You Can Find Blogs on Any Topic

Some time ago, Steph had asked me for a program which would allow her to organize recipes, find recipes that fit the ingredients she had, figure out diet information, plan meals for the week and make shopping lists. Finding nothing out there on the Mac, I started working up a design, but didn't get past the design, data storage formats and other lower-level items - no working code. Today I had a few minutes, and decided to check again if someone has saved me the work of writing it. Yes, yes they have: MacGourmet. (There's also an associated blog.)

Not knowing anything about the product ( I know the company from SQLGrinder), and not seeing a complete list of features at their website, I decided to look around for information, and found Kitchen Contraptions, a blog about kitchen gadgets. Some recent posts?

An in-sink dishwasher.
A review of a Zach & Dani's coffee roaster (We actually have one of these, but for some reason no coffee to roast at present. Not really a problem for me, but I'm not quite sure how Steph has gone this long without fresh-roasted coffee.)
A radio with satellite radio built-in, and actually using a wooden cabinet instead of fake woodgrain stickers.
An automatic pot stirrer - this actually looks like a really cool idea if you have a lot of sauces and gravy going at once, like at Thanksgiving.

You can find a blog about anything.

Politicism

Joe Katzman at Winds of Change, one of the best blogs around, has posted on politicism. Katzman quotes Glen Wishard:

"The rise and fall of the Marxist ideal is rather neatly contained in the Twentieth Century, and comprises its central political phenomenon. Fascism and democratic defeatism are its sun-dogs. The common theme is politics as a theology of salvation, with a heroic transformation of the human condition (nothing less) promised to those who will agitate for it. Political activity becomes the highest human vocation. The various socialisms are only the most prominent manifestation of this delusion, which our future historian calls "politicism". In all its forms, it defines human beings as exclusively political animals, based on characteristics which are largely or entirely beyond human control: ethnicity, nationality, gender, and social class. It claims universal relevance, and so divides the entire human race into heroes and enemies. To be on the correct side of this equation is considered full moral justification in and of itself, while no courtesy or concession can be afforded to those on the other."

As Katzman notes, the idea of politics as the central, meaningful experience in every life is a good umbrella for modern forms of totalitarianism. I'd go further: it's a root cause of totalitarianism. After all, if everything is political, you cannot afford to lose an election; so why have elections once the "right people" are in power? As Robert Heinlein put it:

Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.

UPDATE (12/9): Kevin at The Smallest Minority has an amazing post on ideology and the escalation of failure. How did I miss this blog for so long?

Warriors Blog the War

Beautiful Atrocities lists some of the military bloggers covering the war from Iraq.

Good Find

Mark has made a good find. The Backseat Philosopher is so new it's only got one post. And that post is good. It is a rational look at why some Democrats are having problems even talking to Republicans. Mark has a good excerpt, but you should just read it all.

Let's Try Freedom

I discovered Bob Hayes's "Let's Try Freedom" blog after getting an email from him. An excellent blog, of which the most interesting recent posts include:

A reminder of a citizen's responsibilities to defend their Republic. This is a point that cannot be made too often, and one of President Bush's greatest failings in my eyes is that he is too government-oriented to have made or to make a call for citizen participation in our collective defense. Glenn Reynolds calls this idea "a pack, not a herd." Reynolds gives as an example of this philosophy the perfect case of the ball dropped: the Washington, DC snipers. Why did the mayor or the governor not call out the militia? This was the perfect time and place for it. And as Hayes notes, it is our responsibility as citizens to take on these burdens for our own and the common good.

A reason why he switched from pro-choice to anti-abortion. On a moral level I agree with him here, and in fact have flipped my position on abortion in the same way, and for similar reasons. On a political level, though, if we can't have a political debate and come to a reasonable compromise (and we cannot do so as long as the Supreme Court mandates a solution and everyone else accepts that solution), I would rather the Federal government be kept completely away from abortion, than have the Federal government able to mandate a single nationwide policy.

A four-part defense of the electoral college here, here, here and here.

A rather unconventional take on the proper behavior of hostages in Iraq. It's one I happen to agree with: if you're captured, fight. At least don't give them the propaganda.

