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DEF is a non-partisan, independent political blog based in the
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Our YouTube account has been restored and I am happy to report that all 507 of our videos are back online.
It was two weeks ago that KSDK Channel 5 filed two bogus copyright infringement claims against us with YouTube claiming we unfairly used segments from their news broadcasts in our media watch reports.
We maintained our usage of KSDK's video falls under the "Fair Use" provision in copyright law and filed a counter-notification with YouTube.
Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for purposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work.
Our win against KSDK, though it will likely go completely underreported locally (like far too many significant events — which is, of course, why PubDef exists and KSDK is threatened by us), is huge in this new media vs. old media revolution which we are proudly engaged in.
One small step for PubDef; one giant leap for St. Louis independent media!
We're happy to announce a couple of great new features! First, we now have continuous play on PubDef.TV, meaning you just go to the site and videos start playing automatically, one after the other — just like real TV, but on-demand!
We've also made it easy for you to sign up to receive breaking news updates from PubDef right in your email inbox, Blackberry, or (coming June 29) iPhone. Look to the left side of the page to add your email address to our mailing list.
Be the first to know what happened! Sign up today for PubDef.net Alerts.
YouTube, which PubDef.net uses to post and play our videos, has just added a cool new scroll-through feature on its player that shows related videos.
It's fun to play with and lets you discover new, related videos without leaving our site. Just hover over the video after pressing "play" and watch the magic unfold. Here, try it with our most popular video ever...
And by clicking the "menu" button, you can easily access the code to embed our videos on your own site or the URL to link directly to it.
The field is narrowing and time is running out for area college students interested in being an intern with PubDef.net this summer.
The names of the two people selected for the 8-week guided tour through the world of St. Louis politics will be announced on Friday. Yes, applications are still being accepted, but get them in soon!
Email resumes and cover letters to editor@pubdef.net. Click here to learn more about this exciting opportunity.
Following the release of the groundbreaking AppleTV, allowing us to watch video podcasts on our television — further eliminating the need to ever watch broadcast TV — we'll be updating our own podcast much more regularly. So subscribe today to have our new vids automatically download to iTunes on your computer and AppleTV in your living room.
And yes, it's free... But I think now is a great time to remind you about the costs associated with producing this site and these videos (video tapes, microphones, computer upgrades, gas – Oy vey!), and to remind you about that little "Make a Donation" button over there to the left. Hint-hint.
Since PubDef.net started 18 months ago, it has basically been a one man operation. The facts you read are as I know them to be true. The opinions expressed here have been my own.
But starting next week, the reports, opinions and views of a few new contributors will be added to the mix.
These invited guests will bring their own unique perspectives to this expanding discussion of local (and soon national) politics, media, education, race, economics, and much more — all while maintaining Pub Def's reputation for accuracy, honesty, speed, and relevancy.
I'm scheduled to be a guest on "Collateral Damage" tonight with hosts D.J. Wilson and Fred Hessel and Steve Patterson of Urban Review STL. The show starts at 7:00 and can be heard on KDHX 88.1 FM or online at www.kdhx.org.
Topics likely to be discussed: Darlene Green and Jim Shrewsbury killing the BJC expansion deal, the race for Aldermanic President, and will there be a takeover of SLPS?
For the benefit of the general public and the members of the State Board of Education, PubDef.TV has been updated with videos from Tuesday's hearing on the future of St. Louis Public Schools.
Thanks to the engineers at Google and Blogger, PubDef now has labels!
From now on, each post will be categorized for easy reference. Just click on the label (such as "schools") and all the stories related to that topic will come up on one page.
Now, we've got hundreds and hundreds of old posts to go through, so give us a while to label all the old stuff. But all new posts will be labeled.
Looking for a story from last week, last month, or even last year? Look to the left side of the page in the Pub Def Archives.
To keep the page relatively quick to download (I know, even now it's a beast for slower Internet connections), we only keep the last few days of news on the front page. If you want all the recent stuff, go to the January 2007 archive and get everything from this month on one page.
