The Influx Of Younger Voters

Here is New York Times columnist Bob Herbert commenting on the Obama phenomenon:

When Barack Obama asks how many
people in his overflow audience are still undecided and a third of the people
raise their hands, it’s a sign that there is a hunger for new leadership but
that it won’t be easily satisfied.
Something is stirring all right. Voters
are paying attention. Young people are coming into the process. The electorate
is fed up and ready to invoke the prerogatives of citizenship to hold the
leadership to higher standards.
The textbooks tell us that’s exactly how it’s
supposed to work.

The Times notes the influx of younger voters into the campaign in it's lead story this morning. For me, that's the best thing about what's happening today - the hope for positive change that the shifting age demographic is bringing to politics. In other words, I'm hoping that less conservative younger people are replacing the older, more conservative generation that has given us 40 plus years of mostly Republican rule. I can hope, anyway.

Jim

The Case Of The Stolen Dog Bed

"Hey, I LIKE this new dog bed!"

Poor Bradley. He doesn't know what to do when Nikko steals his new bed. He's too timid to chase the cat away, so he goes into Dan's room when his bed is occupied. The "children" are a hoot sometimes.

Today's New York Times is full of hard hitting commentary on the state of our country. Read Paul Krugman on the two different universes that are the major political parties in America today. Of the Republicans he writes: "the G.O.P. is still controlled by a conservative movement that does not tolerate deviations from tax-cutting, free-market, greed-is-good orthodoxy." And don't forget the kowtowing that all the Republicans do the nut case fringe fundamentalist Christian right. Read Roger Cohen on how the disastrous and now in shambles American foreign policy in Pakistan contributed to the death of Benazir Bhutto. Finally, be sure to red the lead editorial for a scathing recap of the horrendous Bush presidency post 9-11.

Perhaps in 2008 we will see some national course corrections. Let's hope so.

Happy New Year!

Jim

New York Times Ends "Times Select"

Hooray! We get to read Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd again without having to pay a fee. The Times says their online paid subscription plan worked for them but now they are ending it. So it must not have been all that wonderful for them. From Today's Times:

"The New York Times will stop charging for access to parts of its Web
site, effective at midnight Tuesday night. The move comes two years to the
day after The Times began the subscription program, Times Select...What changed, The
Times said, was that many more readers started coming to the site from search
engines and links on other sites instead of coming directly to NYTimes.com. These indirect
readers, unable to get access to articles behind the pay wall and less likely to
pay subscription fees than the more loyal direct users, were seen
as opportunities for more page views and increased advertising revenue.
“What wasn’t anticipated was the explosion in how much of our traffic would
be generated by Google, by Yahoo and
some others,” Ms. Schiller said."

This move is good for Times readers. I hope it's good for the Times.

Jim

PHOTO: Ocean view from our Cherry Grove roof deck. Next year we may be looking into someones bedroom instead, unfortunately.