The excess of the late sixties as well as sensationalized anti-war protests are sometimes cited as the impetus for Nixon’s election. I wonder if the teabaggers, birthers, and deathers could have a similar effect on movement conservatism?
Crisis
12
Jun 09
More Creative Destruction, City Edition
Fascinating. I was just talking about this idea today (via the Telegraph):
Local politicians believe [Flint, Michigan] must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area.
The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.
Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.
Mr Kildee said he will concentrate on 50 cities, identified in a recent study by the Brookings Institution, an influential Washington think-tank, as potentially needing to shrink substantially to cope with their declining fortunes.
Most are former industrial cities in the “rust belt” of America’s Mid-West and North East. They include Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Memphis.
Too much of Philadelphia is configured as a City that no longer exists. It may be time for some areas to simply return to nature.
21
May 09
How can I miss you when you won’t go away?
Both Obama and Cheney have spoken. Obama’s transcript is at ThinkProgress; The NYTimes Caucus blog provides a summary and links to the full-text at AEI [PDF].
Obama’s National Security Speech: “Chill, I Got This S*#T!”
Cheney’s Personal Insecurity Speech: “OMGZ! Teh Feer! Iz Scerd!
As always thanks to Wordle
Cheney ‘rebuttal speech’ was framed by the press as portraying him as an equal to the President, with the press loving the conflict, even if its imagined. The Elected-President with a 60% popularity rating is going to be challenged by the Former Vice-President (of the losing party no less) with the 30% approval rating. The story should be looking at Cheney’s audacity.
Despite Cheney’s desire to not look backwards, his speech does anything but the contrary, hoping to salvage Cheney’s reputation, Bush’s legacy, and the Grand Old Party’s brand. Most importantly, whatever you do, don’t talk about Torture Club.
01
May 09
Newsweek targeting ‘Generation Jones’?
Is Newsweek hoping for a self-fulfilling prophecy by suggesting magazine need to go upmarket? See this article.
Newsweek’s 5-year plan, expected to go live in May, will see it abandon the mass market in favour of a select audience earning an average annual salary of $100,000. This will mean cutting circulation from the 2.6m it currently promises advertisers to just 1.5m by January next year. However, the architects of the plan believe that by introducing higher subscription prices and readjusting advertising rates, they will more than make up for any losses.
Newsweek, who once used to rival Time, is now preparing to try its luck against the Economist and New Yorker. Both titles respectively shift an impressive 711,000 and 1m copies in the US and, are generally considered to have respectable and robust business models, which have helped them through the global economic crisis.
I’ve do believe that online publishing needs to demand higher advertising rates, but that’s due to knowing more about your consumer and serving individualized ads. But I have to question the wisdom of targeting the “barely-rich” earning $100k – the same consumer who is canceling their newspapers and holding off on purchasing Coach bags – as a viable business model. At the same time, if conservative concern troll L. Brent Bozell III hates it, maybe I should give it some consideration.
26
Apr 09
Swine Flu Spreading
I don’t have a snarky headline for this. The swine flu (H1N1) is spreading. You can use this map to track reported outbreaks.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has a fact sheet available. It also appaers that the World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to declare H1N1 a pandemic, with a likely impact of trillions of dollars. Mashable also provides several different ways to track Swine Flu news online, as does Smart Mobs. Be warned, your favorite trendy social site may not be the best place to track the news.