Missouri Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Action Seminar Today
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 9:18 AM
Have YouTube, Blogs, and electronic information changed how campaigns are won and lost? That's the question fellow blogger John Combest and I will be discussing today at the Missouri Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Action Seminar at the Chase Park Plaza. Roy Temple, of FiredUpMissouri.com, may also join us.
Our panel is scheduled to begin at 11:00.
Other discussions will include a look at the state's new campaign finance regulations and lobbying laws (featuring Joe Carroll and Liz Ziegler from the Missouri Ethics Commission) and Missouri's political landscape "as viewed by the pen and the pad" (featuring Jo Mannies, Post-Dispatch; and Dave Drebes, Arch City Chronicle).
Missouri Chamber of Commerce's Legislative Action Seminar This Week
By Antonio D. French
Filed
Monday, November 13, 2006 at 9:09 AM
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry will be holding their Legislative Action Seminar on Thursday at the Chase Park Plaza. There will be several panel discussions on economic development, politics and technology featuring state and local government and media people. Click here for a full schedule.
We'd like to call your attention to the 11:00 discussion on technology's impact on the political process: "Have YouTube, Blogs, and electronic information changed how campaigns are won and lost?" This panel will include Antonio French (www.pubdef.net), John Combest (www.johncombest.com), and Roy Temple (www.firedupmissouri.com).
Other discussions will look at the state's new campaign finance regulations and lobbying laws (featuring Joe Carroll and Liz Ziegler from the Missouri Ethics Commission) and Missouri's political landscape "as viewed by the pen and the pad" (featuring Jo Mannies, Post-Dispatch; and Dave Drebes, Arch City Chronicle).
I'm scheduled to be a guest this morning on The Freeman Bosley, Jr. Show around 9:00 a.m. on 100.3 The Beat - KATZ FM. We'll be talking about the results from Tuesday's elections.
I'm scheduled to be a guest on "Collateral Damage" tonight discussing tomorrow's elections with hosts D.J. Wilson and Fred Hessel. The show starts at 7:00 and can be heard on KDHX 88.1 FM or online at www.kdhx.org.
I'm scheduled to be a guest next Sunday morning, Nov. 12, on the Freeman Bosley, Jr. Show around 9:00 a.m. on KATZ 100.3 FM. We'll be talking about the results from Tuesday's elections.
We hope you enjoy our new "mini theater" on the left side of the page. Now you can play several of PUB DEF's most recent interviews and exclusive videos from any page on the site.
You can even create "remixes" on the fly by playing two videos at once. To enlarge the video, simply click on the YouTube logo. Enjoy.
I'll be a guest on "Collateral Damage" tonight discussing the various amendments and propositions on next week's ballot with Dave Drebes of the Arch City Chronicle and hosts D.J. Wilson and Fred Hessel. The show starts at 7:00 and can be heard on KDHX 88.1 FM or online at www.kdhx.org.
UPDATE: Oops, it seems Fred and I got our wires crossed. I'll be on next week. KWMU's Tom Weber joined Drebes tonight.
Cable news network Fox News has picked up on the controversy surrounding ACORN's GOTV and voter registration campaigns. Reporter Jeff Goldblatt is in Kansas City today reporting on ACORN's troubles there.
His story, to run during the 6:00 hour at 5:30, will feature PUB DEF's video report on allegations made by several St. Louis ACORN workers about being trained to campaign for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill while registering voters on behalf of Proposition B, the proposal to raise the state's minimum wage.
UPDATE: Here's the Fox News report, which also features St. Louis City's Republican Elections Director, Scott Leiendecker...
I was a guest yesterday on NPR's "Open Source with Christopher Lydon" discussing the Missouri Senate race, the Stem Cell initiative, and other topics related to the Nov. 7 election.
The other guests were Prof. George Connor, Missouri State University; author Jonathan Frazen ("The Corrections" and "The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History"); and conservative Kansas City blogger Dee Vantuyl of The Chatterbox Chronicles.
At the end of the show, they played a short pre-recorded interview with our friend Steve Patterson of UrbanReviewSTL.com.
I'll be a guest tomorrow on NPR's "Open Source with Christopher Lydon" discussing the Missouri Senate race, the Stem Cell initiative, and other topics related to the Nov. 7 election.
