Daily Ramblings:
I Know You're Sorry - I'm Sorry Too ...05/15/2005 05:57:19 pm
Ouch: "Newsweek Says Erred In Koran Desecration Report."
In all the very well deserved piling on that I hope will take place against the editors of Newsweek, for spicing up the truth with an illegitimate story about the Koran being flushed down a toilet at Guantanamo, I hope that a larger point is not forgotten. That is, what exactly do we say is going on when people embark on a rampage and kill other people (16 dead and over 100 injured in Afghanistan) in one part of the world, because they have heard that maybe some pages of a book were destroyed at a place 10,000 miles away?
That which one believes to be the word of God is sacred to any religious person, but a book is a physical container of words which cannot be wiped out by the destruction of one particular copy of it. And it has not been just a single hysterical Afghani mob complicit in this. From Egypt to Yemen to Gaza and even Los Angeles, high profile Muslims have raised their voices (in a way they never did against Saddam Hussein's systematic murder of his own Muslim people) to protest in the most extreme terms, based on an allegation in a magazine that some over-zealous prison interrogators may have destroyed a copy of a book. A vulgar and disrespectful act, most would agree, but surely not a reason for killing on the other side of the world. Isn't it the out-of-control mobs that the religious leaders might want to be addressing?
So, Newsweek is guilty of portraying the American military unfairly - no question, and no big surprise - but the violence and deaths of the past few days are, I would think, someone else's responsibility.
Something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Addendum 05/15/2005 09:20:10 pm: And Newsweek's own mea culpa (sort of) story compounds their own crime by regaling us with a string of other sordid allegations (the wiping of menstrual blood on a prisoner, and a good smattering of uncorroborated stories of Koran abuse) while not being remotely judgmental as to the murderous reaction of some to last week's article.
Given all that has been reported about the treatment of detainees—including allegations that a female interrogator pretended to wipe her own menstrual blood on one prisoner—the reports of Qur'an desecration seemed shocking but not incredible. But to Muslims, defacing the Holy Book is especially heinous. "We can understand torturing prisoners, no matter how repulsive," says computer teacher Muhammad Archad, interviewed last week by NEWSWEEK in Peshawar, Pakistan, where one of last week's protests took place. "But insulting the Qur'an is like deliberately torturing all Muslims. This we cannot tolerate."
Isn't Newsweek even curious as to whether this is the official position of Islam, including "moderate Islam" in America? They exhibit no interest in whether it is legitimate to seek someone's death for damaging a holy book, or whether something might be wrong in the hearts of those who killed fellow Muslims last week on hearing what was in that issue of Newsweek.
Imagine if Catholics were rioting and killing people over an alleged incident of damage to a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Do you think the Catholic hierarchy would get a question or two about it? Along the lines of whether the Church endorsed that kind of violence in response to the damage of a statue?
And then imagine if the reaction of the hierarchy was not to condemn the rioters and murderers, but to rail instead against whoever had (allegedly) damaged the statue - and by extension those individuals' fellow countrymen and government.
You'll need a good imagination to conjure up a scenario like that one. And you'll need an even better imagination, apparently, to dream up a situation where Newsweek might risk looking critically at the "religion of peace."
I Am A Lonesome Hobo ...05/13/2005 09:35:47 pm
This has to be a parody, right? Someone named Molly, writing for Seattle University's Specator Online, went to see the Experience Music Project exhibit on Dylan's early years (described by our friend Russ back here). She riffs on McCarthyism and the great lost opportunity for folk musicians to have cured injustices back in the '50s (or something like that), and on how the women in Dylan's life (Baez and Rotolo) turned him on to social activism.
