Liberal Bloggers Reaching Out to Major Media By JONATHAN D. GLATER

[Bob Fertik, president of Democrats.com,] maintains that the blurring of boundaries has benefited left-wing bloggers less than their adversaries on the right, saying that reports posted on conservative blogs more easily make the jump to the main news media. “The way we perceive it,” he said, “is that right-wing bloggers are able to invent stories, get them out on Drudge, get them on Rush Limbaugh, get them on Fox, and pretty soon that spills over into the mainstream media. We, the progressives, we don’t have that kind of network to work with.”

Some on the right disagree, arguing that the news reported by traditional media is tainted by liberal bias. “We learned years ago that the mainstream media just weren’t going to pay attention to us,” said Kristinn Taylor of the Web site FreeRepublic.com.

But bloggers on all sides agree that the left has made less effective use of the opportunities to organize and wield influence afforded by the Internet. [mjh: what about the phenomenal online fundraising of Dean and Kerry?] The reasons, though, are more complex than they might appear. “It’s not just a story about the blogosphere,” said Jack M. Balkin, a professor and director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. “It’s a story about the conservative social networks of which the blogosphere is a part. The important thing is the network – and I mean the social network.” [via dangerousmeta!]

As usual, Conservatives control the discussion. What evidence is there that there are more conservative bloggers or that they are more successful (is success simply ‘being read’ or more than that?). Conservatives coined Rathergate and pat themselves on the back mightily for slaying their enemy. BFD.

Remember that the Radical Right has been on the warpath for ages, perhaps back to the New Deal, certainly since Goldwater and Wallace. They have worked very hard, very aggressively, to takeover. They thought they had with Raygun. They were dismayed with Clinton’s success and worked like devils to undo that (even though Clinton was the perfect response to Raygun, two sides of the same coin). They regained their footing with Gingrich and the Contract On America. They triumphed in Florida and Ohio. They will destroy themselves. The blogosphere will document that.

The Internet and the Web belong to humanity. Every facet of humanity will find a place in cyberspace — our best qualities and our worst, in the same proportions found within us collectively wherever we go. mjh

Am I the only one disturbed by the Burger King Singing Cowboy commercial?

If you give it only the slightest notice, you might see a retro commercial with a nice modern twist of a black singing cowboy (yes, there were and are black cowboys, but there were no Black Singing Cowboys ala Roy Rogers). He is good looking and sings well about “the breasts that grow on trees.”

All around him are women moving to a slightly slower tempo. They are dressed in camp vamp. They seem to be pulled forward by their breasts and rearward by their asses. They touch their open mouths, faces, flowing hair. They display a different hunger. They are nubile and comely. They are very soft porn — the kind of images that make a 13 year old boy take notice and hope his parents haven’t.

I don’t know what to make of the fact that all the men are black and all the women white. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Yes, one woman is Asian. Notice she occupies the lowest point in the frame AND exaggerates her legs to hide the fact that her breasts and ass were inadequate for a standing role.

And, yes, there is a white guy, the Top Dawg: the Burger King himself (though under the mask could be any gender or race). The BK occupies the highest point in the frame, towering, lording over his frolicking, fornicating subjects as he bangs his wench from the rear. She, surely a real porn star, raises her arms and cries, “Come and get it.” In the Director’s Cut, she is topless and cries, “Oh, god, yes! yes!”

Think I’m over doing it? We all know that sex sells very well. What alarms me is the pornicious hiphopification of mainstream advertising. Hip-hop music videos always feature an endless herd of sexy women, provocatively dressed, thrusting their breasts and grinding their hips while maintaining a strangely blank expression , as if they couldn’t care less about anything, or as if on bear tranquilizers. At least the BK girls look happy — maybe they know they don’t have to have sex with the star and his entire entourage after the shoot.

After I wrote this, I did a Google search and found another commentary, which confirms a couple of my thoughts, but is quite a different reaction (good piece, though).

Also, the Burger King website (which I refuse to link to), repeats aspects of this commercial (starting with “the breasts that grow on trees”) without any of the people. They thoughtfully provide a link to Black History Month, though not to Women’s History Month. mjh

ABC News: Answers Sought After Church Group Shooting

Terry Ratzmann, a buttoned-down churchgoer known for sharing homegrown vegetables with his neighbors, walked into the room and police said he shot 22 bullets from a 9 mm handgun within a minute.

None of those who knew him expected Ratzmann to be violent. Neighbors said he was quiet and devout, that he liked to tinker about his house and garden. He would even release the chipmunks caught in traps he set in his yard.

But Saturday, the Sabbath for the Living Church of God, Ratzmann turned on worshippers.

“He wasn’t a dark guy. He was average Joe,” said Shane Colwell, a neighbor who knew Ratzmann for about a decade. “It’s not like he ever pushed his beliefs on anyone else.”

The 44-year-old computer technician lived with his mother and sister in a modest home about two miles from the suburban Milwaukee hotel where police say he opened fire during service.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based Living Church of God is a denomination that grew out of a schism in the Worldwide Church of God, formed in 1933, and focuses on “end-time” prophecies.

