Maybe McCain DOES get the Internet: The Los Angeles Times blog Webscout is reporting that on the site Digg “in the last 30 days, at least 28 stories critical of GOP Sen. John McCain have been mysteriously “buried”— meaning enough Digg users have voted against a story that the submission may no longer appear on the site’s high-traffic front page.” Digg, like Wikipedia, has an open, user-controlled interface, so it has always been susceptible to certain types of fraud. Like Academia, Technologica (I just made that up…backpat) is left-leaning, so two things jump out: 1) whether McCain’s camp is behind this or not, the mere suggestion is enough to pin it on him in most minds and 2) it probably won’t disseminate much to the people who have no clue what Digg is, which is where this news could really change some minds.
Riding the Partisan Pendulum: With the Obama VP pick still a giant mystery to pretty much everyone, the Washington Post discusses the ramifciation of Sen. Chuck Hagel as the pick du jour. Fellow PnP’er Tricia Romano was quick to point out the plethora of political double negatives right now. Obama entertaining a Republican as his VP choice, McCain talking Lieberman (a 15 to 1 shot according to oddsmakers), and a host of Republicans defecting to a Democrat (Obama) because their current Republican (McCain) used to ask too much like a Democrat. Huh?
The Sino-Facade: The jaw-droppingness of the Beijing games opening ceremony is a horse long dead. As my wife put it, China was basically throwing out a beautifully disguised eff you to the world, all the while saying “you should be very, very afraid of us.” But the first week has shown its fair share of controversy, from the (under)age of its female gymnasts, to CGI being used in the televised firework footprints, to a lip-syncing little girl. What has faded more quickly than a Santa Monica morning fog, however, is the dicussion of pollution as cyclists pedal their way through the city, or even its effect on the US, for that matter. Or, as 200 million Chinese citizens living in poverty might be wondering, “why spend $40 billion on the games and nothing on us?”
Photography as a Weapon: The NY Times blog section has an interesting post by documentary filmmaker Errol Morris on how photography can be used as a weapon without any of the Photoshopping that has pretty much destroyed personal photography as evidence in courtroom’s these days. (thanks to BoingBoing for the tip) The man behind the Oscar-winning “The Fog of War” and “Standard Operating Procedure,” an upcoming doc on Abu Gharib, of course discusses the topic in the context of political propaganda, circa Colin Powell’s trip to the UN with “proof” of WMD in Iraq.
The OTHER Dirty South: MyWay is reporting that Russia halted aggression against Georgia, declaring that “the aggressor has been punished,” tongue firmly planted in vodka-stained cheek, I’m sure. No sooner had they delcared a French-brokered truce before they started sinking ships and rolling more tanks around, though. The cease-cease-fire was ignited by looting on both sides, according to the AFP. Once this whole mess ends, McCain figures out how to pronounce the Georgian president’s name, and Obama figures out how to act presidential, it may be trouble for…Ukraine?
