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Washington Watch
Hatch: 'More Positive' on Iraq
Sen. Orrin Hatch returns from a trip to Iraq and says, "[a] lot has changed ... When I was there a year ago -- the day the parliament was finally convened -- there was a real sense that the security situation was slipping backward. I came back from this trip with a more positive view of the overall situation" (see press release).
Cannon: Don’t Tax the Internet
Rep. Chris Cannon released the following statement after a hearing on the “Internet Tax Freedom Act: Internet Tax Moratorium”: “Keeping internet commerce and access free from discriminatory taxes has been good for the American economy. Nothing stifles creativity, innovation, and prosperity like government intervention, especially taxes. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ The internet is proof that competition and the free market create superior products and services, at lower costs. The best thing Congress can do is stay out of the way.”
Today in Political History
May 23, 1788: South Carolina is admitted as the 8th U.S. state.
May 23, 1838: General Winfield Scott orders the forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians to the "Indian Nation" (now Oklahoma). About one-forth of the 10,000 Cherokees died in this march, called "The Trail of Tears”.
May 23, 1934: Bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow are shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, La. (Source: New York Times www.nytimes.com)
May 23. 2000: President Bill Clinton issues an Executive Order requiring that at least 5 percent of all federal procurements go to women-owned business. (Source: perspicuity)
Wise Words
“As to Taxes, they are evidently inseparable from Government. It is impossible without them to pay the debts of the nation, to protect it from foreign danger, or to secure individuals from lawless violence and rapine.”
-- Alexander Hamilton, Address to the Electors of the State of New York, 1801 (Source: Patriot Post)
Campaign Tip
What is Distributed Campaigning?
“Distributed campaigning” is an adaptation of the term “distributed computing,” which is defined as “the use of multiple computers networked throughout a wide geographical area to solve a single problem.” Distributed Computing was popularized by the SETI@Home Project in which at-home users could set up their computers to assist the SETI project when they were not otherwise in use. The home computers would automatically download sets of data to work on, process them and send the result back to the main SETI servers.
In Distributed Campaigning, political campaigns likewise maximize their power and impact through Internet-based tools that allow supporters to easily assist the campaign from their homes. For example, via the web, volunteers could download lists of voters, call them, and send the results back to the campaigns’ website. (Read the entire tip by Benjamin Katz at Complete Campaigns.
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- Washington Post: "The Senate voted [Monday] night to move forward on an overhaul of immigration laws, but even proponents of the delicate compromise proposal conceded that the furor over the deal was surpassing their expectations and endangering the plan" (see also related Thomas Sowell and Froma Harrop columns, Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn op-ed, and Economist editorial).
-- Des Moines Register: Columnist David Ypsen: "Two new Iowa Polls published Sunday indicate the big story to come out of the Iowa caucuses next January could be the defeats of the early national front-runners in both parties."
-- Zogby International: Pollster John Zogby: "It's time to deal with it. Could it be possible that the top contenders for President in 2008 are not even running just yet? Will Al Gore jump in and take the Democratic nomination? Is Newt Gingrich really going to run? Will Mike Bloomberg once again prove the greatness of this country: any man with a dream and a billion dollars can reach great heights?"
-- Los Angeles Times: "Flanked by local Latino leaders and a large contingent of politicians from his home state, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson formally entered the 2008 presidential campaign Monday, saying that his thick resume offered him an ability unmatched by others in the race to tackle the country's problems at home and abroad" (see also related CBS News story).
Lighter Side
Question of the Day: If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
Journalistic Oops of the Day: "A front-page article yesterday about the role that Barack Obama's wife, Michelle, is playing in his presidential campaign rendered incorrectly a word in a quotation from Valerie Jarrett, a friend of the Obamas who commented on their decision that he would run. She said in a telephone interview, 'Barack and Michelle thought long and hard about this decision before they made it'--not that they 'fought' long and hard."--correction, New York Times, May 19 (Source: OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web) |
