Thanks to KTAR!

A Kansas teen received more attention than she anticipated last week when she used 140 characters to criticize the state’s governor.

During a school event, Emma Sullivan tweeted about her less than desirable interaction with Gov. Sam Brownback.

Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person #heblowsalot.”

Having gotten word of the tweet the governor’s staff contacted school administrators and demanded an apology from Sullivan. But this week, the teen tweeter was the one getting an apology…from the Gov. Brownback himself!

My staff overreacted to this tweet, and for that I apologize. Freedom of speech is among our most treasured freedoms.”

Image from Reuters

Wave goodbye: Italy’s Prime Minister on his way out.

This train don’t stop: Cain vows to stay in the race.

Can you find me now? GPS tracking worries highest court.

Heaven getting heavy? Rapper Heavy D dies.

And, is there anything that can’t be live-tweeted?!

Thanks to The Atlantic!

#TwitterGetsPolitical: Hashtags make their name in campaigns.

Could it get any worse? Cain faces another obstacle in election.

Five dollar fiasco: Bank of America forgoes debit card fees.

And, Justin Bieber says “like” like 50 times!

Image Thanks to the Tomahawk Take

Everybody loves an underdog…errr, bird: the Cardinals come back and win the World Series!

Twitter, China, and Human Rights

Who has student loan debt? A Colorlines infographic breaks it down.

Whack-a-swamp rat!

When do Halloween costumes cross the line?

You can find us at www.twitter.com/usdemocrazy

Join us tonight as USDemocrazy provides Twitter coverage of the event tonight. The debate will be broadcast on TV via Fox at 9PM…we can be found at  http://twitter.com/#!/usdemocrazy.

In this political witch-hunt, no Republican is safe.

Obama for America recently started the website AttackWatch.com. The site gives the average person the opportunity to report criticisms of the president and his initiatives. This is supposed to help the American public “Get the facts. Fight the smears”, the website’s slogan.

Allegations and responses are stored in the “Attack Files”.

This article in the Wall Street Journal calls the website a “Twitter Disaster”, noting that the site’s twitter feed is is full of “zingers”. Not exactly going as planned, we suppose.

So how do you feel? Is this a good idea, or is it screaming 1984 to you?

Thanks to Chicago Tribune!

Dick’s dictation: Former VP’s memoir is reveals secrets and raises eyebrows.

Hit the hardest? Vermont towns isolated after Irene.

A peaked prophet: Convicted Polygamist leader in critical condition.

Beyoncé’s baby breaks record. Entertainer’s pregnancy is biggest Twitter news…ever!

And, what’s Mario up to?

Armadebtdon. It’s the end of the world as we know it, according to Jon Stewart, who was not enthused with the President’s speech last Monday.

After the debt ceiling video debate, (if you want to call two separate speeches a debate— transcripts of the President’s message and Boehner’s response) citizens responded.

Websites of congressmen were flooded with users/citizens outrage.  Servers went down as emails of protest overwhelmed  the systems.

Some were following  Obama’s proclamation:

So I’m asking you all to make your voice heard. If you want a balanced approach to reducing the deficit, let your Member of Congress know. If you believe we can solve this problem through compromise, send that message.

By message did he mean a letter or a tweet?

Twitter reported on the server shut downs and many Congress members took to the social networking site to respond to constituents.

Both speeches acknowledged American frustration with government, without drawn-out apologies, which has been made evident in most citizen interviews.

If you check out this recent Washington Post poll, under question #23, only 30% of Americans would re-elect their congressperson.

So Obama called us out and many Americans took to the online social network. Should they have been marching in Washington?

This may be the beginning of a new era like when FDR called citizens to their televisions with maps in which he said these words:

“It is your problem, my friends, your problem no less than it is mine.Together we cannot fail.”

Obama similarly expressed at the end of his video:

The entire world is watching. So let’s seize this moment to show why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on Earth – not just because we can still keep our word and meet our obligations, but because we can still come together as one nation.

Apparently, the Twitter account had been hacked by an unknown source. The Hacker sent out six messages describing the assassination of Obama by two fatal gunshots.

Although the posts weren’t available for long, many Twitter followers were distressed by the abrupt news.

FoxNews apologized profusely for the false information explaining

Hackers sent out several malicious and false Tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family. The hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false Tweets may have created

Should this hack-attack be treated as a high spirited prank or should this be cause for alarm?