Then, inspired to the bone by experiencing Dylan's music in this context, she "glided up Pine Street" and encountered, apparently, a homeless guy watching some construction work while eating an ice cream sandwich - and she experienced a moment of transcendent insight. At least that's how I read what happened. Here's an extract - you decide:
After listening to his music I became so connected with the messages of social justice that I felt a connection to all those that roamed the streets when I departed the lecture. As I glided up Pine Street on my walk home it was as though I too ate the sandwich consumed by the voyeur presently observing the complexities of heavy drilling. There was a connection between him and me as he enjoyed the small pleasures of life that did not depend on mediums of Capitalism.
In this state of suspension, outside the economic systems that control so many aspects of human life, there was a transport back to the womb of infantile innocence. We both absorbed the complete consciousness of pure observation, while at the same time remained untainted by the constructs of a refined, conformed human society.
It was only after experiencing this juxtaposition of complete freedom in the face of the capital that oppresses human nature, that I chose to embark on the rest of my journey.
Immediately following, I could understand the freedom bursting from the heart of the man in the black poncho cape as he nostalgically consumed an ice cream sandwich.
Though his mode of escape from “reality” as it has been culturally defined to remain on the move, rather than linger in a state of contemplation, it was not, however, as though the tyrants of modern civilization were pushing him. His choice to continue moving stemmed from his desire to rekindle the wild nomadic past locked away in the collective subconscious of the human mind. He did not move as though he was a human machine controlled by the masters of production — it was his own choice, an end in itself, not a tool used to satiate greed through manufacturing.Tell me that this is a parody. As such, it would be one of the wittiest things that I've read in awhile. I mean, lines like "the capital that oppresses human nature;" "'reality' as it has been culturally defined;" "freedom bursting from the heart of the man in the black poncho cape as he nostalgically consumed an ice cream sandwich," and "his desire to rekindle the wild nomadic past locked away in the collective subconscious" - this stuff is priceless!
And yet, the whole thing ends with a sweet "Thanks Bob," that insists to me that the writer is only too serious. Could it be??
There goes another night's sleep.
Something There Is About You ...05/13/2005 04:10:16 pm
Tom Daschle's successor as Minority Leader, Harry Reid, yesterday hit a new low, while attacking President Bush's nominee for the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, Henry Saad:
Minority Leader Harry Reid strayed from his prepared remarks on the Senate floor yesterday and promised to continue opposing one of President Bush's judicial nominees based on "a problem" he said is in the nominee's "confidential report from the FBI."
Those highly confidential reports are filed on all judicial nominees, and severe sanctions apply to anyone who discloses their contents. Less clear is whether a senator could face sanctions for characterizing the content of such files.His exact words were: "All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there."
Knowing that what is in there cannot be revealed and debated pubicly, he threw what amounts to a piece of atomic innuendo at Judge Saad - who himself has never seen that FBI file.
The Washington Times reports that no Republican senators have as yet commented for the record. Standing Rule Of The Senate XXIX, Section 6 states:
Whenever, by the request of the Senate or any committee thereof, any documents or papers shall be communicated to the Senate by the President or the head of any department relating to any matter pending in the Senate, the proceedings in regard to which are secret or confidential under the rules, said documents and papers shall be considered as confidential, and shall not be disclosed without leave of the Senate.
And the penalty for violation is covered in Section 5:
Any Senator, officer, or employee of the Senate who shall disclose the secret or confidential business or proceedings of the Senate, including the business and proceedings of the committees, subcommittees, and offices of the Senate, shall be liable, if a Senator, to suffer expulsion from the body; and if an officer or employee, to dismissal from the service of the Senate, and to punishment for contempt.
Is there a shred of doubt in anyone's mind as to what would be the Democrats' response if the situation were reversed and Bill Frist had said something like this? Or Trent Lott?
Harry Reid and the Democrats have recently held up the Senate Rules as some kind of sacred (and unchangeable) text on which the stability of our democracy rests. It's time to enforce those rules.
VDH Blues ...05/13/2005 02:25:08 pm
Historian Victor Hanson's usual Friday column is a keeper this week: on World War II and how it is remembered (or misremembered).
