By now I'm sure many of you have seen this map that the Republicans are shopping around:

Has anyone bothered to read it? Because it actually isn't a very good argument against healthcare at all. While this shows many of the inner agencies that may or may not play some role in healthcare reform / oversight, in terms of the doctor patient relationship, there's only 2 things between you and your doctor: A new health insurance exchange that includes a public option, and your traditional health insurance plan.

So in reality, while confusing, this map is just telling us what we already know: That the plan will add an insurance exchange to better help you decide what plan is right for you, including a public option.

And that's the best defense they have? Look at all these other ancillary agencies we can add to confuse you?

 Today, New Hampshire became the fifth state behind Massachusetts, Vermont, Iowa, and Maine to allow gay marriage (6th if you count California, although that's no longer the case).  This occasion has made me frustrated that my own state of New York, which I consider to be among the most progressive, still can't find a way to get marriage equality through the state senate.

Right now, the New York State Senate is considering a bill that would finally give equal protection under the law to same sex couples.  This bill's passing will depend upon the votes of a few state senators, including my own here in Astoria, George Onorato.  That is, assuming we can get our majority leader, Malcolm Smith, to bring it to the floor.

Now I've lived in Astoria long enough to know that Senator Onorato could easily win re-election to his seat and vote for equality, so electability isn't an argument here.  The real issue here is which side of history our senator wants to be on, if he believes that all people, regardless of race, creed, color, sex, or sexual orientation, deserve equal protections under the law.

There's only a few weeks left in the session.  If you believe, like I do, that equal rights belong to our gay friends and family as well, then you should give Senator Onorato and Senator Smith a call and let them know how you feel.

Senator George Onorato - 518 455 3486

Senator Malcolm Smith - 718 528 4290

This was the Notre Dame Obama protest:

This was your typical Iraq war protest:

New York

Did you notice a proportionate degree of news coverage?

Once again,

Web 3.0 is a term often thrown around these days, yet I see little evidence that there's been any major leap to warrant its use.  That is, until now, considering what I've been hearing about Wolfram Alpha.  

The UK's Independent has a nice writeup on Wolfram Alpha, giving us an insight into how this next generation search engine (knowledge engine?) will change the way we think about the internet.  

To put it simply, Wolfra Alpha will answer whatever question you ask it in an intelligent and useful way.  It will also provide related data.  For example, if you searched for the name 'bob', it would tell you that Bob is a common male name, followed by data on numbers of people named Bob, and a chart plotting the use of the name Bob over time.

On the other hand you can ask it much more complex questions, for example, the Independent mentions that you can ask it what the weather was like on the day John Kennedy died, and it can cross-reference the data and provide a relavent answer. It's also very good at complex mathematical computations.

Not only is this being heralded as a giant leap for web technology, it's being discussed in a broader sense as a tool that will revolutionize the way we think about the internet, in that it's the next step towards a well organised convergence of everything that can be found on the web.

A thought on politics: If this is indexed to work with public campaign and political data, will this become an incredibly powerful tool for calculating in a flash everything from politicians' donations from certain lobbies to how a politician votes on certain issues over time?  Just think of the possibilities a tool like this can provide towards a more open government.

"I found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more aligned with the philosophy of the Democratic Party." - Senator Arlen Specter

It seems that feeling is fairly widespread these days among moderate (now ex-)Republicans, especially in the great state of Pennsylvania.

The senior United States Senator from the state of Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter, has decided to become a Democrat.  This is a game changer.  Not only does this mean Democrats are all but certain to gain 60 seats once Al Franken is rightfully seated, it could provide cover for more party switches, with rumors flying that Maine Republican Olympia Snowe may be next.

Now, what this means for real legislation has yet to be seen.  While Arlen has said he doesn't plan to change his positions on important issues, it seems all but inevitable that he'll need to get in line with Democratic priorities if he intends to survive a Democratic primary and stay in the good graces of Democratic leadership.

This leaves open the question of what's going to happen with the Employee Free Choice Act.  Arlen said he's not going to invoke cloture and thinks it's a bad idea, but he's sponsored this bill in the past as a Republican.  You can be sure that labor unions will push him hard on this issue, and mount a spirited primary challenge if he plays a part in blocking the passage of EFCA.

Watch him explain his reasons for leaving in this youtube video:

 Before the news broke yesterday that a team of Navy SEALS saved an American captive from pirates, Newt Gingrich was twittering away: "President obama is making a major mistake in not forcefully oulining the rules of civilization for dealing with pirates."

