It is a sad day. Edward Kennedy, or Teddy to those who knew him well, passed away this morning following a long battle with brain cancer. His death comes on the heels of his sister Eunice Shriver a few weeks ago.

Kennedy had the nickname “The Lion of the Senate” for his longevity in office and his ability to get things done. He had a strong belief in he government’s roll to improve the lives of those who were not blessed with the privileges his lineage provided. And though he was a staunch liberal, he was willing to work with those on the opposite side of the aisle and make concessions in order to pass legislation. One of the most recent examples would be the passage of a bill written by himself, John Boehner, George Miller, and Judd Greg known as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.

With the passing of Kennedy, the era known as “Camelot” has all but come to an end. Named for the environment surrounding the Kennedy clan, the three young Kennedy’s brought a new era to Washington with a form of liberalism that the nation embraced. Unfortunately, both President John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy were assassinated in their primes back in the 1960s. The hope for JFK’s legacy fell on to Teddy, which he proudly carried on for 40 years.

Over the days to come, attention will shift from praising a dedicated politician to criticizing his positions on the issues and what impacts (both positive and negative) he had on the nation. However, in the mean time, let’s wish his family the best in these trying times.

Source:  Shoemoney – 11/12/2007

Thoughts:  Remember the whole “Truth in advertising” movement that occurred a decade or two ago?  It looks like it has made a comeback, this time on the internet.  Internet advertising company AzoogleAds has recently reached an agreement with Florida Attorney Generals office for $1 Million after an investigation found cases of fraud in the cell phone ring tone industry, a sector that AzoogleAds is heavily involved in.

So what does this mean for our future?  At the moment, probably not much other than a closer eye being kept on the online advertising industry.  If there seems to be a prolonged pattern to the fraud, however, you can expect there to be some new Federal laws cracking down on the industry.  For those of you who do not run web sites with ads, you probably won’t even notice.  For those that do, it is highly likely that you will see a short-term drop in your revenue.

For the sake of disclosure, the U.S. Common Sense web site does run ads provided through Google, however we try to limit our ads to those related to politics and public service announcements.  As a result, you should only see ads that link to intellectual property and campaign web sites.  However, if you do come across an ad that is trying to sell you a product or give a product away for free, always read the small print to protect yourself.  If you have children that use the internet, inform them of the potential financial dangers of clicking and signing up for content online.  The first line of defense begins at home.

Article:  “AzoogleAds Gives 1 Million Dollars To Florida AG”
By Jeremy Schoemaker

I missed all the excitement while at blogworld. As you know for a while now (seems like 6 months or so) the Florida AG office has been investigating many ringtone companies and their affiliates. I got several emails from people saying that AzoogleAds had settled a case or whatever was going on. I emailed them for comment and received this back:

Michael Sprouce, CMO of Azoogle:

“We have volunteered to work closely with the Attorney General’s newly-created ‘Cyber Fraud Task Force’ to further its efforts to combat illicit online advertising and to help establish a more transparent and accountable marketplace. As part of our cooperation, AzoogleAds will voluntarily contribute $1MM to the task force’s legal and investigative fund; this contribution reinforces AzoogleAds’ commitment to improving industry standards in the fight against fraudulent and deceptive internet advertising.”

Now normally I do not feel the need for disclosure but I want to be very clear AzoogleAds as been one of the biggest sponsors of this blog since its inception and I am also very good friends with the 2 founders Joe and Alex.

(Read the rest of the article here.)

Source:  KBCI TV – 10/14/2007

Thoughts: Things definitely are not getting easier for Senator Craig, even on nights where he is being honored for his years of work. Saturday was to be a night of joy and appreciation, but the mood was dampened by the lingering impact of the infamous “bathroom incident.” To make matters worse, just a few months ago the Senator said he was going to step down and challenge the issue in private, but has since then changed his mind and retained his position. As a result, he has prolonged the issue in the media while hurting his reputation, the reputation of a hard worker for the State of Idaho that earned him this special recognition in the first place. How quickly things change.

