Archive for the ‘internet/free speech’ Category

Some Tea party Express videos

Posted: November 2, 2010 by datechguy in congress, elections, internet/free speech, local issues, media, opinion/news, politics, short films/interviews, special events, tea parties
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Here are some videos from the day:

Before the crowd comes:

Jerry talked to me first

So Did Steve and Denise:

and Richard and Shirley:

And Linda:

I ran into Jen Caissie’s mom but didn’t know who she was when I started:

If you don’t know who Jen is here’s jen:

Since the left came to protest and unlike the tea party people decided to assault a driver who disagreed with them

The Media found the protesters interesting and the police stayed on top of them the entire time:

When things were done I talked to Ron:

And checked back with Jerry

It was a good little rally, not in the class of the Boston event but still effective. At least effective enough that it worried the left. Their actions during the pledge and the national anthem combined with the assault did more to hurt their cause than anything else.

Update: Leftists nuts in VA too, at least they didn’t assault anyone.

My predictions on the Stewart Rally:

Posted: October 30, 2010 by datechguy in culture, internet/free speech, media, opinion/news, special events
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Attendance:

I predict a rally attended by maybe 50k maybe slightly more a ceiling of about 75k pretty close to the Freedomworks rally but nowhere near Beck’s. Stewart is a legitimate star as is Colbert, the idea of what their fans consider and “open air show” and what the establishment left consider their best chance to convince their base that they have a chance will help bump the numbers up porta potty issue or no.

The Draw

The draw will come in three flavors. The primary flavor that decided to go right at the start will be college age Comedy Central fans. They are coming for fun, and if Arianna Huffington and Oprah want to pay their way so much the better. Their purpose is not primarily political (although some might have strong political beliefs) they are there for a good time, some partying and the hope of getting laid. (yeah that’s blunt but true)

The secondary flavor will be the Democratic political class/Unions. There are the hardcore dems who hope to use this rally in the way that OneNation was supposed to be used, to convince the democratic base that they have momentum. They are aware that the MSM are going to do their best to advance this narrative so Union leaders and Various activists will compel their membership to go. I suspect they will be dwarfed by the first flavor and will find the Stewart fans a whole lot less enthusiastic for what they are selling.

The final flavor will be the true believes like the lady I met in Newton two weeks ago they believe in Obama, Obamacare, global warming, cap and trade, etc. This includes a lot of the socialist groups that attended one nation in the hopes of getting joiners contributes. They will be the smallest group and their reaction will be based on how they look at it. Publicly they will talk numbers and be “inspired”, privately they will notice that the non-activists have very little interest in their causes. Watch their body language when they get home, it will speak volumes.

The Show

This I have absolutely no idea about, don’t know what Stewart is planning, how he is planning it, how much will be comedy and how he intends to do it. Since his primary shtick is to play off of others I don’t know how he does that. Will he show parts of the Beck rally and comment? Will he try to parody bits and pieces of it? Will Colbert do a fake Beck while Stewart laughs at him? I’m presuming that he has good writers but there is a difference between writing for a live show with an audience that he can’t predict vs a studio audience. I’m presuming Stewart’s team is likely to and has been collaborating as much as possible with the democratic left to whatever degree they can without risking their brand. I also trust Stewart’s team will make sure that there is not trash left everywhere.

The Media

The media is in the worst of all positions. They support this march and the goals of all three groups. They will be portraying the march in the most favorable light possible, but people from the right will be there with cameras and phones tweeting so they are in a box. If the attendance numbers are VERY low then they will be very embarrassed since the story will be of an epic fail. If the air photo is smaller than Beck’s by degrees as I suspect they will be it will be used against the media as it portrays it as a win. If there is drunkenness and public nastiness then it is going to be shown by conservatives but ignored by the media. If the crowd gets too rowdy and/or destructive then the story and the narrative goes very astray. I don’t know if CSPAN will cover the rally, if they do then watch out. Bottom line, the media has a narrative they have already written and are hoping for, everything will depend on how far from that narrative that the actual event goes.

The End Result
Bill Press is exactly right in on respect, activists here are wasted instead of being in the field. A lot of the young people there frankly are not likely to be getting OTHERS out to vote and I suspect the greatest quantities are already coming from the bluest of areas. This is not going to create any actual votes but it might allow the media to try to push a narrative of democratic momentum in the last 48 hours.

In the end The Sunday and Monday shows will be all over this, if it is a success they will trumpet it, if it mediocre they will pretend it is a success, if it is a failure and/or an embarrassment then they will declare it simply a comedy show and nothing else. The problem for the media however is they no longer have the monopoly on the message and the alternative message will be getting out in real-time via twitter and the blogs.

What started as a show/publicity stunt has basically become a high stakes risk for Stewart and Comedy Central. If they make democrats look bad he will find there is plenty of room under the Obama/Democratic bus. If he pulls it off then he will have even more power then the left has already ceded him. God help him if it is boring.

I will know if I’m right within 48 hours, so will you.

BTW how telling is it that there is not a single Memeorandum thread on this subject at this time 7:48 a.m. Could it be that the media has already decided it will not pan out and is starting to downplay it?

