Story Archives of 'Politics'

He's defied the odds before and says GOP primary voters want a true conservative.

In less than two weeks, voters will head out to the polls and cast ballots in the 2010 primary.

Four people are running to become the Republican candidate who gets a chance to take on Governor John Lynch.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Dan Gorenstein has this overview of the GOP gubernatorial primary.

For a look at what’s buzzing in the blogs, YouTubes, interwebs and beyond, we're joined by NHPR's webmaster and Word of Mouth internet sherpa Brady Carlson.

Here are some of the items discussed today:

The curious case of the cat in the bin. This is another case that shows us the potential of the web, for good and for evil. The video shows a woman in the UK who sees a cat on the sidewalk, pets it a few times, then picks it up and tosses it inside one of those green wheelie bins, and then walks off. The cat is stuck there for 15 hours, the owners come home and find their cat, which is very upsetting, and they remember that they've installed a security camera outside their house. So they post the video of the incident on YouTube and within 24 hours, the woman who dumped the cat has not only been identified but she's under police protection because of fears for her safety.

Woman who dumped cat in bin given 'police protection' as thousands join Facebook protest group

Cat-trashing lady outed by internet in less than 24 hours

Cat, unaware of video camera, drops middle-aged woman into trash can:

Politics and tech. We predicted the ambush video would be the big new web tactic for campaigns. So far it hasn't panned out that way. Why not? Because campaigns have been doing what most social media advisers tell ALL of us to do, which is to be careful about what you say and do online.

There are, however, two exceptions:

Blame Sunspots: A candidate for US Senate in Wisconsin said something about how global warming is more likely a result of sunspots activity than that of humans. And a crowd on Twitter decided to begin blaming sunspots for everything, well, under the sun. I liked one where a guy said his mailbox was too small to hold Blu-Ray discs from Netflix, and he blamed sunspots.

The singing candidate: a mayoral hopeful in Providence, Rhode Island, does a sit-down interview with one of the local morning shows. He starts by reading some of his answers off a sheet of paper, and then he starts up his iPod and starts singing to the host, and wraps things up by repeatedly trying to get his band to come out and play on the show. This is not a Bill Clinton-plays-saxophone on Arsenio Hall kind of moment - it's very uncomfortable. But I suppose if voters in Providence want a mayor who's got a backing band waiting in the hallway, ready for action, then he might do well.

Fan-film remakes: A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, I wrote in Here's What's Awesome about an effort to re-film the entire movie Star Wars, with fans taking one 15 second scene each and putting it into the greater whole. The project is now complete, although you can't watch it yet - they're sorting out the legal issues before releasing it, but I have seen some of it. It's a mixed bag, really - it couldn't be anything else given how it was made.

New fan-film remakes: "Footloose," and Monty Python "Holy Grail" by "Hitler Downfall" guy

This year, for the first time in a quarter century, payouts may exceed revenue. And with baby boomers about to retire, life expectancy increasing, and unemployment stubbornly high, many are asking how long our seventy-five year old Social Security system can remain sound? We’ll examine the problems and the debate over proposed fixes.

Guests

• Nancy Altman, author of The Battle for Social Security: FDR’s Vision to Bush’s Gamble and co-director of Social Security Works
• Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former Principal Deputy Commissioner of the Social Security Administration

The attorney general’s office is expected to file a motion on Friday requesting that the Personnel Appeals Board rehear a case involving two state prison guards. The two have been suspended for months without pay and benefits. The Personnel Appeals Board has called the suspensions both unjust and wrong. The case has become so controversial that it’s rising to the governor’s office.
NHPR’s Elaine Grant has the story.