KERA’s Think interviewed Neil Henry, associate professor in the Graduate School of Journalism at U.C. Berkeley on the new fast paced 24-hour news cycle.
Henry is also the author of American Carnival: Journalism Under Siege in an Age of New Media.
Listen to the interview.
Category: take action
politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.
RightNow
I just found an article from Rightnow Campaign founder Brian Mosely, who I think sums up some of my overall feelings right now…
Unsure of what step to take next, I contacted 40 mission organizations to see if there were any openings for a producer.
Instead of responses that were personal and specific to my inquiry, I received 39 packets of “Dear Friend†letters and brochures. Meanwhile, I watched as an accountant friend of mine was heavily recruited by the biggest accounting firms in the country. He was taken to dinner, golf, bowling … whatever it took to communicate his worth and importance.
Those experiences in 1998 and 1999 opened my eyes to a harsh reality. If you are interested in working in corporate America there is a good chance the companies will come to find you. If you are interested in using your passions to serve others, you will have to be extremely proactive. Instead of seeing my personal experience as a dead end, I formed the Rightnow Campaign in 2000.
The Rightnow Campaign looks very interesting… I’m looking more into their site right now.
You should too: www.rightnow.org
McCain 840, Thompson 167
Christianconservative (that’s christianconservative.wordpress.com not blogspot.com) reports on legislation written by former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson during his term in the Senate.
Looks like Thompson wasn’t too busy when it comes to headlining a bill or writing amendments and the like – or maybe his ideas just weren’t that popular.
A scouring of he legislative website of the Library of Congress, from 1995 to 2002, when Mr. Thompson was in the Senate, yields a total of five bills that became law for which he was the head sponsor. A sixth passed the Senate and was replaced by an identical House bill that was eventually signed by the president.
The bills include the naming of a post office and courthouse in Cookeville, Tenn., a private bill that granted permanent residency status to a young Bolivian girl getting treatment for cancer and her family and several other minor pieces of legislation. A quick comparison with Senator John McCain, his rival for the Republican presidential nomination, for the same period turns up 17 bills that became law for which Mr. McCain was the lead sponsor.
If you look at all the bills, amendments or resolutions each sponsored the score is McCain 840, Thompson 167.
Your Bible is safe!
Nate brings up an interesting question…
I can’t for the life of me figure out why we needed HB 167 this past session and which goes into effect Sept. 1. If you don’t know what I mean, then read this description of the law:
Relating to exempting a religious bible from attachment, execution, or other seizure for the satisfaction of debts.
Has there been a spate of bible seizing from people who owe money? If you think about the time it took for someone to write down the bill language, then have staffers go over it to check for errors, then have committees and the whole Legislature to vote on it, just so you can keep your holy book when the repo men come to collect on a debt… I’m just confounded.
With school funding, kids without health insurance, the Trans Texas Corridor debate, was it really necessary to waste the time and paper writing this bill? Don’t worry though – your Koran or Torah or any other sacred writings are included as well. But don’t expect your Popular Science or Hardy Boys books to be covered – if the bill collector comes knocking you better be prepared to give those up.
Latest Internet polling
Who are you voting for at this point in the race?
WSJ: “Huckabee fills that void”
From the Wall Street Journal:
With every day that passes, (Mike) Huckabee fills that void for conservatives, argued South Carolina’s former Republican Gov. David Beasley, a recent Huckabee convert who helped work the crowds for his candidate at Iowa State University. “I really believe now that the conservative voters will begin to coalesce behind Mike Huckabee…and it’s going to be infectious in New Hampshire and South Carolina” — states that, along with Iowa, hold the first presidential-nominating contests next winter.
Mr. Huckabee, ebullient after an outcome that surprised even him, said he offered experience and “a different kind of Republican, not a wholly owned subsidiary of Wall Street.”
Also from the article:
Social conservatives, who have come to dominate the Republican party, could decide the candidate they have been looking for has been in the race the whole time, languishing at the back of the pack with little money to promote himself….
Mr. Romney, a wealthy former venture capitalist, had spent huge sums for the straw poll: His $200,000 for a consultant to organize the effort was alone more than the $150,000 that Mr. Huckabee estimates he spent altogether. Mr. Romney rented buses; Mr. Huckabee’s supporters had to find their own way. Where Mr. Romney hired bands to play Saturday at the huge hospitality space he rented, Mr. Huckabee entertained the older crowds himself with his band, Capitol Offense, jamming at one point to the 1970s hit “Free Bird.”