Free Republic

Was Palin's comment about Obama fair? No 55% Yes 45% Total Votes: 212,157 Note on Poll Results

THINGS COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE! Braised squirrel, anyone? Or how about a delicious calf’s head? Maybe kids should eat more bacon for better health, or try scrumptious jellied bullion with frankfurters, corned tongue in aspic, brain loaf, marinated chicken entrails, with cucumbers, of course, liver mousse in port aspic, tongue with cherries, or tripe wiggle? We present those delicacies listed under AOL’s “Grossest Things Americans Used to Eat” (http://www.aolrewind.com/?feature=170867&ncid=aolnws00150000000004&icid=200100397×1209674232x1200539459 as, hopefully, a welcome respite from all the dire news of late. The best news is that all of the above, and more delicacies, (recipes included!), are from out of print...

Rats hitting it hard. What's your reaction to Palin's comments leaving open the option of war with Russia? Thumbs up 19% Thumbs down 81% Total Votes: 711 Do you think Sarah Palin is prepared to be vice president? Yes 21% No 79% Total Votes: 695

Palin Says She's Ready for High Office http://news.aol.com/elections/article/palin-says-shes-ready-for-high-office/163723?icid=100214839x1209362848x1200545125

The AOL straw poll obviously tilts more towards McCain than any scientic poll - the latest has an astonishing 3-to-1 (76% - 24%) 50-state lead for McCain. I suspect AOL users are older and more white than the public at large. I think however it is useful for tracking trends - over the last 2 months it has exhibited weekly a consistent trend toward McCain. There was a huge drop-off in the last week for Obama. By way of calibration I found 2004 AOL straw poll data that showed Bush led Kerry by "only" 58% - 40% (48 states) on...

32 point lead

Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and the city of Memphis have filed a lawsuit to learn who operates a blog harshly critical of Godwin and his department. The lawsuit asks AOL to produce all information related to the identity of an e-mail address linked to MPD Enforcer 2.0, a blog popular with police officers that has been extremely critical of police leadership at 201 Poplar. "In what could be a landmark case of privacy and the 1st Amendment," the anonymous bloggers write on the site, "Godwin has illegally used his position and the City of Memphis as a ram to...

Seems unlikely.

As Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) pursuit of Internet portal Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) drags on, Wall Street analysts are increasingly speculating the software giant may be focusing on a Plan B: Tying up with internet service provider AOL. The speculation was revived on Wednesday when The Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft executives met with representatives of Time Warner Inc. (TWX), AOL's parent company, to discuss a possible union. Microsoft has reportedly been in informal discussions in recent months to explore an AOL deal, which the Redmond, Wash.-based company sees as a potential way to boost its Internet presence. The talks come against...

A Weekly Poll of American Politics Jul 14-Jul 21 2008

The poll was restated today: 29,356 votes so far. McCain is leading Obama by 74-26%. Go to the link to vote.

In the ongoing AOL straw poll McCain is winning 50 states and 64% of the popular vote. Almost 200,000 people have voted so far. Here is the link: http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/07/07/aol-straw-poll-july-7-14

Rochester, NY (AHN) - New York Attorney Gen. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday that AT&T and AOL have agreed to eliminate child porn news groups from their Internet servers. Child porn news groups are a major supplier of illegal images. Agreements with AT&T, the nation's largest Internet Service Provider (ISP), and AOL, the nation's third largest, are in addition to similar agreements with Verizon, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable, which Cuomo announced last month. "These agreements with two of the nation's largest ISPs to eradicate child porn websites from their servers tighten the noose around this despicable trade," Cuomo said...

AOL is always running one kind of poll or another. Throughout the primary process they have been running weekly polls on the candidates. They are self selecting so they are not scientific but I must say that overall they seem to fairly reflect what is going on. I don't know if this is because unlike say a CNN, Times or Pew poll, the AOL audience is more a representative cross section of America or voters or what. Generally their poll results seem to lean left but not overwhelmingly so. After the Heller decision their gun poll showed 60-70% supporting the...

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/straw-poll

Government meddling with the free-market forces can have ill consequences. Just look at how government mandates for corn-based ethanol have affected the global food supply. According to CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi, CNN viewers rate the economy as the most important issue and named gas prices as their number one concern. "AOL Money Coach" Hilary Kramer agreed with viewers, but regarded Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama's proposal as "valuable" when matched with alternative energy legislation. "Absolutely right," Kramer said on CNN's May 5 "Issue #1." "That's why Barack Obama with a $150 billion package that he wants to...

