Creative Icons…so Easy, even a Church Mouse Can do it.

Here’s this week’s cartoon from ChurchMice.net, a project of Karl “Pastor Z” Zorowski, a Methodist minister.

 

New York Times Says the Darnedest Things, Regarding ACORN, Van Jones, and so on and so forth

What do you make of this? Yes, it is humorous, but, I don’t think that was the main effect they were going for, over at Marxstream Media, Manhattan.

THE PUBLIC EDITOR
Tuning In Too Late

By CLARK HOYT

Published: September 26, 2009

ON Sept. 12, an Associated Press article inside The Times reported that the Census Bureau had severed its ties to Acorn, [sic, ACORN] the community organizing group. Robert Groves, the census director, was quoted as saying that Acorn, one of thousands of unpaid organizations promoting the 2010 census, had become “a distraction.”

What the article didn’t say — but what followers of Fox News and conservative commentators already knew — was that a video sting had caught Acorn workers counseling a bogus prostitute and pimp on how to set up a brothel staffed by under-age girls, avoid detection and cheat on taxes. The young woman in streetwalker’s clothes and her companion were actually undercover conservative activists with a hidden camera.

It was an intriguing story: employees of a controversial outfit, long criticized by Republicans as corrupt, appearing to engage in outrageous, if not illegal, behavior. An Acorn worker in Baltimore was shown telling the “prostitute” that she could describe herself to tax authorities as an “independent artist” and claim 15-year-old prostitutes, supposedly illegal immigrants, as dependents.

But for days, as more videos were posted and government authorities rushed to distance themselves from Acorn, The Times stood still. Its slow reflexes — closely following its slow response to a controversy that forced the resignation of Van Jones, a White House adviser — suggested that it has trouble dealing with stories arising from the polemical world of talk radio, cable television and partisan blogs. Some stories, lacking facts, never catch fire. But others do, and a newspaper like The Times needs to be alert to them or wind up looking clueless or, worse, partisan itself.

Some editors told me they were not immediately aware of the Acorn videos on Fox, YouTube and a new conservative Web site called BigGovernment.com. When the Senate voted to cut off all federal funds to Acorn, there was not a word in the newspaper, although a report in the Caucus blog that day covered the action. When the New York City Council froze all its funding for Acorn and the Brooklyn district attorney opened a criminal investigation, there was still nothing.

Readers noticed. James Jeff Crocket of New Britain, Conn., spoke for many when he said he was sure he knew why the paper was silent: “protecting the progressive movement.”

The piece goes on, tip-toeing an imaginary line between confession and denial, apology and excuse. This, particularly, brings a lasting smile:

Jill Abramson, the managing editor for news, agreed with me that the paper was “slow off the mark,” and blamed “insufficient tuned-in-ness to the issues that are dominating Fox News and talk radio.” She and Bill Keller, the executive editor, said last week that they would now assign an editor to monitor opinion media and brief them frequently on bubbling controversies. Keller declined to identify the editor, saying he wanted to spare that person “a bombardment of e-mails and excoriation in the blogosphere.”

Despite what the critics think, Abramson said the problem was not liberal bias.

Liberal bias? Naaaa. The solution to the not really bias? Let us see that again: “…assign an editor to monitor opinion media and brief them frequently on bubbling controversies.” The “controversies” of “opinion media?” Is that what you call journalism, from those pesky Americans who happen to believe government should abide by the Constitution, Mr. Hoyt? And, do you really purport, your comrades are so Old World that they fail to heed any particular kinds of new, er… “opinion media?”

Here is how it closes. (Still grinning and shaking my head, as fingers move on the keyboard.)

But Rosenstiel said The Times has a particular problem with conservatives, especially after its article last year suggesting that John McCain had an extramarital affair. And Republicans earlier this year charged that the paper killed a story about Acorn that would have been a “game changer” in the presidential election — a claim I found to be false.“If you know you are a target, it requires extra vigilance,” Rosenstiel said. “Even the suspicion of a bias is a problem all by itself.”