Definitely a new addition to the blogroll.

The Best Laid Plans

The Glittering Eye has a wonderful post about the salient characteristics of bureaucracy, Gammon's Law, and how that applies to issues like education and health care.

Varifrank

Varifrank has excellent articles up right now on the purpose of the Iraq Campaign, and its place in the Terror Wars and a rather snarky post on previous exit strategies from wars fought by Democrats. Go and read, already.

Corporate Liability

Due Diligence has an exceptional post on why corporations have limited liability for their shareholders. This is the kind of issue that is too-frequently neglected by citizens in capitalist countries, and the neglect of these issues is what creates the kind of environment where communism can gain support. Well, well worth reading.

Best of the Lot

People just keep writing things I agree with so that I don't have to. Blogs are great that way.

Andrew Olmsted

Andrew Olmsted's blog is always interesting. Major Olmsted trains soldiers for combat deployments, and his military insights (such as this on the implications of recently-announced troop redeployments from Europe and Asia as regards deployability of forces) are always interesting. But it's not just his military commentary that is good. For example, a few of his recent posts include:

• a pointer to an interesting commentary on how "gouging" is actually the free market in action, and how it ensures that goods get to where they are needed when they are needed
• a review of Unfit for Command, the SwiftBoat Vets for Truth's indictment of John Kerry's Viet Nam war and after-war activities
• a commentary on the hidden costs of government
• a well-deserved excoriation of Kevin Drum's hypocrisy

If you don't read beyond the top few blogs in terms of traffic, you are missing most of what makes the blogosphere great.

A Perfect Analysis

The most amazing thing to me about the blogosphere is the sheer number of creative, intelligent, questing minds in evidence. As an example, for one of the best posts I've ever seen, read Andrew Olmstead's discussion of federalism, freedom, and personal responsibility as opposed to statism, security and shared responsibility. It's a tour de force, and I wish I'd written it. I find I agree with every point Andrew makes. There's too much to excerpt, so please go read.

The Moral Bankruptcy of the Left

Michael Ubaldi's post on the Left's essential selfishness and particularly their indifference to liberty is excellent.

The Noble Pundit

The Noble Pundit is former stockbroker Chris Noble's blog. There is so much excellent content on The Noble Pundit that it's hard to know where to start. To make things easy on myself, I'm only going to post excerpts of items posted between Monday June 2 and today, with the exception of the investing series.

The investing series has 8 parts (so far), covering Fundamental Analysis (picking good investment choices), an addendum to the Fundamental Analysis post, Technical Analysis (deciding when to enter or exit a position), Options, The Economy and the Market, Market Mechanics, Mutual Funds, Asset Allocation, and Bonds. These eight posts have clarified a few concepts I was unclear on, and have simplified my understanding of some other points. I cannot recommend enough that you read the whole series.

Post since Monday include (and this is not an exhaustive list):

Aww. The Palestinians Are Disappointed, which discusses Palestinian reactions to the recent "roadmap" summit.

Something Postive & French???, which provides a link to this Sabine Herold editorial on freedom as a human - rather than a specifically Western - concept. (It's short, but worth reading, and has some real gems in it.)

Media Arrogance Or Military Failure? looks at journalistic navel gazing about the incident during the recent war where a US tank fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.

Oh, I Feel Much Safer Now looks at Russian involvement in the Iranian nuclear program, and includes this gem: "Giving Tehran a nuclear capability is like giving a drug addict free access to the police evidence rooms. Pretty soon all his friends will be there, everything will be gone and the neighborhood will be a more dangerous place.

Two People In Two States? looks for the source of the Palestinian fantasy that Israel is the source of all Palestinian problems, while the Palestinians themselves are pure and noble. (HINT: It's the guy that tells kids to blow themselves up.)

OK, I haven't even finished through yesterday yet. Go, read.

UPDATE (7/20/2004): How odd. I deleted some comment spam from this and closed comments, and MT nicely changed the post date to today. I don't know the original date, so it'll just stay out of sequence, then.