This year, the group’s leader, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, wrote that events prophesied in the Bible are “beginning to occur with increasing frequency.” The church has an estimated 6,300 members in 40 countries. …

“The Lord works in mysterious ways.”

North Jersey Media Group providing local news, sports & classifieds for Northern New Jersey!

Hence, the shock that came when police in Wichita, Kan., announced on Feb. 26 that he is BTK – the initials stand for Bind, Torture, Kill – architect of a murder spree that has claimed 10 lives and terrorized Kansans since 1974. Rader, we are told, was the very epitome of ordinary. He was a 59-year-old Boy Scout leader, a married father, council president of the Lutheran Church he has attended for more than 25 years and a compliance inspector for suburban Park City, where he was in charge of, among other things, animal control.

Two men. One a long time brutal serial killer, the other a spur-of-the-moment mass murderer. Both devout, regular church goers; one born-again, looking forward to the End of Days.

I do not mean to suggest that church goers are bad people. I wish to stress that going to church isn’t proof of one’s goodness — nor does it necessarily even prevent evil. I’m tired of the suggestion that I may lack values because I don’t go to chuch. Look who does. mjh

ABQjournal: Bush To Push Plan in N.M.

WASHINGTON? President Bush is expected to visit New Mexico? possibly next week? as part of his national tour to drum up support for his Social Security reform proposals.

In a speech in Louisiana on Friday, Bush said he was going to “head out West” to New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona after visiting Florida next week.

White House Spokesman Taylor Gross confirmed that the president would be visiting New Mexico as part of his Social Security tour but declined to release the exact date or town.

Dump Bush photos by mjh

Update 3-15

ABQjournal: Around New Mexico
Bush Coming To Albuquerque

WASHINGTON — President Bush will visit Albuquerque next week as part of his national tour to promote Social Security reform, the White House announced Monday.

Bush will arrive in Albuquerque next Monday [3/21] and will spend the night at an unspecified location.

On Tuesday morning [3/22], he will lead a town-hall style discussion about his proposal to invest a portion of Social Security revenues in private investment accounts, said White House spokesman Taylor Gross.

Gross said details, such as when and where in Albuquerque the town hall event will be held and who will be invited to attend, will be released later this week.
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SENATOR JEFF BINGAMAN
SPEAKING ON SOCIAL SECURITY: A CRISIS?

Wednesday, March 23, 7:00 PM

UNM Law School, Room 2401

Stanford Drive, north of Lomas, south end of golf course
All are welcome ? bring your friends

It happens every year ? I can’t quite remember which day is my Dad’s birthday. Lou Hinton was born 12/16/1917 on a farm in central Tennessee, but I always miss-remember it as 12/17, another dyslexic moment. So, again, I’m a day late.

Not that he’ll notice. My Dad died 33 years ago, nearly 2/3rds of my lifetime ago. This is the time each year I think of him. And whenever I build something out of wood, like our arbor. An engineer by profession, he was a good carpenter and planner. That people could be oblivious to some things that seemed so obvious to him left him frustrated to the point of anger. He was successful in that 1950’s way and as flummoxed as anyone else by the Revolutions of the 1960’s.

He was survived by a dozen years by my Mom, who flourished in that way widows often do, but who never stopped missing him.

Perhaps 10 years ago, after Mom had died, I sat at the computer writing a letter to my Dad, as if he had survived her death. I had this clear vision of him living in the West, driving a pickup truck with a couple of big dogs. I cried more than when he died.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

You’re wondering how the Christian Republic of America came to invade Europe. It began with the infidels who infiltrated Europe just as the socialists and communists before them. His Truth: “One enemy with many faces.” Eventually, the Department of Fatherland Security had conclusive proof that the infidels had, in fact, conquered much of Europe hundreds of years ago, when dinosaurs still roamed. This, no doubt, explains the treachery of Europeans.

It was deemed in our national security interests that we invade Europe. England rolled over immediately. However, with war raging on many fronts and another monthly tax cut planned, Our New Lord decided to spare the nation a prolonged and expensive struggle for Europe – we nuked them. People cheered the destruction of France especially – enemies of liberty, equality and brotherhood!

Before the Freedom Fire, the Pope was smuggled out of Europe. In Washington, the Pope crowned Karl the Great Our New Lord. The frail pontiff died immediately thereafter and, so, Our New Lord assumed his duties, beginning with excommunicating everyone who hadn’t accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior.

Now we are blessed to live in the End Time. We are humble in knowing we are the most moral people ever to live. Our great struggle with the infidels who falsely believe God is on their side is nearing its fore-ordained end. Then the Believers will be taken up into Heaven and the rest of us will cheer loudly: good riddance!

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Attention! The Ministry of Faith-based Justice has been ordered by Our New Lord, the Architect of Victory, to destroy history itself if necessary to bring an end to the socialist communism of gay-liberals. You will not be allowed to pollute our culture and morals, you dirty hippies! Signed: Assistant Sub-Minister of Faith-based Tax Relief George Duhbya Bush

His Truth: “History is written by the winners. Win at any cost.”

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[mjh: If you liked this, perhaps you’ll enjoy The Real Inaugural Address]

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mjh’s blog — Left Undone
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