Attempts Being Made to Quell US Congressmen From Using Social Media

• Register
• Log in

Attempts Being Made to Quell US Congressmen From Using Social Media

Warning: This is a post dealing with politics. If you don’t like politics..don’t read it.

This was a story that I read here on Technosailor. I clicked on a few links to get the full story. It wasn’t very hard at all. Two US Congressmen; John Culberson, a Republican from Texas and, Tim Ryan, a Democrat from Ohio are both coming under fire for using social media.

The two of them regularly use Twitter and Qik to speak directly to the public. A new proposal has been written, requesting to restrict member content outside of the official US government websites. This proposal would keep those two Congressmen from being able to directly interact and speak to their public using social media.

Congressman Ryan and, Congressman Culberson were not directly mentioned in the proposal. However, it is obvious the two are fueling this fire by reaching out to the public in real time using these tools of social media.

Congressman Culberson has a story on his own website with a bit more information. The first story linked also has a letter drafted meant to nip this proposal in the bud.

Normally, I wouldn’t put something like this up because politics are so controversial. However, let’s keep in mind two different Congressmen from both parties are coming under fire here. There is no “taking sides” in this specific case. Both parties and, Government Officials who are actually reaching out to the people of the United States are affected by this proposal. If you don’t agree with us, that’s fine.

Update: As this story is unfolding, we could have all been very mislead by the “tweets” of a few people in the Government itself (yet, we aren’t surprised by this) and, the information on their blogs and websites. We’re not certain yet but, it seems like social media could have been used to actually sway people towards the decision of a certain political party without telling the whole story. If that’s the case…what crap. Keep checking this story and Technosailor’s website for information. This could get more interesting then we anticipate. Also, here is a more in-depth look at things from Open House Project . The people involved here have some link ups to the “decision makers” (Thanks to John from Friend Feed for giving us this)

Featured Stories
- Is Apple Nintendo’s Problem?
  Is Apple Nintendo’s Problem?
  
  Nintendo has seen a significant drop in profits lately and most say Apple’s mobile gaming platform is to blame. Nintendo themselves are even keeping an eye on Apple. Sony and Microsoft is no longer the thorn in Mario’s side. It’s the big “little i”.
  Is Apple really the biggest issue Nintendo is facing or is it a larger issue? Most likely, a little bit of both. As a hardcore Nintendo fan, I can safely say that my favorite gaming company has failed me the past few years. It all began with the shoddy release of Twilight Princess, the lack of core titles for the DS and then the Wii games that were off-shoots of “Sports” started to move through the shelves.
  What’s left for us? The Moms, families and kids are only going to enjoy their Wii for so long. Then, they will put it down for a new toy that’s promising family fun. I have it on good authority to say this since I’ve sold my Nintendo Wii. Why? Because my kids stopped playing it and moved on to something else.
  Nintendo has forgotten about their core audience. They have been pumping out games for a brand new audience that were quite successful. You can only go so far with the “Wii-fit-sports-swimming pool-billiards-backyard party” franchise. Frankly, you can only go so far with any franchise. I have to admit, even Zelda is in desperate need of an upgrade.
  
  Bring that issue alongside Nintendo’s current handheld competition and you have a major problem. Apple is starting to dominate in that category. Wait a second, the iPhone/iPod Touch isn’t a handheld system! It’s not? It fits in your hand and you play any game that you can play on other systems. I should say it is.
  Nintendo DS requires wi-fi to get into the shop or to download. The iPhone requires a cell phone signal and that’s all. Nintendo DS games cost between $10 and $40. iPhone games cost between $0.99 and $7.00. Even popular games like Command and Conquer and Civilization cost around $6.00.
  Apple has a big advantage over Nintendo in the ease of getting your games, organizing your games and they are much more cost effective. Plus, the accessories needed and the price of the games are in Apple’s favor as well.
  Nintendo long ago lost a good part of their core audience. They didn’t seem to care since the core audience stuck around for the DS. They moved to a new market with the Nintendo Wii, bringing in the family gaming system and allowed Microsoft and Sony to take their core console gamers.
  Apple has moved in on their handheld market in a big way. Not only have they taken a large chunk of the core handheld audience, but they are also taking the casual audience as well. This isn’t the end for Nintendo. It isn’t time to scream doom and gloom or get ready to plan the funeral of Mario. It is time for Nintendo to start looking closer at their audience, the behavior of their audience and who is holding the market shares.
- 5 Awesome Nintendo character tattoos
  5 Awesome Nintendo character tattoos
  
