The Help-Yourself Internet

The Internet opened communications and commerce in ways that its founders (Al excluded) never intended, and now it's taking on the features of a self-help movement. Evidence, please?

Roll your own....
First, there's a new web site called Rollyo (today's 10th most-shared URL), in which users create customized search engines, based on Yahoo! Search. Blogger Susan Mernit likes the idea and speculates about its ability to catch on; Rollyo's already being noticed in Germany and Korea.

Pixels for sale
Secondly, the Million Dollar Home Page (40th top link) is the invention of an entrepreneurial 21-year-old college student who's selling real estate on his web site for $1 a pixel; he's already sold 205,000 and covered his college costs. AdJab offers some insight on the idea that's catching on.

News in context
Bloggers are still lit up over the indictment of Sen. Majority Leader Tom DeLay (more blogged-about than Harry Potter!), the lightning-swift swearing-in of Chief Justice John G. Roberts, the Middle East tour by Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes, the political motivations of Texas DA Ronnie Earle, and the did-he-REALLY-say-that comments of former drug/education Czar William Bennett, but a tempered look at hot issues puts things in perspective, doesn't it?...

Strange Juxaposition: Indicted DeLay and Giant Squid

If the blogging world is a mirror into the world of news, it's impossible to ignore the obvious: a giant, 25-foot squid discovered in Japan, and the indictment of Sen. Majority Leader Tom Delay. Those two stories dominate the blogosphere today.

First, the giant sea creature
Among today's top links, 10 of the top 40 refer to the giant squid discovered by Japanese scientist Tsunemi Kubodera (today's second burstiest person). Loaded Mouth blogger is amazed...and suspiciously hungry.

Secondly, the out-of-power senator
In addition, 8 of today's top 40 links mention the Texas indictment of DeLay (today's most-shared news story) for allegedly funneling corporate contributions, in violation of state campaign finance laws, to Republican Party candidates and organizations. Reaction ranges from protectionary to, well, overjoyed. Travis County DA Ronnie Earle, the indict-er, is today's burstiest person.

Oh, lordy...
Couldn't help but notice this British study of the effect of religion on socieities, which popped into blogger consciousness on Wednesday. It didn't take long for astute readers to question the science behind the "research." Speaking of religion, remember Ashley Smith, the Atlanta woman who said she gave a killer on the run a taste of her religious faith to convince him to surrender to police? That's not all she gave him, according to her recently published book (today's No. 13 top blog post).

Viral, And We Don't Mean Influenza

Virality. To most folks, it means a contagious disease, but in Internet/marketing circles, it means the propensity of an idea to spread (like viruses are wont to do) from person to person until they gain credibility and traction and create "buzz." Author and marketer Seth Godin is today's No. 4 most popular blog post today for his description of what makes an idea viral. It's being discussed by a variety of bloggers. Virality's also evident in other ways today, too.

Serenity takes flight
There's buzz adrift about the movie Serenity, for example, a movie based on the niche-popular-but-cancelled "Firefly" TV series (today's No. 7 most-shared link).

Freebies, too
And for bloggers who love to read those New York Times columnists but can't cough up the $49.95 for the new Times Select pay-to-read program, bloggers are already cutting-pasting columns found elsewhere (for free) for others to share, spurring a discussion led by (Never Pay Retail, today's 37th top link). As the blog's author John Tabin is says: ""The right to run your business into the ground is inalienable... I created Never Pay Retail to mock the Times's cluelessness, not to correct for it." (As a longtime print subscriber, am I old-fashioned for paying for what I consume?)

Issues That Refuse to Die: Dead Soldiers, Katrina Coverage, Killer Dolphins

Never let it be said that the blogosphere is where old news stories go to die. If anything, certain issues are hashed (and rehashed) by bloggers for reasons with varying degrees of clarity and motivation.

For example, Cindy Sheehan (today's No. 3 personality) and Pat Tillman's family have one thing in common: they're both back in the news because they refuse to let the memories of their soldier sons be obscured by politics, lies and unanswered questions. Sheehan was arrested Monday during a peaceful Code Pink protest in front of the White House, and Tillman's family is pressing for a new inquiry into the friendly-fire death of their former NFL son-turned soldier (today's No. 14 top link). The Cunning Realist calls the Tillman saga "Anatomy of a Disgrace."

