This is probably the most important newsletter I’ve ever written to you all. I hope it’s well worth the few minutes it takes to read.

First, our users put CiL to use in January to the tune of 85 million page views according to Google Analytics. A short two years ago that number was only five hundred thousand. Many of the biggest media brands in the world trust us when ‘live’ truly matters. It’s a clear statement that live coverage has made the transition to the mainstream. It has moved from ‘nice to have’ to ‘must have’. With that, we understand that we bear a great responsibility to our users with respect to our ability to be scalable and reliable. Read the rest of this entry »

NEWS RELEASE

Can Elizabeth Ensley be Trusted to Protect our Votes?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Christian Morgan

Phone: (816) 407-1222

Date: February 5, 2010

Salina, Kans. - Elizabeth Ensley, Shawnee County Elections Commissioner, declared her candidacy to be Kansas’ next Secretary of State last month. Among other obligations, the next Secretary of State will be tasked with supervising Kansas’ elections and preventing voter fraud.

Ensley has touted her experience in the election office as justification for her campaign. A closer examination of Ensley’s track-record as Shawnee County Elections Commissioner, however, paints a very different story. Read the rest of this entry »

Funk’s Front Porch

5 February 2010

Dear Folks,

This Week’s City Business

The Mayor was in Chicago this past Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with the City’s three bond rating agencies: Moody’s, Fitch and Standard and Poor’s. Troy Schulte, the new acting City Manager, and Randy Landes, the new Director of Finance, accompanied him. The trip was successful and the presentations went well. Read the rest of this entry »

In case you missed it, below is an interesting analysis of the Kansas Senate Primary.

Also, if you have a chance, please show your support for Todd’s Senate campaign by VOTING ONLINE.  The online poll is at the bottom right of the page.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Poll Shows Moran in Trouble

Jerry Moran supporters sent out odd emails this week touting the results of a SurveyUSA poll signfiying they had a 7 point lead, 40-33.

While Moran does have a small, barely-statistically-meaningful lead, the folks behind the Tiahrt campaign must be pleased with what the poll shows beyond the top number.

First of all, the top number itself is not good for Moran at all. Despite what they describe as a big money advantage and having run in several uncontested races for Congress, and twice being mentioned as a candidate for Governor, Jerry Moran is only at 40%. That’s a nice number but let’s not forget Moran started with a big fundraising advantage simply because he had more money from those uncontested races. Yet, Tiahrt remains basically just barely behind. Nothing has changed in the past few months in the overall number. A 7 point lead at this point means little — just ask Sheila Frahm, who was up 25 points in May on Brownback in 1996.

Secondly, this is the devastating blow for Moran:

Moran’s lead in the western part of the state — previously 52 points — is down to 35 points. While still huge, Moran’s entire strategy seems based on a massive win in a district where his name ID is huge. While Tiahrt has a smaller 17 point lead in Wichita and Moran continues a 15 point lead in the KC area, if Moran continues to slide in the west as that region’s conservative voters become aware — and drift — to Tiahrt — Moran’s lead appears extremely shaky.

read the rest of the article

he toughest part of fighting back against big-government liberals these days is to keep up with all the reckless choices they make with our money and freedom.

You might have noticed, for instance, that Senate Democrats just voted to raise the federal “debt ceiling” - the maximum amount Washington politicians can borrow on the backs of our children and grandchildren - by an eye-popping $1.9 Trillion.  Let’s just hope and pray that  Obama does not know what comes after a trillion. Read the rest of this entry »

KANSANS FOR LIFE BANQUETS
FILLING UP - R.S.V.P. SOON!

Both events start at 6:30 p.m., but
OTHER THINGS besides dates/locations differ.
Read details below carefully and…ACT SOON! Read the rest of this entry »

Another reader: “The irony of the (D) next to Scott Brown’s name is that that station (WCVB, Channel 5) is where Scott Brown’s wife, Gail Huff, is a reporter. They could just have asked her in the newsroom!”

Wait, He’s From Massachusetts. We Have to Use a ‘D’, Right? - Jim Geraghty.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of Americans who go to the movies at least once a month think that movie tickets are too expensive, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty-one percent (21%) of moviegoing adults disagree, and five percent (5%) aren’t sure.

Women are more critical of movie ticket prices than men.

75% Say Movie Ticket Prices Too High - Rasmussen Reports™.

Super Bowl XLIV is two days away, and just under half (49%) of adults who plan on watching the big game say they will be watching it intensely, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.

Nearly as many adults who plan on watching the Super Bowl (44%) will mostly be socializing while the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints duke it out on national television.

More men will be glued to the screen on Sunday than women. Female game-watchers will be socializing more.

Just 17% say they will place a bet, participate in a pool or wager money on the game in some other fashion. An overwhelming majority (80%) say they won’t gamble on the game.

Out of those who will gamble, 57% say their bet will be a serious one with real money. Thirty-eight percent (38%) say it will be a friendly wager for something like dinner or a drink.

49% of Super Bowl Watchers Plan to Watch “Intensely” - Rasmussen Reports™.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in the state finds Reid earning 39% to 41% of the vote against any of four GOP challengers. Still, that’s an improvement from last month when he picked up just 36% against his top two opponents. But Reid had 43% support against those two Republicans in December.

His Republican opponents, meanwhile, are not doing as well this month, down slightly from the 50% high they’ve hit in the previous surveys. This continues to suggest that the race is still about Reid and not about them.

Any incumbent who is earning less than 50% at this juncture is considered vulnerable. Reid, who is seeking a fifth term, received 61% of the final vote in 2004.

Election 2010: Nevada Senate - Rasmussen Reports™.

If you’ve ever dreamed of sticking all that paperwork on your desk where the sun don’t shine, a Japanese machine can turn it all into toilet paper for you.

Appropriately named White Goat, this device designed for the office can take regular letter-size paper or shreds, including that sales report you cursed until you were blue in the face, and transform it into nearly pristine rolls of white tissue.

Turn your office expense reports into toilet paper | Crave - CNET.

Mozilla on Friday pulled two programs from its Firefox browser add-on site for containing malware. Sothink Web Video Downloader 4.0 and all versions of Master Filer were found to contain Trojan horse code aimed at Windows users.

In a blog post, Mozilla stated that the Master Filer add-on was able to bypass AMO’s security tests.

Mozilla yanks infected add-ons, warns users | The Download Blog - Download.com.

The last member of a 65,000-year-old tribe has died, taking one of the world’s earliest languages to the grave.
Boa Sr, who died last week aged about 85, was the last native of the Andaman Islands who was fluent in Bo.
Named after the tribe, Bo is one of the 10 Great Andamanese languages, which are thought to date back to the pre-Neolithic period when the earliest humans walked out of Africa.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told his ruling party on Friday it must pay more attention to ordinary voters, just days after one of the biggest opposition protests in a decade.