morgan macarthur writing on politics, technology, and other stuff

I'm not a fan of this president, politically or personally. I think he's worthy of mockery. So with that, I've jumped onto the #obamaiscool hashtag with some fun-loving images. I made some of them, others were so common I just used existing ones.

I was able to finagle a link from Instapundit on it, and with that I'm kicking off a political blogging season for 2012. If I look back and I haven't done everything I can to get a change in the administration, I will regret it. No matter how admittedly small the effect will be.

So follow my attempts at humor and mockery on Twitter if you choose. And tweet about how cool Obama is if you get a chance. Did you know he's friends with George Clooney? Cool.

There are times when a site simply does not allow spidering and retrieval of their data for use on other sites. Craigslist is an example. You are not allowed to store their API data and create other searches.

Ways around this have been to just ignore their directive (and later be shut down), to use Google to search the content (and have old results), or to use multiple windows to do the multi-city searches many people want.

I created Craigsy for myself, so that I could search multiple craigslist areas all at once. And the solution I came up with was to retrieve the APIs with Javascript, and then sort the results within the browser for display to the user. So the Craigslist results are live, and you can search multiple cities without breaking their terms.

Javascript can't do what needs to be done directly, the data has to be requested using the Google Ajax Feed API. So Google actually retrieves the data and passes it along to the page on the user's computer, where the sorting is done and display is completed.

I think similar techniques could work to do local price comparisons or other API-limited activities. Almost no one will block a Google user agent, so you can get the data whether they specifically want you to or not.

Wordpress would be simpler to use, and likely nicer. But I need some Drupal practice, and I love that I can run it with SQLite. I can drop the files in any PHP account and have it work, no database issues.

I'm sure there are speed limitations, but I can always change. For now it's just more fun doing it this way.

Because Ann Marie Habershaw seems to think I'd know:

"Morgan -- At this point you probably know about Dinner with Barack and how cool it is, so I will spare you."

If only I could be spared all the other 'cool' aspects of this presidency.

Got my email from Michelle this morning:

"Morgan -- I see this happen a lot: Someone in a crowd yells at my husband, 'We love you, Barack.' That's when he interrupts himself, smiles really big, and says, 'I love you back.' And he does."

Whew. That's one major life concern resolved.

Kate writes:

"Rush is not the first controversial figure to join Twitter. Hezbollah, the Shi’a Islamic group based in Lebanon that is considered a terrorist group by the United States, has a Twitter account with more than 10,000 followers. There were also numerous Twitter accounts of people and groups associated with the Taliban."

Hezbollah and the Taliban are other comparably controversial figures like Rush Limbaugh. Got it, m'lady.

http://mashable.com/2012/03/15/rush-limbaugh-joins-twitter/

Rick Santorum's given reason for his 17.5% corporate tax for businesses, but 0% tax for manufacturers, is that manufacturers compete globally. I just watched him on Fox explaining his perspective. I see two problems immediately.

First, everyone competes globally. Hotels, for example: I just went to Jamaica to get an all-inclusive experience unavailable here. Luxury outside the US is very often cheaper than it is here, and hotels lose business on that playing field.

Second-- who defines 'manufacturing'? What about manufacturers that don't export? Is it the overseas competition, or is it the creation of a physical product that gives a company a 17.5% edge over the rest of business?

Whatever government agency is responsible, they will be subject to immense pressure from lobbyists and industries who want to be considered manufacturers. Imagine the billions at stake with that tax disparity.

Santorum supporters are encouraged to explain how this will work.

I just listened to Mark Levin defend Santorum's 0% corporate tax, only for manufacturers as being "savvy". He likes it as a way to attract Reagan democrats, and as a campaign line versus Obama.

Taxation like that is simply a giant subsidy, paid for by the rest of corporations being at 17.5%, because Santorum and Levin believe manufacturing to be somehow more important than other businesses.

Are they more important because they've done poorly here recently? And who will define what is considered manufacturing? Is that not creating a field ripe for even more bureaucracy and corruption?

I think it's a terrible idea, and it's based on electoral politics, not economics. My opinion used to be that Mark Levin alone understood those things, more so than Rush or Hannity. Back to talk radio silence a while.

I'm going to try a few things here, writing under my own name:

1. Post often
2. Write briefly
3. Persuade people
4. Have fun

The hard part for me will be writing briefly. I tend toward using more words than necessary. I will try to distill and simplify. My subject matter will chiefly be technology and politics. Probably will attempt to cover some programming. It will be almost entirely politics, for now. Wish me luck.