The public editor can be reached by e-mail: public@nytimes.com.

Do you really think he is reachable? Look up! Take my hand, Clark! What are you trying to say, Mr. Hoyt? Hint: what were you just trying not to say?

Here is one email, to the public editor:

Come out from that closet,
Before the door closes,
And brings more pain,
To your reporters’ toeses.

Escape “the polemic world…
…of” which your noses,
Snort up all their lines,
from the Daily Kozes.

Okay, maybe not straight from Daily Koz, all the time; call it poetic license. And, if you read this as you begin your day, Clark, I don’t mean to distract you too much, during the morning conference call with Pravda John Podesta.

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Also see: Michelle Malkin – A welcome message for the NYT’s new “opinion media monitor”

FHK Blogroll (Updated Frequently)

UPDATED 08/25/09: In order to continue to promote the blogs we like, we have moved our blogroll to a blog post. Now, in the sidebar you’ll see a link to the Blog Roll, which contains links to some great conservative blogs. This date of this blog post will be updated at least every six months, so that we can promote other conservative bloggers by driving traffic to their sites, AND by giving them links which will count toward their Technorati count (also see here)…without the need for our previous two-foot long list of mostly unreciprocated links in our sidebar. Questions, comments and suggestions are all welcome. If you want to be added to this list or if your link on this list needs to be updated, please e-mail Jenn, here.

For more information, see: Why Blogrolling is Useless.

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• 1389 Blog
• America Needs Me
• All American Blogger
• America, You Asked For It!
• ARRA
• AWOL Civilization
• Batesline
• Benjamin Hodge FB
• Beyond the Cusp
• Big Dog’s Weblog
• Blog Catalog
• Blog of Walker
• Blue Collar Muse
• Boston Maggie
• Caffeinated Thoughts
• Cao2’s Weblog
• Capitalist Observer
• Chaotic Synaptic Activity
• Christians Against Leftist Heresy
• Colonel Robert Neville
• Common Cents
• Cornswalled
• Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State
• Crystal Clear Conservative
• Defending Crusader
• Diminished Expectations
• D=S
• Do the Right Thing CyberCrew
• Dustbury
• E!! The True Conservative Story™
• Eric Odom
• Faultline USA
• Fausta’s Blog
• Ft. Hard Knox
• Fousesquawk
• Free Canuckistan
• Freedom Folks
• Free Thoughts
• Fried Green Onions
• Gadfly
• Get Religion
• GOP Grunt
• Gov. Palin for President
• GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
• Green Country Values
• Gribbit’s Word
• Hack Wilson
• Haemet
• Independent Voters Association
• Ironic Surrealism
• JammieWearingFool
• Johnson County, KS Elections
• Jubilee Int’l Ministries
• Jumping in Pools
• Kansas Progress
• Leslie Carbone
• Let’s Get It Right
• LiberalHypocrisy
• MajorityConnections
• Maggie’s Notebook
• Marginalized Action Dinosaur
• Michael Johns
• Miss Beth’s Victory Dance
• Monkey in the Middle
• Mostly Politics
• Muslihoon
• My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy
• NeoCon News
• New Republican Party Blog
• Nice Deb
• No Compromise When it Comes to Being Right!
• NoisyRoom.net
• No Sheeples Here!
• Nuke’s News & Views
• Okie Campaigns
• Ol’ Broad’s Ramblings
• Papa Mike’s Blog
• Policy in Action
• Political Fizz
• PostPolitical
• Principle over Party
• Psycmeistr’s Ice Palace!
• Publius Forum
• Radarsite
• Resistance is futile!
• RFC Radio: Radio for Conservatives
• Right Truth
• Right Voices
• Right Wing Wiz Kid
• Road Sassy
• Ron’s Musings
• Rosemary’s Thoughts
• Sally Kern
• Screw Loose Change
• Site-51
• State Political Blogs
• Stix Blog
• Stop the ACLU
• TechRepublican
• The Absurd Report
• The Almanack
• The Armchair Energist
• The Conservative Hawk
• The DaleyGator
• The Endive
• The Irate Nation
• The Lonely Conservative
• The LOUD Talker
• The Lunch Counter
• The Minority Report
• The Moderate Conservative
• The Political Commentator
• The Sundries Shack
• The Tennessee ConserVOLiance
• The Tygrrrr Express
• The Underground Conservative
• Thunder Run
• Tony Phyrillas
• Tracy Karol
• Truth Serum
• Universitas Veritas
• USA Partisan
• Velvet Hammer
• VirginianFederalist
• VOJ
• Wake up America
• Webloggin
• Western Front America
• Wyoming Vote Tracker
• YID With LID

