newsobserver.com | Wake schools speaker policy faces review

I am embarrassed to live in the same state as do the people responsible for imposing such an obnoxious policy on speakers of any kind. It is repulsive to me and to First Amendment principles. The people responsible for it ought to be asked to leave office; they are not fit to serve in my estimation.

Report: N.C. needs more lawyers | newsobserver.com projects

"Living in Huntington Village, Long Island - The Heart and Soul of Suburbia" - New York Times

My home town.

"How Internet Censorship Works" - Howstuffworks

We all ought to understand this much better than most of us do....

"Web Site That Posts Leaked Material Ordered Shut" - The New York Times

This is a very troubling move by a lone federal judge. I hope that all parties involved will use it as a means to reaffirm the law that the US Government should virtually never ever be able to shut off speech whether it looks like a domain address or a lonely pamphleteer on the street corner.

A Realist Called Obama - New York Times

This sure captures my feelings about OBAMA and why I am supporting him. Roger COHEN speaks for me on this one, as he often does.

Candidate hypotheticals...

Why are we are we not seeing more creative, smart hypotheticals posed to CLINTON and OBAMA especially. These need not touch real people, places, circumstances. They can be imaginary problems in imaginary places, but we need to hear more about how each would tackle the same problem. These are best posed with the other candidate not hearing the response of the first. That's really the only way that we can improve our sense of how each would address problems. The hypotheticals could even be given to the candidates in advance an even made public. That all makes those exercises a lot closer to real life.....

Why not?

Here are the NC Democratic super delegates, according to the Washington Post:

"NORTH CAROLINA
Democratic National Committee DNC Affiliation Type
Joyce Brayboy MEMBERS-AT-LARGE
Susan Burgess NAT'L DEMOCRATIC MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS CONFERENCE
Jeanette Council NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Jerry Meek NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Dannie Montgomery NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Muriel K. Offerman NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
David Parker NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Carol W. Peterson NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Everett Ward NORTH CAROLINA DNC MEMBER
Democratic Governor
Michael F. Easley
U.S. House of Representatives
G.K. Butterfield
Bob Etheridge
Mike McIntyre
Brad Miller
David Price
Heath Shuler
Melvin Watt

State's Total Number of Super Delegates: 17"

and here is what the News & Observer (Raleigh) reports is the current state of commitment:

"WHO HAS COMMITTED?
COMMITTED TO CLINTON
* Susan Burgess, Charlotte, member of the Democratic National Committee
COMMITTED TO OBAMA
* U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of Wilson
* Everett Ward, Raleigh, member of the Democratic National Committee
* Dannie Montgomery, Anson County, member of the Democratic National Committee
NOT COMMITTED
Remaining 13 superdelegates, including Gov. Mike Easley and U.S. Reps. David Price of Chapel Hill, Brad Miller of Raleigh and Bob Etheridge of Lillington. "

"Encrypted Laptop Poses Legal Dilemma" - The New York Times

What a fascinating legal issue this is!

"Madison daily Capital Times switching to free weekly paper" - The Business Journal of Milwaukee

Newspapers must work harder than ever to get good content and services delivered to people who want what they have to offer. Some will pay for some things, but it looks less and less likely that a sufficient number will want to pay for the current newspaper "package" to keep the model alive for much longer. It does not have to end this way but I fear it will.

La famille kényane de Barack Obama se plaint de l'afflux de journalistes

Barack OBAMA's Kenyan family is geting interviewed a lot by reporters.

RGJ.com: New dean at UNR wants to improve journalism

A superb editor in a wonderful new role.

"In CBS Test, Mobile Ads Find Users" - Media News

This could be used for a great many "local" news stories as well. Pssst, the police just responded to a robbery around the corner from where you are standing......

NBC17, Breaking News, Local News, Weather, NBC17, Raleigh Durham Cary Chapel Hill - NBC 17

It's surprising, to say the least, to see how hard it is for media managers - and others - to understand how the market moves between and among various media.

For example, there was a big pitch today on the local NBC station - WNCN - about how the manager wants to hear from viewers. Send me an e-mail and I promise you a response, he said.

myreview@wncn.com

I thought I would check this out on the station's website to learn more about what they were doing with the comments received from viewers.

There is not a single mention of this e-mail address or the on-air request for comment on the website.

Is the relationship between the television and the internet media that hard to understand?

"The Platform: Reading Newspapers on the Kindle"

This is pretty interesting. I have not tried the device yet, but, you know, we have spent a couple of decades thinking and arguing about print v. electronic and within "electronic" about PC v. Mac and then all the various styles, sizes and formats. In the end, people are finding that they can do a lot more with what they get electronically but it is not the same experience as reading on paper. Like so many of these debates, what seems most suprising is that it is taking so long for technology and the marketplace to work this out. Is it enough simply to say that you can get The New York Times a hundred different ways and therefore we are all content simply to make our choice. I don't think the future of that institution - The Times - rests very well on that foundation and that may explain why the whole process seems so unstable.

NPR: Twelve, Betting on a Dozen Books Each Year

newsobserver.com | Panel pushes ambitious transit plan

It sure would be nice to think that Chapel Hill could have a rail connection to all of its neighbors, including Hillsborough...but probably not south to Pittsboro, but why not?

'Ban restaurants from serving obese people' - Telegraph

This is a bill in Mississippi!

Debate thoughts

Why was it that The New York Times story about President CLINTON and Khazakstan did not arise?
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Would it not be better to start posing meaningful hypothetical problems and situations to the candidates rather than to continue to parse the past? Wouldn't that be more consistent with OBAMA's focus on the future?

Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion for Yahoo - New York Times

Many years ago, newspapers and Microsoft saw themselves as two of the biggest competitors in the future of electronic communication. So it was and so it seems, once again, to be.....