A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
'Change Is Coming,' McCain Says - ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 4 -- Sen. John McCain of Arizona completed a long and often improbable journey to the Republican presidential nomination Thursday night, offering himself as an "imperfect servant" who will never surrender in his fight to change Washington and the country. (READ MORE)
U.S. Spied on Iraqi Leaders, Book Says - The Bush administration has conducted an extensive spying operation on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, his staff and others in the Iraqi government, according to a new book by Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward. (READ MORE)
Experts Helping Palin Brush Up on Foreign Policy - ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 4 -- Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman is among several national security experts helping brief Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin on foreign policy issues as she prepares to hit the campaign trail while cramming for a debate with her Democratic opponent... (READ MORE)
Detroit Mayor Quits, Faces Jail Sentence After 2 Guilty Pleas - CHICAGO, Sept. 4 -- Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick (D) resigned Thursday after admitting that he lied to hide an affair with his chief of staff. After months when Kilpatrick's refusal to step aside paralyzed municipal government, City Council President Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr. prepared to take over. (READ MORE)
Pentagon Urges Extended Pause in Iraq Drawdown - Pentagon leaders have recommended to President Bush that the United States make no further troop reductions in Iraq this year, administration officials said yesterday. The plan, delivered this week, calls for extending a pause in drawdowns until late January or early February... (READ MORE)
Obama courting rural voters - YORK, Pa. Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama wooed rural and small-town voters Thursday in this Republican bastion of a town that his party usually writes off, saying the state and its blue-collar workers are the lynchpin of his electoral strategy. (READ MORE)
Zardari set to win Pakistan presidency - Asif Ali Zardari is unpopular among many Pakistanis. He has been called corrupt, arrogant, inexperienced and, most recently, mentally ill. But in the six months since his party-led coalition came to power, the widower of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has strengthened his position with shrewd maneuvers expected to culminate in his election as president on Saturday. (READ MORE)
McCain vows to end 'rancor' - St. Paul, Minn. John McCain formally claimed the Republican presidential nomination and leadership of his increasingly unified party Thursday night, telling them that they must "get back to basics" and declaring that the scars he earned in war and in Congress make him better-equipped than Democrat Barack Obama to silence "partisan rancor." (READ MORE)
The McCain Change - John McCain last night savored the triumph of securing the Republican nomination for President, though his misfortune is to win it in a year when the GOP is at its lowest ebb since the Watergate era. By historic standards, he should be a sure loser. Yet Mr. McCain remains a formidable contender: (READ MORE)
Sarah Palin's Surge - By now nearly everyone in America knows that Sarah Palin described herself at the GOP convention Wednesday night as "just your average hockey mom." She isn't average anymore, though she can still throw a hip check. After a national political debut that ranks with Barack Obama's in 2004 and Ronald Reagan's in 1964, the Alaska Governor may be the future of the Republican Party. (READ MORE)
The Thrill Is Gone - The love affair between John McCain and the elite media is over. The cause of the final estrangement was alienation of affection -- namely Mr. McCain's decision to hook up with a pro-life, moose-hunting unknown governor of Alaska named Sarah Palin. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
John Hawkins: Why Liberals Hate and Fear Conservative Women - Since Sarah Palin exploded onto the national scene a week ago, the American Left, including Obama's press team AKA the mainstream media, has engaged in a bizarre orgy of sexism, misogyny, and grotesque attacks on her family. Let's see, we've heard accusations that Sarah Palin, while she was governor this year, actually faked a pregnancy to cover up for her seventeen-year-old daughter Bristol -- no, really, liberals pushed this story for days. Then after Palin revealed that Bristol is pregnant now and therefore couldn't have been pregnant earlier in the year, the mainstream press spent a week cruelly using a 17 year-old-girl as a political pawn to get at her mother. Then there were the Left's claims that Palin had posed for nude pictures and their suggestion that her first son must have been born out of wedlock. Of course, we also can't forget the fake bikini shots. (READ MORE)
