Pajamas Media

Clayton Cramer has a post with a long quote about Pajamas Media, which was recently launched.

I Guess It Was Inevitable

Blogging is turning into a full-time business for some: In a dramatic sign that Web logs are going mainstream, three of the largest political blogs are banding together to form what is believed to be a first-of-its kind ad-supported network.

To broaden their appeal beyond national security issues, the three - ArmedLiberal.com, RogerLSimon.com, and LittleGreenFootballs.com - will receive editorial advice from the owner of one of the most heavily trafficked blogs, Instapundit.com's Glenn Reynolds, among others.

The venture will be called Pajamas Media, a not-so-subtle reference to the September remarks of a CNN executive, Jonathan Klein, who said a typical blogger has "no checks and balances" and is just "a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas."

Marc Cooper at his best: slamming the SF Chronicle's book review

Marc Cooper is a gentile sort of leftist. He is not a Soviet-style communist or a Maoist, either. He has a "review" (slam) of a book review in the San Francisco Chronicle.

SF Chron Goes Maoist!

Completely by accident, I caught a really bizarre San Francisco Chronicle book review Sunday night of the new memoir just written by none other than Chairman Bob Avakian, leader of the glorious Revolutionary Communist Party (which last time anybody checked had at least 4 or 5 dozen members nationwide).

Now, Chairman Bob, 62 years old – and who has lived a great chunk of his life in “exile” in France -- has the perfect right to scratch out a book and the Chron has the same right to review it.

That, in turn, gives me the right to say: what a spectacularly stupid and fawning review for someone who is little more than the self-appointed Dear Leader of a claque of Stalin-worshipping cranks.

Clayton Cramer on the Italian tragedy in Iraq

Clayton Cramer has a short post with good links about the scenario that resulted in the death of the Italian intelligence agent:

Patterico's Pontifications has a devastating example of how the Los Angeles Times took a Reuters news story about the death of the Italian intelligence agent in Iraq a couple of months ago, and edited out very important parts of the story that suggest that U.S. forces responded appropriately, considering the circumstances. This was still a tragedy, but hardly the bloodthirsty event that the left wants to believe. Now, it turns out that Professor Volokh has taken that same information, and done a better job of presenting it as a two column comparison--the Reuters news story in one column, and the Los Angeles Times version in the other. Well worth reading, so that you can see the way in which the left uses its control of most major newspapers to twist the facts to suit their needs.

Michael Barone on the Democrats in the present political landscape

Thanks to Powerline for pointing out Michael Barone's column on RealClearPolitics.com. Michael points out:

While trying to understand the flow of events, it's a good idea to keep in mind the basic fundamentals that tend to guide the players and point to different outcomes.

The first is that the 2004 election reshaped the electorate. Total turnout was up 16 percent, an extraordinary amount, matched in magnitude only four times over the last 108 years. John Kerry's vote total was 16 percent higher than Al Gore's, while George W. Bush's vote total was up a huge 23 percent from four years before.

The NEP exit poll showed voters with a party identification of 37 percent Republican and 37 percent Democratic, the first time Republicans have equaled Democrats since random sample was invented in 1935. No American under age 80 has ever seen such a Republican electorate.

His closing point is:

How this issue will play out in Congress is unclear. But do Democrats want to face this reshaped electorate with our reconfigured media with no other message but obstructionism?

RealClearPolitics.com has become the "goto place" for US politics. At one time, in the now distant past, it was CNN, but that is no longer true.

My wife is watching a "Mystery Woman" movie

I asked my wife what she was watching, and she told me it as "Mystery Woman". It seemed to me that the stars were Sarah Michelle Geller and Lawrence Fishburne. OK, I was wrong. It is actually Kellie Martin and Clarence Williams III. I don't spend time watching much television, but what I saw looked interesting. It seemed like a non-predictable plot with substantial characters.

Despicable leftists

Ed Morrissey writes about a Michelle Malkin story: Italians leaked information that endangers US soldiers in Iraq:

In other words, its release likely will mean that Iraqi insurgents can now tailor their attacks to the American strategies for defense at our checkpoints, which will not only result in more Americans getting killed, but also more innocent people as a result of even further confusion as rules of engagement have to be changed. Idiots like Kevin Drum might find this a cause for celebration, but anyone with a brain should understand why this information was redacted in the first place -- and why it should have remained so.

Is Grover Norquist now a Muslim?

Razib, at Gene Expression, says that rumour has it that Grover Norquist is now a Muslim. In April, he married a 32-year old Palestinian woman, and he has been a lobbyist for a Muslim organization. Razib says:

Norquist and dissimulation?

I don't talk much about political stuff...but this is weird enough to pique my interest. Of late there is some talk that Grover Norquist is now a Muslim.

Here is an entry at Daniel Pipes' site that sums up the situation: Norquist married a 32 year old Palestinian American Muslim in early April. He has also reportedly avoided answering whether he himself is planning on converting (according to most accepted forms of Islamic law a non-Muslim man may not marry a Muslim woman).

Grover Norquist is a friend of Hugh Hewitt's, although Grover has been doing some disquieting things over the last few years.

New York City politics are almost as entertaining as politics in Canada

I have long been a fan of New York City politics. They have always had a colorful cast of characters. Freddy (Fernando) Ferrer is one of the best. Freddy is making another run for mayor. The problem is, he can't keep his mouth shut (and aren't we there egging him on?). The MY Post says:

Chief media consultant David Axelrod and Chad Clanton, Ferrer's director of communications, resigned because Ferrer has refused to apologize for controversial — and politically damaging — comments he made about police shooting victim Amadou Diallo, according to some insiders.

I probably agree with what he said:

The sudden departure of the senior campaign staffers comes just two days after a poll showed Ferrer had fallen behind Mayor Bloomberg for the first time, losing 20 points since he said in early March that the Diallo shooting was not a "crime."

I only say that, because if you are in a warzone, you have to be quick on the trigger to survive. The Post says, as well:

Bloomberg spokesman Ed Skyler said last night on NY1, "Ultimately, good consultants can't cover for a bad candidate."

Ed Morrissey has a review of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and recommends it

I had wondered how a new movie about the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would be. Fortunately, it was done in Britain, so we probably needn't have worried. Ed Morrissey has a review.

Movie Review: Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy

Last night, I went to a film opening for the first time in years to see the new version of Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. The books have long been a favorite of mine; I've read and re-read the five-book trilogy enough times that the characters are easily recalled from memory, as well as my own personal characterizations of them. Unlike most books, however, a film version of HGG would necessarily mean making a more coherent narrative in order to be successfuly -- so I went to the cinema knowing that the film would take certain license with the original material.

I was not disappointed.

Cruel Quotes

Charles Johnson reproduces a piece by R. Emmett Tyrell about the dangers of quoting.

This is the conclusion of that piece:

Alas, I committed an egregious journalistic excess. I quoted the writers who a year before had insisted on Mr. Clinton’s near virginal condition and on the “dishonesty” of those of us arguing otherwise. “Dishonesty” was the word Michael Kinsley leveled at us. Joe Klein, now of Time, was equally critical. And after my Journal piece appeared he told me to my face I had dealt him “a low blow.” My innocent response was something to the effect, “But Joe, all I did was quote you.”

Today I realize how treacherous it is for writers to remind others of their prior timorousness or imbecility. Mr. Kinsley explained how unfair it is sometime ago when he noted liberals were having their foolish statements thrown back at them because of the advent of so many Internet search machines making it easy to retrieve a public person’s errors.