The show airs live at 6:00 p.m. in many places including New York City, San Francisco, Boston, and Austin, TX -- but not in St. Louis. You can listen online via one of these streams or wait until Wednesday for the link to the podcast.
I was a guest yesterday on "Ascent Perspectives", the podcast of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver.
Click here to listen to the interview. And go to BlackPolicy.org to learn more about the CAAP and view a map of current statewide and federal races with African-American candidates.
Radio talk show host Lizz Brown and her co-host, former Ald. Irene J. Smith, took some time between paid ads for U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill to attack PUB DEF for our coverage of the senate campaign. Brown and Smith claimed that the $900 ad that McCaskill's opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, bought on this site was influencing our stories.
"When you look at some of the things that [Antonio French] is doing... and it's not balanced, you wonder whether or not the fact that Jim Talent has an ad on his website -- It's like I bought me some good coverage," said Smith.
In the three-minute video, which features numerous shots of McCaskill interacting with elderly voters, is a brief shot of a senior pulling out an absentee ballot and McCaskill looking at it with her.
The story was actually intended to be a positive piece. We didn't mention anything about the incident in our story. Nor was it highlighted in any way in the video. But several conservative blogs reposted the video with headlines such as "Voter Fraud Caught on Tape".
We have disabled the video's embedding feature on YouTube so no other sites can repost the video with that false characterization.
And speaking of false characterizations, Brown claimed we deleted a comment back in August that spoke negatively about Talent -- presumably to save embarrassment for someone who might one day be an advertiser on this site.
Those that spend any amount of time in the comments section know the only comments we ever delete are vulgar and slanderous ones (and sometimes -- if they're really clever ones -- we even leave those up).
Look, for those that define "fair and balanced" as one explosive story deserves another, then we can see how you think PUB DEF has been harder on the McCaskill campaign. All we can say to you is: Help us out.
We are always looking for news. It's true we have been very successful in breaking news relating to Claire McCaskill's campaign recently. But we can't take all the credit. A steady stream of tips have been coming in from Democratic sources about their senate candidate.
We have repeatedly asked them and other sources for tips about the Republican candidate. But nothing has come in (yet). So should we hold the next McCaskill story until an equal or greater Talent story comes about? That's not how we work.
And so now we ask Lizz Brown, Irene J. Smith, and anyone else who thinks PUB DEF has been bought for $900 and a pat on the head: What are we not reporting on Jim Talent? Where should we be looking for the next big story?
As always, email us at editor@pubdef.net or call our 24-hour Tip Line at (314) 518-2364. All tips are 100% confidential.
U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill visited a northside senior center tonight to talk health care.
The Democrat was joined by Comptroller Darlene Green and soon-to-be State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, who hosted the event at the Homer G. Phillips Senior Living Community in the Ville neighborhood.
Several dozen elderly African-American men and women listened as McCaskill talked about the shortcomings of the Medicare Part D program, the voting record of her opponent, Sen. Jim Talent, and the overall state of healthcare in America.
UPDATE: This video had been reposted on several conservative websites claiming it shows some kind of fraudulent behavior relating to an absentee ballot. That allegation was not made in the video, in our story that accompanied the video, or by any person in the room at the time the video was shot. Simply, that is not what happened.
For that reason, we've disabled the embedding feature on YouTube, meaning it can no longer be reposted on other sites. You can now only see this video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cida3VwmCG0
In recent days, these campaigns have been doing more than their fair share of mudslinging. We ask that both sides refrain from trying to turn our reports into more mud.
Instead of asking the questions, a diverse group of local journalists answered them last Sunday at a student workshop in north St. Louis.
Twenty area high school students, participating in a year-long cultural leadership program, came to Cote Brilliante Presbyterian Church to ask questions of those that write history's "first draft".
Post-Dispatch writers Sylvester Brown and Jake Wagman, the St. Louis American's Chris King, and PUB DEF's Antonio French answered questions from the group of 10 African-American and 10 Jewish teens.
The program, sponsored by the non-profit Cultural Leadership, hosts a series of weekend experiences over the course of year teaching students about each other's cultural history. At the end of the program, the group travels across the nation to major black and Jewish historical sites.
The St. Louis Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will be hosting a luncheon Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Bar Napoli in Clayton. The topic of discussion will be corporate media ownership.
Panelists include Jeff Gordon, president of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild; Dave Ervin, vice president/general manager, KMOX 1120; William A. Lanesey, vice president/general manager, KPLR-TV Channel 11 CW; Alvin Reid, city editor, St. Louis American; Ed Bishop, editor/general manager, St. Louis Journalism Review; and Antonio D. French, PubDef.net.
Bar Napoli is located at 7754 Forsyth Blvd. The discussion starts at 11:30 a.m.
Okay, let's round out the Thursday morning bitching with a complaint about an article in the St. Charles Journal (man, with all this whining this site's going to start reading like a -- a blog).
Now granted it's St. Charles, but considering this reporter used to write for the Suburban Journals, it kind of hurts that we weren't included in their story on political blogging, which mostly talked about partisan blogs Fired Up Missouri and The Source, and a local site called St. Chuck Watch. But no Pub Def Weekly. [Insert sad face]
Oh well, no more whining. Let the haters hate. We've got important work to do...
From today's "Political Eye" column in the St. Louis American: "...several other African-American businessmen announced Monday that they are backing Talent and gave his Democratic opponent Claire McCaskill an 'F' on the issues."
Now how would they know about that report card? There was no American reporter in the room -- or any other reporter except PUB DEF's -- but no mention of our exclusive report or photos.
It is very tiring to have to fight over and over for the same basic courtesy that any other reporter would get. A little appreciation for making it so easy for these larger news organizations to simply copy-and-paste their stories would be nice.
The addition of the new video player in our banner now presents an opportunity for campaigns and businesses to run their television commercials on our site (That's a big "hint-hint" to Ms. McCaskill, Thomas and Montee; Mr. Talent; all you Stem Cell supporters and opponents; and all the folks against the tobacco tax and in favor of it).
We've obviously made some changes around here. As we approach our One Year Anniversary on October 16, we're updating the site a bit. Let us know what you think.
Pub Def Weekly be featured on Channel 2 News this weekend in a "Fox Files" segment on the expanding influence of Internet video in local and national politics.
Reporter Paul Schankman and cameraman Mark Parsons shot an interview with me earlier this week at The Royale. The report will air during the 9 p.m. news on Sunday.
By the way, Channel 2 launched a new website this week -- complete with video. So if you miss the Sunday broadcast, there's a good chance it'll be on the website later.
Back home after four days in Washington and what seemed like a week in O'Hare airport in Chicago (sometimes known as the place on-time flights go to die).
Checking up on some email and much of it was about the story we broke last week which included a controversial quote by U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill. National news organizations like the Associated Press, Congressional Quarterly, and The Washington Times (in tomorrow's edition) all picked up the story. As did blogs like the Daily Kos and many others.
[UPDATE: Here's a link to the Washington Times story.]
And of course the conservatives ate it up, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Rush Limbaugh (click here to listen).
As you can imagine, the site has been getting a lot of traffic over the past few days. And many of our videos have for the first time earned honors on YouTube.
Our video of Bill Clinton at Claire McCaskill's rally is currently one of the "Most Linked" videos today in the News & Blogs category.
Keep sharing our videos with others. And bloggers, feel free to post them on your own sites, like so. We don't mind at all -- as long as you don't edit it and you give us our props.
And folks, please take a minute to rate and comment on our videos after viewing them on YouTube or Vimeo. That helps ensure even more people will see them.
And if you haven't already, click here to vote for PUB DEF in the RFT's "Best Of" annual listing.
The eagle has landed. Check back later for video and maybe an interview or two from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 36th Annual Legislative Conference.
Reminder: I will be co-hosting an event today called Tastes for Tunes: A Restaurant Event to Benefit KDHX Community Media. Restaurants throughout the St. Louis area will donate a percentage of their sales to benefit KDHX 88.1 FM and KDHX-TV (Channels 21 and 22 in the City).
I'll be at The Royale Food & Spirits, 3132 S. Kingshighway, and would love your help in supporting the cause. To do so, all you need to do is show up and eat! (Pretty easy, huh?)