AOL contacts Microsoft as Steve Ballmer walks away from Yahoo! bid AOL, the internet arm of Time Warner, has approached Microsoft about a possible tie-up as a deal between the software group and Yahoo! unravelled, The Times has learnt. The move emerged as Microsoft this weekend said it was walking away from Yahoo!, after the online search engine rejected a second, higher offer from the software group valuing Yahoo! at $47.5 billion (£24 billion). The news broke after a meeting in Seattle on Saturday at which Steve Ballmer, chief executive of Microsoft, sought to persuade Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo,...

Bay Area cable provider Comcast Corp. and San Jose-based eBay Inc. may be potential bidders for Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, as Microsoft Corp.'s offer for Yahoo Inc. threatens to knock out the two most likely suitors for the Internet unit, Pali Research said. There's a lack of buyers for AOL, Richard Greenfield, an analyst at Pali Research, said Monday in a note. Still, Comcast Chief Executive Officer Brian Roberts may be interested in AOL to get its advertising network and Web site, he wrote. Roberts is unlikely to pay more than $10 billion, according to Greenfield. In 2000, AOL purchased...

NEW YORK (AP) - Netscape Navigator, the world's first commercial Web browser and the launch pad of the Internet boom, will be pulled off life support Feb. 1 after a 13-year run. Its current caretakers, Time Warner Inc. (TWX)'s AOL, decided to kill further development and technical support to focus on growing the company as an advertising business. Netscape's usage dwindled with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s entry into the browser business, and Netscape all but faded away following the birth of its open-source cousin, Firefox. "While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting...

Excerpt - Soon, Netscape Navigator - the first highly successful graphical web browser (yeah, yeah, I know Mosaic came before Netscape, but I don't remember seeing Mosaic floppy-disks bundled with my PC World and Macworld magazines in 1995, at least not under the name "Mosaic") - will be nothing more than a footnote in Internet history. Let's take a moment of silence for the big N. OK, that was long enough. AOL, the parent company of this blog and Netscape, has announced that they will cease support for the current version of Netscape as of February 1, 2008. Netscape, which...

An historic name in software will effectively pass into history in February as AOL discontinues development and active support for the Netscape browser, according to an official blog. AOL will keep delivering security patches for the current version of Netscape until Feb. 1, 2008, after which it will no longer provide active support for any version of the software, according to a Friday entry on The Netscape Blog by Tom Drapeau, lead developer for Netscape.com. The Netscape.com Web site will remain as a general-purpose portal. Netscape was the original mass-market Web browser and helped to popularize the Internet in the...

Just got alerted to this from a buddy in Germany. Time Warner subsidiary AOL is running a "dating" website through AOL Germany which offers AOL users the opportunity to cheat on their spouses. It's like a dating site but the gist of it is that AOL users can register discreetly to find other, interested cheaters. It offers "Affairs" and "Seitensprünge" which is the German term for a quick, one night stand outside of marriage. Now if it wasn't sick enough for Time Warner to stoop this low, they're advertising that a portion of the proceeds go to needy children in...

Current Results Republicans 138,270 Ron Paul 44,805 32% Rudy Guliani 22,520 16% Mike Huckabee 21,768 16% John McCain 18,996 14% Mitt Romney 17,640 13% Fred Thompson 11,169 11% Duncan Hunter 1,372 1% Democrats 123,492 Hillary Clinton 55,172 45% Barak Obama 33,786 27% John Edwards 19,810 16% Joe Biden 4,940 4% Dennis Kucinich 4,825 4% Bill Richardson 3,479 2% Chris Dodd 762 1% Mike Gravel 718 1%

NEW YORK (AP) — AOL is reducing its global work force by 2,000 employees, or 20 percent, as it continues a transition from Internet access provider to online advertising company.The latest round of job cuts comes on top of 5,000 positions eliminated last fall, after AOL said it would begin giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying subscribers to boost traffic to ad-supported Web sites."This realignment will allow us to increase investment in high-growth areas of the company — as an example, we added hundreds of people this year through acquisitions — while scaling...

