Digg Headline: Repub Candidates Refuse YouTube

From the article:

"So far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate. Formal invitations arrived at campaigns yesterday."

So the candidates have had invitations for a whole 12 hours and haven't yet officially accepted? Stop the presses, this is front-page news!

Of course, the Digg comments are filled with anti-Republican rhetoric based solely on the headline, and it looks like Apokalyps2547 is the only commenter who may have read the linked article. (Of course, it's such a non-story that I'm surprised it was published at all.) Methinks "RTFA" should be appended to the headline of any political Digg story by default.

From this AP story about Congress holding Harriet Miers in contempt:

The House Judiciary Committee approved a contempt of Congress citation Wednesday against [one-time White House counsel] Harriet Miers. The Justice Department said it would block the citation from prosecution because information Congress is demanding is protected by executive privilege. Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House effort was important nonetheless.

Say what you will about the pointlessness of these kind of actions (as well as non-binding resolutions), but at least when Congress is wasting their time with this, they're too distracted to be raising taxes.

At the moment, the top nine links at Reddit (plus 2 more in the next 15) are to various articles on the futile grassroots efforts to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Never mind that none of these impeachment proceedings are being carried out by any government bodies with legitimate power and that none will result in any sort of Congressional action - a site with 45% of its front page links dedicated to one political story does not amount to displaying "what's new online;" it's displaying "what's new in our community's agenda." On any other large social news site (like Netscape or Digg), 8 of the 9 links would be flagged as duplicates and removed so that the front page (the site's most valuable asset) actually has value to the readers who don't care about meaningless grassroots impeachment resolutions.

I suppose this kind of gaming is the Reddit's community prerogative, but I'll be avoiding Reddit for at least a few weeks until this little impeachment-fest dies down and they're linking to interesting content again.

In case I forget, here’s my platform for when I run for President in 2020:

• The metric system: we should use it. All measurements must be have metric equivalents listed by the end of my first term. The U.S. will be metric-only by the end of my second term.

• College textbook prices: they’re ridiculous. A cap of {{ the_content }}.10 per page will be placed on all textbooks; none of this 0 for a 250 page book on hamster psychology.

• Vehicle mileage. Under my administration, it will be illegal to sell a consumer vehicle (ie. not applicable to semis, U-Hauls, etc.) that gets less than 30 mpg. Electricity is here; let’s use it.

• Broadband Internet for everybody: all libraries and schools will have government-provided broadband Internet access and current computer hardware.

• Television stations will be required to have their average volume set at a standard level. The volume buttons on my remote don’t work so well, and I’m tired of leaning in to hear one channel and having my eardrums blown by the next channel.

• Bike lanes will be mandatory on all roads on public University campuses. I’m sick of almost getting mowed down on Washington Avenue just because I can’t bike on the sidewalk.

• In order to receive welfare, government-subsidized student loans, or any other sort of federal cash, the recipient must have voted in the last federal election. If they were not old enough to vote, they must at least be currently registered.

If we can focus on and achieve these goals, the U.S. will be a better place. Admit it; you agree with me.

[This post originally appeared on my first blog, "Here's What You Should Think."]