Today, and you can bet for the next few weeks leading up to the November elections, it's going to be about terrorism, thanks toformer President Bill Clinton (No. 3 on today's list of most-blogged-about personalities) and a massive report from U.S. intelligence agencies about the impact of the ongoing U.S. war on terrror on the terrorism movement around the world (today's top news story).

Clinton is making waves for making waves on Fox news with commentator Chris Wallace (No. 5 on the top people list), accusing Wallace of asking former presidents much harder and much more pointed questions about anti-terror activites than are lobbed at current presidents. The one-on-one makes up seven of today's top 10 blog posts. In addition, four of today's most-cited news stories deal with weekend news of U.S. agency reports that find U.S. involvement in Iraq has served to embolden and spread the terrorism movement around the world (the topic of today's most-cited phrases by bloggers). A BlogPulse trend graph plotting "war on terrorism" vs. "war in Iraq" finds that discussions about the two are often one and the same:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:37 AM

As blogger Glenn Greenwald points out today, bloggers have a history of calling out the media/entertainment business when it produces material that is not historically accurate, which is what's happening again this week in the blogosphere (today's top blog post). Only this time it's not conservative bloggers asking for the true history of Ronald Reagan, it's liberal/progressive bloggers (led by ThinkProgress.org) asking fro truth about the events leading to the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

So far, an FBI agent involved in the ABC/Disney "docudrama" apparently quit during the project, and former President Bill Clinton has asked ABC to drop the program entirely (today's Nos. 1 and 4 most-cited news stories) or stick to the facts. TPM Cafe offers a full text of Clinton's letter to the network. Sakes one wonder: WWDRT? (What would Dan Rather think?)

Tech updates
From around teh blogosphere: SixApart has acquired Rojo, The Modern Day Alchemist blogger provides interesting tips for Gmail addresses, the practices at news-voting patterns at Digg.com are under scruinty and Facebook users are revolting about new RSS feeds that provide automatic notices of profile updates.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:42 AM

Sometimes, everything seems new again, whether it's Katie Couric as the new evening news anchor at CBS (and today's fifth most-discussed blog personality) or Alan Mullaly, the guy who replaced a Ford as head of Ford Motor Company and today's burstiest person.

New toys!
And that's not all! Todays' blogosphere hints of new iPods and iMacs from Apple within the next week, and Gizmodo thinks there's a new Nintendo DS on its way as well.

New interpretations?
As we head for the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some (including former terrorist chief Richard Clarke) are also claiming that an ABC documentary is tantamount to revisionist history. Thank goodness, then, for Fareed Zakaria, who can at least exhort everyone to take a deep breath.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:23 AM

When I saw what today's most-cited link was (Apple/Mighty Mouse), I had a flashback to the days of "Captain Kangaroo" and the old Mighty Mouse cartoons, and yes, I realize I'm really dating myself with that reference. But today's Mighty Mouse reference is about Apple's new wireless mouse, not the flying cartoon hero who battled Crabby Appleton. Wired for Gadgets has more details, including the $70 price tag.

Random blog findings...
Don't think tension is the Middle East is confined to the Middle East; one of today's top blog posts involves blogger coverage of a rally in Boston where tensions also ran high. Engadget reports that Parker Brothers' popular board game "Monopoly" has gone electronic, and Jay Rosen reports on latest idea-stage efforts to revamp journalism electronically (and monetarily) with the launch of NewAssignment.Net. Taking bets: will it succeed or flounder?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:32 PM

When you read things like this, you don't know whether to laugh or cry (or run for public office on the "At least I'm not stupid" ticket). But Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens is today's sixth-buristest person for saying this about why he voted the way he did on Network Neutrality, a legal effort to make sure the Internet does not turn into a tiered-service provider for haves and have-nots. In response, the blogger at Yourish.com created a PowerPoint presentation (today's No. 37 top blog post) that perhaps only Congress-people can understand about how the Internet works. (Disclosure: I've yet to get my own representative/senators to send me an e-mail in response to my communications at their Web sites, despite repeated requests to NOT send me a snail-mail letter and instead prove they know HOW to use the Internet by responding electronically; still waiting, still getting "Dear Susan..." franked letters 3-4 montsh later instead).

The Smackdown continues
Bloggers Glenn Greenwald (Nos. 1 and 4 posts today) and Daily Kos continue their smackdown of conservative bloggers who joined forces over the weekend to call for the lynching of the New York Times for a travel piece that included photos of Vice President Cheney's and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's vacation homes in Maryland. Turns out Greenwald pursued the facts (!!), and discovered that the Times called Rumsfeld's office, asked for and received Rummy's permission to take the photos.

Holidays in the dark
Seems as if quite a few folks spent the holiday weekend in movie theaters; among today's most-cited phrases in blogs are "went to see Devil Wears Prada" (No. 2) and "went to see Superman Returns" (No. 5), and Johnny Depp is today's No. 3 most-cited personality for his portrayal of Capt. Jack Sparrow (No. 18) in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3." Popcorn, anyone?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:37 AM

You've gotta wonder sometimes, how people can read the same information and interpret it so differently. Today's BlogPulse results provide two juicy examples:

Investigative Journalism...or Blabbermouths?
Today's most-cited news story is the New York Times weekend revelation that the Bush Administration is also scrutining personal bank records to track down terrorists. More uncontrolled government snooping, asks a Pittsburgh blogger? Or as today's No. 2 top blog post from Michelle Malkin describes it, "blabbermouths at work?"

