Wired.com tries to even the tables by giving parents a "
cheat sheet" on how to see what your kids are posting on their
MySpace.com pages. If you need to get more serious about spying on your kids,
private detectives have some suggestions.
As Wired.com explains in a separate article, the parental freak-out is predictable:
MySpace's rapid transformation into the
largest community of teens and twenty-somethings in history made a
backlash perhaps inevitable. In the three years since its launch,
MySpace has gathered over 57 million registered users (counting some
duplicates and fake profiles). As of last November, it enjoyed a
752-percent growth in web traffic over one year, according to
Nielsen//NetRatings.
In July the site was purchased for $580
million by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., and late last year launched its
own record label in partnership with Interscope Records.
Concerns over the site fall generally into
two categories: unease over the type of content teens are posting, and
fear of the type of people they're meeting.
States Decide Plan B Laws
The feds have failed to decide
whether or not to allow the over-the-counter sale of Plan B, often
referred to as the "morning-after pill," so now states are stepping in.
The Denver Post has a look at how lawmakers are dealing with the issue.
The (Baltimore) Sun said:
Abortion opponents are fighting the efforts of Plan B supporters by proposing measures in Illinois, Michigan
and 13 other states that would permit pharmacists to refuse to fill a
prescription because it violates their beliefs. Four states -- Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota -- already have such laws on the books.
The Washington Post said that a few states, including Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Mexico and California, allow pharmacists to dispense the pill directly to patients.
The Post explains that other states may not wait for the Food and Drug Administration to rule on the question of over-the-counter sales:
Filling a void left
by the Food and Drug Administration's inability to decide whether to
make the "morning-after" pill available without a prescription, nearly
every state is or soon will be wrestling with legislation that would
expand or restrict access to the drug.
More than 60 bills
have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that
follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The
resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that
looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states"
in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the
blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones.
Many of the state bills intended to expand access give specially trained pharmacists in states including Maryland, New York, Kentucky and Illinois
the right to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription.
Other bills require pharmacies to stock and distribute the drug, and to
ensure that the pill is made available to women who come into emergency
rooms after a sexual assault.
But some bills would
make it more difficult for many women to get emergency contraception,
which is effective for only 72 hours after a woman experiences a
contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. Legislation in New Hampshire,
for instance, would require parental notification before the drug is
dispensed, and more than 20 other states will consider bills that give
pharmacies the right not to stock the drug and pharmacists the right
not to dispense it, even to women with valid prescriptions.
A Miami Herald op-ed piece said that even with a prescription, Plan B pills are not universally available. The piece said:
Confronted with
pharmacists refusing to carry and dispense the pill based on privately
held views, a handful of states have had to adopt laws requiring them
to dispense it. Wal-Mart has refused to carry the drug, though that
might change. Last week, Massachusetts ordered the giant chain to stock the pill. Wal-Mart said that it would comply and would review its policy in other states.
Planned Parenthood chapters in Florida
have been conducting surveys of pharmacies to see how available the
pill is with a prescription. The Broward and South Palm Beach Planned
Parenthood chapter survey results: Of 210 pharmacies in its area, 51.9
percent had Plan B available; 24.3 percent did not have Plan B on hand
but would special-order it; 23.8 percent did not have the drug and
didn't offer to special-order it.
We've talked about Plan B a few times before on Al's Morning Meeting. Click here for a few resources that I've previously mentioned.
A $250,000 Bargain
The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, Mass. quotes an economist as saying that buyers just keep a'driving until they
qualify" for less expensive communities. By that, he means they accept longer and longer commutes, farther and farther from
town, until they can find a home they can afford. So, the paper went
looking for what a quarter of a million bucks would buy. The answer is
not pretty. Think: fewer than 1,000 square feet and termites.
What is on Your City's Homeland Security Wish List?
The San Francisco Chronicle
says the city is going to ask Homeland Security for a whopping $320
million over the next two years for help with everything from earthquake
preparedness to terrorism prevention.
What are your cities, counties and states
asking for?
Hip-Hop Stars Selling Cars
Detroit carmakers, desperate to connect with younger buyers, are turning to hip-hop stars as pitchmen. The Detroit News has a story that includes this passage:
The alliances mark a departure from Detroit's
often conservative advertising approach, which typically consists of
cars on winding roads or trucks slogging through the mud.
The rap partnerships also are an acknowledgment by Detroit automakers that they need to become more relevant to younger buyers.
"Hip-hop culture is really American culture at this point," said Mark-Hans Richer, marketing manager of Pontiac, explaining the decision to tap Ludacris for the Solstice ads.
The growing number of
hip-hop tie-ins, by everyone from automakers to software makers,
illustrates a broader shift in advertising. With marketing dollars
tight, companies are increasingly dumping catch-all campaigns aimed at
the middle of the market in favor of strategies that target specific
customer groups.
"It's a rifle approach, rather than a shotgun," said Eric Smallwood, vice president of Front Row Marketing Services, a Philadelphia firm that handles naming rights and sponsorship research.
For brands with older
customer bases, the cachet of hip-hop offers an opportunity to expand
their reach with younger buyers and in urban areas.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas,
edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites,
as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes
directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be
provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends
upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors
and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
WKRC Cincinnati reporter Dennison Keller did a very good job...
