Now that 5 years of irreparable damage is done to our country and our planet, the media wakes up and begins to tell the truth about Bush. This is exacly why I depend more on bloggers than on paid journalists to tell me what’s really going on. I never once believed the WMD bullshit, for example. It amazed me that anyone couldn’t see through that garbage.

Behind the NYT paywall, Krugman drops more science about how the media is only just now reporting on weaknesses that Bush has had all along.

Read the speeches Howard Dean gave before the Iraq war, and compare them with Colin Powell’s pro-war presentation to the U.N. Knowing what we know now, it’s clear that one man was judicious and realistic, while the other was spinning crazy conspiracy theories. But somehow their labels got switched in the way they were presented to the public by the news media.

Continue reading “Too little too late” →

My old friend Chris Kromm blogs at Facing South and makes a compelling case that

Progressives need to step up to the plate, and 1) support the fight for a democratic, just and sustainable rebuilding in the Gulf, and 2) work tirelessly and with laser focus to return issues of poverty and inequality to the top of the national agenda.

This is a great opportunity to put progressive issues on the front burner, let’s hope it’s not our last chance! I’m already dismayed at how the Gulf Coast has left the national headlines.

Some pictures I took with my phone while walking around Carrboro this week:

I use Bloglines to read my two-hundred-and-something feeds and I like it pretty good, in spite of the lurking fear that they are looking for a way to cash in on me.

My respect for them really increased when they published this letter to Congress about FEC regulation of blogs last month, and today they rolled out a few small improvements that make Bloglines even easier to use. Just in time, considering Google is trying to give them a run for the money. I’ve tried Google’s new aggregator, and I found that it just doesn’t work as well although it’s certainly prettier than Bloglines. I’m not switching yet, but it’s always good to have options.

Continue reading “I have a crush on Bloglines” →

There’s an interesting discussion going on at the News and Observer’s Editor’s Blog where the N&O’s Executive Editor Melanie Sill is taking issue with something reported by the N&O Obsbudsman Ted Vaden about something Jay Rosen said at ConvergeSouth.

Jay says journalists should consider aspiring to the standards of bloggers rather than the other way around. Melanie says he’s out of touch and dissing the hard work of reporters. What does that have to do with his point?

I feel compelled to point out that this is just the kind of conversation and the kind of accountability that is enabled by blogs and are difficult if not impossible in any other medium. Journalists need to stop fighting and start thanking blogs!

Based on a variety of factors, including the Times’ new paywall and Judith Miller, Jay Rosen (of the brilliant and long-winded PressThink) recently wrote:

The New York Times is not any longer–in my mind–the greatest newspaper in the land. Nor is it the base line for the public narrative that it once was. Some time in the last year or so I moved the Washington Post into that position.

Continue reading “Move over, Gray Lady” →

Sue Polinsky (the conference goddess) took some pictures yesterday including one of me and Brian while I was giving Sue some advice about WordPress themes.

After some confusion, and a Paula Abdul sighting (!), we had a lovely diner with the BlogFather. In spite of the downpour, we enjoyed the cookout at the Hoggards‘ place in the lovely Aycock neighborhood last night, and met or caught up with a few Internet celebrities like Dave Slusher of Evil Genius Chronicles, Matt Gross (former Dean campaign blogger-in-chief), black republican Michael Bowen (a.k.a. Cobb), and Duncan Black (a.k.a. Atrios).

I’ve been trying to watch for others blogging about ConvergeSouth, a regular text search seems to work better than the convergesouth tag at Technorati.