Facebook Privacy: My love/hate relationship. by: Nikky Raney

When my Facebook was hacked I was asked to send an official government issued I.D. as well as bank statement (or anything else that comes in the mail that can show my proof of residence) to prove that the account truly was mine.

I have had my fair share of issues with Facebook. From disabled account, hacking, terminated accounts, fake profiles made of me, etc. So, for those who have been complaining and talking about Facebook privacy (read the policy) -- although that may be a big issues, there's a lot more to be worried about.

Facebook privacy has been a popular topic amongst many media outlets. It seems like I have read at least 57 different articles from different sources talking about Facebook privacy.

This entry is somewhat of a "prequel" (I can't think of a better word) to the blog entry I am planning for Friday/Saturday. I am planning on doing a "word of the week" blog entry dealing with Facebook Privacy issues, but I felt like I should discuss it a bit on this blog beforehand.

I am directing this at Facebook, but really this can be said for Internet privacy in general. If you don't want something to be seen - don't post it.

On Facebook users are given the option to choose what people searching for them are able to see. They are able to send and receive friend requests, and put different friends on lists that customizes what the friends in each list/group is able to see.

When posting a status update users can choose who will be able to view the update. The only thing that Facebook users do not have control over is what the people they allow to view their content will do with their content.

For example, if someone has a group specifically made for college friends and then a group made for family and makes it so family members are unable to view posts on walls, status updates, etc. then family members in that group will NOT be able to view those posts from their profile.

Facebook even lets you see how your profile is seen when someone searches for you.

Maybe the problem is that people don't know HOW to customize these privacy settings, because most of the settings need to be changed manually.

I am not trying to say that I am smarter than others, but I think that it is generally assumed that most people do not read the "terms of service" before accepting. I always read those.

If anyone has had issues with Facebook I am on the top of that list. My first Facebook account was terminated after being disabled four different occasions. Each time lasted less than 18 hours, and the reasons I got were that I was poking too frequently, sending too many messages, etc. The OVERUSE of my Facebook was the reason for the termination. I was 18 at the time and I was really upset by this, because I had my Facebook since I was 16. From December 2006 until November 2008 I had that Facebook account.

I was unable to obtain ANY of the photos I had saved on Facebook. I had to start over from scratch. I sent many e-mails offering to bake Mark Zuckerberg brownies if I could please get my Facebook account back. I was worried about what would happen to those photos, to the personal messages I had sent, and any other information I had. I tried to sign onto the account, and to this day if I try to sign on it says that it has been disabled by an administrator.

When I first created my new Facebook I got a warning from Facebook saying I was adding friends too quickly, and that I was being looked at as suspicious for spam. I was adding friends quickly so that I would be able to get the friends back that I had lost from my other account. My other account had over 1,000 friends, and it can be hard to remember the names. Many of the friends I had made were through networking, previous sources, etc. Starting over from scratch was a bummer.

But it's even harder when someone else claims to be you. I searched "Nikky Raney" on Facebook and saw five other accounts using MY photo, claiming to be me. If you want to complain about privacy issue, how about identity issues. I reported most of the accounts to Facebook, but there are still some existing. It was hard battling it out with my "fake accounts." I would message my friends to say "this is my real account, add this one." And the fake account would be sending out the same messages. I had to deal with a lot of stress and trying to prove my real identity.

Then, in fall of 2009 I had my Facebook hacked. I remember that this lasted for 13 days. It was an incredibly hard 13 days, because I realized how much I NEEDED Facebook. I had told people I would contact them via Facebook for interviews, and since I had them on Facebook I had not asked for a cell-phone number to contact in case. I did not think there was an "in case." I have learned since from that. I never conduct interviews via online, but I like to plan interviews and set up times to meet and talk prior via online.

While the hacker was on my account I was getting texts from my friends asking why I was sending them strange messages. I was concerned about the private information that I may have within my Facebook messages.

I felt so desperate. I felt pathetic for relying on Facebook so much. It was embarrassing. I sent numerous e-mails to Facebook. I read through the Privacy Guidelines, Help Center, Forums, etc. I had been e-mailing Facebook from a different e-mail than the e-mail address my account was registered with, because the hacker got to my e-mail too. That was the e-mail address I used to access MSN, and I had lost all those contacts as well.

