The other day I posted information about an interview Governor Palin had with a local radio host, in which she allows the host to not only smear a fellow Republican rival on air, but laughs as the radio host refers to the State Senator as a “cancer” and a “bitch”. Senator Lyda Green, a cancer survivor, was clearly smeared during this entire interview while Palin giggles like a 13-year-old child.  At the time I first came across the audio on YouTube I wasn’t sure if it was authentic. I’ve since found plenty of evidence indicating it was quite real.

UPDATED: This was indeed Governor Palin, speaking to a local news radio show. Coverage of this unbelievable display of immaturity: The Anchorage Daily

Additionally, when hearing of Palin’s quest for White House glory, Alaska State Senator Lyda Green states: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?” … “Look at what she’s done to this state. What would she do to the nation?”

UPDATES September 2

Sarah the new Tom Eagleton? Let’s hope so

For a Governor who supposedly holds a whopping 90% approval rating, why does this Alaskan website poll show her only 20% ahead of Obama?

More to come, so stay tuned.

The age of the traditional newspaper is rapidly approaching a very real end, though by the looks of mainstream newspaper organizations one would think it were still the 1950s and the height of the paper news industry. With newspaper readership dwindling at alarming rates it would seem prudent for traditional information mediums to heed the warnings of an ever changing global internet world.

New social networking medias leave newspapers on the run

In Sioux Falls, local newspaper response to these changes seems slow to develop. Although the local newspaper website has undergone numerous layout redesigns in the past few years (ad nauseum, in fact), it’s reach appears to focus on young readers who are not traditional “local readership” material. The idea may be to try and capture this never-before reached demographic, but simply providing new technological options on a website without a clearly defined direction for long-term growth and development is not enough to build the type of online loyalty these newspapers will require in the decades to come.  Clearly an “outside the hemisphere” thought process is required to ensure stable readership numbers if local newspapers ever hope to maintain their local community base.

One regional newspaper, however, does seem to be taking on the challenge of thinking outside the box. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has decided recently that it will no longer subscribe to the AP wire service. An Read the rest of this entry »

As my friends and family will readily admit, I have been dismayed and literally livid about the decision by McCain to choose Sarah Palin as his VP choice. Not only do I see it as an affront to American women’s intelligence (as in, “oh goodie, lets all vote McCain because Palin has female parts”!!?) she is just simply NOT qualified to run as vice president, let alone for the potential that she may some day be president.

As a result, and to help rest my weary soul over the entire ordeal, I’ve joined the “fight against Palin” brigade. This brigade (currently made up of one, me) basically has 3 purposes: