Open Threads

I Don’t Get It

New USA Today Gallup Poll Highlights:

– 86% believe Saddam is supporting terror groups planning to attack the USA
– 53% believe he was involved in the Sept. 11 attacks.
– 94% believe Saddam either has weapons of mass destruction or is developing them.
– 83% of those who say he has weapons of mass destruction believe he would use them to attack the United States.

BUT,

ONLY 53% SUPPORT INVADING IRAQ.

What the hell is wrong with the 41% of the people who think he has or is developing weapons of mass destruction but who do not want to invade?????

I hate to say this, but we are going to have to be attacked several more times before people in this country are serious. The masses are ignorant, the Democrats are just using anything they can for partisan gain, and the Republicans can not engage the loony left effectively in debate, and when they do win, their idea of terror prevention is the garbage that is happening at airports around the country.

I guess we get the leadership we deserve, and it pains me to think how many more are going to have to die before we get serious.

I Don’t Get It NewPost + Comments

Sometimes the nerve of these people is just amazing.

Priests have been molesting alter boys across the country, and while the Catholic League and William Donohoe have been feigning ire and running cover for their church, the rest of the nation has been outraged.

On the other hand, a married couple engages in consensual sex in a cathedral, and Donohoe has an aneurysm. Yes, it was in bad taste. Yes, there are laws against it. There are also laws against pedophilia.

Let’s tie this all up. A married couple has sex in a church and two ‘shock jocks’ get fired.

Priests and the church hierarchy engage in a 30 year pattern of dabbling in buggery with unsuspecting children, lying to the authorities, bribing the victims into silence, and Bernard Law still has a job.

I got it now.

Sometimes the nerve of thesePost + Comments

Many Kudos to PhotoDude and everyone else who helped to rid the House of Representatives of the swine known as Cynthia McKinney. I love how CNN bought into the Zionist conspiracy nonsense, even though only 4% of the voters in her district were Jewish. Although it has long been clear the position CNN will take on anything having to do with Jews or Israel.

I do not think it is appropriate to claim this is a victory for the blogosphere, although I do feel that we are having a hand in shaping the debate. Only a fool would pretend that we have not had an impact. Only a total moron would think that the Instapundit and the other prolific bloggers are not watched closely by those in the mainstream media. Hell, members of the mainstream media are joining the ranks every day, joining the ranks of Sullivan, Marshall, Kaus, Jacobs, Postrel, and Lileks.

Several months ago, there was an article in MicroContentNews that discussed quite accurately how this new would pan out, and I believe it has been uncanny in its accuracy. The article stated essentially that their would be a food chain, and that food chain would stretch from the grass roots until eventually (and I am adding to Hiler’s thesis) it would be helping to shape the mainstream media. I read it, and I thought to myself that I wanted to be one of the big blogs, one of the ones to help shape issues ala Instapundit.

It has not worked that way, and I have to admit, I could not care less. I am quite happy with my 150-400 hits a day, and that is plenty satisfying and gratifying to me. I do not intend to go on some coffee induced posting binge, scouring the web for info. I have a role. I have readers who come to me for whatever reason, and they get what they want. I have settled into a cozy routine- I read the websites I would naturally read, and if I find something I want to comment on, I comment on it. I have about 30 daily blogs I read every day, and I always learn at least 30 new things every day. I have identified my role- I am the grassroots.

It sounds stupid, but in the blogosphere, we all can not be Instapundit. If we were, who would we read? If you read the Instapundit and those like him, they have an uncanny ability to find quality in both the press and the blogosphere. One of Glenn’s strong points is freely and loudly linking to any number of people- people you and I may have never heard of. Often times, I have e-mailed Glenn with things that I have read on other blogs or in obscure newspapers that I think he might have missed or might find interesting- or merely because I wanted to see his opinion oon the issue. Many times I have e-mailed him simply because I know he can reach more readers, and that it is FAR MORE important for important issues to see the light of day and be discussed widely than it is for me to have an extra 200 hits on any given day.

That is how I think things work- and I don’t intend to change. Neither should you. This is building in momentum, even if I think claims of victory are premature. Just keep commenting on what you know and enjoy, and recognize that the idea generation and information dissemination is what is important- not the counter stats.

Many Kudos to PhotoDude andPost + Comments

Instapundit and Others have Loudly and Appropriately

condemned Ann Coulter’s stupid off the cuff comments. For those of you who do not know what she said, here is the odious remark that has everyone buzzing:

Then she said: “My only regret with Timothy McVeigh is he did not go to the New York Times Building.”

I can’t think of an appropriate comment. From Larry Miller’s report of his visit to Israeli hospitals, via Toren Smith’s Safety Valve:

I Didn’t Know This,

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