Now under scrutiny: media coverage
Attention has shifted from recovery efforts to media coverage of the days following Hurricane Katrina, as evidenced by Jeff Jarvis' blast of media obsession with minutiae while overlooking the big picture, and Power Line's call for an investigation of media coverage (today's No. 6 top blog post), especially coverage of what went on -- or didn't go on -- inside the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center (todays' No. 2 link). Maybe it was dueling incompetence: a media that doesn't fact-check vs. a FEMA gang that doesn't watch TV or else they'd have known tens of thousands of people were stranded. Also, today's No. 26 top blog post provides a link to the new 88-pageHandbook for Bloggers and Cyberdissidents from Reporters Without Borders. Screenshots offers some perspective on global blogging.

Killer dolphins?
Speaking of things that may (or may not) have happened, today's top news story nonetheless comes from The Observer, complete with unconfirmed reports that U.S. Navy-trained, armed-and-dangerous dolphins may be on the loose in the Gulf of Mexico waters....where's Flipper when you need him?

War Protests: (Way) Different Opinions

Was Saturday's anti-war protest in Washington D.C. a gathering of tens of thousands of like-minded Americans (today's third most-shared news story) or a gathering of moonbats (today's top blog post)? Depends on who's opining about the event.

The pro/anti-war graphical trend
BlogPulse's trend graph finds a definite uptick in anti-war sentiment, judging by a search that posed phrases such as "against the war" or "out of Iraq" with phrases such as "complete the mission," "support the war" and "stay in Iraq." To wit:



Reviews and assessments of the anti-war march varied incredibly widely, such as those from Political Teen, Reflections of a Libertarian Republican, The Jawa Report and Juan Cole's Informed Comment.

Let the crony search begin...
Also floating out there today in the blogosphere is this question from Time magazine (today's ninth most-popular link): how many more Mike Browns are out there? How many more political/campaign appointees now run departments/agencies for which they have absolutely no professional experience? Reaction ranges from "what do you expect" at Think Progress while War and Piece points toward the FDA for starters. (Prediction: Paul Krugman's "Find The Brownie" column in today's New York Times (even as a Times Select offering) will be shared actively among bloggers later this week).

Celebs...dead and alive
If it's celebrity weddings and corpse-oriented movies you like, check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight for entertaining blog news.

Blog of the Week: Protein Wisdom

Oh, the blogging world is full of fun stuff today, including The National Enquirer, of all things, earning a rank for the most-shared link (is he?) and Phil Donahue rising from to TV-host obscurity to the day's burstiest person for his tete-a-tete with Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

But it's Friday, and time for another Blog of the Week profile, and today, we find out about the blogger at Protein Wisdom, BlogPulse's 46th top-ranked blog (BlogPulse profile). Protein Wisdom's tagline: "because not just anybody can summarize the news."

Q. Basic biographical info:
A. Jeff Goldstein, Denver, CO. Fiction writer/teacher.

Q. When and how did you get interested in blogging?
A. Shortly after 9/11, I started looking around on the net for supplementary information on al-Qaeda, Islamism, "blowback," Afghanistan, etc. It was then I stumbled upon blogs - Instapundit, Matt Welch, Andrew Sullivan, a few others - and immediately got drawn in. I guess when you're hungry for information, sites that update frequently are a powerful draw.

Anyway, after reading blogs for a couple months - and tired of shouting at the pundits on TV - I decided I'd join the online conversations I'd been reading. Plus, I have an almost compulsive urge to type the words "Kos" and "Atrios." So I figured, why not?

Q. In 25 words or less, describe the philosophy or tone of Protein Wisdom.
A. Imagine Sean Hannity on acid. Now replace Sean Hannity with a dolphin in a
pea coat. And there you are.

Q. Where did the name Protein Wisdom come from?
A. "Protein wisdom" comes from a line I wrote in a piece of fiction. In its original context, it had to do with a very vivid drug trip. Not sure how accurate the description is, though. I shy away from that kinda stuff.

Q. What other blogs do you read regularly and why?
A. Who has time to read blogs? I sure don't. It's all I can do to get one written. Although I do end up reading many in a given day thanks to reader tips and links that fill up my inbox.

Q. Five years from now, where you do see the blogging phenomenon headed?
A. Insofar as blogging has democratized "publishing" and the dissemination of information, I think it's a good thing - though it has, to a certain inarguable degree, coarsened political discourse. Which, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing, necessarily. But none of that matters, really, because five years from now, I expect the world will be run by our nanobot overlords - with information beamed directly into our heads by the evil little bastards. And if I know nanobots, we'll all be thinking about nanochicks. Like, constantly.

Q. What do you like to do in your spare time? (hobbies/interests/quirks, etc.).
A. I don't have much spare time - I take care of my son pretty much full time these days - but at the end of the day, I tend to watch a movie and drink a glass of Guinness. I'm a big movie buff - particularly 70s cinema. I'm also a big reader, though again, since my son was born, I haven't had time to read much fiction. I have a stack of books sitting on my nightstand collecting dust that I hope to get to soon. As far as quirks go, well, I like to talk to apples and my pants. Does that count?