Facebook officials e-mailed me asking for a copy of my government issued ID, and a piece of mail received that showed proof of residency. I wanted my Facebook back, and I followed the instructions.

I finally got my Facebook back, but they had linked the new password to my old e-mail address. I had to quickly sign on with that address and change the e-mail linked to my account so that the hacker would not be able to do it again.

I went through all this work just for my FACEBOOK account. With all the talk about Privacy, I started to wonder if I made the right choices. Or should I have made a THIRD Facebook account.

Does Zuckerberg still have a copy of my non-driver's license? Will Zuckerberg go on my previous & disabled Facebook account and find my information there. Does Mark Zuckerberg have access to all of our Facebook accounts?

I would advise you to read about the privacy on the web site and to do the research needed. To be safe, above all, I would advise that do not put anything on Facebook that could be used against you in the future. As much privacy and trust we have, there is always that chance that something bad could happen.

Before you jump down my throat about how stupid I was to give all that information out - I felt like it was something I needed to do, and I trusted that the information would be kept private. So far so good, I hope. I have learned to be smarter with my Facebook actions, and when I am setting up interviews and interactions I use my personal e-mail address as well as my phone. I still haven't been able to get Facebook to terminate the "fake Nikky Raney" accounts, but I have been able to make it clear to my friends that it's really me.

I am helping my mom a lot with her Facebook, and I have had to do lots of things with her privacy settings. I really hope that people getting into Facebook read all the fine print and do some fine-tuning.

I turn 20-years-old in 17 days, and I have come along way since first joining Facebook in 2006. Being put through the privacy tests, hacking, termination, and other situations has really gotten me to appreciate non-social media interaction a lot more. We rely so much on the site that we forget that Zuckerberg could decide he's sick of Facebook and delete the website entirely tomorrow (please don't!).

Always read the "terms and conditions" before accepting.

I still love Facebook, and I am glad that I got my account. I am using my account for networking and not getting tied into the applications like Farmville (I'll save my Farmville rant for another blog). I trust Zuckerberg to keep our stuff private, and I don't plan on leaving Facebook. And if I ever got my account disabled for overuse of the site, I would just keep coming back. I love my Facebook and there's nothing you can do about it!

P.S. And for all the people searching "HOW DO I DELETE MY FACEBOOK?!?" You can always get it terminated. Just send a lot of messages to your friends, send a lot of friend requests, poke everyone you know, and use the site 24/7. The over-use of Facebook got my first account terminated, so I am sure it will work for you.

I will be doing a follow up on this on Friday on my website/personal blog "The Future Of Journalism"

This blog entry was written by Nikky Raney

For questions or suggestions don't hesitate to e-mail me

(the links throughout this blog -the words with hyperlinks attached- link to web sites that will help anyone with privacy questions. Each link is DIFFERENT. I decided to spread them throughout the entry instead of just listening a list of privacy help links at the end. So if you are looking for links/articles about Facebook privacy, just click around at the links within this entry)

Zennie62 at TechCrunch Disrupt, New York, by Christine Smith Contractors

Next week Zennie62 will return to New York City for the first TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

The trip is sponsored by Christine Smith Associates, Inc., the Premier Female Contractor in NYC. (Christine Smith is probably the only New York Contractor to be featured, not just mentioned, in New York Post Page 6 by Cindy Adams.)

TechCrunch Disrupt (@TCDisrupt on Twitter) is a mating of media people and tech people in arguably the next tech center, New York City. TechCrunch Disrupt is an answer to the problem noted in this space where tech people talk to tech people and journalists talk to journalists about the future of media, but not to each other.

But TechCrunch Disrupt goes a massive step beyond that and ads the venture capitalist to the mix. The result is a stew of creative people and a presentation of startup companies that will drive the future of media and communications. It will have speakers like Jason Calacanis from Mahalo, and Charlie Rose will interview legendary Venture Capitalist John Doerr. But more important than names are firms; TechCrunch will have scores of new media and communications companies just getting off the ground.

TechCrunch Disrupt runs from May 24th to May 26th and will be held at an Merrill Lynch office at 570 Washington Street in Manhattan, where "SoHo Meets The Hudson" as the website reads. I'm honored and excited to have been invited to cover this event. I guess Hearst Corporation / SF Chronicle Executive Vice President of Content Development and Editor-at-Large Phil Bronstein was right when he referred to me as an insurgent: that's another term for disrupter.