My Particular Friend

I am very much enjoying Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels. I just finished the 14th (there are about 20) and it is the best story (the series as a whole, rather than just the 14th book) that I've read in a long time. The characters are maddeningly human (like Dr. Maturin: naturalist, music lover, unparalleled physician, lover of liberty and hater of tyranny in any form, nice guy, drug addict from time to time and it almost destroys him repeatedly and why can't he get a handle on his life!?) and the events frequently random (like when Captain Aubrey comes home expecting public acclaim and is court martialled instead because of political maneuverings connected to his radical father). In other words, it's a lot like real life.

So I was particularly thrilled when I found My Particular Friend, which is entirely themed along the lines of the Aubrey/Maturin series. Lady Aubrey is a fellow Texan, a fellow baseball fan, and an entertaining writer.

UPDATE: Silly me: I didn't realize that this was Sharon Ferguson's site. Sharon, formerly of the excellent Los Brazos Cantina (if I recall correctly), is a frequent and welcome commenter here. I gotta learn to stop posting after midnight.

"Just Kill the Damn Dots"

One of the most egregiously-overlooked blogs around is Brian James Dunn's The Dignified Rant. To give an idea of what I mean, here is an excerpt from a recent article in which he discusses the 9/11 Commission's "connecting the dots" commentary:

And one last bit of information for those who insist on blaming the Bush administration for not connecting dots before 9-11; and for those who like to pretend that the unilateral Bush administration caused the 9-11 attack: the planning may have begun in mid-1996. (The panel report discusses this, too.) I’d love to hear administration critics discuss the state of the dots in the last half of the 1990s.

We indeed have traveled a long way since 9-11. Too many people are back to 9-10. They hate us, people. All of us. Not just the current administration. Not just the Red State citizens. Owning a bongo and tie-dyed shirts won’t save you. Nor will spouting sympathy for their cause. We’re all targets and they’ll dance over our graves if we let them.

Stop debating to the point of paralysis over what dots should have been connected and what dots existed. The dots keep killing us in the most gruesome manner thay [sic] can come up with. Just kill the freaking dots! We are at war and we must win.

Or you can read his fine rant on North Korea and Bill Richardson, or his depressing observation on the dim chance of Venezuela escaping the Communist dictatorial thumb without bloodshed, or trenchant observations on China or Europe or - what are you still doing here? Go!

Climbing Down Into the Hole

James Lileks' Bleats are frequently insightful, often wonderful, and almost always worth reading. Today's Bleat is one of the best yet. In fact, it's so good I'm going to quote a large part of it.

Sometimes the disconnect between the editorial page and the real world is so vast I wonder whether we can ever agree about anything any more. I mean, I’m reading “The Connnection” by Stephen Hayes, the book that spells out all the information and intel about Saddam and Al-Qaeda. I’m old enough to remember when this was conventional wisdom. Why, I even remember back to the end of 2001, when the general mood seemed to favor bold action to forestall future catastrophe. If we hadn’t deposed Saddam, and Bush had won a second term, and there had been a terrorist attack in 05, this book would be the Democrat’s brief for impeachment. BUSH KNEW and did nothing.

And it’s not going to get better. I don’t think the next attack will bring us together like 9/11. Last time a small portion of the nation went straight to blaming us for enflaming poor Mo Atta and his motley crew; the last three years have seen that poison spread and flourish, and blaming America for the ravings of medieval theocrats is now a legitimate argument in polite society. I’d almost venture to say that a third of the country would conclude that a radiological device exploded in Manhattan would be Bush’s fault, because he made the “evil doers” (roll eyes) super-extra-fancy-grade-AA mad.

For the last few weeks I’ve had this gnawing belief that bin Laden got lucky by attacking during Bush’s term. Conventional wisdom says the opposite, because Bush fought back. But he’s the enemy now. I ask my Democrat friends what they’d rather see happen – Bush reelected and bin Laden caught, or Bush defeated and bin Laden still in the wind. They’re all honest: they’d rather see Bush defeated. (They’re quick to insist that they’d want Kerry to get bin Laden ASAP. Although the details are sketchy.) Of course this doesn't mean they're unpatriotic, etc., obligatory disclaimers, et cetera. But let's be honest. People are coming up with websites that demonstrate ingenious technology for spraying anti-Bush slogans on the sidewalks; it would be nice if they sprayed "DEFEAT TERRORISM" or "STOP AL QAEDA" now and then. Wouldn't it?