Revisionism holds a strange attraction for the winners of World War II. American textbooks discuss World War II as if a Patton, Le May, or Nimitz did not exist, as if the war was essentially the Japanese internment and Hiroshima. That blinkered and politically correct focus explains why so many Americans under 30 are simply ignorant about the nature and course of World War II itself. Similarly, the British have monthly debates on the immorality of their bombing Hamburg and Dresden.
In dire contrast, even the post-Soviet Russian government will not speak of the Stalin-Hitler non-aggression pact, the absorption of the Baltic states, the murder of millions of German citizens in April through June 1945 in Eastern Europe, and the mass execution of Polish officers. If we were to listen to the Chinese, World War II was about the gallant work of Mao’s partisans, who in fact used the war to gain power, and then went on to kill 50 million of their own citizens — about the same number lost in all of World War II. Japan likewise has never come to terms with the millions of Asian civilians its armies butchered or its systematic brutality waged against American POWs.
The truth is that the supposedly biased West discusses the contribution of others far more than our former enemies — or Russian and Chinese allies — credit the British or Americans.It's all here.
On Good Deeds And A Dearth Of Unpunishment ...05/13/2005 10:21:14 am
By way of a follow up to an earlier post: FREECYCLE is an online messageboard/email group type thing, where people in your locality can "OFFER" things which they no longer need, to other people who are willing to simply come and pick them up. Recently having subscribed via email to such a group in my area, every day brings a long series of "OFFERs" and a much longer series of "WANTEDs" to my inbox - the latter being emails from people who want to put their wish out there just in case someone might be getting ready to dispose of something like a computer, an IPOD, a musical instrument or other desirable. And every day supplies a veritable microcosm of humanity, with all of its thoughtful generousity, pitiable idealism, gross ingratitiude and blind rage.
I leave it to you to consider how to categorize this message, headed "A COMMENT ABOUT OFFERS:"
I am a victim of domestic violence with 2 children and I have a
comment to say about some people that offer items on here and have me
on a stop and go situation. There was someone that was offering some
clothing, that my children and I would gladly use. Last night that
person said I was #9 on thier list if no one comes to pick it up. This
was all last night at around 11 pm. Today this person asks me if I can
come and pick up the clothing at 8:30 pm. I explained that I could not
go, because my youngest daughter had a high fever and plus I don't
have a vehicle nor will I go out this last with my children. Then this
person tells me sorry but that clothing was taken by someone else. I
don't think people understand how this site works or how they should
offer, give and promise items to people. I am not a greedy person but
I sure need all the help I can get from here. But it is messed up how
this person tells me the stuff they were offering was not available
and then just a few hrs later they were and was expecting me to up and
go to pick them up just like that. Is there any suggestions people
have to offer to fix this matter... Thank You... CaryJust a thought: is this why communism failed?
When Irish Eyes ...05/12/2005 05:15:24 pm
Just to mention: there were coordinated acts of vandalism (link requires free reg.) yesterday against Jewish targets around the Dublin city area - in dear old Ireland.
Gardai confirmed swastikas had been daubed on the Irish Jewish Museum in Portobello, Dublin, while a synagogue and Jewish cemetery were also targeted in the overnight attacks.
...
It is understood the racist attacks have been going on since November of last year. He said he suspected one gang was responsible for the ongoing harassment.
Anti-Semitic graffiti was sprayed on the museum in black paint.
Vandals also targeted the former residence of the first chief rabbi, graves at the Jewish cemetery in Dolphin's Barn, a Jewish old people's home and the synagogue in Terenure.
It is understood the attackers broke two windows just before midnight on Wednesday then fled, before returning hours later to spray racist signs.These people seem to be really reaching, when they even target "the former residence of the first chief rabbi." Of-course Jewish targets in Ireland would likely be few and far between due to the, well, shortage of Jews. However, the lack of any obvious signs of Zionist evil and domination in Ireland clearly doesn't fool this particular group of artists and stone-throwers.
