Monday, May 16, 2005

One thought on the whole Lefty Journalists Who Hate Bush And Want Us To Lose meme -- isn't the Newsweak reporter in question the same Clinton-hunting Michael Isikoff who scribed for the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy? Just askin'. 9:31:16 PM   permalink   comment []

I'm supposed to be on Brad and Britt tomorrow morning at 7:35, talking a little Newsweak...101.1 on your FM dial. 9:22:05 PM   permalink   comment []

Work work work. Meeting. Work work work. Lower school concert. Two deadlines. Not much room for blogging. 6:35:03 PM   permalink   comment []

Newsweek blues...Instapundit is in outrage overdrive -- just keep scrolling down -- pause at the good news about interstate wine sales -- and cringe at the endorsement of Tierneyvision, which hardly seems justified by the Newsweek fiasco. Elsewhere: Arthur Silber says the backstory here is about censorship. There's truth to his argument, and certainly any serious look at the riots would include some assessment of the tinderbox that exploded in parts the Muslim world (hint: Newsweek did not lay the tinder) -- but Newsweek still has some 'splainin' to do. 6:33:24 PM   permalink   comment []

The New York Times is going to charge for some of the content it's been giving away for free. Marketwatch reports that come September, "access to Op-Ed and certain of its top news columnists...will only be available through a fee of $49.95 a year...TimesSelect...will also allow access to The Times's online archives, early access to select articles on the site, and other features. Home-delivery subscribers will automatically receive the service." We'll see if it's a good move for the Times, but it's certainly an excellent deal for me, since I subscribe at home and I'd probably pay $50 a year for the archives alone. 2:12:11 PM   permalink   comment []

Daniel Drezner: The Confessions of George Lucas, wherein the Jedi master pretty much admits the suckiness of the first two prequels. 9:06:19 AM   permalink   comment []

Krugman: "America's strategic position is steadily deteriorating." 8:43:13 AM   permalink   comment []

WorldNetDaily: "How the U.S. is becoming anti-Christian despite an 80% majority of believers." "Although Christians comprise the vast majority of the nation's citizens and voters, America is becoming increasingly un-Christian and even anti-Christian with every passing year -- from its culture, to its laws, its public education system, its news media and most other major institutions. Whether the battlefield is abortion or 'gay rights,' public prayer or euthanasia, most of the fights are being won by the bad guys. Why?" Um...because your definition of "Christian" is very narrow and politicized and doesn't begin to cover the religious and political beliefs of a very large number of Christians, who may disagree with you on any or all of those issues, including the desirability of having religious institutions define life and culture in the United States? 8:41:49 AM   permalink   comment []

Scott Card: "I'm about fed up with all the free -- and ridiculous -- advertising and publicity Apple Computers gets. If they decided to bottle air and sell it, calling it, no doubt, 'PowerAir' or 'AirMac' or 'AirPod,' they'd claim that they had invented air. Then all the articles about the new MacAir would treat that claim as if it were true and suddenly start treating other air-packagers as mere imitators, playing 'catch-up' with Apple." 8:34:44 AM   permalink   comment []

Happy occasion: wedding announcement for Jennifer Gardner and Derek Trulson. 8:10:55 AM   permalink   comment []

A.O. Scott on The Revenge of the Sith: "This is by far the best film in the more recent trilogy, and also the best of the four episodes Mr. Lucas has directed. That's right (and my inner 11-year-old shudders as I type this): it's better than 'Star Wars.'" 8:03:29 AM   permalink   comment []

Sally Greene and Jeff Jarvis both offer thoughtful posts keyed to Mark Lilla's essay about religion and politics in yesterday's NYT book review section. Jarvis: "It's about time that liberals engage the religious conversation rather than leave it." (Almost completely unrelated: Lisa and I once had dinner here with Mark Lilla.) 8:00:47 AM   permalink   comment []

Councilman rips Commissioners: Tom Phillips doesn't just criticize Guilford commissioners Alston and Davis for their vendetta against taxman Jenks Crayton, he speculates as to the cause: "It can't be about their desire for good government. My guess is that it's about cronyism...He probably went after one of their friends who had not paid their taxes or were not paying child support and he wouldn't back off when asked to." Is this an example of why elected officials should have weblogs...or why they shouldn't? 7:55:55 AM   permalink   comment []