SPITBULL

TIME HEADLINE [the headlined article itself did not change during the day]
09:24 High Turnout in Baghdad Points to Early Success
10:24 Amid Attacks, a Party Atmosphere on Baghdad's Closed Streets
18:26 Insurgent Attacks in Baghdad and Elsewhere Kill at Least 24
20:50 Attacks in Baghdad and Elsewhere Reportedly Kill Several Dozen

This page has not hesitated to criticize the Bush administration over its policies in Iraq, and we continue to have grave doubts about the overall direction of American strategy there. Yet today, along with other Americans, whether supporters or critics of the war, we rejoice in a heartening advance by the Iraqi people. For now at least, the multiple political failures that marked the run-up to the voting stand eclipsed by a remarkably successful election day.

The marriage gap is one of the most important cleavages in electoral politics… The marriage gap is a defining dynamic in today’s politics, eclipsing the gender gap, with marital status a significant predictor of the vote, independent of the effects of age, race, income, education or gender.

So is this the future of blog-newspaper relations in 2005 and beyond? According to Coleman, yes, and not in a good way. He says traditional news outlets need to keep tabs on the blogs and shoot back when necessary. "Editors and writers in mainstream media are very naive," he says. "Readership and power of the blogs is increasing." He also claims that the blogs are dangerous because they are not under the same ethical restrictions as mainstream media and seek to stay on the attack, facts be damned. He contends "the mainstream media is under assault."

It's fair to say that Power Line, where astute fact checkers nearly brought down Dan Rather, were the cyber stars of 2004. And rightfully so.

But Power Line is just the tip of the iceberg. Minnesota is replete with bloggers, including Fraters Libertas (www.fraterslibertas.com), part of the Northern Alliance, which includes SCSU Scholars, Captain's Quarters, Shot in the Dark and others.

Yost: I’m doing a story on the Fraters and understand that you are an avid reader of theirs. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?

NIGP: I’d be happy to talk about blogging. I initially started blogging to keep in touch with friends.

Yost: I’m not asking you about blogging. I’m asking about the reasons you read the Fraters. So, how long have you been reading the Fraters?

NIGP: I’ve been blogging for about two years. I started as a favor to the Fraters, adding my contributions to their site to help them build readership.

Yost: They never mentioned that.

If one more person had come through for us, Bush would have had a moment of clarity and changed his entire approach to governing America.

...

To the disappointment of Heiko [who organized the protest through his website TurnYourBackOnBush.org] and his fellow protesters, Bush was able to continue to ignore widespread criticism, because of the one person who didn't show up.

Taxi drivers in nine cities also said they had found a range of other items left by passengers, including a harp, 37 milk bottles, dentures and artificial limbs. One driver said he even found a baby in his taxi.

... Arbitron ratings for fall were released last week. Though specific numbers are not available for Franken's time slot, a check of Rhodes' finds that WHAT's ratings have dropped.

Among total listeners ages 12 and older, the station managed a 0.5 rating in fall 2003; it got a 0.3 this time. The "cume," the cumulative number of weekly listeners, fell from 22,000 to 17,800. By comparison, Sean Hannity and Dom Giordano on talk rival WPHT-AM (1210) had a 4.4 rating and cume of 217,800 weekly listeners; the top afternoon-drive station was WBEB-FM (101.1), with a 7.6 rating and a cume of 441,100.

At its flagship station in New York, Air America finished 24th in the fall.

Please note: The opinions put forth by contributors to “The Way I See It” do not necessarily reflect the views of Starbucks.

these kids "grew up on . . . moral relativism and internationalism, constantly fed the line that there was no such thing as evil in the world, only misunderstandings.” Suddenly, on 9/11, this generation discovered that “there are enemies and they wanted to kill Americans in large numbers, and that a good portion of what they’d been taught was drizzly pap."

Brian A. Bremen, an English professor at the University of Texas at Austin, notes that the writer provides only one real example. Nevertheless, he says, the writer displays "a clear chain of thought" and should be rewarded, "despite his Republican tendencies."

Somebody, somewhere along the line at that magazine, a long time ago, decided the writer has to paint a picture for the reader. So whether you're interviewing a movie star or a scientist, you've got to give us some words about the person's face, what the room was like, what food was consumed, whether a dog trotted into the room.

It is a strange implication of Gerstmann's approach that if a man wanted to marry his sterile sister, his eighty-year-old grandmother, three other women, two men, and his chihuahua, a court would have to turn somersaults to come up with a "compelling state interest" that would forbid these matches.

My argument is that the "War on Terror" is a pretty bad name for what's going on because you're fighting a tactic. You have to personalize this and show what group of people we're fighting. Then the objective becomes pretty clear. The objective in the "War on Terror" is not clear; it's not clear how you know you've won. But a "War on Jihadis" is pretty clear.

... it has no credibility. And no audience, no morale, no long-term emblematic anchorperson and no cohesive management structure. Outside of those annoyances, it shouldn't be that hard to fix.

...

... I stopped watching it some time ago. The unremitting liberal orientation finally became too much for me. I still check in, but less and less frequently. I increasingly drift to NBC News and Fox and MSNBC.

I imagine the folks at Times headquarters are as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Is America a power for good or ill in the world? Was there a malign hand at work, or has America's role in the crisis in fact been a model of humanitarian leadership.

Let us know what you think. Is this just anti-US sentiment on the web or something more worrying?

The Texas department's observation that laptops won't generate noise, and therefore are more benign than boomboxes, is true but beside the point. And the assertion that wi-fi campers will be using their laptops to plan hikes, check weather or identify warblers -- well, that's a stretch. Undoubtedly most will be sending e-mails, checking their stocks and surfing for smut, just like they do in regular life.

The wingnuts are full of venon. Notice they never make a reasonable point about something that raises Righteous anger. They make stuff up or pretend that invading Iraq is on the same grand footing as joining a World War to prevent real time genocide.

• Create poetry at Wingnut-etc.
• An interview with Robert "Wingnut" Weaver, reportedly "a modern version of a Sixties Surfer" from Surfmag.com.
  
• A producer of vegan artisan truffles. Wingnut Confections, whose motto is "candy with a conscience," boasts: "Each truffle is hand-made and delivered by bicycle especially for you!"
• Wingnut Galleries' home page currently features a photo of a naked woman entitled "The Womb."
• The "Caucasian Wingnut" or Pterocarya fraxinifolia is "a relic of the Teriary flora on the southern flanks of the Caucasus Mountains and was introduced to France in 1784 but not until after 1800 in Britain."
• Wingnut Games is releasing Solid!: The D20 Blaxploitation Experience to stores this February. One review gushes:

  Solid! allows players to experience the soul, power, and action of the movies that defined a generation. Includes new advanced classes like the Private Dick, Foxy Lady, Hustler, Preacher, Hoodlum, Police Detective, and Politician ...
  

• Meet Wingnut, the band. Who are they?

  Wingnut music is mostly instrumental, drawing from jazz, hip-hop, funk, soul, trance and other genres. With high regard for dynamics, the groups original compositions transform from funky Hammond B3 organ groove to deeply melodic piano passages into tear-your-head-off distorted fender rhodes evil. Wingnut music is exploratory but maturely composed, balancing intense, aggressive improvisation with solid foundation and structure...