Hurricanes, 9/11, Legacies and a Swell of Rejections
As some observers are suggesting, maybe this summer's hurricanes have jolted the public and media out of a political-spin stupor, because there's evidence that serious questioning is on the rise and blind playing-along isn't.
Today's No. 5 news story suggests that the Grand Old Party, once known for tight-fisted fiscalism, isn't buying President Bush's "let the feds pay for it" approach to a $200 billion war and a $200 billion Gulf cleanup. Promethus 6 calls it "Reconstruction III."
What will Bush's second-term legacy be? A simple BlogPulse graph comparing references to Sept. 11, 2001 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita show interesting trends: a definite spike on the four-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks but more consistent staying power for the hurricane fallout:
The Mrs. Rejection
First Lady Laura Bush is experiencing a brush-off of her own, this one from award-winning poet Sharon Olds (today's fifth-burstiest blog personality). Her letter to Mrs. Bush (today's No. 23 top news story) spells out why, on philosophical and conscientious grounds, she's declining an invitation to speak at the National Book Festival.
Authors not happy with Google
In the realm of publishing and copyrights, the Authors Guild has sued Google over its plans to make library content available (and searchable) digitally. Google's response is today's No. 2 blog post. The blog discussions are wide-ranging, including Corante's analysis of Google's reliance on its corporate blog to respond to the lawsuit.
A cell-phone milestone
I have to ask: how did they know which phone put them over the top?
Posted by Sue MacDonald at September 22, 2005 09:33 AM