Not confirmed, but we are hearing that Time Warner's AOL (TWX) is considering firing 20%-25% of all employees worldwide.  The logic: Last quarter's advertising weakness was not an aberration, and the only way the company can preserve its operating income is to drastically cut expenses.  AOL declined to comment. Whatever the exact percentage, these cuts would go way beyond the oft-discussed shuttering of the new iteration of Netscape, kids' sites, etc.  Key employees have reportedly been summoned to important meetings in Dulles this week without being told the subject of the meetings.  Know more?  Please tell us (hblodget@alleyinsider.com). UPDATE:...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Averting a looming court battle over how it has been handling the exodus from its Internet dial-up service, AOL has agreed to make it easier for its remaining customers to leave as part of a $3 million settlement with 48 states, including North Carolina, and the District of Columbia. The resolution announced Wednesday was driven by a deluge of complaints from AOL customers who said they tried to close their accounts, only to be thwarted in their attempts or discover they were still being billed for services that they thought had been canceled. The outcry triggered...

Google's privacy practices are the worst among the Internet's top destinations, according to a watchdog group seeking to intensify the recent focus on how the online search leader handles personal information about its users. In a report released Saturday, London-based Privacy International assigned Google its lowest possible grade. The category is reserved for companies with "comprehensive consumer surveillance and entrenched hostility to privacy." None of the 22 other surveyed companies - a group that included Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) and AOL - sunk to that level, according to Privacy International. While a number of other Internet companies have...

What do you think of O'Donnell? I love her I hate her I love and hate her No strong opinion And three other polls!

What are the motives of Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton? Help resolve situation Help themselves

The long time rumor that several major media organizations were going to start a YouTube rival are apparently coming true. Word from NBC Universal and News Corporation that they are about to start such a service. AOL, MSN, MySpace and Yahoo! will be the new site’s initial distribution partners. Their users, who represent 96 percent of the monthly U.S. unique users on the Internet, will have unlimited access to the site’s vast library of content. This media alliance will offer consumers free long- and short-form video and create a compelling platform for advertisers, targeting the rapidly growing audience of online...

March 20, 2007 Giuliani Top Choice Among Both Moderate, Conservative Republicans Gingrich, Romney do better among conservatives than moderates by Jeffrey M. Jones GALLUP NEWS SERVICEPRINCETON, NJ -- With the 2008 Republican presidential field beginning to come into shape, there are still questions and apparent opportunities for a favorite "conservative" candidate to emerge. The three leading announced contenders -- Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney -- have taken stances in the past that are out of step, if not unpopular, with conservative voters, although all have taken recent steps to try to reassure conservatives. The key question is...

NEW YORK - AOL is offering users of its AIM instant messaging service new capabilities to see where people on their buddy lists are physically located. The first phase of this push is with an unusual software plug-in developed by Skyhook Wireless, whose backers include Intel Corp. Skyhook tracks locations by using the continuous wireless pulses emitted by all Wi-Fi transmitters and Wi-Fi-enabled computers, rather than more common satellite-based approach. The Skyhook plug-in, available as a free download, adds a new grouping to AIM's buddy list window called "Near Me." That group will feature the names of any buddies who...

Comcast, the second largest broadband ISP in U.S., is in talks to use Microsoft’s search services on its broadband portal, a sign the cable titan isn’t happy about its current search deal with Google, reports WSJ, citing sources. The Comcast-Google deal is till the end of this year. Comcast thinks it should get a larger search ad rev share, and is also is unhappy about other terms of the deal. The company gets about $70 million in shared revenues through the Google deal, but wants $100 million, the story says. The site gets about 15 million visitors a month, and...

Another new search engine, which offers local search service, will soon boost to the Internet market industry. AOL LLC had started to test it new local search service engine, which finally adds up to the many competitors in the Internet industry for years. According to AOL LLC if the internet users are interested and curious on giving a service test drive all they have to do is try to look at the main page of the AOL’s main portal page and there they will find a local tab in the search box. Then just click that on, and that tab...

How would you rate Cheney's performance overall? Excellent Good Fair Poor

WASHINGTON (Jan. 24) - A disputed report on the Web site of a conservative magazine about Senator Barack Obama’s childhood schooling kicked off a pointed exchange this week between the rival cable news networks CNN and Fox News, when CNN seemed to make an overt effort both to debunk the report and to question the quality of Fox News’s journalism.

On the AOL home page right now...Which President Was a 'Disaster?' Was? As in past tense? Why is Bush's photo included when he's STILL President? Also interesting that his photo is in the center. This display tells me that the MSM believes it's really Nancy Pelosi running the country right now.