WMD...or not
Then there's this: Fox News/Sen. Rick Santorum's claim that the U.S. HAS found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (today's No. 12 most-cited news story), and military officials' disclaimors that, no, indeed, they haven't. Which to believe?

Where the buzz really is...
...is over at Comedy Central, where news of new Futurama episodes (today's top blog post) has some folks all atwitter, and reports that Jon Stewart is responsible for the decline of democratic voting is well, laughable.

World Cup field narrows
Now that some of the World Cup teams are being paired for the semifinals....which ones are capturing the buzz?:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:23 AM

Blogs have changed the way news is written and delivered, and the evidence is clear among today's blog discoveries. First, today's No. 29 top blog post comes from PR expert Todd Defren in San Francisco, who debuts the "Social Media Press Release," which is more than a written release sent out over news wires. In the emerging PR world, he says, press releases will contain tons of info: the news and headlines, RSS feeds, MP3 files for podcasts, video links, embedded graphics and photos, tags and other syndicated feeds, and contact information that includes name, email, Skye and phone numbers, instant message IDs, blogs and relevant blog posts. Blogger Neville hobson endorses the format...but asks the big question: Is the media ready for it?
Kevin Dugan joins the discussion, noting that Defren is likely to get praise and criticism.

Who owns 2.0?
Another curious discussion takes places today about the term "Web 2.0," often used to describe the evolution of the Internet from its rudimentary early stages into, well, whatever it's becoming. The folks at O'Reilly/CMP claim they own it, a claim that draws plenty of comments. Does it need a name at all, asks Ben Ramsey? Discuss.

New news anchors
Now that the three traditional news networks have firmed up their plans for evening new anchors, who's getting the buzz? Time will tell in the long run, but in the hypothetical short run, it's all about Katie:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:46 AM

Here at BlogPulse, we can' t help but notice that today's most-cited link discusses the still-in-testing Google Trends feature that was announced yesterday by Google. Of course BlogPulse Trend Graphs have been available for quite some time now....and you can build your own any time you want.

News for Newark
And just because folks around the country are paying attention, the troubled city of Newark NJ has a new mayor, today's 3rd-burstiest person, Ivy-Leaguer Cory Booker. What's amazing is not so much the news of Booker's election, but the numbers of comments from bloggers on posts that announce his win, such as those at Oliver Willis' Like Kryptonite to Stupidblog or the Huffington Post or Sepia Mutiny. Could a BlogPulse Trend Graph have predicted it?.....

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:49 PM

Oh sure, there's lots of unrest and frustration with today's political scene, and much of its capturedi n today's No. 2 most-cited blog post from Libercontrarian Nicholas Horianopoulos...about why he's' changing parties (again), this time from Libertarian to Independent. The comments are as insightful as Hornianpoulos' own disappointments.

Speaking of politics, we took a little BlogPulse poll, using the Trend Graph feature to track phrases that discuss the upcoming 2006 mid-term Congressional elections and the 2008 Presidential election. The Prez won.




Blasts from the past
Arthur J. Schlessinger, who served as an adviser to President John F. Kennedy, returns to the spotlight today (No. 3 most-blogged person) for this quote: "There is no more dangerous thing for a democracy than a foreign policy based on presidential preventive war," which is also today's fourth most-cited phrase in the blogosphere. Schlessinger made the statement in a Washington Post essay examining President Bush's final 1,000 days in office, today's 37th-most-cited news story.

Spy-ly speaking
Talking Points Memo has far more questions than "60 Minutes" had (today's No. 5 most-cited news link) for former CIA guy Tyler Drumheller, today's' No. 21 most-blogged personality.

Just for fun
Hey ladies! Always forgetting somtehing important when you grab the purse and run out the door? Thought so, which is why Gizmodo's RFID-enabled pursue is featured in one of today's most-read blog posts. It was developed at Simon Fraser University in Canada (RFID stands for radio frequency identification, a technology that uses tiny transmitters/receivers to track the movement or locations of items (or, what beeps when you walk out of a store with one of those tags that the clerk forgot to deactivate when you bought it. Hopefully). That piece links to another technology-enabled service, the Get out of Date Free card from SecureSingles, which sends you a pre-programmed bow-out message if your date's not going so swell.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:40 PM

Washington D.C. seems to be veritably dripping with leaks these days, as five of today's most-cited news stories have the word "leak" in their headlines. Coverage ranges from fired CIA agent Mary McCarthy (today's No. 5 most-blogged personality) to speculation that the Secretary of State has also been the source of leaks. Discuss.

Care to dance, monkey?
Some people are big-picture people, and that obviously applies to the creator of today's No. 10 most-cited link, Ernest Cline's Dance, Monkeys, Dance!" Anyone who attended grade school in the 1960s will remember the "ding!" sound from the film-strip format.

Got your agenda right here...
Other discoveries: The blogger at Angry Biscuit provides a bitey-tongue-in-cheeck (we think?) gay agenda for all of the "family" groups who have longed claimed there actually is such a thing. Dave Weiss' personalized tour of Microsoft's Macintosh lab has been among the most popular blog posts in the past few days, and TPM CAfe notes that no one's paying attention to bipartisan Congressional give-away of the Internet, which has led to a Save the Internet campaign.

