Tag Archives: stimulus

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Google


Official Google Blog

 

–Posted: 16 Oct 2010 11:37 AM PDT–

**This is one of a regular series of posts on search experience updates. Look for the label This week in search and subscribe to the series. – Ed.

Search is always evolving, and we’re excited to share the latest this week—from Google Auto complete to our fun homepage doodles—as well as a glimpse at what the U.S. is searching for. Here’s this week’s round up of updates:

A birthday surprise
Because doodles are such a fun part of the search experience, we thought we’d share a fun little way Google will help celebrate your birthday. When you include your date of birth on your Google profile, you may notice a special treat on the Google homepage on your birthday (be sure to sign in). Click on the doodle for another birthday surprise!

Renaming Google Suggest
We first launched Google Suggest in 2004 in Labs to help people enter their searches faster. Suggest has been a very popular feature, and some people have been asking what happened to it. Never fear, it hasn’t gone anywhere—we just renamed it to “Google Autocomplete.” As part of our launch of Google Instant, we thought “Autocomplete” fit better with the new functionality—automatic queries and automatic results.

Google Instant in new countries across Asia
We’ve been rapidly expanding Google Instant around the globe. Last week we launched Instant in Australia, India, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore. Now that it’s been a few weeks since our initial release, we’ve been finding that people are really learning how to get the most out of Instant. For example, in just two weeks, we saw an increase in the fraction of searches performed without hitting enter or clicking search. This is a very demanding launch for our infrastructure and we’re expanding around the globe as soon as we can.

Eurostat data in search
We’ve also rolled out some improvements our public data search features. We’ve been working closely with Eurostat to surface some really useful and interesting data about unemployment rates, government debt, minimum wage and broadband penetration across Europe. Try searching for [arbeitslosenstatistik deutschland], [smic france] or [deuda publica españa] to see examples of this data visualisation in action. The data is available across 34 languages. We’ve also internationalized data from the World Bank. You can learn more on our European policy blog.

The week in searches
Curious to know what Google Searches skyrocketed in the U.S. this week? Check out the Google Beat, where you’ll find an inside look into what people are clicking on Google. This week, we cover everything from Columbus Day to Brett Favre and the buzz around “Cigar Guy.”

We hope you find these updates useful. Stay tuned for more next week.

Posted by Johanna Wright, Director, Search Product Management

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

FORECAST: Right-wing money to rain on Mass – severe flooding expected

1 Comment

Barney Frank for Congress 2010

Today, the Washington Post reported that “the final two weeks of the campaign will not be for the faint of heart.  A torrent of money, much of it from outside groups whose donors are not disclosed, will rain down on states and congressional districts, disproportionately for Republican candidates. The money will underwrite a barrage of ads, almost all of them wholly negative and highly personal.”

The congressional district I represent will not escape this gloomy forecast of right-wing “rain.”  Yesterday, a shadowy political organization based in Nevada announced that it will spend approximately $200,000 to defeat me and one of my Democratic colleagues in Massachusetts.  Last week, the Tea Party Express announced that I would be one of their top targets in the entire country.  Can outside right-wing organizations rain enough money on Massachusetts to alter the outcome of an election?  Sadly, they can.

You can help me fight this dark, threatening storm which threatens free elections.

The right is not only trying to defeat me personally; it wants to undermine many of the things I have spent my career fighting for.  It would like to roll back a new law to prevent abusive practices by credit card companies, eliminate safeguards against predatory lending, revoke new regulations on risky practices by large financial firms, block new rules on executive compensation, privatize Social Security, prevent reductions in excessive military spending, and restrict a woman’s right to choose.

Please help me ride out this storm so I can continue to fight for the things we care about most.  I will be grateful for your help.
Barney Frank

Contribute
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

From the Field Updates …a message from Jon Vogel


17 Days Until the Election

I can’t thank you enough — because of you Democrats are surging in these final weeks.

With your help, we reached our goal of $500,000 for rapid response and wired urgent support to our campaigns for television ads for next week and to send even more on-the-ground support.

While shadowy outside GOP front groups continue to barrage our candidates with attack ads, we have planned for the final two weeks, a $40 million wave of television ads for Democratic campaigns nationwide and to continue our $20 million voter contact program.

