It Was Bound to Happen: Blog Satire

It's obvious that blogging has gone mainstream when The Onion -- that publication and web site of no-bounds satire -- takes on the blog phenomenon. And this one's a doozy, coming out of nowhere to No. 3 on Wednesday's "top links" list on BlogPulse. Stop for a moment and think what an unedited, unsupersived George W. Bush blog would be like. Leave it to the Onion folks to do it justice.

Thursday's BlogPulse results show that there IS one candidate who can blow both Bush and contender John Kerry out of the water -- or at least a few notches down the list of most-discussed personalities: namely, Harry Potter, who jumps to the No. 1 spot among key people. The reason? Movie execs just announced that actor Ralph Fiennes and actress Miranda Richardson will appear in the next Harry Potter movie as Lord Voldemort and journalist Rita Skeeter, respectively.

Speaking of blowing Bush out of the water, the Ron Reagan (Jr.) article in September's Esquire, titled "The Case Against George W. Bush," is making the rounds, with links in blogs and by e-mail pass-around. Can't help but make one compare the eloquence of the son of one former President with the eloquence (ahem) of another.

And Rep. Sen. John McCain has taken on the the Bush White House for not disallowing the attacks against Sen. Kerry by Vietnam swift-boat veterans. The ads are, in his words, "dishonest and dishonorable."

Somewhat curiously, one of the most popular links this first week in August has been a blog written by a survivor of sexual abuse, and it's popularized the mantra, "No Pity. No Shame. No Silence." It received so many comments, in fact, that its author had to turn them off.

TREND GRAPH OF THE DAY: With continuing military engagements in Iraq, the issue of a military draft has resurfaced. Track discussion of draft possiblities vs. a volunteer army here.