Charles Krauthammer: Incumbents for Change? - "There are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, 'Who is this man?' and 'Can we trust this man with the presidency?'" -- Fred Thompson on John McCain, Sept. 2. WASHINGTON -- This was the most effective line of the entire Republican convention: a ringing affirmation of John McCain's authenticity and a not-so-subtle indictment of Barack Obama's insubstantiality. What's left of this line of argument, however, after John McCain picks Sarah Palin for vice president? Palin is an admirable and formidable woman. She has energized the Republican base and single-handedly unified the Republican convention behind McCain. She performed spectacularly in her acceptance speech. Nonetheless, the choice of Palin remains deeply problematic. It's clear that McCain picked her because he had decided that he needed a game-changer. But why? He'd closed the gap in the polls with Obama. True, that had more to do with Obama sagging than McCain gaining. (READ MORE)
David Limbaugh: Get Back in the Kitchen, Sarah! - If I were an aspiring sexist or racist - God forbid - yet still cared what people thought about me, I'd make sure I became a conspicuous liberal. I'd also make sure my targets were conservative. That's the ticket to immunity for all kinds of outrageous conduct and statements. If you are a liberal darling, like Bill Clinton was for a decade and a half, you can exploit, abuse and sexually harass women and still be considered a champion of women's rights. When you're his equally leftist wife, you can be the commander in chief of bimbo eruptions, obliterate your husband's victims' characters, and be celebrated as a feminist icon. If you're a liberal icon like Jimmy Carter, you can refer to Barack Obama as a "black boy" without anyone batting an eye. If you're a liberal like Joe Biden, you can "praise" Obama as clean and articulate or joke about Indians and Dunkin Donuts' with barely a whisper of disapproval from the monolithically liberal mainstream media. (READ MORE)
Paul Greenberg: Sarah Who? - Old dogs can learn new tricks after all. John McCain fooled us all, again. This time the old rascal went north to Alaska for his running mate. He got the whole o-so-savvy commentariat rummaging through the Internet trying to find out just who is this Sarah Palin. Is that Sarah with the "H" or without? Pay-lin? How ya spell that? Sweetheart, get me rewrite! One thing for sure: A McCain administration -- is that the first time I've used that term? Does that mean it's becoming possible? -- could certainly be trusted to keep national security secrets. At least to judge by how complete a surprise his vice presidential pick turned out to be. And how many false leads he scattered about. Talk about camouflage. Here all these prospective veeps, properly male, were rehearsing their acceptance speeches in their minds and now . . . Sarah Who? After the first shock and delight -- Hey, it's a woman! Hey, an Alaskan! Hey and best of all, she ain't Mitt Romney! (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: Why Obama's "Community Organizer" Days Are a Joke - Rudy Giuliani had me in stitches during his red-meat keynote address at the GOP convention. I laughed out loud when Giuliani laughed out loud while noting Barack Obama's deep experience as a "community organizer." I laughed again when VP nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin cracked: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." Team Obama was not amused. (Neither were the snarky left-wingers on cable TV who are now allergic to sarcasm.) They don't get why we snicker when Obama dons his Community Organizer cape. Apparently, the jibes rendered Obama's advisers sleepless. In a crack-of-dawn e-mail to Obama's followers hours after Giuliani and Palin spoke, campaign manager David Plouffe attempted to gin up faux outrage (and, more importantly, donations) by claiming grave offense on the part of community organizers everywhere. (READ MORE)
Linda Chavez: The Unexamined Life - The biggest story to emerge from the Republican National Convention was the media's effort to destroy Gov. Sarah Palin. Members of the Fourth Estate behaved more like a Democratic fifth column this week than they did like honest reporters. Palin's stunningly effective speech Wednesday night showed they will not easily take her down -- but their malicious attacks on Gov. Palin's family prove that they will stop at nothing to achieve their aim. Since when is the private life of a 17-year-old fair game in a political campaign? Apparently only when that 17-year-old's mom is a Republican candidate. Make no mistake -- the press outed Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Reporters descended on Alaska following vile and false accusations on Internet blogs that Gov. Palin faked her own pregnancy and that her daughter was actually baby Trig's mother. These lies weren't only spread by left-wing fanatics but by journalists like Andrew Sullivan... (READ MORE)