Article:  “Idahoans React to Senator Craig’s Induction to Idaho Hall of Fame”
By Callie Zanandrie

Cameras weren’t allowed inside the induction last night, but attendants said Senator Craig received a polite applause when accepting his award and now that Idahoans have had a day to absorb the news, they’ve got a lot to say about it.

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Source:  The Washington Times – 10/8/2007

Thoughts: Religion has been a touchy issues on so many fronts for the past two decades that it has become a taboo of sorts to even consider acting on an issue that in any way that might benefit or take away from one or more particular religious groups. We’ve seen it with “Christmas” being removed from schools, prayers being denied at graduation ceremonies, and special accommodations being made for non-Christian students during the school day. Not to be taken in the wrong way, but an ideal case would be where all students were of one religious group so that schools can be structured around their collective beliefs. This is one of the reasons why private religious schools and home schooling have become so successful and popular over the years. Unfortunately, not everyone is able to afford to send their children to private school, nor are they qualified to teach their children at home.

Enter public schools: a government funded entity designed to educate our children at little-to-no cost to the individual. With modern school districts being a melting pot of society, it is inevitable that conflicts will arise when scheduling holidays, especially when they are religion-specific.  In the past, Christmas break wasn’t an issue since the vast majority of students were either Christian or Atheist.  Today, however, the Jewish holidays of Chanukah and 10th of Tevet or the Muslim holidays of Eid al-Adha and Muharram fall in proximity of Christmas, making it difficult for school boards to schedule an all-inclusive holiday for everyone, especially when some of the holidays are based on lunar calendars.

Which brings us to the First Amendment.  It is time that we lay off of the claim that the assumed “separation of church and state” means the abolishment of religion in schools.  Religion is not something that is practices solely on Sundays, especially when you are talking about the Jewish and Muslim cultures (where it is a life style rather than a religion).  This means Muslim students need to have time for their prayers, which is resolved by having recess or class periods start and end around the scheduled time for prayers, letting the students gather in a designated area.  This means Jewish students need to have alternative lunch choices by providing a non-pork alternative.  Christian students do not have any similar restrictions as such, but they too should be allowed to practice any reasonable religious tradition during the school day as well, be it a prayer between classes or having after-school gatherings on campus (for example).  This removes the claim of hypocrisy and anti-Christian policies while protecting everyone’s right of religion as granted under the First Amendment.

Article:  “U.S. Muslims’ needs roiling schools, forcing accommodations”
By Amy Fagan

Public schools increasingly are being forced to grapple with how to accommodate Muslim students’ needs, during Ramadan and throughout the school year, and some cases have spurred community debate.

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Source:  The Libertarian Party – 10/1/2007

Thoughts: This is a big deal indeed. In order to obtain true representation of the citizens, people need to have an access to choice, be it from established political parties or from independent movements. In this case, the Washington State law limited the primary process for State level positions. Currently, the system only allows the top two vote winners to gain access to the ballot. Since independent and third-party campaigns tend to lack the funds to race competitively against the established two dominating parties, this law essentially blocks these parties from participating in the state elections, meaning the Republicans and the Democrats have less competition. And because of that, this effort in the Supreme Court is a bit surprising. The Democratic and Republican State parties joined with the Libertarian Party in addressing this law. It is nice to see when partisanship is set aside in the name of the common good. Once can only hope that those partisan politicians in the “other Washington” look across the country to see the example these three parties are providing.

Article:  “Libertarian Party Eyes Victory in Supreme Court”

Washington D.C. – The Libertarian Party is confident that it scored a resounding victory on the first day of the Supreme Court’s new session.  Working in conjunction with the Washington Republican and Democratic parties, the Washington state Libertarian Party is fighting Washington’s “top-two forward” primary system that inherently weakens state political parties and makes it virtually impossible for third party candidates to get on the ballot. “From everything we’ve heard here at headquarters, we anticipate a very favorable outcome for us in this case,” says Libertarian Party National Chairman, William Redpath.

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