Google Hangout with @JohnCornyn today 12 pm CT

Later today, Texas Senator John Cornyn is hosting a Google Hangout, and I've been invited to participate.

Should be fun. The festivities kick off at 12 pm CT, and if you want to watch, click here to RSVP.

Welcome to Chicago, Texas! Wait, huh?

Oh, the entertaining perils of using stock photography...

Texas Lieutenant Governor candidate Dan Patrick launched yet another little microsite attacking his Republican primary opponents, and here's a screenshot of the page:

Sebelius offers "dead parrot" defense of Obamacare website

How Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius still has her job is beyond me.

At today's Congressional hearing, Sebelius testified, "The website never crashed." Unfortunately for her, the website had actually crashed just a few minutes before the hearing began, and remained down for much of her testimony, and CNN's split screen display was just priceless:

New video series from RNC highlights problems with Obamacare website

The RNC rolled out a new website and a series of short videos highlighting the many problems with the launch of the Obamacare website and other annoyances with the new health care law.

The videos parody the "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads and are posted at obamacarecosts.org. They are also encouraging use of a hashtag, #ImObamacare.

Here's my favorite of the videos:

To the Creep Who Threatened Me on Facebook Last Night

I knew when I started blogging about politics a few years ago that I would likely ruffle some feathers from time to time. That's fine. Politics ain't beanbag, or however the saying goes.

I've had angry comments left by grammatically-challenged trolls, been threatened with lawsuits a few times, and actually had to defend myself against several complaints  filed against me with the Florida Bar and Florida Division of Elections (all of which were found to be without merit and dismissed entirely, with no finding of any wrongdoing on my part). That was some annoying paperwork and took a few months to clear up, but not too bad.

Then, yesterday, I got a message on Facebook from someone unhappy with an old blog post of mine. Someone who thought it was OK to threaten me. 

Burger King Twitter meltdown

This is why companies need to take their social media seriously, both in terms of having professionals handle their online presence and making sure they take steps to protect the security of the accounts.

Burger King's official Twitter account (@BurgerKing) right now:

OK, @BuzzFeed. Fair's fair. This made me laugh.

I pick on BuzzFeed a bit (and it's well-earned...see here and here, for example), but even I'll admit that the site has its entertainment value, and sometimes they just nail it.

The blind squirrels at the FCC found an acorn!

Credit where credit is due...just as a blind squirrel find an acorn once in awhile, sometimes a government agency gets something right...

Awww. Good job, buddy. You did it.

Earlier this week, Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski announced that the FCC would be increasing the amount of unlicensed spectrum available for Wi-Fi internet networks.

Without getting too bogged down in all the scientific details, this means that next time you're at the airport or at a conference, the wireless internet (hopefully!) will be faster.

My plans for world domination are proceeding nicely

Forgive me this little bit of bragging, but I can't help but think this is pretty cool:

SocialSphere | The #MAPoli Top 25 of 2012

Live-Blogging Tonight's VP Debate

Last week's presidential debate was an amazing, incredible evisceration of Barack Obama's campaign, and I am really looking forward to tonight's contest between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.

Once again, I'll be live-blogging tonight from my Sulia account. You can follow the posts on the Sunshine State Sarah Facebook page or on Twitter at @rumpfshaker.

The Romney campaign has a widget for following the Twitter feeds of their staffers. I've embedded it below:

"Bad Lip Reading" of the Presidential Debate

The insanely clever (and possibly cleverly insane) people at Bad Lip Reading posted their version of the first debate between Obama and Romney yesterday:

Live-Blogging the Debate

I'll be live-blogging the debate tonight from my Sulia account. You can follow the posts on the Sunshine State Sarah Facebook page or on Twitter at @rumpfshaker.

The Romney campaign has a widget for following the Twitter feeds of their staffers. I've embedded it below:

New Square app for donating to Romney

The Romney Square card reader

I ran into my friend Justin Hart earlier today, who is part of the Romney campaign's Digital Team. He told me about a new grassroots fundraising program that they are launching using the Square card readers for smartphones.

If you haven't seen this before, Square is an app that lets any smartphone accept credit card payments. You just plug the tiny device (it's about 1" square) into the headphone jack on your phone, download the app, and you're ready to go. Lots of small businesses are using them and Square is starting to be used by campaigns and charities now too.

The Romney campaign has a special app and are giving away the card reader devices free to anyone who signs up at www.mittromney.com/square. Justin was nice enough to chat with me on video about the Romney Square app and share how it works:

Podcasts and a #GOP2012 Convention Preview

Sorry about the lack of posts the past few days. I've been busy getting ready for the Republican Convention in Tampa next week. It's going to be an amazing time and we're not going to let some stupid hurricane spoil our party.

Anyway, I may not have had much time to write, but I did manage to chatter away on some podcasts this week. I've also included some links and news about the convention below the break:

Don't wait for the app...IT'S RYAN! [UPDATED]

PLEASE SEE UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF POST...

Well, the promises from the Mitt VP app that we'd "get the exciting news before just about everyone else (except maybe Ann)" are up in smoke.

Romney VP announcement coming soon...tomorrow?

 There has been endless speculation about who Mitt Romney will pick for his running mate - not just who he will pick, but when the announcement will be made. 

As TechPresident reported yesterday, watching Wikipedia to see whose biography page gets a sudden flurry of updates and edits may be a sign. Checking out airplane hangars was a source of intel in 2004, when an airplane mechanic saw John Edwards' name being added to John Kerry's plane.

The Romney campaign has launched an app for iPhone and Android, "Who Will Be Mitt's VP?", and they may have given an important clue at least about the timing of the announcement.

Awesome advice from a church

Heh. Found this at Buzzfeed...definitely not the kind of advice you normally see on a church sign:

The Florida Legislature: Cooler Than You Knew

Who knew the Florida Legislature was so cool? They apparently now have their own rap song:


YouTube | AssociationStudios | Senator Bennett: "I Drink That Scotch"

Hat tip to Brad Herold, who tweeted out this video last weekend along with a comment that, "I'm so glad that someone is finally realizing my dream of auto-tuning the FL Legislature."

Priorities

Nice to see our Commander-in-Chief has his priorities straight. Instapundit took notice of something on Drudge Report earlier today:

MATT DRUDGE DEMONSTRATES THE ART OF DRUDGETAPOSITION:

Says a lot, doesn't it?

(Hat tip: @JammieWF)

Tweet of the Day

Andrew Breitbart, father of four, friend to many, and inspiration to countless more, was laid to rest today in California.

Big Journalism Editor Dana Loesch sent out a simple tweet a few hours ago with just "#war" as the only text and this photo: