Damn I love this guy.

Since I somehow made the mistake of starting to read Hugh Hewitt again and commented twice about his nonsense, I might as well continue on with another post. Today, I am mentioned by name:

I am not surprised that the Bush haters like Sullivan and Cole are outraged that General Petraeus would be interviewed by an admirer of the president, or that the anti-war extremists like Greenwald, Yglesias and the others cannot disguise their contempt for the military (though they think their attack on General Petraeus' integrity won't identify them as anti-military.)

I'm not surprised that new media journalists producing interviews of a sort far superior to what MSM serves up in one minute sound bytes excites the anger of folks who prefer their defeatist agendas advanced by a dominant MSM. They don't want the Beltway-Manhattan media elites to lose their monopoly on "important" interviews as that means instead of Democratic journalists like Tim Russert, George Stephanopoulos and Chris Matthews asking defeat-slanted questions, new media outlets will step in and allow serious people to make extended arguments about the stakes in Iraq and the state of the various battles in the broader war on terror.

Dear Hugh- I don't hate Bush. I voted for him twice (votes I now deeply, deeply regret), and I hate what he has done to this country, I hate his incompetence, I hate that he has let propagandists such as yourself take the lead in designing and pushing policy, I hate that he has lost or is losing not one, but two wars, I hate that he has politicized (more accurately, allowed his lackeys to politicize) everything from NASA to the FDA to the Pentagon to a level that would have made Hugh scream out in rage were the President's last name Clinton. I hate all of those things.

But for all that, I still don't hate Bush. I think he is a small, shallow, feeble-minded man, whose "resolve" you cherish is merely the result of a man incapable of thinking on the spot and changing course. While he is ultimately responsible for anything that has been done during his tenure, I am of the opinion that he is little more than a puppet.

So, Hugh, I don't hate him. In fact, I almost feel sorry for him. This will go down as the most incompetent and morally compromised administration in history, and when those history books look back, they will not refer to this sorry period as the "Cole administration," nor will they refer to it as the "Hewitt administration," despite the fact that so very many of your bad ideas have, in fact, been instituted (and usually not because they reflect or represent your 'deep' principles, but because you felt there was some sort of immediate political/electoral gain to be seized). History will dub this sorry era as the Bush Administration.

There was a time, during the last two presidential elections, where I seriously considered the sanity of the people on the Right. I started reading John Cole early last year, and he is one of the few BIG Conservative Bloggers that just makes sense! The guy does not march lockstep with anyone or anything except his own conscience.

This guy used to be one of my heroes, and was in fact one of the first major Conservative Blogs to see the light. It seems, that he has become so dissapointed that he does not even write about politics any, well at least not directly...

I miss the old days when we could have honest, good spirited debates. But it seems more and more common, that even the most die hard supporters of Bush and his policies are either taking a hard look at what they have wrought, and finally speaking out... Or simply choosing to change the subject or pretend that certain things did not, are not or will not.... happen... Or that if they did, are will.... they are not responsible for it. Others will stay with the ship, LONG after it has sunk into history as one of the worst disasters in American History. (Sigh).

My own work life has prevented me from posting much lately or participating in the debate. I have a comeback plan and intend to get back into the blog, but I would rather take the time to do it right, rather than posting simply for posting sake.

By the way, I dont hate Bush either. I'm a...

My Conservative Identity:

You are a Flag-Waving Everyman, also known as a patriot. You believe in freedom, apple pie, rooting for America at all times, and that God gave us a two-day weekend so we could enjoy football and NASCAR.

Take the quiz at www.FightLiberals.com

Heh.... I don't think so. But the test was funny anyway!

The Real Me:

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Social Justice Crusader, also known as a rights activist. You believe in equality, fairness, and preventing neo-Confederate conservative troglodytes from rolling back fifty years of civil rights gains.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

is back!

TCF has a history with the current junior U.S. Senator/ Dem rock star from the great state of Illinois, Barack Obama. I worked on his successful Senate campaign back in 2004, but he also helped launch this fledgling little blog of mine in return. I had a photo, endorsement and link to his campaign blog site posted in the right column, at the time. And, mere hours after his keynote speech at the '04 Democratic National Convention, this blog was well on its way to clocking in over 5,000 hits in the coming days.

But, let me make my prognostication very clear here - Obama is running for the Vice-Presidential nomination of his party in '08.

