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Mar
11
[list] Index of Ohio’s “well-being” by congressional district: not so well
Filed Under Politics | 4 Comments
According to the State and Congressional District Resource for Well-Being, ”a product of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index,” Ohio, as a state, ranks 47th most “well” state (meaning, not very well at all) out of 50. (Paging Jason Sullivan to do more breakdown of what it all means.) The NYT blog, Economix, has a good explanation of what you can and can’t tell from this info – here’s the intro:
Want to be live among the happiest Americans? Move to Utah.
People in Utah report the highest levels of well-being, according to recent survey results from Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index. West Virginia had the lowest score.
The index attempts to “measure what it is that people believe constitutes a good life, who is feeling good about life, and who is in need of a helping hand.” In general, the states where people reported feeling better about life were located primarily in the West, and lower well-being states were clustered in the Midwest and the South…
The Gallup Poll, in conjunction with the American Health Insurance Plans and Healthways, created what it calls “The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index” to rank factors that help measure well-being in America’s rural and urban communities. The effort, “an on-going daily survey that began in January 2008,” polls 1,000 Americans per day, 350 days per year, according to the survey’s Web site.
The poll studies “not only the absence of infirmity and disease, but also a state of physical, mental and social well-being,” pollsters say.
Here’s the scoop on each district (and remember, folks, I’m just the messenger):
1. Steve Driehaus (D) 366
2. Jean Schmidt (R) 296
3. Mike Turner (R) 368
4. Jim Jordan (R) 397
5. Bob Latta (R) 331
6. Charlie Wilson (D) 419
7. Steve Austria (R) 406
8. John Boehner (R) 260
9. Marcy Kaptur (D) 389
10. Dennis Kucinich (D) 399
11. Marcia Fudge (D) 426
12. Pat Tibieri (R) 196
13. Betty Sutton (D) 358
14. Steve LaTourette (R) 201
15. Mary Jo Kilroy (D) 318
16. John Boccieri (D) 322
17. Tim Ryan (D) 431
18. Zachary Space (D) 428
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:51 am March 11th, 2009 in Politics | 4 Comments
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Mar
11
Daily Exclamations, March 11, 2009
Filed Under Blogging, Business, Daily Exclamations, Economy, Government, Israel, lee fisher, Media, middle east, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, senate, social media, Tech, Women | 2 Comments
1. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) flips out her FLip and flips out a blogger aka citizen journalist to help him see how it feels to be her.
2. Is there anyone who doesn’t want to comment on the Lee Fisher campaign’s creation of a Women for Lee committee?
3. Excellent article and audio from NPR that supports the solidity of Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur’s recommendation that people facing foreclosure demand that the companies wanting them to move out produce the documents (this is legal, whether you like it or not and it’s simply the small guy using the law just as the bigger guys try to use it).
4. FORTUNE Small Business profiles the Israeli-Palestinian computer tech company, G.ho.st in its most recent issue. Here’s the article online. They provide cyberspace desktops for virtual computers. Kara Swisher of the WSJ’s Boomtoom blog wrote last fall about a trademark battle G.ho.st is having with Microsoft.
5. Speaking of tech, if you read through these Twitter search results, you can see that the overwhelming response to Chairman Michael Steele’s effort to get with the 21st Century is falling more than flat, as this post at The Next Right, titled, GOP Tech: Clueless Losers, echoes. However, TechPresident reported yesterday that there’s a new five page document circulating that supplements the original RFP. There appears to be extremely little chatter about it at the moment.
The question persists, in so many areas: Why don’t people consult the correct people and ask the right questions first (think Motrin Moms, think Obama’s people who have had to withdraw from appointments)? It is basic risk management, people.
6. Professor Kim Pearson has a very helpful post about Survival Tips for Journalists in the New News Economy.
7. Yeah!!! I am not yet an Older American!
As defined by this study [Greying Gadgets: How Older Americans Shop for and Use Consumer Electronics], Older Americans are US consumers ages 50 and over. They were born in 1958 or earlier, and span three different generational cohorts. When Older Americans were children and young adults, common-place technologies such as the Internet, personal computers and cell phones did not exist.
* Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
* Silent Generation (1925-1945)
* G.I. Generation (1901-1924)
I still don’t think I’m really a boomer, though.
8. I hate to be a pain in the neck, but when is Husted’s residency issue going to be decided? Talk about a political hot potato.