Q. Fill in the blank: The last new CD that I purchased was:
A. Johnny Cash: American IV: The Man Comes Around; Kris Kristofferson: Greatest Hits Box Set.

Q. Is Protein Wisdom your only blog, or do you have others that you'd care to talk about?
A. This is it for now, though there are plans in the works to open up a protein wisdom "community site" as soon as I can figure out how to do it from a software and hosting perspective. Mostly it will a discussion space and a portal for a few other bloggers to cross-post material and, when they have time, put up original material.

It's tentatively called "The PW Pub" - which is where classical liberals and conservatives hang out; Internet progressives hang out in places called "Cafes."

Q. Is there anything I didn't ask that I should have?
A. I've always wanted someone to ask ME how many licks it takes to get to center of a Tootsie Pop. Because the answer is 19.
19.
And people have the right to know the TRUTH.

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?

Wikipedia Use Rises Dramatically Among Bloggers

A BlogPulse analysis finds that Wikipedia, the user-created, collaborative online encyclopedia, is one of the hottest applications on the Internet. In fact, consumer references and blog links to Wikipedia have increased steadily and dramatically in the past few months, fueled by increased blog traffic and a need for real-time updates about breaking news stories.

More than twice as many bloggers now refer to Wikipedia as they do to the more traditional term "encyclopedia," and a half-percent of all blog posts typically cite Wikipeda as a source of information. Bloggers, in fact, mention Wikipedia six times more frequently than they mention Encyclopedia Britannica's web site.



The breaking news fuel
According to the BlogPulse analysis:
• July's subway bombings in London and the August-September coverage of Hurricane Katrina have contributed greatly to noticeable spikes in the use of Wikipedia as a source of immediate and thorough news, background and context.
• Wikipedia's trust level is obviously on the rise, fueled by an increase in consumer-generated media across the Internet and the thoughtful, passionate and mediated postings that appear on Wikipedia.
• Of the foreign-langue Wikipedia versions (French, Germany, Italian, Spanish, Japanes, Polish, Portuguese, Dutch and Swedish), blog citations to the German-language Wikipedia increased the most, nearly doubling in the past six months.

"Wikipedia is filling users' needs for a comprehensive and current directory of resources and facts on a wide range of subjects, and it does so as a potent cross between an Encyclopedia Britannica and a Yahoo! Directory with continuous updates," said Sundar Kadayam, Chief Technology Officer of Intelliseek and product manager of BlogPulse.

Rita Horns In On Continuing Katrina Conundrum

Hurricane Katrina, still stirring up the political pot, will have to make way for Hurricane Rita, now upgraded to a Category 4 storm as it swirls westward toward Texas and the already battered Gulf Coast. But...but...the pundits aren't finished hashing out Katrina yet! Here she comes, nonetheless...



The ongoing Katrina discussion

Today's top blog post and No. 2 blog -- conservative Michelle Malkin -- lambasts the Bush administration (in the wake of recently resigned FEMA Director Michael Brown) for another frontal dive into cronyism, this time for nominating 36-year-old Julie Myers (todays' 5th burstiest person) to take over U.S. Customs Enforcement and Immigration duties in the Department of Homeland Security. Her (questioned) qualifications (today's No. 26 top link): prosecutorial and lower-level Cabinet jobs, niece of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard Myers and newlywed wife of Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff's chief of staff. "Can we look for experience over expedience?" is the question from the usually Bush-supportive Captain's Quarters blogger.

Katrina "myths"
Bloggers also seem to be having a tizzy over Katrina "myths," including the fact that St. Bernard Parish president Aaron Broussard (who wept openly on MSNBC) was "lying" because his friend's grandmother didn't die exactly within the timeline he outlined on live TV (hey, folks, how about a little compassion?). Think Progress (No. 19 top blog) goes into more detail in outlining what it calls right-wing myths about Katrina.

Kerry's back
Sen. John Kerry is back (No. 12 top personality) after going on the offensive during a Brown University speech (No. 31 top link) on Monday. Brevity, good senator, brevity is a virtue.

Passings...Simon Wiesenthal
The community of Holocaust survivors is mourning the death of Simon Wiesenthal, (today's burstiest person) the 96-year-old who brought more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals to trial and justice, who died this week in Vienna. Dean's World is just one of many blogs commemorating his legacy.

It's a Great Day for Accountability: Corporate, Political, Personal

The accountability gods must be reigning over the blogosphere today.

