Pennsylvania Primaries Provide No Clear Answer

What a long wait until the Pennsylvania primaries we had! Jeez.. all that waiting and still no projected Democratic nominee.. tear...

Hillary Clinton won 55% of the state, with Barack Obama trailing at 45%. So now, Obama has 1,727 delegates (including Projected Super Del's) and Clinton is trailing very closely with 1,589. This is crazy! The next primaries take place next week, May 6th, in both Indiana and North Carolina. Not fair! Republicans have known for soooo long who their nominee is, leaving us Democrats to bite our nails in hope that our favorite person will pull ahead, ditching the other guy (or woman) delegates short of a victory.

Current projected delegate count..This is quite a monumental election we are seeing, and it is only the primaries. Not only do we have the possiblity of a black man or a woman running on the Democratic ticket, but the controversy revolving around the Florida and Michigan delegates. So far, these delegates are not going to count. However, who knows what will happen at the Democratic National Convention in September. It could cause chaos! With all this controversy in the primaries, it should be an interesting presidential race :)

Ciao, VQUZESHUF
Jess

Legal and Ethical Issues Concerning Internet Marketing

Hello All,

I know that this does not concern the upcoming 08 election, but as mentioned previously this blog is also a project for my Internet Marketing class and I am getting graded on it so.. I have to post 4 articles related to legal and ethical issues concerning internet marketing and I found an article on NYTimes.com related to that topic published on October 13, 2004 by Tom Zeller.

The article is entitled, F.T.C. Files First Lawsuit Against Spyware -- which, obviously, has to do the the FTC handling spyware over the internet. Spyware is not only an annoyance to the average internet user, many feel as though spyware is a violation of privacy.

This article is dated, however, it provides insight into when the FTC first began to take notice of the spyware problem plagueing internet users everywhere. The FTC filed a lawsuit in New Hampshire against the CEO of Smartbot.com, citing that this company, in using spyware, was violating federal law. The FTC asserted that the use of spyware, tracking the websites an internet user visits and, consequently, bombarding them with pop up advertisements, is an "unfair and deceptive use of commerce."

he Federal Trade Commission formally announced yesterday its first assault against spyware - bits of computer code that surreptitiously install themselves on the computers of Internet users to track their activities, push them to Web sites, barrage them with advertisements, and otherwise wreak havoc with their machines.

The commission filed a lawsuit in a federal court in New Hampshire last week against Sanford Wallace, the owner of Seismic Entertainment Productions and Smartbot.net, contending that Mr. Wallace and his companies had violated federal law, which prohibits "unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce."

The director of the commision of consumer protection, Lydia Parnes, claimed that this would not be the last of many lawsuits concerning companies who installed spyware to oblivious internet users.

Spyware is a problem amongst internet users even in 2008, four years after this article was published. It is hard to control because many companies choose to take advantages of the weaknesses in Microsoft's Internet Explorer, the most widely used browser, and install spyware. The legality and ethics of Spyware is still widely debated to this day.

SHU Chapel Assignment

Irrelevant in this blog, I know, but my Professor has given us a homework assignment in which my group is assigned to give suggestions about improving the website concerning the Chapel they are currently building (Sacred Heart University) to check out the website click here http://www.sacredheart.edu/pages/18984_live_webcam_university_chapel_construction.cfm

My suggestions for the SHU Chapel website would be:

1) I think that there should be some text before the links, explaining why the school decided to build the chapel and just an overall paragraph discussing its importance and what it will add to the atmosphere at Sacred Heart. There are links to navigate in which more information can be obtained, but I think a simple paragraph would suit the website and provide a background that would entince people to click on the links below.

2) I also think that the top of the page should not say Live WEBCAM: University Chapel, it should say Sacred Heart University Chapel, or what ever they intend on calling it. That way it establishes some familiarity with the visitor

3) The picture of the chapel as a finished product should be larger than the picture of the chapel that is in construction now. The chapel that is in construction is not very eye appealing and while it is a good idea to get people involved with the construction of the chapel, a large picture of the finished product will remind the site visitor just how good it is going to look when it is finished.

4) The two pictures of the chapel should be side to side with the links underneath. I did not like how they aren't in comparison with one another. The link text, format permitting, should be a little larger and the list of links should be centered under the picture. The quote should also be placed at the top of the page, as it is a nice quote and might be ignored and overshadowed by the links that are placed about it.

Anyway these are my suggestions, let me know if you have any more!

Vquzeshuf,
Jess :-p

Oh, Economics...

In the past eight years the surplus the American economy once had, has slumped into what could be a recession. This has pushed the issue of economy to the forefront of the platform for the 2008 election. McCain has been highly criticized for his inexperience in the area of economics. Yet, he has come up with a "surefire" plan to solve the problems we are having due to the poor economy. What is at the forefront of this plan, you ask? Promises of outrageous and probably ineffective TAX CUTS! What a surprise.