Lon Safco: The 10 Commandments of Social Media

Last week’s WebWarrior, Dr. Bill, forwarded this link to me, and it’s great:

As an author of The Social Media Bible, I am often asked, “What do I need to do engage my company, my products, and myself in social media?” The answer is easy: participate. Get out there and get involved. If you aren’t in the game, you can’t win. Here’s your Ten Commandments or things you need to be doing to get in and win with social media.

1. Thou Shalt Blog (like crazy).
2. Thou Shalt Create Profiles (everywhere).
3. Thou Shalt Upload Photos (lots of them).
4. Thou Shalt Upload Videos (all you can find).
5. Thou Shalt Podcast (often).
6. Thou Shalt Set Alerts (immediately).
7. Thou Shalt Comment (on a multitude of blogs).
8. Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone).
9. Thou Shalt Explore Social Media (30 minutes per week).
10. Thou Shalt Be Creative (go forth and create creatively)!

…Continue reading on the Fast Company Blog >>

 

Alltop.com – a Social Blog Index with Some Potential (UPDATE – New! Check out Right-Wing News on Alltop!)

@GuyKawasaki of Alltop.com saw our post from last week, and contacted us on Twitter to offer to add a category for conservative posts. I worked with him to consolidate a list of the conservative sites already signed up on Alltop, and he set up: Right-Wing.Alltop.com.

Very cool! Check it out!

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ORIGINAL POST 06/25/09: We’re trying out a new social blog index called AllTop.com. It’s a great place to discover new blogs, and share stories. You can set up your own profile page, and use it as a feed reader to quickly catch up on your favorites.

The Tech section is great. The politics section is a little lop-sided to the left at the moment, so all of you right wing nut jobs need to get over there and get your blogs indexed. My feed is HERE, so if you’re already on AllTop, and I’ve missed you, please let me know.

The National Debt

This is all you need to know about the national debt:

The Gross National Debt

Get your own zFacts Nat’l Debt Gizmo HERE.

 

WebWarrior: Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Last week, we asked for members of our FHK Facebook Group to nominate “WebWarriors,” who are politically conservative and effectively using Web 2.0. The first response we received was from Dan Schmucker, who nominated Pamela Geller, of Atlas Shrugs, saying:

“She takes needed and courageous stands consistently against national governments lacking insight and the spineless media’s complicity in Islamofacism.”

Indeed.

Pamela is in the top 2,000 blogs on Technorati (under atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com), and has a Google Page Rank of 6/10 (under atlasshrugs.com), demonstrating that she is effectively using outgoing and internal links and categories effectively, and that her content is fresh and original, so that she’s had nearly 10,000 links to her site in the last six month, from over 1,100 blogs and websites.

Creative use of RSS feeds (via FeedBlitz) lets Pamela’s readers keep updated daily through e-mail, VOIP, IM or Twitter.

A quick Google search under “Pamela Geller” also reveals that Pamela has used effective online profile management through social networking and her contacts in the mainstream media.