Up, up and away...
And oh yeah: the phrase "gas prices" now has 49,701 blog results attached to it (and is the day's No. 24 most-cited phrase). Speaking of up and coming things, we turned to BlogPulse Trend Graphs today to gauge "buzz" about the upcoming 2006 Congressional mid-term elections and the 2008 Presidential election:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:48 PM

It's full-moon time of year again, which may explain some of the oddities in today's most popular blog discoveries, such as a ShimiveJournal's Cadbury Cream Egg Cake (made with chocolate eggs instead of real eggs), today's top blog post. People with way too much time on their hands...at least make us laugh. (Which reminds me, since it's Easter season and all: the folks who do research on marshmallow Peeps are still out there, even if they don't show up in blog results). So is Bill O'Reilly, now on another holiday rant.

Serious discussions
The full moon also brings out serious discussions as well, including other top-cited blog posts today from No. 2. Whiskey Bar ("Mutually Assured Dementia") about the Iraq-like build-up to Iran), No. 7. Juan Cole's Informed Comment examination of the true nuclear threat from Iran (or lack thereof), world travel-blogger Michael J. Totten's continuing trip (No. 20) through Turkey toward Iraq, and Vanity Fair's James Wolcott examines the legacy of the late Terri Schiavo.

Whose spin?
Today's most-cited link and news story comes from the Washington Post's examination of those "biological weapons labs" (today's No. 2 most-used phrase) found in 2003 in Iraq as evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Good reporting of old news, asks MahaBlog, or more mainstream media news twisting of old news, ask very differently oriented bloggers?

More voices, louder
Ret. U.S. Army Gen. John Batiste is among the day's burstiest people (No. 16) for joining a chorus of other former military officers calling for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and others at the Pentagon for their un-military-like conduct of war.

Passings...
Today's burstiest person is songster June Pointer, of the Pointer Sisters, who died Wednesday at age 52 of cancer. Some of the best sing-along-in-the-car music ever...

Easter treats
Which Easter treat are you anticipating most? Thought so.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:24 PM

The blog universe can be such a fickle place -- early in the week, liberal-leaning blogs were all over Seymour Hersh's New Yorker article about U.S. military plans for attacking Iran (since Sunday, it remains the blogosphere's top new story and most-cited link), while here at mid-week, conservative-leaning bloggers are all over the immigration rallies taking place throughout the U.S. But some of the best language on the debate comes from Hispanic blogger La Queen Sucia (today's No. 18 top blog post), who addresses point by point some of the issues raised in recently snarky e-mails she's received.

Which raises the issue: just what are the issues du jour over the past six months?A BlogPulse Trend Graph takes a look at some of them:




More language...about a boy's hat?
Gawker Media today recounts an e-mail exchange (today's No. 9 top blog post) among a group of New York parents over a lost-and-found post about a boy's hat. Garfield Ridge renames it the Park Slope Hat Spat, while a LiveJournaler might just prefer Amityville.

Phone jamming and other discoveries
The name of James Tobin appears among today's burstiest (No. 3) amid charges that some of the phone-jamming (for which Bush campaign operative Tobin has already been convicted) of Democratic call centers during the 2002 elections might have been directed from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? Still speculation at this point.

Meanwhile, another country is looking at building another fence, the Engadget crowd reports that Microsoft's Vista has been successfully installed on a Mac (and Daring Fireball has more thoughts on Apple's Boot Camp Mac-to-Windows download), world traveler Michael J. Totten is trying to drive back into Iraq, and for beer lovers who also love ice cream, Ben & Jerry's is rolling out Black and Tan ice cream (today's No. 17 most-cited link). Fer real. Sold by the pint, one blogger points out.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:59 AM

There's a little something for everyone today, and that includes the weekend re-design of the New York Times Web site, the topic of today's second most-cited news story and primary source of today's news for bloggers. Gawker Media likes the eventuality of some of the new features; Apartment Therapy wonders whether readability has been sacrificed for design.

No more 4 a.m. alarms for Katie
NBC's Katie Couric, the belle of the "Today Show," is today's ninth most-blogged-about personality for announcing she'll jump ship to anchor the CBS evening news. Who will take Katie's place?

Apple in 30
Today's No. 9 top blog post from Engadget details 30 years in Apple products, from the original Apple 1 to today's MacBook Pro. You've come a long way. So have keyboards, the top 10 weirdest of which are featured today at fosfor gadgets.

The GOP: In flux
Now that Rep. Tom DeLay has resigned from Congress, he's not only today's most-blogged-about person, he's also the subject of six of today's most-cited news stories and his party is under examination for its emerging role as a religious party, at least according to commentator Kevin Phillips. And maybe even . Sen. John McCain is joining the bandwagon?

Feminism's many challenges
Among today's top blog posts is Dr. Sanity's re-purposing of an interview about the custom of female circumcision, and one blogger's reaction honestly questions just which culture is obsessed with what kind of thinking.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 04:46 PM

Author Michael Crichton's "This Essay Breaks the Law," an op-ed piece from Sunday's New York Times, continues to break the law and generate blog traction as today's third most-cited link and second most-cited news story. Crichton discusses who owns what in the context of U.S. patent law. "Patent Nonsense?" puns the blogger at Reason Hit & Run, while the future lawyer at Intellectual Quicksand ponders the state of laws such as these.

