Program Note (Thanks For The Web)
First off, let's get our holiday schedule out of the way. Today, as you've already noticed, we're not having a full column. We were working on one, but the research got a bit daunting and nobody's going to read it tomorrow anyway, so we're setting it aside for now (the subject will come up again, the column was inspired by the news that the Supreme Court is going to take up a "religious freedom/corporate personhood" question with regard to birth control insurance -- so look for the full column when the oral arguments are made, in a few months).
Tomorrow, we will be eating turkey with all the trimmings, so there will be no column at all. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Friday, we may drag ourselves to the keyboard for a Friday column, but right now the forecast leans more toward lying on the couch, so we'll just have to see. Maybe you'll get a full Friday Talking Points, and maybe you'll get a re-run of a column from Thanksgivings past, who knows?
One other unrelated note is that our thoughts will be going out to one of the CW.com commenting family this year. Last year, Chris1962 was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, so we certainly hope that a year's time has allowed her to rebuild and have some things to be thankful for which were swept away last year. We haven't heard from her in a while, so we hope she's been busy rebuilding and recovering from the storm.
OK, that's about it for now. We are going to end with a repeat of an old (but very short) "Thankful For The Web" Thanksgiving column from 2009, just to get everyone in a holiday mood. This column really only needs updating in two ways: the link has changed (it has been updated in this version, but not in the original version), and the first sentence should begin "Because Monday's column..."
Have a happy turkey day everyone, and hope all your travels went well this stormy Thanksgiving week.
Originally published November 26, 2009
Because yesterday's column was a wee bit un-holiday-spirit-ish, I offer up my thanks today. I am thankful for the web. I am thankful that I can sit in front of a machine and have at my fingertips perhaps not the sum of human knowledge, but a pretty close approximation (the closest the race has ever seen since, perhaps, the library at Alexandria).
The web allows me to, in the blink of an eye, serve up the most fitting of holiday offerings. Without traveling an inch, without consulting dusty tomes, without almost any effort whatsoever, I can direct you (dear reader) to a complete archive of all presidential Thanksgiving statements.
From George Washington's first proclamation in 1789, through James Madison's in 1815; then after a long period of no proclamations whatsoever, Abraham Lincoln's revival of the holiday in 1862; through F.D.R.'s words of comfort in the depths of the Great Depression, and all the way up to this year's proclamation by President Barack Obama, they're all there for you to read.
Previous to the web's creation, finding these would have taken a diligent search in a very good library, or an excellent book of history written for at least the college level. It would have taken hours of looking, in other words, and some effort in going to where the information was stored.
This is no longer necessary in the Internet Age. A few clicks of the mouse, a short phrase typed in, and such original texts are available to all within seconds.
So I invite you all to peruse the Thanksgiving presidential proclamations of years past. And, while doing so, give thanks for the internet and the web which make such easy access to information possible.
And have a great turkey day, everyone!
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Well, today's the big day!
I bet ya'all are excited.
obamacare is supposed to be working today for the "vast majority" of users...
Apparently, the Obama Administration reads cw.com religiously... For the last couple weeks, Obama and his minions have been telling everyone NOT to go on the website the first week of Dec...
Apparently, they read on cw.com that there would be a surge and it freaked them out.. :D
I have a feeling it's going to be a fun couple of weeks.. :D
Michale
One other unrelated note is that our thoughts will be going out to one of the CW.com commenting family this year. Last year, Chris1962 was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, so we certainly hope that a year's time has allowed her to rebuild and have some things to be thankful for which were swept away last year. We haven't heard from her in a while, so we hope she's been busy rebuilding and recovering from the storm.
Nice touch, CW...
That's what I like about Weigantia... When the chips are down, it's denizens do the right thing, politics be damned..
I too have wondered how CB is faring. Here's hoping she can join us again soon...
The web allows me to, in the blink of an eye, serve up the most fitting of holiday offerings. Without traveling an inch, without consulting dusty tomes, without almost any effort whatsoever, I can direct you (dear reader) to a complete archive of all presidential Thanksgiving statements.
In the novelization of STAR TREK IV: The Voyage Home, Admiral Kirk and his crew are in 1986 San Francisco... Kirk comes upon a newspaper kiosk and thinks to himself, "Those headlines must be HOURS old!!!"
Less than 30 years later, here we are... :D
Like I always say, just watch Trek to know where we're going. :D
Michale
This is just too awesome and too dead on ballz accurate NOT to share...
WHY WE DON'T HAVE FLYING CARS
http://sultanknish.blogspot.co.il/2012/04/flying-car-culture.html
Michale
A detailed and excellent assessment as to what went wrong with obamacare...
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/inside-the-race-to-rescue-a-health-site-and-obama.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&
That's the problem with this administration. You can never believe ANYTHING they say that is self-serving..
"Glitches" my left arse cheek!!
Michale....
Sad to hear about Paul Walker..
While most applaud his FAST AND FURIOUS movies, which were OK at first, I really liked him in TIMELINE...
Another talent taken too soon...
Michale
Michale
#1
Obamacare able to handle 50,000 at once 800,000 in a day. Load times of less than a second. Error rates at less than 1%.
All despite Republican attempts to crash the system.
Let's hear the "half-empty" comments cribbed from Fox "News".
If "Mighty Casey" hasn't hit a home run then he at least doubled in the gap. Two in, man on Second, two out, & the score tied.
Obamacare able to handle 50,000 at once 800,000 in a day. Load times of less than a second. Error rates at less than 1%.
That's what the Obama Administration is SAYING. But their credibility ain't worth dick...
When CNN tried it, it crashed...
You can put all the lipstick on this pig that you want..
At the end of the day, it's still a pig...
Michale
According to Obama spokesman, the site will work "well" by 2017...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2013/12/01/plouffe_obamacare_will_work_really_well_by_2017.html
When Obama leaves office!!! :D
Ya really CAN'T make this stuff up..
Michale
"The obamacare website is going in the right direction."
-Ezekiel Emmanuel
Yea...
So was the Titanic...
Michale
Further, I don't think telling people they have to use a website at "off hours" is the sign of a website working for the "vast majority" of people..
Can you imagine??
"For a good play experience, please only play GRAND THEFT AUTO online between midnight and 0500 hrs.."
You can imagine how THAT would go over..
And THAT is just a video game..
A Health Insurance website from our GOVERNMENT should be better...
Wouldn't you agree???
Michale
Hay DB...
http://www.cnsnews.com/mrctv-blog/eric-scheiner/cancer-patient-and-obamacare-critic-says-hes-being-audited-irs
If you are looking to compare good news stories vs bad news stories, I am still game..
Look at the bright side..
You have the Obama Administration paying a "non partisan" group over a million dollars to FIND those "good news" stories..
We should be seeing nothing but good news, eh??
Well, except for all the cancer patients who are getting their coverage cancelled by obamacare...
Obama cares??
My left arse cheek!!!
Michale
Bill Elliot appeared on Fox News on November 7th to discuss the cancellation of his insurance. He claims he was told that his cancer was considered “beyond the catastrophic previous condition” and his plan was being canceled because of ObamaCare regulations.
Wait a tic!??
That sounds like a Death Panel decision!!!
I thought obamacare didn't HAVE Death Panels???
What gives!???
Michale