Crazy Guide to the Internet

Making phone calls from home is an effective way for anyone, no matter where you are, to reach out and impact this historic race for the presidency. Our Indiana field staff and grassroots supporters are working around the clock right now, with the same intensity as during the run-up to primary day.

Earlier, Indiana Deputy Field Director Rachel Haltom-Irwin spoke on a conference call about the important part that your calls play in our efforts on the ground:

“What it really means is that everyone on the ground can spend a lot more time going door to door, talking to people in person. We know that you guys are making the calls, and that we’re doing this together.

We look at the numbers every day to see how many calls you’ve made into each state, and it’s very powerful. It keeps us going, to see that the entire country is helping out.”

Also speaking on the call was one of our top grassroots phonebankers. Patty from South Carolina has literally made thousands of calls over the past few months to voters in states across the country and now Indiana. She shared an incredible story from one of her many calls into Mississippi, and offered some valuable tips and advice on calling:  

The Indiana calling campaign runs from 9:00 AM EST to 9:00 PM EST each day, from now until Monday night. It only takes a minute to log in, review the script, and get started making calls.

All eyes will be on Indiana soon, for the first competitive Democratic primary in the state in over 20 years. Together, with supporters on the ground and with callers from all across the country, we can make a difference in these next 48 hours.

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UPDATED: Barack is in Missoula, Montana today, for a rally that is just now getting ready to start . . .

the first two people in line this morning.

UPDATED: Barack just took the stage . . .

There are 8,000 people inside, with another 500 or so in the outdoor overflow. We’ll have more from Missoula later today . . .

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UPDATED: Our weekend voter registration efforts are in full swing right now. Find out how you can help in Indiana.

The Indiana primary is still a month away, but the deadline to register to vote is this Monday. This weekend is our last, best chance to bring new voices and new voters into the political process in Indiana, and the last chance for Indiana residents to stake their claim in the political process.

We’ll have more information shortly on some of the events we have planned this weekend and what you can do to help in Indiana. No matter where you are, you can help out right now by making phone calls to encourage supporters to register by Monday’s deadline. 

If you live in Indiana, or if you’re calling supporters in Indiana, here’s what you’ll need to know: 

In order to register and vote in the Indiana primary on May 6th, you must:

• Be a resident of Indiana
• Be at least 18 years of age on or before the general election on November 4, 2008
• Have lived in the precinct where you vote for at least 30 days prior to the election
• Be registered to vote at your current address by next Monday, April 7th.

You can fill out and download your completed voter registration form online right now. The completed form must be postmarked or hand delivered to your county voter registration office or the Indiana Election Division by April 7th, or you can deliver it to any Obama for America field office before April 7th.

You can also apply in person at the voter registration or county clerk’s office, any DMV license branch or public assistance office.

Do you have friends or family in Indiana?

If so, you can use our online form to send emails to your friends and family and remind them to register before Monday’s deadline. Our email contact importer allows you to quickly and easily import emails (don’t worry – we won’t hold on to any of the email addresses you share).

For more information, you can visit the Indiana Secretary of State website.

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Creative Labs heard your chest-beating across the internet and decided to reinstate spurned developer Daniel_K less than a week after booting him from their forums. Unlike Creative, Daniel_K issued drivers that allowed Creative sound cards to work properly under Vista, and even enabled previously crippled features. The drivers were downloaded over 100,000 times. The company thanked the developer by accusing him of “enabling our technology and IP to run on sound cards for which it was not originally offered or intended, [in] effect, stealing our goods.” Even though he has been reinstated, Daniel_K is still pissed.

“They publicly threatened me, just to show their arrogance,” he told El Reg by email.

He told us that Creative contacted him on a chat session. “They were sarcastic, ironic and asked me if I wanted something from them, as if I were expecting something,” he wrote. “It was my protest against them and would like to see how far it would go.”

He acknowledges that Creative has a case regarding intellectual property, but is furious about the company’s strategy. “I’d say they are stealing [from] their own customers by disabling features based on technologies they own (so they did it on purpose) and by charging for a software that requires an improved driver that they refuse to provide.”