I like that.

In fact, let's look at my video interview with Phil from earlier this year because it provides a good look at how the changing media landscape impacts The San Francisco Chronicle, and what's important in "new media tech" from Phil's perspective:



Join this space for a virtual trip to TechCruch Disrupt, but if you want to attend you can get tickets here: TICKETS.

See ya!

---

Christine Smith Associates, Inc. is Located and based out of Historic Gramercy Park has made construction dreams come true. She designs AND project manages - like having your own personal rep on the job! She takes care of it all from your voice thru the city agencies to gain all necessary approvals on and into the hands of the tradesmen.

Campbell Brown, Miley Cyrus, sex and hypocrisy

'

YouTube, Yahoo, Metacafe, DailyMotion, Blip.tv and StupidVideos

Campbell Brown

Earlier today, Campbell Brown announced that she was resigning from CNN because of low ratings. Two years ago in 2008, this blogger asserted that CNN should follow Fox News' lead and have Brown use the legs, much as Fox News does. That in no way takes away from Campbell Brown's prowess as a news anchor, but still my take was considered sexist by some, yet others agreed with me that it wasn't. Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus rakes in the cash, and sex sells in media.

But really, what's Sexism?

Sexism in its purest form is putting a person down because of their sex. Again, Campbell Brown's a top-flight news anchor who should have the position she had with CNN and more. CNN was right to work a deal to land Brown over two years ago.

But in 2008, CNN was being clobbered by Fox News in TV ratings. Fox News was known for its presentation of female anchors in short skirts. Weathering criticism, Fox News continues the practice to this day and has established a ratings lead over CNN that's horrifyingly large.

But sexist? Even the definitions of Sexism listed in Wikipedia explain only that one can argue that while using sex to cause people to watch a telecast may be sexist, it's not agreed that this is the case. The reason for this is the extreme levels of hypocrisy on display in this debate.

For example, had I said CNN's Anderson Cooper should wear a polo shirt to show his cut muscular body, no one would blog that was sexist and some women would click the "like" button on Facebook (heck, some guys too). The fact is, Anderson Cooper's not leaving his show as of this writing. But more to the point is it seems to be OK to point to male sexual assets on television but not to female sexual assets, yet, the patterns of viewing shows a desire to "see female skin."

Some bloggers are down right hypocritical in their criticism of the "sex sells" approach. Entertainment Tonight blogger Aly Semigran said that my take of Campbell Brown was sexist. But get this, Aly Semigran herself is known as a blogger who specializes in blogging about sex scandals according to NewsObserver.com. In her posts, she uses terms like "icky" to describe a sex scandal, yet is drawn to blog about it like a fish to water.

Using terms like "icky" is a way to wash out the guilt Aly feels from writing about sex scandals and also to mask the sheer enjoyment she undoubtedly gets from blogging about everything from Tiger Woods Mistresses and the Tiger Woods Text Messages, to John Edwards and Rielle Hunter, and of course Charlie Sheen.

In other words, Aly Semigran covers the same ground that this blogger walks, but does so with guilt; I have none. Aly knows sex sells, but she's conflicted. That's the worst place to be.

It's terrible because Aly dives down the sexual fox hole with gusto and is willing to get dirty but runs the risk of not knowing when the lines between what's acceptable taste and isn't are blurred. If a person has no fear of using sex in media they know when not to use it and why.

For example, Aly seems to write about every sex scandal there is. If God were involved in a sex scandal, she'd blog it.  Last month, Aly wrote about another sex scandal that I consider very low-level: it would never make the Google Trends list so why bother? Yet Aly did so, and repeats an email Actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon wrote to CAA staff about her allegedly cheating husband that wasn't important to repost except for shock value and so you will not see here.

I could argue Aly was being sexist for, in her pursuit of sex scandal stories, presenting women in a certain light by presenting the same images of mistresses and hurt, angry, weathy wives over and over and over again. But because Aly has a fear of using sex that's masked with other reasons, blogging about a low-level story like that one becomes second nature, and the overall impact is lost on her. Makes me think of Desperate Housewives.