Why else would recently sentenced Tyco honchos Mark Swartz and Dennis Kozlowski be today's No. 2 and 3 burstiest people, respectively, for their defrauding the company of hundreds of millions of dollars? "Another CEO heads to prison", as recounted in The Bay Area is Talking blog, sums up many peoples' reactions. (When do the Enron trials begin?)

Clinton accountability, his and hers
The Clintons are back at it, too. Former President Bill is both praised and vilified for his criticism of the current Bush administration on Sunday's morning news shows. Wife Hillary, meanwhile, is the reason that war protester and gold-star mom Cindy Sheehan has shot back up to the No. 10 spot among today's most blogged-about personalities. Seems Ms. Sheehan is unilateral in her demands for a pullout from Iraq, pressing Mrs. Clinton to withdraw her support for the Iraq invasion now, not when it's politically convenient (today's No. 19 top link). Sheehan takes more hits, mostly from folks who still think it's unpatriotic (rather than plain old democratic) to oppose any current administration's decision.

Voting accountability
Former President Jimmy Carter's in the news, too, for his recommended changes in the primary election setup to ensure fairer, easier, standardized and more democratic voting processes from state to state. So which current/former president leads in Internet "buzz?":




Bloggers launch PorkBusters
Bloggers are rallying again, again led by Instapundit and Truth Laid Bear, and they're organizing PorkBusters, a state-by-state campaign of recommended pork-barrel cuts to pay for the Katrina cleanup and rebuilding. (Something governments/Congressional folks are supposed to do but apparently never seem to get around to). Both Instapundit and TLB were key organizers of the Blog for Relief Day shortly after Katrina hit. ARRRR! Where's the Pork? is the supportive growl from IMAO blogger in his best Talk Like a Pirate Day voice (today's top blog link).

And the matter of a billion or so dollars...
The foreign press has made Iraq's Foreign Minister Ali Allawi today's burstiest blog person. Seems there's a billion or so dollars missing (but hey! who's counting?) from Iraq's Defense Ministry, according to the Independent Online (today's No. 2 news story) for those wondering why building security forces in Iraq is taking a little longer than expected. Tongue firmly in cheek, Balloon Juice proclaims "freedom is on the march!"

Elections in the Wings...And Continued Katrina Fallout

Did you ever get that strange feeling of deja vu? A major democratic nation is trying to figure out who won its most recent election, only this time it's Germany, not the U.S., (today's No. 4 top blog post) struggling to determine whether Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder (today's No. 12 leading personality) or conservative challenger Angela Merkel (today's 25th burstiest person) will take charge in Deutschland. "Smell you later, Gerhard," says the blogger at No Parasan, while Shot in the Dark examines the deeper, more complicated issues at stake. (I've already emailed my cousin in Germany, offering the services of the Florida Board of Elections and U.S. Supreme Court to help count votes, just in case).

Afghanistan is also hosting another round of national elections, and surprisingly, the analysis comes from California Yankee blog (today's No. 13 blog post). It's a good day when voters can speak their minds, says Protein Wisdom.

Katrina Fallout Continues
There's a reason L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz, appears in the No. 3 bursty person position, and it's because of the comparison made by the New York Times' Frank Rich in Sunday's column (today's top news story). While Al Gore's former campaign advisor jumps on the President's rebuilding bandwagon, the Washington Post finds continued disarray in the relief effort, New Orleans' hospitals are struggling to rebuild and views from inside FEMA are starting to emerge. Incompetent or negligent? asks Suburban Guerilla blog.

Mother Nature's other side
Let's not forget the softer side of the natural word, captured in today's No. 4 key phrase: full moon. (Did you notice it Saturday night? Awesome....)

Gyaarr, Avast, Ye Bloggin' Swabs!

By Neptune's binnacle, shipmates, if we don't enjoy the opportunities for linguistic variance afforded by ye blogosphere! Aye, first 'twas our delight in using the otherwise outmoded editorial "we," but today be even better — point yer spyglass towards our links crow's nest and regard no. 32: Monday be National Talk Like a Pirate Day, mateys! The cap'n'll be back then, so we're talkin like a pirate now, while we're at the helm! Welcome aboard the Blogganear, ye scurvy dogs, as we hoist our Bloggy Roger and drop anchor in a few blog ports o' call. Arrrrr!

The Controversies Du Jour
Lessee what we got today... a blog post that satirizes the Bush administration and Magic: The Gathering geekoids at the same time... a badly Photoshopped head covering on a woman a Council on American-Islamic Relations website... and, ah yes, the Pledge of Allegiance was declared cnconstitutional — again. Not a bad day's catch, eh, sailor?