Is that too much to ask?

Perhaps this is why I haven’t written much about the subject lately with the usual chest-thumping brio: I think it’s going to have to get much worse before we get clarity. Most days I just don’t know what to say anymore. There are fiends out there chopping off the heads of Americans for their god, and we have cartoonists who think it’s the height of insight to show the Neocon cabal as port-swilling fat men bothered by baggy pants on insolent teens.

I understand the desire to whistle when passing the graveyard; it’s human nature. I don’t understand climbing down into the hole, crossing your arms on your chest, feeling the first few warm clumps of dirt on your face, and puckering your lips for the first few bars of “Happy Days Are Here Again.”

Or "Le Marseillaise."

Honor and Dishonor in War and Argument

Palace of Reason is well-named, and Francis Porretto, who writes there, is one of the most useful minds on the Internet. This essay, on honor and dishonor and their consequences in war and argument, is but one example. Go read.

UPDATE: Francis Porretto has also posted a tangential commentary on the judicial confirmation mess. What really strikes me about this is how internally-inconsistent the Left is, yet they still seem to think that they'll be able to keep control. It's like building a tower of different-sized blocks, with a really small one on the bottom, and expecting the tower to stand indefinitely. Effectively, the Left relies on the stupidity of everyone else, which is perhaps why they're so committed to the thesis that everyone but them is stupid.

Expat Yank

Expat Yank is a blog I only came across recently, but it's rapidly making its way into my favorites. For example, this post on Muslims hating the us, or this one on travel in combat zones. Go read.

He's Reading my Mind

Brian Tiemann of Peeve Farm is apparently reading my mind. Here are his thoughts on the beginning of Europe's realization of what they face, and here are his thoughts on John Dvorak's PCMag piece on Microsoft's latest abomination.

Carnival of the Capitalists

Real life has left me remiss in blog posting, but I did want to make sure to mention Jay Solo's new Carnival of the Capitalists. It is based on the Carnival of the Vanities, with content focused on capitalism, markets and the like. The first edition is here.

Michael Totten

One of the amazing things about the blogosphere is how much great commentary and analysis one can get, and from how many angles. Michael J Totten's site is one of my favorites. If you don't already read his blog, you should start now. Here are a few of his recent posts that are really worth reading.

Blaming America First takes on - and takes down - an article by Jessica Stern in the NY Times. Stern's premise is that the US is responsible for everything, and Totten's response is a wonderful example of logical thinking, and a basis for much better analysis than the Times itself seems to be able to generate these days.

Right-Wing Terror Apologism similarly (but more concisely) takes on the frequently over-the-top Emperor Misha for slapping at the UN in the wake of the bombing of the UN headquarters in Iraq.

Unhinged in Paris looks at how Europeans are blaming the US for the European heat wave.

Target: UN, about the bombing of the UN headquarters, is most notable for the comments on the post. The ability to spark this kind of discussion is, for me, one of the great attractions of Totten's blog.

Go, read.

Carnival of the Vanities #43

Welcome to Carnival of the Vanities #43, a place to find posts you would otherwise have missed. Upcoming stops can be found here, with next week's Carnival being hosted by DaGoddess, starting on July 23. Her announcement is here.

This week, we showcase 47 blogs. These are in no particular order.

Kevin Murphy, of funmurphys the blog: The Perception of Racism
Kevin looks at how equal rates of racist acts among differently-sized populations can lead to radically different apparent rates of racism.

Andrew Ian Castel-Dodge, of Sasha and Andrew's Roundtable: Monty Python to the rescue
Andrew watches too much TV - but it's good TV.

Stephanie Medcalf, of One-Sixteenth: Texas passes philosophical exemption for vaccinations
Stephanie looks at Texas' new philosophical exemption to vaccination from an individual-rights perspective.

Pril, of Nth of Pril: Dads
Pril writes about her dad, with a little bitterness and a lot of love.

