I saw No End In Sight last night. I will post a review later.
The Blogroll
After very little thought, I impulsively deleted the blogroll. Tim has been on my case for about six months now that it needed to be trimmed, and at some point I have to face facts- a not insignificant portion of our blogroll was dead. And I don’t mean dead links- I mean dead bloggers. Ex-bloggers. Bloggers who have ceased to exist.
I then decided to try and trim it, but it had become such a mangled mess of names and links I didn’t remember that I decided to just delete the whole damned thing. Over the course of the next few weeks we will build the links back up, so if you are not on there and feel you should be- that is what has happened. Don;t get your knickers in a twist- if I think you are interesting you will make it back up there.
However, being on the blogroll may no longer be a good thing. I have four new categories (and this I did put some thought into). The categories are:
Blogs John Reads
Blogs Tim Reads
Blogs We Both Read
Blogs We Monitor and Mock as Needed
If you see anything that is obviously missing, throw it in the comments. Otherwise, bear with us as we rebuild the list.
*** Update ***
Apparently I have botched the entire blogroll. Way to go, Tim. Couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you, and you pressured me until I did something rash. Does anyone know how to code WordPress websites?
*** Update #2 ***
SERIOUSLY. Does anyone know how to work with WordPress? My other guru seems to have died (or is no longer answering my email).
More Good News From Iraq
So says the Inspector General Report (but you know the liberal media will be blamed for reading it and reporting about it):
Iraq’s national government is refusing to take possession of thousands of American-financed reconstruction projects, forcing the United States either to hand them over to local Iraqis, who often lack the proper training and resources to keep the projects running, or commit new money to an effort that has already consumed billions of taxpayer dollars.
The conclusions, detailed in a report released Friday by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, a federal oversight agency, include the finding that of 2,797 completed projects costing $5.8 billion, Iraq’s national government had, by the spring of this year, accepted only 435 projects valued at $501 million. Few transfers to Iraqi national government control have taken place since the current Iraqi government, which is frequently criticized for inaction on matters relating to the American intervention, took office in 2006.
The United States often promotes the number of rebuilding projects, like power plants and hospitals, that have been completed in Iraq, citing them as signs of progress in a nation otherwise fraught with violence and political stalemate. But closer examination by the inspector general’s office, headed by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., has found that a number of individual projects are crumbling, abandoned or otherwise inoperative only months after the United States declared that they had been successfully completed. The United States always intended to hand over projects to the Iraqi government when they were completed.
Fabulous. I am sure we can pin this on the defeatist media and Democrats somehow.
*** Update ***
From the comments:
Damn you, Scott Beauchamp
EXACTLY!
Arming the Jihadi’s of Tomorrow
I applaud our leadership for this responsible maneuver:
The Bush administration is preparing to ask Congress to approve an arms sale package for Saudi Arabia and its neighbors that is expected to eventually total $20 billion at a time when some United States officials contend that the Saudis are playing a counterproductive role in Iraq.
The proposed package of advanced weaponry for Saudi Arabia, which includes advanced satellite-guided bombs, upgrades to its fighters and new naval vessels, has made Israel and some of its supporters in Congress nervous. Senior officials who described the package on Friday said they believed that the administration had resolved those concerns, in part by promising Israel $30.4 billion in military aid over the next decade, a significant increase over what Israel has received in the past 10 years.
But administration officials remained concerned that the size of the package and the advanced weaponry it contains, as well as broader concerns about Saudi Arabia’s role in Iraq, could prompt Saudi critics in Congress to oppose the package when Congress is formally notified about the deal this fall.
I personally think that what the region needs is more American manufactured weapons for them to use on us.
Creeps
Bizarre story in the NYT about pedophiles:
The search for the self-described pedophile in the large-brimmed black hat commences nearly every day here, with findings posted on chat rooms frequented by mothers.
He was spotted at a fair in Santa Clarita. He recently emerged from the Social Security office on Olympic Boulevard. He tapped away on a computer at the library in Mar Vista. Warnings have gone out. Signs have been posted.
And yet unlike convicted sex offenders, who are required to stay away from places that cater to children, in this case the police can do next to nothing, because this man, Jack McClellan, who has had Web sites detailing how and where he likes to troll for children, appears to be doing nothing illegal.
This story is interesting for two reasons. First, why do most pedophiles (the ones outside of the Rectory, that is) look like extras from the set of Deadwood:
Yech. Is this some sort of Darwinian process in which we are able to spot out perverts (for you Creationists- is this God’s way of pointing out perverts)?
The other reason this story is interesting is because a bunch of mothers are going to band together to pressure the CA legislature to do something about this guy. What, I do not know, but it is always interesting to see what kind of assault on our Constititution hysterical moms and craven politicians can launch.
Extra bonus- Eugene Volokh is quoted at the end of the article.