9. You know what’s really interesting? As I go through my open tabs, the lack of neutrality in MSM news stories becomes so obvious: Ohio Governor Strickland’s reconfiguring of government is a seizure of control, didn’t cha know? Readers wouldn’t get this if the paper didn’t use such language? If instead, it explained to us how it’s been in the past, how it’s been since Strickland came in and what he is doing now? We couldn’t come to our own conclusions, could we?
I don’t have a problem with the MSM writing with invective, but then they have to drop the neutral source of information facade-especially in light of the fact that many papers’ business side folks spread their money around very well. The transparency is just abysmal – and the PD’s getting stung by that lack of transparency is only more proof of the mess they’ve made by trying to cling to old concepts that they aren’t really living up to in the first place – all of which leads to a loss of trust – and readers.
10. Film tax credit bills – what are we supposed to do with these? Can someone advise me?
By Jill Miller Zimon at 8:09 am March 11th, 2009 in Blogging, Business, Daily Exclamations, Economy, Government, Israel, lee fisher, Media, middle east, Ohio, Politics, Republicans, senate, social media, Tech, Women | 2 Comments
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Mar
10
Live-chat w/director Lorna Ann Johnson: American women & Iraq War
Filed Under Blogging, Foreign Affairs, Gender, live-blog, war | 2 Comments
BlogHer Contributing Editor Professor Kim Pearson conducted a live-chat this evening with film director, Lorna Ann Johnson. You can read about Lorna, see a clip of her film and replay the engrossing live-chat all here. About Lorna’s work from the BlogHer post:
Director Lorna Johnson’s new film, Just Another War, meditates upon the impact of the Iraq war on Americans — especially upon American women. Johnson’s film will be shown March 15 at the Montreal Human Rights Film Festival, where it is up for an audience award. If you are in Montreal and can get to see it, please do. It is an affecting and thought-provoking film.
The 28-minute documentary profiles two women whose lives have been irrevocably affected. LeRon Green is a soldier who has seen combat; Elaine Brower is a mother and anti-war activist whose son is in Iraq for his second tour. Johnson puts herself on-screen as well, wondering why she and so many other Americans seem to be able to go on with everyday life while thousands of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis have died. During the course of the film, she gives birth to a son of her own, and wonders whether he will grow up to find himself called to arms.
It’s true that many of us either don’t have family or friends who’ve been involved or impacted directly by the Iraq war. Lorna’s film appears to be a force that, if anything can inject a sense of what it must be to be family or friends of people involved directly, it will.
Thank you to BlogHer, Kim, Lorna and the other participants for making this kind of interaction available.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:24 pm March 10th, 2009 in Blogging, Foreign Affairs, Gender, live-blog, war | 2 Comments
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Mar
10
National Jewish Democratic Council: Limbaugh to become a Jew
Filed Under Holidays, Humor, Jewish, Judaism | 2 Comments
From the inbox:
BREAKING NEWS: Rush Limbaugh Converts to Judaism
It has just been reported that Rush Limbaugh wants to become a Member of the Tribe. Limbaugh announced last night that he would convert to Judaism.
In the spirit of tikkun olam, Limbaugh also proclaimed that he wanted nothing more than to see President Barack Obama succeed as the 44th President of the United States. “President Obama is the only man I know who has the ability to truly repair the world,” Limbaugh said.
“In a post-partisan gesture of good will, we welcome Mr. Limbaugh into the Jewish community,” said Ira N. Forman, Executive Director of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC). ”We applaud his support for our President and commend him for suspending his radio show on Shabbat.”
JTA is reporting that Jewish Democrats are already forming lines in the street in anticipation of being able to participate in Limbaugh’s full entry into the covenant of Abraham.
HAPPY PURIM!
Why we tell jokes on Purim (short answer: it’s a mitzvah to laugh and be happy on the holiday; in my synagogue, we do a mock-up of our congregation’s newsletter and write the news as if it were The Onion)
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:22 pm March 10th, 2009 in Holidays, Humor, Jewish, Judaism | 2 Comments
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Mar
10
Daily Exclamations (March 10, 2009)
Filed Under Blogging, Daily Exclamations, employment, Judaism, Media, social media | 1 Comment
1. Rise in use of social media sites to manage disasters.
2. Maltz Museum posts winners of its Stop the Hate essay contest which drew 1200 submissions. Judges included several area politicians including Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) and State Rep. Josh Mandel (R-Lyndhurst). If you click on the winners’ name, you can read each one’s essay. Here’s the grand prize winner’s composition.
