October 2008 Archives

Using cheap computer software, researchers found that showing a person a picture of a political candidate "morphed" with one of the person's own face made the subject more likely to vote for that candidate.

Scheduled for publication this December in Public Opinion Quarterly, the study sets out to disprove the notion that voters make their decisions by rational thought. In fact, the authors suggest, it's often much more superficial. (It should be noted, however, that voters who've already made up their minds are not likely to be swayed by seeing a resemblance, no matter how strong.)

Begun just before the 2004 election, and consisting now of three distinct experiments, the study has relied on subjects being unaware of why their images were being morphed with the candidates'. And to the researchers' knowledge, the software has never actually been used in a real campaign.

But with free and public sources of mug shots easily found on photo-sharing websites and in motor vehicle department databases, as Science Daily points out, it's easy to imagine a candidate targeting a potential voter with an ad featuring a morphed photo.

"From an ethical standpoint, I'd hope we never see that happen," said Jeremy Bailenson, one of the study's authors, adding that it takes about 15 minutes and $20 to make a morphed photo with a computer. "Candidates spend seven-, eight- or nine-figure budgets on their campaign. So it's not outrageous to think that in a swing state such as Ohio or Pennsylvania, you can have 2,000 people sitting in a room morphing every single citizen in the state. That's a job that's going to take three weeks and not three years."

On July 3, 2008, Jana Mackey was killed by her ex-boyfriend, and after the police caught up with the suspect, he killed himself.

That could be a line from any evening newscast, lead in your town's paper, or favorite blog. Instead it summarizes one of the more shocking murders to hit the feminist community. By the age of 25 Jana had helped organize buses for the 2004 March for Women's Lives, had been a lobbyist in the Kansas state legislature and started law school. Her goal was to be a legal advocate for women who found themselves in violent situations. She packed a lot in her short life. Her death was mourned on many blogs by those who did and didn't know her and even spawned a Facebook group.

1,100 people attended Jana's memorial service, and that was included in the name of a new organization that hopes to carry on her work... 1,100 Torches.

1,100 people doing good in the world through service and election work.
1,100 people working towards justice and equality.
1,100 people being motivated by one woman's work.

As Domestic Violence Awareness month comes to a close, 1,100 Torches is preparing for an official kick-off for the campaign and a benefit. The details aren't up yet, but do check the 1,100 Torches website as we get closer to November 13th. If you are in Kansas, please check out the event.

If, during the debates, you thought to yourself, "I've heard all this before," you were right. 23/6, the Huffington Post's comedy channel, breaks it all down for you -- or rather, syncs it all up.

Granted, this is just a couple minutes out of an hour of debate time, but the fact remains that even seemingly off-the-cuff statements by either candidate may be carefully scripted and practiced. Caveat emptor.

John McCain's campaign has been built on his reputation of being a maverick and bucking the GOP party line. When he brought Sarah Palin on board, she echoed that same maverick line -- she worked across the aisle, stood up against her party, on and on...In their joint interview with Katie Couric, she asked them about a few policy disagreements and McCain replied, "Did you expect two mavericks to agree on -- (laughter) to agree on everything?"

Early in this campaign, in one of the famous Couric interviews, Palin proudly called herself a feminist. She's then since backed off that statement in an interview with Brian Williams, and Bonnie Erbe then questioned Palin's intelligence. But she has at least one very prominent feminist watching her back -- Elaine Lafferty. In an op-ed entitled "Sarah Palin's a Brainiac," Lafferty, a paid consultant for the McCain-Palin campaign and former editor of Ms. Magazine, states that:

It's difficult not to froth when one reads, as I did again and again this week, doubts about Sarah Palin's "intelligence," coming especially from women such as PBS's Bonnie Erbe, who, as near as I recall, has not herself heretofore been burdened with the Susan Sontag of Journalism moniker. As Fred Barnes--God help me, I'm agreeing with Fred Barnes--suggests in the Weekly Standard, these high toned and authoritative dismissals come from people who have never met or spoken with Sarah Palin. Those who know her, love her or hate her, offer no such criticism. They know what I know, and I learned it from spending just a little time traveling on the cramped campaign plane this week: Sarah Palin is very smart.

Lafferty continued to defend her participation in the campaign with, "I'm tired of the Democratic Party taking women for granted. I also happen to believe Sarah Palin supports women's rights, deeply and passionately." The very basic definition of a feminist is someone who supports women's rights. Deeply and passionately is just icing on that definition. If we are to believe the former editor of Ms., the grand dame of feminist publications, that Palin is a feminist or women's rights advocate, one must conclude that Palin is trying to open up the tent on the GOP side as well as cementing the idea of conservative feminism. Of course the definition of who is a feminist is up for debate as well.

Yet changing the culture and appearance of a large organization is a hard thing to do. The idea of feministing the GOP is running into some walls, though, with the recent reports out of the McCain-Palin camp that McCain supporters think she is a diva. She was labeled this for many reasons, including going off script to address ShoppingGate. Again, isn't this what you should expect when dealing with a maverick? Change doesn't happen overnight, of course, but it is hard to watch someone bang their head against a wall, especially in public. Especially when those in her party don't want the change and those outside of her party don't believe she wants the change. Time will tell as I don't believe that Sarah Palin will step back out of the spotlight.

