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A feeble attempt at linklove

So, we meet again. I'm a horrible blogger, eh? I will try not to apologize for not posting since all my posts anymore seem to be, um, apologies for not posting and/or promises to post later which are consequently ignored and/or forgotten. Anyway, I'm still alive and running around the blogosphere; here's some stuff I've noticed...

--OK, not truly a part of the blogosphere, but The Onion has quite a good satire on the whole The US Is Failing In Iraq non-debate: "Well, You try to reconstruct Iraq," says U.S. Defensive Dept. My favorite part was when the DoD spokesman said,

"Germany and France have a problem with the U.S.! Maybe we should all side with them. Look at me, I'm the American people! I worry about what the whole world says all the time! I'm gonna ask the whole world if I can go to the bathroom from now on, because the rest of the world knows so much more than America! La di da di da!"

Living here in the heathen lands of Canada, where Liberals win elections on the slogan "We won't cut your taxes but we won't raise them either" (and, incidentally, the paper said the other day that the government was going to raise electricity prices, hardly a form of progressive taxation)... it's good to know that the American people (as, um, embodied in The Onion writers... sorta scary thought, eh?) see the humour in the idiocy of the Democrat Party's stance. Oh, also today the Hamilton Spectator ran a piece by one Mr. Robert Fisk... as news, not commentary. Grr.

-- Also in the paper today it was noted that Ontario's GDP shrunk slightly during the month of August. This was attributed to the blackout, which affected southwest Ontario and (I think) Toronto. Although it's not exactly apples to apples, I can't help but compare this to the 7+% growth the USA has seen in the last quarter. Maybe it's less the blackout and more the continued deadening effects of social democracy on the work ethic?

--Instapundit linked an article somewhere on the need for debt forgiveness in Iraq and to third world countries generally. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we had to make some difficult choices during the Cold War. In order to stop the spread of communism, we had to prop up some nasty regimes, like Iraq. Now there are tons of nations saddled with the debts left them by their dictators. The US and other post-industrial nations have a responsibility to these people, whom we had to use as pawns in a larger game. Now that the USSR has collapsed and global communism is mostly gone, we owe these people the forgiveness of debts. They deserve a fresh start, at least.

--Cori Dauber, latest Volokh Co-conspirator, has an entry about the structure of newsmedia stories and how the medium does affect the message. I just want to note that I have such a different perspective now that I've not really gotten news from the conventional media (TV, radio, newspapers) for over a year. It also provides me with an easy comeback when my Canadian dorm-mates tell me how brainwashed I am by the uber-patriotic conservative forces of CNN and MSNBC -- though I usually tell them I watch Fox News all the time just to reinforce stereotypes and all that.

OK, um I wrote this a couple hours ago but apparently I forgot to hit post. Oops. Here goes.

Posted by Tim at November 1, 2003 10:58 PM | TrackBack