-
A Year of Blogging in 2009
Tweet Share on Facebook December 31, 2009 Comment (3)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
2009 has been a great year to be a new member of the U.S. News & World Report team.
Since January, I've found that while there's a lot of insanity out on the Internet, being in the blogosphere has actually been a worthwhile thing to do. I never thought I'd say that a year ago—becoming a blogger seemed like a crazy idea at first—but over the course of 2009, I've grown to love it. I've been riveted by everything from live tweets coming from opposition forces on the streets of Iran to hilarious "mental health break" videos on YouTube. It's been fascinating to see the difference in the news business since the days when I was an editor at the U.Va. undergraduate newspaper, when we printed out stories on shiny paper, cut them to fit the newspaper columns with X-acto knives, and dipped them in wax to affix them to the page before driving them at midnight to the printer 10 miles down the road. Now the news moves at the speed of light, which sometimes is a good thing, sometimes not. Figuring out which is which is the fun part.
-
8 Books All Kindle Users Should Have
Tweet Share on Facebook December 31, 2009 Comment (5)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
This Christmas, more e-books were sold on Amazon.com than printed books for the first time in history. Here's one of the most interesting press releases I've read in a while, the Amazon.com release announcing the quirkier details of its sales figures this year. (For example: "Amazon customers purchased enough fruit cake to equal the weight of a 1967 Volkswagen Bug.") I know that whole move to e-books is a bit controversial, and I'll write about that debate next week.
I've had a Kindle since they first came out, and I don't use it much for beach reading—I use it for business. So if, like many folks, you found a Kindle or other e-reader under your tree this year, here are a few suggestions of useful e-books you should load onto it when you need to prepare for speaking engagements or written pieces in whatever line of work you do. E-books don't go out of print, and you can carry over a thousand books in your briefcase—something you can't do on a laptop. Once you've loaded these on, use the "search" button to find all kinds of quotes and anecdotes based on key phrases on which you need to speak or write. Almost all of them are less than $10 and I've included the link for Kindle editions so you can order them directly.
-
The Right Way to Respond to the Christmas Terrorist Attack
Tweet Share on Facebook December 28, 2009 Comment (11)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
This is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, and yet the Obama administration's response to the Christmas Day attack on Northwest Flight 253 has been disappointing at best. We've seen DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano say on CNN on Sunday, "The system worked," and that the "whole process went very smoothly." She also said that the attack was not likely to be part of a wider terror plot. Neither statement passed the laugh test: This afternoon al Qaeda took responsibility for the attack, and the press has been full of stories about the multiple points within the security system that allowed a known al Qaeda associate with a valid visa to buy a one-way ticket with cash, board a plane to the United States with highly explosive liquids strapped to his body, and try to detonate the bomb in the air over a major American city.
The fact that no one was killed doesn't negate the fact that this was a terrorist attack, as some in the press are trying to do by using words like "attempted" and "unsuccessful." The only thing that saved those people's lives was that the bomb briefly malfunctioned, and the only person who prevented mayhem was a fellow passenger who jumped on the bomber—not Napolitano, not TSA screeners, not a sky marshal, not even a flight attendant.
-
24's Jack Bauer Interrogates Santa Claus
Tweet Share on Facebook December 24, 2009 Comment (3)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
He's carrying suspicious packages, he's got a list of names, and he doesn't have a passport. For fans of 24 with a sense of humor, here's Jack Bauer interrogating Santa Claus. I hope you laugh as hard as I did. Have a great holiday!
-
What is Actually In the Senate Health Reform Bill
Tweet Share on Facebook December 23, 2009 Comment (11)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Senate healthcare reform bill has been clearing its hurdles this week, making final passage by Christmas Eve morning likely. I wrote Monday that I thought very few people actually know what is in the bill and how it will affect them. Since then, a few news outlets have tried to explain the legislation and its consequences. As your faithful blogger, I've looked around and found what might be most useful to you and am passing it on. (Here at Thomas Jefferson Street, we pride ourselves on being full-service bloggers!)
ABC News has a "frequently asked questions" list here, which is a little light on the details, but at least it's understandable. The best detailed explanation I've found so far (even though you may not agree with all of her opinions) comes from Maggie Mahar at healthbeatblog.org. She ends part three of her series on the Senate bill with this quote:
-
New Rules Ban Unending Tarmac Delays--Government Done Right
Tweet Share on Facebook December 22, 2009 Comment (5)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Obama administration Monday announced a new policy prohibiting airlines from stranding passengers on the tarmac for more than three hours, and imposing a $27,500 per-passenger fine for airlines who violate the rule, according to the New York Times. This is the kind of federal regulation people like: it doesn't create any new bureaucracies, it doesn't infringe on states' rights or contain unfunded mandates, and it may actually make some money for the taxpayers. Plus it protects consumers from what can only be called abusive practices.