Bussorah, of Wicked Thoughts: Those Lovely Liberians
Is there anyone in Liberia worth saving?

John Ray, of Dissecting Leftism: Reparations
John Ray notes that his (white) ancestors were brought to a new country on a ship in chains to do forced labor. Should he get reparations, too?

Phil Ingram, of The Flying Chair has four posts about life in Hong Kong
Spot Regina
Population 1, Government 0
Bruce Lee - The Museum that is Yet to Be
Strange News: Apparently Elephants do Forget

Nathan Alexander, of Brain Fertilizer: Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus
And there are assault weapons, too. But so what?

Norbizness, of Happy Furry Puppy Story Time: A Primer on Patriotism for Unpatriotic Bastards
"My idea of patriotism is to love the potential of America enough to constantly be bitterly disappointed in its activities, its lunkheaded denizens with the historical memory of a fruit fly, and its mutant, corrosive pop culture that spreads over the globe like a flesh-eating bacteria."

Eva, of Easternblog: Bob's Escape
A very fun tale of Belze Bob's (the rubber Devil Duck) trip to Ottowa. Mooooooooose.

Precision Blogging is a relatively new blog, with an unusual format: just one small post each day.

Chan Eddy, of Weekend Pundit: A Modest Proposal
An, um, interesting proposal for a change to how our Representatives and President are chosen. Wouldn't it be simpler and truer to our Constitutional ideals to just repeal amendments 16 (to reimpose fiscal responsibility on the government) and 17 (to return power to the States where it belongs), and to add a provision such that no House district can consist of more than 150000 people?

Harvey Olson, of Bad Money: What I'd Miss the Most
The picture she hates that I love so much, and why it makes me glad she married me.

Tiger, of Tiger: Raggin' & Rantin': My day, or the good, the bad and the ugly
Reasons to go to the dentist fairly regularly, here presented as a cautionary tale.

Aubrey Turner, of aubreyturner.org: RFID Tags
Aubrey expresses privacy concerns about the use of RFID tags in consumer products.

Val Prieto, of Babalu Blog: Revolutionary Oil Lamps
How do you get thrown in jail in Cuba? Make ordinary oil lamps.

Alex Gray, of _a_l_e_x__g_r_a_y_: Technical Certification - What a Load of Crap
Why technical certifications are a racket. (And speaking as an IT guy, he's right.)

Chad, of yang: Hope
A very human story, with a moral or two. Worth reading. "What I hope I can impart to you with the story of my travels is that America is not merely a place or a collection of places or people. Some would characterize it as an idea, but I think that this is also not entirely accurate. I think America is a collective hope, and that both the soldiers of Fort Lewis and the students of Evergreen [College] are necessary parts of that hope."

Ibyx, of I Know This is Probably Bad for Me: Take Action on Behalf of America's Neediest Children
An impassioned and emotional call for action to save Head Start.

Peter P., of The World According to Pete: NEW SLANG...FOR THE NOT SO HIP
A list of suggestions for new slang terms.

James, of Parkway Rest Stop: The Great One
A paean to Jackie Gleason.

Sean Hackbarth, of The American Mind: Conserving Marriage
A conservative view of the the societal advisability of allowing non-traditional marriages.

Jerome du Bois, of The Tears of Things: Godisms
A kind of mandala on the nature of god. This has the kind of look and feel of a labyrinth, so (as you might guess from the name of my blog and domain, and the artwork therein), this has a particular appeal to me, personally.

Madeleine Begun Kane, of MadKane: Bush Says the Words
A funny parody of I Write the Songs, bashing a bit on President Bush over the controversy with Iraq's possible attempted purchase of yellowcake uranium from Niger.

Meryl Yourish, of yourish.com: Fish or boobs
A post about, uh, wood.

Internet Ronin, of Internet Ronin: College Summer Reading Programs
Internet Ronin suggests that people make too much of the pre-entry summer reading assigned by colleges, along with the excellent point that "If all it takes to convert students to radical thought is to ask them to read a book, democratic capitalism is in very serious trouble and will die out before I do."

Solonor, of Solonor's Ink Well: Telly...
It's amazing what you can sometimes hear yourself say in the middle of a meeting.

