Long Lost Aggre-Blogging: Now That I’m Back
Nothing like a week filled with web programming, yucky cold, and other work-related stuff to keep the blog habit at bay. So now. Where was I?
» TX Redistricting: DOJ rejects Texas’ voter ID law
» Chron: Justice Department rejects Texas’ voter ID law
» TX Tribune: Feds Reject Texas Voter ID Law
» Chron: Texas’ contested voter ID law could shave voter rolls
Sorta big news. Now to see what happens with the state’s pushback efforts. Whether this case does anything to chip away at Section 5 remains to be seen. But it’s a given that Section 5 will get a day in court in front of the GOP-controlled Supreme Court.
» Pew: Romney Leads GOP Contest, Trails in Matchup with Obama
Time to start taking the head-to-head comparisons against Obama more seriously. And, already, they seem to show a mixture of results. ABC/Washington Post had Obama losing to both Romney & Santorum. This one has Obama leading. It could be a tough election to read, which I think is good business for Nate Silver.
» Education Next: Obama’s Education Record
… and also time for assessment of Obama’s record.
» Washington Post: Mitt Romney’s dog-on-the-car-roof story still proves to be his critics’ best friend
I’m not going to lie – I see this as a big character issue. All of my family’s bassets rode inside. Sometimes in the driver’s seat. Always with tongue flailing in the wind of an open window. It’s how God intended dogs to ride.
» NY Review of Books: Our Corrupt Politics: It’s Not All Money
An interesting take on the impact of money in politics toward votes in the legislature. It’s not totally counter to the proposition that Mark Green raised in “Who Owns Congress”, but there’s still some room between Green and Chait to fill in. Who knows – if time ever permits, I may have to revisit my old 1988 thesis on campaign finance reform.
» NY Times: When States Put Out the Unwelcome Mat
» NewsTaco: West Texas Miracle Producing Future Latino Leaders
» MSNBC: Racist? Texas high school apologizes for fans’ ‘USA!’ chant after basketball game
» TX Tribune: Claudia Kolker: The TT Interview
A small gaggle of signposts and otherwise interesting reading on how the modern era of Hispanic demographics is different than before.
» TechPresident: Sean Parker: New Technology Can Diminish The Dominance Of Money In Politics
Put me on the fence with this one, I suppose. I’m not seeing online tools diminish the importance of money so far. For the most part, most of the online tools are an add-on rather than a substitute. Certainly, having the voter file online is a nice substitute and could theoretically be seen as a cost saver. But it usually helps to have an expert user to go along with that tool since not every 70-yr old grandma can operate VAN. Until there’s a success story about costs being saved due to online tools, I’m the skeptic.
» Media Decoder: After 244 Years, Encyclopaedia Britannica Stops the Presses
This is a sad, yet highly predictable day. There were three major timekillers that I usually had at my disposal during college: looking up old election stats and mapping county maps for Senate/Governor elections around the nation (try not to act surprised); digging through the magazine archives on topics I would have not otherwise studied (for some reason, I recall a lot of medical journal and anthropology reading); and picking up a random EB to pick a random topic to read up on. They’re clearly the most well-written encyclopedias known to man. I may have to pick up a stray single copy from a thrift store now just to be able to prove that such a thing existed to future generations.
» Washington Post: In Iraq, growing gap sets Kurdistan apart
Interesting reading, in and of itself. At church, we also heard news of a tragic event from a couple of missionaries from our community. Given the rush to classify this as a standard-issue Muslim vs Christian war, it’s heartening to know that there’s some peacefulness that comes from this one. That the overall story seems to represent an isolated incident within the broader relative peacefulness that seems to exist in Kurdistan.
» NY Times: How India Became America
Behold, the last Starbucks-free refuge now seems on the verge of being over-run.
» ESPN: NFL Nation – Peyton Manning tag
In case you didn’t know what the single biggest sports story was. I’m just relieved that the Arizona Cardinals seem to be out of consideration. The second biggest free agency news seems to be that Texans’ DE Mario Williams is being wooed by Buffalo.
» Star-Telegram: Coincidence? Former Trinity HS QB signed by Colts, one day after they cut Manning
I’m biased, but I can totally see Trevor Vittatoe as Manning’s replacement. More seriously, I’m sure this is nothing more than a placeholder move. There’s been a small amount of interesting reading on the life that roster-filler type players go through. Basically – you sign for a few days to a team and bounce around among a number of different teams during a season. All that for roughly $15-20k if you’re lucky. Any there’s nothing to suggest that a good warehouse job that understands your situation wouldn’t be a bad thing to have. Oh, and stay in peak shape the whole time. If you’re lucky, an Arena Football League or UFL gig will open up for better stability as a professional athlete. Not exactly the most glamorous thing in the world.