If anyone actually wants honestly to explore the so called Keating Five, what one can easily discover is that it should rightly be referred to as the Keating Four, as it is quite clear that McCain was tossed in by a Dem. senate to give the illusion of a bipartisan scandal. Of the five, who didn't fade away? - eggsy
None of the Senators were ever censured, were they? - Thomas Ho
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The problem with news like this is that the people who read the Huffington Post would never have voted for McCain/Palin in the first place. The voters that need to hear this are watching Fox and listening to talk radio, not reading liberal blogs. The conservative news sources simply won't even mention bad things about their candidates (just see Drudge's headlines for the past 3 days). So how *do* you get important information to people who have their fingers in their ears? - DeWitt Clinton
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DeWitt:
couldn't the SAME argument be made about liberals who would vote for Obama?
Do LIBERAL news sources say anything bad about 'their' candidates? - Thomas Ho
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"A middle-aged man of considerable means and privilege who has freely chosen in his first fortysomething years on this planet to visit fewer than four countries (of the almost 200 United Nations' members) should not be permitted to captain our nation." - newsjunk.com
"Leave aside for a moment the fact that two decades have passed since college in the life of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and that she only managed to get a passport and leave the country for the first time last year." - Mike Reynolds
"A review of records of the schools project and interviews with a dozen people who know both men, suggest that Mr. Obama, 47, has played down his contacts with Mr. Ayers, 63. But the two men do not appear to have been close." - newsjunk.com
No... they jsut shared a number of close professional ties and Ayers got Obama's political career started. Why, they hardly met. Even Obama said he was jsut some guy who "live sin my neighborhood" - oh wait, that was a lie. - Soulhuntre
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Relationships between each other aside, will we ever go beyond the idea that mistakes made in the past must forever haunt all of us? Last I looked, one of the freedoms we fight for is the ability to succeed in America, despite the odds. Ayers made mistakes, he moved beyond them, and he has become successful. If actions from each of our histories predicate what we can accomplish, and who we can befriend, then we are all screwed. - Shout out 2Jody
Not a good move by the McCain campaign. If associations are scrutinized, there are none closer of the four candidates than Charles Keating. To my knowledge Obama's relationships between Ayers, Rezko, Wright, etc. haven't cost the taxpayers anything. The Keating affair, $124.6 billion. - Shout out 2Jody
Digging into people's pasts is the last thing the McCain should want to start doing. Lots of Skeletons in McCain's past. - Clint Ecker
Soulhuntre - Please prove that Ayers got Obama's political career started. I would love to see how you rationalize that statement. - Andrew Burd
Andrew he can't prove it because it's 100% false. You'll probably get a link to some fringe radical like Malkin or Hannity. - Faboo Mama
"When Obama made his first run for political office, articles in both the Chicago Defender and the Hyde Park Herald featured among his qualifications his position as chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a foundation where Ayers was a founder and guiding force. Obama assumed the Annenberg board chairmanship only months before his first run for office, and almost certainly received the job at the behest of Bill Ayers." http://article.nationalreview.... - Charles LePage
"When Obama first ran for the Illinois Senate in the mid-1990s, Ayers and his wife hosted a reception at their home for Obama to meet other Democrats." http://www.chron.com/disp/stor... - Brian Newman
"In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn...." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... - Brian Newman
I'll admit some will consider Huffington a "fringe radical". - Brian Newman
So at best, there was a political reception at his house in 1995 for Obama... therefore he started Obama's political career? You see that this is a stretch, right? - Andrew Burd
I would say his political career got started at Ayers' house, yes. Ayers hosted his political coming out party. Sen. Palmer introduced Obama as her successor to all her influential liberal buddies there. Some guy who lives in his neighborhood? You see that that is a stretch, right? - Brian Newman