3. Poynter Online is hosting a live-chat today at 1pm about “surviving between jobs” geared toward journalists. Oddly, however, the e-mail with the announcement about the live-chat has no hyperlink to where the chat will occur. Folks, that is the kind of thing, as with the Plain Dealer’s actions/reactions to TIME’s use of a content provider that the PD’s publisher takes to task and the SPJ Cleveland Pro chapter’s assertion that advertisers will see that no one clicks on them and will then put their money back into papers and save them that makes those of us who live and breathe news via the Internet and social media really wonder about the seriousness of these attempts by traditional media to evolve.
I went to the Ask the Recruiter site myself and there’s a nice CoverItLive frame up and ready for the chat.
4. Being reminded that George Nemeth was twitter before twitter made me smile – he was also twitter before twitter before I knew him.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:34 am March 10th, 2009 in Blogging, Daily Exclamations, employment, Judaism, Media, social media | 1 Comment
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Mar
10
[poll] Main Street on Wall Street: we don’t trust you, we want regulation
Filed Under Barack Obama, Business, Economy, Government, Law, Politics, Retirement, Scandal, Social Issues | Leave a Comment
A new report from the Harris Poll about how Main Street feels about Wall Street includes these highlights, noted in an entry at Media Post’s blog:
Asked over the last 13 years, this year’s results are the worst ever for Wall Street. For example:
* Those who think “most people on Wall Street would be willing to break the law if they believed that they could make a lot of money and get away with it” are up to 71%. The highest number previously was 64% in 1996
* Those who believe that “most successful people on Wall Street deserve to make the kind of money they earn” have fallen to 30%, compared to 40% last year. The lowest number previously was 36% in 2002
* Those who believe that “in general people on Wall Street are as honest and moral as other people” have fallen to 26% from 41% last year. The previous low was 35% in 2000, 2002 and 2003
* A 54% to 39% majority believes that Wall Street benefits the country more than it harms it. However, a year ago a much larger 73% to 23% majority believed this
* A 62% to 32% majority believes that Wall Street is absolutely essential because it provides the money business must have for investments. This is also lower, but not very much lower than the 71% to 25% majority who felt this way a year ago.
Two conclusions can be drawn from these results, says the report:
* Many people differentiate between Wall Street: banks and financial services firms on the one hand, and Wall Streeters: the people who work and manage banks, financial services firm on the other. They tend to see necessary and valuable institutions managed by dishonest and unethical people
* The new administration clearly has a popular mandate for new and stronger regulation and for taking a tough line on Wall Street bonuses
Emphasis added.
Trust. It all has to do with questions related trust:
Who will we give it to, who has earned it, who has lost it?
We give it based on what they do and what we fear they will do.
Who do we think can restrain themselves, who do we think needs to be restrained? Who will define and enforce the restraints – the people who couldn’t restrain themselves before? Or a government whose only restraint ultimately is us?
There are few reliable responses. Just ask the people who lost their life savings to Bernie Madoff.
You can read the report in pdf here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:28 am March 10th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Business, Economy, Government, Law, Politics, Retirement, Scandal, Social Issues | Please comment
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Mar
10
[video] ‘Roots News: Ohio Daily Blog interviews Jennifer Brunner
Filed Under 'Roots News, Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Media, Ohio, Politics, senate | 1 Comment
I love primary source blogging. Great examples coming up at Ohio Daily Blog with the first of what Anthony says will be three video’d interviews of Ohio Secretary of State and Democratic primary candidate for the 2010 U.S. Senate race here, Jennifer Brunner. Thanks to Anthony and to Jennifer Brunner.
Nope, no journalism in the blogs.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:17 am March 10th, 2009 in 'Roots News, Blogging, Campaigning, Elections, Jennifer Brunner, Media, Ohio, Politics, senate | 1 Comment
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Mar
10
EMILY’s List Tag Cloud for our favorite women in history
Filed Under leadership, Women | Leave a Comment
On the heels of this post, comes the cloud:
Tell them who your favorite women in history are here.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:01 am March 10th, 2009 in leadership, Women | Please comment
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Mar
9
UPDATE: PD says news of death or going digital-only is “baseless”
Filed Under Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Politics, social media, Tech, Writing | 7 Comments
This post describes the best incidence I know of, so far, that screams for teaching media literacy.
Let’s start at the beginning.
