More on Coulter
Here are two more things on the Coulter spat. First, a former 9-11 commissioner levels some criticism: ["9/11 Commissioner Criticizes Coulter"] and this, about possible vote fraud: ["Coulter lines up heavy hitter"]. Vote fraud? Ann Coulter? No, really?
The latter is worth printing in its entirety:

COULTER LINES UP A HEAVY HITTER
What? Ted Olson wasn't available?
Conservative pundit and best-selling political writer Ann Coulter has hired a white-glove, White House-connected law firm to fight allegations she voted illegally in February's Town of Palm Beach election.
And the attorney from the Miami-based Kenny Nachwalter firm is no stranger to Palm Beach voting. Marcos Jimenez - who was, along with the more famous Olson, one of the lead attorneys who fought for George W. Bush's side in the 2000 presidential election snafu here - was assigned to Coulter.
Jimenez, by the way, also knows a thing or two about criminals. Appointed by Bush as U.S. attorney for the southern district of Florida in 2002, Jimenez was charged with going after terrorists, drug dealers and wayward union bosses. Jimenez returned to private practice last year.
"Mr. Jimenez asked us to send him all the correspondence we sent Ms. Coulter," deputy dlections chief Charmaine Kelly said.
A poll worker reported to his supervisors that he saw Coulter try to vote in the precinct closest to her Palm Beach home. But when she was told the address on her voter's registration was elsewhere, Coulter ran out instead of correcting it and ended up voting in a precinct that wasn't hers. Knowingly voting in the wrong precinct
in Florida is a felony.
Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson gave Coulter until April 30 to explain what happened, but she has yet to answer his registered letters. Now with Jimenez, Kelly said, officials will wait "a few more weeks" before starting a procedure that could strip Coulter of her right to vote here and refer the case to State Attorney Barry Krischer for possible prosecution.
Coulter couldn't be reached and Jimenez didn't return calls.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't ole Englepuke ..." A felony, eh? Wow. That would mean she might end up in a women's prison and probably as someone's bitch ... oops, I shouldn't say that, that would be uncivil ...

The revenge of Michael Brown continues: I don't read Editor & Publisher in the print form but I do try and check out their Web site as much as I can. Here are two recent interesting items from it. First, the reason you want to always save your emails: ["Heckuva E-mail, Brownie: Releases Bush 'Scapegoat' Message"]. Now, this is leadership, huh?:

"This was the text of the email message to Brown read on the air: 'I did hear of one reference to you, at the Cabinet meeting yesterday. I wasn't there but I heard someone commented that the press was sure beating up on Mike Brown, to which the President replied, 'I'd rather they beat up on him than me or Chertoff.'"

Jeez, so much for the great job he was doing, eh?

And then there is this: ["Goldman Lifts Tribune Rating, Says Odds 'High' for Restructuring"]. This is why things are so bad in the newspaper industry. Well, it's one of the reasons. There are others. But let's stick to this one. The "news" isn't a business. It can't be predicted or controlled. It is its own free-flowing choatic entity. You can make money on it, sure. But, it is irresponsible to destroy the news just to make more money from it. You can't decimate the staff of a newspaper and then expect your product to survive. It just doesn't work that way.

Too long
It's been too long between posts but to be frank, I haven't had much to write about. And, I've been busy with other things. Like the flooding this weekend which left the entire damn state under water. I don't know what it is about this weather but we are just not prepared for these hundred year storms happening twice a year. None of our communities have been built to withstand these attacks from Mother Nature a few times a year. But anyhow, on to the headline roundup.

First, a nice note: There is nothing like getting a kudos from folks in the media about the job you are doing. Here is a nice note from Dan Szczesny, who is the editor of the Concord edition of The Hippo, about all the great things going on at WKXL 1450: ["Support your local station"].

What’s the purpose of all this furious activity? It’s truly local community-oriented radio, a kind of broadcasting that’s increasingly rare in this age of syndicated programming and media consolidation. But that rarity, of course, makes it all the more valuable.

Yeah, that says it all. And so does this, in the Boston Globe no less: ["N.H. broadcasters honored for 2005 work"]. It's a little sad that there wasn't anything in our local daily newspapers about the radio stations winning. But hey, The Hippo is good enough.

Good economic times; bad heart attacks: ["A Good Economy May Be Hazardous to Your Health"]. I've often wondered about this. While bad economic times often create stress and anxiety, creativity can often excel during those time periods. Whereas, in good economic times, a person is often working harder and longer hours, and has little time to do the more creative things in life. Then, there is the issue of balancing all those things

"Perhaps more worrisome, the most at-risk population is younger workers aged 20 to 44. 'This is a group that's more heavily involved in the workforce and may be more affected by changes,' Ruhm says."

The theme of older workers being able to take on the responsibilities is a good point; the other side of that is that the older workers sometimes slide through the end of their careers, not getting caught in the hullabaloo.

This passed by without much notice: ["After 5 Years, Levy Case Yields Plenty of Theories but No Break"]. In an age of 24x7 media, and the obsession with hot little white girls who have been disappeared by whoever, I'm surprised there wasn't wall-to-wall on this anniversary.

Another side of freedom?: ["Bush Clears the Way for Corporate Domination"]. Antonia Juhasz makes some pretty good points in the piece. I wonder if it is worth reading the book since we already kinda know this stuff. This is another take on things: ["Overthrow"]. And this: ["The Worst President in History?"].