Come between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for good food, get your picture taken, whisper some tips in my ear, and help support independent community media in St. Louis.
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone that came by this afternoon. The event was an absolute success!
Special thanks to the following attendees: (soon-to-be) State Senator Jeff Smith, (soon-to-be) State Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, Pam Ross and Brandyn Jones from the President of the Board's office, prolific blogger Shark Fu (aka "Angry Black Bitch"), Sal Martinez, Tim Person, Shirley Spencer, Teachers Union Pres. Mary Armstrong, my co-host Grace Woodard and her crew from the SLU student newspaper, Jessica the waitress, and Steve Smith the proprietor.
Click here to see some great photos from the event.
PUB DEF will spend much of this week in Washington D.C. for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's 36th Annual Legislative Conference. We will also be in our nation's capital for the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. We hope to bring you interviews with several members of Congress and key staffers as well as video reports related to 9/11 and its continuing impact.
While away, we'll be calling upon our eyes and ears around St. Louis to keep us up on all the latest. If you'd like to be one of those eyes and/or ears, jot down this email address and this phone number:
editor@pubdef.net (email us press releases & tips) 314-518-2364 (leave tips 24 hours a day)
Also, if you've got a video camera, a steady hand (for God's sake, use a tripod), and some editing software, you are hereby deputized. Go forth and seek knowledge -- then upload it to YouTube and shoot us the link.
I'll be at The Royale Food & Spirits, 3132 S. Kingshighway, and would love your help in supporting the cause. To do so, all you need to do is show up and eat! (Pretty easy, huh?)
Come between 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for good food, get your picture taken, whisper some tips in my ear, and help support independent community media in St. Louis.
Advertise on Pub Def for as little as $50. At more than 53,000 visits last month, that's a pretty sweet bargain. Go to www.pubdef.net/advertise for more info.
The faculty is pleased to announce that in the month of August, we received 53,044 visits to our website. Our pages were viewed 57,449 times and visitors downloaded 4,905 files. We also produced 25 videos which were viewed thousands of times (see below).
Everyone have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. And please remind your mothers that there will be a bake sale on Tuesday.
Pub Def editor Antonio D. French, Arch City Chronicle publisher Dave Drebis, and (soon-to-be) State Sen. Jeff Smith were the guests on "Collateral Damage" with host Fred Hessel on Monday. The topics of discussion were St. Louis Public Schools and the Talent-McCaskill U.S. Senate race. Click here to download the 30-minute show.
New backpacks filled with crayons, three-hole paper, and bright yellow, unsharpened Number 2 pencils. The terror in the pit of your belly over the thought of being teased about your Payless shoes by kids wearing new Jordans whose price tags would cause your mother to faint.
It must be the first day of school.
School is back in session and so is PUB DEF's sister site, STLSchools.org. After a short summer break (it's not like anything ever happens with SLPS in the summer, right?), the watch dog is back on the beat. Check it out over at www.stlschools.org.
Some people have emailed us saying they are having trouble watching the few videos we've posted recently using the Vimeo video sharing service. The solution is very simple: download and install the latest version of Flash for your Mac or PC. It's free, only takes a minute to install, and will make your iLife so much better.
Cleaning out the ol' PUB DEF video vault, we recently came across this jewel. It's a video we shot almost exactly two years ago -- back in August 2004 before we had any outlet to share such videos. It's from the St. Louis stop of the Hip-Hip Summit which sought to increase youth participation in the 2004 Presidential Election.
The video features Summit founder Russell Simmons; his brother, Reverend Run from Run-DMC; rappers Jadakiss; Loon; Remy Martin; Biz from D-12; soul singer Anthony Hamilton; hip-hop legend Doug E. Fresh; and HSAN President/CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis. Oh, and Nelly.
Look for cameos by State Rep. Rodney Hubbard, 5th Ward Committeewoman Cheryl Nelson, and a certain St. Louis American reporter that doesn't mind rudely getting next to celebrities while they're talking to other people just so he can get his picture taken with them.