[Image: AP via the Wall Street Journal]

America starts to resemble Mars more and more everyday. With its partially derailed economy and unrelenting military surges, American government is doing the war god's job for him: wreaking havoc in foreign nations while dissembling its own nation. In which direction will the next president of the United States take America's chariot? Or will he replace the chariot with a podium and a thing called change? The next Frontline reports:

"The next president of the United States will inherit some of the greatest foreign policy challenges in American history -- an overstretched military, frayed alliances and wars on two fronts. FRONTLINE gives viewers a hard, inside look at the real policy choices the next president will face. The report features strategists and diplomats giving their best advice about how to correct past failures and how to shape a realistic foreign policy approach in the Middle East."

Watch Frontline's "The War Briefing" tonight, October 28, from 9 pm to10 pm. ET.

Politics can be confusing, and the political process is no exception. It's not uncommon to hear a close friend or family member admit, quietly, that he or she doesn't fully "get" the electoral college. Even those of us who studied it in high school, presumably most of the US-born population, might benefit from a refresher course now and then.

But few would ever admit it, opting instead for not-too-blissful ignorance and hoping no one ever gives them a pop quiz about how exactly a presidential candidate gets elected.

That's where Plain English comes in. Offering simple -- dare I say elementary? -- explanations for everything from podcasting to Twitter and social media -- Plain English streams on CommonCraft.com and does a nice job of telling us stuff we feel like we should know without making us feel bad for not knowing it. Best of all, since it's online, you can watch from your desk with your headphones on and no one will ever know.

Apropos of the times, here's Lee LeFever, the host of Plain English, on how a US president gets elected:

As of January 1st, Co-op America will be known as Green America.

Executive Director Alisa Gravitz said, "After 25 years of leadership in creating the green economy, we feel now is the time to bring the word "green" into our name. As more people embrace "green" we want them to know we are a resource and authority on building authentically green lives and businesses.

Co-op America, soon to be Green America, is a group that does many things to let the public know about how to live a gentler life on this earth. They have a quarterly magazine that has excellent articles -- the Fall 2008 issue features "25 Ways to Green the World" and "25 Years: A Snapshot of Co-Op America Victories." Did you know that in 1986 Co-Op America launched a catalog and that evolved into Seventh Generation? Pretty neat, eh? And people say hippies don't want to make money.

They alert members of actions they can take, places to shop, and even how to be green after you move on from the Earth. It's pretty nice how broad their information is, and mostly without much guilt associated. As Kermit says, it's not easy to be green (without guilt).

Co-op Green America even travels! They hold Green Festivals around the country, with two more happening this year. DC and San Francisco host Green Festivals on Nov. 8 & 9 and Nov. 14-16, respectfully. Denver and Chicago will host festivals in early 2009. At the festivals your badge is just paper, no plastic covering! You also get to roam around and see a zillion ways that you can fix up your house with green materials from paint to concrete. There are also vendors for clothing, toys, and lots and lots of food! It is also super kid-friendly, so you can make a full day of the event.

If Governor Palin talked about something other than her wardrobe at a rally yesterday in Tampa, Florida, it won't make much difference. The second she brought it up, that issue alone will be the one we hear about, ensuring, as Jonathan Martin on Politico suggests, "one more news cycle" for the controversy surrounding the Palin family's six-figure campaign closet.

Palin seized the opportunity to address the GOP crowd "without the filter of the media," as she put it, in an overtly mocking tone.

Seriously, media! Give her a break, why don't you? Isn't there a nicer way you can phrase, "It just undercuts Palin's whole image as a hockey mom, a 'one-of-us' kind of candidate"?

Oops. That line, which appeared in last Thursday's New York Times, was actually a quote from Ed Rollins, who ran Ronald Reagan's re-election campaign in 1984.

But OK, maybe the media has been a little unfair. After all, Senator Obama's suits certainly aren't cheap, and neither are John McCain's or Joe Biden's. Perhaps it is a double-standard to attack Palin and co. for wanting to look their best while they're on the campaign trail. It would get tiresome seeing Todd suited up for the next arctic NASCAR event.

I have to admit that I chuckled when I first read that Nebraska's Safe Haven law was written so vaguely that a teenager could be left at a hospital. Safe Haven laws are "laws that decriminalize leaving unharmed infants with statutorily designated private persons so that the child becomes a ward of the state." The laws came about to battle baby dumping -- when someone just leaves an infant on a door step, in the bushes or a garbage pile after they decide they don't want or can't parent. So it was a bit shocking to hear that Nebraska was going to allow children up to 18 to be left at Safe Haven spots. My immediate thought was, "Good thing I didn't grow up in Nebraska!"

