Blogworthies XLIV

Because The Blog from the Core simply can't cover everything.

Noteworthy entries @ iowahawk, 2Slick's Forum, Froggy Ruminations, Anchor Rising, Michelle Malkin, Catholic Analysis, Hoystory.com, The Corner, Flos Carmeli, The Kerry Spot, Ales Rarus, Patterico's Pontifications, Sed Contra, JunkYardBlog, Redstate, Roger L. Simon, Flos Carmeli (again), Midwest Conservative Journal, The Remedy, In the Red Zone, Cella's Review, Dyspeptic Mutterings, and Discriminations.

Experts Tell CBS: Time to Clean Up the Blog Industry @ iowahawk (brackets and italics in original):

[Ed. note: found in a dumpster on W. 53rd Street — first draft of the latest CBSNews.com Special Report on the scourge of blogs] ....

Rumsfeld's Visit @ 2Slick's Forum (quoted ellipsis in original):

As you know, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came here for a visit yesterday. The news agencies (all of them — even Fox) have already spun the visit way out of control.

I just watched a "Fox Live" update (it's 1:36 am EDT as I type this — 9:36 am Kuwait time), and the anchor started with "what was supposed to be a friendly question and answer session turned into a tough grilling for Donald Rumsfeld..." — this is not a true statement.

I saw another report that indicated that the SECDEF "was slated to give a pep talk" but that it "devolved into a gripe session." — not true....

Secretary's Call @ Froggy Ruminations:

Much has been made of Donald Rumsfeld's "talking to" by a disgruntled National Guardsman in Kuwait yesterday. Believe me, this is nothing new. When I was at SEAL Team FOUR in Little Creek, VA the entire base was compelled to attend a CNO's (Chief of Naval Operations) Call at the base theater. We all sat in the back and settled in for an hour or so of boring speeches by high ranking Navy muckety mucks. We were wrong. After a canned speech by the CNO, he opened the floor to questions from sailors much in the same way Rumsfeld did. What happened next will forever live in my memory....

Where is the Moral Outrage? @ Anchor Rising:

I remember being in college – as a political science major – and having no idea about the political beliefs of my professors. But that is often not true today, a change for the worse that strikes at the very heart of the intellectual freedom we cherish as American citizens.

The magnitude of the problem is highlighted again in two adjoining stories in the December 3 edition of the Wall Street Journal....

The Curse of Norm Mineta @ Michelle Malkin (ellipses in original):

The man who said this...

Kroft: Are you saying, at security screening desks, that a 70-year-old white woman from Vero Beach, Florida, would receive the same level of scrutiny as a-a-a Muslim young man from Jersey City?

Mineta: Basically, I would hope so.

...is staying in the Bush administration....

Time Magazine Does the Nativity @ Catholic Analysis:

As is usual for this time of the year, the major weekly newsmagazines put out a Christmas cover on the Nativity. I, for one, am happy that they do: it is proof that the religious aspect of the season cannot be ignored, even after centuries of Western skepticism....

The danger of anonymous sources @ Hoystory.com:

The use of anonymous sources in journalism is usually discussed in college classrooms in a variety of courses, such as reporting and ethics. Once the student graduates to a real newsroom, all of the pros and cons that were the subject of debate in the classroom seem to just disappear, especially in the so-called elite media.

Today's cautionary tale for young journalists is the once-respected New York Times....

Journalistic Privilege @ The Corner:

Re: Today's [Wed. Dec. 8] syndicated column: ....

A Vow of Partial Silence @ Flos Carmeli:

.... In the Gospels, Our Lord tells us that it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but rather what comes out of him. For what comes out of him comes out of the fullness of his heart. Think of your instinctive reactions to comments made around you/about you. Is it the reaction of the saints who say, "Thank you Lord for this humiliation, for this reminder of my lowliness in the scheme of things." Or is it (as in my case) more, "Who the heck does that bozo think he is?" ....

No, Really, Go On, Senator Kennedy @ The Kerry Spot:

My buddy Cam Edwards is not a fan of the University of Virginia's oral history project involving Sen. Edward M. Kennedy....

Discovering a Season @ Ales Rarus:

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday. I get so excited that I start listening to my Christmas music at the beginning of November, much to the surprise and chagrin of some of my loved ones. This year, I've been asking myself what I've been getting excited about. Is it the celebration of Christ's birth? I wish I could say so, but the truth is that I've been enamored with the secular trappings of the season. Decorating the Christmas tree, baking cookies, singing catchy tunes, visiting relatives, watching classic movies, giving and receiving gifts (sadly, mostly the latter), playing in the snow (in those few lucky winters), and other generally faith-free activities have been Christmas' raison d'etre for me....

