Lisa Sylvester on campaign contributors to the new Super Committee debt panel, discusses their agendas with Bill Allison of Sunlight Foundation

CNN video: Reporter Lisa Sylvester examines the identity and interests of some of the largest campaign contributors to the 12 members of the new Super Committee debt panel, and discusses their agendas with The Sunlight Foundation's Bill Allison. August 16, 2011.

http://youtu.be/ljaJg2k-Z04

Sunlight Foundation video: The Debt Ceiling Deal and You, August 15, 2011

http://youtu.be/lv-1zUV742Y

The informative videos above about the Super Committee Debt group were in my YouTube Channel inbox today, and yesterday afternoon I received this latest email from Nicole Aro of The Sunlight Foundation, and I reprint it here for your edification:

Dear Sunlighter,

Congressional leaders have appointed members to the “Super Committee” -- 12 lawmakers assigned the power and responsibility of cutting $1.5 trillion from the national deficit -- by the end of the year. As you might expect, lobbyists and powerful special interests have already started to circle.

This “Super Congress” or “Super Committee” certainly has “Super Powers” -- but if they don’t pledge to be Super Transparent, we won’t know if they’re working for us or for the powerful, wealthy lobbyists and special interests in Washington. This work could stay in the shadows until the recommendations of the committee are released in December!

We made a quick video I want to share with you about the “Super Congress” - will you watch it and join our campaign?

The creation of this committee -- totally outside normal congressional rules and accountability -- is a pretty clear signal that something is broken in our democracy. While the committee members are certainly entitled to some private deliberation, this process needs be open and transparent. Sunlight's come up with five demands to increase transparency in this committee, but we need your help to make sure others join our campaign.

Demand an Open Super Congress and ask your friends to join you today.

Thanks for all that you do,

Nicole, Tiina, John and the rest of the Sunlight team

P.S. -- Got a clever idea for a campaign tactic that will show Congress we’re serious about our democracy? Please let us know here -- or let us know if you think someone else has a really great idea.

------

http://sunlightfoundation.com/

http://www.youtube.com/user/SunlightFoundation

also see Pelosi Names Clyburn, Van Hollen, Becerra to Debt Panel

http://youtu.be/6NFiAYx740w

Video: Channel 4 News technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen on the browser battle between Microsoft and Google for the British and European markets

I'm finally ready to play catch up on some news videos that I have been meaning to post here for quite some time. I think you'll find them quite informative and entertaining, which is the way the new should always be presented -but isn't. The first is one from February 15th from Channel 4 News (U.K.)

Technology correspondent Benjamin Cohen on the browser battle between Microsoft and Google for the British and European markets, Explorer vs. Chrome for customer loyalty and the $, Sterling & Euros that come to search engines.

February 15, 2010
Segment begins at 04:22

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1529573111?bclid=66056040001&bctid=66636953001




Benjamin Cohen's informative technology blog is at:
http://blogs.channel4.com/benjamin-cohen-on-technology/


Catch up on the last seven days of Channel 4 News programs with their catch up service at
http://www.channel4.com/news/catch-up/

www.channel4.com/news

Blogger.com's new Editor is dreadfully S-L-O-W -when it works, i.e why no posts here for 6 days; Google's Eric Schmidt on The Charlie Rose Show

I love Google but... Google's Blogger.com new Editor is dreadfully S-L-O-W -when it works. That's why there have been no posts in this space for the past six days.

I have gotten progressively more frustrated and in order to get information out, was forced to send some of the info out as emails with suggestions to forward it. I hate doing that, plus it's much more time-consuming.

Every time I got into it and was staring at a blank box, my computer, using Mozilla Firefox, immediately begins to "hang" for minutes at a time, and that's after it takes forever to load.
I was constantly having to re-start my computer!!!
Much longer than the old Editor, which was/is positively breezy by comparison.

Friday night I watched the fascinating 32-minute interview with Google Inc. (GOOG) CEO and Chairman Eric Schmidt on The Charlie Rose Show.
http://www.charlierose.com/

Interview at http://www.charlierose.com/view/content/11217
Past Schmidt interviews at http://www.charlierose.com/guest/view/1007

While I usually enjoy seeing Schmidt and other high-tech types on Charlie's show, along with certain authors and columnists, given what I have been dealing with for the past week, I couldn't help but watch a little more incredulously than usual...
(Cue dream sequence music...)

Given the overwhelming unpopular opinion and problems that bloggers all over the world have had with this new "improvement," I'd have happily agree to buy Charlie a coffee and a sandwich at his favorite Starbuck's in NYC if he simply had interrupted some of the more self-congratulatory chit-chat and asked Schmidt the following:

"It's said by many that the Blogger.com platform more than anything else helped usher in the blogging revolution, but it's hard not to notice the crescendo of criticism surrounding the introduction of your new "Editor" that is supposed to allow the customer to proof the post more accurately than ever, but yet is beset with all manner of functional problems that remain unsolved as of this taping, and reportedly, you even neglected to incorporate something as basic as a spell-checking widget function in the new version.
Tell me, why would Google introduce a new version of something important to writing a blog but neglect to include a spell-checker?
Is this an example of Google NOT listening to your customers?"

Google's Eric Schmidt Talks to Charlie Rose

Google's CEO on the power of Facebook, the rivalry with Apple (where until recently he sat on the board), and trying to do the right thing in China

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_40/b4197039435964.htm

Can you PLEASE not get rid of the Old Editor?

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=734e63d2afe481b4&hl=en

New Editor gives "server error" when trying to upload images

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=452f0957bd0f7028&hl=en

See also the interviews on the topic of The Growth of Google with Michael Copeland , Chris Anderson and Jessica Vascellaro at
http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/11174