Blogs of War

PresidentialWatch08 has mapped over 500 political blogs, including Blogs of War. Their innovative interface allows users to dig into the posting and linking trends of the political blogosphere. Be warned, you can kill a ton of time creating reports.

Presidential Watch 2008 is pleased to bring you the ultimate set of tools to see, hear and feel what citizens and supporters are saying on the Internet about the 2008 presidential elections.

Our non-partisan observatory of the 2008 netcampaign offers to monitor and analyze the important trends of the campaign, the opinions of citizens and the continuously evolving standings of the candidates taking part in the race, from the primaries to the final run-up.

The tools and the contents we provide should satisfy your private interest for politics. They will also give you great insight for your posts and articles on the presidential race.

Where is the debate happening ? What are the hot topics on the agenda ? Who’s making the news ? Who are the online community leaders ? Here are very simple and comprehensive ways you can answer these questions.

H/T PSFK.com

Those are the relevant updates posted by the team on Twitter. It’s my favorite way to follow the mission. Nearly 30,000 people seem to agree.

Science News also has an update:

The Phoenix team was surprised to detect the water ice in the latest sample delivered to the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument, or TEGA instrument, said William Boynton, a TEGA co-investigator from the University of Arizona, during a press briefing.

Delivering an ice-rich sample to one of TEGA’s eight ovens proved to be a challenge for the scientists for the past month. When the latest two attempts failed, the team instead decided to dig and dump a sample of soil taken from just above the ice layer.

The analysis of this sample, however, showed that “this was icy soil,” Boynton said. The results show that when the oven heated the soil, some of the sample melted at 0o Celsius — the melting point of ice.

Go Greyhound? I don’t think so:

As horrified travelers watched, a Greyhound Canada bus passenger repeatedly stabbed and then decapitated a young man who was sitting and sleeping beside him, a witness said Thursday.

“There was a bloodcurdling scream. I was just reading my book, and all of a sudden, I heard it,” Garnet Caton, who was sitting in front of the two men, said of the Wednesday night incident west of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.

“It was like something between a dog howling and a baby crying, I guess you could say,” Caton said. “I don’t think it will leave me for a while.”

I drive by Houston’s Greyhound terminal daily. This story is less surprising after seeing the collection of characters that hang out around that place.

Update:
The victim has been identified as 22 year old Tim McLean. A Facebook group has been created in his memory.

The modern mythology of Superman brilliantly suffused with Al Gore’s bizarro take (pun intended) on the world:

Former vice president Al Gore—who for the past three decades has unsuccessfully attempted to warn humanity of the coming destruction of our planet, only to be mocked and derided by the very people he has tried to save—launched his infant son into space Monday in the faint hope that his only child would reach the safety of another world.

“I tried to warn them, but the Elders of this planet would not listen,” said Gore, who in 2000 was nearly banished to a featureless realm of nonexistence for promoting his unpopular message. “They called me foolish and laughed at my predictions. Yet even now, the Midwest is flooded, the ice caps are melting, and the cities are rocked with tremors, just as I foretold. Fools! Why didn’t they heed me before it was too late?”

Al Gore—or, as he is known in his own language, Gore-Al—placed his son, Kal-Al, gently in the one-passenger rocket ship, his brow furrowed by the great weight he carried in preserving the sole survivor of humanity’s hubristic folly.

A post on LiveLeak contains the lyrics:

I’m back on it like I just signed my record deal
yeah the best is here, the Bentley Coup paint is dripping wet, it got sex appeal
never should have hated
you never should’ve doubted him
with a slot in the president’s iPod Obama shattered ‘em
Said I handled his biz and I’m one of his favorite rappers
Well give Luda a special pardon if I’m ever in the slammer
Better yet put him in office, make me your vice president
Hillary hated on you, so that b^$&%* is irrelevant
Jesse talking slick and apologizing for what?
if you said it then you meant it how you want it have a gut!
and all you other politicians trying to hate on my man,
watch us win a majority vote in every state on my man
you can’t stop what’s bout to happen, we bout to make history
the first black president is destined and it’s meant to be
the threats ain’t fazing us, the nooses or the jokes
so get off your ass, black people, it’s time to get out and vote!
paint the White House black and I’m sure that’s got ‘em terrified
McCain don’t belong in ANY chair unless he’s paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Ball up all of his speeches and I throw em like candy wrap
cause what you talking I hear nothing even relevant
and you the worst of all 43 presidents
get out and vote or the end will be near
the world is ready for change because Obama is here!
cause Obama is here
The world is ready for change because Obama is here!

Those lyrics won’t sit well with most Americans. Luda is bringing more harm than good to the campaign (not that I have a problem with that). Obama’s people seem to agree:

“As Barack Obama has said many, many times in the past, rap lyrics today too often perpetuate misogyny, materialism, and degrading images that he doesn’t want his daughters or any children exposed to,” said spokesman Bill Burton. “This song is not only outrageously offensive to Senator Clinton, Reverend Jackson, Senator McCain, and President Bush, it is offensive to all of us who are trying to raise our children with the values we hold dear. While Ludacris is a talented individual he should be ashamed of these lyrics.”