Well, if force in dealing with pirates is the metric Newt wants to use, he should note this clever chart that was sent in to Politico:

Game, Set, Match.

 As I'm sure you've heard Time Warner Cable has, very unfortunately, created a tiered price structure based on bandwith usage for their high speed internet services.  This is unfair for a multitude of reasons, most notably that in many markets they have a monopoly and what they're doing is basically price gouging.  You can rest assured that if this goes unchallenged, more companies will follow suit.

For some of us, this may just be an annoyance.  It may mean cutting down on recreational internet usage or increasing your cable bill cost each month.  But taken as a whole, what this really creates unfair access to information, thus ensuring that it's harder for those who are less wealthy to access information at a time when it's imperitive that we, as a society, increase access to those very same groups.    In fact, we're paying them to increase access in the new stimulus bill.

If we are to flourish as a society in the 21st century and compete globally, if we are to improve our education system and rise to new challenges, we will need to ensure that the next generation has the best access to information and learns from a young age to adapt new technologies.

Thankfully for us (not so much for Time Warner), Representative Eric Massa of New York has a plan to do something about all of this.  Rep. Massa has promised a forthcoming bill in the House of Represenatives designed "to curb tiers, particularly in areas where a broadband provider owns a monopoly on service."

Good on you, Rep. Massa.

The Wayback Machine, provided by the internet archive, is a fantastic tool for researching what the world wide web looked like at previous points in history.  Today, I decided to use this tool to look at the world of Barack Obama, and how his now famous whirlwind political rise left a fast and rapidly expanding footprint on the internet.

 Here's an interesting way to look at it: On May 30th, 2004, the first day for which an archived Wikipedia page is available, Barack Obama's Wikipedia page had 340 words, counting menus and footnotes.  Today, that number is 14, 129.  Wikipedia now has ~41.55 times the amount of information about Barack Obama as it did just four short years ago.

Another interesting avenue of exploration is scanning through Barack Obama's campaign website over the years, which was first archived on April 15th, 2004.

There are many ways in which the wayback machine can give you an insight into the world of politics as it once was, and into the rise and fall of politicians and how their footprint is felt across the internet.  I suggest you have yourself a peek. 

"I don't get Twitter." It's a phrase I've been hearing a lot lately. Maybe it's because of my increased activity on Twitter, or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that everyone's been so 'atwitter' about it.  

In either case, I'm talking about Twitter. A lot. I'm talking to those that can't get enough, those that have Twitter yet don't use it very often, and to a lot of non-believers.  I think there's a pretty good concensus among everyone that nobody's quite figured out what Twitter is yet, and that has a lot to do with the fact that Twitter can be a lot of things to a lot of different people.

The one thing Twitter is not is "just Facebook status messages", as some I've run into have oft stated.  So, for those interested in learning more about what Twitter is to me and to some of those around me and in the media, and perhaps for those a little intimidated, confused, or perhaps even scared by the concept, Twitter:

• Twitter is a way for media personalities and politicians to interact in new and exciting ways, often without a filter.
• Twitter is a way for Michael Ian Black to make us laugh.
• Twitter is how Rainn Wilson pointed out one of the most interesting pieces of art I've seen in a long time.
• Twitter can help you get a job.
• Lance Armstrong used Twitter to seek help finding his stolen bike.
• Twitter can let fans get a peak into the lives of athletes. 
• Twitter can let you know when DailyKos or OpenLeft or any of your other favorite blogs (and newspapers) post something new.
• Twitter helps you connect with old friends (and sometimes old fads).
• Twitter helps you take the temperature of a community, for example the progressive community or the conservative community.
• Twitter lets me know when Drupal modules come out and when they're updated.
• Twitter can tell you the weather. Or the score.
• Twitter can help with voting.
• Twitter gives stock tips.
• You might even tweet at the person sitting right next to you.
• At some point along the way, you'll even get sick of hearing about all the things you can do with Twitter.

Twitter is all of these things and more.  Twitter is even not for everyone (although if it's not for you Twitter's CEO might not think highly of you).  

In any case, it's certainly not "just Facebook status messages".

Jon Stewart takes Jim Cramer to town in a way not seen since he schooled Tucker Carlson so bad that they canceled crossfire. Will Jim Cramer's Mad Money be the next to go, and possibly take the entire CNBC network with him? From last nights episode of The Daily Show, you watch, you decide: