Bikers to the Rescue; Re-Classifying Documents
When mean-spirited, anti-gay protesters show up at the military funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, who you gonna call? The Patriot Guard Riders, that's who, and they're the subject of today's second-most-shared link among bloggers. As one of the group's cycle-ridin' leaders (and burstiest blog person) Don Woodrick explains eloquently: “The most important thing we can do is let families know that the nation cares. When a total stranger gets on a motorcycle in the middle of winter and drives 300 miles to hold a flag, that makes a powerful statement."
The bikers are showing up, sometimes thousands strong, to drown out protesters and shield families from protesters organized by Fred Phelps, a so-called minister at a Kansas church who organizes tasteless protests at military funerals. Good for them! says one blogger of the bikers' efforts. Another LiveJournaler calls the guys on wheels "patriotism at its finest."
Re-classifying once-public documents
When does a public document become secret again? And who decides? That's the discussion taking place, based on a New York Times story detailing a massive re-classification of once-public documents at the National Archives by government intelligence agencies (today's top news story). ChangeLog puts the effort in the same category as 1984. "This is not how democracy works," insists Shakespeare's Sister. Norwegianity chalks it up to more scary tactics from "Republican Bizarro World." It took a few pages of blog comments to find one (Discarded Lies) that called the move much ado about nothing.
Dead parrot, anyone?
Find out why I can't contain my excitement at the BlogPulse Spotlight blog.
Posted by Sue MacDonald at February 22, 2006 11:35 AM