Thank you, to Pamela Geller, for being our WebWarrior of the Week, and to Dan Schmucker (visit Dan on Facebook) for nominating her. As Pamela says:

“Western civilization hangs in the balance. This blog is part of the solution. Get your heads out of the sand and fight the Great Fight. The Jew may be the canary in the coal mine, but you my friends will be next. Changing the World one Word at a time…Citizen Journalist, Citizen Soldier” – Pamela Geller

If you’d like to nominate a “WebWarrior” (a conservative using Web 2.0 effectively) e-mail Jenn.

 

Posterous could be the future of blogging.

I got this from Mashable, and am flabbergasted.

Posterous is a site that allows you to create a blog by simply e-mailing your first post to the site, which immediately returns your e-mail with a link to your new blog, where you’ll be given very simple instructions for setting it up however you wish.

After that, you can add subscribers, set a password (optional), and customize your domain. Then, you can continue to post by e-mail, or using a browser bookmark from pretty much anywhere on the web, or, you can share your blog posts to any of the more popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.,) or to your other blogs (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.) You (and your approved subscribers) can edit your posts in html or WYSIWYG view.

It is really very simple, and easy to use. I set up a test blog in less than five minutes, just to check it out (here) You can even track your stats on this new blog. It doesn’t yet have the ability to customize the appearance that some other blogging software has, but makes up for this providing a fully-functioning, interactive, “ready to go” blog that is also a social network in (literally) minutes.

See some examples, here, or try it yourself, here.

What the A.P. is Missing

I was just reading an article at Tech Crunch asking the question, Does Google  Really Control the News?  While the story was not directly related to my thesis, it pointed out something that I had missed in the whole A.P. content controversy.  We’ve argued that the A.P. benefits when bloggers quote and link to them because we send them more traffic.  That’s certainly true as far as it goes but it’s not the end of the story.

Search engine rankings are based in large part on how many inbound links exist to your site, article, story, etc.  Every link boosts your ranking even if only minimally.  Links from larger sites with more traffic are more beneficial but all links help you.  So every time a blogger links to an A.P. story, not only does that directly drive some traffic from the link, it also helps improve the search engine ranking for that story at the A.P.

If all of us stopped linking to any A.P. stories, the result would be significantly lower search engine ranking for the A.P., resulting in much lower total traffic for them.  My particular site might be small but my impact is larger than just the traffic sent directly from my site because I also impact search engine rankings.

We hold more power than any of us generally believes but only if we act in concert.  Individually we can do very little.  I’d be willing to bet, however, that the loss of all blog links would do significant damage to traffic to the A.P. and they’d be forced to rethink their position.

Also see:

• Once Again: The A.P. Says It’s Going To Sue Aggregators
• Boycott the A.P.!
• The Washington Times Copies the AP – Starts Charging Bloggers to Quote Them

 

Calling all Bloggers

Today, and this coming weekend, I will begin the real push for promoting and growing Blog News Co-op. To this point I have mentioned the site to a few friends and blog acquaintances. As I finish some behind the scenes work it is time to start promoting in earnest.

Let me pull some “background” and “needs” from two earlier posts:

Bloggers should be a natural resource. Why?

• There are thousands of us. We are in every part of the country and many parts of the world.
• We have a wide spectrum of backgrounds, interests, and areas of expertise.
• While nearly all bloggers work at something other than blogging for their 9-5, not all 9-5’s take place from 9-5, if you know what I mean.
• One thing that most bloggers have in common is that they like to write. That doesn’t make us all good writers, but it’s a start.
• If all goes according to plan (once there is more of a plan than what exists now) we will be able to cover a wide range of topics, stories, geographic areas, and more.

and

Many things are needed, but a few stand out.

1. More than anything we need writers to submit original articles for use by other bloggers. If you have a story that you are interested in sharing be sure to sign up for an account and submit your article.
2. Editors. We would like to identify some authors who are willing to help polish and finalize submitted works.
3. Researchers, fact-checkers, photographers, illustrators, anything and everything that will help us find, follow, and report the stories of interest to other bloggers and readers.
4. Starting out I would like to find someone who is willing to create a more appropriate image for the top of the page.
5. I would also be helpful to hear the ideas that you might have. Please leave your comments and let me know what we need to do, and how we can do it!