And, why not? I'd bet Obama's very wise fellow Senator Dick Durbin has urged him to strike while the irons hot. Suck up the oxygen of American voters craving for responsible, ethical leadership while John McCain sucks up to the Evangelical Right and former donors of George W. Bush. The recent Blue-state wave has now put New Mexico and Colorado in Electoral College play for 2008. Does that thus make a Sam Brownback the heir to Ronald Reagan's legacy for the evangelical Right that has a stranglehold on the Republican Party Presidential Primary process?

The current media obsession with Obama will do nothing but dry up all Democratic funding from also-rans like John Edwards and Tom Vilsack, and never-should've-rans like John Kerry and Evan Bayh. And, a Hillary/Barack ticket will probably solidify by the time (ironically) the process hits Illinois in March 2008.

Welcome back Bro... You have been missed!

To get this kind of support from Jesus' General...

It's a terrible shame that In Search of Utopia has passed the "let's bomb Venezuela blogs" in the Weblog Awards voting, but at lease he's still behind the "let's bomb Oaxaca and Cuba blogs." If you haven't voted yet today, please do so now. Update: Come on people. I know there are at least 9000 people reading this right now who haven't voted yet. Just two click is all it takes. Do you want me to drum you out of the Red Guard of the Glorious Conservative Christian Cultural Revolution!)

IS the Award! General, Sir... you Rock!

I am just 86 votes out of second place... A few days ago I would have considered that insurmountable, but with this kind of support, I may make up the 340 to beat Ricky Ricardo's Blog!

Vote today, but more importantly, get out to the virtual precincts and spread the word, get everyone you know to vote.

Ask yourself the question...

Do you want the best Blog in Latin America to be run by someone who thinks THIS is sexy? (I don't think any Cuban would, but then again they are conservatives... ya know what I mean (wink)?

Or do you want to vote for someone who knows what sexy is?

Now please don't allow yourself to be swayed by the fact that 99% of Tia Zelmira models polled, revealed a strong preference for progressive politics and ISOU!

Don't allow your sacred vote to be swayed by that, or the fact that In Search of Utopia is just a much more happenin' place! Nah!

Don't be shamed into voting for me, because of the Hit Contracts, that The Nigerian Princes and other suddenly wealthy but need someone to share our wealth with Association, has on my life.

Don't be swayed by the rumors of me being a Playuh... I can assure you that they are JUST rumors!

No, I will NOT get you a walk on Part in Anthony Anderson's next movie.

There is SOME truth to the rumor that an In Search of Utopia victory will be the most painful thing to hit the majority of Wizbang Bloggers since... well...

THE NOVEMBER ELECTIONS!

But don't let any of those things be the deciding factor.

Vote for ISOU because a vote for ISOU is a vote for CHANGE! A vote to shatter three years of dominance by the Cubans. Because a vote for ISOU will be a vote for FUN! Because a vote for ISOU will rub the noses of both the Conservasphere and some of our more elitist Progressive Brethren! Vote! Pass the word! And focus tomorrow on getting all of our progressive brethren who are in similar situations to victory!

In the words of the General, "BOMB them to hell!"

Forbes' Fictional 15 is out, calculating the wealth of the wealthiest characters in popular fiction.

My favorite:

Also making his Fictional 15 debut: spam entrepreneur Prince Abakaliki of Nigeria. Abakaliki is notable for being the only fictional character on our list who regularly e-mails real people, usually begging for assistance in recovering large sums of money. We estimate Abakaliki to be worth more than $2.8 billion.

For the rest of the list, go see James' post here.

Now if I had just given the Prince that fee he asked for! LOL!

My Bad! Though I probably did it intentionally just to give Jay an excuse to insult me.

And boy is it making me hungry! To the Professah, thanks for dropping by the other day, I am glad you pointed me to your great blog!

I went through several songs trying to find just the right one to see you off, but they all sounded so damned Gay! LMAO! First Angel, and now you. I don't know what to say Dawg, you were a giant. A voice of sanity. You were, are, and always will be MY FRIEND!

And yeah I know you ain't dead. And as long as your blog children are out there carrying the torch, you never will be. I got a lot of shit to say, but I am going to wait a bit. Maybe one day you will get down here to CR and I can buy you a couple of beers, a fish taco and introduce you to some sweet honeys.

I love you man, and I dont say that lightly. Though we have never met, you have been a brother, and an inspiration.

One Love!

David

Word is, that TAS, my favorite Progressive blogger is about to hang it up... Retire, and close his blog. While I understand his decision, I will miss him. And this is one of the reasons why:

And for all the Republicans telling us that we're so out of touch that we have to pander further to their asses, I refuse. I refuse to be apart of your hatefest. I refuse to force my friends into second class citizenship just because you don't like the way they fuck. The way you seek to enforce your beliefs on those who aren't like you is not only disgusting, but it won't stop. I know for a fact that when you come for the gays, I'm next, because you just won't stop until everyone's converted to your liking. And I refuse to do your dirty work all in an effort to fuck myself over for your benefit. I refuse to pander to you motherfuckers just because you tell me to. So consider this a memo from the rest of us: Take your "morals" and shove them up your ass.