Oliver North: Report From a Forgotten War (5th and Last in a Series) - KABUL, Afghanistan -- It is good to be heading home, where there are paved roads, no Russian landmines, and the man standing at the next intersection isn't going to blow himself to pieces trying to kill me, my family and my friends. At home, drinkable water comes out of a faucet, not just from a plastic bottle. Home is where meals come on plates -- not in brown plastic bags -- and we have air conditioning and fresh green vegetables and showers last as long as we want. At home, we go to work in coats and ties instead of body armor and helmets. At home, our vehicles don't have turrets, and if we drive after dark, we use headlights instead of night-vision goggles. At home, "overhead cover" is protection from the elements, not a defense from enemy rocket or mortar fire. In America, we take all these things for granted. (READ MORE)
Burt Prelutsky: Obama and Biden: What's Wrong With This Picture? - I’ll be the first to admit that I think Barack Obama made the perfect choice when he selected Sen. Biden to be his running mate. But, then, why wouldn’t I? After all, I’m a Republican. Frankly, although Biden’s name had been floating around for quite a while, until Obama made it official, I had worried that he’d pick Hillary Clinton. It would have been an uncomfortable fit, but not all that much more awkward than John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson or Ronald Reagan and George Bush. There are, after all, millions of female Democrats who think that Obama and the party knifed their Hillary in the back, and they may not be won back just because the convention will give her a moment in the spotlight. They just might see it as the equivalent of a philandering husband who figures all he needs to do to keep his wife from going after the community property is to send her a dozen roses. (READ MORE)
Debra J. Saunders: Sarah Palin Strikes Back - ST. PAUL -- "The Republican Party will not stand by while Gov. (Sarah) Palin is subjected to sexist attacks," Carly Fiorina, the former head of Hewlett-Packard and constant McCain booster, told a press conference at the Republican National Convention Wednesday. "I don't believe American women are going to stand for it either." Flanked by a cadre of GOP women, Fiorina observed that "every one of us" has been dismissed as "a show horse not a workhorse." Whoa, Nellie. Has there been sexism in the coverage of McCain's choice of running mate? Absolutely. Newspapers would never run stories asking whether a father can fulfill his parental and official duties as vice president. And the scrutiny of Palin's hair has been far more severe than that of Joe Biden's reputed hair plugs. That said, the Palin pile-on is the result of much more than sexism. (READ MORE)
Michael Reagan: Welcome Back, Dad - I've been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we'd never see his like again because he was one of a kind. I was wrong! Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she. And what a she! In one blockbuster of a speech, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resurrected my Dad's indomitable spirit and sent it soaring above the convention center, shooting shock waves through the cynical media's assigned spaces and electrifying the huge audience with the kind of inspiring rhetoric we haven't heard since my Dad left the scene. This was Ronald Reagan at his best: (READ MORE)
Michelle Bernard: Sarah Palin: An Everywoman Qualified by What She’s Done - The 2008 primary was definitely a time of firsts. An African-American squared off against a woman in the race for the Democratic Party nomination, and a little known Republican woman nabs the vice-presidential slot shocking the establishment and energizing the conservative base. Just as the primary was a time for firsts, the general election will be history making as no other has been. Vote Democratic and America elects an African-American president. Vote Republican and the vice president will be a woman—who likely would end up running for the top job in four or eight years. It says something about America that we will make history irrespective of who we vote for. Political barriers continue to fall in what truly is the land of opportunity. The fact that Sarah Palin is a woman was an important factor in Senator John McCain’s decision, but her story is far more compelling than her sex. (READ MORE)
James P. Lucier, Jr.: What Palin Really Did To the Oil Industry - Oil companies in Alaska are paying more money in taxes than ever before. The state's oil and gas tax revenues for its just-ended fiscal 2007 topped $10 billion. That's twice as much as fiscal 2006 and four times more than 2004. Some supporters of Barack Obama see that money coming in and say that John McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, must have done what Sen. Obama wants to do -- sock those companies with a big fat windfall profit tax. This is a deeply misleading reading of her 2007 tax reform. A few years ago, Alaska had a big problem. Despite high oil prices, the state's fiscal future was in peril because the state relies on only three aging oilfields for 80% of its oil and gas tax revenue. (READ MORE)