Oh yeah, spread the word.

 

Live Podcast, 10:30 PM CST

 

www.Wednesday: My blog, my rules. If you want ‘free speech,’ go get your own blog!

Blog comments are both a blessing and a curse. They are an excellent way to receive feedback from readers, and interact with them. They are also a great networking venue. However, for every great comment you receive as a blog administrator, you’re likely to have to delete at least one spam comment, threat, or vile insult. There are basically three methods that can be used to referee the comment sections of blogs.

Filters

Spammers continue to try to use pingbacks and direct comments to sell their wares, regardless of how clear the blogging community makes it that they are not welcome, and there are many ways to deal with this. One is through filtering software, such as Akismet. You’ll still have to periodically review the comments sent to spam, however, because sometimes relevant comments are sent to spam.

Your blogging software may also allow you to set and adjust certain filters. For example, in Blogger, the blog administrator has the option of requiring “word verification” (”captcha”), to filter out spam. In Wordpress, there is the option to automatically filter comments that contain more than a certain number of links, or from new commenters that have not left a comment before. I also have the ability to set my filter so that I have to review every comment that comes in, or have users register and verify their e-mails before leaving a comment. Filters can also be set to catch comments that contain certain words such as vulgar language or other “red flag” words on certain topics.

The problem with these more stringent filters is that it discourages not only the unwanted spammers but also the new readers from commenting.

My very good blogger friend, Leslie Carbone, who is a libertarian with a very strong belief in freedom of speech, found herself recently in the position of needing to set a spam filter for the first time due to problems that she was encountering with behavior that was “over-the-top obscene and contribute nothing of value to public discourse” by commenters on her blog. She explains her rational very eloquently in her post from earlier to day, I hate doing this.

Comment Policies

Comments on a blog post can reflect positively or negatively on the blogger, especially by new readers to that blog. In some extreme cases, especially in cases where negative (possibly untrue) information is shared in the comment section of a blog, a blogger could be sued for libel. It’s unlikely such a lawsuit would be successful, but who wants that hassle? Plus, if targeted readership on a blog might be offended by off-color humor, or vulgar language, the blogger may wish to set a policy that comments containing such matter will be deleted.

Bloggers who have been around awhile, and receive hundreds of thousands of readers a day find it necessary to not only filter their comments and set very strict policies, but also make it very difficult for commenters to gain “membership” to be able to comment. Examples are Michelle Malkin, HotAir, Little Green Footballs, and Ann Coulter. Requirements might including being online at the right time during a registration window, certifying willingness to comply with terms of service full of legalese, or being able to verify an ISP-based e-mail address. These extra security measures are necessary for high-profile bloggers who commonly receive death threats (and who have a fan base that is more than willing to jump through hoops to be able to comment on their blogs), but are really too extreme for the average blogger who is trying desperately to build a readership.

Attitude

Contrary to what some bloggers and some blog readers seem to believe, a private blog is not a “public space.” Yes, most are open to the public for reading, but the blogger is ultimately responsible for the content on his or her blog (including the content in the comment section), and is under no obligation to allow readers to comment.

Yes, as I mentioned earlier, comments are a great way to network, and interact with readers, but just as in a private home or in a private business, the blogger has the right to set the tone and ambiance, and to kick unruly guests out at will.

And no, it is not hypocritical to support “free speech,” and first amendment rights and at the same time to implement what more obnoxious commenters may refer to as “gestapo” tactics that would rival airport security. Just like our Dad’s used to tell us (paraphrased), “My blog, my rules. If you want ‘free speech,’ go get your own blog!”

The Skepticians – A new conservative Web 2.0 blog – with a twist.

My blogger friend, James Richardson has started The Skepticians, along with Tommy Jardon. They write on Art & Culture, Entertainment, Sports, Humor, and Technology – pretty much all the stuff that we really care about, no?