PUBDEF.NET received nearly 45,000 visits in July -- including several days in which many of our readers were without electricity. The first two weeks of August have already brought more than 27,000 visits.
Typical 160x600 banner ads like the one on the right side of this page run $100-$250 per week. We also produce and/or host video ads (from 30 seconds to 10 minutes long) like these below for very reasonable prices.
If you'd like to advertise on PUB DEF, email us today at advertising@pubdef.net or call (314) 779-9958.
Our Video Page has moved to a new address. Just click the video camera icon on the left side of the page. There you can subscribe to our free iTunes video podcast and view most of our latest videos in QuickTime format (helpful for those people having problems viewing our YouTube videos).
We've also updated our post from Monday in which we made predictions about Tuesday's races. Click here to check out how we did.
Predictions are always dangerous. More often than not, you usually wish you just kept your mouth shut and looked smarter than you actually were. Oh well.
Before we get started, let's remember one thing: these are predictions about who I think will win tomorrow's elections, not endorsements or statements about who I want to win these races.
Okay, let's get into it.
In the 57th State Rep District: Joe Palm -- 35% (29.53%) Talibdin El-Amin -- 42% (43.79%) Karla May -- 23% (26.68%) The winner will be Talibdin El-Amin (Correct)
In the 58th State Rep District: Rodney Hubbard -- 60% (73.3%) Bill Haas -- 40% (26.7%) The winner will be Rodney Hubbard (Correct)
In the 59th State Rep District: Jeanette Mott Oxford -- 75% (81.03%) Mark Rice -- 25% (18.97%) The winner will be Jeanette Mott Oxford (Correct)
In the 60th State Rep District: Bob Bartlett -- 5% (5.75%) Shaun Simms -- 20% (12.53%) Jamilah Nasheed -- 40% (43.92%) Sharon Tyus -- 35% (37.8%) The winner will be Jamilah Nasheed (Correct)
In the 72nd State Rep District: Maria Chappelle Nadal -- 49% (64%) Sandi Colquitt -- 51% (36%) The winner will be Sandi Colquitt (Wrong)
In the 4th State Senate District: Yaphett El-Amin -- 27% (24.89%) Derio Gambaro -- 21% (22.97%) Amber Boykins -- 18% (12.72%) Jeff Smith -- 31% (36.41%) Kenny Jones -- 3% (3.01%) The winner will be Jeff Smith(Correct)
So there it is. And now we wait....
I would be remiss if I didn't direct you politicos to my consulting firm's website. Find A D French & Associates LLC at www.adfrench.com.
I'll be a guest on "Collateral Damage" tonight discussing Tuesday's elections with hosts D.J. Wilson and Fred Hessel. The show starts at 7:00 and can be heard on KDHX 88.1 FM or online at www.kdhx.org.
Click here to download this week's print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Copy, Print, Share.
Drop off some copies at City Hall, your neighborhood coffee shop, or hand them out on street corners wearing a sign that reads "Don't Hate the Players, Hate the Game."
The numbers are in and our traffic continues to grow. Since PUB DEF returned in October 2005, every month has brought more visitors than the last. And July was the best ever.
Our little website received nearly 45,000 visits last month-- including several days in which many of our readers were without electricity.
July also brought the best month of advertising revenue for the site -- thanks to next week's primary election.
Thanks to all of our readers for making PUB DEF a part of your daily lives. And thanks too to the advertisers for making it possible to continue this project a little longer.
Thanks to Jeff Daniel of the Post-Dispatch for including PUB DEF in his story on St. Louis as seen through YouTube.
"For Antonio French, however, the ability to create and post video is serious business. Covering local politics through his Web site, PubDefWeekly.com, French uses YouTube as a tool to allow viewers immediate, first-hand footage of the very subjects on which he reports and offers analysis."
Special thanks for including the website address.
Click here to see all 159 PUB DEF videos on YouTube.
Still getting caught up with everything now that my electricity is back on. Shot some video yesterday but haven't had time to edit it yet. Look for it later today. Will also be looking closely at the latest campaign finance reports today, so look out for that as well.