Update: One thing I neglected to mention. Politics aside Stewart’s primary goals for the rally are tied up with fans of the show and the audience there. The lefts & the media’s goals (I know redundant) are tied up with the viewing public not there.

Update 2: My God that was boring. He did however draw more folks then I thought but not nearly as many as Beck.

Update 3: Pajamas Media has some more and wider shot photos and better methodology (including the ridiculous CBS stuff) Still not as much Beck but still pretty impressive. This quote is vital:

Big name acts, extensive crowd control, rules against video or audio taping even with your cell phone, boring political speeches … this wasn’t a rally, this was a U2 concert!

And that tells us the real story: they held a rock/comedy concert, with pro acts including two of the hottest TV comedians around, and professional production, with free admission and with Arianna Huffington paying for bus rides — and no matter what you think a “dense” crowd is, it was still only about six-tenths of Beck’s open-air church service.

Actually I thought the acts were so so (I thought the dueling trains stuff was very clever) but I think the real question that I still don’t have a good answer on is the composition. I’ll keep digging

Dan Riehl, you’re BRILLIANT! Meet the 120+ write in Alaska candidates

Posted: October 29, 2010 by datechguy in blogs, elections, internet/free speech, media, oddities, politics, tea parties
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Lisa Murkowski managed to get a favorable court ruling to get the write-in list to the voters.

Dan Riehl noticed that the rules to get on the write-in list were, pretty loose.

so one blog post later and Presto

Michael Ames (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Daryl D. Anderson (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in – Denied – Received too late
Tigran A. “Tig” Andrew (Republican) – Write-in – Denied – Received too late
Susan J. Apling-Gilman (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
David J. Arduser (Republican) – Write-in – Denied – did not meet age requirement
Kevin Austin (Republican) – Write-in
Lawrence W. “Larry” Austin (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Carita Backman (Republican) – Write-in
Keith Barkwood (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Michelle A. Barnes (Republican) – Write-in – Denied – Received too late
Thomas Baxter (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
David E. Beeman (Republican) – Write-in
Vicky L. Beeman (Republican) – Write-in
LaVonne Boyd (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
David Boyle (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Red K. Bradley (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Richard O. Braun (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
William P. “Bill” Brownfield (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Ken Bullard (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Linda Bullard (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Richard O. Burns (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Michael Butler (Republican) – Write-in
Vern Carlson (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Tim Carter (Non-Affiliated) Nominating Petition Candidate
PO Box 435
Girdwood, AK 99587
Phone: (907) 947-9911
e-mail: tcarter1940@yahoo.com
Candidate’s web site: http://www.carterforsenate.org
Curtis G. Champagne (Republican) – Write-in
Elizabeth A. Cherry (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
John P. Collinge (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Fred W. “Bill” Colson (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Gary C.L. Cox (Republican) – Write-in
DaRae K. Crews (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Margaret A. “Maggie” Crowell (Republican) – Write-in
Lisa L. Crusberg (Rrepublican) – Write-in – Denied – Received too late
Guy A. Cummins (Democrat) – Write-in

That’s only up to the letter “C” Smitty comments:

Perhaps Lisa, Arlen Specter, and Charlie Crist can come together and found the “It’s Our Party And We’ll Cry If We Want To Party”.

and the MSM got it wrong:

Just hours before the final deadline, more than 100 Alaskans came out Thursday to file as write-in candidates in an effort to thwart Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s bid to retain her Senate seat.

At the urging of a local talk radio host, scores of people signed up to be write-in candidates with the Alaska Division of Elections before registration closed. …

But Dan corrects them

She mentioned the idea to me on a phone call, then I called some friends in Alaska to see if it was feasible. I learned we only had 24 hours, so I called my colleagues from Breitbart Media. Ultimately, that led to this Big Government post on the topic.

I sent it to some blogger friends, Ace is one who picked up on it. A reader of Ace’s placed a link to the Big Government item in comments at Just One Minute – pointing it out to a resident of Alaska.

Then that JOM reader went down and registered, calling the radio station afterward. They recounted the complete story in comments at JOM. See how easy reporting can be, my friend?

Dan you are a genius!

And so it goes in Shreveport asks the $64,000 question

Posted: October 29, 2010 by datechguy in blogs, internet/free speech, war
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Pat Austin at one of our Blogs of the Month links to Victor Hanson’s piece on Wikileaks.

Note also that there is no attempt at systematic or coherent leaking. WikiLeaks mostly targets the West. It may now and then leak to us something about dastardly behavior by an African or Chinese bureau or religious sect, but it really does not tend to uncover things about the Russian, Iranian, Cuban, or Chinese armed forces in any way commensurate with its fixation on the U.S. military. It either has no wish to, has no means to, or is very afraid of the consequences — in the fashion of the reaction to the Danish cartoons — should it choose to do so.

VDH is being diplomatic, Pat decides not to dance around the issue

Call me naive, but could someone explain to me how it’s not treasonous when he’s endangering the lives and revealing the secrets and methods of our U.S. military operations?

That’s a real good question, since he is not (to my knowledge) a US citizen then it is not treason per-se, but any serviceman or person in the government who leaked said information is guilty of treason, and should be subject to the hangman.

Mr. Assange is an enemy of the US and should be treated accordingly.

Blunt enough for you?

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