RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech - EP38

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 38 - download now - subscribe now

Special guest co-host Bill Grady of You are the Guest joins me today.

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Back in my BlipMedia days, we did a quote for the Pentagon that was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Needless to say, they're not taking our bid, opting into the good ol' boy's network @ 18 mil, instead:

Pentagon phone system to go VoIP

A major renovation to the Pentagon has taken a VoIP twist. The Department of Defense has awarded General Dynamics an $18.4 million contract to design and deploy a VoIP phone system as part of what's called the Wedge 2-5 stage of the Pentagon's modernization program. The 4 million square-foot project is intended to modernize building systems, increase security and upgrade technology in the world's largest office building. The VoIP contract is meant to provide a building-wide multimedia phone system integrating voice, video and data communications-in both secure and non-secure channels. VoIP not secure? One hopes there will be an unclassified White Paper someday about how the Pentagon made IP telephony more secure than some thought possible.

For more about the Pentagon's coming VoIP phone system:
- read this FCW.com article

In other VoIP news, it's a Vonage article that doesn't talk about Verizon. Of course, that doesn't mean we won't talk about it on the show... :)

Has Comcast passed Vonage?

Has Comcast replaced Vonage as the Number 1 VoIP carrier? Some back-of-the-envelope figuring by Network World thinks it might have happened. Comcast ended the first quarter of this year with 2.4 million VoIP customers--nearly 1.9 million more than it had a year ago and roughly 10 percent of the number of cable customers it serves. Vonage, in the fourth quarter of 2006, reported 2.2 million customers. And given its legal problems, financial drain and marketing distractions, it seems unlikely that Vonage's growth would keep pace with Comcast's explosive gains. We should know Vonage's numbers pretty soon, but bragging rights may well have passed to Comcast.

For more about Comcast's market penetration:

- read this Network World article

In one of the more interesting news from inside the beltway, recently - it's politics AND sex!

DC Escort Services Becomes Latest Scandal
Randall Tobias, Director of US Foreign Assistance and US Agency for International Development Administrator, became the first political casualty this week in a slow cooking scandal over a Washington DC escort service. Tobias abruptly resigned after ABC News contacted him about employing the services. Tobias maintains that he only recieved massages, but that doesn't really matter at this point. His political career is over, and if thousands of pages of phone records provided by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the services' proprietor, pan out, more will follow. In the meantime, news organisactions posessing the list are undecided as to what their next step will be -- now that they have outed the lists's only republican.

Palfrey was indicted on federal racketeering charges in February for allegedly running a $300-an-hour call-girl ring that dates back 13 years. "20/20" will be airing a segment on the scandal this week, allowing Palfrey, who has a checkered legal past, to say the least, another opportunity to mug before the cameras. Following a pattern that fits almost every sex scandal that unfolds in the Swamp, Palfrey is portraying herself to be the victim, putting the spotlight instead of the political class who took advantage of the services she provided.

Of course, there are no innocents in this tawdry saga. Even if no laws were broken, the lack of moral rectitude in our nation's capital should trouble all of us. Founder John Adams may have said it best: "WE have no government aremd with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitutional as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Nice try, I'll pass on that one, though:

Verizon Says It Has A First Amendment Right To Illegally Give Your Call Records To The Government
The nation's biggest telcos are working hard to make the lawsuits against them for passing customer call records and other info to the government as part of its program of warrantless wiretaps disappear. AT&T's argument that it was just following government orders didn't wash with a judge, and now Verizon is claiming that its passing of information to the government is protected by the First Amendment. Yes, you read that correctly: it says the Electronic Communications Privacy Act is unconstitutional, and the information it passed to the government -- in apparent violation of it, and to comply with the sort of warrantless surveillance the ECPA was designed to prevent -- is constitutionally protected free speech. This seems tenuous at best, but it fits with Verizon's MO. The company always tries to whitewash its customer data leaks by filing lawsuits and trying to shift the blame onto pretexters and information brokers, and making the problem appear to be solely these people's activities, rather than its own inability to protect customer data. Likewise in this case, it contends that it's done nothing wrong, and that the ECPA makes the mistake of trying to prevent free speech, rather than putting restrictions on the government's ability to ask for the information. Of course, those restrictions exist (in the form of having to get a warrant), but didn't really work so well here. Verizon's complicity seems pretty obvious and its free-speech claims look like little more than a hail-mary attempt to shirk liability for disclosing the customer information. That may not be necessary, though, if the Bush administration's attempts to get Congress to pass a law giving the telcos immunity from these sorts of lawsuits are successful.

Lay off the movies, bozos:

Canadian Coins Not Nano-Tech Espionage Devices
Necrotica writes "An odd-looking Canadian coin with a bright red flower was the culprit behind the U.S. Defence Department's false espionage warning earlier this year. The odd-looking — but harmless — "poppy coin" was so unfamiliar to suspicious U.S. Army contractors traveling in Canada that they filed confidential espionage accounts about them. The worried contractors described the coins as "anomalous" and "filled with something man-made that looked like nano-technology," according to once-classified U.S. government reports and e-mails obtained by the AP."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

For some reason, we've been following (and rooting for) Sarkozy's quest for French Presidency. Bill weighs in heavy on this issue:

Sarkozy Takes French Presidency
'Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has won the hotly-contested French presidential election

'The final count gave Mr Sarkozy 53.06%, compared with 46.94% for socialist Segolene Royal, with turnout at 85%.

'Mr Sarkozy, 52, the son of a Hungarian immigrant, takes over from the 74-year-old Jacques Chirac.

'Riot police have fired tear gas at a small group of demonstrators who were protesting in central Paris against Mr Sarkozy's victory.'

From CATO on the same topic:

It spoke volumes that Sarkozy was the only French presidential candidate to visit the United States. On a highly publicized trip to Washington, he was photographed with President Bush. He also gave a strongly pro-American speech. Sarkozy told his audience that, "Friendship is respect, understanding, affection but not submission ... I ask our American friends to let us be free, free to be their friends."

In response, former Socialist Prime Minister Laurent Fabius proclaimed that Sarkozy was seeking to replace British Prime Minister Tony Blair as Bush's "poodle." A Royal aide labeled Sarkozy "an American neoconservative with a French passport," a criticism that stuck to him for the campaign's duration.

First, the Bush administration has belatedly concluded that a very public transatlantic dispute has damaged American interests. The White House is now committed to playing nicely with Chirac's successor.

Second, there will be a new American president within 21 months. Circumstance will force the next president, Republican or Democrat, to present a more pragmatic American face to the world.

The White House's next inhabitant will occupy an office diminished in stature by his or her predecessor's diplomatic failures. President Sarkozy will quietly offer to help his ally pick up the pieces.

Any excuse to say the words 'Nappy Headed Hos':

Don Imus to sue CBS for full contract
More than three weeks after CBS Radio and MSNBC unceremoniously dropped his highly-rated morning talk show, "Imus in the Morning", Don Imus is preparing for a legal battle with his former employers.

This from my blog post earlier, brought up some good end of show discussion with Bill and I:

MSNBC's Republican Debate

I watched the debate, and I must say I was impressed with the aptitude that the Republicans handled themselves. I suppose that after years and years of being exposed to Republican ineptitude, its refreshing to be exposed to the flip-side of it.

Here's the most interesting thing to come out of this debate; given the huge field of the early Republican lineup of candidates that prevented Paul from elaborating much more on what makes him so very different from the rest of the pack, and the scant 90 minutes afforded the public to know who they are, Paul did as well as he possibly could going from near last to FIRST place.

This shake-up is very interesting.

BEFORE the Republican "debates":

1. Giuliani 41%
2. McCain 31%
3. Romney 28%
4. Huckabee 14%
5. Thompson 11%
6. Tancredo 10%
7. Brownback 10%
8. Paul 9%
9. Hunter 7%
10. Gilmore 4%

AFTER the Republican "debate" at 9:28am the next morning:

1. Paul 35%
2. Romney 30%
3. Giuliani 25%
4. McCain 20%
5. Huckabee 16%
6. Tancredo 10%
7. Brownback 9%
8. Thompson 9%
9. Hunter 8%
10. Gilmore 7%

Here's where you can watch and judge for yourself:
Part 01 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 02 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 03 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 04 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 05 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 06 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 07 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 08 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 09 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...
Part 10 of 10 of MSNBC's first Republican Presiden...

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech, EP24

RizWords - Daily Politics and Tech
Episode 24 - download now - subscribe now

• Remember, if you're listening on the podcast recording, you can call into the show live if you tune in through TalkShoe.com at 2:30 PM EST every weekday.
• If you like the podcast (and you haven't already given us a rating), head over and sign up for the discussion list.
• TalkGirls comes on tonight. Check out the TalkGirls Podcast @ 10:30 PM EST ... it's good times!
• And if you want $50 off your entry to the Credit Restoration program at AACS, tell them RizWords sent you!
• Corrections:
• Skype DOES allow unmetered calls from America now for $29.99 a year.
• UT Shooting didn't happen in the 70s, it was the 60's
  

In the-most-hilarious-thing-you'll-hear-about-Imus news, Pravda in russia COMPLETELY gets it wrong:

American radio icon Don Imus disgraced, fired after threat to reveal 9/11 secrets

In a clear sign of its intent to reign in dissident American media personalities, and their growing influence in American culture, US War Leaders this past week launched an unprecedented attack upon one of their most politically 'connected', and legendary, radio hosts named Don Imus after his threats to release information relating to the September 11, 2001 attacks upon that country.