Traffic on the site has been busier than ever. More than 11,000 visits a week for the past two weeks. Did see bit of drop off when the power went out, but it's back on track since yesterday. So with exactly TWO WEEKS LEFT until the August 8 election, there is still time to get in your political ad. Shoot an email to antonio@pubdef.net to get rate information.
And thanks to Sylvester Brown for mentioning PUB DEF and this video in his Sunday column. Looks like the PUB DEF blackout might be over at the Post-Dispatch. Maybe now Steve Giegerich will start crediting our STLSchools.org when he re-reports our scoops.
After two nights of sweating in the dark and sleeping on a futon on the back porch, my girlfriend, my dog and I split town and headed to Chicago yesterday evening. Not to rub it in or anything, but the weather is great, the power is on, and all lanes are open on the information superhighway.
Oh boy. The risk of poking fun at someone is that they could go and up the ante on you. And oh boy has Sen. Jim Talent upped the ante.
Last week, we had a little fun at our junior senator's expense when he announced his Women for Talent coalition. Surrounded by a group of women from all over the state, all willing to give "pink cred" to Talent in his race against Claire McCaskill, we jokingly asked, Do ladies love Cool Jim -- L.L. Cool Jim? Photoshopped pictures of a hip-hopping Talent started coming in.
Well, tomorrow Talent is launching his "African-Americans for Talent" coalition. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.
Before we start receiving Photoshop images that are just plain offensive, let us redirect your creative "talents" back to L.L. Cool Jim. The contest is still on and that "special prize" is still up for grabs!
BTW, Talent will kick-off his African-Americans for Talent coalition on Saturday at 11:15 a.m. at the Renaissance Grand Hotel downtown. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson will attend.
Here it is, your moment of Zen... Download the latest issue of PUB DEF Weekly.
Remember: make as many copies as you like and distribute them in your apartment building, on campus, in City Hall, wherever. But for God's sake, don't litter. We hate that!
I'll be a guest on "Collateral Damage" tonight with hosts D.J. Wilson and Fred Hessel. The show starts at 7:00 and can be heard on KDHX 88.1 FM or online at www.kdhx.org.
Do ladies love cool Jim Talent? That's what Women for Talent would have you think. The U.S. Senator, who is facing a tough challenge from Democrat Claire McCaskill, was joined Thursday morning at the Frontenac Hilton by his wife, Brenda; his two daughters, Kate and Chrissy; and a group of other women from across the state all willing to give Talent some "pink cred" against his female challenger.
Send your own Photoshop interpretations of "L.L. Cool Jim" to editor@pubdef.net. Winner gets a special prize! Here's one from our favorite local anarchists mischievists, the Bill McClellan Motherfuckers.
Click here to download this week's print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly.
Let freedom ring! Spread truth and knowledge! Copy, Print, Share. Make a bunch of copies, drop off some at City Hall, in your neighborhood coffee shop, or pass 'em out on street corners.
Or just make paper airplanes out of them. Whatever, it's your ink and paper.
Click here to download this week's print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Copy, Print, Share.
Drop off some copies at City Hall, your neighborhood coffee shop, or give a copy to an old person who doesn't know "what all the fuss is about them fancy com'pooters and Innerwebs."
Here's the latest print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Download it, print it, share it with friends. Just don't wipe with it or smoke it. Fanning with it is okay. That's allowed. But only because it's hot.
A few people have emailed me or posted comments about them having trouble watching our videos. Here are some things that might help:
First, make sure you have the latest version of Flash installed on your computer. Flash is the program that allows you to view animated websites and sites like ours that have lots of multimedia. Download it for free at www.adobe.com/downloads
Second, you may not be able to see the videos because your computer is behind a firewall that blocks video from YouTube.
YouTube is fantastic. Millions of people view and share content everyday on this rapidly growing service. But some companies worry about the "wrong content" being shared and they block everything from YouTube all together. Locally, I know the St. Louis Bread Companies block the service. That's a shame because I really like blogging from BreadCo.
Third, if the video keeps starting and stopping while it's playing, most likely your Internet connection is slow. The best way to deal with this annoyance is to click the play button to begin the download, then press pause. The video will continue to download (which you can see by the shaded meter moving to the right). When it's done downloading, click the play button again and enjoy a smooth video.