Oh my, this really proves that Obama is unfit to lead, and is probably a terrorist himself! That's it, my mind is changed. Wow, you guys are good! ::sarcasm off:: - Shout out 2Jody
The question was about Obama's relationship with Ayers, not whether he is fit to lead or not. - Brian Newman
I think it's a stretch to say that he is just some guy who lives in his neighborhood. But I think it is entirely fair to say that any connection is tenuous. If someone is working in the same field and same area as you, chances are you are going to bump into them professionally. And I think that is exactly how this seems to have played out. Ayers didn't bestow his career on him. He had a party 13 years ago. - Andrew Burd
Andrew, this is Gumby politics at its finest. Expect a lot more twisting, morphing and stretching in the next month. - Shout out 2Jody
Has the New York Times published any similar stories about Jeremiah Wright? - Thomas Ho
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Sarah and Todd Palin's ties to the America-hating secessionist Alaskan Independent Party are much more substantive than Obama's ties to Ayers. Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party, professed his "hatred for the American government" in 1991 and cursed the American flag as a "damn flag." Both Palins have maintained close connections to the AIP. - Sean McBride
Vogler was the craggy, fire-breathing secessionist who founded the Alaskan independence movement in the early 1970s. Among the colorful Vogler quotes now in circulation are "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions." Then there's "The fires of hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American government." And "The problem with you John Birchers is that you are too damn liberal!"" - Sean McBride
How do you spell "desperation" in wingnut? A-Y-E-R-S. - Steven Perez
And while we're on the subject of "OMG HE HANGS WITH TERRORISTS!!1!!", need I remind my conservative friends how a certain former SecDef help facilitate the sale of chemical weapons to the now-deceased brutal dictator of a certain Middle Eastern country that our armed forces might have some passing familiarity with? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... - Steven Perez
Almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media Web site, and one in four interact more than once per week. These are among the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study. - Douglas Karr
Are even 60% of Americans participating in social media? - Thomas Ho
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I think that @douglaskarr likes Sarah Palin so much because she must work as hard as HE does so I'm guessing that YOU like her TOO. I DO! :-$ - Thomas Ho
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"IF you had any doubt about what an Obama administration would be like?" - Thomas Ho
Representing a politically neutral point of view before facts are well understood is a strength in my eyes. For me, this has been a case of MSM deciding for the American people what political course our country's leadership should take. Who are they to make this conclusion for us? There's still a large part of me that believes Georgia acted as an aggressor, but it's definitely not possible to fully understand the situation well enough to act appropriately with an emotional knee-jerk reaction as I feel McCain did. I agree that a swift response was necessary, but it wasn't necessary to sort out and single out the "culprit". And this CRAP about Obama's vacation timing is irritating and unnecessary. - Paul Whitaker
Richard Holbrooke just named Russia as the aggressor. - Thomas Ho
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"Barack is about to choose a running mate, and he wants you to know first. You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be part of this important moment." - Dave "Maverick" Winer
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A master stroke -like how they get you to invite your friends and family. Brilliant - dolores parker
isn't anyone concerned about his 3.7 trillion dollar tax hike on the middle class? or anything else he's ever said? and why we can't let him slide on all his flip-flopping? and don't say he hasn't every politician running for office does or has at some point in their political career. Why are we holding Barack H. Obama up to such messianic ideals? He's only human after all. - JohnBfromMemphis
Yes, but he's the master of social media, so we don't care. ;-) - Brent Logan
"I could ruin you with a word...no, make that 6 words...Don't you think he looks tired?" - Doctor Who - Cheryl Allin
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Brent I do agree with you that either Obama himself or someone in his crew is a master of social media for sure. - JohnBfromMemphis
Barack Obama All the Way Baby!! Good Riddance Bush + Brainwashed Flock! ;)) Peace* - Billy Warhol