Exeunt, News. Enter... the Mach 5?
Today the Internet has been put in the rare and extraordinary position of having foreseen the development of a new grooming product years before its actual release. This is our no. 9 link for today, a straight news story about a new five-bladed razor from Gilette, and this is our no 4 link, a column from The Onion in which the fictional CEO of Gillette hilariously lambastes his subordinates for letting Schick out-blade them in the razor game. (Readers are warned that the CEO is a foul-mouthed curr.) "The Onion and reality: The two keep getting closer," writes Andrew Sullivan. Another blogger weighs the question on its merits: "I think a single-bladed razor works just fine (and is also less irritating to your skin)". Arrr! A rusty dagger's fine for us, mateys!

Rough Times ahead
The New York Times is almost always in BlogPulse's top five most-cited news sources, but tomorrow it's staring "Times Select," a service that will require you pay to see its opinion columnists such as David Brooks and Frank Rich. How will bloggers do their work if they can't link to the Times' writers? How much presence can The Times maintain by hiding its writers? We'll be watching.

Also: Arrrrrrr!

Google's Blog Search, TiVo Share Headlines With Katrina

Google's entry into the blog-search universe has certainly caught the attention of the Internet community. At least 12 of today's top 40 blog posts and five of today's top 10 links discuss Google's beta blog-search interface. John Battelle leaked the story; "a big milestone," says Six Apart's blog, and Robert Scoble aches for a comprehensive blog search engine comparison. The Blog Herald's review rings with disappointment.

The TiVo "upgrade"
The other technical development getting blogosphere traction is TiVo, the latest upgrade for which doesn't allow users to save certain shows or move them to other formats. BoingBoing uses the change to provide a new definition of TiVo ("like a VCR, but it it's evil enough to screw you over if some rightsholder demands it"). The PVR Blog (today's top blog post) provides more details about what's on the red-flag list.

The official Katrina response
More fallout from the response to Katrina today includes a New Orleans Congressman's use of National Guard troops to visit his storm-damaged home and remove his stuff (today's No. 2 most-shared news story) while thousands of other waited for evacuation. And although Michael Brown has taken the fall at FEMA, attention is now turning to Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff and his response -- or lack of it -- to the hurricane. In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne Jr. uses the hurricane story to proclaim the end of the Bush era. Really? BlogPulse Trend Graph looks at which key federal player is generating the most Katrina-related buzz:



To pledge, or not to pledge...
Lawyer Michael Newdow (today's second burstiest person) is back, this time again trying to get the words "under God" removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, something U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton (today's burstiest person) has already ruled. It now goes to the Supreme Court again, where Newdow lost last time on a technicality because he didn't have custody of the daughter on whose behalf he filed the motion; this time, he represents families with kids.

I feel economically recovered, don't you?
Who knew it was that simple? All Majority Leader Tom DeLay had to do was declare the federal budget (and the largest deficit in history) in great shape, and that was that. Today's No. 2 most-shared link provides the amazing details.

And yes, the baby...
Today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog has news of Britney's new baby boy.

There Are More Blogs On Heaven and Earth, Horatio, Than Are Dreamt Of In Your Philosophy

Lots and lots of diverse stuff in BlogPulse today, from the battered remains of the Gulf Coast to the battered remains of an iPod nano, from Bill Gates to Ellen Degeneres. Let's stroll through it forthwith, shall we?

Awww... Anything But Nukes!
We thought we were done having to worry about a nuclear holocaust — after all, this is the era of killer hurricanes and terrorism — but, nope, sure enough, it's still out there: Our top link today is a WaPo story about the Pentagon's recent revisions of the procedures for deploying nuclear weapons. If Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld approves it, the new protocol would enable American commanders to request presidential authorization to use nukes to pre-emptively stop terrorist attacks, or destroy weapon stockpiles found in enemy hands. Bloggers are remembering — or getting a taste of — what it was like when the world hunkered precariously under the nuclear sword of Damocles. Shakespeare's Sister sez: "Could there be a more wrong-headed idea that developing a doctrine of nuclear preemption, no less while we are still in the midst of a war that was launched on the 'unassailable certainty' that Iraq had WMDs, which turned out, of course, to be entirely incorrect?" Well, we know what we think.

The Hot Air Keeps Blowing, Long After The Storm Has Passed
For bloggers, the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina seems to have settled into being just another perpetual idea war, like the Air America scandal, with liberals and conservatives squaring off over what President Bush should, shouldn't, did and didn't do. For examples see the citations from our no. 17 link, "How Bush Blew It;" or what bloggers said about link no. 33, " Reaction To Katrina Split Along Racial Lines." And speaking of blog idea wars, whatever happened to Cindy Sheehan?

