james nunn | blog

Here is a good spot by Keith Olbermann (Oct. 25) discussing the recent uproar over the attack by Rush Limbaugh over Michael J. Fox’s advert for a Senatorial candidate in Missouri.

And here is an interview with Michael J. Fox with Katie Couric (Oct. 27).

Two things from these videos. Rush Limbaugh should have taken his (illegal) medications, and – as Al Franken once said – Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot!

Thank the heavens for Lifehacker!

Today I was browsing though some posts on Lifehacker and found out that Google Earth have created a Election 2006 overlay. This shows a graphical overlay of where the congressional districts (at this stage it’s only federal election information), and click on the (patriotic) star gives you the information on who the candidates are for this race, along with links to funding information over at the Federal Elections Commission and Center for Responsive Politics (otherwise known as Open Secrets).

Now if this information was available yesterday, I could have incorporated it into the Equality|Frisco election guide I spent most of the day working on.

Check out the new overlay on Google Earth. Fab-O!

I thought this little comment from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on President Bush’s 9/11 speech was amusing.

Basically the president’s speech was a performance that was as redundant as it was perfunctory. Clearly this president, even without a lead, is running out the clock. Say what you will about his presidency, but after that speech, it is now 15 minutes shorter.

This is old news, but earlier today, Republican Representative Bob Ney announced he would not be seeking re-election for his congressional seat. Most are speculating that this decision was due to his alleged involvement with lobbyist Jack Abramoff. This is not really news – in itself, but one thing that I have found to be absolutely amazing with this decision is this little tidbit:

By accident or design, the timing of Ney’s announcement works to his financial benefit. Under federal law, he is allowed to use any leftover campaign funds to pay his rising legal bills. As of June 30, he had roughly $417,000 in the bank. (SF Chronicle)

The scandal had complicated fund-raising for Mr. Ney at a time when he needed to pay growing bills to criminal defense lawyers. His financial disclosure forms show that in the first three months of the year, Mr. Ney’s campaign treasury had to spend thousands of dollars more than it had raised, largely because of legal fees. Mr. Ney’s withdrawal allows him to convert what remains in his campaign treasury — $417,000 as of June 30 — to his legal defense. (New York Times)

We need to watch how this story develops.

Update: I guess we didn’t have to wait long. Scalia rejected the request from Texas Republicans. (Source: New York Times)

Earlier this week while looking at other people’s blogs, I found this link (courtesy of danah @ apophenia). It provides an insight to how different drugs affect our behaviours and our abilities to function, through the use of animated mice. It really is a very cool tool if you want to understand what actually happens to the brain when drugs are used.

Here is another cool tool created for the folks that use OS X. (SIGH)

WikiMania Conference 2006 kicked off yesterday, and here is a good recap of Day 1.

Rolling Stone’s most recent cover story is titled “The Worst President in History?” Guess who this might be about? (Source: Chris)

Thanks to danah over at apophenia, I discovered that the Deleting Online Predators Act, or DOPA pass the US House today by a vote of 410-15.

According to a ZDNet article, the bill was

apparently meant to restrict access to MySpace, the definition of off-limits Web sites is so broad the bill would probably sweep in thousands of commercial Web sites that allow people to post profiles, include personal information and allow “communication among users.”

The details will be left up to the Federal Communications Commission, and authority was provided that “gives more leeway to the FCC in devising a category of verboten Web sites.”

I find it interesting that this is “one” of those pieces of legislation that aims to help legislators with their election efforts in November.

Following the rejection of the FMA in the U.S. Senate last month, the U.S. House followed in their decision to reject writing discrimination into the Constitution by a vote of 236-187 (see story).