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news service

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:39 pm
by vicarofrevelwood
Jeff,
Perhaps you could add news content to the web site. With strict bearing on TTOsubject matter. IE.(Actual artical in Redit)"78% of americans favor a public health option, but the house is still not listining".
Bill

Re: news service

Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 11:10 pm
by JEQuidam
If that would have to be managed manually, there's no way I would have time to do that.

Plus, as in the example you gave, it can distract people from the central objective of TTO by derailing the discussion towards ancillary political or partisan issues. And in particular, I personally don't trust most polls as the questions are usually worded in a far too ambiguous (or misleading) way to enable us to draw definitive conclusions.

Re: news service

Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:52 pm
by Paul
For a while my phone number must have been on a list of "people who answer the phone and answer questions". I got called at least once a week from some major survey going on for at least a 6 month period, and Jeff is completely correct.

Not only are the surveys rigged, but the people performing the surveys are questionable in their own motives. I have zero trust for those things after that experience.

However, I do want to find a way to show how TTO is a relevant concept. If it is only provided in a sort of trivial or esoteric way, then it will be harder for people to see how it will help them with today's issues.

Re: news service

Posted: Wed Jul 08, 2009 6:43 pm
by JEQuidam
Paul wrote:However, I do want to find a way to show how TTO is a relevant concept.
I'm open to suggestions. If we do choose a political subject, I would want it to be one that is not so fraught with emotion and partisanship (like health care). The bailouts might be a good example. They started while Bush was still President (as TARP), and continued to expand in other forms afterwards. And despite their unreliability, so many different opinion polls have shown overwhelming public opposition to using taxpayer money to bail out private corporations.

The point is to identify those cases where Congress is doing the bidding of the powerful special interests and disregarding the interests and preferences of the citizenry. The challenge is doing this without it becoming a debate over the subject issue itself.

It may be better to focus on the less known micro examples (such as John Murtha's airport) rather than the better publicized macro examples (such as the $50 billion bailout of GM).

Re: news service

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 1:52 am
by Paul
I'm probably thinking more along the lines of when we have a blog. Take specific examples, even if they are a hot topic, and demonstrate how congress is not doing what its constituents want and instead serving the special interests. This way we can illustrate how TTO applies directly to today's issues.