I was sadly too close to what was about to happen. Story after story has captured headlines of a parent of a teenager who has just had it with them and used the Safe Haven law. One of the saddest stories is of Gary Staton, who left nine of his 10 children at a medical center. "Staton said he surrendered the children because he was overwhelmed with the responsibility of caring for them since his wife ... died early last year."

Apparently the media attention has gotten the attention of the Nebraska governor and the legislature and they plan to revisit the age limits when they return to duty in January. Unfortunately, they are talking of reducing the age to three days old. That seems far too short of a window for a woman to decide if she wanted to parent or not. Heck, a woman who gave birth via cesarean most likely is still in the hospital on day three.

But the down right saddest story to come out of Nebraska is one of a 16-year-old girl who asked for the law to be used to help her:

The girl, who was escorted by an aunt last week to Immanuel Medical Center in Omaha, told a social worker that she was kicked out of her mother's home, according to court documents filed in Douglas County Juvenile Court. She also said that she had been emotionally abused and suffered physical harm.

Court records indicate that the teen's mother would likely be charged with criminal child neglect, though Omaha police said Thursday that no charge had been filed. The teen and her 10-month-old son have been placed in foster care.

Media reports fail to say if the revised Safe Haven Law will address parents kicking children out of their homes as abuse and if those parents will be charged.

Remember Hanson? Here's a clue: MmmBop.

That's right, the three brothers from Tulsa, Oklahoma who exploded onto the music scene in 1997, when they were mere lads, with a pop song so catchy that now, after 11 years, I can still remember it as well as my own phone number.

If you're not a teenage girl, nor were you one in the late Nineties, you might think Hanson simply evaporated like so many teen sensations do after their 15 minutes of fame have passed.

But you'd be wrong. They may have grown up, but they aren't retired. In July, 2007, the three Hanson brothers -- Isaac, Taylor, and Zac -- released a new studio album, The Walk, and with it, they launched a concerted effort to raise awareness and funds to curb poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. Now in its second year, "Take The Walk" has traveled around the world.

Prior to each concert of the tour, which began in September last year, the Hansons lead their fans on a mile-long walk -- shoes are optional. For each person who walks, the band donates one dollar to improving the quality of life in Africa, from drilling wells to building hospitals and feeding people. This fall alone, Taylor Hanson says between the band's own pre-concert walks and those organized independently, about 9,000 miles of pavement have been traversed. And as you know, that kind of cash can go pretty far in an impoverished continent.

Taylor Hanson, of the longish blond hair and boyish looks, both of which have caused more than a few girls to swoon, says the idea began around 2006, when he and his brothers went to Africa for the first time. Inspired by a company in their hometown that uses cell phones and the Web to connect doctors and patients, Docvia, they realized the same idea could be of tremendous use in Africa.

"We have to start using what we have," Taylor says. "The needs are there, especially with AIDS, but also with poverty and the children who are struggling with those issues. And with technology the way it is now, there are so many ways for us to go direct, to go one-on-one."

While The Walk may be relatively new, Taylor says he and his brothers have long supported charitable causes. "It's hard for me, when I see things clearly, not to act on it," he says, adding that Hanson's popularity as a band could be used as leverage. "We realized that we could speak honestly and not just be a bunch of talking heads."

The walks have grown in number, from just 100 fans or so at first, to as many as a thousand in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles. On Monday, Hanson led a walk through Midtown before the band's concert at the Nokia Theater in Times Square, and many more are scheduled this fall.

Lest you think that Hanson isn't really behind this, but rather a boardroom full of suits scheming new ways to make money and using the three brothers as pawns, this is the real deal. Now fully independent -- Hanson even has its own label -- the brothers are sincere, and this effort is truly grassroots.

As Taylor sees it, small, community-based efforts is the way to get things done now, and to do it with high-technology. "We're trying to activate individuals," he says. "There's no reason the Facebook world can't help create positive change."

[Images: Hanson addressing the fans pre-walk in Bryant Park (top); Taylor Hanson's barefoot march through Midtown (bottom), both courtesy of the band.]

One of the reasons I decided to accept a position at Kenneth Cole Productions was my interest in the community service and philanthropic work that the company is so involved with.

This past weekend, Oct. 19, I attended an AIDS Walk in Philadelphia to get myself more involved in Kenneth Cole's community spirit while taking part in something far bigger than the company itself.

Having never participated in an AIDS walk, I was not fully prepared for the amount of people that walked for the cause -- as well as how long 8.4 miles really is! Yet what was most inspiring about the walk was that, while it consisted of hundreds of thousands of people, it truly was a bonding experience for everyone involved. I walked with members of our Philadelphia, Franklin Mills and Atlantic City stores and immediately connected with them by doing such an event together. Furthermore, I felt that same connection to all the walkers, as we trekked along, by just knowing that we were all there for the same reason. It is that bond that made me feel that in unity, something can be done to fight against the AIDS epidemic.

As one person, I often feel the challenge in really making a difference by myself; but as one person in an AIDS walk, I felt like we could change the world. It is inspiring to truly feel that as one person, I can make a difference.