I saw this tweet on Twitter because I follow the Twitter handle, “@themediaisdying”:
INTERESTING ; TIME : “The 10 major newspapers ‘that will either fold or go digital’” http://tinyurl.com/azofa5
I clicked on the tiny url link in that tweet and it brought me to a blog post at the blog of the website, Journalism.co.uk, a nearly 10 year old online publication put out by Mousetrap Media, described here as an “an independent online publishing company.”
The Plain Dealer is listed as the tenth major newspaper, on the list of ten papers that are predicted to either “fold or go digital.”
Like a good blog post, the post at blogs.journalism.co.uk included a link to where they got the list.
Here’s where they got the list:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1883785,00.html
TIME.com, its business section. Here’s a screenshot, just so we all know what we’re talking about:
Now, at that article’s online location, there was a one paragraph blurb about the outlook for The Plain Dealer and I published that blurb in this blog post earlier today.
My post grabbed the attention of other bloggers who are interested in the PD and I also posted the information on The Moderate Voice, though I did not include the blurb about the PD there, since TMV is a nationally read blog with a truly national audience. I did, however, note in the headline of the blog post that the item was from TIME.
Why does any of this matter?
John Kroll of the PD, with whom I’ve always had and hope to always have a good relationship, left a comment on my post that’s timestamped 7:07pm. Here’s what he wrote:
The Plain Dealer would like to note that reports of our death are greatly exaggerated. Or, in the exact word of Publisher Terrance C.Z. Egger, “baseless.”
My experience of John is that he does have a good sense of humor, probably what some might call dry and so I appreciated the way in which he wrote this comment.
The hyperlink on the word “baseless” goes to this cleveland.com blog post:
http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2009/03/publisher_calls_report_baseles.html
It’s titled, “Plain Dealer publisher says online report of paper’s imminent demise is ‘baseless’” and the byline is Patrick O’Donnell.
I’m not going to fisk or reprint the entire post. I would urge people who are interested to go and read it for themselves.
The most salient points of the post, in my opinion, are the following:
1. First, Terry Egger, the PD’s publisher, and O’Donnell, the writer of the article, provide information about the origin of the top 10 list. Specifically:
Though this [list and article] appeared on Time’s Web site and with a Time logo on Yahoo!, the report twas from an online-only site, 247WallSt.com.
…
“People put this out there and associate Time Magazine with it,” Egger said, upon hearing that another source produced the report. He doubted readers would notice that distinction. “It’s still the Time brand it’s associated with.”
2. Egger provides information in support of the health of the paper (and I believe just last week I read that Susan Goldberg told the group at the City Club that the paper operates in the black, I don’t remember exactly where I read that though so consider it just my memory and possibly fallable):
But Egger said The Plain Dealer and its parent corporation, Advance Publications, remain committed to producing news both in print and online.
“Every plan we have for the immediate future is to make that work,” he said.
…
Egger said that newspapers are having financial difficulties, but The Plain Dealer made money in 2008. Though it laid off a significant number of employees late last year, Egger said the paper budgeted to make money in 2009.
“Everybody’s got challenges and we’re going to figure them out,” he said.
3. Most of the remainder of the article provides information about the writer of the article and list, the sources he consulted and how he analyzed the PD the way he did. As Egger notes and the reporter confirms, although he says that he spoke to people at Advance (but would not name them), he said that he did not speak with anyone at the PD. Understandably, Egger was unhappy about that:
Egger bristled that the report did not include any comment from The Plain Dealer or Advance Publications. The report’s author did not include a response from any of the 10 publications or any indication he tried to reach them and they did not respond.
Sigh and take a deep breath. What is going on here?
Bottom line? Business in the 2009 news provision world as usual. That is, if you realize just how much news is now provided and consumed online. But there’s a sense in Egger’s reaction that he does not quite grasp this reality, no matter the lip service he may give to understanding that this is between TIME and its content providers.
Why do I make this conjecture?
Mostly because I wrote for Newsweek.com The Ruckus for several weeks last year, and Newsweek made it extremely obvious that I was a blogger and you could go see my content and my bio and everything else about me. TIME, on the other hand, is using a content provider and doing several things to blur the lines: the byline is for the content provider, but when you click on it, it goes to a TIME feedback screen. At the end of the article, there still is no information about the specific content provider.
