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I want to get away from the invasive tech giants.

CNN was not permitted to attend, along with the New York Times, Politico, Buzzfeed and much of the foreign press that regularly attends White House briefings.

The celebrated openness of the Internet -- network providers are not supposed to give preferential treatment to any traffic -- is quietly losing powerful defenders. Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Google has traditionally been one of the loudest advocates of equal network access for all content providers. At risk is a principle known as network neutrality: Cable and phone companies that operate the data pipelines are supposed to treat all traffic...

Google this week admitted that its staff will pick and choose what appears in its search results. It's a historic statement - and nobody has yet grasped its significance. Not so very long ago, Google disclaimed responsibility for its search results by explaining that these were chosen by a computer algorithm. The disclaimer lives on at Google News, where we are assured that: The selection and placement of stories on this page were determined automatically by a computer program. A few years ago, Google's apparently unimpeachable objectivity got some people very excited, and technology utopians began to herald Google as...

TWO newspaper reports and a youtube video unfavorable to Barack Obama have all mysteriously disappeared off the internet. I did a desparate google search and found someone else noticed and took a screen shot. Click below for screen shots from a liberal democrat? site. Click Here

Yesterday, an exchange between White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow, and NBC White House Correspondent, David Gregory, took place at the WH Press gaggle. Gaggles are not broadcast; thus, no video usually exists for them. As a public service, Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade reenacted the Gregory-Snow exchange. For your interest and edification, that video does exist: Fox&Friends' Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade act out the script of the finger exchange between NBC's David Gregory and Press Secretary Tony Snow at the press gaggle on September 5, 2006. Filename: Fox&Friends Do Gregory&Snow.wmv Filesize: 3.8 KB Note: Arrow...

Press Gaggle by Tony Snow Aboard Air Force One En route Artesia, New Mexico 10:43 A.M. EDT MR. SNOW: All right. Well, I think you guys know the order of battle today will be Artesia first, and then on to Laredo. So rather than going through that, let's just open it up for questions. Q Larijani, the Iranian chief nuclear negotiator, said that the incentives package has positive things in it, but some ambiguities. Is this a good step? MR. SNOW: We are not commenting at this point on any of the characterizations of the incentives or the disincentives. I'll...

"It obviously at this point is just a mess," new White House press secretary Tony Snow said good naturedly, summing up his rocky first question-and-answer session with reporters.During 23 sometimes-chaotic minutes Friday with the White House press corps in his West Wing office, Snow offered a half-dozen apologies for a less-than-smooth debut, pleaded ignorance on seven questions and ruled out all talk of international or currency issues."I do not wish to set off global tempests," he said, "because I frankly just don't know enough on those." (snip) Snow is waiting until Tuesday to hold his first televised briefing, taking advantage...

A Day With the White House 'Gaggle' Written by Vincent Fiore Monday, February 20, 2006 Lately, a typical day in the life of the mainstream media sounds something like your average trial-by-mob assemblage. For our purposes here, the setting will be the White House press room. On “trial” is the entire Bush administration. Specifically, the main topic of discussion is the recent accidental shooting of a fellow hunter and friend by Vice President Cheney. White House press secretary Scott McClellan holds what is commonly referred to as the “Gaggle,” a near-daily briefing given to the chief White House correspondents of...

I need some advice, and this group may be able to help. A flock of geese (Canada) has landed on the water next to our house and has apparently decided that water and my lawn are where they would like to winter over. We had this happen a few years ago, and they tore the daylights out of my lawn and left enough "fertilizer" to last a lifetime. My two labs are pretty good at dispersing them (the younger is nicknamed "Goosechaser"), but this bunch is persistent and keeps coming back. I am thinking of taking it to the next...

Ottawa — As neighbours go, they can be downright un-Canadian — honking rudely at strangers, huffing about having to share space, thoughtlessly leaving their crap lying around. Good looks only get you so far when you're a goose, and in the United States, the locals have had it with the boorish habits of the white-cheeked species that bears the name of their neighbour to the north. From New York to Seattle, they're debating a lethal eviction of unprecedented proportion; in some cities, the gas chambers have already dispatched unlucky gaggles, sometimes even serving the birds up at soup kitchens. The...