Too Many Weird Things, So One Post To Rule Them All

First up, John Hawkins will be "blog consulting" for the Duncan Hunter campaign, his site is down and I'll get back to this in a minute. This is interesting because it is not directly blogging for Hunter's campaign, but he really likes Hunter's platform. Hmmmm..... Will John change his presidential campaign coverage? We'll see, I guess. There is a whole new world out there for bloggers.

Speaking of, Ann Althouse got me laughing today at this mental picture at the Scooter Libby snooze-button trial:

I haven't had the time or inclination to follow the detailed blog coverage of the Libby trial, but I really would like to read some detailed coverage of the dynamic between the professional journalists and the bloggers who get to have so much more fun and show their emotions. Is the static between the two groups manifested only in the form of repressed, repressive shushing? The real reporters can't express much of what they feel about the bloggers, who must be irritating the hell out of them, can they? It wouldn't be professional. Plus, the bloggers would blog about it!

What a pain in the ass bloggers are to the MSM folks. The Anchoress mentioned the other day that the news will move toward blogging standards and become more opinionated. Some worry about this and I understand the worries. But really, these journalists are all biased and try to hide their bias, but it shines through. The worst form of showing bias, and I will repeat this again for my liberal readers insistent that I exaggerate the danger: The press is most dangerous because of what they choose to cover and not cover. The worst sort of bias, is silence--simply not covering a news-worthy topic because it doesn't fit a certain, cherished narrative. It happened when I worked in college publications. It happens in all forms of media. At least with bloggers you know exactly where they are coming from. No playing peek-a-boo. No pretending at objectivity. The news is a subjective business. The Anchoress says essentially the same thing:

Meanwhile, the mainstream press is also evolving, as we see daily in what the “mediating intelligences” decide to report and not report. For example, you don’t hear much about good financial news like this. The president is the wrong party, and he’s Bush, besides, so good (or vital and informative) news is not allowed out unless it simply cannot be contained. But most of it is containable. And what is not containable is either fixable or obfuscatable…if that’s a word!

A bunch of military smart guys are getting together to form a new, comprehensive blog: Victory Caucus. Go check it out. They're in the Blog Roll under the military category, too.

And this weird information: You know the First Muslim Congressman from Minnesota? Yeah, well, Representative Ellison called the police on the congressmen next door to him because his neighbor was smoking a cigar. It doesn't matter the neighbor. Have you ever lived in a neighborhood where the neighbors secretly call the police instead of actually talking to you? It is annoying and it stirs up bad blood. Not to mention, it's just plain immature. You're not man enough to go ask someone to not do something you find offensive? It reminds me of the C.O.P.S. shows where the police are called for a "domestic dispute" and the topic is ridiculous--I remember one show (I've seen it maybe three times) where a 6'0", 250 pound woman calls the police because her 5'5" husband was yelling at her about how to change a tire. "She needs to learn to change a tire!" He told the cop. Too funny and disturbing in trailer park. Not funny, and even more disturbing in Congress.) The observer wonders why a person would think to call the police instead of just resolving the issue like a normal person. It does reveal a sort of indoctrination of the Mommy State mentality, though, doesn't it, to not have enough self-reliance to communicate to someone--that the state needs to do it for you. I expect invasive legislation coming out of Ellison's office, but then, I expected that before I found out that he was too timid to talk to a coworker.

Another airplane abuse story. Mass transportation is dehumanizing in and of itself. Just to drive home the point, though, airlines pull these stunts reminding everyone how truly helpless and deprived of rights they truly are when locked on a plane. This happened to me, while pregnant, and with an 18 month old, for three hours, not ten, like happened in this story. It was maddening.

I have stuff on Rudy! but that will come in another post. My phone/DSL lines got cut yesterday during the muddy work of removing offending flora from my backyard. Panic! Duct-tape, that ubiquitous solution to All Problems That Face Humanity saved the day. And then today, the actual phone guy came from AT&T and got his wires crossed. I'm not kidding. He left my wires a mess believing they were fixed. He had to come back and uncross the wires. Everything is working now. Thankfully. I can't imagine living without my imaginary world for even a minute!