Assorted Tech Updates
Also in BlogPulse today are bloggers' thoughts — which seem to be wary — on eBay's acquisition of Skype: "I want to make sure Skype works just as well (or better) for me in the future. eBay doesn't exactly have a stellar record of taking over companies and giving good service." Other links include Bill Gates' webcast; GoogleMaps' hole-through-the-Earth-emergence-generator; and the Ars Technica geeks, taking out all their years of being bullied by jocks on a defenseless little iPod nano. You guys are sick, doing that to that poor thing.

A Slow, Hard Return To What President Harding Might've Called "Normalcy"

The blogosphere is still rife with chatter over Hurricane Katrina, the cleanup, and the political torrent it created, but if you looked at what sorts of things BlogPulse returned today, you might be a bit encouraged. Our top link isn't about a political gaffe or a Gulf Coast horror story — no, it's about Apple's new iPod. Rather than a jeremiad against the laggardly Federal Emergency Managment Agency, our no. 2 blog post is a jeremiad against Al Franken. And our key phrase? It's about the iTunes-compatible phone. (Some prodigious drooling is done on our Entertainment Blog today about Apple's new toys.) So you see that even with the monumental work still to be done down south, the blogosphere, at least, is getting back to its old self again. If only lives and cities could so quickly and easily recover.

Still, The Outrage Continues
Bloggers may be excited over new gadgets and the enteral war between the left and right, but they're continuing to castigate the Bush Administration for its disaster preparedness, or lack thereof. Our no. 15 link is a column by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times that bloggers are noting is uncharacteristically strident: "Friedman is furious," writes EdCone. "His studiously even tone breaks in today's column." Right below it remains the link to former First Lady Barbara Bush's remark that the Astro- and Superdome evacuees of New Orleans were poor anyway, which continues to turn some bloggers red: "Barbara Bush's Marie Antoinette impression yesterday made me feel pretty queasy." Readers should be warned there are a lot of impolite epithets directed towards Mrs. Bush on the citations page.

Not That It Needed Anything Else To Be Known As 'The Left Coast'
Bloggers also are talking today about the passage in California of the nation's first law legalizing same-sex marriages — up until now, such rules have come from judges. The story appears several times in our top links and top news stories today, and has generated the predictable range of opinions. Referring to a 2000 referendum that would've banned exactly what the legislature has enacted, this blogger writes: "Quite bluntly, if this is allowed to stand, the very notion of government of the people, by the people, for the people will have perished in California." Pandagon responds to anti-gay marriage critics: "I've simply decided that anti-homosexuality is an illegitimate irrationality. Their right to 'not be offended' trumps all other rights in society." This would further seem to indicate the blogosphere is returning to normal, because, as before, bloggers don't seem even close to resolving this issue to everyone's satisfaction. Have polemics ever sound so sweet?

Questions of Leadership: FEMA Execs, Media Firms, Former First Ladies

Seems the storm following the storm is getting as much attention as the actual cleanup and relief efforts of post-Hurricane Katrina. Today's blogosphere is rife with accusations against FEMA -- the Federal Emergency Management Agency that, in a post-9/11 world, was supposed to streamline and coordinate response efforts to major catastrophes.

Let the scrutiny begin
A timeline by Right-Wing NutHouse (lots of traffic, slow to load) is today's most cited blog post, while other bloggers and news stories are pointing specific blame at FEMA, including the lack of disaster experience by anyone in charge (today's No. 13 top post), the New York Times' initial examination of finger-pointing that's already starting (No. 6 link), Daily Kos' examination of volunteer workers (No. 6 link) and volunteers in boats (No. 21 link) being turned away by FEMA, while the Pittsburgh Post-Gazzette weekend reports of Red Cross food deliveries turned away in New Orleans (No. 15 link).

Perhaps not surprisingly then (sigh), today's 18th-most-shared link is from FEMA's own web site three days before the hurricane hit, basically saying: don't come unless we call you first. Cosmic Variance blogger has terms for a new FEMA acronym: Flagarantly Egregious Malfeasance Agency.

Media grows spine: outside world notices
The BBC has noticed something interesting: an American mainstream media that seems to have awakened from its spin-induced, war-embedded fog. Reporters and anchor folks are finally asking hard questions and demanding answers, and MSNBC's Keith Olberman is just one of the news peeps getting attention.

Oh, Bar....
Discourse.net is calling it a "let them eat cake moment," and it happened when former First Lady Barbara Bush actually told NPR this from the Astrodome in Houston: "And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this - this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them." Did the acorn fall far from the tree, asks MetaFilter?