Really? It's that obvious?
Also maintaining traction is psychologist Jack Block, whose longitudinal study of 95 Berkeley children (here come the "moonbat" comments) came to a startling conclusion (today's most-cited news story) about the seeds of political leanings: that whiny, tattletale children tend to grow up to be politically conservative, while confident, free-wheeling children tend to evolve into political liberals. Suburban Guerilla offers commentary with a headline as pointy-tongued as the commentary, while the Brainster dubs it the "silliest article of the day" for its statistical meaninglessness.

So long, Humphrey
But some bloggers are even more worked up at the death of Humphrey, the stray cat adopted by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1989 (today's No. 9 most-cited link). Was he really, as one LiveJournaler proposes, "the last honest occupant of No. 10 Downing Street"? Elsewhere, tributes pour in like milk into the cat dish.

BlogPulse notes
For the next two weeks, I'll be vacationing/traveling in Alaska (yes, in winter) with only intermittent Internet connections. I'll do my best to keep bloggily informed, but if I miss a few days here and there, it's because I'm surrounded by snow and engrossed in, well, vacation. And who knows, maybe an oil spill or two.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 02:51 PM

Everyone who's Irish today (or claims to be) is taking time to recognize St. Patrick's Day. How do we know? Among today's key blog phrases are St. Patrick's Day itself (No. 14 key phrase) and one of the holiday's most notable foods, corned beef and cabbage (what? no green beer?). The Art of Getting By blogger has a thoughtful essay on all things Irish. That other March pasttime is also there, evidenced by the phrases "March Madness", followed by "office pools" and "NCAA tournament." Which gets more buzz? You might be surprised:




Stirring rants
The blogosphere this week contains some gems, too...essays, videos and a "quote of the week" worth pointing out, including AmericaBlog.com's plea for an end to sloppy journalism (today's No. 9 top blog post), a video of actor James Spader's "Boston Legal" rant about the deteriorating of legal rights (and outrage) in America (featured at No. 6 blog post from Crooks & Liars blog), and this "quote of the week" from Wayne Besen's blog.

Maj. Mosquito?
And couldn't help but notice this "huh?" story from the BBC, about Pentagon plans for an insect army? (today's' No. 20 most-cited link). "Creepy," comments Adam's Life blogger. Indeed.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:23 AM

It's a day for big shifts in thinking, starting with Sen. Russ Feingold, a possible 2008 Democratic presidential nominee and today's No. 2 burstiest person for proposing a vote today that would censure President George Bush (today's top top news story and No. 3 top blog post) for exceeding executive powers and ignoring judicial oversight for the NSA domestic spying program. Brilliant at Breakfast is obviously thrilled to see a Democrat with a backbone; blogger Don Surber calls it more adolescent politics. What does a BlogPulse trend graph say about the "i-word" vs. the "c-word"?



Chile Breaks the Gender Barrier
From the stage of world leaders comes Chile's gender-shifting decision to elect Michelle Bachelet (today's No. 16 most-blogged-about personality) as its first woman president (today's No. 3 most-cited news story). "Wouldn't it be something?..." says a wisftul U.S.-based Magpie blogger. Former Yugoslav presidetn Slobodan Milosevic is today's No. 3 top person after being found dead in his cell at The Hague over the weekend, and former Iraq President Saddam Hussein is in the news because apparently thought about what might happen in post-war Iraq...perhaps more than his country's "liberators" did?

Speaking out
Two people are capturing attention for speaking out, including former British soldier Ben Griffin, today's burstiest person because of an interview in which he describes his moral decision to leave the British military rather than continue fighting what he calls an immoral "mess" in Iraq. And at No. 15 among today's burstiest people is Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born woman whose criticism of Muslim extremists (today's No. 6 most-cited news story) is bringing her praise...and death threats. "Meet the voice of reason," says one blogger; the blogger at Sisu offers perspective and background.

BlogPulse News
The Olympics are over, Josh Mankiewicz is back from vacation, and his Mank Blog is back on MSNBC's Dateline, which receives weekly blog data from BlogPulse.com and Technorati in a blogosphere roundup.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:46 AM

It's bad enough that the Gulf Coast is still trying to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina, yet the storm is brewing anew thanks to videos (today's top blog post) of pre-storm meetings between weather experts, response officials and President George Bush, who promised an all-out response to the storm. Perhaps coincidentally, the buzz is emerging almost six months to the day after the storm slammed ashore...including nearly one-fourth of today's most-cited news stories. "Heckuva Job" Michael Brown, formerly of FEMA, and Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff are again among today's most-discussed personalities because of the retrospective analysis of the federal response. The "i" word (combined with equal levels of amazement and disgust) emerges again in blogger reactions.

Even though "buzz" will never reach the levels immediately during/after the storm, it's starting a slow rise, according to BlogPulse Trend Graphs:



Passings...
Actor Jack Wild, who died of cancer this week, is today's burstiest person and being remembered for his child-actor appearances as Oliver! and in the children's show "HR Puf'n'Stuff." The Teacher blogger offers a tribute.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:51 AM

The next political wedge issue may be brewing now in the state that ranks, populationwise, No. 46 among 50: South Dakota, where legislators are pushing through a bill that would ban most abortions (today's burstiest phrase) for the state's 770,883 residents.

