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POPSBu$h's Ba$e Bags Bailout Socialize the risk, privatize the profits. This is the new social capitalism we hear so much about. Funny, it used to be called crony capitalism.
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POPSDon't "Give A Give A Give A Garmin" (h/t Indiana Law Blog) I'm a lover of all things that are gadgets, and GPS toys are a favorite of mine, but this article discusses the use of GPS data from a defendant's Garmin device. Eric Hanson had evidence introduced by prosecutors in his murder trial was used to pinpoint his location on the morning of the crime. Score one for the prosecutors on this front. I suspect we will begin to see more of this sooner rather than later. GPS chips are installed on all new cell phones now. My new phone I recently picked up has builtin GPS navigation software which is brilliant, but knowing that the boys at the NSA's Fort Meade, MD SIGINT farm can pinpoint my location anytime they want is kind of scary.
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POPSMassive police raids on suspected protestors in Minneapolis The hammer is coming down in Minneapolis in advance of the Republican National Convention. Unlike Denver which saw no protests to speak of, RNCC is expecting trouble. My friend Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald are covering activities by the various local and federal police agencies working in concert together to disrupt the protestors in advance of the convention.
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POPSRinging in Sunday booze sales When I ran my one campaign for public office in 2000, I ran on the Libertarian Party ticket for Indiana House District 100 on a platform of repealing the Sunday Blue Laws regulating the sale of alcohol and vehicles on Sunday. 8 years later a group has formed to lobby for this much needed change in our laws in Indiana.
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POPSLayofff notices going out today at Star Ruth Holladay spent many years working for the Indianapolis Star and was/is one of my favorite writers from Indy. She is an old school print journalist, my favorite kind. Her coverage of the happenings at the Star is invaluable coverage only she is covering. Her reports this week from the layoffs were riveting, this is the first clip from Wednesday.
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POPSLucious Newsom, R.I.P. A long time community activist died this week. Lucious Newsome was a tireless advocate for poor people and operated a food pantry and homeless outreach program on his own for many years. He will be missed.
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POPSNew Blog Takes Hard Look at Local Government Reform Josh Gillespie of Hoosier Access, a well known Republican blogger, and Jen Wagner, foremr spokesperson for the Indiana Democratic Party and author of the Hoosier Political Report blog and former blogmistress at Taking Down Words, have teamed up to advocate for reforms contained in the bipartisan Kernan-Shepherd Report which advocates for fundamental government reform. This will be an interesting resource for independent minded political junkies in Indiana.
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POPSRankings tout IUPUI, Ball State Two Indiana institutions of higher learning are receiving well deserved recognition on US news & World Report's list of "up and coming schools".
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POPSIndy area to snag 277 EnerDel jobs Green jobs are finally beginning to proliferate in Indiana as new manufacturing jobs. With our excess of shuttered manufacturing facilities throughout Indiana, we are poised to take advantage of our geographic location, our logistics support infrastructure, superior highways and roads and desirable workforce that could be used to manufacture the products of the green power revolution.
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POPSFSSA seeking Medicaid expansion for pregnant women Here comes a 180 away from previous policy set by the Daniels Administration in Indiana that is being reversed for election year expediency. It seems Their Man Mitch Roob has decided to go with the plan which will not anger the voters.
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POPSFeds, Indy Reach Deal To End Diversity Oversight There is a risk that is run every time you begin to change the fundamentals of how government does its job. There has been such controversy this year with more than 10 police officers indicted, under investigation or that have resigned under a cloud that calls to reform the department are being made from many quarters. I'm not certain now is the time for our city leadership to move to end Federal oversight when the Justice Department is keeping an eye on these agencies, and after so many recent lawsuits in the past few years involving diversity related issues.
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POPSBayh not the guy I, along with many Hoosier supporters of Senator Evan Bayh were disappointed to learn he was not chosen to run as Barack Obama's Vice Presidential candidate this weekend. I wish the best of luck to Sen. Joe Biden whom I personally consider to be a decent choice and a good candidate for the office. His experience in Washington and his foreign relations experience will be an asset to the Obama Administration.
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POPSTaxpayer advocate takes aim at IRS deficiencies Tax reform ought to be the highest priority in this country after universal health care. This report ought to make it very clear our tax system is in need of scrapping and rebuilding the system from scratch. There must be a better way for government to fund itself in a fair and progressive manner which does not place undue burdens upon individuals, businesses and non profit entities, churches and schools.
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POPS Obama v. McCain Challenge A rather thought provoking thought being addressed in this video. Striking how little difference there truly is between the positions of the two main Presidential candidates on somne rather serious issues.
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POPSIN-07: Indy Star Endorses Jon Elrod I am truly stunned. This is shock and awe like I have never seen anywhere before. I am pleased to see the editorial staff of America's Worst Newspaper The Indianapolis Star "grew a pair" (h/t Ruth Holladay) and defied the Carson Machine to endorse Jon Elrod for the Special Election this Tuesday. I will not go so far as to officially endorse Jon Elrod over Andre Carson, but I do recommend that Democrats who oppose Andre Carson cannot in good conscience go to the polls on Tuesday. Save your votes for the Primary fight in May. May the best candidate win the Primary.
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POPSUnited Technologies To Buy Diebold The company that makes a large percentage of the voting machines sold in the United States, Diebold, is being acquired by the company that makes a large percentage of the military hardware used by the United States, United Technologies, such as Black Hawk and Comanche helicopters, Pratt & Whitney aircraft and spacecraft engines and British electronic security exxperts Chubb, Ltd. Maybe UT will figure out a way to secure the voting machines using some of theri Chubb, Ltd. technologies. Then again, does it really matter when a member of Big Finance (Diebold) gets sold to a member of Big Guns (UT)?