Katrina's Social, Economic, Political Aftermath: A Mess No Matter How You Cut It

The vastness of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is more than geographical in nature, stretching as it does across three states and affecting dozens more as refugees resettle. And that vastness is well represented in the blogosphere discussions as well.

The socioeconomic fallout
Trapping as it did mostly poor Americans, Hurricane Katrina has jump-started numerous discussions about race, poverty and fragile domestic safety nets, as evidenced by today's top blog post titled "Whatever: Being Poor" by writer John Scalzi. It ought to be mandatory reading, says PSOTD blogger.

The political fallout
Today's second blog post, "War and Piece," by Laura Rozen points out that events were staged and then rapidly dismantled for one visit by President Bush to the disaster area; disgust and outright anger (language warning) from bloggers abound toward the White House and its dangerously weak response, even as the Bush Administration tries to smooth over the political damage (today's most-shared link).

The personnel fallout?
Even conservative blogger Michelle Malkin is calling for the head of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael Brown, today's third most-blogged-about personality, for incompetence. Something, apparently, Brown's former employer did, according to the Boston Herald.Yet the party-line guys at PowerLine find a new source of blame for the slow official response: the media? As if the on-the-scene, 24-hour-coverage media didn't know what was going on?

Where is Katrina-related buzz falling toward the various responses by agencies? FEMA is definitely leading the pack:

New sources of help
The Internet continues to play a role in recovery and relief efforts. More than 50,000 entries have already been logged into the PeopleFinderVolunteer web site to coordinate data about misplaced victims trying to locate family members and friends.

Passings...
So intense is the coverage of Katrina that the weekend death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, and the subsequent nomination of yet-to-be-confirmed John G. Roberts to replace him, seem to be afterthoughts in the grand scheme of things.

Blogging from New Orleans: "They Were Telling Us To Get The Hell Out"

It's hard to imagine anyone riding out Hurricane Katrina from inside New Orleans, but blogger Ernest "Ernie" Svenson did it, from his father's 10th-floor condominium near the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. His blog, Ernie the Attorney, emerged as one of the major sources of hurricane-related information in the first few days after the hurricane hit and the enormity of the damage, including the levee breaks in New Orleans, became apparent. View the blog's BlogPulse profile here.

Through an email exchange and interview via a friend's cell phone, BlogPulse caught up with Ernie in Kansas City, where he ended up with family and friends after leaving New Orleans on Tuesday.

On leaving after Katrina hit
"My dad has a condominium right next to the Audubon Zoo, next to the levee, which is one of the highest points in New Orleans. He had stormshutters that were supposed to be safe in winds up to 140 mphp or something, and, in fact, turned out to be safe, as predicted. After the hurricane went through, I surveyed my house nearby...checked roof damage and did some minor repairs...checked out friends' houses nearby. Then we kind of gathered all of our stuff and tried to figure out the best way out of the city. We ended up in a caravan with some other drivers who seemed to know where they were going, so we followed them."

How he blogged from New Orleans without electricity, Internet connection
"I could do it from my cell phone, and while we were driving to Kansas City, I could post from my phone. When we stopped at a hotel, it had wi-fi connection and I could blog from there. I was also sending text messages to a friend in Orlando and she would post them for me. The only way to communicate with people, if they're in the city, is to use a cell phone to send a text message, because cell phone service for voice and Internet data doesn't work at all. By now, I'm sure people's phone batteries have run out."

On the enormity of the damage to his city of birth
"You really can't grasp it unless you grasp it piecemeal. We didn't have a TV, and only heard bits of news on the radio. We heard from other people that it was really dire and they were telling us to get the hell out, and now that I look back, I would have moved a little faster if I'd have known how bad it was. I don't consider myself to have a great window into what's going on now. I look at the damage on TV now, but I don't have a sense of that at all. I was in a fortunate part of the city."

On thoughts of rebuilding New Orleans
"I was listening to somebody on the TV -- maybe it was (President) Bush-- about rebuilding, and he said something about not only rebuilding New Orleans but making it better. Make it better? I can't relate to that. It's not going to be better. It's going to be different. Whatever it becomes, it's going to be so different from what it was -- from what gave New Orleans its character -- that I don't know how it can be better."

Is there a positive side?
"Looking at the images and the horrors is the negative side. The good side is that I've gotten all these emails from people who are offering to help, collecting money, offering a place to stay for me and my family. One guy emailed and said he has a farm, and extra room, and if people could help him with farm work, he could take in two families. It reminds me of what happened after 9/11...people are expressing a willingness to help and are reaching out. That's the thing I find most endearing and most touching. I know the news is covering some of that..."

