Some Dreams Come True

[BlogBox]

DeLay's down, Kaloogian has been caught in yet another lie, and bloggers are breaking more and more news stories. Why don't I trust the trend to continue? Nightmares abound: the Capitol Police (yes, those guys again) just warned a blogger that his writing "might" cause someone to harm Katherine Harris, DeLay could morph into something much worse, and "reporters" are stealing stories from bloggers. Vigilance is the word of the week. Republicans and their corporate cronies are like the ocean: fascinating to look at, but never turn your back on it.

Without DeLay

Every blogger has something to say about Tom DeLay's departure from the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as his despicable departure from Texas. But Juanita's, The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc., says it best:

Okay, I've hauled my giddy butt outta bed this morning. Best line I heard all night came in the form of an email from an admired friend who was watching the news reports on teevee,

I just wish the press would stop referring to DeLay as a Texan. It's makin' the rattlesnakes feel poorly.

Lucky Pierre
(Cletus' former roommate)

My prediction is that Tom will continue in his present life-calling and become a teevee evangelist. It's just like being a Congressman: the hours are good, you can have girlfriends on the side as long as you don't get caught, you can get stoopid people to give you lotsa money, it helps if your wife cries a lot and can make "Jesus" a three-syllable word, and you get to wear fancy clothes. He'll hardly know the difference.

For those worried that Juanita will have to close up shop now that the bug man is gone, the email I received this morning reads:

No, I am not shutting down the beauty shop right now. At least not until we insure that another DeLay clone isn't on the way. (Besides, it'll be so much fun covering the GOPper infighting over who gets to be the next DeLay.) However, I have accepted a highly lucrative writing position for the upcoming blog kissmybigblueass.org. It's southern women writing about southern politics. It'll hurt ya, Honey. Once that gets started, I'll close the shop and leave a forwarding address.

In other blogger news, the next edition of Carnival Of The Liberals is scheduled for April 12th at Pharyngula. Bob Geiger is not ending his blogging days, as many of us had feared. He'll be joining Democrats.com as a dedicated blogger.

The Stuff of Nightmares

Rob Kall, the OpEdNews editor, has been warned by the Capitol Police that his writing "might" incite readers to harm Senate candidate Katherine Harris. Here are some of Kall's "inciteful words":

In my dream, there was an organization called Black November - not because November is the month when, in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006, elections were blatantly stolen, but because Black September, as the name of a terrorist organization, was already taken. My dream had a band of "terrorists" who were assassinating secretaries of state who had murdered democracy by corrupting and stealing elections.

There were no murders when the dream woke me up. Well, no murders of secretaries of state.

The words "I have a dream" still make right-wingers cringe, don't they?

Kaloogian's Still Foolin' 'Em

This guy just can't stop telling whoppers. This time, TPM Muckraker catches him lying about Calif. State Sen. Tom McClintock's support for his candidacy. McClintock's statement reads:

"It has come to my attention that a campaign mailing on behalf of Howard Kaloogian includes a picture and quote from me that suggests that I have endorsed his candidacy for U. S. Congress. I have not."

Don't we have laws against using the U.S. Postal Service to defraud people? Sure, it's fun to laugh at Kaloogian, but don't turn your back on him. He'll do it again and again and again if we let him. Kaloogian's attribution is, of course, low down and dirty, but attributing sources matters a great deal in professional journalism.

Attribution Tango

The Brad Blog takes on the Associated Press' evolving excuses for not citing Raw Story's Larisa Alexandrovna's original research and her story filed with RAW's Executive Editor John Byrne.

After all of that hard work, a human rights group shared RAW's story with AP who eventually filed their own very familiar story using the work as originally unearthed by RAW. They've since admitted to being given RAW's article and using it as the starting point for their own work, which walks a dangerously close line towards plagiarism.

But even as they now admit that their story originated with RAW's reporting, they still refuse to give credit where credit's due. They've now given several lame and still-changing reasons for failing to acknowledge the "oversight" including "we do not credit blogs" and later, "we only credit blogs we know."

The AP does not credit blogs? Actually, the AP does, and they also write about bloggers. The Volokh Conspiracy has the details. Also, on March 30th of this year, the AP ran a clarification for not properly citing Josh Marshall's (Talking Points Memo) blog. I guess TPM is one of the blogs the AP "knows."

The Lighter Side

For the first time in what seems like ages, there were quite a few things to laugh about this week. For example, if Scalia had a cat, this would have to be the supreme feline:



Did you know that Europe was dying? Me either. Yikes! How do we keep America from dying, you ask? Rick Santorum sets us straight on the path of righteousness:


(Click here to view the video)

Thanks to DUer FogerRox for the purrfect pussy pic and to Santorum Exposed for the video.

The Not So Funny

The National Journal's Hotline Blog has links to supposedly funny "official congressional website" photos. Hmm. I suppose this pic would be funny if Sen. Bill Nelson hadn't actually SPENT SEVEN DAYS IN SPACE ABOARD THE FRIGGIN' SPACE SHUTTLE:



Aren't you amazed that an astronaut, a windsurfer, and other daring Democrats are funnybone fodder for cowardly conservatives who swoon at the sight of a president who can't ride a bike without either falling or seriously injuring someone? Me too.

Casting Call: Huffington As The Graduate

Psst, Arianna. I have one word for you: filaments. How many light bulb epiphanies is Arianna Huffington allowed? Jeez, Louise! She hated Bill Clinton until George W. Bush was appointed. Now she's emerging from her John McCain stupor:

A lot of people are angry at John McCain -- and with good reason. His contemptible performance on this week's Meet the Press was enough to make any sentient person's blood boil.

