2007
5 Ways to Swift Boat a Presidential Candidate - The verdict is in: negative campaigning works. It's a sad but true fact of life in America today that "the informational benefits of negative political ads possess the capacity to promote political participation," according to a 1996 study by the Campaign Connection of Seattle, "particularly among those otherwise least well equipped for political learning." In other words, swift boating (aka Borking) works like gangbusters on dumb folks.
Q&A Interview: Justin Gardner of Donklephant.com - Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly reasonable. Donklephant.com Editor Justin Gardner is a man after my own heart, dedicated to respectful, civil, reasonable debate with just a touch of the outlandish thrown in for good measure. In this interview Justin discusses how Donklephant.com got its start, how he keeps the site's many contributors on task, top challenges, and where Donklephant.com is headed in the future.
Q&A Interview: David Dees, aka The CodFather - David Dees is an artist in the purest sense of the word. Does that sound corny? Hell yes it does, but what I mean to say is he lives his art. For three decades he's worked as an illustrator and musician, and that experience shows in his satire. He wields a mouse like he was born to use Photoshop, even though he's too humble to admit it. In this interview I ask David about his creative process, the tools he uses to design, overcoming artist's block, and working as an illustrator.
Q&A Interview: Newshounds.us (They watch FOX so we don't have to) - Recently, I had the opportunity to bend the ear of one of the News Hounds (Ellen), who described the site and the work the News Hounds do. They believe a viable democracy depends upon viable media. What do you think?
20 Top Political Forums of 2007 - What follows aren't complete reviews of these sites and everything each has to offer. These are only reviews of their community discussion forums. I tried to stick to sites running traditional forum software, like phpBB and vBulletin, as opposed to comment blogs, with a few exceptions here for notorious blogs like Daily Kos, Huffington Post and Free Republic. Here you'll find forums on the left, forums on the right, and forums in the middle.
GIMP: A Free Alternative to Photoshop - GIMP is a great open source program (read: free) to edit and retouch your digital photos and other images, but the key thing to remember is that it's completely free. In features it compares well to the $79 pricetag Adobe sticks on Photoshop Elements 5.0. In this beginner's hands-on video look at GIMP, I highlight some of its features and walk you through retouching a digital photo.
Q&A Interview: Leo Lincourt, Founder of the Carnival of the Liberals and Neural Gourmet - What is a blog carnival? Leo Lincourt, founder of the first major blog carnival with a decidedly lefty/liberal slant, explains. He also gives valuable advice for people thinking about starting their own blog, tips like 1) don't be shy. Perhaps the best thing about writing a blog, Leo says, is the opportunity it gives you to interact with people you might never have met in real life.
How to Make Political Cartoons With ComicLife - A very basic hands-on video introduction to using Plasq's ComicLife to make political cartoons and comics (or any other kinds of cartoons and comics). ComicLife comes preinstalled on all new Apple Macintosh computers, and by July 2007 will be available for Windows PCs as well.
Q&A Interview: ~A! of LiberalsOnly.com and WatchingtheWatchers.org - I've been lucky lately. Last weekend I sat down to talk with ~A!, also known as Anthony Levensalor, creator of WatchingtheWatchers.org and LiberalsOnly.com. I asked ~A! why he got into political blogging and what advice he has for anyone considering doing it for fun or profit.
Q&A Interview: Five Questions for Bartcop - Online for more than a decade, the infamous Bart of Bartcop.com, one of the first and largest political humor and commentary sites on the Innertubes, sits down to talk with me over shots of tequila.
Reviews: 10 Top Sites for Political Cartoons, Funny Videos, Satire and Humor - Why waste another second on seriousness when the web is bursting with political fun? These 10 web sites are sure to please even the toughest comedy critics. Political cartoons, funny videos, satire and Bush jokes are just the beginning! Now, drat! -- where the heck did I leave my joke of the day?
How to Make Political Cartoons with a Computer - From idea to storyboard to finished product this article will show how you can make your own political cartoons with a computer. Don't let that fancy computer go to waste!
Why I Started Pollyticks.com - What possessed me to start a political site and how I went about doing it.
Political ebooks
Sun Tzu on the Art of War: The Oldest Military Treatise in the World - One of the most influential books in military and political history, Sun Tzu's 2,500-year-old book is now in the public domain and has been reprinted here in its entirety. See how lessons learned thousands of years ago have been forgotten by our leaders today.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll - "It's Alice in Wonderland," Sen. Chuck Hagel, second-ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, said of President Bush's Iraq troop surge in early 2007. "I'm absolutely opposed to sending any more troops to Iraq. It is folly." The book is part of the public domain now and has been reprinted here in its entirety for your interest and amusement.