Sarah Fitz-Claridge, of Taking Children Seriously: Choosing Creativity - by Kolya Wolf
An article expressing why it is important to allow children to learn without coercion, and comparing children's natural learning with the scientific method.

Setting the World to Rights: Slavery
Did President Bush's comments in Africa on the evil of the American slave trade perpetuate the calumny that slavery was a mostly Western Institution?

The Yeti, of Tales from a Yeti Suit: I am the Greatest
Funny story of a night out, and maitai torture.

Adam H, of A Single Guy in the South: The Great BBQ War and The Great BBQ War Goes On
Crazy Adam H thinks real BBQ is made from pigs. Sadly, his deluded commenters largely seem to agree. Next time you're in the DFW area Adam, look me up, and we'll get some real BBQ. We Texans are kind to foreigners, so you can get cooked pig there, if you're from Tennessee or somewhere like that.

Pietro, of The SmarterCop: A Grave Situation in Florida
Pietro blogs about the potential consequences of throwing out Florida's parental consent law for minors wanting an abortion. While I'm not certain that I entirely agree with him on the consequences, or at least their probability, I do think it's interesting that "here kids can't even get their ears pierced without parental consent and the court is saying they can let a doctor perform invasive surgery without a whisper to their parents."

Kikuchyu, of Kikuchyu News: Recursive Reporting
Weblogs reporting on the media reporting on weblogs...

Christopher Genovese, of Signal + Noise: Essential Merit
Are you good enough? Even if that Nobel Prize hasn't come your way, don't be too quick to judge. Here's why.

Pieter Dorsman, of PeakTalk: Manipulating Surface Level Emotions
Pieter critically examines Canadian opinion surveys about attitudes towards the US, and how they serve their Leftist exponents.

Kevin Aylward, of WizBangBlog: More Thoughts on the Link Cosmos
Kevin has done a real service to bloggers by posting instructions on how to add the Link Cosmos (from Technorati to each post blogged. (In fact, you'll see that posts here have that feature, now.) The "More Thoughts" post makes an eminently reasonable suggestion that high-traffic, commentless sites should include this as a service to their readers.

Da Goddess, of Da Goddess: Oooh! That Woman!
This post had me laughing out loud. My wife has a tendency to get ravaged this way, too...

TimeKeeper, of Horologium: Fun With Lefty Activists
TimeKeeper takes aim at PETA activists, with a question about the hypocrisy of their fundamental beliefs.

The Raving Atheist, of The Raving Atheist: Authority
The Raving Atheist is dismissive of appeals to religious authority as a basis of arguing the rightness of opinions (in the case cited, about the Law of Moses).

Kevin Baker, of Smallest Minority: "A Mistake Free People Get to Make Only Once"
Kevin discusses the actual purpose of the second amendment, and why it is still relevant (and worth the costs) today.

Joe Dougherty, of Attaboy: Next: Chippendale by Night, Minister by Day
Joe looks at the minor bruhaha over SpikeTV's Stripperella, and wonders if it's not just a stunt to get people to watch.

Eric Lindholm, of VikingPundit: Victims of their own Success
Eric discusses how non-profits can lose their way when they carry the argument, and focuses on the NAACP as an example (he gives others as well).

Greyhawk, of The Mudville Gazette: Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy?
Part of an epic series of posts touring the walls that American soldiers guard, viewed from the dirt. Not what you'll see in a newspaper. Read the whole series, starting here.

Sharon, of Brazos Cantina: Hurricane/Tropical Storm Claudette
Notes on Sharon's feelings about Claudette, and links that caught her attention this week.

Dean Esmay, of Dean's World: Random Linguistic Observations
Languages evolve. Grammarians need to relax.

Carnival of the Vanities

Just a note to say that the Carnival of the Vanities will be here Wednesday. You still have time to get your entries in. I should be able to get in anything sent to me by 6pm CT Tuesday. More details here.

Carnival of the Vanities

Next week's Carnival of the Vanities will be hosted here at Caerdroia. In order to get all of the entries posted on the morning of July 16, I will need to have received them by Monday, July 14. (UPDATE: I can take these through about 6pm on the Tuesday, the 15th.) Entries received after that time will be evaluated, on a first-come, first-served basis, in whatever time I have available.