NEW YORK - AOL's chief executive announced yet another restructuring of the online company's corporate structure Monday, creating a senior position to market its brand while naming several executives who will report to a newly appointed deputy. Randy Falco, recently hired from NBC as AOL LLC's chairman and chief executive, acknowledged in a memo to employees that much work remained "in such crucial areas as our speed to market and innovating new products." Although AOL once was the dominant Internet brand, the company has seen its paying subscribers leave for free offerings from Yahoo Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.'s...

AOL laid off more than 450 employees at its corporate headquarters yesterday as part of plans announced earlier this year to cut costs and change the company's business strategy. The Dulles company said it was not cutting as many jobs locally as originally anticipated. In August, AOL executives said that about 1,000 of the 5,000 jobs to be cut worldwide would be local. Including yesterday's cuts, AOL has eliminated fewer than 600 positions in Northern Virginia. "In August, we were making a preliminary estimate based on very early information about how the company's new strategy would affect our structure," said...

1. "We're making a mint on your 401(k) — even if you're not." The number of 401(k) investors has soared in the past decade, to nearly 50 million from 28 million, according to Cerulli Associates. That torrid growth has created impressive efficiencies for the folks who run your plan. But it doesn't mean those savings show up in your account; in fact, they could be coming straight out of it. In a practice known as revenue sharing, providers get a cut of the expense ratio on the funds in your 401(k) to cover day-to-day "administrative costs." Since the fee is...

Do you agree with McCain's criticism of the former president? No 52% Yes 48% Total Votes: 188,313 Note on Poll Results

Let's tally up the poll at AOL News ...

RICHMOND (AP) -- The Virginia Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the nation's first felony conviction of illegal spamming. Jeremy Jaynes, of Raleigh, N.C., considered among the top 10 spammers in the world at the time of his arrest, used the Internet to peddle pornography and sham products and services, prosecutors said. Thousands of people fell for his scam, grossing Jaynes' operations up to $750,000 per month, investigators said. In its unanimous ruling, the appeals court wrote that Virginia has a "legitimate public interest" in policing unsolicited e-mail and that the state anti-spamming law's effect on interstate commerce "is incidental and...

Do Bush's policies make you feel more or less safe? Will his policies help or hurt Republicans in the midterm elections? ''[Our enemies] are successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th century.'' Do you agree?

Although he was alarmed by AOL's haphazard release of its subscribers' online search requests, Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt said Wednesday the privacy concerns raised by that breach won't change his company's practice of storing the inquiries made by its users. "We are reasonably satisfied ... that this sort of thing would not happen at Google, although you can never say never," Schmidt said during an appearance at a major search engine conference in San Jose. The security breakdown, disclosed earlier this week, publicly exposed about 19 million search requests made by more than 658,000 AOL subscribers during the three...

For all of the hand-wringing that has occurred, and is occurring regarding the use of surveillance schemes by the NSA to uncover terrorists communications, the loss of personal privacy has been a recurring theme in the press, as well as the left blogsphere. More than anything, I think, it boils down to a distrust of the Republican administration. Not unlike the right's distrust of the previous Democrat administration. Remember the FBI files? Unless you conduct all of your transactions in cash, use shielded and encrypted internet connections, and stay away from telephones, you have no privacy. I'm not even sure...

AOL's publication of the search histories of more than 650,000 of its users has yielded more than just one of the year's bigger privacy scandals. The 21 million search queries also have exposed an innumerable number of life stories ranging from the mundane to the illicit and bizarre. For its part, AOL has apologized for a researcher's disclosure of the massive database and has yanked the file from its Web site. It was too late: The database already had been mirrored. That database does not include names or user identities. Instead, it lists only a unique ID number for each...

AOL criticized for spilling search data Internet division of Time Warner acknowledges 'screw-up' for releasing information on 20 million AOL searches. August 7 2006: 11:57 AM EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) -- AOL on Monday said it released a small portion of keyword search information for about 658,000 anonymous AOL users in a move that ignited a firestorm of criticism on the Internet amid calls for tighter protection of the privacy of users' Web searches. The Internet division of media conglomerate Time Warner (down $0.20 to $16.36, Charts) released information on about 20 million searches done from its AOL software over...

"AOL must have missed the uproar over the DOJ’s demand for “anonymized” search data last year that caused all sorts of pain for Microsoft and Google. That’s the only way to explain their release of data that includes 20 million web queries from 650,000 AOL users.The data includes all searches from those users for a three month period this year, as well as whether they clicked on a result, what that result was and where it appeared on the result page.... While the AOL username has been changed to a random ID number, the abilitiy to analyze all searches by...