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My Trouble with Comcast: A Twitter Tale

Dennis Bailey — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:26:00 GMT

This is going to be ugly, and perhaps boring, but bear with me. I recently had trouble with my cable provider Comcast, and if it wasn't for Twitter the tale would not have had a happy ending.

It started after I moved from an area that was covered by Time Warner, which isn't available at my new address, and set up my internet and cable service with Comcast. The problem was that downloads of movies on Apple TV were really slowwwwwww.

Alan Grayson is My New Hero

Dennis Bailey — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:46:55 GMT

The first term Democatic congressman from Florida who took to the House floor this week to accuse Republican opponents of health care reform of wanting sick people to hurry up and die is my new hero.

Not because he's right or that I even agree with him. It's because he's giving those right wing lunatics who absurdly championed "death panels" a taste of their own medicine.

Mike Barnicle: Why is he still on TV?

Dennis Bailey — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 14:09:00 GMT

I was amused recently when I saw former Boston Globe columnist Mike Barnicle offering commentary on MSNBC about the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy. He told a touching story of a period in Barnicle's life when he said he was at rock bottom, personally and professionally, and he was being hounded by the press, on the front pages of the New York Times. (The details of why this was happening were not mentioned) So he retreated to his home on Cape Cod.

While sitting there contemplating his defunct career and wondering if he'd ever work again, a knock came on the door. It was Ted, who offered support by supposedly telling Barnicle, "No one knows how to hide out better than a Kennedy."

I say "supposedly" because I find it hard to believe anything that Barnicle says. That's because I had a bit part in the drama more than 10 years ago that resulted in Barnicle being fired from the Globe for plagiarism.

Update

Dennis Bailey — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:23:44 GMT

Well today

Another Botched Health Care Debate

Dennis Bailey — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:30:00 GMT

It's amazing and sad to watch as skilled a communicator as Barack Obama do no better in communicating his health care reform proposal than Bill and Hillary Clinton did more than 15 years ago. Weren't there some lessons he could have learned from the previous health care debacle, some pitfalls to avoid? Did he really think that the opposition would be silent, that they wouldn't try to hijack the message and turn it into a debate over how government-run health care will be as mismanged as the Post Office, or how the private insurance industry will be abolished, or how the plan requires mandatory euthanasia for the elderly? (OK, maybe he couldn't have anticipated that last argument but really, should he or anybody else be surprised at how low the right-wing will stoop to hand Obama a major defeat?)

How Gay Marriage Can Win - And Lose

Dennis Bailey — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:23:00 GMT

Now that the Legislature and Governor have signed off on the gay marriage bill, opponents are moving quickly to gather the needed signatures to overturn the law. Let's hope they don't get the signatures. The last thing Maine needs is a divisive, ugly political slugfest over gay rights and gay marriage.

But both sides are predicting that the opponents will get the signatures, so Maine will most likely face a ballot question to repeal the gay marriage law either in November or next June.

My Breakfast of Legacy Pizza

Dennis Bailey — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 14:02:00 GMT

The best indication that the Obama bank bailout plan might not be all that it's cracked up to be came with the announcement that they had renamed all of those toxic assets like credit default swaps and collateralized debt obligations as "legacy securities."

Say what?

There's something downright Owellian about the Administration's attempt to wipe away the financial crisis simply by rebranding the most serious and disgusting aspect of the whole ugly debacle with a new, more positive description. This puts the Obama Administration on the same level as used car dealers who have tried for years to convince us that those beat up jalopies on the showroom lot aren't "used cars," they're "pre-owned vehicles."

A SavvySpin Reboot

Dennis Bailey — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:21:00 GMT

A Dirty Bomb in Belfast, Maine?

Dennis Bailey — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:02:00 GMT

Among the questions surrounding the story about the murdered white supremacist in Belfast, Maine who had the makings of a dirty bomb in his house is this one: how come the details of this case showed up on obscure websites almost a month before the Maine media got wind of it?

The Bangor Daily News has done a fairly good job of covering the ins and outs of this story, following up with details of the apparent wacko who inhabited the house in Belfast and his wife who is charged with murdering him after supposedly suffering years of torment. Neighbors too have been interviewed about the man’s love of Nazi lore and memorabilia.

But there is no getting around the fact that the newspaper was late to the party.

The Future of Newspapers

Dennis Bailey — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:36:00 GMT

Instead of just wringing their hands, many people are starting to come up with solutions to the economic problems facing daily newspapers today. Interestingly, many of these solutions echo my blog back in May that online newspapers should adopt the iTunes model for paid content delivery.

There are still many detractors to this approach, and many problems.

The New Kid in Town

Dennis Bailey — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:47:00 GMT

Just when everyone is predicting the death of daily newspapers, here comesThe Portland Daily Sun, a new quasi-daily freebie newspaper in Portland. I say “quasi-daily” because despite its name, The Portland Daily Sun isn’t daily. It will only be published Tuesday-Saturday.

The editor, Curtis Robinson, explains this contradiction in his lead columnby saying, “In newspapering, you’re ‘daily’ at four issues per week, and ‘weekly’ below that frequency.”

On yeah? Well, Curtis, in real life daily still means daily, and my advice would be to drop the “Daily” from the masthead, along with the kicker “Portland’s Daily Newspaper.” Because you’re not.

Shoehorning the News

Dennis Bailey — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:08:00 GMT

Newsweek profiles Lewiston, Maine in its latest issue and concludes that the influx of Somali immigrants is the primary cause of the city’s resurgence and revitalization. That apparently has offended some people in Lewiston, who have been working on improving the city long before the Somalis arrived.

They shouldn’t complain too much. The article is a very positive look at a city with a reputation as the armpit of Maine. On the other hand, there’s no question that Newsweek exaggerates the impact of the new Somali residents with the headline, “The Refugees Who Saved Lewiston” and gives short shrift to other factors that have helped improve the city.

Obama Nation

Dennis Bailey — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:29:00 GMT

It’s not hard to get caught up in the excitement and optimism as Barack Obama assumes office today. The overused word during the wall-to-wall TV coverage was “historic,” and it is, no question. And like everyone else, I sure hope he can get the job done and kick start the economy. I’m just not so sure.