Friday blogroll


Julie Saltman on the Schiavo case:
This is not a legal debate. This is a religious one, at least for those on the parents' side. For these people, it's about God. Until the press, not to mention the religious right, can tell the difference between being religious and being ethical we're going to have lots more trouble like this."
Billmon on Joe Scarborough:
We're talking about a guy for whom becoming a hack Republican Congressman was an intellectual step up in the world. A man so dense the words on his law school diploma are written in Pig Latin. A man so stupid he feels intimidated by all the smart girls -- like Terri Schiavo.
Marshall Whitman on Tubegate:
One of conservatives' favorite novels was Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. The book marvelously provided a not so fictional account of liberalism run amok. The novel perfectly dissected the perils of an ideology that has gone off the rails.

Even a novelist with the skills of Wolfe could not have invented the political circus that is now surrounding the Schiavo tragedy. The story line of the convergence of the conservative demagogues like DeLay, Santorum and Randall Terry with the political ambulance chaser Jesse Jackson could only have been conjured up by the most fertile mind. Where is the Reverend Al when you need him?
Debbie Daniels, at RenewAmerica, still not getting it:
He's become a ONE-MAN-POSSE. When even those of his own party question him, the cowboy gets on his horse and rides alone. He's on a mission to get the job done. I'm convinced that gratitude, for some people, takes time. But the Iraqis, the Afghanis, and the Lebanese people are quite grateful to a man called George, and they don't hesitate to show it.
Josh Marshall on Tom DeLay:
When Democrats go corrupt, they betray their principles. And certainly it's happened enough times. With someone like DeLay, there are no principles to betray. It's just money and power from the git-go. And really that means just power. A cash-and-carry operation.
Heh.
1.4.05 05:44


MKEonline Blog of the Week Contest Update


You still have 5 days 16 hours and 52 minutes to vote for Heraldblog in the MKEonline Blog of the Week Contest. If you're voting for NeillOBrien.com, you have 10 days, 16 hours and 52 minutes to vote, due to the fact that his other website, which you can see here, won last week's contest. I don't think that's fair, but hey, what are you going to do? The guy's a web developing machine. He was speaking in brackets when he was two. His first word was "href".

But online blog contests are about so much more than tags and metafiles and wrappers. They are also about heart, and humor, and dedication to the craft.

Hold on a moment. Katie Couric is interviewing the woman who was fired last night on The Apprentice.

Back.

I was checking my sitecounter stats the other day, and noticed somebody reached Heraldblog after Googling "bulemia" + "terri schiavo". I thought that was kind of odd, since there are tons of great bulemia sites out there, then I realized that I spelled "bulimia" wrong in one of my posts. I spelled it "bulemia", which you have to admit looks better than "bulimia". Then it struck me, how ironic that a disease brought on by the need to "look better" would be misspelled because the misspelling "looks better."

Ha! You see, that's one more reason to vote for Heraldblog! Do you think NeillOBrien.com would ever write that last paragraph? Hell no. He'd just run a picture Tori Spelling and move on.


Hacked

It appears that LandoverBaptist and Whitehouse.org have both been hacked by creepy right wing types. Landover is now AmericanDecency.org, and Whitehouse.org is a gateway to ConservativePunk.org.

Is this somebody's idea of a trick? Maybe to FOOL somebody on this first DAY in APRIL? Hmmmmm.


Pop quiz

Name two wartime leaders in recent history who won public support by cutting taxes and introducing expensive social benefits.
A well-respected German historian has a radical new theory to explain a nagging question: Why did average Germans so heartily support the Nazis and Third Reich? Hitler, says Goetz Aly, was a "feel good dictator," a leader who not only made Germans feel important, but also made sure they were well cared-for by the state.

