Thursday, June 24, 2004

Al Gore's warpath led today to the Georgetown University Law Center, where he said in a speech: "President Bush has been attempting to conflate his commander-in-chief role and his head of government role to maximize the power people are eager to give those who promise to defend them against active threats. But as he does so, we are witnessing some serious erosion of the checks and balances that have always maintained a healthy democracy in America." Gore says Bush is either lying, or unfit to lead. More Gore: "When you boil it all down to precisely what went wrong with the Bush Iraq policy, it is actually fairly simple: he adopted an ideologically driven view of Iraq that was tragically at odds with reality. Everything that has gone wrong is in one way or another the result of a spectacular and violent clash between the bundle of misconceptions that he gullibly consumed and the all-too-painful reality that our troops and contractors and diplomats and taxpayers have encountered." Read the whole speech, "Our Founders and the Unbalance of Power." 2:55:23 PM    comment []

So I wrapped up a four-week advertising run in the Rhino Times. I stayed within my budget, which was set by the income I've received via BlogAds on this site. That bought me a business-card sized ad in the classified pages. Was it worth it? I dunno. I haven't seen a rush of traffic from it, but I think brand-building takes time, and that's what I'm trying to do, establish mindshare in the local market. Print seems to be the best advertising medium for doing that, or at least the best EdCone.com can afford. I will continue this experiment as cashflow from the blog allows, and maybe I'll have a fundraiser to support the project when the summer doldrums end, so I can experiment with different sizes and venues for ads. 11:59:33 AM    comment []

Two county clerks of court and a sheriff are filing a complaint with the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission over district court Judge James Honeycutt's decision to remove religious language from oaths and announcements required in his courtrooms. 11:40:17 AM    comment []

Jeff Jarvis on the "indecent indecency bill" passed by the Senate: "Religious fundamentalists...just dealt a deadly blow to free speech in America with legislators, cynical hypocrites, as their henchmen and media standing idly by, the short-sighted quislings." 10:37:42 AM    comment []

Saigon rocks. Eat there and be happy. 10:28:41 AM    comment []