In other words, it’s as if you’re reading a print publication and see (AP) or (REUTERS) – you know it’s a wire service providing content, it’s not a Plain Dealer reporter who wrote it, but you – the reader – have to just trust the PD, because you cannot follow up in any meaningful, immediate way like you can with appropriately linked and sourced online material.
Now, in the mind of the reader, the PD is still responsible to the extent that the PD contracts with those entities. But we know that the PD is trusting those entities to provide a certain agreed upon or understood quality.
And so, people who get their news primarily from online resources will trust them exactly the same way, unless you’re more media literate and, like me, come to expect far better linkage and transparency.
I’m sure it sucked to feel burned by TIME using a content provider that makes it seem as though TIME is predicting the demise of the PD. But this was the result of a business decision made by TIME.
Media literacy education legislation. That’s the best advice I can offer.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:52 pm March 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Politics, social media, Tech, Writing | 7 Comments
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Mar
9
Obama creates post, appoints Ambassador-at-Large for International Women’s Issues
Filed Under Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Government, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Whitehouse09, Women | Leave a Comment
Major hattip to RHReality Check.
US President Barack Obama announced Friday the creation of a new foreign policy position designed to tackle global women’s issues.
Obama named Melanne Verveer, an aide in former president Bill Clinton’s administration, as ambassador-at-large for international women’s issues. She will serve at the State Department under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Verveer will have to be approved by the Senate.
More about her at Wikipedia and from her lengthy bio at Vital Voices (two Republican women are honorary members of the board, listed at the very top: Sen. Kay Baily Hutchison and former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker):
Melanne Verveer is Co-Founder, Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders – pioneers of economic, political and social progress in their countries. Vital Voices builds the capabilities, connections and credibility of emerging social entrepreneurs to unlock their potential as catalysts of global progress. Through its leadership development and local empowerment programs around the world, Vital Voices works to expand women’s roles in generating economic opportunity, increasing political participation and protecting human rights. The Vital Voices Global Leadership Network of more than 5000 women in 85 countries represents the vital voices of our time.
The bio there will give you all the background re: her prior role in the Clinton Administration and many other roles she’s had over the years.
It appears that this announcement came in a late Friday afternoon batch of appointments, caught, in particular, by Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun-Times.
From the announcement Sweet published:
Previously, Verveer served as Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, a civil rights and constitutional liberties organization where she played a key role in the passage of several landmark civil rights bills. She was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference, Field Manager of Common Cause and worked in the U.S. House and Senate as Legislative Director and Special Assistant respectively. Verveer is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Women’s Foreign Policy Group, the Washington Institute on Foreign Affairs and Women In International Security.
The President’s decision to nominate an Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues is unprecedented and reflects the elevated importance of global women’s issues to the President and his entire Administration.
On paper, she certainly sounds incredibly well-qualified. This post, I assume, will go well with Sen. Boxer’s new subcommittee responsibilities for global women’s issues.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 5:16 pm March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, Foreign Affairs, Government, Hillary Clinton, leadership, Politics, Whitehouse09, Women | Please comment
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Mar
9
[profanity alert] What do Jews do: The Women of Purim
Filed Under Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Women | 1 Comment
There’s such a long break between holidays that I’d almost forgotten to blog about Purim. I did tweet about the Purim carnival we attended yesterday, including the mechanical bull. Though here’s shot of the jousting kids do blurry and padded enough so you can’t ID anyone:
You know, like many religions, the story remains the same, even if the celebration is a little different. So here’s a good post from BlogHer 2008′s Purim coverage about Esther and Vashti and mine from last year.
The big revelation I’ve had is that Vashti stood up to the pervy men while Esther used her wiles to save others. In their own way, both figured out how to survive and fulfill principles within the rubric of their time. Hard to see how the challenge has changed all that much.
Here’s how some others celebrate:
Vashti Wears Prada celebration with hip-hop:
On Monday, March 9, Chabad of the North Shore will host a live hip-hop concert as part of its Purim Holiday Celebration. Nosson Zand will be performing at the event.
Chabad of the North Shore, in conjunction with the North of Boston Jew Crew, welcomes the entire North Shore community to the “Vashti Wears Prada” Purim Celebration. This fabulous evening will be open to the entire community and will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a light kids’ dinner and a full Purim carnival, featuring face painting, fortune telling, crown decorating and more. The carnival will be followed by a full multi-media Megillah reading for the kids led by Layah Lispker, and an adults Megillah reading led by Rabbi Yoel Kranz. Following the Megillah readings delicious Italian cuisine will be served, setting the stage for a truly elegant, red carpet, real live children’s fashion show. All this will make way for the highlight event of the evening.