Yep, Desperate Housewives, which features the same story lines about, yep, cheating husbands and wives. Desperate Housewives proves that sex sells on television and was one of the most successful launches in television history in 2005.

That's the field Aly's playing in. A show that some call sexist and offensive. Yet here's Aly presenting the same kind of material to her audience and yet calling me sexist because I want a powerful female anchor and not a wife or a mistress to show some leg to get ratings. That's hypocrisy. Is Aly the kind who wears a cleavage showing blouse, dares a guy not to look down, then uses the same as an online profile picture? I wonder.

I will defend my point again and again. Sadly Campbell Brown's going to be off the air on CNN. Meanwhile, Miley Cyrus remains not only on the air but bigger than ever in the wake of the Miley Cyrus Lap Dance Video scandal. Fox News continues its combination of angry white guys, lovely blonde women, and Sarah Palin. And Desperate Housewives is still one of the most popular shows on television.

Sex sells for men and women. It's not a put down of anyone, but a fact of life.

Sandra Bullock to adopt another baby? -- Suzannah B. Troy

I predicted right away that Sandra Bullock could be "going Angelina Jolie" and tonight on Extra (? - unless I am watching TMZ I flip fast)  it was mentioned people close to Bullock are saying she does want to adopt very soon so Louis has a younger sibling.

I made this prediction April 29 right here on this blog, Zennie62.com and now it seems I am one step closer to being proven right.  http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2010/04/sandra-bullock-angelina-jolie-adoption.html  

I mentioned it on the previous posting about Jesse James coming to tv to tell us his side on Nightline.  Good thing Nightline airs late at night so the kiddies will be in bed because anything he has to say is for an adult audience, at least right now.

There are stunning new photos of Louis being hugged tightly to Sandra Bullock in New Orleans as she goes shopping for him and he looks even more beautiful if that is possible.  He is a gorgeous baby.

Hollywood is in baby mode over time and I have to say I have late in life baby envy extra bad right now.

Kelly Preston is 3 months pregnant and she is the same age as me, 47.  This is not a surprise since she and John Travolta went through the trauma of losing their son.

It is also no surprise to me that Sandra Bullock is rumored to be adopting another child as soon as she can as discussed tonight on a celebrity tv show.   She doesn't want to be described as "going Angelina Jolie" I am sure but another People Magazine scoop maybe coming as soon as Sandra Bullock can work out an adoption...adopting a child isn' t like ordering fast food so be patient and stay tuned....

Jesse James Nightline, Sandra Bullock adopting another? Suzannah B. Troy

From CNN’s Marquee Blog news that Jesse James will tell his side of the story on “Nightline”.  

I also saw a tabloid magazine that said on the cover that Jesse James and Sandra Bullock had a secret meeting.

The global audience dines on media-fast food and everybody is “over and out” on this story.  There is no really explanation for the photos in Nazi clothing.  People were and are deeply repulsed but not waiting for any explanation.  There is no good one.  And the serial cheating even reported to have happened while Sandra Bullock was on the premises at his work place is a huge turn off but not a shocker.  I do believe in sex addiction and the fact that all these bad boys including Tiger Woods, etc. never acknowledge the humanity of the sex partners not their wives if proof they are “consumers” not lovers.  You have all read my analogy comparing sex addiction to food addiction consuming a gallon of ice cream and not even really enjoying or tasting the food.

None of this will hurt Jesse James career because he is based on outlaw motorcycle culture -- actually counter-culture.   He is pretty specific on his influences on his YouTubes.  

Is Jesse James doing this to save his career, do damage control and move himself off the most hated list for betraying Sandra Bullock, Hollywood’s sweetheart?  Yes, all of the above and none of it really matters.  

James is a bad boy and I don’t expect him to change much.  If he does it is not so much for his brand but for the kids.

I see him remarried in a few short years to a very tolerant wife aka “open marriage” and perhaps cleaning up on any possible things you could be addicted to that he may or many not be...ho hum.

Did I read on his Wikepedia page that he is not in fact related to Jesse James although he says otherwise ? Yes, sounds like another Jesse James deception and again no one really cares.  People that love Jesse James do and they just don't care.  Sandra Bullock fans are sighing with relief she has moved on.

James is not going to be doing any tattoo removal anytime soon and perhaps the most fascinating James is Sunny who seem very wise beyond her ages.  I hope she survives all these and gets what she needs to have a happy, healthy life. 