TV Talkin' ...05/11/2005 11:04:15 am
The Scorsese documentary, about which I have previously written skeptically, is set to air September 26th and 27th, according to PBS. Of-course, I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Scorsese has the ability to do something wonderful. Though, for obsessive Dylan-types, it's hard to figure if anything new and genuinely exciting can come from another examination of that stage of Dylan's career (1961 - 1966). But then, I guess it's not really being made for us.
I love how the PBS promo says, "Bob Dylan gives his only full length interview in 20 years ...." Yeah, tell it to Ed Bradley. CBS used the very same promotion for Dylan's 60 Minutes interview back in December of last year. They're both referring back to a 1985 interview on ABC TV. Why PBS seems to be dissing CBS in this case, I don't know.
One hopes, however, that Scorsese will make better use of the 10 hours of interview footage that he has acquired - better, that is, than CBS in 2004 and ABC in 1985, who both essentially just culled a few remarks from more lengthy on-camera interviews, and completed their 12 minute slots with old footage and narrative voice-overs.
I think that Dylan should just buy some infomercial time and lay out whatever it is that needs to be said, with no middle-man doing editing and providing "context." He could take calls from viewers, answering all the critical questions once and for all, from "Why did you write all those songs about Vietnam?" to "What the heck does the "Eye" thing mean?"
Your Sons And Your Daughters Are Beyond Your Command ...05/11/2005 10:30:12 am
Not much to comment on in Jakob Dylan's brief remarks to Anthony DeCurtis of the New York Times, but that's never proved an obstacle to commenting before, so ...
Going by the context, apparently DeCurtis asked the lead singer of the Wallflowers whether his father, Bob Dylan, was affectionate. This led to Jakob explaining that he'd decided to directly answer such questions now, having avoided them in the past.
“Yes,” he said, taking a breath, “he was affectionate. When I was a kid, he was a god to me for all the right reasons. Other people have put that tag on him in some otherworldly sense. I say it as any kid who admired his dad and had a great relationship with him. He never missed a single Little League game I had. He’s collected every home-run ball I ever hit. And he’s still affectionate to me.” He paused and smiled. “Maybe he doesn’t want people to know that,” he said. “But I’ll tell you because it’s my interview.”
He also makes an observation that I remember hearing before, quite a few years ago, about the strangeness of meeting some of his teen idols in situations where they were getting to meet one of their idols - his father.
"Look, he’s the best at what I do,” he said matter-of-factly. “I know that, and so do my heroes. I got to watch my heroes meet him and saw how they reacted, whether it was Joe Strummer or Tom Waits. It was peculiar. I’m so stoked to meet Tom Waits, and he’s so nervous to meet my dad. It’s a head spin.”
And he portrays a family life that was as strong as it could be under the circumstances of divorce:
“My father said it himself in an interview many years ago: ‘Husband and wife failed, but mother and father didn’t,’” Dylan said. “People watch those shows and want to see you live a terrible life and embarrass yourself. But I’ve got a life that really matters to me, and that’s because of the way I was raised. My ethics are high because my parents did a great job.”
So, not much to see here, except that the son's good judgment and grace on this subject speaks very well indeed of his parents.
License To Kill ...05/08/2005 01:56:24 pm
The BBC trumpets that "Sharon halts prisoner releases, " while demanding a crackdown on Palestinian terrorists (the BBC's word of-course is "militants"). Nowhere in the article is this small piece of context: on Friday an anti-tank missile was fired by some of those "militants" at their idea of a legitimate target ... a school bus full of children. It missed; this time.
Happy Mother's Day.
"Their Day Will Come" ...05/07/2005 07:55:45 pm
The picture that is worth considerably more than a thousand words, and the blog post from the photographer who took it - embedded with the Army's 1st Battalion 24th Regiment in Mosul, Iraq.