A Recession Kind of Purim, including key passages such as this (go to the link for the full script): Read more
By Jill Miller Zimon at 4:40 pm March 9th, 2009 in Holidays, Jewish, Judaism, leadership, Women | 1 Comment
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Mar
9
3/10/09 Deadline to apply for Progressive Women’s Voices media training
Filed Under leadership, Media, Women | 1 Comment
From the Women’s Media Center Progressive Women’s Voices training program:
The Women’s Media Center is a nonprofit media advocacy organization founded by Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem, and Robin Morgan to make women visible and powerful in the media. The WMC is “changing the conversation” with our Progressive Women’s Voices program by making sure that there are plenty of qualified, authoritative, progressive women experts available to editors, reporters, producers, and bookers. Sadly, despite the numbers of women working in education, we rarely turn on the TV and see a woman – as I’m sure you are well aware. I would love to have a conversation with you about the PWV program, to give you a bit more info and to see if you are interested in applying.
Our first four classes are a truly stellar group, with experts in economics, foreign policy, reproductive rights, environmental issues, racial justice, voting rights, the history of feminism, immigrant communities, outsider cultures, national security, and many more areas of expertise. With our training and help, our PWV women have written Op Eds in the Washington Post and The New York Times, features for Elle and New York magazine, were quoted in USA Today, Forbes, Variety, Mother Jones, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Salon, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, on the Associated Press and Reuters wires, appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, MSNBC, CBS Nightly News, Fox News, ABC News, CNBC, The Tyra Banks Show, PBS’s “To The Contrary,” Bill Moyers, on numerous NPR shows, and in hundreds of other significant media outlets. Full info is available on our program page:
http://womensmediacenter.com/progressive_womens_voices_program.html
Although I didn’t get accepted during their first round and I’m not available to attend the dates coming up for the second and third sessions this year, I’d urge women who think this might be something they’d love to do to apply or, if you have questions, contact the WMC.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 2:05 pm March 9th, 2009 in leadership, Media, Women | 1 Comment
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Mar
9
[video] The Party of No
Filed Under Barack Obama, conservatives, Government, leadership, Politics, Republicans, Whitehouse09 | 6 Comments
Hattip Progress Ohio.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:58 pm March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, conservatives, Government, leadership, Politics, Republicans, Whitehouse09 | 6 Comments
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Mar
9
Plain Dealer: #10 on TIME’s list of papers soon to fold or go digital
Filed Under Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Writing | 4 Comments
Read it and shake your head – because, again, with this kind of thought (that advertisers will soon realize that no one clicks on Internet ads and will then come back to the newspapers and save them – no, really, that’s what’s being suggested) being proffered by the professional journalist atmosphere, they’re only tempting the fates as they scrunch the blinders tighter.
Original story here, where they write this about the PD:
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer is in one of the economically weakest markets in the country. Its parent, Advance Publications, has already threatened to close its paper in Newark. Employees gave up enough in terms of concessions to keep the paper open. Advance, owned by the Newhouse family, is carrying the burden of its paper plus Conde Nast, its magazine group which is losing advertising revenue. The Plain Dealer will be shut or go digital by the end of next year.
And the list from the first link in this post:
Time’s predictions for the next US papers to face the chop:
1. The Philadelphia Daily News
2. The Minneapolis Star Tribune
3. The Miami Herald
4. The Detroit News
5. The Boston Globe
6. The San Francisco Chronicle
7. The Chicago Sun-Times
8. NY Daily News
9. The Fort Worth Star Telegram
10. The Cleveland Plain Dealer
You can pull those blinders as tight as you want, but just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 1:31 pm March 9th, 2009 in Business, Cleveland+, Media, Ohio, Writing | 4 Comments
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Mar
9
Haveil Havalim #204, #205, #206 and #207 (Carnival of Jewish Blogging)
Filed Under Blogging, Carnivals, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments
I’ve fallen behind in linking to Haveil Havalim (Carnival of Jewish Blogging) so here’s an update:
#204 hosted at Here in HP
#205 hosted at Sarah’s View
#206 hosted at The Israeli Solution
#207 hosted at The Real Shliach
These carnivals cover a very broad range of thought on an also very broad range of topics related to being Jewish including but not limited to holidays, culture, anti-Semitism, humor, Judaism, the personal, politics, Torah and a lot of miscellaneous.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:39 am March 9th, 2009 in Blogging, Carnivals, Israel, Jewish, Judaism, Religion, Writing | 2 Comments
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Mar
9
Embryonic stem cells: so that no fearmonger should ever go hungry
Filed Under Barack Obama, conservatives, Ethics, Health Care, Politics, Science | Leave a Comment
If you’ve ever argued with someone who doesn’t have good arguments (or can’t provide decent evidence to support their side), you know that they start going to their next best thing until they either concede, walk away or just say, “Because I said so.”