News of the bill's passage is found in seven of today's top links and six of today's most-cited news stories. State Sen. Julie Bartling, the bill's sponsor, is today's burstiest person, followed at No. 2 by Kate Looby, director of the state's only abortion clinic. "The Supreme Court has been loaded and they are ready," observes one LiveJournaler. The Centrist blogger invites all South Dakotans to Massachusetts as an alternative. Funny, says the native New Wisdom blogger, how a state can move into the future and past at the same time.

Did Bill O'Reilly REALLY say that?
Media Matters is today's No. 12 most-cited news item for featuring Bill O'Reilly's newest (and verbatim) proposal for an Iraq war policy: "the only solution to this is to hand over everything to the Iraqis as fast as humanly possible" because "[t]here are so many nuts in the country -- so many crazies -- that we can't control them." Isn't that this? Is he, as the Moderate Left blogger suggests, embracing his inner liberal?

Issues in perspective
A BlogPulse trend graph highlights what's on blogger's minds when it comes to the day's pressing issues:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:50 AM

One of the true benefits of blogging is that it can be done anywhere there's an Internet connection, and today's No. 21 top blog post does that just from Erbil, the capital of the northern Kurdish territory of Iraq. Blogger Michael J. Totten, author of the Middle East Journal blog, says the war's already over in much of northern Iraq. His photos, descriptions and encounters with a driver provide a fascinating look at a part of the world most Americans see only as sound bites on the evening news.

Writes Totten: "The city didn’t look like anywhere I wanted to be. Few things in this world are uglier than totalitarian cities. And while Erbil isn’t totalitarian anymore, Saddam Hussein left his stinking thumbprints all over the place." For intrepid behavior alone, Samizdata blog recommends Totten's writings. "A great read" says Small Dead Animals.

Dick Cheney, the moving humor target
Vice President Dick Cheney remains today's most-blogged person, not only because 78-year-old Harry Whittington (second burstiest person) suffered a minor heart attack earlier this week after being shot by Cheney while quail hunting but because comedians everywhere have scared up a covey of jokes. Boing Boing's "Ten Ways Dick Cheney Can Kill You" feature is today's No. 9 top blog post, and The Daily Show's Rob Corddy is the fourth-burstiest person in the blogosphere for his Monday night commentary about the shooting. Conservative bloggers, led by Michellel Malkin, are questioning the motives of Washington Post reporter Dana Milbanks, who appeared on TV wearing an orange vest and hat, but are silent about Florida Gov. Jeb Bush doing the same. What...pointed humor is acceptable only if you're related to the President?

Calling it quits
Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett is the subject of today's sixth-most-cited news story for dropping out of the U.S. Senate race because of pressure he claims was exerted by Democratic party-leaders and fund raisers ("no room for liberal hawks?" asks Professor Bainbridge), and quitting is also on the agenda in the UK, where a smoking ban for bars and private clubs goes into effect in 2007 (No. 18 top link). "And the search for civilisation continues," moans Warren Ellis.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:21 AM

If the Bush White House thought that trying to keep Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident under wraps would work, they were absolutely wrong. Cheney is today's most blogged-about person, and his (ahem) athletic skills are stealing the the show from now-withdrawn Olympic skater Michelle Kwan (No. 3) and snowboarding gold-medalist Shaun White (No. 4).



Moreover, nine of today's most-cited news stories and seven of the day's most-shared links deal with the hunting accident, in which Cheny shot 78-year-old attorney Harry Whittington in the face and chest (today's second and third most-cited phrases) while quail hunting. By comparison, a web site offering coverage of the 2006 Winter Olympics ranked No. 14 among today's top links. Blogger analyses of the Veep who couldn't shoot straight range from "birds of mass destruction" to "holy shades of schadenfreude."

When bloggers dissent
One of the week's most popular blog posts so far comes from Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, who examines the "liberal" and "conservative" labels and how they play out in the blogosphere. Interesting reading for anyone curious about political influence that's spilled over into the blogosphere.

Did you remember Valentine's Day?
If you forgot your sweetie on this Hallmark day of days, check out today's No. 27 top link from GlassGiant.com: a web site where you can make your own romance novel cover and share it. Says one LiveJournaler: "It's just like being published, without all that annoying writing..."

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:59 AM

When is an editorial or political cartoon offensive, and who defines offensive? The issue is boiling in the blogosphere today, over European cartoons (today's No. 7 top news story) that have angered Muslims around the world (today's No. 8 top phrase) and a Washington Post cartoon that has angered the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Blogger Michelle Malkin, in fact, has taken up the issue in several to-ranked blog posts today.

DeLay's successor
No sooner had Ohio Rep. John Boehner (today's 14th burstiest person) been elected as the new majority-party leader of the House of Representatives than the scrutiny started from various camps.

When you're No. 1, everybody takes a shot
During the week that Oscar nominations were announced, parodies of the much-nominated film "Brokeback Mountain" also made appearances on BlogPulse, including Mighty McPilgrim's "Broke Mac Mountain" (a computer funny and today's 30th most-shared link) and "Brokeback to the Future," (today's most-shared link) which features clips of old "Back to the Future" episodes.

