Category Archives: politics

CNN Politics Podcast – Fix It!

I’ve been watching the daily politics podcast from CNN for a while. I loved CNN in the 80’s but their worthiness has been drifting for over a decade. I tend to vary my sources of news just to know what they’re all saying.

But something about this podcast, which is easily solvable has been annoying me for quite some time. So, I chased the links till I found a page to send feedback. I’m not sure if it will get to those it needs to, but I sure hope so. An easy fix to an annoying situation.

(Wolf Blitzer’s annoying, but they’re not going to solve that.)

CNN,

The only podcast I watch regularly is the CNN Politics podcast, a video daily release.

You really, really, really really need to mention WHAT DAY it is at the beginning of each podcast. On either the audio portion or displayed on the video, preferably both!

Otherwise enjoying it, thanks.

-bill shirley, houston

The trick is, these things download daily to my iPod/iTunes and if I haven’t watched them in a while, there’s a bunch of them. There is NO way to tell if it’s the most recent one when you’re watching. And, of course, the introductions are all identical.

Note: I should have said, it’s the only video podcast I watch regularly from CNN.

Electronic “Voting”

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I voted in the Democratic Primary on Tuesday, but wasn’t up for going to the Precinct Convention when I got home. I wanted to go just to experience it, but it didn’t happen.

I consider all the elections in recent years to be suspect. I’m resolving to write up a letter to that effect to hand over to the precinct workers come the full election.

Nothing wrong with this ticket to the right. The problem is the complete unauditability of the process. There is no way to confirm what I click on and what I am displayed is ever actually accounted for. The only way to provide that functionality is to provide a hard copy in the voting booth.

That’s the only issue that needs to be considered. But on top of that is the closed nature of the system. How it works is not public knowledge. This is what we call security through obscurity and 1) it is never secure 2) it is suspect to collusion by insiders, and 3) the secret nature of it makes people lazy.

And, the nature of humans is to be cheaters. Everyone wants something without working for it.

Presidential Preparedness: Who has been Tested?

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As I’ve been reviewing past presidents’ experience prior to becoming president, the topic has come up a few times in the media recently. As we head for a Tuesday penultimate in its Superness, it’s been in some of the political coverage.

The question was raised directly by George Will on This Week: Does that experience count for anything? Of course he had to do it such a was as to attempt to show himself to be the smartest Ass in the room. Who was the most “experienced and prepared” president? James Bucannan, generally judged one of the worst. Because it was such an obviously researched and prepared fact and delivered with much smugness, it failed at making Will seem superior. Not that it’s not an interesting data point.

Also in Slate.com this week, John Dickerson broached the subject in Tough Call, Will Clinton or Obama Protect Your Children.

â€¦ the essential question the ad asks is a fair one: Which of the candidates do you trust to keep his or her head when everyone around them is lighting theirs on fire, and at a time when your kid’s safety could be on the line?

The answer touches on the elements of experience as we’ve batted them around so far this electionâ€”who has broader exposure to the world, who has dealt with more foreign leaders, and who knows more about the military. But the ad also raises a new question the Clinton campaign has been stressing over the last few days: Who has been tested?

Barack Sleeping with Hillary?

Jorhn McCain

Library Petition by the “GOP”

Guardian of the Non Sequitur

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