Kimberly A. Strassel: How Palin Beat Alaska's Establishment - If you've read the press coverage of Sarah Palin, chances are you've heard plenty about her religious views and private family matters. If you want to know what drives Gov. Palin's politics, and has intrigued America, read this. Every state has its share of crony capitalism, but Big Oil and the GOP political machine have taken that term to new heights in Alaska. The oil industry, which provides 85% of state revenues, has strived to own the government. Alaska's politicians—in particular ruling Republicans—roll in oil campaign money, lavish oil revenue on pet projects, then retire to lucrative oil jobs where they lobby for sweetheart oil deals. You can love the free market and not love this. Alaskans have long resented this dysfunction, which has led to embarrassing corruption scandals. It has also led to a uniform belief that the political class, in hock to the oil class, fails to competently oversee Alaska's vast oil and gas wealth... (READ MORE)
The Anchoress: Is Obama Afraid of Gov. Palin? - Sen. Obama does not get it: He’s hauling out the women (including Clinton) to counter Palin. He doesn’t get the fact that Palin’s gender is secondary or even tertiary to why she has the GOP energized out of its collective mind. It’s what she IS, and what she DOES and what she BELIEVES and what she SAYS, and how she doesn’t just talk it, she WALKS it. Hiding behind 1000 women standing behind you and saying you’re great (while ripping her apart) cannot counterbalance that. It will preach to the choir, and the media will sing along, but that’s all. The Dems really are working off of an outdated template. They do not, in the least, understand modern conservative women. Refusing to engage Palin, except through these women, which seems to be the plan is a bit cowardly, don’t you think? It suggests that even if he’s not afraid of Palin, per se, he is afraid of her femininity. (READ MORE)
Ace: Barracuda Bite: Mass Cancellations of Subscriptions to Obama Celebrity Magazine Us Weekly And Andrew Sullivan Finds Palin's Private Life "Colorful, to Say the Least" - Sarah Palin: Chickens Us Magazine: Roost Jann Wenner, a no-talent ass-clown best known for running bong ads in a magazine featuring interviews with barely coherent sub-morons finds his second-rate People magazine (think on that) in even more trouble. “‘I’m hearing it’s 5,000, maybe more,’ says one well-placed source in the industry. Another source claimed that as many as 10,000 readers have already cancelled their subscriptions. A spokesperson for Wenner Media, which publishes Us, says ‘it is completely false that we are losing 10,000 subscribers.’ As for the 5,000 estimate, the spokesperson only said ‘that is false, too,’ but wouldn’t comment further.” The magazine was mailed out Monday, and will not be received by many until Friday or Saturday. So many of these cancellations come from those who haven't even received the magazines yet. They know what the story is. (READ MORE)
Dafydd: McCain's Thing: Much Better Than I Expected (Updated) - I surprised myself by how much I liked the speech. Part of my satisfaction was actually relief; "prompter" speeches are not John S. McCain's forte. But I found it more Reaganesque than any speech I've heard him give... in fact, more than any speech I've heard anybody give since Reagan himself. I particularly appreciated the retelling of his POW history, but this time with a completely different theme: How his long captivity changed him from a narcissistic, jerky nasal radiator into a real mensch, a grownup, a man of humility and recognition of a cause larger than himself, and therefore a man of sagacity. I'd heard the "McCain as war hero" meme many times in this campaign, but this is the first time I've seen this version. I liked it; it finally connects in a visceral way to the growth of his character (which, as I pointed out in a previous post, grew even more in just the last few years). (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Not Anyone Senator Obama - Senator Barack Obama opposed the surge in Iraq and he said that it would not work and, in fact, have the opposite effect. It is correct that, Obama did not believe that additional warriors would be successful. He had to believe this because his entire claim to having Commander in Chief credentials involves his opposition to the war and the surge that has been so effective. Barack Obama would not admit that he was wrong and failed to call the surge successful. He said that he has always said (and let him be clear) that there is no doubt that our troops would be successful but that Iraq had not met the benchmarks set forth for the country by our Congress in order to guarantee failure. Iraq has met nearly all the goals and has a higher success rate in passing through the measures than the do nothing Congress of the last year. Obama was interviewed by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News and he said that the surge was more successful than ANYONE could imagine: (READ MORE)
The Belmont Club: Both sides now - Word or tag cloud software has been used to visually represent a frequency count of terms in a given piece of text, providing a clue to the importance of certain ideas. Font sizes indicate the weight or emphasis on certain words. The word clouds of Sarah Palin and John McCain’s speeches at the convention make an interesting study in contrasts. Palin’s address is stocked with what I would call action or power words like ‘energy’, ‘oil’ and ‘reform’. She also uses the name of John McCain frequently. McCain by contrast hardly ever mentions himself in the third person. Remarkably, his speech has a lot of softer words such as ‘jobs’, ‘children’, ‘health’, ‘peace’. It is almost as if he had turned down the volume of political discourse to strike a conciliatory note. But both speeches also share common themes. One obvious pattern is a repetitive emphasis on the themes of ‘country’ and ‘America’, which are also the motifs of the campaign. (READ MORE)
