1. Who the hell is Moore's editor and how did he/she let such sloppy fact-checking get through to the press?
2. How is the left supposed to mount a serious challenge to conservative power in this country if the left's best spokespeople keep shooting themselves in the feet?

Apparently, Moore includes in his book, more or less intact, this list of marks against the pre-9-11 performance of the Bush Administration. I'm pretty sure this is a list we can trust. But... damn.  9:15:35 AM      comment

Corporate curriculum materials in public schools, such as math textbooks featuring Disney characters.

I don't even know if I want to check Daypop's logs on who was linking to this and what they were saying. Does it strike you as offensive to make a list of things to hate about America? I think it's refreshing. There's a saying that's as true about your own life as it is about your country: The unexamined is not worth living (in). To say that there are lots of things I hate about this country is not to say I hate this country (although often I do say just that); it only emphasizes that it isn't perfect and there are lots of ways we could make it better.  9:15:10 AM      comment

1. gang, a group blog, just mentions that it's there -- no comment.
2. Follow Me Here, which looks like a well-established blog and claims to feature "edgy social commentary" (I'd generally agree -- great links and brief analysis) quotes the essay in full, but without any explicit comments. Obviously, reprinting the whole text says a great deal. Perhaps that's the most eloquent way to honor how simply great it is?
3. weberrific weblog simply says "Whoa! Devastating." I agree. weberrific also features this gem of a challenge for American parents:
   Would you rather have your 14-year-old daughter smoking crack, shooting someone, stabbing another girl in a fight at school, or having protected sex? Would you rather have your 14-year-old son smoking (or selling) crack, shooting someone, raping a girl, or having protected sex?
4. gordon.coal weblog again quotes the full text. This is another blog that's definitely worth a visit -- looks like definitely left of center, which would be right on the money in my book.
5. Samuland says: "Damn they are starting those utopians young." He also calls a Verizon phone support person a "biotch" and likes to talk about racing of some sort. He sounds a bit young.
6. B.A.'s Weblog seems to be mocking the comparison between a flag and a homeless person. This is the kind of sniping little jab that blogs are good for, but which doesn't really add much to the dialogue about important topics. B.A. is very candid, though; perhaps he would enjoy your feedback...
7. The Parsley Firefly Cafe tears the essay apart -- its author doesn't think a 12-year-old could write this. At least this is a complete analysis of the essay, rather than a toss-off like B.A. offers. Still, this blogger seems a little confused: another lengthy entry goes off about how the working class can't afford to protest anything because they're too busy working. Who do you think benefits from your busy-ness? Perhaps those same people who really like you to say the Pledge of Allegiance while you ignore homelessness? Nah, couldn't be.
8. lost weblog just offers the link. What a trip of a page.
9. jimlog 2.0 quotes the first line only...
10. fredosite says:
    Amazing. Simply amazing, and if you'll forgive my cliché, truer words were never spoken, or in this case, written.
11. BrianKaneOnline... says: "Brava."
12. adampsyche is also complementary (and brief), and finally,
13. MetaFilter really gets the ball rolling with a simple link which currently has 55 comments (you can find it on April 3rd at 12:06 p.m. -- MetaFilter seriously needs permalinks!).

If you made it through all that, the idea was to review -- more quickly and concisely than you could do on your own -- what a bunch of blogs had to say about the same political topic. I'm still curious who links to what and why in blogland. Are blogs an echo-chamber, or a place of dialogue? While this brief recap suggests that the needle points a little more toward echo-chamber than otherwise, especially if none of these blogs who all linked to the same story are reading each other. Blogs are supposed to be "two-way" communication, but I don't see that happening here. Communication does seem more than one-way, but not in a reciprocal fashion, which is what dialogue would require. The exceptions are Radio users (who have built-in ways to easily accept comments and to see who is linking to them) and places like MetaFilter where discussion is a major component of the blog. (This flag essay also had more than twice the comments of most of the other posts, which suggests that people who read and comment on weblogs are drawn to dialogue.)  8:33:59 AM      comment