So Much for Our Integrity And Independence
The White House hosted a blogger conference call to discuss the issues surrounding the Bush administration’s use of executive privilege in the probe of the firings of eight federal prosecutors. The White House arranged the call based on a recommendation by this blog, in order to familiarize the blogosphere with the legal and political arguments on which the administration will rely to prevail in the upcoming fight regarding the contempt citations Congress seems likely to approve.
Old Mantra: Blogs are a breath of fresh air because we are independent and can fact check your asses, and can work to defuse the spin of the liberal mainstream media.
New Mantra: Blogs are great because we can willingly serve as part of the Bush Administration’s propaganda apparatus.
Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. At least people are no longer pretending to have a shred of integrity and independence. Hacks.
*** Update ***
In the comments, Rick Moran writes:
Damn. And this thread was going so well…
My phone just rang. Howard Dean was on the line. I got a heads-up from Laura at the DNC about an hour ago. It was a great conversation. He explained the Dems new fundraising venture, Democracy Bonds, which launched this morning.
He wasn’t calling to ask for a personal donation. He was calling to say he’s excited about the new programs and website. We talked about Democratic values, and how we have to get the message out that we, not the Republicans, are the party of values. I completely agree with the Governor that we need to become known again for what we stand for.
Love the independence of the blogosphere, don’t you?
Before the stupid gets too far out of hand, let us note one thing. There is a substantive difference between bloggers working with parties in regards to advocacy and pursuing electoral issues, and an administration issuing talking points to bloggers to assist in blocking investigations into alleged criminal wrongdoings.
Really, this isn’t rocket science. I have no problem with bloggers organizing and meeting with the RNC and the DNC and whoever else to pursue legitimate political goals. I frown on bloggers coordinating to engage in spin brigades to cover-up alleged wrongdoings. Pretending they are the same thing is hack-fu (to borrow a term) of the first order.
Since I know the target audience is not susceptible to mere logic (not talking about Rick personally, but others on his side of the aisle), let me make it simpler. Do you have a problem with the President Hillary Clinton’s staff calling DKOS and ThinkProgress and whoever else in the spring of 2010 to work on election strategies for the mid-term? Of course you would not.
Do you have a problem with President Hillary Clinton, in the spring of 2010, calling bloggers and issuing talking points to subvert the investigations by a Republican Congress into alleged misdeeds and lies by her Attorney General, Pat Leahy? Of course you would.
Granted, that is a far-out fictional hypothetical, since there is no chance in hell Republicans will control Congress again for the next ten years, but you get the point.
*** Update #2 ***
Jon Henke has the new spin- those who object to coordinated efforts to steamroll investigations are irrational:
I’m not sure why allowing the White House to make their case requires loss of integrity or independence – I’d ask, only I value my independence and integrity too much to listen to the answer – but let’s assume that the critics have some psychic insight that makes up for their poor logic.
Silly me. This was not an attempt to issue talking points and orchestrate a spin campaign to deflect from alleged wrongdoing, just the WH “making their case.” Which, just by coincidence, will be repeated in the right wing blogosphere until it bubbles up into the mainstream media, fogging the issue and clouding the legitimate debate. Funny, that.
Jon goes on:
It’s time we stopped thinking of bloggers as a subset of opinion-journalists. Some may pursue that role, but the majority of political bloggers are just people with an interest in politics. Sometimes they will be journalists, sometimes they will be pundits, and sometimes they will be activists. When they believe in the cause, there’s nothing necessarily compromising about any of those approaches.
Kinda the point in the “Old Mantra/New mantra” above, Jon. The role of blogging for many is now to serve as party hack and apparatchiks- Karl Rove with a Keyboard if you will. I don’t think it is crazy or unfair to treat them as such.
At least Captain Ed is more honest with his hackery:
Jon Henke at QandO notes some of the more hysterical reaction to the notion of participating in a conference call with the White House. I won’t go into a long dissertation about this, but Jon notes that some of the same hysterics participate in other partisan conference calls themselves. I’m not sure what that has to do with “integrity”, especially since I made it plain where the information I reported originated. As far as “independence” goes, readers can judge that for themselves — but I somehow don’t think my repeated calls for Gonzales’ resignation come from a talking-points download from a Karl Rove brain implant.
See my first update.
So Much for Our Integrity And IndependencePost + Comments (77)
Passive Tense
The Washington Post replies to the Clinton campaign using an earlier story on Clinton’s cleavage as the basis for a fundraising letter:
Stories about the appearance of candidates, from Al Gore’s earth-tones wardrobe to John Edwards’s $400 haircut to a bathing-suit shot of Barack Obama in a People spread on “Beach Babes,” have long been an entertaining sideshow.
How about that. Media figures tend to swoon around Republicans (Romney’s laser-cut jaw and broad shoulders, Thompson has a manly funk) but stories about Democrats always seem to revolve around being image-conscious fakes. Beltway habitues like Kurtz probably don’t even realize it when they pursue stories that just reinforce their own prejudices.