We will defeat you. We will not be you.

One thing I always loved and respected about Tas is that he pulled no punches, not matter if it was the Left or Right. He said what he thought. He was right when he wrote that.

Sparkle, you achieved so much in your short stint of blogging. While we agreed about little, I will still miss you.

Someone, this beautiful and talented.. live in my neighborhood, and I not know about their blog? Well they are on my blogroll now. If you don't speak spanish, use google translate, it's worth the effort!

I didn't even know this was still going on... While Jeff is not someone I consider a friend, he is a member of the blogging fraternity, and does not deserve this...

I don't think I have ever agreed with anything Goldstein has written, but he is a great blogger and a fantastic writer. And what has happened to him sucks, and it can happen to any of us. The Nigerians have tried to shut me down a couple of times. Anyway, my point is, put asside the political bullshit and make a donation to help him. I am sure it will be appreciated. I just did, and I hope we can all come together and help a fellow blogger.

DA

For his 2000th post, and for being a classy guy, and a GREAT friend.

Well, some time in the last week or two, I wrote my 2,000th piece for Wizbang. (There have been a few pieces I've been reluctant to count, and a couple lost to the aether.) I've made some good friends, a few enemies (worthy and un-), and in general had one hell of a time.

While Rusty and I often dissagree, he is a friend who has been very supportive of this blog. And even if he wasn't, this can not be tolerated. Join ISOU in supporting Rusty on this issue.

My website has been banned in India.

India has banned a number of websites by domain, but has only singled out 11 websites by name, including this one. Among American websites, all are connected in some way to The Jawa Report.

Why did India ban this website? And what is the larger meaning of this action? We have a post about it here. Whether you agree with my analysis or not, we, those who have been singled out by the world's largest democracy as targets of censorship, could use the support right now.

My post: http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/183986.php

Indians have already begun to protest this action by their government.
We hope you will do the same.

Those wacky last throes continue in Iraq! Someone must have forgot to send the Terrorist the memo from Dick. Someone must have also forgot to tell them that losing their Leader was supposed to be the end of the insurgency.

Looks like even the Republicans are getting tired of rolling over on the constitution.

Underdog contender claims Mexican Presidential election stolen... NO WAY! Oh please! Corrupt politicians have been stealing elections in Mexico for generations. Whether this one was stolen or not, I have not a clue, but it would not come as a surprise to me if it was. Looks like plenty of folks have an opinion en El Norte:
Majikthise, PoliBlog, Daimnation!, Below The Beltway, Right Wing Nut House, Blue Crab Boulevard, Don Surber, Catallarchy, The Bullwinkle Blog and RS National Affairs Daily

Awww... It looks like a NASTY Lefty has left some ugly comments on Goldstien's Blog. To his credit, it looks like Jeff is pooh poohing the whole thing. Of course, Michelle (Ever the victim), was outraged! Funny how no one in the Rightsphere was outraged when readers of Jeff's blog called my children Niggers.. Ah it's the Hypocrisy thing. Of course, there is lots of talk about this latest incident of Lefty Evil!
TBogg, The Mahablog and Ace of Spades HQKesher Talk, The Anchoress, South(west)paw, chez Diva, Marc Cooper and Michelle Malkin
My thoughts... AMEN to this!

Hmmm, maybe now we know why the "Last Throes" are lasting so long. The police in Iraq make the Tijuana police force look honest!

There is some cool and interesting stuff on TMV today. And funny too... Hmmmmm! LOL!

Despite the fact that I dissagreed with him on just about everything, I am sorry to hear this news. I know Rob has had a bunch of health issues lately, and been in pain. May he rest in piece. We may not have agreed, but he was one of us, and the blogging world will miss him, as I am sure will his family and extended family. To all of them I offer my condolences, sincere condolences.

I'm with Tas on this one.

You know what I'm sick of? Being dismissed as a "Bush hater," or more recently as being part of "the kos hating left." Anyone who uses such rhetoric isn't arguing or even debating an issue, they are simply stating a cop out. They have nothing constructive to bring to the conversation so they claim that the person they oppose is a "hater" and, because of this, the implication is that we're so biased that nothing we say is supposed to be given any credence.

Well you know what assholes? When I "hate" something, I'll tell you.