That was some FAST backpedalling
President Bush swore Tuesday night that the U.S. is addicted to oil. Two of the country's high-level bureaucrats/departements swore just a day later that, well, it's not quite true. Especially if you don't want to upset those Middle East countries that like selling the U.S. their oil.

Oscar buzz
Today, BlogPulse trend graphs look at buzz for this year's Oscar-nominated directors:

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 12:40 PM

"Embedded reporters," a defining practice of the ongoing war in Iraq, took a very personal turn over the weekend when ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff and cameraman Doug Vogt (today's two burstiest people) were seriously injured in a roadside bomb explosion (today's 10th-most-cited news story) while on patrol with Iraqi troops near Bagdhad. The Moderate Voice blogger provides perpsective about the dangers of journalism and Woodruff's friendship with the late reporter David Bloomfield, a print reporter who died of a lung blood clot in 2003 in Iraq.

Muzzling scientists?
So over the weekend, my husband and I decided to take a mid-winter January walk through downtown Cincinnati, supposedly the coldest winter month. We saw: outdoor market vendors selling wares in 60-degree weather, people picnicking in parks, teens lobbing Frisbees in T-shirts and a line out the door at an ice cream parlor. So why is the Bush Administration trying to stifle the scientific opinions of NASA scientist and global warming expert Dr. James Hansen (No. 8 among the day's bursty people and the subject of the day's most-cited news story). Ambivablog sees bureaucratic danger ahead, Will Robinson. Only in New Mexico sees shades of Big Brother, while Kaseido lumps the latest saga into the ongoing Bush war on reality. A BlogPulse trend graph shows a definite spike in interest about global warming during the 2004 hurricane season:



BlogPulse on Dateline: BlogPulse is a regular data contributor to NBC's "Dateline," and Josh Mankiewicz' Sunday Mank Blog looks at what bloggers buzzed about last week...namely, Oprah Winfrey's truth take-down of A Million Little Pieces author James Frey.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:49 AM

Just when you think you can guesstimate what bloggers will be talking about from day to day, they throw you a loop. Such that today's two burstiest people are boxers Manny Pacquiao and Erik Morales, in which the former beat the latter at a match in Las Vegas. Filipino bloggers are crazy for their newfound hero.

Vote's in: "West Wing's out
TV fans are mourning the pending loss of NBC's "West Wing," which is why actors Jimmy Smits amd Alan Alda, and NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly are among today's most-discussed personalities as well. So is the late actor John Spencer, whose untimely real-life death several weeks ago apparently sealed the show's fate. (Smits and Alda are running against each other for president in the show, a well-timed theme given the contents of today's third most-cited news story about election fraud...and how easy it would be (was?) to execute. The govtv blog calls it "vapor voting." The story's starting to generate conversation.

What are TV fans watching?




So long, whale
The BBC continues to rank among the most-cited new sources by bloggers, this week no doubt because of the whale tale (the day's second most-cited news story). The GlasgowGal blogger happened to hear the news while reading The Whale Rider. Coincidence? You decide.

PostSecret...more revealing
PostSecret continues to be one of the most popular blogs (No. 5 today) for the anonymous postcards that carry people's innermost secrets. Site owner Frank Warren has started adding email commentary from viewers (and senders), to give it an even more personal touch.

BlogPulse update: LiveJournal
If you encounter "Page Not Found" errors while clicking on LiveJournal entries today, manually remove the "www" from the URL to get the link to work. Over the weekend, LiveJournal changed its standard URL format and removed the www from links, which now start directly with "username.livejournal.com" instead of www.livejournal.com/username. BlogPulse is working on a fix that will soon make the LiveJournal links work properly.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:29 PM

Oh sure, they're still hashing over Judge Samuel Alito's Supreme Court nomination in D.C., and whistleblower Russell Tice has emerged among today's burstiest people now that he's come forward as one of the former NSA employees involved in spying activities.

But it's almost the middle of January, and someone (in this case, a BlogPulse trend graph) has to ask: how well are you sticking to your New Year's resolution? From the looks of it, enthusiasm for just about every promised behavior dropped off quickly once the champagne glasses and tooting horns were put away till 2007.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 01:49 PM

When a Republican-dominated Senate begins to stand up to White House policy, and when Arianna Huffington has a late-night "chillin' " dinner with Iraqi Ahmad Chalabi, you know strange hook-ups are happening on the political front. It's all captured in the blogosphere today.

Revisionist spin for all!
The current wave of paradigm shifting comes at a time when President Bush's approval ratings are at all-time lows (today's No. 2 top news story) and observers are questioning Bush's war policies and spin (today's 4th most-shared news story) and what one op-ed writer (No. 8 news story) calls "scare tactics." Slate examines the new "I was wrong but so were you" thinking (No. 9 top news story). Republicans are responding (today's No. 9 top link) with a new video of high-ranked Democrats vowing their 2002 support for toppling Saddam Hussein and some conservatively righteous indignation (no pun intended, really). Revisionist reactions abound. (Shouldn't the core question be about which commander-in-chief knew the entire truth about WMD and other Iraq issues and did/didn't share it in 2002 before asking for Congressional support?)

Should we stay in Iraq or start to figure out how to leave with honor (hmmm...when have I heard that phrase before)? A BlogPulse trend graph tracks buzz. Note: the August spike coincices with Marine mom and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan's visit to the Bush vacation ranch in Texas.