She's Got Everything She Needs ...05/07/2005 01:47:18 pm
Been listening to a, um, collector's recording of Dylan's 4/20/05 show in Verona, NY. And now I think I was wrong in some comments I made after attending one of the New York City shows at the Beacon Theater - to the effect that the band seemed to work better without the fiddle player Elana Fremerman. At this 4/20 show, she was onstage, and I think her violin touches worked wonderfully. An example being She Belongs To Me (mp3 here temporarily, may be unreliable).
The First One Now ...05/06/2005 03:50:14 pm
Ha. Little Green Footballs today catches up with two stories that readers of RightWingBob.com were onto days ago: the suspicious "inspections" at hospitals (mentioned at the end of this RWB piece) and the interesting new way that GOOGLE is planning to rank its news sources (mentioned at the end of this item).
See? Big Bloggers equal sloooowww bloggers. Can't wait till they have their huge network up and running. They'll be weeks behind!
Addendum 05/07/2005 08:21:31 a.m.:
It has come to my attention that not everyone gets the humor in the above post and my needling of Little Green Footballs (soon to be part of Pajamas Media). Be assured, I am joking, folks - LGF is a brave and crucial blog and I admire Mr. Johnson no end for what he's done and continues to do.
The Murmur Of A Prayer ...05/05/2005 04:48:42 pm
Another example of fine and quiet eloquence in a speech by George W. Bush, today at the White House to mark the National Day of Prayer. In its way, this speech thoroughly answers those hysterical critics who continue to maintain that some kind of theocracy is being established in the United States of America. And, to bring it all back home on this site to a familiar Dylan angle, it also straightforwardly addresses the rampant (if not often deliberate) confusion over the notion that this President claims to have God on his side.
So, starting a little ways in, here is what the President said today:
The National Day of Prayer is an annual event established in 1952 by an Act of the United States Congress. Yet, this day is part of a broader tradition that reaches back to the beginnings of America. From the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, to the launch of the American Revolution, the men and women who founded this nation in freedom relied on prayer to protect and preserve it.
Today, prayer continues to play an important part in the personal lives of many Americans. Every day, millions of us turn to the Almighty in reverence and humility. Every day, our churches and synagogues and mosques and temples are filled with men and women who pray to our Maker. And almost every day, I am given a special reminder of this great generosity of spirit when someone comes up and says, Mr. President, I'm praying for you.
Prayer has been an important part of American public life, as well. Many of our forefathers came to these shores seeking the freedom to worship. The first Continental Congress began by asking the Almighty for the wisdom that would enable them to settle things on the best and surest foundation. And when our Founders provided that sure foundation in the Declaration of Independence, they declared it a self-evident truth that our right to liberty comes from God.
And so we pray as a nation for three main reasons. We pray to give thanks for our freedom. Freedom is our birthright because the Creator wrote it into our common human nature. No government can ever take a gift from God away. And in our great country, among the freedoms we celebrate is the freedom to pray as you wish, or not at all. And when we offer thanks to our Creator for the gift of freedom, we acknowledge that it was meant for all men and women, and for all times.
Second, we pray for help in defending the gift of freedom from those who seek to destroy it. Washington prayed at Valley Forge. Franklin Roosevelt sent American troops off to liberate a continent with his D-Day prayer. Today, we pray for the troops who are defending our freedom against determined enemies around the globe. We seek God's blessing for the families they have left behind, and we commit to Heaven's care those brave men and women he has called home.
AUDIENCE: Amen.
Finally, we pray to acknowledge our dependence on the Almighty. Prayerful people understand the limits of human strength. We recognize that our plans are not always God's plans. Yet, we know that a God who created us for freedom is not indifferent to injustice or cruelty or evil. So we ask that our hearts may be aligned with His, and that we may be given the strength to do what is right and help those in need. We who ask for God's help for ourselves, have a particular obligation to care for the least of our brothers and sisters within our midst.