The Captain's Journal: Defense Analysts Echo The Captain’s Journal Concerning Kajaki Dam - In The British Approach to Counterinsurgency (and in the associated comments), The Captain’s Journal made it clear that while the British had good reason to celebrate the passage of a hydroelectric turbine to the Kajaki dam in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, unfortunately it had to pass through some foreboding terrain, area owned by the Taliban. This is a pointer to larger problems. Indeed, 200 Taliban had to be killed on the way to the dam. This should cause the celebratory mood to pause long enough to consider how the dam, its transmission lines, its operators and the electrical grid in the towns are to be protected. We linked previous articles in which we had discussed these same issues regarding infrastructure in Iraq. In one such instance, al Qaeda interfered with an irrigation canal simply by shoveling dirt into it. (READ MORE)
Bill West: Al-Arian Released On Bail - Sami Al-Arian, convicted of supporting the terrorist organization Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), who has served a 57-month federal prison sentence for that offense is now under what is believed to be a final removal order (deportation order) requiring his departure from the United States. That removal order stems from his felony conviction relating to the support of a foreign terrorist organization. That support included assisting an alien relative who was a PIJ operative with immigration matters. Al-Arian continues to face federal criminal contempt charges in the Eastern District of Virginia due to his refusal to testify before a federal grand jury investigating northern Virginia Islamic organizations with whom he and his Tampa, Florida PIJ-affiliated front groups were associated and did business. As reported by various media outlets, including the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Al-Arian was just released from the custody of immigration authorities... (READ MORE)
The D-Ring: Leaving the D-Ring. Again. - Two years ago, on the blog that preceeded The D-Ring, I announced that I was leaving the Pentagon to join a top-notch group of digital strategists at Edelman. Today, I’m writing for two reasons. First, I have left my job at Edelman for a media relations position at BAE Systems. It was a very difficult decision to leave a company I loved so much, but it was the right one for me at this time. I’m sad to leave behind some of the most creative, talented and good people I’ve ever worked with. Second, I’m going to be suspending my writing at the D-Ring Blog. (Not that I’ve been writing much here lately anyhow.) I want to settle into my new job and from there, I will decide whether or not I can continue to write about the military and new media as a member of the defense community, rather than a public relations outsider who is looking in. (READ MORE)
Don Surber: No. 1 - Rasmussen Poll: Republican Gov. Sarah Palin is the most popular politician in America. Technically, the survey was only among the 4 people on the presidential tickets. But with President Bush’s approval numbers still in the tank and 74% of Americans absolutely hating Congress, it is safe to say that she is the most popular. The Rasmussen Poll. Fresh face? Not really. Good speech? It electrified the Republicans, which was what it was supposed to do. But no, that’s not it. Pummeled by the press because her daughter got knocked up? Bingo. When 51% say reporters are trying to hurt someone, that someone has a lot of sympathy. She is a victim, in the public’s eyes. For now. This changes. People are forming opinions fast and they will hold onto them even faster. First impressions matter. Hers is of one tough lady, who hunts and wears heels. (READ MORE)
Ed Morrissey: Oprah afraid of Palin? - Perhaps the Carney meme of Sarah Palin being afraid of the media is a case of projection. Drudge reports that Oprah Winfrey will not invite the first woman on a Republican ticket to be a guest on her show. Why? She’s apparently afraid of the damage it will do … to Barack Obama: “‘Half of her staff really wants Sarah Palin on,’ an insider explains. ‘Oprah’s website is getting tons of requests to put her on, but Oprah and a couple of her top people are adamantly against it because of Obama.’ One executive close to Winfrey is warning any Palin ban could ignite a dramatic backlash!” One might assume that, given Winfrey’s demographics. The largest part of her audience is white females over 55 years of age. Almost four times as many women watch as men, although she does get about 1.7 million men a day to view her show. How will that audience react to a freeze-out of Palin? (READ MORE)