He said, and I quote, "Americans do not resent paying their rightful share of taxes -- what they do resent is being subjected to thousands of pages of needless and often irrational rules and demands" (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/15/mccain.economy/index.html?iref=werecommend) What the hell? Ask any American if they are "indifferent" about paying their taxes, I'm pretty sure not one person would agree. Obviously, taxes are something that hits home to any American (of tax paying age, of course). Without taxes many beneficial federal programs would suffer and they are a necessary "evil" to keeping the country running smoothly. Now, lets just see some rich people paying their rightful share of taxes and we'll be good. :)

McCain proposes various "tax cuts" and a "summer gas tax holiday" which would eliminate the tax on gas from memorial day to labor day. Does he think before he publicizes these grand plans? It sounds too good to be true. Well, guess what? It is.

Digging up the dirt

Now, what would politics be if the candidates didn't have people working to find dirt on each other? It would be more dignified-- but more BORING! Even the self proclaimed political "purist" can't help but be slightly amused with the lengths the candidates go to knock the "other guy" down a few notches. (Especially if its the candidate you hate.)

A Youtube.com search will bring up numerous negative findings of all presidential hopeful's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQdOBtyuMN4
Obama's "minister" can be found in snippets -- ranting and raving like a lunatic in an anti - American sermon. The sermon accuses "America the great" of being a racist, drug harboring, AIDS infested society, and we are scared into believing that, if elected, Obama will appoint Reverand Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. to his cabinet. Whatever happened to separation of church and state? Who cares if Obama worshipped every belief suggested by this man? Especially when, in actuality, Obama described Wright as being like “an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with.” (http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/obama_minister_wright/2008/03/06/78440.html)
Relax white Protestant supremists, should Obama get elected your church will be safe and sound. I promise.

Move on to McCain and his "Bomb Iran" song to the tune of "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. I'm sure they're proud to hear their song being exploited to a pro - war jig. I don't know though, this could probably help him win over all the angry conservatives who have become atuned to his incessant flip flopping and economic shortcomings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U39zae4IxUA. Go get 'em Gramps!

Hillary's, now somewhat infamous, red phone ad which was originally meant to imply that she is more than equipped to handle national security matters, has caused a frenzy on youtube.com with countless spoofs and sattires. The funniest thing about the red phone ad, in my opinion, is that the little girl in the commercial (which was recorded a long time ago for any media purpose) is now grown up -- and an Obama supporter!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0AddSHpNrE&feature=related Poor Hil -- she always gets it.

Bye,
Toodles,
Adios,
Later,
VQUZESHUF,

Jess :)

Can a Vice President be a Deal Breaker?

In my politics of presidential election class yesterday the topic of vice presidential candidates came into fire. My professor divided us into three groups and assigned us to come up with the "ideal" vice presidential candidates for John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama with respect to age, political views, past political experience, gender, and what ever else we believed to be relevant. After we all revealed our decisions my professor would reveal his "dream teams" for all three potentials. (He's also the head of the political science department so this made all of us poli sci nerds really excited! :-p)

My group was assigned to do John McCain and we decided that the ideal running mate would be someone who is younger (obviously), conservative (he has been criticized for being too moderate in the past), and someone from either the south or northeast (I didn't understand this one so I didn't agree with it - McCain is from Arizona).

The Hillary Clinton group asserted that she should pick a male (to balance out the gender of the ticket), from the south ( Clinton claims that she is a 'New Yorker' despite living in a multitude of places over her lifetime), younger ( Clinton is 61), moderate (an attempt to attract more moderate votes and perhaps appeal to the conservative), and, lastly, someone who has military experience (due to the war issue).

Barack Obama's team believes an older candidate would be better for Obama (he is 46), experienced (Obama has been under fire for lack of experience), male (another female would be too 'dangerous'), military experience (Obama has openly stated that, should he be elected, the war is over), and a governer (because he is a Senator? not too sure about that).

After our lists were openly stated on the board, my professor announced who the 'dream teams' would be; Kay Bailey Hutchinson for McCain, John Edwards for Clinton, and Anthony Zinni for Obama.

Hutchinson is a woman senator from Texas who is currently serving her third term. She is "conservative enough" without being extreme in her views. She would certainly help McCain in Texas and also bring in more woman voters (possibly).

Edwards, as we all know, is a man who served one term as a senator for North Carolina. He ran on the presidential ticket with John Kerry in the 2004 election and had an unsuccessful primary showing in this election. Edwards is considered moderate, possibly leaning towards liberal. His track record is less than promising, but he may just be the match that could push Clinton to victory (if she wins the democratic nod).

Zinni is a retired four star general in the United States Marine Corps. Although he has served our country, he has publically stated his disapproval of the Bush administration regarding the war in Iraq. He has come out as an Obama supporter and could help his efforts to obtain the military vote.

In this controversial, legendary race we have seen so far vice presidents could turn out to be very important. McCain's age, Hillary's gender, and Obama's inexperience may undermined by choice of running mate. We'll see.. lets get through these crazy primaries first!