-
Public Doesn't Like Healthcare Bill, So Democrats Must Buy Votes
Tweet Share on Facebook December 21, 2009 Comment (38)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
It hasn't been pretty today. It's all coming out, the deal-making by Democrats trying to secure the 60 votes needed to move their healthcare bill forward in the Senate last night. The Hill newspaper reports on some of the goodies, including $300 million in extra funding for Sen. Landrieu's home state of Louisiana, and millions in extra Medicaid dollars for Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson.
On Good Morning America this morning, Sen. John McCain was asked why Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was trading so much money for so few votes: "Because they [Senate Democrats] haven't got the American public ... 60 percent of the American people are against this. They want it stopped and they certainly—as they find out more about this unsavory process we've been through, the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, the Florida FlimFlam and all of the other kinds of dealing that went on—they'll find it very distasteful." Earlier, on Fox News Sunday yesterday, McCain said that by not going in a more moderate, bipartisan way with Republicans, Democrats were down to the wire, buying the votes of lawmakers within their own party. "That's why they're in the position of having to buy the last voter," he told Chris Wallace.
He's got a point. An ABC News/Washington Post poll confirms how unpopular the bill is, and one of the most interesting findings is that two-thirds of those polled think the legislation will increase the federal budget deficit—something 43 percent said was "not worth it." Taxpayers may want some form of healthcare reform, but at what cost?
-
American Majority Mistrusts Copenhagen Climate Change Proposal
Tweet Share on Facebook December 18, 2009 Comment (7)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
I'm just back from the grocery store as a big winter storm is heading for Washington, D.C.—they're predicting a foot of snow, which is a lot for here—and of course I had to stock up on bread, milk, chocolate chip cookies and toilet paper, like half of town is doing this morning. As I was unloading the car and bringing in extra firewood, I listened to the reporting from the climate change summit in Copenhagen. (Or as the commentators have started calling it, Cope-en-HOG-en, just like PAHK-ee-ston, and Off-GHON-ee-ston—have you noticed lately? What's up with that? It reminds me of the mid-1980s when the news was from Nicaragua on the Sandinistas, and all the reporters got fake Spanish accents. Remember SNL did a spoof of it, featuring sports reporters interviewing Bob Costas but calling him Bob COE-stas? Hilarious.)
Anyway, it sounds like the summit is unraveling quickly, and there may not be any agreement at all. The administration and some on the left will be frustrated, but I bet a lot of Americans are just fine with it. Not that people aren't worried about the environment, it's just a question of what to do about it and at what cost. This morning's Washington Post has a new poll out that confirms this.
-
Congress Moving to Increase the National Debt Shows Democrats Are Out of Touch
Tweet Share on Facebook December 17, 2009 Comment (29)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
The Senate passed a $447 billion omnibus spending bill over the weekend, one that increases federal spending at government agencies by some $48 billion, a 12 percent increase from 2009. According to the Wall Street Journal, "That increase—when inflation is negligible—is in addition to the $311 billion in stimulus already authorized or out the door for these programs. Adding this new stash means that federal agencies will have received a nearly 70% increase in the last two years."
That whopping 70 percent increase in spending on government programs also means that Congress will now have to vote to "raise the federal debt ceiling by at least $1.8 trillion," according to the Washington Post. Note the Post reports they'll raise the debt ceiling "BY" $1.8 trillion, not "TO" $1.8 trillion.
-
The GOP's Big Chance: Cultivate 'Whole Foods Republicans'
Tweet Share on Facebook December 16, 2009 Comment (5)By Mary Kate Cary, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
Okay, I'll admit it. I'm not "highly educated"—just a college grad here—but otherwise I seem to fit the bill as a "Whole Foods Republican" as defined by Michael Petrilli of the Hoover Institute in Monday's Wall Street Journal:
What's needed is a full-fledged effort to cultivate "Whole Foods Republicans"—independent-minded voters who embrace a progressive lifestyle but not progressive politics. These highly-educated individuals appreciate diversity and would never tell racist or homophobic jokes; they like living in walkable urban environments; they believe in environmental stewardship, community service and a spirit of inclusion. And yes, many shop at Whole Foods, which has become a symbol of progressive affluence but is also a good example of the free enterprise system at work. (Not to mention that its founder is a well-known libertarian who took to these pages to excoriate ObamaCare as inimical to market principles.)