“At least they are getting flamed all over the web and they are certainly mad about it. That is enough reward for my hard work,” he wrote.

Though Creative claims that their eviction notice “did not make it as clear as we would have liked that we do support driver development by independent third parties,” the company is hardly contrite. A statement released to the press defiantly declared that they do not support or appreciate “the unauthorized distribution of other companies’ property.” Way to learn from the experience, Creative.

Creative climbs down over home brew Vista drivers [The Register]
(Photo: Young Frankenstein)
PREVIOUSLY: Creative Sparks Customer Revolt When It Tries To Silence Third-Party Programmer

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William writes to tell us about an asinine DirecTV contractor who demanded a tip before starting work. The contractor was dispatched by Halstead Communications, DirecTV’s unfortunate installer of choice in New York. After being denied an entrance tip, the contractor noticed an easily movable table blocking his way and declared to his partner, “I can’t work like this, let’s get the fuck out of here.”

William writes:

I write in the hopes you will expose the abusive practices of Halstead Communications, the contractor DirecTV uses to install service in New York. As an initial matter, running a search on Google for “directv halstead communications ltd” pulls up many complaints regarding this subcontractor. I am not the only one who have been abused by this company.

I use the word “abusive” because the technician who showed up this morning did not have equipment and had parked his van a few blocks away even though we have a driveway. He clearly was not ready to work, and he asked my mother for a tip upon coming in—she had tipped him when he came in on a service call a while ago. (He cut a DirecTV line and was not able to install a dish on that service call.) My mother said that he would be tipped after he finished. The technician got angry and said that he couldn’t work because there was a table in the way. My mother had the table moved immediately, but the technician said to his co-worker, “I can’t work like this, let’s get the fuck out of here” and walked out.

I contacted DirecTV and all they could offer was the phone number of the contractor, Halstead Communications. I called Halstead and they said they would have the local office call me back. Of course, the local office has not called back. Halstead refused to tell me their address, or the phone number or address of the “local office.” It’s understandable why they do not want to disclose this information—they’d otherwise be buried in complaints. The consumer is powerless to do anything, and the technicians know this because they would not act like that if we had any power.

It is unbelievable that a large corporation such as DirecTV chooses to do business through such a contractor. I really hope you choose to do a story on Halstead, if only to let DirecTV know that they have to be responsible.

Thank you very much for your time.

Truly Yours,
William

The consumer isn’t powerless. Take your complain straight to DirecTV’s mustachioed CEO, Chase Carey. He can be reached at: chase.carey@directv.com.

(Photo: SpooSpa)

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Feeling down? Money might help, according to Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers. The Wharton economists released a paper arguing that countries with higher gross domestic products have happier citizens. The study shatters the conventional wisdom known as the Easterlin Paradox, which holds that GDP and happiness are largely unrelated.

Prof Wolfers said he and Prof Stevenson had reached their dissenting conclusion partly owing to improved international statistics, covering more countries - poor as well as rich - and a greater number of happiness surveys that had been conducted over the past three decades.

The paper will be discussed next week at the spring economic conference of Brookings, the think-tank, and is likely to provoke lively debate.

Prof Easterlin, who has seen a draft of the paper, said he believed that as far as he was concerned his paradox still stood.

While commending his younger critics for “serious research”, he said they needed to focus more on what was happening within specific countries, rather than “throwing all of these countries together”.

A quick glance at the IMF’s GDP rankings show a few glaring contradictions. China ranks two notches higher than France in GDP, not happiness, and everyone’s favorite Middle Eastern playground, Iran, falls just two slots behind Denmark. And, of course, everyone is sadder than the United States. Um, maybe this Easterlin fellow was right after all.

Money can buy you happiness, say researchers [Financial Times]
List of countries by GDP [Wikipedia]

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After his town hall meeting in Wilkes-Barre, Barack headed to Scranton to hold a town hall meeting there.