Fearmongering has a similar path – if the things about which you want people to be scared either aren’t scaring them or have become completely impotent as things about which people are willing to get scared, you have to either find new ways to get people scared about that thing, or you need to find more things about which people should be scared.
The social conservatives are using the latter method. The Fairness Doctrine and FOCA are not happening things – they just aren’t. So now, they are moving on to fears they see in embryonic stem cells.
U.S. House minority whip, Eric Cantor (R-VA) opposes President Obama’s support for increased access to and funding of embryonic stem cell research because, he said this weekend,
“Frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs,” Cantor said. “We don’t want that. That shouldn’t be done. That’s wrong.”
Odd that Cantor had just said that talking about embryonic stem cell research was an unnecessary distraction from talking about the economy, and then went on to talk about it. The Family Research Council calls Obama’s policy a “deadly executive order” – I can’t find anything on what they call waterboarding.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:19 am March 9th, 2009 in Barack Obama, conservatives, Ethics, Health Care, Politics, Science | Please comment
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Mar
9
Erica Williams of Campus Progress chatting up the future w/C-SPAN
Filed Under leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
What a fascinating young woman. When she talks about Michael Steele telling her that she is the future, he got that right.
Erica Williams of Campus Progress (which is connected to the Center for American Progress, which also sponsors Think Progress) was the guest this morning on CSPAN’s Q&A. She was excellent. You can read about the program here and there’s a link to the transcript as well. I thought they said that there would also be a podcast of it but I don’t see a link to that.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:04 am March 9th, 2009 in leadership, Politics, Women | 2 Comments
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Mar
8
The Remains of the Day, 3/8/09
Filed Under Cleveland+, conservatives, Media, Ohio, Politics, Remains of the Day, Republicans, social media | Leave a Comment
And, in yet another atttempt to get rid of open but unblogged tabs in not one but two browsers, I give the remains of the day:
1. Two more posts at Feminist Peace Network for International Women’s Day (which was today):
IWD celebrations from around the world
2. Glass City Jungle’s Lisa Renee Ward posted a very interesting audio clip from her appearance on Conklin & Company. The more general topic discussed is blogger ethics and the line we draw regarding what information we will and won’t post. The more specific topic has to do with another NW Ohio blog, Swampbubbles, using information from the MySpace page. Very interesting. This post by Lisa seems to be a reasonable wrap-up of what was going on as it was going on.
3. Fem2pt0 is hosting a Twittercast tonight on the topic: Does appealing to progressive objectives by using our respective parenting roles undermine the feminist ideal of no pre-determined societal roles? Marc Chimes is the special guest – he’s a single parent and former PTA president, among many other things. Go read the post for more information on the topic – it’s very interesting.
4. Many people may have seen this already but I think it’s worth posting – more than 700 people have applied for a janitor’s job in a Canton area school. It pays $15-16/hour plus benefits. 700 people, people.
5. From the nominal head of the Grand Old No Party on The Hill, John Boehner issued a statement on President Obama visiting Ohio – because Boehner had nothing better to do. O.M.G. When are he and his mates going to get anything done? Do they realize what they’re doing to themselves? I know – that was a really dumb question.
6. Oye! Oye! Oye! Twitter in the court! Twitter in the court!
7. This really does deserve its own post but it was in the queue of the tabs. I was on the SPJ Cleveland Pro Chapter for several months and respect and like very single one of the individuals I’ve ever met through the chapter. They are genuine and long-serving communicators from many different areas of work. But I stepped down eventually because I felt that service on the board was not the best use of my time, in part because of how actions it was taking (or was failing to take) reflected precisely the attitude evident in the most recent message from its current chapter president. In pertinent part, about why newspapers are having it tough:
But the problem today is really with advertising. Everyone blames newspapers’ problems
on advertising’s shift to the Web.