I have had my share of battles with the Right and the "Popular Left." I have always believed, and I believe Tas shares my belief on this one, that the Progressive Blog movement would be a lot more powerful if the Larger and More Powerful blogs gave more support to unaffiliated smaller blogs. I have seen this work in the Conservasphere, where small, frankly shitty blogs get play from the big boys and eventually grow. I have seen some smaller blogs, a few of them members of the Progressive Blog Alliance, which I co-founded, get patronage from the big boys and go on to establish prominent blogs themselves. Many times, I have noted, they have had to tow the Party line to do so. More power to them.

There was a time when ISOU was a top 50 TTLB Blog. Having my blog go down for two months last year, and then getting so involved in business, that I neglected it, definitely hurt my ratings and pushed ISOU into the 200's in the TTLB. There was a time when that would have bothered me. It doesn't anymore. I am comfortable these days doing what I want with my blog. Sharing music, writing about compelling technology, sharing what is going on in my life, and occasionally dipping my feet into the cesspool of politics.

There was a time when I took pride in being on the front lines of political battles. Today I find pride in helping someone avoid losing their lifesavings to African 419 Scammers! I don't have time to hate anyone, or for that matter envy them. The one blogger I envy is my Bro... Tony Pierce, who if 1/10th of the shit he prints is true, gets more swag, more sex and more FUN out of blogging than anyone I know. And he is just freakin' cool.

There are a lot of bloggers out there I admire, some I Love and quite a few who I would love to spend a weekend chillin' with, but FEW I envy. Hell I am not sure I even envy Tony, but I dig his style. I miss the old days just before the '04 Election, when all of us were just goin' nuts talking about things. There was a sense of community then.

Today, it is all about HATE, and that is too bad. It is also why I don't spend too much time talking politics any more. I have enough negativity in my life. The funny thing is... since I cut back on my political blogging, my business has really taken off.

I find the whole KOS obsession to be hillarious.

July 3-10, 2006 issue - Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is sitting on his back porch in Berkeley, Calif., listening to the hummingbirds and explaining his plans to seize control of the Democratic Party. It is one week after YearlyKos, the Las Vegas conference of progressives that Moulitsas sponsored and promoted heavily on his popular liberal blog, DailyKos.com. Every major media outlet in the country had attended the conference, detailing the spectacle of Democratic bigwigs (including the party's Senate minority leader and four of its leading 2008 presidential aspirants) embracing Moulitsas as the guru of an activist movement they were eager to exploit. With the conference, Moulitsas says, his movement had finally proved its relevance to the party. "We're not sitting around waiting for the so-called professionals to give us power in the party," he tells NEWSWEEK. "We're taking it for ourselves."

It seems as though the rock-thrower is growing up. Inside, a handyman is remodeling the Moulitsases' suburban living room, where soon the futon will be replaced by a daybed, and the big, boxy television by a sleek new flat-panel. If YearlyKos—where he was quizzed by the likes of Maureen Dowd and Tim Russert on what the Democrats ought to do to win—proved anything, it was that Moulitsas had forced his way into the upper echelons of party strategists. Moulitsas sees his new status as the start of a natural progression: "We said we wanted to crash the gates. We never said we weren't going to come in."

But a place in the inner sanctum comes with its challenges—and Kos picked a rough time to join. Last week the GOP rallied around Karl Rove's "cut and run" battle cry and went on the offensive against a Democratic Party that was all over the place on the war. Sen. John Kerry was constantly on cable TV, touting an amendment requiring the redeployment of troops out of Iraq by July 2007; most members of his own party voted against it. The party had better discipline on a more gradual pullout measure backed by Sens. Carl Levin and Jack Reed, voting together, coordinating talking points—and still going down to a sound defeat. The GOP was clearly on the rebound. "They're buoyed by Zarqawi's death and other steps in Iraq, but they're also strengthened by the disarray of the Democrats," says one senior Bush aide, who asked not to be identified speaking about political strategy.

Democrats tried to downplay the significance of the GOP's momentum. "What this indicates is the White House is much better at sloganeering than they are at actually governing and conducting this war," former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards told NEWSWEEK.

Still, the Democrats lost the week in the war over the war, and Moulitsas—who chats with Senate leadership aides several times a week and has brainstormed with Democratic operatives about the fall campaign—could no longer just criticize from the outside. Indeed, the Democrats' failed Iraq strategy—stand together, talk tough and make plans to leave—lined up exactly with the prescriptions found on Daily Kos.

