Thursday, August 05, 2004

Instapundit backs even further away from Malkin: "Muller makes a pretty strong case that the conventional wisdom is right." Glenn says he's bummed that discussion is about the events of 60 years ago, not the immigration issues of today...well, what the hell was supposed to happen when Malkin tries to base the discussion on a rewrite of that history? Wouldn't this be the moment to denounce her methods, not just bemoan the inevitable trajectory of the conversation that she set in motion? Isn't there a lesson here about the damage ideological rants can do in distracting people from more important issues? It's another fine moment for the blogosphere -- a scurrilous and potentially dangerous book by a well-known author pretty much discredited before it is officially released, because of the rapid deployment of intellectual firepower on the web. 8:56:16 PM    comment []

Hmm. The errata page for Michelle Malkin's pro-internment book is missing about a two days worth of postings at Volokh, isn't it? Maybe she could just sum it all up thusly: ideology is not not a substitute for research. 6:58:24 PM    comment []

More thoughts on a quickie blog conference in Greensboro, probably Saturday morning, August 28: Non-partisan. Open to all, which means anyone who wants to come from anywhere for any reason; focus on political blogging because of the season, but other discussions are on the table as interest warrants. Register at Hoggard's, registration entailing a comment or an email saying you are reasonably sure you can attend. Suggestions and volunteerism warmly appreciated. 6:48:09 PM    comment []

"I was the only person in line, and had to take a number." “The computers are out of the 70’s and the furniture is out of the 50’s.” Register of Deeds candidate Jeff Thigpen posts a long list of complaints about the office as run by its current boss. 6:39:44 PM    comment []

David Hoggard wishes his blog happy birthday: "I wasn't looking for a mistress, but boy-howdy... I got me one." He's right that the same national trend of blogs sending traffic to mainstream media sites will play out locally, too...he's maybe a little enthusiastic in assessing unique viewers and click-thru numbers, but those will grow. 12:21:14 PM    comment []

Mat Gross says he's up for a local campaign blog workshop. Jeff Thigpen is in. We're hoping to do it Saturday August 28. 12:07:51 PM    comment []

Muller moves in close and hammers away: "(T)he two most prominently voiced criticisms of the government's program are these: 1. The government evicted all American citizens of Japanese ancestry from their West Coast homes and placed them into camps, but took no action affecting American citizens of German or Italian ancestry. (In other words, if your name was, say Joe Kaminaka or Lou Matsumoto, you were evicted and confined; if your name was, say, Joe DiMaggio or Lou Gehrig, well, uh, you know.) 2. The actions taken against Japanese Americans were absurdly disproportionate to the scope of any security risks of which the government was even arguably aware. If you're going to defend the program, this is what you've really got to defend, because this is what scholars most commonly and cogently criticize. How does Michelle's book handle these two tasks? The quick answer (a longer answer follows): As to (1), the 165-page text includes a single paragraph (on page 64). As to (2), the book says nothing at all." His longer answer involves devastating specifics that you can read for yourself. Meanwhile, Malkin promises to answer Muller soon... 12:06:27 PM    comment []

Way back in October 2003, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal sent senior staffers to the BloggerCon event at Harvard Law School. I guess they were paying attention.... Online Journalism Review: "The Wall Street Journal Online is promoting one story per day outside its subscription wall to bloggers. NYTimes.com is boosting the number of RSS feeds it offers. Media companies are starting to work with -- instead of against -- the blogosphere." 9:02:33 AM    comment []

Muller sums it up, retires to neutral corner: "OK, so there's really nothing in Michelle's book to accomplish the first of the things the book needed to accomplish--that is, to make out a prima facie case that MAGIC led to the series of decisions that constituted the program Michelle defends. What about the second? What does Michelle offer to discredit the copiously documented influences of nativism, economic jealousy, racial stereotyping, rumor-mongering, and hysteria on the series of decisions that constituted the program Michelle defends? Nothing. Literally not one single thing. Not a sentence. If a book is going to try to "provoke a debate on a sacrosanct subject that has remained undebatable for far too long" (p. xii), and to "correct" the historical "record," I think the book needs to offer a reader more than this." Will Malkin get off the mat, or is this fight over before the book is officially published? Previous rounds covered here, here, here, and here. 8:48:14 AM    comment []

The Bowles blog and website have launched a fundraising campaign similar to the old Dean "bat" -- in this case it's a balloon to be filled by midnight Sunday, for Erskine's birthday. It brought in over $10,000 in the first few hours, not bad for a new site that is still building traffic and mindshare. This is about more than money -- it's about firing up people across the state who see they are making a difference in the campaign. If momentum builds, think what a September balloon might hold... 8:34:51 AM    comment []