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Some Call It A Bonfire/Carnival Of Classiness...

We call it "Classiness, All Around Us."


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In no particular order, WILLisms.com presents classiness from the blogosphere (now with 50% more classy!):

1.

Nancy Pelosi and Eminent Domain-

Vodka Pundit (via Daly Thoughts) examines the potential motives behind Nancy Pelosi's zealous defense of the use of eminent domain to transfer property from one private entity to another private entity:

... why did I have to look all this stuff up myself? Shouldn't some MSM reporter have written about it already? It's not like it was hard to find.

Jay Rosen, if you're listening, if you changed the acronym DCCC to NRCC, and "Forest City" to "Halliburton," if Tom Delay had compared Kelo to 'the word of God,' if the family running Halliburton was also involved in legal defense for terrorists, and if the decision had also been heartily endorsed by Fox News, d'ya think I might have read about that in the Washington Post by now?

Media bias. It's real. And it needs to change.

2.

Rick Perry-

PoliPundit points out a poll showing Texas Governor Rick Perry crushing Carole Keeton (Rylander) Strayhorn in a primary face-off.

I noted this hierarchy before (Perry > Strayhorn), which even some of my Texas politics insider type of friends thought was presumptive.

Presumptive, preschmumptive.

3.

The War Against Terrorism-

Outside The Beltway takes critical aim of the Kos claim that Bush is the cause of increased terrorism:

If we go even further back and look at the data from 1975 on (the last 30 years) we'd see that the last several years of terrorism incidents on average are about average. Given that we are fighting a war on terrorism that is not all that bad (and it isn't all that great either). If we go back even further, we can see that terrorism ramped up, then down and is now ramping back up. Are we to believe that this is all due which Presidents are elected...if so, then we need to go take back the Nobel Peace Prize from Jimmy Carter.

Standing up against terrorism is not the root cause of terrorism, past, present, or future.

4.

Supporting The Troops-

Soldiers' Angel blog explains in detail how to support the troops via care packages.

Very classy.

5.

Not In Our Name-

Chan'ad Bahraini blog (via Instapundit) notes that Muslims around the world are condemning the terror attacks in London:

A candlelight vigil was held this evening in front of the British Embassy to Bahrain to show solidarity with the British people, and to express our complete rejection of the terror attacks in London that took place on Thursday

Condemning attacks after they happen is an important and symbolic step, but moderate Muslims must apply the pressure to the terrorists, eliminating any doubt about where Islam stands on the deliberate murder of innocent civilians.

6.

Super Sizing Us-

Morgan Spurlock Watch blog takes note of Spurlock's high esteem for Cuba's Communist dictator Fidel Castro:

Judging by their actions, I gather most Cubans are rather eager to be "flooded" by "American consumer crap." Last I checked, there weren't many Miamians risking their lives on ramshackle rafts to escape our "consumer crap" for Castro's anti-capitalist paradise. Let's hope Spurlock does a bit of research while he's there. More than he did for his book.

Morgan Spurlock is like so many other documentary artists today. Long on distortion and bias and agenda, short on facts and balance.

[Thanks to Political Calculations blog for pointing out the Spurlock Watch blog]

7.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm's Cool Plans-

Kip Esquire asks how making cities more "cool" could possibly fall under the purview of the government:

That $100 million for the "cool" subsidies came from somewhere else in the state budget, or from higher taxes, or from higher deficits. Someone, somewhere in the State of Michigan, is picking up the tab.

Meanwhile, Michigan is one of the few states in the country not experiencing the benefits of the expanding economy over the past couple of years.

8.

President George W. Bush-

Jay Tea points out two instances of the classiness of our President and his family.

1. "Sometimes Breeding Shows"

2. "What Didn't Happen In Denmark"

Just a profusion of classiness, all around us.

9.

Expose Exxon-

Mary Katharine Ham of C-Log gives us a glimpse of a rare species of left-wing protester:

As I continued to watch, I determined that they were indeed teaching the front, center bat the finer points of head position. As you can see, her inexperience has lead her to get caught somewhere between indignation and compassion. Focus, little one!

Somehow I think ExxonMobil will survive.

By the way, is it just me, or do those protesters seem like their hearts aren't really in the game?

10.

