Putting People/Activities into Boxes

Stefan McDaniel blogs about how blogs have ruined language. (ht Joe Carter)

Reading Postman for the first time last month gave me clearer language to explain my rage against the rise of blogging. For what he says about media can be said about literary forms—they are biased toward certain kinds of content. The blogpost is biased toward speed, brevity, and cleverness. It thus hands the public square over to bullies, sophists, and clowns.

ummmm, the “Public Square” is everyone’s, including the bullies, sophists and clowns.

I write a blog in order to stay focused on actual news. It forces me to dig deeper into the news and arrive at my own conclusions. I spit those out here not to use words in some beautiful, meaningful way, but to keep track of what I think so that when in conversation I don’t end up sputtering and searching around tidbits of memory to share my thoughts.

I read blogs to find links to stories I otherwise would not have found (ACORN anyone?). I read blogs to see how other people interpret the same stories I’ve read.

Furthermore, even good blogging threatens to worsen our already bad relation with the written word. Several excellent bloggers have told me that they find it much harder than they once did either to follow sustained written arguments (especially when not tricked out with flashy rhetoric) or to make such arguments themselves; they have grown impatient with writing that does not meet bloggy criteria.

I would submit that those people he’s writing about above, are reading/writing blogs for different reasons than I have. Mr. McDaniel throws all the millions of bloggers into a box and I doubt even 1 million really fit in that particular box.

Ruh Roh

Obama has lost Maureen Dowd. (let me be clear so I don’t embarrass myself….I don’t read Dowd. I have no idea why I opened it up this morning.)

Dissing the Dalai was part of a broader new Obama policy called “strategic reassurance” — softening criticism of China’s human rights record and financial policies to calm its fears that America is trying to contain it. (Not to mention our own fears that the Chinese will quit bankrolling our debt.)

The tyro American president got the Nobel for the mere anticipation that he would provide bold moral leadership for the world at the very moment he was caving to Chinese dictators. Awkward.

Havel reached out to touch a glass dish given to him by Obama, inscribed with the preamble to the U.S. Constitution. “It is only a minor compromise,” he said. “But exactly with these minor compromises start the big and dangerous ones, the real problems.”

Now granted, Dowd thinks the constitution is something that Obama should just, you know, do away with so he can get things done, so she’s still a whackjob…my point being that if he’s lost the whackjobs, who does he have left? concerning New Orleans:

The president gave a technocrat’s answer about the “complications between the state, the city and the feds in making assessments of the damages.”

“Now, I wish I could just write a check,” he added. When an audience member yelled “Why not?” he dryly noted, “There’s this whole thing about the Constitution.”

The president should remember, though, that when you’re cooking up a more perfect Union, sometimes you’ve got to break some eggs.

Honduras

LaGringa shares her thoughts and knowledge about what’s going on behind the scenes in Honduras during the “negotiations”.

They (the OAS) also use the strategy that they are deeply worried that if a solution is not reached that Chávez will invade Honduras and the United States will not do anything, and that they, the international community, will not be able to do anything because no one recognizes Honduras’ government. So they argue that they are actually on our side, and are trying to shove their agreement down our throats to save us dumb Hondurans from the Mad Man Chávez, and that only the OAS cares about Honduras because Chavez and Obama don’t.

Unbelievable. Let’s force a tiny little country that is minding it’s own business to bend over so that a) Chavez is pleased and b) so that we (the international community) don’t have to deal with Chavez going nuts and invading.

How about letting said tiny little country follow it’s own laws. This “coup” is NOT one person or the military taking over. This “coup” is about the entire government of Honduras following the Honduran constitution!!!!
Why can’t people get it into their tiny little heads????!!!!!

Friday Calf Blogging

Heeerrre’s Skip!

Honduran Rumor

Zelaya is being exiled to Spain, Micheletti will step aside.

I do believe Micheletti played this one like a concert violinist.