Drink up, kids!
lf you thought the folks at Jones Soda couldn't top last year's turkey-and-dressing-flavored cola, you were wrong (today's No. 14 top link). Potential taste-tester reactions to salmon-flavored soda range from an understated "ewwww" to a slightly more gastronomic "my guts are lurching" (from the aptly named Crusty Stinkersquirt) to a heady "oh, the prescience!" headline at iracane.com. (Thanks, but I'll stick with RC Cola).

Explain, please?
I want no-tax-but-still-spend Republicans to explain this (really? a fiscal hurricane?) and I want intelligent design's proponents to explain this.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:13 AM

The nomination of another middle-aged white guy to the U.S. Supreme Court has shifted blog discussion toward women's issues, intended or not.

Maureen Dowd's examination of the women's movement, What's a Modern Girl to Do?, excerpted from an upcoming book, is today's 10th most-shared link, with reactions ranging from Nichelle Newsletter's "get thee to a nursing home!" rallying cry to Bamber's less-than-flattering reaction.

And if the issue of abortion weren't enough to divide religious reds from coastal blues, today's most linked-to news story, about a vaccine for cervical cancer, will add to the gap. Conservatives are questioning the vaccine on the grounds that it might encourage teen-age girls to have sex. Pharyngula wonders about the wisdom of questioning a cancer-preventing vaccine; PatridiotWatch wonders how that line of un-healthy thinking might play out intimately. (If it were a vaccine for prostate cancer, would the fears be the same? Hmmm...)

Worried about winter?
Speaking of fears, can't help but notice increasing attention to bird flu and other potential threats for the Winter of 2005:




Let the showdown begin?
Tensions are ratching up in the nation's capital, and not solely because of Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. Adding to the fray are Tuesday's hastily called closed Senate session (today's No. 9 top news story) by Sen. Minority Leader Harry Reid (today's fourth most-discussed blog personality) to hash out the Bush Administration's prewar intelligence, with plenty of bloggers posting Reid's statement in its entirety. That pushed former Office of Management and Budget Directory Larry Lindsay into the burstiest person spotlight because he's cited in the memo as another administration official who was "let go" for, supposedly for stating the facts about the war.

The next chapter
And while no one's able to predict what'll happen to recently indicted Vice Presidential Chief of Staff Lewis Scooter Libby, Tuesday's BlogPulse Spotlight blog found this little gem about Libby's juicy extra-curricular writing endeavors, a fitting beginning to National Novel Writing Month.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:02 AM

Like Boston fans a year earlier, the Sox fans in Chicago are celebrating a long-awaited World Series Championship in a four-game sweep that included today's burstiest phrase: the longest World Series game ever. Go Sox!

Conservatives are also claiming victory, undoubtedly, with today's news that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from the judge pool. Given what many claimed was a lack of a paper trail for Miers, critics and reporters nonetheless uncovered one in the past few weeks (today's 9th most-shared link among bloggers). BlogPulse's trend graph capabilities captured the chatter about confirmation vs. withdrawal since the day Miers' name was first announced:



A new Google thing?
For a brief time Thursday, a project called Google Base (today's No. 3 link, although the site's not actually working now) was live on the Internet, and a number of bloggers, including ars technica, got a sneak peak at this one-stop content collection shop, or whatever it's going to be. Citations linked to the site included plenty of foreign commentary.

Reporting under fire
Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin has taken on USA Today for altering a photo of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. And in reporting of another kind, the blogger at The Fourth Rail is asking for donations so he can be embedded with the Marines to cover operations in Iraq's Anbar Province. To circle back to the content of that aforementioned USA Today article, will the Fourth Rail be invited back in 10 years?

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:03 AM

Ben Benarnke, the man who will replace Alan Greenspan as head of the Federal Reserve Board (today's top key phrase), emerges as the burstiest blogosphere person on a day when major institutions, scientific findings and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue all seem to be under attack.

New Fed Head
The college bloggers at Mankind Minus One note that president Bush's nomination of Bernanke had none of the ickiness associated with the ongoing flap over Harriet Miers' trip to the Supreme Court, a journey that now has an entire conservative-led Withdraw Miers web site (No. 21 top link) attached to it. Even the GOP Bloggers site notes: "this is the oddest and most unanticipated turn of events that could have been imagined." Reaction to Bernanke is much more insightful and more enlightened (perhaps because Bernanke is, too?).

Next up: Major Religions
If sacred cows don't scare you (no pun intended), today's No. 5 blog post from Cenk Uygur (of "The Young Turks" radio fame) at the Huffington Post won't either. It's a scathing attack on the Muslim, Jewish and Christian religions. "And you thought I was inflammatory" deadpans a like-minded Brilliant at Breakfast, while All Encompassingly classifies it among other random moonbat ramblings.

Science, not forgotten
As long as major institutions are under assault, might as well throw science in the mix, too. Bloggers can't help but notice the results of the latest CBS News Poll (today's No. 16 top news story), in which only 15% support evolution while the rest believe that God was directly responsible for (or had a hand in) human development. Reactions range from "Time to Leave the Country" to Smart Christian's have-it-both-ways approach.

