-
Don't Get Mad, Get Elected
Print This Post
Jun
30
Call for Submissions: Carnival of Ohio Politics #124
Filed Under Ohio, Announcements, Politics, Blogging | 3 Comments
Usually the request for submissions goes out through e-mail, and I’ve done that already. But I also figured that since that list seems to have remained more or less the same number for a while, maybe there are blog readers who aren’t aware of the Carnival and might consider contributing.
You can read past editions of the carnival here if you’re not familiar with them.
The righthand sidebar at the site shows you how something like 70 different blogs, from literally everywhere along the political spectrum, have participated in the carnival over the last 12 months and we’re always hoping more new bloggers will participate.
If you are interested in being a part of the carnival, you can send up to three links, each week, to the carnival address (OhioPolCarnival[at]Gmail[dot]com) by 9pm that Tuesday evening (unless the editor of the week notifies you otherwise - like for a holiday or other exception).
The co-editors include me, Ben Keeler of Keeler Political Report, Lisa Renee Ward of Glass City Jungle and Scott Piepho of Pho’s Akron Pages.
If you have any questions, or suggestions, please feel free to e-mail me, any of the editors, or the e-mail for the carnival.
And thanks - feel free to spread the word.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:41 pm June 30th, 2008 in Ohio, Announcements, Politics, Blogging | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Jun
30
Gov. Strickland to respond to Chester Finn’s depression over Ohio
Filed Under Social Issues, Debates, Ted Strickland, Breaking, Economy, Government, Education, Media, Announcements, Ohio, Politics | 12 Comments
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Special Edition [written by Dayton resident and president of the pro-charter school Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn, Jr.] painted a grim picture of Ohio’s economy.
…
The article started, “Once known as the Mother of Presidents, Ohio is now getting poorer, older and dumber –- and making all the wrong moves to reverse the situation.”
Governor Ted Strickland’s office was drafting a response Monday, NBC 4’s Mikaela Hunt reported.
The office will ask the paper to write a follow-up, too.
A spokesperson for Strickland called the op-ed piece a “very hard-edge partisan political attack” and cited the state is creating a job atmosphere that has a lot of potential, Hunt reported.
You can leave a comment to the question NBC4i asks, “Do you agree with the op-ed piece or with Gov. Strickland’s office?” the only problem being that there is no “piece” from the Strickland office yet, but you know what they mean, I think.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:14 pm June 30th, 2008 in Social Issues, Debates, Ted Strickland, Breaking, Economy, Government, Education, Media, Announcements, Ohio, Politics | 12 Comments
Print This Post
Jun
30
Text of Barack Obama speech on Patriotism
Filed Under Barack Obama, John McCain, Debates, WH2008, Government, Announcements, Elections, Politics | Leave a Comment
You can read Barack Obama’s speech given today in Missouri on the topic patriotism here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 12:48 pm June 30th, 2008 in Barack Obama, John McCain, Debates, WH2008, Government, Announcements, Elections, Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Jun
30
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:57 am June 30th, 2008 in Barack Obama, Announcements | 12 Comments
Print This Post
Jun
30
Order up your Instructions From The Cook
Filed Under Social Issues, leadership, Business, Writing, Resources, Culture, Tools | Leave a Comment
George Nemeth and Jack Ricchiutto have written a book called, Instructions From The Cook, that serves as:
an introduction to a powerful and simple model of building community. It is based on the observation that communities thrive when people intentionally engage each other in conversations that energize, engage, and empower them.
The model we present here is an introduction to the deeper and compelling model Peter Block presents in Community from his work with A Small Group.The model we present in ”Instructions From The Cook” is a way to become familiar with the kinds of conversations Peter talks about that eliminate the fragmentation responsible for many things we call problems in communities. We invite you to learn and practice the model and unleash its power in your community.
This is the kind of book where I can anticipate that I’ll be nodding my head in agreement for pretty much its entire length The tough part will be applying it, though I imagine that once you get started, it becomes second.
The only thing I want to know is, why isn’t it “Cooks”?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:48 am June 30th, 2008 in Social Issues, leadership, Business, Writing, Resources, Culture, Tools | Please comment
Print This Post
Jun
30
Anti-Obama blogs targeted in Blogspot account shutdowns
Filed Under Voting, Republicans, Democrats, leadership, Debates, Barack Obama, Politics, Elections, WH2008, Campaigning, Blogging | 3 Comments
I’ve been privy to a lot of discussion related to strategizing in regard to Hillary Clinton supporters who just can’t pull the lever for Obama, Hillary Clinton supporters who say that they will pull the lever for GOP candidate John McCain, stay home or write in Clinton, and people claiming or posing as Hillary Clinton supporters who never were and are in fact Republicans who are trying to convince the disaffected Clinton supporters that there is in fact a groundswell of Clinton supporters who will vote for McCain.