Here's the latest print edition of PUB DEF Weekly -- and boy, do we mean latest. We've been throwing so much news up here on the website, Nicky B. can barely keep up.
Most of this issue is full of stuff from last week, but still download and print it. Drop off some copies at City Hall, your neighborhood coffee shop, or give a copy to an old person who doesn't know "what all the fuss is about them fancy com'pooters and Innerwebs."
In other company news, regular viewers of our videos will be happy to hear that we've upgraded our camera equipment. Good-bye Canon ZR-80. Hello Canon GL1!!!One of our longest supporters was kind enough of loan us the equipment for a while. And for that, we are very grateful.
So now all we need is a couple of professional microphones and Watch out Elliott Davis!
If anyone out there has any such shotgun, handheld, or wireless mics for sale or loan, please email me at antonio@pubdef.net. Thanks.
We have updated our video page this morning and are updating our iTunes video podcast as I type. So podcast subscribers, look out for new videos to download to your computer today.
Download the latest issue of PUB DEF Weekly. As usual: make as many copies as you like and distribute them in your apartment building, on campus, in City Hall, wherever. We like leaving them under the windshield wipers of random Mercedes-Benzes and H2s. Try it. It's fun.
We've redesigned the St. Louis Schools Watch blog to coordinate it more with PUB DEF. Take a peek.
We've also added a bar to the top of both sites to help you navigate back and forth. And since time is money and these projects take up quite a bit of time, we've added more Google Ads. So do us a favor and click on those ads as often as you can consider advertising on STLSchools.org. Thanks.
The month of May brought another month of growth in traffic for pubdefweekly.com. We received 35,874 visits last month -- that's a 26% increase over the previous month!
Thanks for making PUB DEF a part of your day. We encourage you to spread the word to your friends and co-workers. Email our stories, give away printouts of the print edition to folks that don't surf the Web like us, put a link on your own website or blog. And advertise.
Even though our traffic has increased 89% since we started accepting ads back in February, we're keeping our rates the same.
On the high end: $250 for a one-time, one-week ad. More likely: $100-$150 per week for multiple weeks.
Download the latest issue of PUB DEF Weekly. It's been a while -- our designer, Nick Bommarito, has been busy with wedding planning (Congrats, Nicky B!) -- so remember: make as many copies as you like and distribute them in your apartment building, on campus, in City Hall, wherever. But for God's sake, don't litter. We hate that!
The PUB DEF Videos page has been updated with exclusive videos from Tuesday's special school board meeting and our interview yesterday with the president of the teachers' union.
BTW, we've passed 30,000 visits for the month -- already our busiest month ever! Email us today to advertise your business, campaign or event on PUB DEF Weekly.
For your downloading pleasure, we present this week's print(able) edition of PUB DEF Weekly. Print it, read it, give it away.
Click here to download. And as always, you activist types are encouraged to print lots of copies and drop them off at your neighborhood coffee shop, on your college campus, or in the lobby of your nearest multi-national corporation.
In other PUB DEF business, we are pleased to report another month of traffic growth for this website.
In April, we received 28,458 visits -- a 17% increase from March. PUB DEF's pages were viewed 36,158 times (a 24% increase).
If you are interested in advertising your political campaign, small business, or upcoming event on PUB DEF, email advertising@pubdef.net today.
CLICK HERE to download the April 19 issue of PUB DEF Weekly. Check out the clickable ads.
As always, feel free to print out as many as you like and share them with friends, neighbors and co-workers. And for all you activist types, make dozens -- or even hundreds -- of copies and drop stacks at local coffee shops, watering holes, in City Hall, or on campus (We look best on 11x17 sheets of paper, folded once).
CLICK HERE to download the latest issue of the print(able) version of PUB DEF Weekly. It features our ward-by-ward breakdown of last week's school board election.
As always, feel free to print out as many as you like and share them with friends, neighbors and co-workers. And for all you activist types, make dozens -- or even hundreds -- of copies and drop stacks at local coffee shops, watering holes, in City Hall, or on campus (We look best on 11x17 sheets of paper, folded once).