During the funeral for Abraham Lincoln, Bishop Matthew Simpson relayed a story about a minister who told our 16th President that he hoped the Lord was on his side. Lincoln wisely replied that he was more concerned that he was on the side of the Lord, because the Lord was always on the side of right.
Freedom is a divine gift that carries with it a tremendous human responsibility. The National Day of Prayer is a day that we ask that our nation, our leaders and our people use the freedom we have been given wisely. And so we pray as Americans have always prayed: with confidence in God's purpose, with hope for the future, and with the humility to ask God's help to do what is right.
Thank you for coming. May God bless.
END 9:32 A.M. EDT
(from whitehouse.gov)
And More Good News! ...05/04/2005 10:05:25 pm
The U.S. Marine who shot a wounded Iraqi in Fallujah (in a context where insurgents were playing dead in order to attack U.S. forces) has been cleared on the grounds (obviously) that he was acting in self-defense.
Back here at the time, RWB predicted just that result, despite the media frenzy brought on by the fact that the incident was videotaped by a reporter with a pronounced agenda. Bob is Right again!
I also predicted that the Marine in question would ultimately be decorated, rather than punished.
It remains to be seen, but that result would be logical, given the findings today.
It's Always A Good Time ...05/04/2005 08:57:15 pm
... for some good news. Why not wallow in several bits of it all at once?
Of-course, the capture of Abu Farraj al-Libbi ranks as a very sweet thing indeed, since he's considered to be Al Qaeda's current operational commander. It's a salutary reminder also that the former operational commander, Khalid Sheik Mohammed (who planned the September 11th attack) has been rotting in an undisclosed location since March of 2003. In the absence of a high profile trial, appearances on the Today show and a teary interview with Barbara Walters, it's easy to forget that this depraved monster is in fact in custody. (By the way, is it not notable how these holy warriors who send others out to die, and supposedly crave martyrdom themselves, are being captured alive with such regularity? How hard is it exactly to achieve martyrdom when you're surrounded by people pointing guns at you? All you have to do is refuse to put your own gun down. That's obviously just a bit too much to ask of these guys. Ramzi Binalshibh being another example. How long before Osama comes out with his hands up and his pants wet?)
And, though much of the media focuses on the glass-half-empty angle of some unfilled cabinet positions, Iraq now has a new government based on the democratic election results of this past January. They can be cut some slack for their tardiness. Decades of being subject to torture, rape and murder for expressing one's opinion can affect a people's temperament and mindset, after all.
“You all know the heavy legacy inherited by this government. We are afflicted by corruption, lack of services, unemployment and mass graves,” [new Prime Minister] al-Jaafari told lawmakers after taking the oath of office before the National Assembly. “I would like to tell the widows and orphans ... your sacrifices have not gone in vain.”
Here's to that sentiment.
And so, less than 4 years after 3,000 Americans were killed by Islamic terrorists, the response of the United States has been to sacrifice its own best and bravest to remove tyranny and foster democracy for approximately 50 million Muslims. History will look at this in many ways as a strange and blessed time, when the old rules of conquest and annihilation were suspended by the nation wielding the world's greatest power, in favor of a humane (though also self-serving) prescription of liberty in their stead. Who knows how long this stage will last?
On the domestic front, firefighter Donald Herbert, brain-damaged while fighting a fire in 1995, suddenly asked to talk to his wife after being essentially unable to communicate for all of these years. He apparently was under the impression that he had been incommunicado for only about 3 months. After spending 14 hours talking to relatives, he fell asleep for 30 hours and the future progress of his condition is of-course unknown.
Dr. Rose Lynn Sherr of New York University Medical Center said when patients recover from brain injuries, they usually do so within two or three years.
