By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Mon Jun 13, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
The internet is running out of IP addresses, but everything will be okay. [Mashable]
The U.S. helps support a “shadow internet” to assist dissidents around the globe. [Reuters]
This Weiner is staying put: New York Congressman Anthony Weiner fights calls for his resignation. [CBS]
Some U.S. Senators want to fight “bitcoin,” a new internet-based currency they say is being used to further the global drug trade. [PC World]
It’s official: The United Nations declares internet access to be a human right. [Singularity Hub]
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Mon Jun 13, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET Words are a very powerful thing, especially in politics. The choice of sympathetic versus tough language alone can make the difference in how a political situation is perceived, especially in a situation as contentious as that in Palestine. Our very own contributing RP, Artur Davis, wrote an op-ed on the power of words for the Montgomery Advertiser:
Words matter in politics to the point that they often have equal weight with ideas.
That is why Republicans religiously describe the 2010 health care reform as “Obamacare.” It is why much of the Latino community cringes at the term “illegal aliens” and why Newt Gingrich almost self-immolated his campaign when he described a Republican Medicare proposal as “right-wing social engineering.”
It should be no surprise then, that President Obama’s recent endorsement of an Israeli-Palestinian border drawn along the “1967 lines” has proved so contentious. It is possible to blunt the literal value of the words with diplomatic minutiae: the White House was swift to italicize the portion of Obama’s speech that referred to additional “swaps” of land on both sides of the 1967 lines as necessary additional elements of a permanent accord.
Read the rest of Artur’s op-ed here.
By Grant Smith, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
Is Secretary of State Hillary Clinton planning to resign and take charge of the World Bank? [The Telegraph]
How Steve Jobs and Apple have rewritten the rules for Netflix, Amazon, and others. [Fortune]
Developer Robert Bigelow hopes to be the first landlord in space: details here. [Forbes]
Time to relax for the weekend: read the latest news on the Cuban cigar industry. [Cigar Aficionado]
Really want to relax? Here are five ways to beat summer airfare price hikes. [The Street]
By Chris Schulz, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET The Politics of the Planet Oyster Mushrooms can cut the time it takes diapers to biodegrade from 500 years to 6 months. [inhabitots.com]
What to do with the contaminated water from Tokyo nuclear power plants. Releasing it into the ocean could be a disaster for local fisherman. [wsj.com]
NJ Governor changes state’s renewable energy goals to more “realistic” numbers. [nytimes.com]
Electric car companies aim to change the driving process, and also the buying process. [nytimes.com]
Looking at the costs and benefits of the Clean Air Act in Chicago. [msnbc.com]
By Stephanie Doctrow, RP Staff, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET  On the night of June 3, Indiana University student Lauren Spierer went missing. The 20-year-old left a local sports bar, and never made it back to her apartment just blocks away. Lauren, a New York native, has a life-threatening heart condition called Long QT Syndrome that can be fatal without medication. The search for Lauren is still ongoing, but thanks to the power of social media, people all over the country are getting involved and spreading the word.
The news of Lauren’s disappearance shook the entire IU campus. Even though my friends and I don’t know Lauren personally, we’re all Hoosiers– the same thing could have happened to us. So my friends at the School of Journalism did what they do best: they started reporting. The Indiana Daily Student website provides constant updates on the search for Lauren, both for the Bloomington community and for those of us who are too far away to help in person.
But something even bigger happened– Facebook and Twitter feeds exploded within hours with information about when and where Lauren was last seen, what she was wearing, and what people could do to help. Lauren’s friends started a Facebook page to spread information across the country, which now has more than 26,000 members.
Twitter, which many considered to be a passing fad, has become one of the leading sources of up-to-date information about the search. The @NewsOnLaurenS Twitter account has more than 12,000 followers across the country, as of Wednesday. The page tweets updates each time the police releases new information. The account also tweets information about the meeting time and location of volunteer search parties. Thanks to national exposure, Wednesday’s search party had more than 250 volunteers. #FindLauren is a trending topic on Twitter, and celebrities like Zooey Deschanel and Ryan Seacrest have used their star power to spread the word.
The national exposure that social media provides ensures that people across the country will get involved in the search for Lauren, whether they’re donating their time, money, or awareness. This sad occurrence also proves that Twitter doesn’t just perpetuate fake scandals like Weinergate, it can serve a bigger purpose: keeping people informed and united in times of trouble.
It’s important to keep spreading the word, and more importantly, to help. If you’re near Bloomington, follow @NewsOnLaurenS for information about search parties each day. Or, you can go to the IU Hillel website to donate money to the search committee. If you have tips, call the Bloomington Police Department at 812-339-4477.