Note: On this blog I was first to predict Sandra Bullock would most likely adopt a second child and I just heard on Extra (?) that my prediction  is rumored to be a reality in the making. Here is the link where I saw this coming...  http://zennie2005.blogspot.com/2010/04/sandra-bullock-angelina-jolie-adoption.html Stay tuned.  Back to JJ...


*Jesse James is coming soon to the boob tube (my guess rated parental guidance) good girls beware.  Side note:  Mae West is my idol and I am a good girl.  This is for you Mae.  I am a good girl but when even when I am bad, I am really, really good!  Probably true of Sandra Bullock as well....

The tabloid magazines all have Sandra Bullock on the cover holding the beautiful winning baby Louis.  Everyone has moved on...good luck doing damage control JJ, good move to maybe save your work on tv but  may not even  be needed.

* Why do I think some major porn studio is already in production on Jesse James sex-ploits.  I don't know that, just wondering since they started production on Tiger Woods sex-catastrophe in to celluloid very fast.

Bret Michaels leads Celebrity Apprentice poll 80 percent, 5,844 votes

See: celebrity apprentice 2010 winner, celebrity apprentice 2010, who won celebrity apprentice 2010, holly robinson peete, sharon osbourne

On Monday this space ran a poll asking you to select the Celebrity Apprentice 2010 winner between Bret Michaels and Holly Robinson Peete. There were five choices: Holly Robinson Peete, Bret Michaels, "I don't know at this point", "Both of them", and "Trump picked the wrong final two."

Two days ago, another blog post in this space reported that 70 percent of voters picked Bret Michaels to win the Celebrity Apprentice 2010. The problem with the results at the time was there were just 161 votes.

Now, thanks to the good folks at Pollsb, the makers of the system I regularly use to make online polls, and the placement of the blog posts on Google News, all that has changed. At one point, Pollsb placed the poll on their front page as the "featured poll" and the vote count jumped dramatically. Additionally many of the votes, indeed, the vast majority, have been fueled by online searches.

Now, as of this writing (and it changes every 2 minutes or so by observation as this blog's written), 5,858 votes have been cast and since the design of the Pollsb system guards against duplicate voting, it can be reported that Country Rocker Bret Michaels of Poison has gained 80 percent of the votes cast to be the Celebrity Apprentice 2010 winner.

This is the largest number of respondents to a poll I have created since the Pollsb system was employed in this space. The poll has been viewed 9,381 times as of this writing, so just over 50 percent of the viewers have responded to the poll.

Bret Michaels' popularity was fueled by his very public brain hemorrhage and his battle to survive it. Holly Robinson Peete was an excellent player of Celebrity Apprentice 2010 but her ruthless approach is a direct contract to Bret Michaels' quiet yet strong approach, which seems to have gained friends and fans on Celebrity Apprentice.

But it's all up to Donald Trump. The winner of the Celebrity Apprentice 2010 will be named May 23rd on NBC.

Here's the poll:

More opinion surveys on pollsb.com

Rock the Casbah!

Corrupt developers, landlords, contractors aided by City of NY? post by Suzannah B. Troy

Mike Bloomberg has many stains on his “legacy” as mayor of New York besides denying the people of New York a referendum, driving the city in to a further black hole making promises with union and community groups he could not keep and pushing a reckless tsunami of development on “old” New York’s infrastructure which has caused mass displacement and untold nightmares for the people of NYC.

Every commissioner, city council  and Con Ed needed to demand that Mike Bloomberg stop this reckless tsunami of development but instead a green light was given to every greedy, ruthless developer, contractor and throw in shady landlords because when it comes to the DOB, Dept. of Buildings, ECB, Environmental Control Board you can be as corrupt and bad as you want to be and know fines will not stop you from keeping up “the badness”.  We have had entire buildings collapse, people dead and injured, way too many under Bloomberg until finally we had the mayor repeating our mantra "safety first" although it is business as usual.

The City of New York is owed mega-millions, possibly close or over a billion combined for out standing fines local activists have told me and I made two YouTubes about it last year.  

Could you imagine if a drunk driver hit a pole and was given a fine and never paid it and was back out on the street, and than got another fine and was allowed to continual get back behind the wheel of a car anyway?

