1. Kyle sends along this HUD release—yet another example of how the Bushco oligarchy seeks to subjugate the poor by providing them with so-called “largesse”:
More than 4,400 local homeless programs across America will receive $1.4 billion in grants announced today by the Department of Housing and Urban Development-the largest single commitment of federal funds designed to provide shelter and care for those without a home of their own. HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson said the funding announced today represents the largest level of support for an unprecedented number of local projects on the front lines of caring for people who might otherwise be living on the streets.
Republican bastards.
2. Intendinggardener emails me the story of one poor sap whose unbridled love of capitalism has finally come back to bite him in the ass tricep.
3. Being a Canadian, Thor the neoconleftist had no choice but to weigh in on the NHL lockout. My own thoughts on the matter:
4. Drjborg emails me this story from the Orlando Sentinnel under the subject heading “Howard Kurtz in drag” and with the legend, “A CHILL WIND IS BLOWING. THE END OF FREE SPEECH IS NEAR!” Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to read it because it requires registration. And now I’m kinda curious, but not enough so to register. Little help?
5. Sobekpundit (who incidentally is under no pressure to add me to his blogroll) sends along yet another picture from his seemingly endless supply of conservative gay porn.
6. Stephen Meyer reminds me that things could be worse for Eason Jordan. Of course, they could be better, too. Because trust me, if I’ve seen your girlfriends pudenda, I’m likely to mention it publically at some point. This being a case in point.
7. Kevin Callahan sends along this link to the Referendum on Iran: A Proposal for Bloggers. Which I support 100%.
8. Steve Graham courts the female vote:
Women marry assholes. The assholes treat them like dirt. The women get knocked up to get the assholes to pay attention to them. It doesn’t work. They get divorced. Then they need someone else to step in and raise dumb, ordinary kids full of the assholes’ DNA. So when you marry these women, you marry their kids, their idiot exes, their trashy in-laws, and their family court judges.
9. And finally, a warning: eating 2+ pounds of English toffee over the course of 3 afternoons will do things to your figure that could crush your dream of making it big in gay porn. Because contrary to popular belief, gay porn is all about the abs.
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update: please click through and visit the advertisers who keep protein wisdom from having to play the chump for so much costly giving.
Thanks so much.
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update 2: Incidentally, guess who’s number one in a Google search for “Jeff Gannon cock.”
And my parents were sure I’d never amount to anything. Ha! Take that, Dad.
Republican bitches.
You asked fir it, you got it… he Orlando Sentinal Article:
The Orlando Sentinal
COMMENTARY: KATHLEEN PARKER
Speak now, forever wish you hadn’t
Kathleen Parker
February 16, 2005
With the recent toppling of CBS’s Dan Rather and now CNN’s top news executive, Eason Jordan, I think we can declare without fear of contradiction that rigor mortis is settling over the carcass of the Fourth Estate.
At least as we once knew it.
I make this pronouncement without pleasure, and in fact, suggest that we’re really witnessing a double funeral. One is for traditional journalism as the omnipotent gatekeeper of information. As bloggers—authors of Web logs—have gleefully pointed out the past several days, everyone with access to the Internet is now a journalist.
Given the “instanaeity” of the bloggers’ electronic encampment, known as the “blogosphere”—enabling real-time posting of news and commentary—newspapers and even broadcast media have become the news cycle’s Sunday drivers.
As a longtime observer of the blog phenomenon—awed by the volcanic energy and talent that erupts by the nanosecond and flows without pause—I’m a fan. But I’m also wary of such unbridled power. For all their attractive swashbuckling and bravura, bloggers also can become a cyber-mob that acts, as mobs do, without conscience or restraint.
Thus, the other funeral is, I fear, for our freedom of speech. Not the kind we once worried would be quashed by government jackboots, but the sort that restricts the very thing bloggers represent—the freewheeling, unfettered expression of thoughts and ideas without fear of censure. Or without the life-altering, career-busting personal demolitions we’ve witnessed recently.
Except for the fact that they are both larger than life, professionally and symbolically—and except that bloggers initiated the heat that eventually brought them down—Rather and Jordan are dissimilar cases.
Rather knowingly used unsubstantiated “evidence,” known to be flawed if not faked, to try to bring down the president of the United States during an election year. After enduring a blog siege hitherto unseen or experienced by anyone of his standing, Rather announced that he would step down as the CBS Evening News anchor.
By contrast, Jordan said something stupid, even indefensible, but his comments were in much different circumstances—during an off-the-record panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. A couple of weeks later, following intense criticism, he resigned his post.
What Jordan essentially said, for those who were in orbit the past two weeks—or who rely strictly on mainstream media for information—was that the U.S. military had targeted journalists in Iraq, where some 36 journalists have been killed since 2003.
When challenged on the spot by members of the audience and other panelists, including U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, Jordan backed off. Although a transcript of the discussion has not been made available, Jordan’s subsequent explanation was that he was trying to make the point that some journalists had died not as “collateral damage,” but because of U.S. military carelessness, recklessness or some derivative thereof.
