WordPress 2.5

I just upgraded to wordpress 2.5 from 2.3ish… and my first reactions are positive.  The new images feature is awesome; but if you already have a large library of images from older wordpress versions, migrating them requires alot of page-by-page editing.  

Also, in Safari, none of the admin popup windows in the WSYWIG work.  This is a MAJOR problem that needs fixing!

Also, if you haven’t done so already, head on over to gravatar.com and set yourself up with a visual avatar… your avatar will now automatically post alongside any comments you make.

Best of the Web Today

If you didn’t already know, James Tarano is one of the most witty political commentators out there.  He writes a daily email commentary called “Best of the Web Today”.  Whether it’s his usual “bottom stories of the day”, including such fascinating headlines such as 

  • “Gnome Found in Oakdale Yard”–headline, Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.), June 12]
  • “Banana-Flavored Twinkies Return to Shelves After Half-Century Hiatus”–headline, FoxNews.com, June 13
  • “Police: Crack Found in Man’s Buttocks”–headline, WTTG-TV Web site (Washington), Feb. 1 
  • “Midland Police are mum on a report of impersonation at a local apartment complex late Sunday night into early Monday morning, but did say what didn’t happen.”–Midland (Mich.) Daily News, Jan. 22

or helpful “news you can use” clips including:

  •  ”Tractor, Open Liquor Don’t Mix: St. John’s Police”–headline, CBC.ca, Feb. 4
  • “Double Dipping May Add Bacteria to That Super Bowl Salsa”–headline, Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.), Feb. 3
  • “BLACK HISTORY MONTH: 3 Ways to Get a Husband”–headline, Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas), Feb. 1

You’re sure to be informed and entertained.  I wanted to share with you a few portions from his latest email blast.

More ‘Accountability Journalism’

In June we noted that the Associated Press had embraced a new idiom called “accountability journalism.”   The AP’s Ron Fournier explained that the venerable wire service, long known for its just-the-facts style of reporting, now aimed to be “provocative,” telling readers not only what happened “but why it happened,” “what it might mean,” and “what it might reveal about the people who presume to be our leaders,” who “sometimes” are “just plain wrong.”

Yet he promised the AP would somehow do this without editorializing or becoming partisan. How well has it done? Here are a few examples.

An AP dispatch yesterday explained the differences in the two political parties’ processes for selecting convention delegates via presidential primaries… Here is how the AP’s David Espo sums this all up in his lead paragraph:

“When it comes to presidential primaries, Democrats and Republicans play by different rules. One party likes to share. The other, not so much.”

Nope, nothing partisan there. 

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Why I am not supporting Huckabee

huckabee complainingHere they are … in no particular order:

1.  He supported Scholarships for ILLEGAL immigrants (link)

2.  He supported drivers’ licenses, government benefits and in-state tuition rates for illegals (link)

3.  He opposed a bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote. (link)

4.  He established a partially taxpayer-financed Mexican consulate office in Little Rock, a scheme involving the lease of building space to the Mexican government for $1 a year.  Why is the media not hounding him for this? (link)

5.  His dangerous views on terrorism and his inability to understand their motives and purpose (link).

“We must first destroy existing terrorist groups and then attack the underlying conditions that breed them: the lack of basic sanitation, health care, education, jobs, a free press, fair courts – which all translates into a lack of opportunity and hope. The United States’ strategic interests as the world’s most powerful country coincide with its moral obligations as the richest.”

As Selwyn Duke at the American Thinker put it… “does Huck know that Osama bin Laden is worth about $300 million?  I’ll also note that there is no moral obligation to use other people’s money for your government-run charities.

4.  He says he would favor a national smoking ban (and I’m not even a smoker.  This kind of activity is just not the role the FEDERAL government should be playing.  It’s unconstitutional and reeks of an anti-freedom mentality) (link)

5.  He is pro Taxes and Big Government (link)

5a.  Spending increased 65% from 1996 to 2004 in Arkansas while he was in office there. (link)

6.  He has expressed an ability to be easily bought with campaign contributions (link)

In Arkansas, Mr. Huckabee was investigated by the state ethics committee at least 14 times. Most of the complaints centered on what appears to be a serial disregard for government rules about gifts and outside financial compensation. He reported $112,000 worth of gifts in one year alone, nearly double his $67,000 salary… Five of the 14 investigations resulted in admonishments: Two for failing to report gifts (one was later overturned), the other three for some $80,000 that Mr. Huckabee and his wife received but failed to initially report. One of these admonishments involved a $23,500 payment to Mr. Huckabee from an opaque organization called Action America that he helped found in 1994 while lieutenant governor, and that was designed to coordinate his speeches and supplement his income.

8.  The mainstream media likes Huckabee… this is reason enough for any conservative to think twice about supporting him. (link)

Since the beginning of 2007, the Democratic National Committee has released 102 direct attacks on Mitt Romney. Rudy Giuliani has warranted 78; John McCain 68; Fred Thompson 21. Mike Huckabee? Four. The most recent of these landed back in March. GOP voters may not have examined Mr. Huckabee’s record, but the left has–and they love what they see.

 I’ve got some readers that support Huckabee… and I respect their opinions… but seriously, i think we can do better… even McCain (who I dislike) would be a more reliable candidate with a better record.