Clipping blog

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• Yes, I Would Like Free Streaming Video with My Amazon Prime!
• Clearing the Browser Tabs – Winter’s Revenge Tuesday Edition
• Lila Rose, The Activist Who Puts Journalists to Shame
• Clearing the Browser Tabs – No, Really! I Am Sick Monday Edition

Yes, I Would Like Free Streaming Video with My Amazon Prime! Posted: 22 Feb 2011 08:45 AM PST One of the best deals on the web just got one heck of a lot better today. Amazon has just turned on its Prime Instant Video service, letting paid Prime subscribers (sorry, students) in the US (sorry, foreigners) stream any of 5,000 movies and TV shows directly to their machines free of charge — well, free beyond the $79 Primers already pay. Jeff Bezos has confirmed that there will be no extra charge going forward for this service and that Prime itself will not be getting more expensive to pay for all these bits and bytes. Right now the selection is limited, particularly if you already have a Netflix subscription, but we just had to try it out Click the link to get Engadget’s review, which is fairly favorable and includes the good news that the service seems to work with Google and Roku internet television units. The one big caveat I see is that Netflix subscribers probably won’t get more out of Amazon’s service than they already have. That seems reasonable to me. I can’t imagine that Amazon will want to compete with Netflix in the streaming market. The roster of movies and television shows looks like it could keep a dedicated viewer busy for quite a while (I spy several older seasons of Doctor Who, for instance) and there are plenty of kids’ shows to make the harried parent happy. I’ve been a big fan of Amazon Prime — $79 a year gets you two-day shipping for “free”, and one-day shipping for $3.99 an item — for a little while now. I’ve shifted some of the purchases I’d normally make in brick and mortar stores to Amazon, especially for non-perishable grocery items and household items I might otherwise pick up at WalMart. Prime makes those single-item purchases far more practical, and I reckon it’s saved me time and money in store trips. If you aren’t an Amazon Prime member, and use the site more than a couple times a year, you shuold at least consider it. I’ll say here that I may make a few bucks if you sign up with that link, but I’m not entirely sure. Once upon a time, Amazon did pay us bloggers when anyone signed up for Prime via our websites, but I think that was a temporary offer. Money or not, though, I do think Prime is a good deal and this new streaming video service makes it even better.

Clearing the Browser Tabs – Winter’s Revenge Tuesday Edition Posted: 22 Feb 2011 03:10 AM PST Remember when I said last week that Winter was on her way out? Well, she’s not going to go before she throws one last hissy fit. At last word, snowfall in the DC area could top 7 inches by the time you read this, with the potential for more in Baltimore. I’m going to be on the low end of the accumulation scale, but a couple of inches of snow on top of a little bit of sleet may make things interesting for me as I make my way into work. I should have a guest or two on The Delivery tonight, assuming good health and clear schedules. If not, I’m prepared with a hand full of good topics, so either way, we’ll have some fun. And now, links! I’m not surprised the New York Times has declared blogs dead. The blogs on its site aren’t very good at all and don’t do the one thing a blog should really do — engage the audience and the blogosphere in general. The University of Wisconsin has said it will investigate doctors who handed out fraudulent excuse notes over the weekend. I don’t expect much to come of it, given the rather tepid statement, but I could be surprised. Ed Driscoll took a walk down Orwell Lane and found a lot of double talk on the Wisconsin protests. Meanwhile, Fingers Malloy just wants to thank his Wisconsin teachers. Take a look at this chart that shows how much money our Federal government spent improperly. I was taken by the radical jumps from 2008 onward — the same time as the array of massive bailouts that began with TARP. Speaking of runaway government spending, Jennifer Rubin says the Tea Parties were right all along. I’ve the feeling we’re going to hear much more of this over the next couple of years. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Keep your eyes on Herman Cain. He will be a player in the 2012 campaign. Is this the picture of a heretofore undiscovered Lake Beast? Coolest Dad EVAH: A man built his 6-year old son a playable Angry Birds birthday cake. Let me say that again: A playable Angry Birds birthday cake

