The only problem is that he's talking about only left leaning blog commenters, but the problem is happening on both sides. It was only logical that left wingers would adopt the techniques that worked so well for the right. Not right, but logical. We'll never know if Obama would have won without the Obamabots, but I think it's a safe assumption that Bush would never have won without the information that was obviously planted by Rove (such as the fake "debunking" of the National Guard story).

We've been very critical of anonymous sourcing in the media, but in a very real sense the anonymous comments on blogs are the ultimate anonymous source - anybody can say anything. We assume that the people writing comments are sincere, but it's impossible to tell if they are really who they say they are, and it's quite simple for powerful people to arrange for information to be planted in a way that is guaranteed to look like a grass roots effort. I only wish that Orwell had predicted this - it might have made us less vulnerable if somebody had written us a warning.

To police haters:

I see way too much hatred of law enforcement among progressives. I realize that some police officers abuse their position, but they are human beings just like any other group and human beings are subject to making mistakes and, sometimes, being cruel and callous. But if you are tempted to simply react to those very few who use their positions to abuse people, then think about what the world would be like without police.

We had 13 people die on a short stretch of road that I drive every day, in just 1 year. The highway patrol and local police got together and started ticketing like crazy. The last 3 years, 1 person died each year on that stretch. When our roads were closed because of ice, the local sheriff stood out in the cold and directed traffic, called tow-trucks, and didn't yell at people stupid enough to get stuck. When there is a car accident, the police show up and provide assistance. They exist to protect you and me from people who would harm us. Maybe that sounds idealistic, but I do recognize that abuses happen. But they go into inner city areas to protect innocent citizens, not to hassle people.

If you don't like the laws, then change them, but stop blaming police officers for enforcing laws that you don't agree with. It's their job, like it or not. And stop pretending that abuse by a few officers indicates a general level of corruption. I think we're all advanced enough to recognize that a few instances of crimes by black people do not indicate that all black people are criminals. Why is it so difficult to not generalize the crimes of a few cops to every cop? We recognize the tragedy of a black man being unjustly killed by a cop, and willingly condemn it. Why is it so difficult to simply condemn an equally offensive crime against a police officer?

I was so hoping not to see comparisons between the transit cop shooting and this, but it was too much. I didn't even make it off the first page of comments. What is the connection? A cop screwed up, big time. It wasn't any of these men. An idiot who couldn't get his act together decided to kill 4 men in a futile effort to not go back to jail. Doe the transit cop shooting justify his actions? Did these men deserve to die because of something someone else did?

This attitude is part of the problem. No matter how bad things are between black people and cops, there is no justification for killing men who are just trying to do their jobs. I don't know if you're black or white, but you should be attacking the man who did this. Why do you think cops overreact so badly to innocent moves by suspects? Because they are afraid of ending up like these 4 men. Any way you look at this, it's wrong, and no number of abuses by other policemen make it understandable or justifiable.

This woman died because she and her family ignored symptoms that she was injured, because they didn't know that a simple bump on the head could be life-threatening. The media have an opportunity to point that out and to educate the public about what to watch for in the case of "minor" head injuries. But that isn't controversial. It's like heart attacks - how many people know that pain in their left arm could mean a heart attack? The media don't care about educating people - they care about sensationalism.

California does NOT have home values that are in freefall anymore. We hit the crash before most of the rest of the nation, and we seem to be seeing some recovery. Not rising prices, but investors and first-time buyers are now snapping up homes in foreclosure (they were waiting on the sidelines until just a few months ago) and prices are not declining month to month. Realtors are reporting that they get multiple offers on some homes. I'm seeing construction happening again, although it's all for business and it's nothing like the mass projects that were happening just 2 years ago (thank the powers - those were ridiculous). Our unemployment is staggering (10.5%, I believe), but it is staying stable. I don't know how far recovery is, but I think we've either bottomed or come very close to it.

The housing bust didn't hit everywhere at once, and it won't end everywhere at once. The media are treating "the economy" as if it were even throughout the nation, but it isn't. Some regions are still seeing growth, while others are stable, and yet others are in major decline right now.