05.13.08 Briefing • Steve Elliott, Grassfire.org • Subscribe here • RSS

Dem's problems only grow
Today will continue an odd and difficult stretch of days for the Democrats. Somehow, Barack Obama and the media managed to spin last Tuesday's results -- a split decision in North Carolina and Indiana -- as the coronation for Obama. Time magazine proclaimed him the winner and almost simultaneously Obama wrote off today's West Virginia and next week's Kentucky primaries. Does anyone see the irony of all this? The Demcoratic elite is trying to shame Hillary into leaving the race while Hillary gets ready for her two largest-margin primary victories. This is arguably the closest Democratic primary race in history. The only other race comparable was 1984 when Mondale defeated Hart. Hillary Clinton is the first woman to get close to her party's nomination. The Democrats will have to walk through the next several months very carefully.

San Diego Minutemen Sign Taken Down
California Highway officials recently removed an "adopt a highway" sign sponsored by the San Diego Minutemen because the sign was on a road that illegal aliens use while coming into our country. Apparently, officials thought the sign was too controversial, although it has stood for six weeks without controversy or incident. In 2006, I had the privilege of traveling to San Diego, meeting Jeff Schwilk and others with the SD Minutemen and hearing first-hand the battle they have had to stop the massive flow of illegals that have come across in San Diego. Go here for more information.

Are you Time-Shifting?
How we watch television is undergoing a metamorphosis and I'm not talking about HD. The real change is what's called "time shifting" -- watching TV when you want to watch it and now necessarily when it is aired. If you are one of the 25% of American households with a digital video recorder (DVR), you know what I'm talking about and you're never going back. DVRs let you skip commercials and fit your TV viewing around your schedule rather than the other way around. I now find it annoying to watch any show "live." Even a 15 minute delay lets me skip all the commercials in a one-hour program.

Time-shifting is causing problems for TV executives. THis year's May "sweeps" are down 7 million viewers from last year. But the trend is only going to get bigger, especially since people already time shift when they use their computer (few of us have the patience to sit in front of our computer and watch or listent to something "live").

On the Web Today:
Bob Barr for President
20% of Dems going to defect if Obama nominee
Woman fired for opposing homosexuality