It’s still unclear what he said, precisely, but obviously, if the U.S. military were targeting journalists—or if Jordan really believed they were—then that story wouldn’t be broken at an off-the-record forum. CNN wouldn’t waste such a headline on a panel chat.
Even so, it was careless, which Jordan apparently realized the moment he was challenged. Whatever he meant, the response from bloggers was immediate and ferocious. A news tidbit of this voltage, wherein an executive of what’s arguably the world’s most powerful media entity impugns the U.S. military, is the kindling of arsonists’ dreams.
Not to mention manna to Islamist recruiters who are delighted when one of our own confirms their belief that all Americans are evil. For his contribution to our enemies, Jordan should be deeply ashamed. But should he have lost his job?
Maybe there’s more to the story; maybe his star was already in descent and this was the excuse CNN had been looking for. Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that most of us say dim things, especially in relaxed settings that are understood to be off the record, that aren’t meant for global parsing.
The fact that the mainstream media didn’t initially report Jordan’s remarks probably has more to do with this recognition than with any attempt to protect fellow journalists, as was charged after a blogger broke the story. “Off the record” means you’re allowed to say what you think with impunity and live to see your next paycheck.
Jeff Jarvis, who blogs at buzzmachine .com, told media critic Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post that “off the record” is dead. Jarvis, who also said he was after the truth, not Jordan’s head, may be right. But as we expand the boundaries of speech—inviting all comers to the virtual newsroom and reporting every utterance without contextual distinction—we may find that we no longer feel free to speak freely.
Kathleen Parker can be reached at or 407-420-5202.
Oh, please, Alphonso Jackson? HUD secretary? Sounds more like Jeff Gannon’s Real Boss (wink-wink-nudge-nudge).
I think that little mystery of how a gay republican porn star prostitute ended up flinging softballs at the prez to the shock and awe of the Real Journalists all around him (including that doyen – read dufus – of journalists, Helen whatshername) is now solved.
As far as I’m concerned anyway. But then I’m still having thoughts as it were about uncut 8” Kosher weiners which is distracting me.
Bloggers in the White House Press room?!?!? Holy Crap, what’s next, Dean as DNC Chairman… Holy Crap, wait a minute!!!
Jeff,
I see you and I have the same thoughts on the NHL.
Jeff, you mean you haven’t discovered Bugmenot yet? Great for logins and passwords for news sites.
Jeff, the really disturbing thing is that when I look back on the bulk of my blogging over the past several months, the ratio of conservative gay porn to other stuff is disturbing.
But I haven’t sent you a link to the most damning pic of all. …
Pat —
Yeah, I use a BugMeNot plug in that will fill in the registration info with a right click of the mouse, but for some reason it was giving me a log in name where an email address was called for.
Sobek —
Why did the hair on my ass (which I have shaved into a perfect ‘v’, by the way) just stand on end?
My thoughts are on the recent euthanizing of the NHL season are a little more detailed. I’m thinking: those Tampa Bay Lightning bastards get to keep the Stanley Cup for one more season. Why is no one covering this angle? Except for me! (If I may link to the least read blog in America – my own – which I don’t even read myself.)
I just reposted the biggest bombshell of them all, at the top of my site. Bloggers brought down the MSM. Is a blogger about to bring down the Blogosphere?
And I must say, I admire your hair-shaving skills. My ‘v’s always come out crooked.
I just visited all of the Protein Wisdom advertiser sites. I enjoyed them and will go back.
Hindu squats?
– So what is the “bottom” erm….line on Gannon….is he really an Origami porn star?….
– AS A CITIZEN JOURNALIST I DEMAND BLOCK GRANTS FOR GIANT ATOMIC POWERED AIR CONDITIONERS FOR EVERYONE!…THE FUTURE OF GAY BLOGGER PORN SITES DEPENDS ON IT…..
– btw…. Does Wonkette know about that BuggerMyKnot plugin? ….
I will always be proud of the fact that my own blog was once the number one google result for “Kofi Annan rapes dead horses.”
Just doing my part to make the world a better place.
BBH:
That’s.
Just.
Wrong.
(Also best of thread.)
Beck, the most troubling thing about that is not that there are actually people searching Google for “Kofi Annan rapes dead horses‗it’s that the COWARDLY MSM WON’T REPORT THIS FACT, AND THAT WE CITIZEN JOURNALISTS ARE THE ONLY PLACE PEOPLE CAN GO FOR THE TRUTH ABOUT KOFI ANNAN AND HIS UNNATURAL ACTS WITH FUTURE DOG FOOD.
Jeff, I’m sure your parents are very proud. Bemember when you brought home that ceramic penis, and they gave you that look that all parents give their little angels that says, “ He’s a dork now, but some day he’ll be a powerful blogger, writing about lesbian prison sex and ass pirates?” Your time has…come.
But then I’m still having thoughts as it were about uncut 8†Kosher weiners which is distracting me.
Umm… Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? I thought all Kosher weiners were cut after 8 days, or they weren’t Kosher.
Sharon Stone’s little fling with Eason Jordan, following his disastrous Davos tete-a-tete with non-CONSERVATIVE GAY non-PORN star Barney Frank (how’s that for combining multiple on-topic references?), has two words written all over it: sympathy f**k.