James is the former RNC Online Communications manager, and Tommy is the Vice Chair for the RNC. This promises to be an interesting blog, so check it out!

Is it Illegal to Link to a Government Website?

From Paul Jacob’s Common Sense:

Shocker: Criminal Web Links!

Aliens take over government! Soviets control U.S. weather! Ancient Mayan temple has Sandisk flash drive!

If you’ve ever been to a supermarket, you’ve seen these and other ludicrous mile-high headlines blaring from the newsstands.

Here’s another impossible headline that might issue from the pen of any zany, unscrupulous tabloid fabulist: BLOGGER TREATED AS CRIMINAL FOR POSTING WEB LINK TO CITY AGENCY!

Not a concoction, I’m afraid. The city of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, did indeed harass a blogger named Jennifer Reisinger for linking to the website of the city police department. No alleged libel, alleged copyright violation, or other alleged crime. Ms. Reisinger and her lawyer believe the threat was retaliation for her role in trying to recall the Sheboygan mayor, Juan Perez.

Intimidated by the unprecedented cease-and-desist order she received from the city attorney, Reisinger at first removed the link. But then, after being threatened with a criminal investigation for her dastardly providing of information, she hired a lawyer. The lawyer advised her to restore the Web link, which she did. The mayor’s office dropped its threat, but Reisinger is suing anyway.

Mayor Perez and his henchmen deserve to be stomped in court — if only to pre-empt similar stupidity and contempt for First Amendment rights by other vindictive politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

For more info, see:

• Harvard Info/Law: Again with the Linking
• Out-Law.com: Mayor’s opponent sues city over order to remove web link
• WebProNews: Don’t Link Me Bro
• Sheboygan woman files landmark case over Web links
• The Citizen Media Law Project

The Internet Patrol

(Updated with Video and Local News Coverage) Defending the American Dream Summit – “Bloggers Row” (#AFP08)

10/16/08: ARMAD has a reader account from Emery McClendon with photos of the event on Indiana’s News Center

Also – Larry Gilbert has done a very good job of covering the Summit in four parts: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4

10/15/08: ARRA News Service has a summary of CBN’s coverage of the event. Erik Telford, Maggie Thurber, and Robert Bluey are interviewed.

10/11/08: Video, courtesy of Bob Weeks, of Wichita Liberty:

 

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For many years, it has been customary for public events and some private events to acknowledge “press passes,” for members of the TV and print press to allow those reporters “special” access to areas of the event not open to all members of the public, or all of the attendees. Press areas often include special accommodations for all of the video, electronic, and wireless equipment involved in reporting and recording an event.

In recent years, event managers are slowly realizing that it can be helpful to also include access for bloggers – who are not members of the “press,” but often will give free online publicity for the event. The access for bloggers is often called “bloggers row.” The bloggers usually, however, are not given the same respect or access as the press. In fact, at several events I’ve attended, I’ve voluntarily given up my seat on bloggers row, because it was in a room separate from the event altogether, or so far back in the event that I could get better photos as a member of the public.

At the AFP Dream Summit, however, we, as bloggers, have been in virtual paradise. We’ve had all of the access of the press, plus our own private room for meeting, for interviews, and for training opportunities. In addition to that, we had several hours worth of training opportunities today on online activism, social networking, citizen journalism, blogging, online video, and identity management, and using wikis effectively. These workshops were presented by new media experts such as Emily Zanotti, Eric Odom and Allan Fuller of the Sam Adams Alliance, Leslie Graves of the the Lucy Burns Institute, and the and Robert Bluey, Mary Katharine Ham, Christopher Malagisi and William Beutler with the Leadership Institute.

This, of course, is in addition to all of the other activities, workshops, panels, and seminars available to all of the summit attendees. As with any adult training program – you get out of it what you put into it. Erik Telford, the AFP New Media Manager and the Americans for Prosperity, is doing an excellent job of helping bloggers network with other activists, and find the resources we need to do what we love to do, more professionally.