Stay tuned, it’s still just a strong rumor.

The Micheletti is a Clever, Clever Man – I hope

He has impressed me all this time and now tonight I read that supposedly he has agreed to restore things to how they were before June 28th (the day Zelaya was removed from the country). (ht Gateway Pundit)

We have agreed in a document on point number six, which relates to the restitution of the powers of state to where they were before June 28, 2009,” Victor Meza, Zelaya’s representative, told a news conference.

….Zelaya was actually to be arrested 2 days earlier…..

. Begin with Zelaya’s arrest. The Supreme Court of Honduras, as it turns out, had ordered the military to arrest Zelaya two days earlier. A second order (issued on the same day) authorized the military to enter Zelaya’s home to execute the arrest. These orders were issued at the urgent request of the country’s attorney general.

So, Zelaya get’s his title back, then the police arrest him. And now there is so much evidence against him that the international community will have to agree that he belongs in jail.

I love President Micheletti.

Take it away LaGringa, tell me I’m right……

Check out this document from Hon. Guillermo Perez-Cadalsoin front of our US House Committee on International Affairs. It has a very simple timeline of what happened over this year and why Zelaya was to be arrested BEFORE June 28th.

Here’s a question

If we give tax breaks for pet ownership, will the people of Boulder Colorado and San Francisco, CA quickly drop their “guardianship” laws and become pet owners again?

Honduras

What the $@$%?

Is this true? I can’t find a collaborating story out of the UN website still today, but maybe they are just behind.
La Gringa:

Hondudiario quoted official UN sources as saying that a study of the Department of Political Affairs of the UN concluded that the destitution of ex-president Manuel Zelaya was constitutional and in accordance with the laws of the country. [Google translation] The report was finalized after visiting Honduras last week.

The article stated that high level UN officials had been made aware today of the report which also coincides with the conclusions US Library of Congress report. The UN site did not have any information about the report tonight.

WOW!!! Will the truth come out here?
From the UN of all places?!! Will I have to eat crow regarding the UN? I will happily do so.

Fighting AHIP

If this is the worst the White House can do, they’ve lost already.

“The insurance industry has decided to lead the charge against health reform, and everyone recognizes their motives: profits,” said White House deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer. “We are going to make sure they can’t sink this effort at the last minute.”

oooooh – profits…….what a horrible motive for a business model.

Things that made me chuckle today

Both are from the Washington Post:

First on the strict news side you have this in an article on government regulations and their crackdowns.:

The new regulators display a passion for rules and a belief that government must protect the public from dangers lurking at home and on the job — one more way the new White House is reworking the relationship between government and business.

“In the Bush administration, the problem was that the political folks were hostile to the mission,” said Michael A. Livermore, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Regulation at New York University Law School. “We’ve already seen the new direction of this White House play out in other regulatory aspects — the Environmental Protection Agency and financial regulation. With the consumer protection agencies, you’re going to see a lot more stuff happening because they fit Obama’s broad vision for government.“

Obama’s “broad vision” for government. PROTECT the public from the dangers lurking at home!!!!
So long as there’s a vision eh?…..

Then you have Eugene Robinson today;

Somebody explain this to me: The president of the United States wins the Nobel Peace Prize and Rush Limbaugh joins with the Taliban in bitterly denouncing the award? Glenn Beck has a conniption fit and demands that the president not accept what may be the world’s most prestigious honor? The Republican National Committee issues a statement sarcastically mocking our nation’s leader — elected, you will recall, by a healthy majority — as unworthy of such recognition?

Why, oh why, do conservatives hate America so?

Evidence? Conclusion? Reminder of the “healthy majority”?
Let’s try this out in an if/then statement:

IF tv/radio conservatives crack jokes about the Nobel prize going to Barack Obama, THEN conservatives hate America.

or
IF someone who is popular and the leader of the country is mocked, THEN conservatives hate America.

?? LOL