New Zealand's Environmentalism-

Tim Blair explores some Kyoto/Greenpeace absurdity in New Zealand:

New Zealand’s population is only four million; and, according to its leading business group, “New Zealand produces only 0.2% of world greenhouse gas emissions.” Forget Kyoto; if you closed the whole country down, the reduction in greenhouse emissions would be just one-fifth of one percent. New Zealand is so freaky clean and non globally-warmed that glaciers actually grow there.

Yet, New Zealand is actively trying to bankrupt itself chasing after Kyoto goals.

11.

Rove and the Leak-

Captain's Quarters blog explains how the media are driving the otherwise non-story about Karl Rove to embarrass the administration:

The only people engaging in a cover-up are the media -- the New York Times and Robert Novak. When they want this mystery solved, they'll tell us who leaked the name. Until then, they'll milk this for everything it's worth to embarrass an administration they dislike.

This is one of those stories nobody-- outside of activists, the collective media itself, and political junkies-- really cares about. Sure, Scott McClellan looks like a deer in the headlights in recent days. But the White House press corps, eschewing any vestige of objective reporting they had remain, is proving itself to be nothing more than a bunch of blow-dried, self-important drama queens.

12.

Human Engineering-

FuturePundit explores the emerging possibility of brain nanowiring:

Picture an embedded nanotech computer wired up to feed the mind information as images, sounds, or simply thoughts that suddenly happen. At the extreme the nanowires could be used to take over a person and control them. Picture a "Manchurian Candidate" controlled by a foreign power. Or picture criminals whose nanocomputers monitor their thoughts and send inhibiting messages that prevent violent acts and other forbidden behavior.

It is a brave new world.

13.

Polling-

Ezra Klein (via In The Agora) examines how polling may become impossible now that cell phones now outnumber landlines:

The question, then, is how long before this starts violently skewing poll results. Pollsters are legally barred from calling cell phones. Cell phone users, to some degree or another, make up a different demographic profile than the rest of the country (skewed young and economically mobile), and may have different political opinions than the land users. This got a lot of attention in 2004 but, in the end, the polls turned out almost exactly right (indeed, those who harp on the exit polling forget that nearly every poll in the country got the results within the margin of error). As the country switches to cell phones, though, that won't last forever. So when's the tipping point?

Unfortunately, our country relies on easily-manipulated opinion polls more than the only real poll that should matter.

14.

Democracy Budding In Kyrgyzstan-

Publius Pundit offers some thoughts on this past Sunday's election in Kyrgyzstan:

If someone said to me today, “Kyrgyzstan is not a democracy,” all I could say back is, “Duh.” But maybe in twenty years I will be able to look back and say, “They did good.” Because the development of democracy in Kyrgyzstan is going to be a long one, just as it is in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere in the world.

Registan spots the dancing Kyrgyz babes.

15.

Hurricane Alert-

The Mudville Gazette believes the sensationalization of minor hurricanes will cause problems down the road:

But what about next time? Sensational type reporting - and exaggeration of minor storms into major stories - contributes to the lack of response on the part of many to a major storm when one does come along. People who erroneously believe they've survived a cat 3-4 storm will be in for a rude surprise when a real one moves in.

The media need to report the facts, not invent crises where none exist. Crying wolf can and will lead to complacency down the road.

Not classy.

Also, don't forget to check out all the old Trivia Tidbits Of the Day, the Reform Thursday series, the Quotational Therapy sessions, and the Wednesday Caption Contest (entries are due each Tuesday at 11:59 PM Central Standard Time).

Last Week's Classiness Certification from WILLisms.com:

*July 5, 2005.

WILLisms.com offers a weekly classiness roundup as a weekly feature, every Tuesday, with 15 blog posts deemed classy. The criteria for submissions: incisive original analysis, quirky topics nobody else is covering, fantastic graphics, or other posts that took a lot of work. We love to spread the word on upcoming blogs, being that WILLisms.com also fits that description. If you would like to nominate a post on your blog or another blog for inclusion, email us at WILLisms@gmail.com. Write "Classy Nomination" in the subject. You can also utilize this page to make your submissions. The deadline is each Monday at 11:59 PM Central Time.

Classy.

Posted by Will Franklin · 12 July 2005 06:02 PM

Comments

Posted by: Rosemary at July 13, 2005 08:43 AM