Pawlenty gains traction, touches White House nerve

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's Facebook page has drawn 99,000 supporters, and the page also touts praise from GE titan Jack Welch. Pawlenty is having a good week. [Screen Snip/Tim Pawlenty Facebook page]Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty didn’t exactly come out of the gate swinging. When he first talked about his potential candidacy for president, he came across as a pretty nice fellow who might not be comfortable with the verbal combat sure to come.

Nice, as we know, will not cut it in 2012. Rest assured there will be ugly.

The nation is poised for an epic battle between proponents of European socialism and those of us who want less government in their daily lives. I suppose you could call the camp I'm in the America First camp.

Now Pawlenty has obviously gained traction and he has most definitely touched a White House nerve. Or two.

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Turnabout fair play as Big Bro Google gets Big Sib ‘Inside Google’

Updated on Friday, May 28, 2010 at 1:32PM by Kay B. Day, Editor

By Kay B. Day

Google has received a lot of attention because of privacy issues, with public interest group Consumer Watchdog vowing to “hold Google accountable for its actions.” To do that, CW has founded a new website, ‘Inside Google.” A CW statement said the new site aims “to educate the public and opinion leaders about Google’s dangerous dominance over the Internet, computing and consumers’ online lives.” Thus Big Bro Google has a new sibling.

The CW statement described a very focused mission: “Inside Google’s blog is authored by experienced consumer advocates and journalists working to expose the ‘black box’ at Google with an eye towards holding Google engineers accountable to social mores, ethical customs and the rule of law.”

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Google acquires ProBlogger, we think

Update/April 14

Google did not acquire ProBlogger. It was an April Fool's Day joke. The US Report takes comfort in forewarning the reader about our doubts. Only because we find the website valuable are we not giving Darren Rowse a verbal flogging.

Original Post:

We're pretty sure the announcement at ProBlogger is for real--Media Bistro also reported this. If the announcement is for real, it's a prime example of capitalism at work.

The announcement said Google has acquired the popular ProBlogger website famous around the world for advice, tips and occasional comforting words on blogging for money. Founder Darren Rowse built a powerhouse brand and a loyal audience.

Rowse would post photos of his earning checks as proof his endeavor was profitable. He was the go-to blogger for those of us interested in keeping up with the marketing and content building aspects. The US Report congratulates him on his hard-earned success andwe acknowledge the all-powerful scope of Google on the Web.

A news release was posted Apr. 1 at ProBlogger. We hope this not an early April Fool's Day joke although we leave a small amount of doubt because after all, this is the Web and it is April 1.

China official says hackers affected more than 42,000 websites

By Kay B. Day

China has developed a reputation as a source for hacking attacks, and a government official has told Al Jazeera “hackers tampered with more than 42,000 websites last year.” Perhaps in response to that developing reputation as well as criticism from Internet corporate monolith Google, China said it has shut down the biggest “training center” for hackers, the Black Hawk Safety Net. The operation was shut down in November, but reports didn't surface until February.

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