What could possibly go wrong?

This is supposed to be none of their business. The US Department of Homeland Security is looking for a contractor to help create a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers.” Am I enough of a media influencer to be scooped up? Is that a good or bad thing? Forbes reacts: “What could possibly go wrong? A lot.” As in identifying what voices write about being the first step in censoring or shutting down voices somebody doesn’t like.



In the midst of the teacher protests in Oklahoma, Gov. Mary Fallon said the teachers were asking for too much as they demanded better pay and benefits, as well as schools in adequate repair with intact textbooks. Fallon grumbled that the teachers were like “a teenager wanting a better car.”

These teachers have, of course, been hearing a lot of sarcasm from actual teenagers during regular school days. So a couple days after Fallon’s comment the teachers, 36,000 of them, flooded the Capitol. For one of their chants they waved and jangled car keys and said, “Where’s my car?”



Enjoy statistics? The Washington Post with the Kaiser Family Foundation has the results of a recent poll about those who have been attending rallies. In the 1960s protesters tended to be students. Now they tend to be older, white, well educated, and wealthy (as in upper middle class). 20% of Americans attended a rally in the last two years. Among those attending rallies, 70% disapprove of the nasty guy, only 20% are GOP, and 83% of them are certain they will vote in November.