And this is where I’m lost.
Because nobody, and I mean absolutely nobody, whether they are 18 to 35, 36 to 70, older,
younger–nobody ever admits to reading advertising on Web sites.
I spend time on-line, but I don’t consider myself a heavy Internet user. And I generally
don’t read ads on Web sites. But even friends who pay their bills, plan their vacations and buy
their clothes via the Internet say they don’t read ads. They use Web sites, they use links, they
get RSS feeds, they’re on-line hours at a time. But all profess to jump over those pesky ads.
Marketers talk about hits, the number of people who visit a Web site where ads appear.
But “hits” won’t pay the bills. “Hits” are not reading.
So I think we need some evidence that people don’t really read Web advertising.
Which should send advertisers back to print.
Which should save newspapers.
This is a serious proposal. But in 2009, this cannot be a serious proposal. And that is the problem I felt I was up against.
8. Eric Mansfield does an extraordinary job of covering the killing of five in Cleveland three days ago.
9. The Cleveland Scene on the Cleveland redistricting fiasco – called, “Fine I’ll do it myself.”
10. And a Rush Round-up
Dueling banjos at BlogHer:
Newt Gingrich on Rush (video there too):
“You’ve got to want the president to succeed,” said the former House Speaker. “You’re irrational if you don’t want the president to succeed. Because if he doesn’t succeed the country doesn’t succeed… I don’t think anyone should want the president of the United States to fail. I want some of his policies to be stopped. But I don’t want the president of the United States to fail. I want him to learn new policies.”
Alec Baldwin at HuffPo on Rush:
Until Limbaugh gets real, weans himself off the big salary and runs for office, he will always be nothing more than a poorly educated, marginally talented buffoon who has developed a real talent for manipulating the G-spot of the neocon consciousness and massaging the hate gland of so many economically displaced white voters in America.
I hope to God the GOP gets its act together soon and finds a real leader for their Party. Rush Limbaugh as the spokesperson for the GOP? 2010, I can’t wait.
Ellen Goodman on Rush and the women’s summit
Anastasia Pantsios on Connie Schultz’s column about Rush and the summit
I’ve pretty much been unable to even go to his site to follow up on his following up on the women’s summit because I can’t get the CPAC image of pulchritude out of my head – I just do not feel like torturing myself.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 9:29 pm March 8th, 2009 in Cleveland+, conservatives, Media, Ohio, Politics, Remains of the Day, Republicans, social media | Please comment
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Mar
8
[video] Happy International Women’s Day
Filed Under Civil Rights, Gender, Women | Leave a Comment
Hattip Feminist Peace Network.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 11:06 am March 8th, 2009 in Civil Rights, Gender, Women | Please comment
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Mar
8
Podcast 4pm today: Learn the secrets of the big blogs
Filed Under Blogging, Women, Writing | Leave a Comment
From the host of the podcast, Tami Winfrey Harris of What Tami Said:
Update: We are happy to have Samhita Mukhopadhyay, editor,Feministing, joining us for Sunday’s podcast. Thanks again to Latoya, Jill and Samhita for agreeing to share their knowledge with us.
*******************
In last week’s episode of “The Best of What Tami Said,” during the discussion about WOC bloggers in the femisphere, some of us wondered how to make the contacts, drive the traffic, develop the community, build the stature and reap the offline goodies most associated with owners of “the big, feminist blogs.” At 4 p.m. EST, this Sunday, March 8, on a special edition of my biweekly podcast, we’ll discover how.
I’ll be joined by Latoya Peterson, editor of New Demographic’sRacialicious blog, and Jill Miller Zimon of Writes Like She Talks,Political Voices of Women and Blogher. They have graciously agreed to share their knowledge gained as editors, bloggers and contributors to some of the Web’s high-profile blogs.
Listen live and join the chat room here.
Call in with your questions or advice at (646) 716-4672.
I’d like to share some questions with Latoya and Jill pre-podcast. Let me know what you’d like to know in this thread. And please share details of this podcast with other bloggers you know. This is a chance to share knowledge and have your burning blogging questions answered.
And if you can’t join us today:
You can go to What Tami Said and the player in the right-hand column of the blog always plays the most recent episode of Tami’s podcast. You can also check out Tami’s Blog Talk Radio show page for all back episodes: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/What-Tami-Said.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 10:40 am March 8th, 2009 in Blogging, Women, Writing | Please comment
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