Ahhhhh, a balm for my battered and bruised citizen's soul. It is so good to find that bloggers like Glenn and maybe even people like me who have been inspired to write more complaints to the MSM for falling down on the job have actually had some effect.

A friend once lamented that when her students at a conservative midwestern university ignorantly used rightwing talking points to make their arguments in class, she almost never had the precise facts at hand to gently examine the premises of their assertions. (I emphasize "gently examine" because students increasingly see themselves as consumers of the educational product and in taking on that role think they can demand orthodoxy in the classroom, but that's another story....) I think of this friend when I read well-researched blogs online and make use of them in writing to the media whores, my congressmen, and others. The bloggers are doing a real public service.

And under the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" rubric, we have this from the Blog Report:

"Surge of facts"

Yesterday I told you Tony Snow went on Rush Limbaugh's show and said the Bushies are planning "a surge of facts." Well, his bosses must really love that line, because he also used it in a conference call with right-wing bloggers, and the line was the lede in a post at the Corner.... Yeah! We're not going to be able to withstand the mighty power of all those facts! Bring it on, Tony.

Hilarious!! Bring it on, indeed! Let's have the "facts" about the U.S. Attorneys scandal! Let Harriet Miers testify! And how about those "facts" hidden away in Cheney's locked vaults!

Oh, those scrappy rightwing underdogs, trying to fight the good fight and bring the Truth to our misled citizens! Not to mention those scrappy rightwing Christian underdogs who so bravely charged against the Hindu prayer reader in Congress the other day! If it weren't for people like them, the Christians in this nation would be in danger of annihilation, to be sure.

Btw, ondelette, "The Measure of a Man" is one of my favorite episodes. LLAP.

Very glad to hear it.

I never listen to music so I don't care about audiofile.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

This performance art is cracking me up. It's almost as good as today's This Modern World, which, by the way, Glenn's readers will particularly enjoy.

Oh, that god.

That's the one that is always depicted in a big-ass diaper, right?

Another must-read writer comes to Salon! Bravo!

Those capitulating Democrats are equally as culpable as this lawless administration. Sickening.

I watch Star Trek.

Those FUCKS do not watch Star Trek.

I don't know if you are a fan of the old British show, Yes, Minister, which is about the battles and maneuverings between a British MP and a civil servant, but they have a hilarious discussion of Serious Things. The episode begins with a problem regarding Euro sausages and ends with the Minister becoming Prime Minister, and in the middle there is this:

Jim Hacker: "Yes, well this is serious."

Chief Whip: "Very serious."

Sir Humphrey: "Very serious."

Jim Hacker: "What could happen if either of them became PM?"

Sir Humphrey: "Something very serious indeed."

Chief Whip: "Very serious."

Jim Hacker: "I see...."

Chief Whip: "Serious repercussions."

Sir Humphrey: "Serious repercussions."

Chief Whip: "Of the utmost seriousness."

Jim Hacker: "Yes, that is serious."

Sir Humphrey: "In fact, I would go so far as to say, that it could hardly be more serious."

Jim Hacker: "Well, I think we all agree then: this is serious."

I can think of any number of MSM and politician names to replace the speakers with.

You can hear it here: http://www.yes-minister.com/ymseas4.htm

I don't see why anyone should be able to post as anonymous, when no one will ever be able to trace their real selves.

I post at televisionwithoutpity.com sometimes, and what happens over there, especially when the discussion becomes political, is people sign up with a bunch of different "ghostnics" so that one person can pretend to be several different people and try to "win" an argument by repeating the same thing over and over using falsely different voices. Having the anonymous option here allows trolls to do that without even having to register with ghostnics!

Why make it so easy for trolls to disrupt the conversation? I simply cannot see how it is an imposition for someone to take a name and post under that name all the time. What the hell is there to hide, really? Are the Anonymice so afraid that someone might see them contradict themselves? I don't get it.

I read Glenn Greenwald every day, and I try to read the letters there--there are some great posters, and Glenn has discussions with them in the thread--but the problem has sometimes been that trolls, many of them anonymous, start flaming and everyone responds angrily to them and then you get endless streams of off-topic, nasty crapola. There is a point where you just give up.

I would think that anyone posting on the internet would have the sense to keep the overly revealing personal stuff and TMI to themselves. That rule of thumb becomes second nature after a short while, it seems to me.

"Mitt" hating the snowmen? Just crazy!

It's true, as everyone says, that this is a matter of control. Wingnuts with an authoritarian mindset just cannot have anything resembling bottom-up access, regardless of whether CNN is picking the questions or not. To them, this whole thing is a very slippery slope.

Once you become accustomed dog farts, you are no longer appalled at the much less frequent human blast-offs.

It's just, oh, ho-hum.

Dogs make you a better person. Gotta love 'em.