Please send your entries to carnival at caerdroia dot org, and include a permalink to the post you wish to submit. It would also be helpful if you would include the post's author (or relevant pseudonym), title and publication date/time (especially if you're on BlogSpot, or otherwise using Blogger, in case the link is invalid for some reason). You are welcome to include a brief summary of the post as well, which I will include with the link, if you so desire.

Editorial policy for the Carnival at Caerdroia: Every blog post I receive in time, and can reach and read, will be in the Carnival post, along with a brief summary (either submitted with the post, or written by me after I read it), in no particular order. The one exception to this is that posts containing depictions of explicit sexual acts or incitements to violence, or just long ranting insults for that matter, may or may not be included, entirely at my discretion.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Thanks

Winds of Change

Winds of Change is a group blog, headed up by Joe Katzman. There are three excellent features which make this blog worthy of note: the writing quality and opinion diversity of the contributors, the writing quality and opinion diversity of the commentors, and the focus on events through series of posts by different authors and through recurrent features such as "Winds of War". Here, then, is a sample of recent posts:

MAKING A DIFFERENCE: CONFLICT DIAMONDS - Armed Liberal points out a major and too-little-discussed engine feeding the violence in Africa, and suggests something we can do about it.

RANDINHO'S LATIN AMERICA BRIEFING: 2003-06-10 - Randy Paul glosses Central and South American politics over the last week.

BACK IN THE USSR? THE NEW E.U. - Joe Katzman discusses the anti-democratic and anti-liberal foundations of the emerging E.U. This post is also an excellent example of the quality of people who post comments to Winds of Change.

MORE ACADEMIC SELF-DESTRUCTION - Trent Talenko discusses the response of academics to the firing of Sami al-Arian, a University of South Florida professor under indictment for terrorist activities.

THE DEATH OF FRANCE? - Trent Telenko looks at the failure of France to integrate immigrants, and what that means for France in the Future.

VENEMOUS KATE'S WINDS OF WAR: 2003-06-09 - Venemous Kate glosses the war on terror.

All of this, and I haven't even finished going back through yesterday. Go read.

Courtney

I found Courtney's eponymous blog though IMAO. And what a find it was! I only read Courtney's blog every two or three days, at which point I have to spend a lot of time catching up, because pretty much everything she writes is worth reading. Here's a sample of recent entries:

my night out on the left discusses an evening with a friend, and some of his friends, and the ensuing conversations.

negative democrats is a short post about the Democrats running against Bush, instead of for some princple or policy. Best quote: "The Left's only attempts at debate and pressure sound more like a socialist bash-fest. 'Tax the rich, repeal tax cuts! Bush is a liar!" Idiots.' (And she's right: we need a serious opposition party to keep Bush from going too far right, and the Democrats aren't it.)

france's new joan of arc is about Sabine Harold, a young French conservative who's been getting some attention lately.

for some, the u.s. is always wrong points out the hypocrisy of those who called for the US to not intervene in Iraq, to now intervene in the Congo. Money quote: "I don't get it. Why were there so many anti-war protests against us going to Iraq? Even if these people didn't believe that we were going for the reasons Bush laid out, why didn't they just concede that at least the humanitarian situation would improve? This, more than anything else, shows that these NGOs and humanitarian activists are politically motivated and reflexively anti-Bush."

And there's a whole lot more. Go read.

The Noble Pundit

The Noble Pundit is former stockbroker Chris Noble's blog. There is so much excellent content on The Noble Pundit that it's hard to know where to start. To make things easy on myself, I'm only going to post excerpts of items posted between Monday June 2 and today, with the exception of the investing series.

The investing series has 8 parts (so far), covering Fundamental Analysis (picking good investment choices), an addendum to the Fundamental Analysis post, Technical Analysis (deciding when to enter or exit a position), Options, The Economy and the Market, Market Mechanics, Mutual Funds, Asset Allocation, and Bonds. These eight posts have clarified a few concepts I was unclear on, and have simplified my understanding of some other points. I cannot recommend enough that you read the whole series.