Indictments yet?
Speculation (and tension?) continue and heighten as the investigation continues into the Valerie Plame CIA leak, with indictments possible this week. The Democrats, through Howard Dean, (today's No. 32 top link) seem to be figuring out a response.

Today's Entertainment Spotlight
What's up with novelist Anne Rice? Today's BlogPulse Spotlight has the lowdown.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 09:47 AM

Before we get into the meat of today's blog buzz, an announcement: Intelliseek's BlogPulse.com data and analysis is being made available to AOL users under an agreement announced today by the two companies. Welcome, AOL, to the world of BlogPulse.com.

Judy Miller: The Scrutiny Continues
Now that New York Times reporter Judy Miller (today's No. 3 top personality) has written a personal account (today's second most-shared link) of what she remembers of the Valerie Plame case, and the Times has written its own piece of the coverage (today's top link), bloggers are chiming in with their own media reviews.

Jay Rosen at PressThink (today's No. 6 top blog post) isn't the only person to be a little put out that Miller's answer to the key quesiton of who identified Valerie Plame as a CIA agent is "I don't remember." Jeff Jarvis at BuzzMachine thinks the key (underplayed) news is that Miller's taking time off from the Times newsroom, and wonders if she'll ever return. The PowerLine bloggers think the whole investigation's much ado about nothing, Mark Kleiman has some theories of his own about why a name was leaked at all, Arianna Huffington thinks Miller's just a bad reporter and Editor & Publisher takes the strongest stance by asking the Times to apologize and fire Miller for "crimes against journalism."

BlogPulse's graphical feature shows buzz about Miller and special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. The June spike coincides with Miller's jailing for initially refusing to testify and her eventual late September release from jail to testify.



The elections in Iraq
Iraqis braved 100-degree-plus heat over the weekend to vote on a new constitution, and bloggers at Iraq the Model and Hammorabi feature updates, photos and analysis from the polling places.

A Halloween Alternative?
An enterprising young blogger named copinggoggles has come up with a Halloween alternative called The Puca Project (today's top blog post). Instead of demanding candy or vandalizing, trick-or-treaters are encouraged to be nice-and-greeters by doing unconventionally sweet and unexpected acts on Halloween. "Awesome idea" says a blogger who lives near Park Avenue. "Go forth and spread the magic," entreats another LiveJournaler.

What's your blog worth?
If you've ever wondered what your blog is worth, Business Opportunities Blog provides the applet that comes up with a fair-market value. Delftsman and Liberalismo have already crunched the numbers.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 08:12 AM

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!

Posted by Philip Ewing at 11:17 AM

Does anyone need proof that the rising price of gas isn't having an effect? Creating buzz? Look into the BlogPulse Trend Graph tool and see for yourself. Discussion certainly has risen in direct relation to the speed at which the numbers whirl around at the pump ($2.59 a gallon this week for me), and coverage of worldwide gas prices is today's No. 3 news story:



The citations leading from the link to that CNN story truly illustrate the worldwide phemoneon, encompassing blog discussions in a variety of languages. BridgerUS reminds Americans that they're actually among the last to get on the bandwagon.

Passings...
Fans of the movies and animation are mourning the accidental death of Pixar Studio and former Disney writer Joe Ranft (today's burstiest person). Blogger Aaron Luk notes a loss that will be felt around the world; fan Casira J. captures Ranft's behind-the-scenes but profound impact on a generation.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...in the Heartland?
Scientists (not from the wide-open plains of America) are serious about this: turning loose wild animals in the wide-open plains of America. And by that, they mean camels and lions and elephants -- animals under threat of extinction in Africa and Asia. "Really dumb," offers Gene Expression with a small lesson about rabbits introduced to Australia, while Belligerati wonders how long till such a geniune venture becomes usurped by Corporate America and commercialism.

Check out today's BlogPulse Spotlight blog for news of Sean Puffy Combs/P. Diddy's lastest name change...and other juicy tidbits from the world of entertainment and board games for girls.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 11:57 AM

Is it news when newsmakers themselves create the buzz? Indeed. Columnist and CNN commentator Robert Novak (No. 35 among today's bursty people) has been suspended by CNN for cursing and storming off the "Inside Politics" set yesterday (today's No. 2 top news story) during a discussion with host Ed Henry (burstiest) and fellow commentator James Carville. Wonkette has a particularly biting description of Novak; Captains Quarters uses the "blew a gasket" analogy while questioning the thickness of his veteran reporter skin.

Some MSM assault
Conservative bloggers are keeping up the pressure on Air America radio's funding, but it's not clear that anyone else cares quite as much. So they're also taking on the New York Times for asking questions about Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts' adoption of two children from Latin America (No. 18 and 27 top blog posts).

Hail to the Queen, eh?
In Canada, former CBC broadcaster Michaelle Jean (today's No. 2 and 6 bursty person, for spelling reasons) is on tap to become the country's next Governor General, serving as the official representative to the British monarchy. The Haitian-born reporter will be the fist black and third journalist to to hold the post, and the appointment is getting mixed reviews.

Media mention: BlogPulse Among the Best
BlogPulse has been named to Forbes.com's "100 Best Blogs" list, in the meta blogs category. Equally honored and humbled, we are.

Posted by Sue MacDonald at 10:49 AM

It took the U.S. media a month or more to pick up on the now-famous Dow