Erwin Chemerinsky on Filibusters: Then and Now @ Patterico's Pontifications:

Erwin Chemerinsky (together with William and Mary law professor Michael Gerhardt) has an op-ed in yesterday's L.A. Times opposing the "nuclear option" to end judicial filibusters. A review of Chemerinsky's record reveals that Chemerinsky's view of filibusters has radically changed since 1997, when Bill Clinton was President....

Participation and Authority @ Sed Contra:

I think today's readings from Isaiah and St. Luke's Gospel (verses 17-26) contains some interesting observations regarding our participation in our own salvation and the root causes of what we struggle against in the world....

Telling Fallujah's Story to the World @ JunkYardBlog:

Blood stained walls. Mosques doubling as massive weapons caches. GPS units with waypoints leading to western Syria.

When the Marines finished driving the terrorists and Saddamite dead-enders from Fallujah in mid November, they swept through the city to determine what Zarqawi and his minions had done with the place. The Marines found evidence of numerous war crimes, they found bomb factories and weapons caches and slaughterhouses used by the terrorists to hold and murder hostages.

According to an after-action PowerPoint report composed by the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force titled “Telling the Fallujah Story to the World” and dated November 20, 2004, American and Iraqi troops found a staggering array of sites, the loss of which should at least temporarily cripple the terrorists. These sites also serve as proof that far from being “insurgents” or anything noble or good, the combatants defeated in Fallujah were terrorists and enemies of humanity. All of the images linked from this post are from that Marine PowerPoint presentation. For every image linked here, there are half a dozen others depicting everything described in this post....

A glimpse inside the Senate Democratic Caucus @ Redstate:

RedState has been sent a copy of the Democratic Senate Caucus "wish list" for the next Congress's committee assignments. Very interesting reading, courtesy of the Democratic Steering Committee. All emphasis in original.

Of note: For being the supposed savior of the party, Sen. Obama got nothing significant or prominent. EPW, Foreign Relations over Judiciary, Finance? Also, Sen. Corzine was moved around a lot, even though he’s leaving in two years....

Is Lewis Carroll Alive and Secretly Working for the New York Times? @ Roger L. Simon:

This Douglas Jehl article in tomorrow morning's New York Times reads almost as if he were. There are so many anonymous sources it sounds like a parody. Here are the first few graphs: ....

The Church of Jesus Without the Cross @ Flos Carmeli:

What I write below I do in the first person for several reasons. For one, it occurs to me that it is true and I do well by saying so. For another, I suspect there may be others who have a similar problem, and yet it is presumptuous of me to include those who see no problem in my indictment of it. The Holy Spirit has been speaking through a megaphone to me recently. I guess I just need to adjust my own ear-trumpet and try to start listening....

The Adventures of Chris Johnson, Anglican Investigator @ Midwest Conservative Journal:

Chapter 1 - An Old Flame

It was hot. Brutally hot. It was the sort of steaming hot Missouri day that would make you punch a frail, sickly nun if she looked at you funny. Sweat started doing a Niagara Falls down my back when I lifted my leg from the ground to the first step to my second-floor Webster Groves office. Well, I thought, no one's coming in today....

Belief in God Underlies Self Government @ The Remedy:

America's founders devised the world's most excellent constitution, but they never imagined that their handiwork would survive without the proper understanding of its foundations and purposes. In accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Independence, they proposed to their fellow citizens a government dedicated to securing the rights of all persons. But they understood that they were not the ultimate cause of the polity's success....

Shadow of Vietnam Falls Over Press @ In the Red Zone:

The New York Times’s John Burns is a reporter without peer, and his lucid, intelligent dispatches from Iraq stand with the best journalism of the conflict. So it was disappointing to read his above-the-fold front page story in the November 29 edition, "Shadow of Vietnam Falls Over Iraqi River Raids." Although other observers have since commented on Burns’ article, it’s worth re-examining the manner in which press defeatism infects even routine news stories about the war....

Many years ago... @ Cella's Review:

... my great friend and teacher (or so I fancy) G. K. Chesterton wrote an essay of vigor and subtle prescience entitled “Babies and Distributism.” Now it was almost Chesterton’s vocation to write essays like these — that is, essays that reach out like vivid paintings from their antiquity to strike the reader with their freshness — but this one was unusual even considering its source....

When Jesuits Attack! @ Dyspeptic Mutterings:

America's favorite rogue religious order for men is still in the casuistry business, I'm happy to report....

Secession, Then And Now @ Discriminations:

In a remarkable OpEd in the Washington Post yesterday, Anne Applebaum lambasted "The Freedom Haters," by which she meant....

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sat. 12/11/04 08:00:10 AM
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