Techcordance

Talk Radio

The Democratic National Committee’s Organizing for America has quietly launched an initiative aimed at making Obama supporters’ voices heard on the largely conservative airwaves.
“The fate of health reform has been a focus of debate in living rooms and offices, on TV and online — and on talk radio. And since millions of folks turn to talk radio as a trusted source of news and opinions, we need to make sure OFA supporters are calling in with a pro-reform message,” says the introduction to the online tool.
The online tool presents users with a radio show discussing political topics, to which supporters can listen live, and the phone number for that station, for when health care comes up. It also offers tips for callers and talking points on the issue.
My quick sampling produced Christian radio, a local talk station in Buffalo, and the syndicated talk shows of Dr. Laura Schlessinger and Sean Hannity — who will no doubt be thrilled with their new, liberal callers.
Supporters are then encouraged to report back on their encounters.
TechPresident’s Nancy Scola writes that the program is a product of a new push inside the organization to develop new software tools to give supporters “achievable, tangible tasks to do that fit into the nooks and crannies of their day to day lives.

Arson

TYLER — Court records indicate one of the suspects arrested on an arson charge in the burning of churches in East Texas had assault rifles and books on demons and atheism in his home.
Investigators also say 19-year-old Jason Bourque left graffiti in the bathroom stall of a ranch store. The Dallas Morning News reports today that court documents say Bourque carved an upside-down cross topped by flames into the bathroom wall, along with the words “Little Hope was Arson.”
Little Hope Baptist Church was the first of 11 churches that were torched in what authorities believe was an arson spree.
Bourque and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllister were arrested and charged Sunday with a single felony arson charge.
Attorneys are not commenting publicly because of a gag order.

Bloom Box

The blogosphere is abuzz over the disclosure by startup Bloom Energy that it has come up with a fuel cell technology that can replace conventional energy sources.But can it really? The devil, as they say, is in the details — and few of those were made public in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” program Sunday.The Silicon Valley company’s CEO, K.R. Sridhar, showed off a refrigerator-sized Bloom Box filled with fuel cells and designed to make electricity through a chemical process. The boxes can make energy anywhere, he said, and do so without giving off any emissions.Already, a number of high-profile American corporations have begun testing the technology. A “60 Minutes” reporter visited facilities of eBay, which has installed a number of Bloom Boxes; the e-commerce company put savings from the technology so far at $100,000. Others reported to have installed units include Google and Federal Express.

Stimulus

A year after it became law, the stimulus package costs more than promised, has failed to keep down the unemployment rate and has faced charges of waste and abuse.But the federal spending – all of it borrowed – has helped many states avoid painful budget cuts to their education and public safety budgets, and according to official estimates has helped the gross domestic product grow faster than it would have otherwise.With health care stalled, his plans to address climate change on hold and spending ballooning, President Obama on Wednesday will mark the first anniversary of what’s formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act by inviting to the White House people who have benefited from the money. And he’s deploying his top aides to crisscross the country and highlight projects that have helped people and produced jobs.

Avatar


With “Avatar” now the highest-grossing movie of all time, some evangelical Christians are wondering how to respond to the cultural phenomenon.
Some have slammed the film for promoting pantheism and an anti-human message. Others have joined fellow moviegoers in literally applauding the film as the credits rolled on the big screen.
And still others have not denied the entertainment value, but are concerned that Christians are getting caught up in the culture and raising fewer questions.
“Evangelicals are now consumers of popular culture as if there are no moral questions about it,” said Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at a panel discussion Thursday.

Buzz

by Jennifer Leggio
By even writing this post I am breaking a promise to my friend Mack Collier. Earlier today I publicly promised to him on Twitter that I was going to wait a while before posting any opinions on Google Buzz until I got a firm grasp on how to use it. Yet, after only toying with it on and off for a handful of hours, there are a couple of issues I can’t help but call out now, primarily around the intrusiveness of the way this thing works. Mack, I am sorry.
If you haven’t tried it yet, Google Buzz integrates with your Gmail account (and other Google services) and turns it into a social experience. A “buzz” is a threaded conversation not unlike what FriendFeed tried to be (with pictures and video and blog links and more) and you can either post publicly (which shows up on your main Google profile) or selectively choose who in your friends list sees your buzz.

Athiest Delusions

Upon seeing the title Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies (Yale University Press), I confess to having suspected it would follow the formula of other debunkings of the “Bright brigade,” decrying the illogic and inaccuracy of the New Atheists’ arguments. Instead, I found someone (in this case, theologian David Bentley Hart) taking a step back from the carnage of the current (pop) culture war to ask bigger questions about how we ended up here in the first place.
Hart, a visiting professor of theology at Providence College, begins by looking at the New Atheist phenomenon, lambasting Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Daniel Dennett et al. for their carelessness with and rhetorical manipulation of philosophy, theology, and history. But that is quickly left behind; in the book’s second half, we begin to see the Orthodox theologian’s real intent: to offer a counter-narrative of religion’s role in human history.

Nominee

In a vivid display of President Obama’s diminished clout, the Senate’s newest Republican and two veteran Democrats Tuesday helped block Mr. Obama’s bid to fill a key labor post with a nominee they considered too cozy with unions.
With newly seated Sen. Scott Brown, Massachusetts Republican, voting to sustain the filibuster, Senate Democratic leaders failed to muster the 60 votes needed to force a vote on the nomination of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board, which resolves disputes between unions and management.

Tebow Ad

The national director for Generation Life says it comes as no surprise that liberal groups are upset over a Super Bowl ad featuring Tim Tebow and his mother.Focus on the Family produced the 30-second spot, which is slated to run during the CBS broadcast on Sunday and reportedly will feature Pam Tebow recounting her decision to carry Tim to full-term, despite a doctor’s advice to have an abortion due to health concerns. Liberal and feminist groups were quick to denounce the ad, even though it has yet to be previewed, and Brandi Swindell, founder and national director of Generation Life, contends the heated opposition shows the liberal groups’ true colors.

Moon No Go

(CNN) — American astronauts will not return to the moon as planned if Congress passes President Obama’s proposed budget.
Obama’s budget — which aims to tighten the nation’s purse strings in certain areas while increasing money used to create jobs — would cancel NASA’s Constellation Program, which had sought to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.
Constellation also intended to study the idea of establishing a moon colony. The program was set to follow the U.S. space agency’s shuttle missions, which are due to end in September.
On its Web site, the White House Budget Office says the program to send astronauts to the moon is behind schedule, over budget and overall less important than other space investments.