  Like other uber geeks, we are the beautiful people and we have awesome taste in tattoos, clothing, games, tech, gadgets and nostalgia. A generation grew up on Atari, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and the Mother of video game entertainment of the 1980’s – Nintendo. We proudly wear our dorky gamer badges on our bodies for all to see.
  
  There are probably hundreds of thousands of Nintendo tattoos out there. We scoured the web to find our 5 favorite Nintendo character tattoos.
  
  #5. Hey. Hey Listen!
  
  Why Navi? Of all things, why Navi?! Because you said that as soon as you saw this tattoo. She’s embedded into your brain, the constant screaming of “Hey, hey hey listen!” and this brave man has made sure everyone will remember it. The tattoo is really well done, but we all hate him just a little bit.
  
  Original
  
  #4. Stars and Ghosts, oh my!
  
  This tattoo comes complete with invincible stars and a Boo. It’s quite obvious this girl loves her Nintendo. We love her half-sleeve and her stars. The original photo by Kotaku stated this woman’s husband was the tattoo artist. We love both of them just a little.
  
  #3. 8 Bit Mario
  
  Memories of throwing your controller when Mario died, moving the controller with Mario to make him jump and wanting to kill Toad when your Princess was in another castle come to mind when looking at this tattoo. The original tattoo is credited to artist Jon Poulson on Flickr.
  
  Number 2 and number 1 are after the break
  
  #2. Mega Man 8 Bit
  
  8 bit art is win. Well done 8 bit art of Mega Man on your arm? A lot of win. Orginal source unknown (if someone knows it, please catch us on Twitter so we can credit it!)
  
  #1. Samus Aran
  
  Samus Aran will kick your butt.
  
  Nothing else needs to be said about that. Unreality showed off this piece along with some other great Metroid themed ink.
- E3 2010 Predictions
  E3 2010 Predictions
  
  E3 2010 is a couple of months away. As usual, everyone is making predictions and speculating what huge announcements are coming. A lot of talk is revolving around Sony and Microsoft this year. There are hopes of long-awaited games finally coming out in the public eye.
  
  I wonder if Duke Nukem will finally come out? Sure. Right.
  
  For E3 this year, I have a couple of predictions of my own. I am hoping that Nintendo redeems themselves and announces a new Legend of Zelda game. I see the game releasing during the 4th quarter of 2010. Gears of War 3 is another prediction. I don’t see it releasing in the 4th quarter of 2010. I see an announcement at E3 with the possibility of release in 2nd or 3rd quarter of 2011.
  
  I asked on Twitter what your predictions for E3 are from The Geek Media’s Twitter and my personal Twitter. The answers after the jump.
  
  @MemBirdman : “I predict a combined 137 minutes of stage time for Natal & Touch during the press conferences. That might be conservative. :/”
  
  @Mifio: “APB launch date announcement, Uncharted 3… And thats all I really care about.”
  
  @DCSilverwing: “ok, my official prediction (based on nothing) Elder Scrolls, and SOME kind of TRON game…”
  
  @Leto: “I don’t have a lot of expectations, after a few flops in March. Hoping that more of The Old Republic is shown off though.”
  
  @MemBirdman: “I predict that Shigeru Miyamoto will do something during the Nintendo press conference totally awesome and mildly pedophilic.” (Wait…what?)
  
  What are your predictions for E3?