"It's almost unheard of after 10 years," she said, "but sometimes things do happen and people suddenly improve and we don't understand why.""We don't understand why" - laudable honesty from that doctor - but of-course what choice does she have? It occurred to me that while we can total up the number of times that doctors, by being wrong, cause injury (just count the successful malpractice suits), no one likely keeps numbers on the number of times they are happily wrong.
You know, those times we all remember when Uncle Albert was given 6 months to live ... but was still going strong 5 years later. When the prognosis was bad ... but the patient uncooperatively got better instead. I have personal experience of that kind of thing, and I have no doubt that a whole lot of other people do too. One's reaction to such an experience is abject relief and gratitude to one's Deity. It would seem uncouth to declare your doctor an idiot or a charlatan, on the basis that you're healthy and alive when he thought you ought to be deathly ill or actually dead.
So, I say, take the known figures on how often doctors make mistakes, and double them, at the least.
And spare one more thought for Terri Schiavo and her wounded family.
OK - one bit of bad news, from the increasingly indispensable New York Sun. It seems that some individuals have been visiting big urban hospitals in the United States, describing themselves falsely as "inspectors for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations," and demanding all kinds of information from the employees. A bulletin from the Department of Homeland Security was issued on April 22nd, warning hospital staff of these potential terrorism planners.
Although the department said it knows of no specific terrorist plot, the bulletin said: "These most recent nationwide impersonations are more noteworthy when seen in the broader context with similar incidents which have occurred from October 2004 to February 2005." The letter went on to detail a series of incidents in that period in which people were caught taking unauthorized pictures of hospitals, asking for hospital blueprints, requesting information about the whereabouts of medicines that would be used in biological attacks, and inquiring about the institutions' capacity for cardiac care, trauma care, helicopter access, and private rooms.
The New York Police Department's chief spokesman, Paul Browne, said the department's Operation Nexus sent a warning to city hospitals after foreign nationals, falsely claiming to be hospital inspectors, asked to survey hospitals' inventory. He said the incidents, though they did not represent a specific or credible threat, raised the concern that the fake inspectors were trying to gain access to radioactive materials, which are stored in hospitals and could be used to build a dirty bomb.
Well, to get back to the good news, here's one person at least that the hospital staff do not have to watch out for:
Forever Young ...05/03/2005 12:06:17 pm
Is the New Media in too much of a hurry to imitate the Old Media? The New York Sun today reports on a kind of merger taking place in the Blogosphere:
In a dramatic sign that Web logs are going mainstream, three of the largest political blogs are banding together to form what is believed to be a first-of-its kind ad-supported network.
To broaden their appeal beyond national security issues, the three - ArmedLiberal.com, RogerLSimon.com, and LittleGreenFootballs.com - will receive editorial advice from the owner of one of the most heavily trafficked blogs, Instapundit.com's Glenn Reynolds, among others.
The venture will be called Pajamas Media, a not-so-subtle reference to the September remarks of a CNN executive, Jonathan Klein, who said a typical blogger has "no checks and balances" and is just "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."
Hmm, read further on, and you hear that the intent is to have a network of bloggers all over the world, equipped with camcorders and laptops, covering events as they happen (I thought we sort of already had that, though without the formal "network" part). Advertisers on the network will be able to take advantage of this global reach.
Well, I'll reserve judgment, but I wonder if I'm the only one feeling a little queasy?
Know that you can always keep your dial tuned to RightWingBob.com, secure in the knowledge that there's only one miserable little guy behind it all - and not a penny is being made!
***
On another, though not totally unrelated note, (and this is via those evil Big Blogsters Little Green Footballs) the people behind the search engine GOOGLE have had more of their inherent left wing bias exposed. RightMarch.com experimented by submitting an ad to GOOGLE attacking House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. The thing is, they used the precise same text as an ad GOOGLE was already running attacking the Republican leader Tom DeLay. The DeLay ad read:
The Truth about Tom DeLay
Learn about DeLay’s many scandals
and help us clean up the House!
dccc.orgThe Nancy Pelosi ad they submitted read:
The Truth about Nancy Pelosi
Learn about Pelosi’s many scandals
and help us clean up the House!GOOGLE rejected the Pelosi version, saying:
Google policy does not permit ad text that advocates against an individual, group or organization.
