North Korea Threatens War

So what was their first clue.

North Korea's ambassador to Australia warns that international attempts to halt his nation's missile tests could lead to war

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Happy Father's Day!

For all of you Dads out there I hope you're having a wonderful Father's Day. I know I am.

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Karl Rove Debases the Blogosphere Left

Do you think maybe he was referring to the Daily KOS?

According to Karl Rove: “The Internet for the Left…has served as a way to mobilize hate and anger — hate and anger, first and foremost, at this President and Conservatives, but then also at people within their own party whom they consider to be less than completely loyal to this very narrow, very out-of-the-mainstream, very far Left-wing ideology that they tend to represent.”

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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Killed

At least he still has his head attached, which is more than we can say for his victims.

You live by Violence, You Die by Violence

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Can any War be Good?

Blogs for Bush says Iraq is a "A War to be Proud Of".

No matter which side of the fence we may sit, Political FootBall can't help but wonder:

Is there such a thing as a "Good" War?

For to believe in such makes the assumption that we have God and right on our side.

Quick Retort: So doesn't everybody? Oh yeah, I forgot -- we're just more right than they are.

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Enron Chiefs get their Just Deserts

It's Payback Time! (sort of)

How the pendulum will swing. The scales of justice are finally coming into balance (no pun intended). Corporate crooks are finally getting theirs instead of just a tongue lashing and a golden handshake (with stock options).

Today's Enron decision convicting Skilling and Lay sets a precedent for corporate bosses that the buck stops with them and a severe warning to white collar crooks who think they can fudge the figures and get away with it. Of course we still haven't heard the sentencing phase of the proceedings so I will defer my final opinion until that time.

It will be of little comfort to all those employees who lost their shirts but at least it's a start in the right direction.

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Crash go the Gates

No pun intended Bill. I'm no Daily KOSsack fan, but I have to agree with the following statement by Markos Moulitsas and Jerome Armstrong who wrote in their new book, Crashing the Gate:

The fact is that we are part of a truly organic effort that is decentralized. We are no more "leaders" than anyone else who frequents our websites. We have laid the groundwork and helped build the "public square," but it is the community that provides the energy and shapes our agenda.

That's why this movement is so effective - and so threatening to established powers. It is leaderless. It cannot be harness, controlled, or co-opted.

Well said, but when they refer to the "movement" and "community" I hope that they are referencing the wider blogosphere and not just the fringe element who frequent their blogs. One can only hope.

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Colbert Video Pulled from YouTube

UPDATE: The Colbert video was pulled but you can still find it at the daily FISK.

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Colbert, Mainstream Media and the Blogosphere

So what do all of these have in common? Well, the recent Colbert Blogstorm has raised some important observations about the fragile (and sometimes volatile) relationship between the blogosphere and mainstream media.

Some say that blogs aren't news sources. It's just a "conversation" and nothing more.

While others like Bloggers Blog point out:

The New York Times is finally reporting on the growing blogstorm over Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner. This is definitely another incident where bloggers motivated the mainstream media to report on something. It is possibly proof that if bloggers can post enough on a topic the mainstream media will eventually be forced to report on it.

Whilst we bloggers have been trying to define ourselves, some of us are unfortunately looking at this in terms of black and white. The truth of it is it's what I have been saying all along -- it's a bit of both.

Clearly it is a symbiotic relationship and both organisms are feeding off each other. Like it or not, it is a "conversation" that is going on between between both media types. That might not sit well with the snobs, but nevertheless is reality.

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Blog Readers Revealed?

Is Political Extremeism a by-product of immaturity?

I don't buy this. An unscientific Web survey of 36,000 people by Blogads reports that political blog readers tend to be age 41 to 50, male (72 percent), and earn $60,000 to $90,000 per year. Two in five have college degrees, while just a tad less have graduate degrees.

"These are not people who are politically idealistic and born yesterday," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, who runs the popular liberal site DailyKos.

The survey goes on the say:

Blogads President Henry Copeland said the findings represent "the choir" of political blog readers, the most interested and most engaged, "the political geeks who are arguing over the nuances at a press conference or the latest Hillary Clinton pronunciations."

He said Republican blog readers tend to be older, more often male, have higher incomes and less education than Democratic readers -- but only by small degrees.

Why then are so many of the comments at the daily KOSsack so juvenile? That goes for many of the right-wing blogs as well but they didn't participate as much as the lefties did in the survey.

Could that be the reason why the lefties claim they are more edu-ma-cated. People generally exaggerate their stats on surveys anyhow. Especially behind the anonymity of the internet.

So I have a better interpretation:

Political extremeism = immaturity

regardless of the age group!

Or perhaps Carol Darr, director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet got it right:

It's a mark of their alienation" from other forms of media.

So the Blogosphere = Alien Nation?

Hmm...

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