But this article on Bloggasm raises this confusion over what people do with disappointment to a new level:
“At first I [blogger whose Blogspot blog was flagged as possible spam blog] thought it was just this random thing with Blogger’s spam bots,” she told me in a phone interview. “I thought that perhaps in their looking across the blogger universe, that I got accidentally flagged somehow. Stuff like that happens.”
But a short time later Snedeker received an email from another blogger claiming that a number of anti-Obama blogs had been “hacked” that same night. After some digging it became apparent that several Blogspot accounts had been shut down because of similar spam issues, and nearly all of them had three things in common: Most were pro-Hillary Clinton blogs, all were anti-Barack Obama, and several were listed on justsaynodeal.com, an anti-Obama website.
A “Flag Blog” link sits at the very top of every free Blogspot account. If a person finds objectionable content on a Blogspot site or suspects it’s publishing spam, he or she can click on the link and it will send a notice to Google requesting “human review.”
I spoke to several of the bloggers who had accounts locked and every single one was convinced that it was Obama supporters who had flagged the blogs in some kind of concerted effort to silence them. But when I asked for specific evidence of this, most simply pointed out that only anti-Obama blogs were targeted — a fact that is certainly suspicious but not especially conclusive.
The incident highlights the often-contentious relationship between online Hillary and Obama supporters. Popular sites like Digg.com have consistently posted anti-Hillary links and popular liberal blog Daily Kos experienced a “boycott” a few months ago when several Hillary supporters left the site.
Sigh. I fail to see how any of this can have a positive impact, period. It feels like a major distraction to those of us who have limited time and a single objective: get a Democrat in the White House. Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:38 am June 30th, 2008 in Voting, Republicans, Democrats, leadership, Debates, Barack Obama, Politics, Elections, WH2008, Campaigning, Blogging | 3 Comments
Print This Post
Jun
30
The message will be that love of country is not defined only by such traditional measures as serving in the military or tracing one’s ancestors to the Mayflower. Patriotism, he and his supporters will say, can be reflected in living the American dream, which in Obama’s case means rising as the Hawaiian-born son of a Kenyan father and Kansan mother to professional and political prominence.
…
“It’s more about the ongoing narrative that he has told throughout this campaign,” said a senior adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It is an ‘only in America’ story.”
…
As part of the patriotism theme, Obama also is expected to speak this summer near the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu, where his grandfather, a World War II veteran, is buried.
Obama’s first general-election ad, a 60-second biography launched earlier this month, foreshadows the patriotism theme, with images from his life story accompanied by his own words about what being an American means to him.
The speech will be given at noon today, E.S.T.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:23 am June 30th, 2008 in Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Jun
30
[update] BREAKING: Obama to address Patriotism today, 10am Noon EST
Filed Under Barack Obama, leadership, Social Issues, Government, Announcements, Politics | Leave a Comment
UPDATE: Washington Post reports that the speech will be at noon EST.
Not sure yet on link for watching but I would guess CNN etc. will have it. Here’s the AP announcement:
The Democratic presidential candidate’s campaign says he will talk about “what patriotism means to him and what it requires of all Americans who loves this country and want to see it do better.”
The speech in Missouri Monday comes in the run-up to the July 4 holiday and as Obama seeks to reassure voters about his commitment to the country as well as to counter questions about his patriotism. He’s recently started wearing a flag pin on his lapel.
I may try to live-blog it but I’m not sure I’ll be around a computer or television.
For more about whether some isn’t enough or is too too much of something, read this debate at BlogHer about Obama and Ralph Nader’s “talking white” comment.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:24 am June 30th, 2008 in Barack Obama, leadership, Social Issues, Government, Announcements, Politics | Please comment
Print This Post
Jun
29
Review of Plain Dealer changes unveiled in today’s paper
Filed Under Writing, Business, Ohio, Announcements, Cleveland+, Media, Tech | 1 Comment
Here’s the letter and here’s the pdf that details the changes. What I notice:
1. When I looked at the one page overview of “numbers,” my first thought was: oh, no - you do not want to do this (i.e., show all these numbers that will make people think about/see how much gas is used and how much paper is consumed rather than any information about how the paper is trying to go green or greenify its operations at any level, not to mention using/maximizing its online capabilities) (to wit, the paper won another award, this time from the APME, for its multi-platform presentation of the Johanna Orozco story - “ONLINE CONVERGENCE, Over 150,000: The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, for deep reporting on the grueling recovery of an 18-year-old girl shot in the face; you can read about a different award they won for the coverage here).
2. The Page Two WakeUpCall: Did anyone from the PD check with James Pindell of Politicker.com, where one of the features is called Wake-Up Call? The PD’s version is described as,
…your guide to what’s new online at cleveland.com. If you only have a few minutes, this page is your watercooler study guide, led by its “Five Smart Things You Should Know Today” summary.
