Monday, July 19, 2004

Instapundit picks up on the Hersh speech. Coverage of this story has been heavy, but mostly on lefty, liberal, and/or anti-war blogs. Now it's officially panblogospheric. 5:30:38 PM    comment []

An Instapundit reader offers a scenario in which control of Iraq leads to pressure on Iran: "An attack against Iran will be much easier now since we can force them into a two front war, attacking from both Iraq and Afghanistan. Maybe this has been the strategy all along. We've done a pretty good job of surrounding potential trouble makers. Pakistan has the US on one side and India on the other. Iran has the US on two fronts. And Syria has the US and Israel on two fronts. Not a bad strategic maneuver." More than a year ago, I called the doctrine of a continuing campaign "the war that dare not speak it's name" -- a strategy the US did not publicly acknowledge, but one that many Americans supported nonetheless. Now, after the mismanagement of the Iraqi occupation, that support has probably eroded considerably. 2:46:46 PM    comment []

Don't let the disturbing image of Jeff Jarvis wearing spandex keep you from reading his post on big media and blogs.  Bonus: Jarvis on "the luddite idiocy of Alex Jones." Update: Jay Rosen takes Jones to the woodshed, too. 2:27:54 PM    comment []

Jerry Garcia on the creative process, from a newly-discovered, unpublished interview: "Every once in a while as a composer, a vision appears before me, like a completed melody, a completed tune. And it doesn't happen often, and when it does happen it's a wonderful gift. Because then you have a certain kind of commitment to the original vision, because it started somewhere, it isn't something you pieced together. Having some kind of vision involved in a piece, that's the thing that gives you the energy to complete it, or to live with it as long it takes to get completed, or whatever the dues you have to pay as a creative person." It's a treasure I did not know I had: a long (one hour plus) interview with Jerry Garcia from 1987, conducted by former Forbes editor Allan Dodds Frank. I have posted the audio and transcript of a shorter interview ADF and I had with Garcia, but for years had assumed that Allan had the tape of their subsequent conversation. This weekend Lisa and I were cleaning out an upstairs closet and in old box of junk that had not been opened since we moved out of New York in 1989 I found the long Garcia tape, plus interviews with Bob Weir and Bill Graham. It will be a while before I post any kind of complete transcript -- I'm listening to the Garcia tape right now for the first time. 1:00:29 PM    comment []

Oh for the days when tech writers lived like rock stars, or at least ad salesmen. The comped golf at nice resorts. The stock options (mine are worth as much as Confederate money, said the CFO at one publisher, but you can still sell Confederate money on eBay). The plush expense accounts and instant access to sources. NYT on the return of tech publishing stars from the bubble era: "Publications may be coming back, but the billions that sloshed around for a few brief years have not come with them." Well, that doesn't sound like anywhere near as much fun. 9:11:21 AM    comment []

Childless: we deported both children to camp yesterday. Can't miss 'em if they don't leave. 8:21:49 AM    comment []