Google Power Readers is an interesting tool from Google Reader that takes shared items from campaigns and selected journalists and puts them all in one site so you can see what these “power readers” are interested in. I can’t help but think that this service is already delivered by the blogs of some of these folks or other outlets that do mass linking (Drudge Report and the like). Still, worth a perusal from folks who enjoy getting a dose of politics.
Month: August 2008
Trani Stepping Down Next Year
VCU’s President Eugine Trani has announced he will be resigning effective July 1, 2009:
He had previously planned to step down in 2010, but will now leave the post July 1, 2009, and become a professor at the university.
VCU officials have not confirmed his plans, but he has scheduled an 11 a.m. news conference today to make a major announcement
His earlier-than-planned resignation as president comes as his administration is under fire for its handling of the Rodney Monroe degree scandal. Monroe, Richmond’s former police chief, was awarded an undergraduate degree from VCU last year after earning just six credit hours at the university, despite VCU’s required 30 credit hours.
Trani, 68, has been recuperating from a quintuple coronary artery bypass surgery he had last month.
VCU Rector Thomas G. Rosenthal said today that Trani had made the decision to retire early over the weekend. He said the announcement has nothing to do with recent controversies that have roiled VCU — “Zip, zero, zilch.”
“This was his decision,” Rosenthal said. “It is 100 percent health related.”
Trani has done a number of great things for VCU during his tenure. It’ll be interesting how much of his vision out lasts him.
Read Trani’s letter after the break.
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The Barack Obama campaign has announced that it will announce his Vice President nominee via text and e-mail sometime between now and the Democratic Convention. While some might be willing to dismiss this as a ploy, it’s actually quite shrewd. Potential millions wanting to be in the know are going to voluntarily give the campaign their cell phone numbers and email addresses and, perhaps most importantly, zip codes. That’s a big pool to turn to for future announcements, not just for Obama but the Democratic Party as a whole.
This is a very smart move to get some long term traction and resources, win or lose.
RIP
Yesterday Bernie Mac died. Today Issac Hayes passed away, too. RIP, guys.
It Might Not Be The Dream Team, But…
Team USA beat China 101-70 in a good start to its Olympic games. USA had some difficulty with three pointers, but that didn’t really seem to matter in the end. Catchy line from SI’s online coverage:
China has more than a billion people, but there’s not an elite point guard among them. If they ever find one, the Chinese might begin to close the oceanic gap between them and the Americans.
#dontgo Upsets MoveOn
For those of you who haven’t heard, #dontgo has been making a bit of news among the rightosphere as it covers House Republican members who are still holding debates in Congress about energy bills despite Congress being in recess and Pelosi turning off the lights, mics, cameras and all the Democrats going home.
The movement didn’t make too much in the way of news Friday when it started or yesterday when it continued, but something must be working because MoveOn is preparing a protest against the movement and the right is trying to counter. So that’s leading some (Patrick Ruffini in particular) to declare that #dontgo is now an official movement and potential turning point for the right.
And maybe he’s right. The energy issue has changed the tone across the nation and instead of Republican’s being told by leadership to do whatever they feel is necessary to win, Democrats are now being told that it’s OK to back drilling if they need to. This issue and the movement around it is growing and could very well fuel a lot of Republican fire. It’ll be interesting to see how it pans out.
UPDATE: Find out more about #dontgo at dontgo.us and dontgomovement.com
UPDATE 2: CNN picks up on dontgomovement.com.