By RP Staff, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 10:00 AM ET
This Sunday, June 12th, is the 44th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the United States Supreme Court’s decision that struck down laws forbidding interracial marriage. Unbelievably, that’s forty-four more years that gay men and women have been legally denied the basic human right of marrying the person they love. Just before her death four year years ago, Mildred Loving released a statement in support of the rights of our gay friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to marry the person whom they choose. Where do you stand? [American Foundation for Equal Rights]
In a hint that modernity is at least creeping along in the US cultural landscape, a Catholic bishop in San Joaquin, California, has informed the clergy there that they may “perform blessings of same-gender civil marriages, domestic partnerships and relationships which are lifelong committed relationships characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect [and] careful, honest communication.” However positive this step is, perhaps the good bishop should lower his expectations of the whole relationship thing a bit? Geez! Remember: progress, not perfection. [The Guardian]
A recent infographic released by Online Dating University (We Will Teach You How to Get Laid) looks at how Facebook affects you and your relationships. Are one of the 31% of FB users that changed their relationship status to “single” over the last year? Interesting just how intertwined many of our lives have become with Facebook and what a boon it is to sociologists and researchers! [The Atlantic]
Finally, absolutely barmy to see Paul, Yoko, Sean, Dani and Olivia together to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Cirque de Soleil’s The Beatles Love. Check out the photos [here. Las Vegas Sun]
By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, on Fri Jun 10, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  I recently visited Madison where I spoke to Wisconsin Women in Government, a group founded 24 years ago to support women who choose a career in public service. I welcomed the chance to talk about the ways women discover their power, a subject near to my heart and experience. Even though I’d grown up in a very political family, I’d never imagined as a young girl that I’d become a lawyer or run for political office. That’s what guys did. But eventually the women’s movement empowered me to develop talents I didn’t know I had and inspired me to encourage other women to do the same.
When I was in college, I saw women rally, conduct sit-ins and teach-ins, and march in the streets. In large groups and small meetings, women told their stories, demanded their rights, and passionately argued that they were equal to men. Women friends became class speakers, were hired to teach in law school, and won lawsuits. Heartened by their words and actions, I went to law school myself and founded a group called Women in Politics.
 I couldn’t have accomplished these things without the support of other women who were also becoming empowered. Led by trailblazers like Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem, we gradually came to see ourselves differently and stopped believing what the world kept telling us–that we didn’t have it in us to make it a man’s world. We changed ourselves and we changed society. Friendship and solidarity made these transformations possible.
It wasn’t easy. I didn’t have a single woman professor in college. After law school, I applied for a job at Legal Services, and since I had two children, asked if I could work part time. The director said no. He wanted Legal Services to stick to the same standards as large law firms. They didn’t have part-time lawyers, and neither would he. A few years later, he was elected to Congress and joined a family-friendly caucus. He had changed, like many others.
Read the rest of…
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend: Empowering Public Employees: Lessons From the Women’s Movement
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 at 3:00 PM ET
Do you recall the tale of the tortoise and the hare? Believe it or not that can be applied to modern NASCAR. It is not always the most dominant or fastest car and driver that wins. Sometimes it is the team that best manages fuel. [All Left Turns]
Carl Edwards is back on top of ESPN’s NASCAR power rankings this week. Dale Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, and Matt Kenseth round out the top five. [ESPN]
This week Jalopnik counts down the top ten 16-bit cars. [Jalopnik]
As with many things in popular culture the fly-by performed by a jet was introduced by Tom Cruise’s character Maverick in the movie Top Gun. I don’t know who the pilot in these videos is, but what I do know they are terrifying (and pretty awesome). [Jalopnik]
By RP Staff, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 at 1:30 PM ET
- The Politics of Immigration
Agree with its premise or not, this Bloomberg editorial concisely sums up the upheaval currently going on in immigration policy. The RP predicts that immigration will, yet again, be a huge issue in the 2012 presidential election. Bloomberg
The RP heard this story this week on NPR. A very interesting piece on a young Yemeni woman that spent a year in the United States and turned her lens on us to document “the lives of American women [her] age and to compare and contrast (them) with the lives of Yemeni
young women.” Read, listen, learn. Yemeni Photographer Turns Her Lens On The West
The RP has referenced the DREAM Act a number of times in The Politics of Immigration. Here’s a video project in search of funding that puts faces and stories to the tragedy of young men and women brought to this country by their families,
educated and socialized as Americans, then unable as young adults to attend college or find gainful employment because of their immigration status. Kickstarter
Check out one more video from Kickstarter and learn more about their work and how you can support it. Arizona and the End of FiveCenturies of Immigration
By Jeff Smith, on Thu Jun 9, 2011 at 12:30 PM ET Contributing RP Jeff Smith answers the Politico Arena query as to whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi continues to be an effective foil for Republican candidates:
The trend’s spread to my neck of the woods, too: Missouri Republican Ed Martin kicked off his congressional campaign yesterday by tying prospective opponent Rep. Russ Carnahan to Pelosi as well (even though it was Steny Hoyer – not Pelosi – here campaigning for Carnahan the day before). This strategy appeared to be effective for Martin last cycle; he held Carnahan under 49 percent in a 59 percent Democratic Performance Index district.
Unfortunately, Pelosi’s numbers last fall were worse than Richard Nixon’s were during impeachment. Democrats can lament that and condemn Republicans for using sexist imagery and rhetoric to caricature her, but her cake is baked. (Wait, was that sexist?)
Since this appears to be a coordinated national message with money behind it, one can only assume that NRCC polling suggests that Pelosi remains a drag on Democratic congressional candidates in swing districts. It may not make sense given the House Dems’ relative impotence in the face of a Paul Ryan-driven agenda which is in itself quite unpopular, but I’m afraid these attacks still resonate.
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