some q&a with steve and me

A PR firm, Schwartz Communications, asked us to participate in a podcast -- no, a Schwartzcast -- a little while back.

They definitely did their homework (the first interviewers we've had who knew our usernames) and he definitely slipped in a few references to my blog.

(A great way to score easy points with me. A harder way is to bake muffins.)

If you're curious about that quote from Thomas Jefferson, you can find it on spreddit (not as obscene as it sounds).

Alas, they edited out most of my obscenities, but most of the meat is still there. Here's the mp3.

the senator from connecticut responds

WARNING: This entry has been rated unsuitable for children under 17.

I guess calling him out over the weekend did the trick. Senator Joe Lieberman responded to my reddit-inspired voice mail from last week.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

no word from senator lieberman

Pity.

I guess I shouldn't have expected a response. If only he had called me and left me an equally explicit voicemail. I'm sure Lieberman has left a few drunk-dial voicemails in his day. That would have been incredible.

And yes, I'm leeching this headshot image right from senate.gov -- I dare them to goatse me...

fuck you, senator lieberman

WARNING: This entry has been rated unsuitable for children under 17.

And you thought I hit a new low with the taxi snapshot. Yesterday was a busy day on reddit, while users discussed the ramifications of Lieberman-Kyl’s Iran amendment passing, a self-post surged up the hot page.

Tell Reddit: Fuck You, Lieberman

You've got admit, it was to the point. As it floated up around the top 10, I decided it was time to take action. If reddit tells me to do something, I'm powerless to resist.

So I called Senator Lieberman and passed along the message. Even his voicemail message sounded insipid as he stumbled over a few words (don't they at least do a couple takes so it sounds crisp -- or at least so it doesn't sound like a parody?).

Anyway, I also wanted to illustrate a seductive effect of this social news movement. This power to affect the news is an tempting substitute for real action. Why leave they keyboard now that you’ve voted an important story up?

I'm certainly not the first to raise this concern (Colbert did a much better job with his The Word, Solitarity) but thought it was worth reiterating -- even though I don't have a solution. Maybe The Guardian will let me write another op-ed about it. I'll probably need a solution first...

I've also always wanted to say "fuck you" to a politician's voicemail. Woo-hoo.

Wait a tick, by blogging about this, I've only perpetuated it. Gah!