Ted Rall: Ted Rall does sometimes vicious cartoons. His commentary is sometimes beyond biting. Sometimes, he is also not a very kind person. But, he does, sometimes, make some really good points: ["America, You Lost! The Railroading of Zacarias Moussaoui"].

"Lest we forget, Moussaoui didn't do anything. He couldn't have. He was in jail on immigration charges; he had already been behind bars for nearly a month on 9/11. The government charged him with six counts--not of committing a crime, but of conspiring to participate in 9/11. Count Four, Conspiracy to Use Weapons of Mass Destruction, relied solely on Moussaoui's alleged membership in Al Qaeda. If Al Qaeda ever tried to acquire WMDs--evidence of this is sketchy to non-existent--it's absurd to imagine that Osama bin Laden might have involved a demented third-stringer like Moussaoui."

There is also this point:

But innocence isn't Moussaoui's only defense. He's also insane. Only a loon would refuse to cooperate with his own lawyers, testify against himself and shout "You will never get my blood! God curse you all!," "God curse America and save Osama bin Laden! You'll never get him!" and "I am Al Qaeda! I'm the enemy! This trial is a circus!" while on trial for his life before a jury of 12 Americans. After the jury sentenced him to life, he filed a motion for a new trial--a right he waived when he plead guilty to the original trumped-up charges. The man needs Zoloft, not a prison cell.

If Moussaoui had just sat back and took some of that TV advice and popped a pill, he might not have had these problems.

ARG 2008 polling numbers: ["ARG"]. American Research Group, one of the state's two biggest polling firms, has been doing some interesting things with the Republican primary. They've been polling folks in a number of states with potential primaries after - or before - New Hampshire and Iowa. While we expect them to poll in these states, along with South Carolina, it is interesting to voters queried in Utah, Michigan, New Mexico, Arizona, Alabama, California, and other New England states. Interestingly, McCain and Undecided rule the day, with Gingrich getting some so-so numbers. Put Guliani in, and he is an instant second. Hilariously, "Guy Smiley" Romney only gets 17 percent of Republican voters in Massachusetts ... where he is the damn governor! With Guliani in the polling, his numbers drop to 10 percent.

Who is this guy?: ["Ex-Alaska Senator Gravel Runs for Presidents"]. The first one out of the block. It is not in this report, but in another report he suggests scrapping the income tax with a national sales tax. Then, there is this:

"His Senate tenure was notable for his anti-war activity. He led a one-man filibuster to protest the Vietnam-era draft, and read into the Congressional Record 4,100 pages of the 7,000-page leaked document known as the Pentagon Papers."

R.I.P. Tony Crayton: ["City has lost a maverick"].

I love this: ["Energy crisis? Venezuela gas is cheaper than water"]. This is also interesting: ["The Fox News Effect"]. The only problem with the theory is that there aren't that many people watching the channel.

Hillary: While I didn't like getting banned from his site, I do like this piece: ["Hillary Clinton: Too Much of a Clinton Democrat?"]. I also like this piece: ["Hillary, Rupert, and the Culture of Corruption"]. And another side: ["Murdoch Defends Plan to Host Hillary Fundraiser; Calls Her 'Effective, Good Senator'"].

Thought for the day
You only have the rights you are willing to fight for.

411: An old pal from Winchester forwarded this information to me today:
"Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 or more for 411 informationcalls when they don't have to. (They are plainly and simply greedy.)Here's how to beat them. If you need to use the 411 information option:Dial 1-800-FREE 411 (1-800-373-3411) without incurring a charge at all, except for whatever minutes are required to make the call.It works on home "land line" phone too.This is information people don't mind receiving. Pass it on."

I will have to check it out and see if it works.

Speaking of phones: Did you know that your phone records were for sale? ["Your phone records are for sale"].

New Orleans, Post Katrina: Well, it looks like the powers that be are finally letting folks know how New Orleans will be rebuilt. And, as many suspected, it looks like a land grab - with the working class folks of New Orleans being left out of the big plans: ["N.O. residents angry about rebuilding ideas"]. So, who is this Joseph Canizaro guy anyway? Well, do a Google: ["Mother Jones 400"]:

In 1997, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development chided Canizaro for heading a local housing authority that ignored lower bids and awarded a contract to a board member of First Bank and Trust, where Canizaro happens to be chairman.

Hmm. OK. What else can we find? A lot of stuff about donations to Bush and then, this: ["The city's future may depend on a mogul with Bush's ear"]. Why is it that these folks are always put in charge of "the rebuilding" or "the rezoning" or "the restructuring." How come it is never any regular folks who just want their homes back. Let's see if the Sean Hannitys of the world expose this fraud like they go after Democratic mayors in small towns who are taking property for small economic revitalization projects. And yeah, don't get me wrong, that's bad too.

Oh Ana Marie: Wonkette! has a book out. And another book coming ... with a six figure advance! I'm in the wrong business. But then again, I don't really like to blog by making sexual references and sodomy jokes all the time. And, I don't live in D.C. ... I live in New Hampshire. But now, she has decided not to blog and, in fact, her blog is getting a sex change: ["Wonkette's Sex Change"].
I think I will wait until it ends up in the cut-out bin.

I think I may try this: ["TerraPass"].