Ah, you see, it's alright to do it to Tom DeLay, because he's not "an individual, group or organization." He's a Republican!
I'm sure that GOOGLE will correct their inconsistency in this specific case somehow, and blame it on the failure of some individual editor to understand the guidelines correctly. Regardless, it's one of a long string of examples of GOOGLE favoring the left - e.g. listing liberal blogs under their "NEWS" service while rejecting comparable conservative ones.
Right Wing Bob will have to work on his own huge evil global search engine technology. Then, no matter what result you get, you can at least be sure it's Right!
Addendum 03:35:11 pm:
And now here's the BBC reporting that GOOGLE has filed a patent on a bit of "improved" technology for their news story rankings. The system will "compare the track record and credibility of different news sources, " according to a set of variables, including "story length, number of staff employed and amount of traffic to its website." Sounds like a recipe for tipping the balance back to people like the New York Times, obviously.
That Tour Program ...05/02/2005 03:12:22 pm
Back in March, our friend Russ gave us a description of Dylan's current tour program. Since it was numbered and labeled "Limited Edition," it seemed possible that there might be a different version sold at some gigs... (click here for full item including snapshots)
Political World ...05/01/2005 09:57:14 am
Did I just hear Pat Robertson endorse Rudy Giuliani for President in 2008, on ABC's This Week show?
Indeed.
He had mentioned a number of other names, including Sam Brownback, but when Georgie Stephanoupolous asked him directly about Rudy Giuliani or John McCain, he said that he thought Rudy had been a great mayor of New York City and would make "a good President." He went on to indicate that he wouldn't endorse John McCain for President under any circumstances.
Considering Rudy's position on the social issues at the heart of Pat Robertson's agenda, this is big news. Robertson indicated that he considers Rudy a friend, and "a good Catholic."
I know it's ludicrous to speculate about 2008 so early, but since I've nothing better to do, it's worth asking the question: is a possible third way to the Republican nomination opening up here?
Robertson and the voters he symbolizes (and millions of others besides) cannot vote for someone who would fight to uphold Roe versus Wade, and who would nominate judges accordingly. It's just not conceivable, and for good reason. This is an issue that was taken away from the American people by the Supreme Court in 1973, and the battle has been and will continue to be based squarely at that Court until some crack begins to show.
However, what if Rudy, while not personally opposing a right to abortion, made it clear that his philosophy in nominating judges was the same as George W. Bush's; namely that he favors originalists like Antonin Scalia? It is, in fact, an intellectually consistent position. One can favor the availability of abortion, while strongly disagreeing with the legal reasoning of Roe versus Wade, and believing that the democratic legislative process should be allowed to take its course on this issue. This would result in the various states coming up with (or reviving) their own abortion laws. Some states would make little change to the current abortion-on-demand status quo. Some few might ban the practice in all cases except for when the life of the mother needed to be saved. Most would likely allow abortion but set a variety of limits on it. And a real debate, no longer made moot by an oligarchical judicial fiat, would take place among the people of this country.
This is no more than the situation that the current President would like to see prevail. With Pat Robertson's rather astounding statement this morning, is it also the situation that Rudy Giuliani, as a Presidential candidate, would favor?
It's the only way that Right Wing Bob can make sense of what he said.
Original text copyright © 2005 by RightWingBob.com
Quotes from the works of others are linked to their source or are as otherwise attributed, and are used in accordance with Fair Use guidelines. Contact: rightwingbob(at)gmail.com
Serious Dylan Related Things:
Right Wing Bob On:
Who Am I And What Is This Site About?
The Whole Wide World Is Watching
More to come ...
Email: RightWingBob@)gmail.com