Is Bush trying to "heighten the contradictions"?

Another party I'm not invited to. And you aren't either: Vlogging fogey lashes out at ur-whippersnapper Ezra Klein, upon learning that Klein has created a private Townhouse-like email group where liberal bloggers and editors hash out issues before they let the public in on the discussion. ... P.S.: Yes, I have private email discussions too, and there are probably some advantages in having these talks in front of a group instead of one-on-one. (If, say, Sidney Blumenthal emails five leftish bloggers privately, all five might think they have an exclusive. If they compare notes, they won't.). But the innovative virtue of Web journalism, I've always thought, is that it makes the back and forth process of argument and investigation relatively transparent to everyone. If the Klein Klub succeeds, isn't there a threat that it will a) compromise independence, in part because participants will always worry if they are using something that should be kept private and will feel they owe the other members; b) will encourage groupthink, as everyone works out the tacit party line before presenting it to their sheeple-like readers; c) encourage propgandism (see (b)); and d) become the place where the real conversation happens, a conversation the non-elite public isn't privy to. ... P.P.S.: Who's in the Klein Klub? Have they published a list of names? The sheeple demand to know at least that! ... P.P.P.S.: Chait, I know you're in it. Who else? ... 3:55 P.M. link

___________________________

Did Lindsay Lohan really say,  "I can't get in trouble. I'm a celebrity. I can do whatever the f**k I want." It seems too ... pure. 3:19 P.M.

___________________________

Thursday, July 26, 2007

"Anchor Baby Power": From La Voz de Aztlan. "These babies are destined to transform America. ... La Voz de Aztlan believes that the number is approximately 500,000 'Anchor Babies' born every year." ... Update: Readers from all sides suggest La Voz de Aztlan is a wacky fringe site. There is, for example, this odious page. But sometimes wacky fringe sites say things that are worth bringing into the open. ... More: The non-wacky pro-border-control Center for Immigration Studies estimates there were 383,000 births to illegal-alien mothers in 2002, 
constituting 9.5 percent of all births in the country. ... 6:21 P.M.

___________________________

Conglomeration + Womanizing = Trouble! Will L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa hold up NBC-Universal's giant $3 billion development plan if it doesn't reinstate his honey at its Telemundo subsidiary? If NBC does take care of Mirthala Salinas, does that mean Villaraigosa owes the company? At last, some irresponsible bloggish speculation from the Los Angeles Times. ... P.S.: Much more irresponsible speculation here and here. ... Update: Womanizing = Traffic Congestion! Bill Bradley notes that while Villaraigosa was distracted by the Mirthala scandal, the state legislature cut $336 million in transit funds "earmarked for Los Angeles and imperiling the long-promised Expo Line to the Westside." Since the Mayor is planning a big increase in housing density in the city, lack of a rail line should make the traffic jams even more brutal than they currently are. [via LAO] ... 5:56 P.M.

___________________________

Missouri's Secretary of State is getting cute, mucking around with the wording of the proposed anti-preference Missouri Civil Rights Initiative to make it seem as unappealing as possible, John Rosenberg charges. ...Update: Press release  from the anti-preference camp. ... 5:29 P.M.

___________________________