Well if you are a bad faith developer, contractor or land lord you can have fines up to your eye balls from the DOB and ECB and nothing will slow you done and in fact Mike Bloomberg and his city planner Amanda the mega millionaire socialite Burden, the people’s burden have aided and abetted as many of this corrupt wheelings and dealings to empty buildings, to empty entire neighborhoods supporting eminent domain abuse for instance by Columbia University and the entire neighborhood of Manhattanville.

Daniel Peckham knows what is like to be have his existent be “inconvenient” as covered in 2006 by The Village Voice  and he continues to fight on like Sisyphus and he is not a lone.

As exposed by The New York Post,  landlord Moshe Pillar has been trying to evict an elderly grandmother who also happens to be a Holocaust Survivor.  She survived the Holocaust but this 92 year old Grandmother had no idea she would be harassed and treated like garbage by landlord Moshe Pillar here in New York City.  I wonder how many violations he has?

Also note that when buying property here in NYC, the legal contract often has a clause the developers is not held accountable for any misinformation aka lies by advertisements and sales people.  I wrote State Attorney General Cuomo why are real estate deals allowed to have a clause that basically says it is okay to lie to a buyer?

NYU bought the air over St. Ann’s from the USPS and the site is historical so Andrew Berman discovered that the USPS had broken the law.  The USPS had to notify the State of New York before selling the air space.  That never happened, the USPS never notified the State and like the corrupt shady landlords, developers, contractors no agency is going to hold them accountable.

If you have violations from any division of NYC and you have not made good on those violations shouldn’t you be shut down and stopped?

How about an App (Application) for our Iphones and mobile devices listing all the fines against developers, contractors, landlords kind of like the sexual predator app that comes with their address and picture?

Some of us have joked about these greedy wheelers and dealers hiring thugs to intimidate and beat them up like in the old days or even a hit man to get their rent control apartments or to silence voices that speak out against corruption but non are needed because the City of New York is not going to do it’s job and protect the people.

Let us stop and pause and remember 47 East 3rd Street where the son of a Greek shipping magnate sold himself the building to himself for bubkas and than evicted an entire building of people with affordable housing when he and his family could afford to live anywhere in NYC.  The Economakieses make the Hell's Angels who live a few doors down look like Saints.  It is an ugly, ugly story.  I included just one article from The New York Times.

Some inspectors are paid off, some are incompetent....remember the crane incidents, one after the other where people died or where injured?  It goes on and on but it just seems corruption, incompetents and even laws favoring landlords and developers or in the case of NYU and the USPS they are simply above the law so they laugh all the way to the bank.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_hyU_cgRWQ


p.s. Crain's reports another Bloomberg head leaves....Also note: I wrote Dan Doctoroff and warned him Bloomberg and 
he was putting us, the people of New York in danger with a reckless tsunami of development on "old" New York's
infrastructure and that was before the Grand Central explosion that looked like a terror attack.
Doctoroff had some one from DEP write me back saying nothing to worry about....yeah right.
terror attack.

TWITTER doesn't have to make you a TWIT by: NIKKY RANEY

Don't let your 140 character limit on Twitter updates compromise your intelligence.

Okay, I think that there needs to be some new rules that dictate to public figures that just because you have a twitter/facebook does not mean that you should "dumb down" your speech. I am appalled that it has become socially acceptable (or appears to have become) for politicians to write that way online. I have an example from Sarah Palin's official twitter.

"Earth saw clmate chnge4 ions;will cont 2 c chnges.R duty2responsbly devlop resorces4humankind/not pollute&destroy;but cant alter naturl change" **

http://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA/status/6823906156

**does she mean EONS?

That is her exact tweet. I have not altered, changed, or edited anything from the original tweet.

Since when is it acceptable to write this way? For those of you who will argue against me and say that it's "easier" or "Twitter's 140-character limit makes it difficult," that should not matter. Either shorten your tweet to 140 characters OR make multiple tweets. She could have made two separate tweets and got the message across.

Who is the target audience here? I had my 60-year-old father read this tweet. He struggled to read it out loud, and he was very frustrated while trying to understand what she was trying to say. If the target audience for her twitter are other adults, then she may have a problem. I asked some of my friends (college-aged) to read the tweet, and most of them also struggled.