To do so, he gave them huge tax breaks and introduced social benefits that even today anchor the society. He also ensured that even in the last days of the war not a single German went hungry. Despite near-constant warfare, never once during his 12 years in power did Hitler raise taxes for working class people. He also -- in great contrast to World War I -- particularly pampered soldiers and their families, offering them more than double the salaries and benefits that American and British families received. As such, most Germans saw Nazism as a "warm-hearted" protector, says Aly, author of the new book "Hitler's People's State: Robbery, Racial War and National Socialism" and currently a guest lecturer at the University of Frankfurt. They were only too happy to overlook the Third Reich's unsavory, murderous side.
How do you say "prescription drug benefits" in German?

UPDATE: Heraldblog's Bavarian correspondent says it's "Leistungen für Verschreibungspflichtige Arzneimittel."
1.4.05 14:41


FCC investigating NeillOBrien.com for offshore blogging violations


It's bad enough when American manufacturers send high paying jobs overseas, denying millions of our citizens the right to earn a decent wage. But at least businesses can point to their bottom line to justify their actions.

But what excuse does NeillOBrien.com have? As hard as it might be to believe, Milwaukee's most prolific website designer is actually "outsourcing" the writing and production of his web blog to a Malaysian sweatshop, Brogging Solutions.

Now the Federal Communications Commission is investigating allegations (I wonder where they came from?) that children, some as young as eight, are working 12 hour days to come up with prose like this:
pretty much everyone i know uses text messaging to some exent - even my mom and dad! some people i know actually text message more than they talk on their cell phone. and for me, its one of my most utilized forms of communication behind talking and IM. i use it all throughout the day at work (so i dont get yelled at for being on the phone) and even when i get home and im just too lazy to call someone. i must send about 500 texts a month, which isnt too high of a number considering the way some people text, but it sure seems like a lot.
Is it any wonder Neill is pushing cell phones, considering that Malaysia is a major exporter of cell phones? And where is Neill's blog written? Connect the dots, people!

As if you need further proof, here's Neill and his blogging "connection" at a recent clandestine meeting in Kuala Lampur:



I don't know about you, but when I see the initials NOB, I'd like to think it stands for "No Offshore Blogging". Too bad Neill doesn't feel the same way.

Protect American jobs. Vote for Heraldblog in the MKEonline Blog of the Week contest. Thank you.
2.4.05 17:17


The Bad Popes



The death of John Paul II calls to mind a book I once read, The Bad Popes by Russell Camberlain. Not because John Paul II is a bad man, but for the contrast this good and holy man draws to some of the rascals who had occupied the Chair of St. Peter. For roughly 500 years, the job of Pope was open to the highest bidder, and the position was filled by successful highway robbers, homicidal maniacs, and Bill O'Reilly wannabes. There's John XII, who was probably murdered while committing adultery; Urban VI, who was responsible for the Great Schism; and Alexander VI, a great example as the father of Lucrezia and Cesare Borgia. But the worst vicar of Christ ever has to be Pope Innocent VIII (1492). He was the first Pope to actually brag about his brood of “bastards” and be forgiven by the Church for being so open and honest. It's amazing that any institution could survive such a dark period, let alone one as powerul and influential as the Roman Catholic Church. For all the disagreements I can draw with John Paul's conservative ideology, I know he was decent, and a true man of peace.
3.4.05 17:58


Race tightens for MKEonline Blog of the Week contest


With only two days left to vote for Heraldblog as the MKEonline Blog of the Week. there are signs that at least one desperate, competing blog is reaching out to its radical base for support.

NeillOBrien.com, long a stopping off point for sports addicts, slackers, and other sexual misfits, is courting the votes of swollen uvula sufferers. In a Jan. 8 post, which you can see here, blogger Neill O'Brien complained to his dozens of readers about a sore throat, which he blamed on a swollen uvula. Although no reputable doctor was able to confirm the "diagnosis", Neill continues to prey on the misfortunes of others by dishing out phony "uvula" advice to anyone willing to listen. A Google search of "swollen uvula" lists the would-be uvologist number four, and a comment thread on NeillOBrien.com has nearly 80 posts by swollen uvula sufferers, including "Blaine" from Beloit, who writes:
Uvula swollen. Feels like somebody stapled a rancid chili pepper to the back of my throat. Haven't eaten in three days. Tried your magic uvula remedy, and now I can't taste anything and there's a rash growing under my tongue. But I believe in you, man. Thank you thank you thank y...."
Speaking from Milwaukee Children's Hospital where he donates his free time reading to blind kids, Heraldblog commented "I think it's a sad day when bloggers prey upon the weak and unfortunate, just to be named MKEonline Blog of the Week."