3. Moving the Opinion page to the back of the first section reminds me of how the New York Times in print is organized. Now, unless I’m reading it incorrectly, which is possible, it sounds like there will no longer be a dedicated op-ed page but rather just one page that will be, “…a lively one-page mix of editorials, columns and your letters.” Hmm. But the Sunday Forum will go to six pages.
4. Thursday will have a feature in the back of the Inside & Out section called “New on the Net.” There doesn’t appear to be a visual preview of what the section will include or look like.
5. The Business section appears to have the most changes that interplay with cleveland.com: there will be no section at all on Mondays, but rather will be represented by changes at its place on cleveland.com, including the provision of “online-only features.” Now, the thing here, in describing this change? Is that, if, you know, the section won’t be anywhere in print on Mondays, and it will all be online on Mondays, then isn’t the entire section, on Mondays, an online-only feature?
And that’s the bulk of the summary. Now, whether it results in the rumored 35 page per week cut addressed by Roldo Bartimole in early June, I can’t really visualize. I might have to buy it for a week just to see.
Areas that aren’t mentioned at all: politics, women, education, jobs, real estate, crime. May or may not be relevant but to me, as a reader, especially after reading Rocky Mountain News‘ publisher/editor John Temple’s column about individualizing newspapers, well - if I had an individualized newspaper, those are some of the topics I’d want to know will be covered in an organized and well-displayed way. (As an aside, I e-mailed Temple about one observation I had regarding the idea of individualizing print papers and he responds to it here in his blog.)
I’m also curious to know the price of the revamp. Would I buy a smaller paper, that had more essential info to me in it, at the same price it’s now charging? This is an interesting question. One reason I stopped buying it was because I felt that the editorials were poorly reasoned and failed to serve the community in a way commensurate with the brain resources and talent that exists at the PD. That doesn’t mean the conclusions had to be the same as mine, but at least solid reasoning needed to be provided. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been more than 18 months since I received it regularly.
The revamp doesn’t say much about the guts of the stories themselves or how the editorial process may change (but there is this pdf that goes over the process of producing the paper). Will we see more wire reports or fewer? Will the brief items be so brief that even someone who spends a minimal amount of time online will already know those stories? Will we see more narrative, or no?
The Business re-do indicates that there will be some front-paging of news about local business and I know that there have been some changes to the front page as well re: local highlights.
I am kind of a news junkie - I have to say - so I might just talk myself into getting the paper again. Just so I can, you know, trash it. Right? For the record, I’ve sent a link to this post to the changes AT plaind DOT com e-mai, as an FYI.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:39 pm June 29th, 2008 in Writing, Business, Ohio, Announcements, Cleveland+, Media, Tech | 1 Comment
Print This Post
Jun
29
Black Maternal Health: a series by Women’s eNews, Part I
Filed Under Health Care, Science, Illness, Mental health, Government, Parenting, Culture, Women, Politics | Leave a Comment
We’ve heard before about how, prior to Bernadine Healy (former head of the research institute at the Cleveland Clinic and dean of OSU’s medical college, before heading up the American Red Cross) being the head of NIH, few if any studies included enough women and made the results relevant to more than 50% of the United States’ population.
Well, we should also realize that there are other ways in which research and reporting on health can be skewed, intentionally or not, because it fails to take other demographics into account.
Today, Women’s eNews published its first article in what they call a series on Black Maternal Health. They don’t mention how many articles or how often the article will be published, but I receive they’re daily e-mails and will be sure to cross-link to each one in the series as they appear.
From the first one, titled, “U.S. Black Maternal Hazards Tied to Social Stress,”:
Regardless of their age, marital status, education or early prenatal care, African American women are more likely to bear premature and low-birth-weight infants, those under 6 pounds, whose survival odds are below the U.S. norm.
Nationwide, black women are three to four times more likely to die giving birth than either white or Latina women. Their infants’ mortality risk is doubled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disparity has persisted even as infant mortality rates for the nation as a whole have fallen.
…
Over the last 10 years, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Research on Women’s Health, led by its first full-time director, Vivian Pinn, an African American appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1991, has encouraged a body of research indicating that the roots of black maternal ill health run deep. Among the findings:
Black immigrant women have fewer low-birth-weight babies than native-born black women.
Pregnant African American women are most likely to develop hypertension and diabetes. They are also most likely to retain weight gained during pregnancy.
The problems get worse as the mothers get older, indicating a cumulative effect of stress. (Women of Color Health Data Book, 2005).
Now, I can’t even pretend that I know much about this topic - I don’t, other than to say that I am familiar with some of the statistics and the search for understanding them. I hope that some readers who are more familiar comment on the opinions in the piece.
For more information on the work being done on this issue, take a look at the Black Women’s Health Imperative, which hosted a conference last week i