So far, our efforts are paying off and we are seeing poll numbers move, BUT we can take nothing for granted. The margin of victory on many of these races are small and this is the time to go all in.

For the final two weeks, my strategists and I see about a $300,000 gap for what we need before Tuesday’s two weeks out deadline. Can you help us again with another generous gift? Your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar.

Some other updates from the field:

Another Bad Week for the GOP

GOPMisfires.com

This week, Republican candidates have been consumed by one media firestorm after another:

  • First, there was news that police are investigating one of their most highly-touted candidates for an alleged sexual assault of a potential campaign volunteer.
  • Then, photos surfaced of one of their tea party candidates dressed as a Nazi in World War II reenactments.
  • Lastly, NBC News reported that GOP candidate Allen West has ties to an infamous motorcycle gang and crime syndicate, the Outlaws.The Department of Justice has said the Outlaws are a gang known for making and distributing meth, committing homicide, and prostitution. The Outlaws have a history of denigrating women and considering women property – actually branding women like cattle.

What’s worse? These are just a couple of the Republican extremists running in battleground races. Early voting has already started in many states so we have to act fast to expose the troubling records of the Republicans’ radical “Young Gun” candidates before Tuesday’s TV ad buy deadline.

Check out our GOPMisfires.com website and help us expose these Republicans’ radical records.

Early Voting and Voter Outreach Continues

Your dollars have enabled Democrats in hard-fought races to fight back with ads and launch their state-of-the-art voter contact efforts. But it’s too close for comfort with so many like these running in battleground races.

There is no margin for error and every dollar you give has an impact. We have already been on the air with over $17 million in television ads and it’s working. Our poll numbers in key districts are moving!

Early voting has started and so has our voter outreach programs. Phone banks are 7 days a week here at headquarters and voter outreach programs continue over in 75 districts across the country. It costs $28 to outfit a grassroots canvasser with the proper supplies — consider sponsoring 1 or even 2 canvassers today. Contribute today >>

Together, we can be the difference between victory and defeat for Democrats and keeping these and many other right-wing extremists out of Congress. But we must raise $300,000 before Tuesday’s deadline to wire money to the field to fund next week’s campaign activities.

Just days left: Contribute before Tuesday’s two weeks out deadline so we can raise the $300,000 we need to fund next week’s activities for Democrats in too-close-to-call races.

Onward to Victory,

Jon Vogel
Jon Vogel
DCCC Executive Director

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

S. 2919, Small Business Lending Enhancement Act of 2010


CBO’s Web site:

~ FDA/USDA ~~ Alerts & Safety, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Smell something fishy at the FDA?


Change.org

Tell the FDA you have the right to know when your food is genetically modified. 

Sign the Petition

The first genetically engineered (GE) meat approved for human consumption might soon be on its way to a supermarket near you – a fast-growing salmon developed by a company called AquaBounty Technologies.

But it gets fishier. If AquaBounty’s GE salmon is approved for sale, the FDA might decide to put it right next to normal salmon in the meat case, without any special labeling. Consumers would be none the wiser.

We deserve to know if the meat on our plate is genetically engineered or not. Companies and FDA officials shouldn’t keep us in the dark about the foods we eat or feed to our families.

Tell the FDA you want labels on genetically engineered foods so you can make an informed choice.

No labeling is a dangerous precedent to set for genetically modified foods. Recent drug recalls have shown us that just because the FDA approves something doesn’t mean it’s safe in the long term. Any adverse effects of genetically modified meat on people might not show up until it’s already been consumed by a large number of Americans. And by then it’s too late. Without labeling, it will be even harder to recognize and track problems that might be caused by GE foods.

AquaBounty Technologies’ own scientists are telling the FDA that its GE salmon is perfectly safe. But there’s no way they can prove these claims, and we can’t dump unlabeled GE salmon into the food supply on the word of the company that stands to make a profit.

The FDA is being heavily lobbied by AquaBounty Technologies about its forthcoming decision, and now needs to hear from concerned consumers like you about whether GE salmon should be labeled or not.

Tell the FDA to require labeling of genetically engineered salmon so that consumers can decide for themselves whether to buy and eat it.

It’s up to the FDA to keep our food supply safe, and it’s up to us to let the FDA know where consumers stand on GE foods.

Thanks for taking action

– The Change.org Team