Moulitsas is also learning another downside of membership in the elite: the bigger the liberal sniper gets, the more incoming fire he faces. The talk of the blogosphere last week was "Kosola"—allegations that Moulitsas wrote favorably about candidates with whom he or his close friend and coauthor Jerome Armstrong had financial relationships. Moulitsas swore the charges were baseless (Armstrong, too, has denied impropriety), but they clearly got under his skin. When The New Republic's Web site published an e-mail from Moulitsas to a group of friendly activists urging them not to talk about Kosola and thus "starve it of oxygen," Moulitsas went berserk in a blog posting, accusing the venerable liberal journal of treason. By the weekend, Moulitsas's allies were sending each other e-mails infected with the paranoia of revolutionaries who've gained power too fast: How should they deal with traitors? How much openness could they handle? Which fellow travelers could they really trust?

I mean... First of all, these people are just discovering the KOS phenomenon? Markos is a visionary. He "got it," before most of us did. He understood the power of New Media, and of forming alliances and collective action. Bravo for him! But this incredible obsession with Daily KOS and the idea that it controls the Leftsphere is ridiculous. I rarely even read KOS, much less take my marching orders from Marcos. I decided a long time ago that ISOU would be about my voice, my opinion, and that I would not be influenced by being part of a collective. I might make more blogad money and even have more readership, if I towed the party line, but honestly, it's just not worth it to me.

KOS represents a very enthusiastic, but I still believe minority wing, of the party and Progressive Political Thought. Their fund raising and PR capabilities are a powerful influence, but I dont believe KOS represents mainstream Progressive thought any more than Malkin represents Conservative thought. I wish Markos well because I think he has successfully pushed Progressive blogging into the limelight, but if he sent any orders my way, they must not have made it past my spam filters. Hehe...

I got this from Angel's blog. It was so true I had to post it.

Who's In Heaven?

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
As I entered Heaven's door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
By the lights or it's decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
Who made me sputter and gasp --
The thieves, the liars, the sinners,
The alcoholics, the trash.

There stood the kid from seventh grade
Who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
Who never said anything nice.

She, who I always thought
Was rotting away in Hell,
Was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus,
"What's the deal?
I would love to hear your take.
How'd all these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake.

And why's everyone so quiet?
So somber?
Give me a clue."

"Hush child," said He.
"They're all in shock.

No one thought they'd see you!"

But I appreciate the sentiment of Jay's post.

Fact is, I think this would be a lot cooler world if we could all just acknowledge when we are wrong from time to time.

Congrats to my man Tony Pierce for snagging a paid Blogging job. I envy the man, but the love the hell out of him!

Mr. Grumpy of the Right, goes on a full tilt tirade today. Most of it is the usual Lefty's blame everything on Bush BS, but this part stuck out:

A skinny, wimp-looking moonbat IS a special forces soldier if he CLAIMS to be one, especially when he doesn't like the military or the war in Iraq. Leftoids LOVED that guy, and they sucked up every word he had to say like warm milk from Mama's tit--- until he was exposed as a total fraud--- but that doesn't mean that he wasn't absolutely correct in everything he said about the military.

Funny, I dont remember reading ANY Lefty Blogs buying into that guy's story. In fact, I was one of the first people to question it, and condemn the bozo. Links please Rob?

Of course, holding Acid man to any standards of truth and fairness, other than his own perception of it.... Well, let's just say that is not exactly reasonable.

so interesting.

Tas brings out the most venom from the Tighty Righties...

The story of a rude family and a chinese buffet.

Haven't had reason to smile in a couple days, thanks Dean!

I really dont need to say anything more. This post by Dean on recognition in the blogspere mirrors my own feelings in a lot of ways. I used to be much more competitive. Losing my host last year, and over a years worth of post, was a near mortal blow for ISOU. It has taken over a year and we are still not where we were pre-April 2005 in traffic, but we are coming back.

While Dean and I rarely agree, he has been very supportive of me, and I want to take this opportunity to thank him. While politically, we are miles apart, I would like to think we have the same philosophy with our blogs... write about what we like and what we want to say. I admire Dean as a fighter, and as a great blogger and blogfather to many.

So keep doing what you are doing Dean. Some of the blogs I respect the most don't win many awards, but they are great reads, and that is really what its all about.

I was invited to participate in the Pundit Roundtable this week, great fun. Check it out!

And it is commentary like this:

Regardless of Rove's new legal troubles, from a policy standpoint, I think there is no salvation for this administration. They have no power in Congress as Republicans with a brain are running like hell from them, they have surrendered their moral authority (IMHO) on matters of privacy, individual liberty, and fiscal restraint, as well as on issues regarding torture and the like, and the next two years are simply going to be damage control for the GOP. I fully expect two years of contentious battles over nothing, demonization of everyone who dares disagree with the party line du jour, and then, after the 2008 election no matter what the outcome, a distancing from the previous 8 years.

