Who reads blogs?

Well, no one reads MY blog, but you know blogs have hit the big time when...

...[S]ome analysts say U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials might be starting to track blogs for important bits of information.

For the record, the privacy issue is BS. I actually think it's great (honestly) that intelligence officials have the creativity to think of reading blogs, and the technical knowledge to find them. Remember how the FBI couldn't computer-search two words at once before 9/11?

P.S. It's interesting that the word "blog" began its life with a small first letter. All other terms about the Internet I can think of (Internet, E-mail, Web, etc.) began their lives with capital first letters. Some retain the capitals, some don't. But they were all born that way.

Maybe voting is for old people.

Who else could have come up with this?

In an effort to capture the elusive youth vote, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) will get into the ring tomorrow with two World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) competitors, superstar Chris Nowinski and the brawny women’s champion, who goes by one name — Victoria.

A California political operative once told me that you have no message without the right messenger. It's intuitively true. Pelosi, Clinton...a little intuition?

Zeitgeist

It's changed. Not changING. ChangED. Example:

No surprise.

I'm a traditional liberal.

Take the poll.

Vote In Our Poll: President Bush Needs Your Help - Center for American Progress

My rejection of the death penalty trumps your pro-life stance, foe!

Or something. (I somehow resisted tacking the phrase "now begone!" to the end of that title.)

In any case, go Dems:

House Democrats are preparing a “Catholic Voting Scorecard” in an effort to show that Catholic Democratic lawmakers have adhered more closely to the position of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy on key issues than their Catholic Republican counterparts.

Democratic sources say Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Nicholas Lampson (D-Texas), both Catholics, are spearheading the project, which will compare the votes of Catholic members of both parties on a number of key issues that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops identified as its legislative priorities.

I live in just the right neighborhood.

I went to sign up for the "National Bush in 2004 Supporter Meetup Day" in my neighborhood (really), only to be confronted with this reassuring message:

Not enough Bush Supporters near Hollywood-East LA, CA can make it, so this month's Meetup is cancelled.

Probably just as well. The "Impeach Bush" Meetup in my neighborhood turned out this crew:

Says it all.

The first 3 wire items, in order, from today's Salon.com main page:

More Marines join siege of key Iraqi city

Iraq militants threaten to kill American

Bush catches bass with crew from TV show

Go, Krugman.

Smear Without Fear

Nothing more dangerous than an angry Krugman.

WOO F'ING HOO!

Prosecutors Are Said to Have Expanded Inquiry Into Leak of C.I.A. Officer's Name:

"Prosecutors investigating whether someone in the Bush administration improperly disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. officer have expanded their inquiry to examine whether White House officials lied to investigators or mishandled classified information related to the case, lawyers involved in the case and government officials say.

In looking at violations beyond the original focus of the inquiry, which centered on a rarely used statute that makes it a felony to disclose the identity of an undercover intelligence officer intentionally, prosecutors have widened the range of conduct under scrutiny and for the first time raised the possibility of bringing charges peripheral to the leak itself."