I’ve been tough on Newsweek.com the last few weeks, so I’v actually found a great article on a technology project that originated in Kenya, and has found significant usage across the the globe in all types of crisis situations — Ushahidi.com.

Ushahidi.com

Ushahidi, which means “testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008

While the Newsweek article is a bit awkward for numerous reasons — it doesn’t focus on the development of the open source project, the grants that sustain it or much else really. However, the article does give the project much needed coverage in the United States, coverage that will help the developers gain both monetary support and more importantly usage and developers. So, here’s a brief bit of the article — and I think the whole article deserves a read, if only to show how technology developed in Africa can affect the world.
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uh-oh — Newsweek.com seems to be on a downward spiral — first the Rielle Hunter hagiography and now a ridiculous piece about “a running Newsweek debate about why and when we decide to call attacks on our country by the loaded word ‘terrorism.’” I’ve dealt with the media and political hypocrisy on the Austin IRS Terrorist here.

Here’s a key bit of the Newsweek piece:

Devin Gordon, Editor, NEWSWEEK.com
Austin Tax Wacko a terrorist-or as the Wall St Journal called him “the tax protester.” And I’m wondering if anyone has read yet – or would tackle themselves—a thorough comparison between our ho-hum reaction to a guy who successfully crashed a plane into a government building versus the media’s full-throated insanity over the underpants bomber, who didn’t hurt anyone but himself.

(extra links removed) — here’s the link to Newsweek.com’s “discussion.”

Here’s Greenwald’s reaction:

On so many levels, this is one of the most stunningly revealing things I’ve read in quite some time.  As I documented last week, the media’s reluctance to describe IRS attacker Joe Stack as a “terrorist” reveals that this term has little to do with the act itself and everything to do with the demographic attributes of the actor:  namely, in the American political lexicon, “Terrorists” are Muslims who dislike the U.S., while Americans — especially ones who are white and non-Muslim — cannot, by definition, qualify.

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Newsweek.com has a new article out on “The Quiet Dignity of Rielle Hunter.” The key premise of the article that somehow “John Edwards’s mistress has been surprisingly silent in public.”

Nothing.

No crying TV confession, no Playboy centerfold, no book deal. Not a word from Rielle Hunter in front of a camera since Edwards was still a plausible candidate for the presidency and Rielle was just another one-time staffer, appearing on Extra to talk about the video “Webisodes” she made of Edwards on the campaign trail.

Newsweek.com

Of course, this profile misses the key factors that Ms. Hunter knew Edwards was not only married, but basically pursued the guy with reckless abandon, landed a massive six-figure contract for video that was never used and after she got pregnant lived off the largess of big-money Edwards’ donors. That sort of makes the Playboy centerfold, book deal and any other sort of monetary rewards unnecessary.

Toussaint swiftly delineates the core problems with the Newsweek.com article: [...]