According to European reports of the events surrounding Don Imus that have gripped the United States this past week, it was during an interview with another American media personality, Tim Russert, who is the host of a television programme frequently used by US War Leaders, wherein while decrying the state of care being given to American War wounded stated, "So those bastards want to keep these boys [in reference to US Soldiers] secret? Let's see how they like it if I start talking about their [in reference to US War Leaders] secrets, starting with 9/11."

Unable to attack such a powerful media figure as Don Imus, directly, the US War Leaders, and as we have seen many times before, resorted to a massive media attack against him using as the reason a racial slur against a US woman's basketball team, but which has been pointed out by other media outlets was not by any means a rare occurrence for the legendary radio icon to make.

In other getting it wrong news, this from Virginia regarding the tragic VATech incident:

Xeni Jardin: Large-scale incidents of gun violence like yesterday's mass shooting at Virginia Tech University are inevitably followed by gun law debate.

Today, some around the 'net are pointing to relatively relaxed gun laws in Virginia as a contributing factor to the killings. Virginia allows effectively unlimited purchase of assault weapons for anyone over 18 who passes a background check; it's ok to sell rifles and shotguns to children over 12, and a legal loophole makes it okay to buy second-hand guns at gun shows with no waiting period or background check.

And, in other left wing propaganda, we ask "Are we the only ones seeing another UN Money Making Boondoggle on the horizon?":

Global Warming An Issue For UN Security Council
'On the eve of the first United Nations Security Council debate on global warming, the UK foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, warned US businesses to invest in carbon-free technology or lose out to Europeans.

'The theme of the open debate, a UK initiative, is energy, security and climate. The UK currently holds the Security Council presidency.

'"Clean-tech is going to be a massive market" and the largest economic opportunity of the century, Beckett said on Monday to business leaders in New York, US.' (New Scientist article).

Turning to Tech News, in our ongoing coverage of the Vonage Crap:

Could Vonage Sprint to an Exit? (Light Reading)
Vonage Holdings Corp. (NYSE: VG - message board) is in talks with Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S - message board) about a way to resolve that carrier's patent lawsuit against the VOIP provider, Light Reading has learned. And one source says a Sprint buyout of Vonage is on the table.

And two stories re-visited:

More Stories Of Police Handing Over Xboxes To Stop Crime
First it was Mexico City police offering Xboxes to people who agreed to hand over guns, and now Engadget notes that police in North Carolina are offering gaming consoles to anyone providing info on a local graffiti spree. Of course, in this case, the police are offering a choice between an Xbox, a PS3, a Nintendo Wii or... they'll just hand over $500 in cash ($1000 if you're an adult). It's not clear why adult snitches get more money than the kids, but that's how it works apparently. While it may seem silly to offer a choice between cash or a video game, it might not be that crazy an idea. If it were just a cash reward, it wouldn't get nearly the same attention as offering a gaming console -- even if (depending on the console) it may be a better deal to take the cash. If the graffiti artist were clever, he should start changing his graffiti to reflect the bounty -- perhaps suggesting which prize any informant should take.

Attention Startups: Google Uninterested In Acquiring Your Eyeballs
Despite the return of the IPO market, the ultimate goal for many of today's startups is still to be acquired by one of the large tech or media firms. While Google has made a few really high-profile acquisitions, the company has also made a number of smaller purchases that pretty much fly under everyone's radar. Speaking to a group of VCs, one of the company's top executives involved in making acquisitions said that the company is no longer interested in companies that have plenty of users, but little concept of how to monetize them. Instead, it wants companies with a clear business model that will lead to revenue growth. This makes sense since the company certainly isn't starving for traffic. What's clear is that the company is serious about broadening its offerings, so that it's not so dependent on advertising for its revenue. Eric Schmidt even admitted as such in a recent interview with Wired, as he touted the company's emerging paid software business. The attitude might also be a reflection of the company's ongoing headaches associated with YouTube. While it's still too early to put a verdict on that acquisition, the company may be regretting having spent so much money with so little clarity as to how it would recoup its investment.

/rizzn

Imus, ever heard of podcasting?

MSNBC ended up firing Don Imus today over calling some basketball players with tattoos "nappy headed ho's."

He's a shock jock.

Granted, I don't think he's that funny, but still... what do you expect?

I've got five bucks that says Howard Stern will say something offensive tomorrow. Should he be fired for it?

I don't know what else to say.

MSNBC are a bunch of nappy headed ho's.

Update: I said it first, but Todd Cochrane also said it.