One person asked Barack how he would restore our image in the international community and build alliances with other nations.  He said:

When you don’t have allies, it’s a lot harder to get stuff done.  U.S. interests are not met.  That’s why it’s so important to build alliances.  Building alliances means listening to other countries.  A lot of our European allies are concerned about climate change.  We should be too, but for the first seven years that Bush was in office, he said it was a hoax.

…There’s no magic formula for creating allies.  It’s like dealing with anyone else.  We’re going to listen to their concerns, show them respect and dignity.  That’s what I’m going to do as President of the United States.

Another person asked Barack how he will protect the environment and reduce pollution.  He responded:

I’m going to set up a cap and trade system on the emission of gases.  If you pollute, then you’ve got a pay a price.  If you stop polluting or you reduce your pollution, you can make money.  It’s worthwhile from an investment perspective to be environmentally sound. 

We put a cap and trade system in for sulfuric acid and basically ended acid rain.  American ingenuity is always up to the challenge.  I’m going to make sure that natural gas companies should not be able to simply pollute when the rest of us bear the costs of it. 

We need your help to reach out to undecided voters in Pennsylvania! Stop by your local office to volunteer or make some phone calls!

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On April 12th and 13th, women from across the country will be traveling to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as part of the Weekend of Women.

These two days of canvassing, phonebanking, house parties and fundraisers are part of a major push to reach undecided women voters as part of our Pennsylvania Get Out The Vote campaign. There is no better way to connect with voters than through one on one, peer to peer contact, and this is a unique opportunity to impact a key voting bloc in the final days before the Pennsylvania primary.

Here’s a message from Becky Carroll, National Director of Women for Obama:

Dear friends,

With less than four weeks left before the last batch of Dem primaries kick off – beginning with Pennsylvania on April 22nd – we hope that you are ready to hit the road to meet us in Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and other key primary states!

Our first, major push with women in this last leg of the primary season starts in Pennsylvania the weekend of April 12 and 13 – join women from across the country and in Pennsylvania as they unite to recruit undecided women throughout the state. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate the breadth and diversity of support that Senator Obama has among all of you – we can make the difference in PA! All you need to do is pack up your bags for Philadelphia or Pittsburgh!

This weekend will include a pre-canvass rally on Saturday with special guest speakers, followed by canvassing activities – phone banks, door to door, house parties and other activities – throughout the day and a low dollar Women for Obama fundraiser in Philadelphia for those who want to mix and mingle with old and new friends afterwards. Specific details on location of the rally and fundraiser will follow in the next several days. So book your flight or train ticket or be ready to drive out to Philly or Pittsburgh!

The campaign will provide supporter housing on a first-come, first-serve basis. Reduced hotel room rates will also be available. We can also help match you with women driving into PA from your area if you should need a ride. Whatever you do, don’t miss this opportunity to show the country that women are the backbone this is historic campaign!

Please sign up for the Weekend of Women, April 12/13, in PA by clicking on the link below and please share with others who should join us – invite your sisters, daughters, mothers, aunts and friends:

• SIGN UP HERE

- Becky Carroll, National Director of Women for Obama

Visit Women.BarackObama.com for more information.

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Dear Readers,

While it’s been a very exhilarating first day here at The Conglomerist, I’m disheartened by some of the commenters taking issue with my writing style, especially with regards to the word “irregardless.” While I take your concerns seriously, trust me, irregardless is a “real” word. I know because I went to dictionary.com and it’s right there:

ir·re·gard·less /ˌɪrɪˈgɑrdlɪs/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ir-i-gahrd-lis]
-adverb Nonstandard.
regardless.
[Origin: 1910-15; ir-2 (prob. after irrespective) + regardless]

They even show you how to pronounce it. This begs the question: what’s the real motive behind these baseless attacks and accusations? I can only wonder. Haberdasher Communications is analyzing all the ip logs of these so-called “commenters” and I think we’ll all be very interested into seeing the results.

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This list of Amazon coupon codes for April makes me want to puke, irregardless of the fact that the only thing I ate all day was a small money salad. Only scumbags avoid paying full price. [ProBargainHunters]

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