I like to think that NOB stands for No Online Bunkum. Too bad Neill doesn't feel the same way.

Stop uvula abuse. Vote for Heraldblog. Thank you.
4.4.05 20:13


Some other blog wins MKEonline Blog of the Week


Congratulations to Brewtown Politico for denying NeillOBrien.com the opportunity to win MKEonline Blog of the Week twice in a row.


Duke CEO calls for carbon tax

The CEO of one of America's largest energy companies is calling for carbon tax to reduce global warming.
Personally, I feel the time has come to act -- to take steps as a nation to reduce the carbon intensity of our economy," Paul Anderson told several hundred Charlotte business and civil leaders at a breakfast meeting. "And it's going to take all of us to do it."

Anderson acknowledged a national carbon tax would mean bigger utility bills and higher prices at the gas pump for consumers. But unless industry leaders take the lead, he said, the long-term outcome could be even more disastrous.

"If we (the U.S. energy industry) ignore the issue, we would be the easy target," he said. "The worst scenario would be if all 50 states took separate actions and we have to comply with 50 different laws."
Naturally, George W. Bush would never let such a thing happen. Anderson knows this, so it's safe for him to line up behnid a carbon tax without being blamed some day for lining up behind a carbon tax.

Still, this is significant.


Heeeee's back

He can quit anytime. It's not a problem, really. He has it under control.

Publius is back.




Justice DeLayed, part II

Amazingly, some American corporations didn't get the memo, and are still lining up to pay for Tom DeLay's legal defense.

Tick tick tick tick tick.
8.4.05 01:00


NBC Nightly Dumbdown


The ultra super-liberal NBC Nightly News just spent all of 2-1/2 minutes explaining to millions of viewers that Republicans are on the warpath against "an out of control judiciary." There were the obligatory clips of House Minority Whip Tim DeLap blasting judges who don't do Congress' bidding, and the now famous clip of Texas Senator John Cornyn speculatin' that judicial activism is behind recent violence directed against judges.

But missing from the broadcast is the fact that the Supreme Court affirmed 202 years ago that the judiciary is not supposed to do Congress' bidding, and that judges are supposed to be independent, and act as, you know, a check against the arrogant abuse of power.

It's like doing a news story on traffic intersections without mentioning the words "stop sign." When is some enterprising reporter going to ask Tom DeLay to comment on the applicability of Marbury v. Madison to today's judiciary?


Was the Atlanta courthouse killer angry at activist judges?

So what about Brian Nichols, the man police tie to the March 11 Atlanta courthouse rampage that left four people dead? Was Nichols, as Sen. Cornyn suggests, angry about judicial abuse of power? Or was he just an violent, accused rapist who grabbed an opportunity to escape custody?

Heraldblog reports. You decide.


Where there's a will

From our Michigan correspondent, Roger O.

Living Will

I, _________________________ (fill in the blank), being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive indefinitely by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of peckerwood politicians who couldn't pass ninth-grade biology if their lives depended on it. If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day. Under no circumstances shall the members of the legislature enact a special law to keep me on life-support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma. Under no circumstances shall any politicians butt into this case. I don't care how many fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency in 2008, it is my wish that they play politics with someone else's life and leave me alone to die in peace. I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send e-mails to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own business, too. If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a political cause, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make his or her existence a living hell.

_______________________________________

Signature

_______________________________________

Witness
9.4.05 00:04


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