That makes him so. He is one of my few Right of Center daily reads, and I have not had time to read him much lately. I can see, he remains sane as ever...

Maybe the answer is stop being such a race obsessed asshole. I don't think many of those blogs who delinked you for your "N-Word" obsession last year, came back.

Especially when your attitude has not changed:

What would I do differently if I had my blog to go back and do over again? Not a whole lot, really. I never would have used the forbidden N-word--- not because I think I did anything terribly wrong by doing that, but because it just wasn't worth the crap that the post generated. Boy, did I ever get a full dose of sanctimony over THAT.

Then there is the fact that you treat "wimmen," like shit on your blog, unless of course they are Costa Rican working girls... So gee Rob, I don't know why your blog is going to hell. Maybe you need to "think on it a spell."

On the Wapo Article. You deserve it! My Left Wing ROCKS! You represented well what a lot of us feel, and thanks for blogrolling me earlier in the week.

Shabooty Scores a BIG interview!

From the NYT:
A Guest Blogger, and an Unwritten Law
ONE could almost imagine George Clooney, robed and slippered, taking to the veranda of his Italian lakeside villa and hunkering over a laptop for his maiden voyage into the blogosphere, which appeared in the form of a passionate left-wing call to arms at HuffingtonPost.com last week.

"We can't demand freedom of speech then turn around and say, 'But please don't say bad things about us,' " the Oscar-winning actor wrote, adding his voice to dozens of other luminaries that Arianna Huffington, the columnist, former candidate for governor of California and freelance liberal gadfly, has drawn to her blog fold since starting The Huffington Post nearly a year ago. "You gotta be a grown-up and take your hits," Mr. Clooney concluded. "I am a liberal. Fire away."

But just as the great digital chinwag was taking note of the newcomer ("If Clooney blogs, does that make it sexy?" wondered the wits at Gawker), Mr. Clooney dropped a bomb, asserting that although the sentiments in the post were his, they were cobbled together from past interviews with Larry King of CNN and The Guardian, a British newspaper.

And more important, the blog was not written by him.

So was born Clooneygate, which began the week looking like a minor collision between a celebrity's handlers and a celebrity pundit's ambitions for her Web site, and ended amid knotty questions of journalistic integrity and the nature of blogs.

The basic facts are not in dispute. Ms. Huffington wanted Mr. Clooney — an outspoken critic of the war and American foreign policy — blogging on her site, but the actor, she said, wasn't familiar with the form.

So she culled some published Clooneyisms — essentially answers to questions he'd been asked in previous interviews — fashioned them into an essaylike blog entry, and added a few flourishes of her own, including the punchy "I am a liberal. Fire away" bit.

She then e-mailed it to one of his representatives, Lisa Taback. (The original post has since been removed from HuffingtonPost, but it can still be viewed here: snipurl.com/ClooneyBlog.)

"Lisa, here is a blog put together from different interviews George has given," Ms. Huffington wrote in a Feb. 17 e-mail message, which she shared to help clarify what happened. "Would love to get his approval with any changes he wants and then we'll post it on HuffPost and send to Yahoo."

Ms. Taback responded the same day, saying "I will get it to him and get back to you as soon as I hear anything," and then three days later: "Of course this is fine, Arianna! Thank you."

The scant 360-word blog posting that Ms. Huffington had put together was untouched, and that's how it appeared at The Huffington Post — packaged like every other posting there, topped with a pithy headline ("George Clooney: I Am a Liberal. There, I Said It!"), and accompanied by a picture of the author and a short biography.

The ensuing bluster signified different things for different people.

For Mr. Clooney and his representatives — and for a growing brood of loyal "HuffPo" fans who proved, over the course of the week, to be even more loyal to blog purity — it was a simple matter of honesty. Indeed, as early as Tuesday, Mr. Clooney had issued a statement that cut directly to the heart of the matter.

"These are not my writings — they are answers to questions and there is a huge difference," Mr. Clooney said.

But that difference seemed to be lost, at least at first, on Ms. Huffington, who repeatedly pointed to the clear breakdown in Mr. Clooney's public relations machinery, and then later suggested, in a post on her blog, that in any case, "the medium isn't the message; the message is the message."

And that's where, it seems, Ms. Huffington disconnected from many of her readers, blog purists and media critics — all of whom seemed to know, tacitly or otherwise, that the medium carries a message, too.