Lila Rose, The Activist Who Puts Journalists to Shame Posted: 21 Feb 2011 07:32 PM PST If you have not yet heard the name Lila Rose, you should read Kathryn Jean Lopez’ article about her at National Review Online. She has become a formidable presence among pro-life activists and, more importantly, she has taught some of the old dogs of journalism a few new tricks. Several months ago, she set out to show America how far Planned Parenthood was willing to go to provide abortions to women who wanted them. Now, if you’re pro-choice, that doesn’t seem like such a scandalous thing. Planned Parenthood provides a legal service to whose women who want or (to the pro-choice way of thinking) need it. However, what Rose filmed in at least six clinics truly is a scandal — one that has only gotten cursory attention from those media outlets she has scooped. Here’s how Lopez describes the videos and some of the fallout therefrom: Most of the videos involve a pair of investigators, posing as a pimp and one of his "girls," who visit a Planned Parenthood clinic to ask for advice on tests, contraception, and abortions. (A video released Thursday follows a slightly different scenario, with a lone madam making similar inquiries.) The videos have resulted in the firing of one Planned Parenthood clinic worker in New Jersey and have sent Planned Parenthood and its allies into attack mode. Despite the firing and the announcement that Planned Parenthood will be retraining staff, it still employs such workers as the woman in Virginia who advised Live Action's investigators on the ease of obtaining a judicial pass for abortions for under-age girls, and the woman in the Bronx who advised that although identification would be required for services and financial aid, the pimp himself could write a letter that would serve as proof of employment because "they don't even call you." The latter also said that while they counsel the girls that they really shouldn't be engaging in sexual activity within three weeks after an abortion, "I do have girls come in like three days later, asking me for the Plan B because they just couldn't just stop or for whatever reason they just had to." I believe that Rose’s work provided the evidence needed to tilt some members of the House to vote to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood. It’s one thing to give taxpayer money to a group who provides a legal medical service, but quite another to give money to a group whose workers openly give pimps advice on how to keep their under-aged whores on the streets. Thus far, Planned Parenthood has claimed innocence, the left has circled the wagons, and the President himself chimed in with the shopworn “manufactured” talking point. But with each new video, their responses ring increasingly hollow. Once upon a time, journalists set up their own sting operations to get to the truth of a story. These days, though, we don’t see very much of that and the undercover exposés we do see are amateurish at best and horribly biased at worst. Lila Rose’s videos are what old-school investigative journalism used to be and I hope she continues her good work..

Clearing the Browser Tabs – No, Really! I Am Sick Monday Edition Posted: 21 Feb 2011 09:17 AM PST I hit the wall last night. Actually, the wall hit me, I think. I’ve been fighting off a little cold for a few days and, Sunday, I think my body negotiated a cease-fire. The illness got to sap my energy so that I was thinking at about half-speed while my body got to keep on going free from much beyond a very stuffed-up head. I’m not entirely sure that was a good deal for me, but, as Donald Rumsfeld once famously opined, you go to war with the Quisling immune system you have. Wait…he didn’t say that? Well, I’m sure he said something close to that. Cut me some slack. I’m sick. And now, links! The Battle for Wisconsin continued over the weekend as the Tea Parties engaged the Obama/Union machine. The progressives apparently didn’t get the Presidential Memo on civility in our public discourse nor did their allies in the blogosphere spend much time doing research before launching their predictable counterattack. Meanwhile, Andrew Breitbart rallied the troops on the ground and Dan Collins revealed how the Democrats tried to secure their union allies’ positions long before Governor Walker took office. Meanwhile, Pejman Yousefzadeh (via memeorandum) and Stacy McCain looked back at Scott Walker’s political career and note that this fight shouldn’t have surprised anyone, since he promised to tackle the benefit issue in his campaign. Finally, Jazz Shaw points us to a true teachers’ union success story, you know, to warm our hearts. One last note on public sector unions. This comparison by Chris Edwards at Cato between Virginia and Wisconsin might prove useful. Oh, and speaking of unions, if you’re looking for a big reason why we don’t currently have a free trade deal with Columbia, you don’t have to look any farther than American labor unions. What doesn’t kill Fox News only makes it stronger. Here’s a great image of a space launch taken from the International Space Station. In my perfect world, there would be a dozen such trails streaking into the heavens. Nathan Fillion said last week that he would buy the rights to Firefly if he hit the lottery, which caused a couple former show writers to tweet that they’d be on board with that as well. Now, there’s a grassroots effort to get Fillion the money to put that offer on the table. There are a lot of variables involved in making such a deal happen, even assuming the money was there, but I like that it’s happening and I hope it succeeds. I’d get behind it.

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