I think that writing in such a way does not promote literacy or clarity. I don't think that as a politician, on her public (not personal/private), Twitter, she should be writing in a way that misrepresents her intelligence.

I think that it seems rushed and careless. I don't even make my Twitter that way, and my Twitter is a personal "request only" account.

I have done research and noticed that I am not the only one to give criticism to Sarah Palin. Other criticism includes

"TWITTER ACCOUNT OF A 9 YEAR OLD"

I am not intentionally attacking or "dissing" Sarah Palin for the way she uses her Twitter. I am simply using her as an example of what I have seen on Twitter that I believe is not acceptable. I do not think I am alone in my opinion. I jokingly said to my aunt in an e-mail, "She puts the TWIT in TWITTER," and that is what inspired this blog entry.

Don't forget to follow Zennie62 on twitter for the latest updates!

You can also follow me :)

Posted by: Nikky Raney

If you have any concerns or any topics you think I should cover don't hesitate to contact me!

x-posted here

Blanche Lincoln volunteers taking down Bill Halter signs?

In the wake of an Arkansas Senate Battle between Senator Blanche Lincoln and Arkansas Lt. Governor Bill Halter that's headed to a June 8th runoff vote, we have a new scandal of sorts.

According to the blog Blue Hog Report out of Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln volunteers are taking down "Bill Halter for Senate" signs. This is what Jeff at Blue Hog Report blogged:

I couldn’t help but become extremely irked today at lunch by a lack of signage by the Starbucks near the I-630/Broadway exit. You see, for the second straight day, I drove by a location where I had previously placed a Bill Halter for Senate sign, along with an accompanying John Adams for Congress sign, only to see them taken down in both spots and replaced with this:

Jeff stops short of accusing Blanche Lincoln volunteers of taking down Bill Halter signs all over the state, but it's said where there's smoke there's fire. The fire was discovered by Blue Arkansas blog, which reports another incident in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

" ARDem" at Blue Arkansas thinks the Bill Halter sign removal effort is the work of Republicans who don't want him to win. Personally, I would suspect that. Blanche Lincoln's captured a lot of the conservative vote and support down there. Regardless, taking signs off a lawn is just plain wrong.

Stay tuned.

Dancing With The Stars results may 18th: Chad Ochocinco gone

When Chad Ochocinco learned he was going to be on Dancing With The Stars, he did everything to draw attention to himself and the upcoming event, from tweeting about it on Twitter to running naked in the park:



Well, the fantasy is over:

Chad Ochocinco was eliminated from Dancing With The Stars last night. Give the Cincinnati Bengals star wide receiver credit: he made it to the final four celebrity dancers and that's saying a lot for a person with no previous dancing experience.

According to MTV.com, Chad said "This was awesome. I enjoyed the journey. I met some wonderful people. I got some great criticism that's only made me stronger ... and I'll miss 'em all, especially the beautiful Cheryl Burke. And in my eyes really, I've already won."

And he had. Where Chad Ochocinco was known only to sports fans and NFL football fans, now he has a true celebrity following that he will carry into the 2010 NFL season.

And if there's a lockout in 2011, Chad has a new network of contacts he can call on for whatever entertainment work he may want to do. Congratulations to Chad Ochocinco. He may have been eliminated from Dancing With The Stars but he started a new chapter in his life.

Campbell Brown's Legs could have been CNN's Ratings Cure

Campbell Brown on NBC's Saturday Today Show 

Sadly, Campbell Brown, who CNN fought to pull away from NBC two years ago, quit her show due to low and dropping ratings.

Campbell Brown, or "Cammy" as my friend and hers Michael Dowling likes to call her, was consider a catch for CNN at the time.

But, as I blogged in 2008, CNN wasn't using Brown's real asset and it's something Fox News would have done and NBC did do. Campbell Brown's legs would have been the best CNN ratings cure.

This is a problem that started back in 2008, with CNN getting clobbered by Fox News in the ratings even then, and that was the 2008 election. This is what I wrote at Zennie62, then:

As it stands, CNN's getting clobbered by Fox News in the ratings, except for when CNN has debates and it's Super Tuesday coverage, but other than that, it's Fox all the way. ...Now, I personally don't like CNN's biased reporting, covered by the "idea" that they're the best political reporting team and all that crap, but if Dave Bohrman and the rest of the CNN producers get their act together they're on to something.