Hey, Billy, you realize that you're just another sheep from a different brainwashed flock, don't you? - Akiva Moskovitz
Wow, a 3 second head start on Friendfeed and a 12 second head start on CNN. Sign me up. It's important I get my news milliseconds before others - Nicholas Molnar
JohnB: I'd really like for you to define "middle class" and show precisely where that "3.7 trillion dollar tax hike" is going to hit. Just out of curiosity, you understand. - David Worrell
An awful lot of us aren't so much voting FOR Obama as voting against the party of unnecessary war, torture, intolerance, luddism, fear, uncertainty and doubt. I'd strongly consider voting for the 2000 McCain, but the 2008 McCain seems almost no different at all from W. At this point I don't give a flip if Obama is a European style socialist. I feel strongly that McCain will continue with the torture, intolerance, luddism, etc, but I don't know about Obama. That's good enough for me at this point. - Tad - pals w/Terrorists
Tad, voting for the unknown then? Seems dicey. - Akiva Moskovitz
Not at all Akiva - the known is completely detestable. I feel a moral imperative to vote against the Republicans this go around. I hope they eventually get their shit together and kick out the moralist/stasist groups that are making them contemptable. The last time we had a Democratic president, I hated him, but the country was much better off than we are now under the Republicans. The GOP had 6 uncontested years to show their true colors... and they did. - Tad - pals w/Terrorists
Tad, I will refute your logic by pointing at you and laughing and then running away like a little girl [was: re: I still have no idea how I'm going to vote]. - Akiva Moskovitz
so I guess Akiva removed their comment - can someone give me an idea what it was? - Ruth Ferguson
All signed up and ready to go ... can't wait to see all the tweets that will ensue after the announcement. - James
He's already following me. Why can't he just DM me? - Cyndy
Cyndy, probably those limits that are designed to inspire our creativity. ;-) - Joanmarie
First you're prompted to sign up, then to share, then to donate. These guys know what they're doing. "Own a piece of this movement." Nice. - Angel Galloway
Akiva did not remove his comment. There are several, Ruth. - Akiva Moskovitz
Wow, this makes the Obama campaign look just like a reality TV show. Is it more "Who wants to marry my dad," or "Paradise Hotel"? "Who will be the winner of the ULTIMATE PRIZE? Stick around for the BIG REVEAL, after these messages." - Nathan Rein
Angel, I signed up via sms. No additional prompts or requests for $$. Although I wonder if I'll start getting such messages in the days that follow. That's how most campaigns work I think. A month or two ago, I donated to Jeanne Shaheen's campaign (signing up for their list in the process) and within a week of making that donation I got an email asking me for.... wait for it.... another donation. - Joanmarie
I sent that "VP" the minute I got that text. - Brandon Titus
I've been waiting to hear who he runs with. How long do they have to choose? - Sheryl
I'm telling you right now: I will not accept the VP nomination. - Charles LePage
If Obama picks Evan Bayh, am I going to feel the same way that I did when Bush 41 chose Dan Quayle? - Thomas Ho
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"A Wikipedia editor emailed Political Wire to point out some similarities between Sen. John McCain's speech today on the crisis in Georgia and the Wikipedia article on the country Georgia. Given the closeness of the words and sentence structure, most would consider parts of McCain's speech to be derived directly from Wikipedia." - Dave "Maverick" Winer
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Man, the internet is tough. You can't get away with anything anymore. - Victor Trac
Isn't the real question who wrote the speech? Clearly McCain isn't writing his own. If they farmed out the fact finding to some intern with the campaign, who is really to blame? "Quick, kid, we need a paragraph on the Republic of Georgia and make it snappy." Where's the speechwriter and why aren't we pillorying him/her? - Jill O'Neill
I would think from this day going forward it will me much harder to make the case against using Wikipedia for homework assignments. - Kevin
I'm glad that you guys aren't talking about the FF bookmarklet ;-) - Thomas Ho
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I just started using the FF bookmarklet. It's really cool. I was wondering how people were posting all those great pictures. Now I know. - Dave "Maverick" Winer
The FF bookmarklet is definitely quite cool. Wish the information about its capabilities were a little clearer. But I guess since I was able to figure it out then most people can. - Scott Jarkoff