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POPSNew Nine Inch Nails Album Released Online Yet another brilliant move by a musician who knows his market. NIN's Trent Reznor has seeded The Pirate Bay and several other torrent sites with the first 9 tracks off his new 4 disc set entitled Ghosts, a 2 + hour collection of instrumental collaborations with his band and guests recorded over 10 days last fall and now available online. The first 9 song disc, Ghosts I have been seeded by Reznor himself on the popular torrent sites, and the entire 36 track compilatioin with a 40 page PDF of extras and other digital goodies is available directly from http://ghosts.nin.com for $5. $10 will get you the 2 CD set shipping April 8th and there are options for more goodies for the die hard fans. Yet another fine example of how artists can make it in the music business 2.0 world!
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POPSRIP Music Business 1.0 1876-2008 Today in New York, 500 music company executives gathered for a historic conference at which the music business as we have come to know it was declared dead. Born in 1876 with the introduction of player piano rolls, the recording industry has fallen on rough times in the face of digital competition. Consider that the following statements were made at this gathering which were uncontroversial and would have been considered heresy mere months ago: * DRM on purchased music is dead * A utility pricing model or flat-rate fee for music might be the way to go * Ad-supported streaming music sites like iMeem are legitimate players * Indie music accounts for upwards of 30 percent of music sales * Napster isn't losing $70 million per quarter (and is breaking even) * The music business is a bastion of creativity and experimentation The recording industry was 132 years old and is survived by thousands of digital music companies, independent musicians and geeks lik
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POPSHappy Blogiversary Danger Room I have nearly 300 blog feeds in Google Reader, but I don't read all of them every day. I do read about 75 a day though, and one of those blogs that I read every update from is WIRED magazine's Danger Room blog who are celebrating their first anniversary as of yesterday. Danger Room is one of the best resources on the web for the latest news from the national security war biz and our burgeoning police state. The coverage there is non partisan, just the facts style coverage of the personalities, events, developments and goings on of the Defense Department and Homeland Security establishments. Happy Blogiversary to Noah Schactman and his cohorts for bringing us a fantastic resource.
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POPSSha Na Na Frontman Testifies Before Indiana House It seems the frontman for the doo wop group Sha Na Na, Jon "Bowzer" Bauman, has been visiting state legislatures all over the country to testify in favor of legislation protecting the names of classic singing groups such as his own. Indiana Senate Bill 192 would prohibit performers from posing as another performer in a live performance, making it a Class A misdemeanor. This bill seems aimed squarely at so-called "tribute" bands who perform the catalog of hits from established artists of yesteryear, often times even dressing the part of the original performer. This to me sounds like a law in search of a problem. Tribute bands have been around for a long time and have carved a niche in the dinner theater and casino lounge circuits mostly. Most of them clearly identify themselves as tribute acts in their advertising and no one has ever filed a complaint that I am aware of that Lez Zeppelin deceived them into thinking they were Led Zeppelin.
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POPSMySpace Set to Debut Music Service This could be a significant development for ad-supported free music service fans. MySpace, with millions of users, could provide a huge new market for the Big Four labels. What this will do to the thousands of independent bands who use MySpace as a promotional platform is left out of the discussion apparently.
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POPSFidel Castro Resigns Cuban President Fidel Castro resigned his post today in a letter published in the official Cuban newspaper Granma. This comes as a surprise announcement from the dictator that grabbed power in the New Year's Day 1959 uprising that toppled the regime of General Fulgencio Batista. I've always longhed for the day that the Cuban people would be rid of this monstrous human being. I know there are a lot of people in this country who point to the Cuban health care system and universal literacy as positives in his favor, but the level of hypocrisy displayed by these sentiments are astounding. Any Cuban who dares speak against the Revolution loses their health and literacy when they are brutally murdered by this regime. Not a positive thing if you ask me.
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POPSCD Sales Still A Brisk Business For Some
From Idolator, we have short but sweet post about a small indie record store still succeeding in Green Bay, WI. I have heard other reports of indie record stores still doing well despite the wider turn in the business as a whole. As the indie stores find their way forward it shouldn't surprise anyone that recorded music is still a tactile experience for many fans. Downloads of the legal or illegal variety are great for listening to new music or out of print classics you can't find anymore, but for real fans they want to hold the CD in their hands, read the liner notes and look at the photos in the inner sleeve. Lesson learned: never forget music is an experiential business. Fans still want to experience a connection with their favorite artists. This is why the live music business is still so vital and healthy, that experience at the show and the ticket stub and tshirt to go with it can never be downloaded, neither can the CD case with liner notes.
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POPSAnother Wacky Court Ruling There has been no shortage of wacky court rulings in recent years regarding what is or isn't copyright infringement, but this latest case profiled in Techdirt takes the cake. I clipmarked the first paragraph from the article below but you have got to read the whole piece to let the real outrage burn into your head. This ruling puts into question whether an entire industry segment, the second hand CD/DVD market, is engaging in wholesale copyright fraud.
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POPSI Got Friends I love it when my blog buddies send me cool stuff to share with everyone. Robert Rouse of Left of Centrist sent me a video today that I had to share with my other buddy Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny and FireDogLake's Blue America. Howie of course jumped right on it with the following post.
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