Greyhawk: Republicans and War - I know many Republicans dislike South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Maybe that explains the tepid response he's getting at the Republican National Convention. Or maybe it's what he's talking about: Iraq - and American troops in Iraq. As the cameras span the crowd through obvious applause lines I'm hearing polite smatterings thereof, and seeing folks chatting on cell phones or amongst themselves. Waiting for the main event, no doubt. They did perk up and cheer a bit more when he mentioned John McCain or Sarah Palin, but when he spoke of "winning" in Iraq or the fact that the words "winning" or "victory" could be used without fear at the Republican Convention - not so much. That may be because many Republicans know very little about Iraq - certainly less than the average Democrat. I'd add that Republicans who do know what's going on in Iraq aren't afraid to talk about it and are pretty much fair in their assessment of the pros and cons and ups and downs, they're aware of every two steps forward and every one step back. (READ MORE)
ROFASix: Biden's "Vast Foreign Policy Experience" - Yesterday, I looked at the candidate's legislative experience. I wondered this morning whether I would do any better with looking at this nebulous thing the media calls "vast foreign policy experience of Senator Joe Biden"? We have been told that Biden was added to the Democratic ticket to "fix" Senator Obama’s perceived lack of foreign policy gravitas. One needs to look hard at Biden’s “experience” in foreign policy; because it is likely, he will wield disproportionate influence on a new Obama administration – at least until the new President gets his “Presidential sea-legs.” I keep waiting for someone, anyone, to ask what is "foreign policy experience and how does a Senator get it?" How did Biden get it? Is it sponsorship of legislation with foreign policy implications - something Biden has done much more of than has Obama? Is it the number of days and nights spend in foreign countries, hours in discussions with foreign leaders: (READ MORE)
ShrinkWrapped: Who Is Sarah Palin? - Last night I sat with my wife and two younger sons and watched Sarah Palin's speech. I generally avoid watching the conventions but like so many was curious about seeing how Sarah Palin would introduce herself to the American people. I did not expect to watch the whole speech but by midway through all of us were impressed and by the end the consensus was that she had hit a home run. This morning, perusing the news sites and the blogs it is clear that my family's reaction was near universal. Even the attempts at criticism from the Democratic side of the partisan divide unintentionally reinforced how remarkable her performance was. The Obama campaign's rather limp attack on the speech further confirmed that America has a new political star. There is certainly plenty of time for Sarah Palin to fall flat, though I would be surprised if she does not acquit herself well in the debate and on the campaign trail, but for now there is little question that she is a genuine phenomenon and represents a real and future threat to the Democratic party. (READ MORE)
Cassandra: Palin vs. The Gatekeepers - In early February of 2004 I embarked upon a journey of sorts. More than four years and interminable caffeine-laced mornings later here I am, still pounding away at the keyboard. I never dreamed in those early days at ScrappleFace that I would ever find myself blogging. For this final humiliation, I blame two people: Joatmoaf and a certain Colorado Cat who kept after me relentlessly. I can still hear her saying "You're not an echo - you're a voice. You have something to say and there are people who desperately need to hear it." What can I say? It was better than running for public office. In the years that followed I was beset with my share of doubts and shadows. But also, I was enveloped by friends who lifted me up when I wondered whether I was on the right path? Blogging is nothing if not a cooperative and interactive venture; a uniquely symbiotic relationship in which writer and reader each take sustenance from the other. (READ MORE)
Jay Tea: The Most Frightening Type Of Change - While listening to the criticism of Sarah Palin, I've paid attention to the things she is criticized for -- and, in some way, even more closely to the things that are not brought up. And that, often, says more about the critics than what they do say. To me, one of Palin's most powerful credentials is how she has handled corruption within Alaskan government. After losing the race for Lieutenant Governor, she was offered a "consolation prize" as chair of the Alaska Oil And Gas Commission, as well as its Ethic Supervisor. That was, apparently, meant to mollify her and keep her out of trouble. The problem was, she actually took it seriously. So seriously, she led an investigation into the chairman of the Alaskan Republican Party that ultimately cost him $12,000 in fines for conducting party business on the state dime. She also forced the resignation of the state's Republican attorney general. (READ MORE)
Have an interesting post or know of a "must read?" Then send a trackback here and let us all know about it. Or you can send me an email with a link to the post and I'll update the Recon.
No comments:
Post a Comment