For a dose of this ire, check out georgia10 at Kos who proclaims "the death of McCain the Maverick", Paul Krugman who raises the notion that McCain has become "a cynical political opportunist", Cenk Uygur who says McCain "is a shell of his former self." and Rachel Sklar who slams his "transparent political backtracking."

But I come here not to condemn John McCain but to weep for him.

Watching a true American hero hang a For Sale sign on his principles is a profoundly sad thing. Especially for me.

Granted, it's been refreshing to watch Arianna come to her senses, but there's too much at stake now for us to wait around for her to figure out that a capital R after any name is not good for the country.

Weather D'oh Out, Doppler Doogie In

Jeff Masters' Wunder Blog reports Dr. William Gray, 76, will be replaced by wunderkind Phil Klotzbach, 26.

How did last year's early April hurricane forecast verify? The CSU team did forecast an above-normal year, but did not foresee the extraordinary season that would ultimately unfold. They forecasted 13 named storms (average is 9.6), 7 hurricanes (6 is average), and 3 major hurricanes (2.3 is average. In reality, there were 27 named storms, 14 hurricanes, and 7 major hurricanes. However, they did mention that a continued Atlantic Ocean warming would cause them to raise their forecast numbers for their May 31 and August 5 forecasts, which is what happened.

With this forecast, Dr. Gray hands over leadership of the forecast team to Phil Klotzbach. While Gray, 76, is at the older end of the spectrum of hurricane scientists, Klotzbach, 26, is definitely at the younger end. He earned his Bachelor's degree at age 18 from Bridgewater State College in Massachusetts, then picked up a Masters degree in Atmospheric Science from Colorado State University four years later.

Where's the nightmare? Well, the has-been head weather guy will continue his research, trying to prove that global warming doesn't affect the weather. No prizes for guessing who pays his salary.

Silent Suspects

If the police investigate an alleged rape but the members of the entire lacrosse team questioned refuse to answer a single question, was a crime actually committed? Alas, A Blog considers the "innocent until proven guilty" standard by which most bloggers approach this situation and writes:

But "innocent until proven guilty" is a courtroom standard. My opinion is not the same as a courtroom, and blog posts don't put anyone in prison. Nothing about the American system of justice requires ordinary citizens to refrain from having opinions; and it's not inconsistent to want Courts to adhere to "beyond any reasonable doubt" while holding my personal opinions to a less stringent standard.

Furthermore, there's a difference between being morally guilty and legally guilty.

Right vs. Left Blog Actions

For those pesky friends and family members who still don't know the difference between Democrats and Republicans, BurtWorm explains it all to you in two easy blog swarms:

Left wing blog action against Kaloogian:

Precipitated by: left-wing blogger noting that a photo on Kaloogian's campaign website purported to be something it didn't seem to be--to whit: a serene street scene from Baghdad

Action: Other left-wingers rising to the challenge to ID the actual scene.

Result: phony photo is uncovered; truth is served.

Right wing blog action against Pianka:

Precipitated by: a remark Pianka made about the dangers of overpopulation, taken out of context and misrepresented by a right-winger with an ax to grind and disseminated by Drudge.

Action: harassment and death threats against Pianka and other members of the Texas Academy of the Sciences

Result: chaos

More Bling For Your Blog

A dream come true for Typepad bloggers: need a site search engine for your blog that's simple to install? Davenetics links to Typepad's new widget, Rollyo, and claims it's his favorite. Another blogger dream come true: guess what teachers in Scotland have to know? Yep, blogging. DUer salvorhardin has the link, plus much more in his DU Journal, The R Complex Cafe. With the sweet comes the sour. Is this "extreme browsing" nightmare in your blogging future? ?CLICK">Click here to see the pic (it's too big to fit on this page). Thanks to Google Blogoscoped for that!

Just when you think a dream come true is a sign of smooth sailing ahead, another nightmare (usually in the form of a BushCo typhoon) collapses your sails. Such is life in Bush's America. Our democracy protection vigil is a lifetime tour of duty, y'all.

Thanks to all of you who sent in this week's amazing blog links, and an apology to those whose links weren't included due to column space. Stay vigilant, and keep blogging. Now that's a Republican nightmare for you. Sweet dreams, Dems!

[dennis00]

1. LaCrosse team innocent until proven guilty.

That is "PRESUMED innocent until proven guilty" beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that your defense team does not heve to prove your innocence. You don't have to get up on the stand to say a word in your defense becaused you are PRESUMED innocent. It is up to the prosecutor to prove your guilt and for the jury to decide if you did or didn't commit THIS crime beyond all reasonable doubt. Nothing you have done in your past, even previous convictions , can weigh on their decision. Did he or did he didn't do THIS crime. Previous convictions are only taken into account for purposes of sentencing.

[Elidor]

2. Nice roundup! Thanks

RE: "we only credit blogs we know."

So, the AP is saying that if they trust the source, they'll give attribution, but if they're not sure of the source's truthiness, they just run it without attribution? That's pretty damned weak.

[thinkinglib]

3. Not just weak....

I'd also add that it's a bit frightening. Last I knew, the proper way to handle a source whose truthiness you're not sure of was to not quote from it at all.

[Elidor]

4. Yes, indeed

And welcome to DU!

[newyawker99]

5. Hi thinkinglib!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: