Monday, April 30, 2007

Carnival of the Decline of Democracy - 2.9

Welcome to the Carnival of the Decline of Democracy, Edition 2.9 - Blogging 'till the secret police take us away.

Carnival of the Decline of Democracy First off, I'd like to give a huge thanks to John over at Hell's Handmaiden for hosting the last edition of the carnival while I was out in the desert contemplating life (and drinking heavily). So... on with today's show...

Sean J. Vaughan starts us off with Still Happy to Be American: a Kurt Vonnegut Tribute posted at Reason and Rhyme.

Jason Kirk presents The Effects of Uncle Sam's Intrusions Into Your Daughter's Underpants: Negligible! posted at Brick Cheney.

Vlad Popescu presents rethink: subliminal eye candy [Made in China] posted at sign on the broken line..

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Serenade For The First Sufferers (Political Song Parody) posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.

In a final word, I would like to put in my own short mention of the loss of a great American, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., who passed away just over a week ago. He recognized and wrote about our declining democracy like nobody else, in ways poignant, laughable, and maddening all at once. He saw the stupidity of human interaction, got angry, and then still found a reason to make a joke about it. Said Kurt:
"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."
The next edition of the Carnival will be posted on Monday, May 14th, 2007 with entries requested by Saturday, May 12th, at midnight.

Submit your blog post for the next edition of the carnival of the decline of democracy using our carnival submission form. More information on future carnivals can be found on our carnival home page.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

eNation : Real Community

While I've been off, not blogging, I've still been involved with some online discussions amongst a select group of online friends about the future of online communities, and the shaping of services and systems in a form of online democracy.

We're now ready for more, broader input. This video is an introduction and an invitation to get your feedback.

Are online communities real or virtual? Is democracy possible online? Is communal ownership of the public square necessary? We want to know what you think about these questions.

These are the links referred to in the video:

eNation discussion on Ning: enation.ning.com

The eNation testing site: www.the-enation.com

The eNation Vision (Peri Urban's blog): brainpilot.blogspot.com

VoicingWorld channel on YouTube: www.youtube.com/voicingworld

Sunday, April 22, 2007

desert sights

The following video is a little slide show of our recent trip to Desert Hot Springs, CA, including visits to Cabot's Old Indian Pueblo, Big Morongo Canyon Preserve, Palm Springs, Mount San Jacinto State Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and, of course, the roadside dinosaurs!

Music: 'Glassworks' by Philip Glass (CBS Records)

(For a different view of the trip, check out this alternate vacation video...)

Friday, April 20, 2007

The Carnival, for those who missed it.

Hi All -

I've been on vacation for about a week here, but while I was out, our good blogging buddy John, of Hell's Handmaiden, took on the hosting duties for the Carnival of the Decline of Democracy. He's done a fine job with it, and I encourage you all to take a look at what he's done.

I'll be back shortly with details of the vacation and some additional thoughts.

Thanks to John, and all my readers,

- Ken

Thursday, April 12, 2007

April 12, 2007

A few random things that happened on this date in history, and one very special person that we did without for the first time today.

So it goes.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

My Exclusive Inteview with Stephen Colbert!

I got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interview Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Central's "Colbert more... Report." He agreed to talk about Viacom's lawsuit against YouTube, and how he really feels about people using his material in their videos. Copyright Bozos watch out!



NOTES TO VIACOM LAWYERS:

1) This is called "Parody." Only an idiot would think it's a real interview. Parody is a means of poking fun of what's in the news. It's also protected as free speech.

2) The raw material was not obtained illegally or recorded off the air. It was downloaded from the colbertnation.com web site. Why did Colbert put the clips there to be downloaded? To quote from the official Comedy Central web site, "Stephen has decided to put it all out there for you. And by "it," we mean footage of an interview with Stephen that you can edit any way you like." Well, this is the way I like!

Monday, April 02, 2007

Carnival of the Decline of Democracy, 2.7

Welcome to the Carnival of the Decline of Democracy, Edition 2.7 - Blogging 'till the secret police take us away.

Carnival of the Decline of DemocracyLeon Gettler presents Gonzales and the Ken Lay defence posted at Sox First.

Cerebral presents Top Ten Things Wrong With Democracy Today posted at blog4brains.com.

Al Nye presents The Republican Detachment From Reality posted at Al Nye The Lawyer Guy.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Gonzo, Begone ... And Take Your Pal Bush With You! posted at Mad Kane's Political Madness.

Michael Beck presents What's in Your Wallet? The Plan for 2025 posted at The Sovereign Journey.

DWSUWF presents Can Chuck Hagel save the GOP from the Bushies? posted at Divided We Stand United We Fall.

The next edition of the Carnival will be posted (we hope) on Monday, April 16th, 2007 with entries requested by Saturday, April 14th, at midnight. We will have our first Guest Host for the next edition... Hell's Handmaiden will take over the reigns for the week.

Submit your blog post for the next edition of the carnival of the decline of democracy using our carnival submission form. More information on future carnivals can be found on our carnival home page.

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