On the future of his blog and law practice
"I'll keep the blog going. I just haven't had a chance to post things because I've been on the road. I was driving all day Thursday and I'm still getting settled. My tendency isnt' to blog little chunks of information. I'm thinking about larger-scale things and need to process it now."

His 55-lawyer firm, with about 100 total employees, plans to conference by phone on Saturday to discuss plans to open a new office in Baton Rouge or Lafayette. Their New Orleans office is apparently destroyed.

The Disaster Unfolds: Where's the Leadership?

Several key questions are being asked about the dangerously slow response to the country's first major and most pressing challenge in this post-9/11 homeland security environment. Where's the leadership? posed by TMP Cafe (today's No. 11 blog post) and a New York Times editorial (today's No. 7 news story) are among the most common. It's one of several themes running through the blogosphere today.

The leadership question
Bloggers are increasingly incensed in their posts, not only about the Bush-led privatization/dismantling of FEMA (today's No. 8 blog post from Washington Monthly) to criticism of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's New York shopping spree while the Gulf Coast, literally, lay in rubble (today's No. 2 blog post). As as the discussions intertwine relief efforts and politics, criticism also turns to the Bush Administration's squandering of U.S. troops and resources on a war in Iraq at the expense of the homeland (today's No. 24 blog post). New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin is the No. 3 blogged-about personality for his "desperate S.O.S." call for help on Thursday, and White House spokesman Scott McClellan is taking heat for dodging questions about the speed of response.

A socioeconomic disaster as well
Some bloggers are looking at the economic and racial issues emerging in the aftermath milieu, with blogger Scott Lynch using some choice words for people who've never been poor and caught in a natural disaster; the Point of Law blog looks at legal issues related to looting, and Interdictor points out problems with New Orleans police involved in looting as well.

Mobilizing the blogger community
Despite the angst and difficulties of the hurricane cleanup and relief, bloggers are pouring money and effort into helping. Instapundit continues to publish a comprehensive list of relief agencies. Skippy the Bush Kangaroo suggests blogger donations independent of politics, Liberal Blogosphere for Hurricane Relief offers its services, and one blogger is auctioning design services to help the cause. The Truth Laid Bear keeps a running tab of Thursday's Blog For Relief Day (No. 6 top link; $250,000 and counting). Moveon.org is linking hurricane refugees with available housing provided by Moveon members across the U.S.

Holiday news:
The BlogPulse team will be taking a four-day holiday over the Labor Day weekend, returning to work on Wednesday, Sept. 7. See you then...

The Reality of Katrina Hits Home, and There's Commentary Galore

The harsh realities posed by the aftermath and pending cleamup from Hurricane Katrina are settling in starkly and on a variety of fronts. As the entire city of New Orleans evacuates, relief efforts galore are ramping up, ranging from Instapundit's massive list of relief organizations (today's top blog post) to relief campaigns from Canada and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (who's apparently let the Pat Robertson "thing" pass). Today, 27 of the top 40 blog posts, 29 of the top 40 web links and 24 of the top 40 phrases discussed by bloggers refer somehow to Katrina's devastation.

Likewise, "buzz" in the blogosphere is tracking the deteriorating aftermath, including looting, rising gas prices and massive evacuations:



Discussion varies geographically, too, with most of the attention focused on New Orleans, with other cities falling in behind.




"RIP, New Orleans..."
What's interesting today is the range of conversations taking place. RIP, New Orleans," laments LiveJournaler Snidgepod as she reocunts her once-favorable memories and spots of the home of Mardis Gras. Should New Orleans be rebuilt, asks BuzzMachine's Jeff Jarvis? And the reason that two Yahoo! news photos are today's No. 1 and No. 3 links is because of wording in the cutlines: is it "looting" when people of color do it and "finding" when whites do it? That's the debate being raised by Daily Kos, Wonkette and others.

Issues of race also surface in commentary about the pre-hurricane evacuation plan, most notably in this wrenching email from a New Orleans-area rescue worker featured at BoingBoing. Were the poor and minorites deliberately left behind, some are wondering? And did the flooding have to happen, asks Editor & Publisher?

Other hurricane tidbits
A Small Victory is focusing attention on good news from the hurricane-affected areas, while The Mudville Gazette examines the U.S. military's capabilities for responding, including claims of an already overstretched military because of the war in Iraq.

And scientifically speaking...
Now that the nation is faced with a herculean cleanup effort that involves oil rigs, transportation systems, communication systems and entire economies, is the country up to it scientifically? That's the question being asked after the latest U.S. poll finds Americans dismally lacking in science fundamentals; two-thirds favor the teaching of creationism in schools along with evolution. Is this corner of the world getting dumber all the time?...that's what some bloggers want to know.