With Mento you can bookmark pages and even grab a screenshot. Mento is automatically posting the bookmarked page to Friendfeed if you want.. ;) - Timo Heuer
WHY is the discussion about the bookmarklet & NoT about the article? - Thomas Ho
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I really like the subscription part of the deal ... awesome when you are getting ready for a trip ... just download and go! - Jonathan Greene
I think we've just passed the ipod peak. :) - Meryn Stol
Microsoft sent me a Zune and I wasn't too happy about not being able to import the more than 600 songs I purchased on iTunes - Nick O'Neill
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@Meryn: just wait for the next iteration which should be here in a few months - Rahul Das
@Nick O'Neil: That bugged me too, but I concluded that was a problem with iTunes DRM, not the Zune. One thing I really like about the Zune is how it handles podcasts- lots of great options. - Christopher Butler
This one is still buggin me. So many factors can affect the sound quality, encoding is probably the biggest factor &playback system - JMac of Earth
Mp3 vs aac vs 196k vs VBR and then headphones vs speakers vs earbuds. The sound file could be "crackly" but not the iPod. or Zune. - JMac of Earth
I am almost in flame mode, forgive me, but "zune is a much better device all-around" ??? Chris B, can you give some examples? - JMac of Earth
Jmac wow, easy :) I'll do some direct comparisons of the SAME sound files between ipod and zune to make a comparison. Will experiment wth headphones too. hang tight - Jeremiah Owyang
Never really liked how WMA sounded on the zune, but the iphone is great for AAC. I am waiting to see if they add HE-AAC support though... 48kbit HE-AAC sounds equivalent to 320kbit MP3 on my computer - be a HUGE boon for the iPhone. - Michael J. Cohen (mjc)
"It's true that chocolate is rarely (never?) seen, but there's a huge variety of tropical fruit flavors, green tea, coffee and other tastes available in forms ranging from delicate puddings to rainbow-hued gelatins, airy cakes and even peanut butter coconut pizzas..." - edythe
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Yes! Especially baked goods. People don't seem to realize that there's a great tradition of Asian style pastries. I used to live right near a Korean bakery in Boston and, believe it or not, a red bean pastry was often just the right midnight snack after a visit to one of the Irish drinking establishments in the neighborhood. - Nathan Rein
ahhhhhh.. a classic medici effect : thanks nathan :)- " Irish drinking" + "red bean pastry" !! - Peter Dawson
Red bean-FAIL! I only really like Chinese iced desserts the bean stuff not my cup of tea so to speak. In truth we eat much more fresh fruit here than desserts. - Mark Forman
Mark: Try iced almond jello with strawberry, cherries, tapioca, and ... - Mitchell Tsai
yeah Mitchell love the cold squiggly stuff. The TouHwa(toufu) in sweet syrup withe peanuts. Shaved Milk ice, shaved ice, all good. - Mark Forman
I love iced almond gelatin even with CANNED fruit cocktail. Don't forget about Chinese pastries so check out the bakeries the next time you're in Chinatown. While we're talking about Asian desserts, I'd like to make a pitch for Southeast Asian desserts which I enjoyed while I lived in Singapore. - Thomas Ho
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I rarely eat at restaurants . My ex-husband and Brother are both chefs. What they have told me about how clean restaurants really aren't scares me. If you ever want to save a ton of money by not eating out, go talk to a few chefs. - Candace Holly
I've had the SAME experience, BUT I have discreetly reported the incident via other means such as customer feedback channels. The irony is that I've been eating at worse places during my almost 60 years and (so far :-) haven't gotten sick. Of course, it's probably worse now than previously AND it's definitely HEALTHIER nutritionally to eat at HOME :-) - Thomas Ho
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I'm going to stop eating as a result of reading this post. - Adam Metz
Our newspaper prints the results of inspections. That's kept me away from many a local restaurant. - JillMissesSnuggling
You get what you may for. They were clearly not paying a lot for this guy. - Ryan
Happens all the time.This happened in Manhattan...a falafel vendor came back from using the restroom and started to prepare the sandwich without washing his hands. I cancelled the order and walked away. He was furious with me. - kamla bhatt
Meh. Some of the best food comes from the rattiest places. True story. - Louie
If I don't get sick after eating, does it matter? Do I really need to know the behind-the-scene story? I don't think so. I don't want to ruin an occasional dine-out. - Vinay | विनय
