Steve’s Weblog

Bush mostly down in polls

By The Associated Press Mon Jan 28, 3:46 AM ET

In February 2001, President Bush delivered an economic address to a joint session of Congress; in subsequent years he presented his annual State of the Union address. A look at his approval rating in the Gallup Poll around the time of each speech.

February 2001: 62 percent approval.

_January 2002: 84 percent.

_January 2003: 60 percent.

_January 2004: 53 percent.

_February 2005: 51 percent.

_January 2006: 43 percent.

_January 2007: 36 percent.

_January 2008: 32 percent.

Yahoo!

A President Like My Father

By CAROLINE KENNEDY
Published: January 27, 2008

OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.

NYTimes

Obama runs away with SC primary

By DAVID ESPO and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writers 3 minutes ago

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

Yahoo!

Texas is biggest carbon polluter

By APRIL CASTRO, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 16, 6:46 PM ET

AUSTIN, Texas – Everything’s big in Texas — big pickup trucks, big SUVs and the state’s big carbon footprint, too. Texans’ fondness for large, manly vehicles has helped make the Lone Star State the biggest carbon polluter in the nation.

Yahoo!

IBM retains slim lead among patent-winners; Samsung, Microsoft gain ground
U.S. patent backlog more than 1.1 million after drop in patents issued

By Jon Brodkin, NetworkWorld.com, 01/14/08

IBM secured 3,148 patents in 2007, besting all other competitors for the 15th consecutive year, but Big Blue’s lead is getting slimmer and Microsoft charged into the top 10 with 1,637 patents, according to an analysis that will be released Monday.

While Big Blue led all comers by well over 1,000 patents in 2005 and 2006, IBM finished 2007 with only 423 more patents than second-place Samsung Electronics. Nationwide, there were 9.5% fewer patents issued than in the record year of 2006, when the United States granted 173,772 patents, including 3,651 to IBM.

Read on at Network World

Were you thinking Austin wasn’t going to be on the list?

Best Cities For Jobs In 2008
by Matthew Kirdahy
Friday, January 11, 2008 provided by Forbes

The Lone Star State shines brilliantly in a list of the best places to work in the U.S. when some economists peer into their crystal balls for 2008.

Austin, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio all rank high on the latest forecast data from Moody’s Economy.com. McAllen, Texas, is expected to have the highest job growth rate, as its leisure and hospitality, educational and health services and commercial construction jobs flourish.

“While the economy is cooling, Texas continues to generate more jobs than the national average,” said Krista Piferrer, deputy press secretary to Gov. Rick Perry. “Unemployment is low in Texas, thanks in large part to a favorable business climate that encourages businesses to expand or relocate to our state.”

h/t Demin

Democrats See Enthusiasm Gap in Their Favor

In Iowa, Democratic attendance at the caucuses topped Republican turnout by better than 2-1, 239,000 to 118,000. In New Hampshire, where there was worry about running out of ballots, the divide was narrower but still clear — 287,000 Democrats to 238,000 Republicans.

Voter enthusiasm would seem to naturally spill down the ballot, theoretically boosting Democratic candidates for Congress — not to mention other offices — if Democratic voters substantially outnumber Republican voters next fall. And newcomers are not necessarily going to be the sort of folks who split their tickets and separate presidential party preference from their Congressional choices.

Look at it this way: Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire, the first-term Republican already facing a tough race against former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, could not have been happy to count nearly 50,000 more Democrats than Republicans marching to the polls in his state.

More at the New York Times

Would this enthusiasm gap also mean trouble for Senator Cornyn in Texas?

Check out HRC’s list of the top companies that support equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.

IBM is listed there under Chemicals & Biotechnology?

I’ve been watching quietly as the primary drama unfolds, even went to an Obama rally here in Austin last year. It will be interesting to see how this all works out through the next couple months…

why this car fits?

THAT’S WHAT WE CALL A POWER BOTTOM
“You’re the first person to bring it up,” says GSD&M Idea City account director Corey Platt when asked about the seemingly suggestive advert. “I can definitely see how it can be taken that way, but we didn’t set out to specifically target the gay audience. I think it was a bonus that it resonated so well with them.” According to Platt, the ads worked particularly well in Miami and L.A. “We knew we could push it a little bit more in those areas,” says Platt. You don’t say?

More on gay targeted advertising here.

Happy New Year!

A couple of cell phone camera shots of the fireworks over the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA (click to see full size):