I think a good place to start is with Campbell Brown....

I mean have you seen her legs?

Some readers got angry with my assertion at the time, but I pressed the point.  Fox News was getting away with that strategy, mixing sexy female anchors with an edgy, opinionated take on the news.   CNN resisted my claim, and also failed to emphasize the iReport format, but that's another blog post.

Now CNN's ratings slide is worse and Campbell Brown's gone.

Is it sad that Campbell Brown's legs may have saved her show? Yeah, it is. But the bottom line in television is viewers, time, and money. The key to success is to make people stop and watch for whatever reason. High-minded views on news and society are fine if they work; in this case they don't. CNN has to give people something to talk about: Men to look at and women to criticize. That's the game and CNN's not playing it.

CNN's under the impression it has to be conservative like Fox News. Not so. That's got nothing to do with it. Sex sells and people are animals. Period. The main driver of the reproductive process is attraction; it's silly to watch some try to take that fact out of society. No one ever wins by fighting nature. CNN should stop trying.

But hey, I made this case two years ago and CNN didn't get it then. Now, Campbell Brown's gone.

Tea Party Movement and GOP lost to Liberals and Democrats

Media pundits at CNN and Fox News are painting Tuesday's election results as a win for the Tea Party Movement. Nothing could be further from the truth. The real truth is the Liberal Agenda won.

Obama's people rise again!

In Pennsylvania Conservative Arlen Specter switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party last year to change with his state's demographics and as part of a deal with the Obama White House. In that agreement the White House pledged their support for the fake-Democrat.

The White House could not lose: if Specter lost it would be to a Democrat, and if he won it would be as a Democrat. Specter lost to Congressman Joe Sestak.

It was a sad but not shocking loss for Specter, the long-serving Senator who's career spans 45 years, covers nine presidents, and some of the most incredible political events in the history of America, from The Watergate Hearings and President Nixon's Impeachment to Obama's election as the first African American President in American History.

This blogger has always admired Specter's keen intellect which reached beyond party at times, but Specter was always a conservative. When Specter became a Democrat it was right for Liberals to be concerned that he might undermine the President's agenda. While there were points during the health care debate where that seemed like it would happen, Specter did fall in line. Still, it was time for a more solid Democrat to take Specter's place and for Specter to retire. His gamble wasn't the smartest one and it was the riskiest. Specter lost.

Another GOP to bite the dust was Republican Tim Burns in his Pennsylvania Special Election Contest against Democrat Mark Critz and to fill the House seat of the late Rep. John Murtha. Critz, the Director of Economic Development for Murtha, best knew Murtha's people and promised to continue his work in Washington.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul was the only GOP candidate to win and that was because he beat another Republican in that state's GOP Senate Primary. The Tea Party Movement's getting credit for a win that only really happened because of Rand Paul's built-in name recognition from being the son of Rep. and former Presidential Candidate Ron Paul. The Tea Party Movement was not the player in the win some think.

Indeed, the Tea Party Movement has lost more elections and legislation battles than it won and by a lot: Heath Care Reform, The Jobs Bill, The 23rd Congressional District Race of New York, The 19th Congressional District Race of Florida that was Robert Wexler's seat, all were won by the Democrats and all were mentioned as having Tea Party Movement involvement. And Massachusetts GOP Senator Scott Brown won that state's race to replace the Late Senator Ted Kennedy by shunning the Tea Party Movement.

What has the Tea Party Movement done? Nothing except take up a lot of TV air time.

In all Liberals had the big night. Arkansas Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln, who also famously worked as if she didn't know President Obama, suffered a near-loss to Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who had the support of labor union heads who didn't forget her difficult-to-deal-with stance on Health Care Reform. Lincoln now faces a runoff against Halter and it's one she could lose and will lose on June 8th.

America is a Liberal country and its silent majority, the same one that propelled Barack Obama into the White House, has rose from lethargy. In part, even though the overall turnout was low, it seems that actions like Arizona's double-barreled racist actions involving illegal aliens and ethnic studies, the veiled racism of some in the Tea Party Movement, and the economy itself poked the sleeping Giant to rise.

It's awake and it will crush the Tea Party Movement.