator Eric Stewart with the GOP eventually prevailing in November, assuming Ketron and Desjarlais do not inflict heavy damage on each other. The bottom line is that shoring Blackburn and Black, they inadvertently also have to strengthen Cooper and expose Desjarlais to a primary battle. The result would be no change in the party make up of their congressional delegation, but they would probably have to sacrifice an incumbent along the way to solidify their political future.

Running totals thus far:
Obama with 99 electoral votes to 157 for GOP nominee;
Net gain of 2 Governors;
Net gain of 3 Senate seats;
Net loss of 7 House seats.

Next: Kentucky

It was a long fight. I can’t tell you how many times I kept saying that SOPA and PROTECT IP were in trouble. But they’re getting shelved now. Sure, there’s whining about it. And the President still is too cowardly to lead.

Now it’s time to move on to the next step, though, and find a sensible way to attack the foreign infringers, who essentially are free riders on the American copyright system, taking advantage of the scarcity imposed by copyright without themselves respecting the rules that create that scarcity.

You can tell who’s trying to make this into a fight against copyright though, by the way Megaupload is being made out as a victim. When Megaupload in fact was a company that was making big bucks as a place you could stash files for broad distribution without regard for copyright, and they’re rightfully being shut down.

So it’s not surprising that the terror group Anonymous is defending them and attacking the United States of America in the process. This is an anti-American lawless band of thugs that needs to be be made to pay. And they always do get caught. We just have to wonder whether there will be a backlash against an open Internet thanks to that anarchist scum.

Read More →

It was a long fight. I can’t tell you how many times I kept saying that SOPA and PROTECT IP were in trouble. But they’re getting shelved now. Sure, there’s whining about it. And the President still is too cowardly to lead.

Now it’s time to move on to the next step, though, and find a sensible way to attack the foreign infringers, who essentially are free riders on the American copyright system, taking advantage of the scarcity imposed by copyright without themselves respecting the rules that create that scarcity.

You can tell who’s trying to make this into a fight against copyright though, by the way Megaupload is being made out as a victim. When Megaupload in fact was a company that was making big bucks as a place you could stash files for broad distribution without regard for copyright, and they’re rightfully being shut down.

So it’s not surprising that the terror group Anonymous is defending them and attacking the United States of America in the process. This is an anti-American lawless band of thugs that needs to be be made to pay. And they always do get caught. We just have to wonder whether there will be a backlash against an open Internet thanks to that anarchist scum.

Read More →

According to Darrell Issa, SOPA is officially postponed by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith. Issa broke the news on Twitter, which only underscores how important it is that we protect the Internet from capricious censorship, as was the risk under a SOPA-like regime.

On the Senate side, Harry Reid has canceled the vote on PROTECT IP, killing momentum for the proposal in both houses of Congress.

Smith’s and Reid’s decisions come on the heels of disgraced former Senator and current MPAA head Chris Dodd calling for cross-industry discussions on property protection. It may have been the death blow for PROTECT IP and SOPA’s biggest industry supporter to start talking compromise, when in the past the Dodd MPAA had taken a hard line against any deviation from the bills.

In other SOPA news, Marsha Blackburn also announced a change of heart on SOPA. I agree with Blackburn’s new position: scrap SOPA and start with something new. Issa’s and Ron Wyden’s OPEN Act is also worthy of consideration.

According to Darrell Issa, SOPA is officially postponed by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith. Issa broke the news on Twitter, which only underscores how important it is that we protect the Internet from capricious censorship, as was the risk under a SOPA-like regime.

On the Senate side, Harry Reid has canceled the vote on PROTECT IP, killing momentum for the proposal in both houses of Congress.

Smith’s and Reid’s decisions comes on the heels of disgraced former Senator and current MPAA head Chris Dodd calling for cross-industry discussions on property protection. It may have been the death blow for PROTECT IP and SOPA’s biggest industry supporter to start talking compromise, when in the past the Dodd MPAA had taken a hard line against any deviation from the bills.

In other SOPA news, Marsha Blackburn also announced a change of heart on SOPA. I agree with Blackburn’s new position: scrap SOPA and start with something new. Issa’s and Ron Wyden’s OPEN Act is also worthy of consideration.

According to Darrell Issa, SOPA is officially postponed by House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith. Issa broke the news on Twitter, which only underscores how important it is that we protect the Internet from capricious censorship, as was the risk under a SOPA-like regime.

On the Senate side, Harry Reid has canceled the vote on PROTECT IP, killing momentum for the proposal in both houses of Congress.

Smith’s and Reid’s decisions comes on the heels of disgraced former Senator and current MPAA head Chris Dodd calling for cross-industry discussions on property protection. It may have been the death blow for PROTECT IP and SOPA’s biggest industry supporter to start talking compromise, when in the past the Dodd MPAA had taken a hard line against any deviation from the bills.

In other SOPA news, Marsha Blackburn also announced a change of heart on SOPA. I agree with Blackburn’s new position: scrap SOPA and start with something new. Issa’s and Ron Wyden’s OPEN Act is also worthy of consideration.