But I think it, and Huffinton's eventual response, says something about the Blogsphere.

Many of us have been blogging in relative obscurity for years. My blog has had it's ups and downs, but maintained a certain consistency. Arianna came into the game with a loaded gun, money, celebrity appeal and a strategy to get linked by the big boys coming out of the gate. She did not "earn" blog cred, she bought it. And The HP has done well. But not having toiled as many of us have... not having earned the readership, she may have lacked a certain respect for it, that we have gained through blood sweat and tears.

I am happy to see her "fess up," to her error, but maybe now she can learn another "lesson," being a celebrity does not make one's words any more important, or profound. Maybe it is time to shake up her roster a bit, and give some "Real People," a chance to blog on The HP? Will it happen? I doubt it, but it would shake things up a bit...

Good to see good things happening to you!

Go here to find out. (wink).

After Tony's heartfelt post the other night, I see he has suddenly discovered some black women.
There are a lot of beautiful ones out there you know...

And not just SUPER MODELS... hehe...

Good for you Dawg! Better late than never... (wink).

Tony has a long post which I am not going to excerpt because I want you go go to his site and read it. He talks about why he has not featured more black women on his site. He also touches on why he has not dated more black women.

I completely understand Tony, and there are probably a few who would accuse me of the same thing, of not being "into black women." Which is not exactly true since I consider Gabrielle Union to be the sexiest woman on the planet, and God knows I would not slam the door in the face of Halle Berry either.

But for a long time I have had a love affair with the Latin Culture and Latin women. The awesome thing about Latin women is they come in all colors and shades. I have dated Mexicans, Salvadorans, Colombians, Nicaraguans and Puerto Ricans, and I have found the common denominator in all of them to be two things, 1. Loyalty to their man 2. Soul and Sensuality. The Latino women I have dated range from the sensuous choclate of my wife, to the smoldering but dark European look of my first latin lover. And I have dated my share of white women as well. Hell I have dates Broadway actresses, Porn Stars, Night Club owners, artist and Bankers. I have even dated a couple of ex hookers. And I never gave any of their race much thought, but the ones who have rocked my world have been Latinas...

I have had to deal with some criticism from my "sisters," over my dating choices, but I never lost my cool, and always tried to understand them. To quote many of them... "There are only so many successful and good black men to go around. Why do they always choose someone other than a sister?" I could take the easy way out and respond by talking about how black women like to compete with black men, and how they like to be the dominant one in the relationship. And yes I have seen that. But I have also dated supportive black women who were strong without being overbearing, and who enhanced my experience as a man, instead of trying to emotionaly castrate me. I could also use the cop out of not coming into contact with many black women at my educational or success level, but that too would be a cop out, because I have met some dynamite and intelligent black sisters.

I am not going to make any excuses. I like Latin women. Hell I love Latin women, and I have been fortunate enough to have some pretty beautiful ones love me too, that some of them happened to be black too was icing on the cake. But to be honest, I have never been one to obsess over my partners color, instead I thought of what we could both bring to the party to make us both happy....

So Tony, don't sweat it, you are who you are... And you like what you like. I have never felt the need to check your credentials as a Brother. Keep doing what you are doing, it obviously works. You are getting laid, and you are getting paid... What more could anyone ask for...

Hell if I was single, I would be lookin you up and running the streets of Los Angeles with you.

And thanks for three years of some of the best blogging out there. You are my hero and a dear friend. I wish you many, many more years of "tellin' it like it TI-is!

is bringing back comments to their blogs:

The Washington Post online executive editor, Jim Brady, just let me know what's what regarding the comments situation. He says the site wasn't requiring a valid e-mail address from commenters:

because we were working through Movable Type, and we had not synched up our registration system with it. But we are hoping to add comments to articles reasonably soon, and when we do that, we'll have that layer of security. But, after the events of the past week, we now know we need that layer on our MT blogs as well. Lesson learned, I guess. We've had these blogs up for a year, and really had no problems, so this one caught us off-guard and understaffed. But we'll be back on the horse before long; it's obviously the right thing to do.

Like Dan says, its a good thing. I can't wait until they hit a Republican Hot Button issue. Let's see if they delete and shutter then.

She is one of the sexiest, wittiest, most intelligent bloggers out there... Just not sure I would take advice from her. hehe....

It seems like Galloway is not the only one who used to hang out with the Husseins. Next up, pictures of Cheney at a Saddam sponsored hanging.

And just so we are ALL clear on International vs. Domestic! Your tax dollars at work folks...

Check it out..