Dr. Larry Sabato points to a significant flaw in an Obama-Kaine ticket:

Other than the possibility of racial leakage at the polls–the chance that many white voters who would otherwise vote Democratic this year will be unable to cast a ballot for an African-American–there is no greater threat to Obama’s victory than his inexperience. With fewer than four years in Washington as a senator, most of which has been spent running for president, plus a stint in the Illinois State Senate, Obama’s public office resume is undeniably thin. His recent successful Magical Mystery Tour of eight European and Middle Eastern countries notwithstanding, Obama has little or no foreign policy, military, and national security experience.

Unless one counts foreign trade missions, Kaine has even less knowledge of these areas than Obama. Survey after survey has shown that Americans have a hard time, at least so far, seeing Obama in the role of commander-in-chief. A VP pick with solid background in the military or international arena would be reassuring. Kaine provides no comfort there, and it may cost Obama. Overall, Kaine has executive experience as a mayor and governor that perhaps balances Obama’s purely legislative resume. Yet this would be a team whose elective resume is rather skimpy, beginning only in the mid-1990s, with just one truly consequential office each–and not a full term in it for either.

The experience gap is a trap for Obama any way you look at it. If he were to choose a significantly more experienced running mate he’d just be forced to tell us why the less experienced guy is leading the ticket. The voter’s focus still lands on an incredibly light resume.

A more detailed USGS map shows the epicenter to be south of Pomona.

The websites of LA-based media are getting hammered but you might be able to get through:

KCAL (CBS)
KABC (ABC)
KTTV (Fox)

It’s always good to see justice catch up with a corrupt politician – regardless of their party affiliation:

In a 28-page indictment from a federal grand jury, Stevens was charged with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial forms.

Federal investigators had been looking into improvements made to his home in Alaska.

Stevens has been the subject of a wide-ranging federal investigation focusing on Alaska state lawmakers and an energy company in the state. FBI agents searched his Alaska home in July 2007.

You may remember that his home was raided just about a year ago:

Stevens, the longest-serving Republican senator in history, is under scrutiny from the Justice Department for his ties to an Alaska energy services company, Veco, whose chief executive pleaded guilty in early May to a bribery scheme involving state lawmakers.

Contractors have told a federal grand jury that in 2000, Veco executives oversaw a lavish remodeling of Stevens’s house in Girdwood, an exclusive ski resort area 40 miles from Anchorage, according to statements by the contractors.

The indictment concerns seven “false statements” related to the remodeling of his home:

From May 1999 to August 2007, prosecutors said Stevens concealed “his continuing receipt of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of things of value from a private corporation.” The indictment released Tuesday said the items included: home improvements to his vacation home in Alaska, including a new first floor, garage, wraparound deck, plumbing, electrical wiring; as well as car exchanges, a Viking gas grill, furniture and tools.

No comment, yet, from the Senator or his staff:

The Department of Justice has announced a 1:20 p.m. ET press conference to discuss the details. Stevens’ Washington office is shut down right now and no one is answering phone calls, and a spokesman in Alaska declined to answer questions.

I think rendition to Egypt sounds like fair treatment for the senator.

A minor setback for Jane Novak’s effort to free Yemeni journalist Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani:

The Court of Appeals, specialized in terrorism issues, delayed looking into a request by the defense lawyer of journalist Abdul-Karim al-Khaiwani to release him until November 2008.

The court took the decision in an appeal session on Tuesday on the case of 15 people, called Sana’a Second Cell, convicted by a primary court of forming an armed group to attack country’s interests and supporting rebels in Sa’ada, north of Yemen.

The first convict Jafar al-Marhabi was sentenced to death and other 13 were sentenced to different terms in jail. Al-Khaiwani was sentenced to six years term in jail over “writing articles against the president and possessing CDs supporting al-Houthi’s rebellion and threatening the country’s interests”. The court quitted one of the convicts after he died inside the detention unit.

Jane, who blogs at Armies of Liberation, sent the following message via Facebook this morning:

What a disaster! Al-Khaiwani’s appeal is postponed until November. Even the court says he was sentenced to jail for writing articles. He is doing well, but I’m concerned for his health. Any ideas? There’s over 300 of us, what can we do as a group that would bring pressure or attention on the regime and the case?

One thing you can do to help is join the Campaign For a Free Media in Yemen group on Facebook. It has additional links to an online letter writing campaign and supportive bloggers.

When that dorky friend of yours stops answering phone calls, showing up for work, or even bathing you’ll know why:

The Star Trek universe will appear for the first time in a massively multiplayer online game. Everything from the elegant domes of Starfleet Academy to the ancient temples of Vulcan, from the towers of Qo’noS to the Fire Caves of Bajor, from the mysterious Mutara Nebula to the unexplored voids of deep space, all will be represented in stunning 3-D graphics. Immerse yourself in the future of the Trek universe as it moves into the 25th century: a time of shifting alliances and new discoveries.

Adventure in the Final Frontier: Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations in an expanding vast universe. Make contact with alien races, discover resources and uncover mysteries that will change the future of the Star Trek universe.

You Are the Captain: Command your own starship as a Federation Captain or a Klingon Warrior. Outfit it with the systems that you need to make your mark in the galaxy. Customize your ship as you see fit. Recruit, train and mold your crew into an elite force for exploration and combat.

Surface, Shipboard and Deep Space Adventures: Command your vessel in thrilling space battles, or beam down to planets with your away team for face-to-face confrontations. Missions will take you and your friends into space, planetside and even inside starships!

Start planning your interventions now.