Post since Monday include (and this is not an exhaustive list):

Aww. The Palestinians Are Disappointed, which discusses Palestinian reactions to the recent "roadmap" summit.

Something Postive & French???, which provides a link to this Sabine Herold editorial on freedom as a human - rather than a specifically Western - concept. (It's short, but worth reading, and has some real gems in it.)

Media Arrogance Or Military Failure? looks at journalistic navel gazing about the incident during the recent war where a US tank fired on the Palestine Hotel in Baghdad.

Oh, I Feel Much Safer Now looks at Russian involvement in the Iranian nuclear program, and includes this gem: "Giving Tehran a nuclear capability is like giving a drug addict free access to the police evidence rooms. Pretty soon all his friends will be there, everything will be gone and the neighborhood will be a more dangerous place.

Two People In Two States? looks for the source of the Palestinian fantasy that Israel is the source of all Palestinian problems, while the Palestinians themselves are pure and noble. (HINT: It's the guy that tells kids to blow themselves up.)

OK, I haven't even finished through yesterday yet. Go, read.

Zenpundit

I don't remember where I first found out about Mark Safranski's Zenpundit, but it has become a daily read for me. Zenpundit has been around since February 2003 - or at least that's how far back the archives go - and has an incredible signal-to-noise ratio. While Zenpundit is, like most blogs, hard to pigeonhole, the focus is generally on current event, politics and foreign policy. Zenpundit features lots of quotation, excerpts and linking, and periodic analysis.

Being on Blogspot, Zenpundit's archives are not-unexpectedly broken. Recent posts of interest include:

A BRILLIANT ESSAY ON THE U.S. AND AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY, which reproduces an Eric Bergerud essay from the H-DIPLO Listserv. The quoted essay includes this particularly-excellent observation, among too many to excerpt fairly:

Now, if one views the U.S. as in a war, the
government's response is understandable, even laudable. If the struggle
against terror is viewed as an exercise in normal diplomacy then America,
not bin Laden (or Kim Jong Il) is the threat to world peace.

A WORD FROM MR. BLIX, which excerpts a Financial Times article on the latest report from UNMOVIC, analyzing data from just before the start of the recent war.

LIBERALS AND IRAQ addresses two particular themes from the Leftists lately: a) The Bush administration " lied " about Iraqi WMD, and, b) The occupation of Iraq has been an utter disaster. Excerpt:

Point A relies on studiously ignoring the history of Iraq since 1990, especially the policies of the Clinton administration and the contents of UNSCOM reports and the sacrifices made by Saddam ( $ 180 billion dollars) in order not to comply with inspections. Basically, critics repeatedly do not address these points or will say that Saddam had weapons in 1998 but not 2003, skipping over the origin of this amazing insight into Iraqi governmental operations - like when and where exactly these items were destroyed or the larger question of why Saddam would kick out the inspectors and then, secretly, dismantle his weapons. They rely on the mysterious absence of large WMD stockpiles to argue they did not exist - though logically you could make the exact same argument about Saddam with an equal amount of validity.

Two links to invaluable resources: the Founders' Constitution and an in-depth site from the Library of Congress on the Federalist Papers.

The above list of posts only covers the weekend, from Friday May 30 to Monday June 2.

An Embarrassment of Riches

The most amazing characteristic of the blogosphere, among many amazements, is how many truly excellent weblogs there are. Besides the consistently-useful weblogs like InstaPundit and Little Green Footballs, there are literally thousands of blogs worth reading. The blogosphere includes detailed focus on as many different fields as there are human interests, humor, acidic commentary and outright ranting, insightful commentary from all sides, and a host of information and opinion and sometimes just interesting personal details.

I've decided to feature one weblog every few days, with a link to the weblog and a summary of recent posts that I found interesting. I don't plan on limiting which blogs I pick by the popularity of the "target" blogs (in either direction), the subject covered, or any other extraneous detail. All I care about is excellent quality, and that the blog has been active within the past few weeks.

I don't plan on going out of my way to find blogs, but I welcome suggestions of blogs to check out.