Dean makes a compelling argument on why States have the right to make demands on Corporations. Read the whole thing, it's another example of why I read Dean daily, even though we agree on little.

Some bloggers who I generally respect on other issues are angry because the State of Maryland recently enacted legislation requiring large corporations which have more than 10,000 employees--which in Maryland principally means Wal-Mart--to offer certain minimum health insurance benefits to employees. Annoyed bloggers include Acid Man, Bill Quick, and the folks at LFB.

I'm a believer in freedom, including economic freedom. Including the freedom to go poor. I believe in the forces of capitalism, and free trade. Nor do I think anyone has a "right" to pick his neighbor's pocket. But let's get a few things straight: Wal-Mart is not John Galt. It is not a person. It is not a natural free-market phenomenon. And the the Maryland legislature is completely within its rights to require whatever it wants of a corporation. Because Wal-Mart isn't a person, it's a paper beast that can only exist because the state wills it to exist.

The fact is that a publicly-traded Chapter C corporation is not an individual. It is a creation of, a fiction sustained by, the government. Without government, few if any corporations would be able to exist--period. The first true major corporations were chartered specifically by governments (such as the Dutch East Indies), and then later on the government began to declare that individuals could set up their own corporations if they followed certain rules, and that courts must grant these fictional state creations certain rights.

In short, then: without the state, there would be few if any of these beasties.

Furthermore, large corporations like Wal-Mart, due to the artificial advantages that they have over the everyday businessman--you know, an actual PERSON who runs a business, who has a face, who has to answer to people, who has the limitations of a human being--gets squeezed out by these giant collectivist enterprises we call corporations. Which, I remind you again, could not happen if the state had not created the entire phantasmic idea in the first place.

He is totally politically incorrect, doesn't give a rats ass, and most of all Blogs for himself, probably one of the few bloggers I know who does.

THAT....

And the fact that he has the kind of fun I used to have...

And he is one of the people from the Blogsphere that I would love to hang out with for a weekend. But not in L.A. I was raised in L.A. and Tony is undisputed Master of L.A.. No, I would want to get him on my turf. Take him partying in Costa Rica. Hell I could give the man enough material to blog for a year. Not to mention pictures...

black man sues the state for giving him excessive Affirmative Action?

Now that tag is a bit disingenuous don't ya think? Looks to me like dude got canned from a plush gig because he wasn't up to it, and then tried to blame British Affirmative Action. Not exactly the same now is it? Hehe...

I think you know my position on Affirmative Action. I am against it in principle, but I am still waiting for something better to be proposed.

Wizbang has some readers with real Race issues, read the comments to this post.

And she answers the Power of Four Meme! Welcome back Rogue, I have missed you! And the new look rocks!

I got an email from Phil Van Treuren today about a new blog focussed on the work of U.S. Military personnel working to help in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina.
The blog leans towards the Right, so there is a lot of other stuff that I don't agree with, but these kinds of efforts need to be acknowledged.

I often find jewels when looking through my Blog's referal stats, here is one of them.... Great Blog, go check them out.

Now for the Meme, which I will spare my buddies the tagging, but please trackback if you take it:

Seven things to do before I die:
1. Visit Tahiti. 2. Write and Publish a Book. 3. Write a Movie Script 4. See my kids graduate from college. 5. See my kids get married and have their own kids. 6. Make love on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico, as the sun is coming up. 7. Expand my company to all of Central America.

Seven things I cannot do:
1. Keep dealing with bullshit from my wife. 2. Stop Smoking. 3. Give up my addiction to HBO's Saturday night lineup. 4. Loathe (except for Kool Aide Drinking Conservatives who can find no wrong in ANYTHING the Bush Administration Does) 5. Understand how Microsoft Continues to sell crap. 6. Pass for white.(hehe) 7. Give up my absolute LOVE for women.

Seven things that attract me to women:
1. A beautiful smile. 2. Long Hair. 3. Soft Curves 4. A slightly rounded belly. 5. An Easy Laugh. 6. Intelligence and Education 7. Independence...

Seven things I say most often:
1. Pura Vida 2. Wassup! 3. No Apollonia 4. No Romeo (My Dog). 5. I have a headache. 6. Te Quierro/I Love You. 7. Donde? (Where)

Seven books (or series) that I love:
1. Aztec by Garry Jennings? 2. Shogun. 3. The Divinci Code. 4. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. 5. DUNE series by Frank Herbert. 6. The Art of War by Sun Tzu. 7. The Book of Five Rings.

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would if I had the time):
None

Seven People I would LIKE to Tag:
I am not going to Tag anyone this time. Wanna play? Join in and trackback.