It's time again to check in on Colorado bloggers and see what they're up to. What follows are links to what each writer has picked as the most important of the last few weeks.
James Freeman's blog White Dog features this heartwarming story of an Eagle Scout who's project is to inform 1,000,000 people of their rights as jurors. Well, it warms my heart.
In a debate continued from the last RMBR Janus says some people need to be educated. No sense in having a blog if you don't get to argue.
It was only a few weeks ago when it looked like Matthew Edgar was going to take over the Independence Institute and remake it in his image. Alas, he's been lured by the fame and fortune waiting at a think tank in D.C. Fortunately for him the RMBR is open to Colorado bloggers in exile.
The iPod as a military tool: Fusilierpundit has ideas! Be sure to look for baby pictures while you visit.
Zombyboy has some thoughts on reformers and terrorist in the Middle East. It's an internal cultural struggle over there.
An interested third party nominated this Publicola post for the RMBR. Our pseudonymous blogger is incensed at the "victim disarmament" advocates in our public schools.
Did you ever get a letter from Teddy Kennedy? Jeff Goldstein has. It made Jeff very, very happy.
Colorado Luis is surprised to find himself supporting a Republican sponsored ballot initiative, this one trying to require supermajorities for state constitutional amendments.
Jeralyn at Talkleft reports that many states are taking blood by force from DUI suspects. In addition to being questionable in terms of constitutional limits it seems a bit goulish to me.
Off In The Tall Weeds is a good name for a blog. You can't use it though, because Steven Wheeler already has. Here he's writing about the lack of civility in modern political discourse.
Spring is here, the flowers are blooming, and Denver is a great place to see them. Coyote Gulch has a brief guide.
Jed at FreedomSight finds a recent decision by the 10th Curcuit to be lacking. Seems they missed that part of the 2nd Amendment that says 'the right of the people...'
Military blogger Andrew Olmsted compares and contrasts Bush and Kerry's attempts to avoid Vietnam service way back when.
JB Holston at the Rocky Mountain Progressive Network examines the possible budgets cuts the state will have to impose in the coming years. Our state faces some tough choices. Welcome the RMPN to the RMBR.
Publicola's own nomination is this post about a legal spat between the Brady campaign and the ATF.
Last time around I forgot to include a post from my own blog. This time I'll give you this, a quick post about the screwed-up priorities of our news media.
Thanks to everyone who made this a record turnout for the RMBR. I kept it as short as I could as there are 16 entries above.
Several of you sent multiple entries and asked me to pick one, which is a dangerous thing to do considering my warped point of view. Next time around we'll go back to a rotation for hosting, so if you'd like to host send me an e-mail and I'll get you on the list.
Update: The World Wide Rant makes it 17.
Hi, sorry for not getting this to you - but hey, I do what I can. Usually.
Anyway - I'd like to nominate Jon's 4 part novella-length rebuttal of a particular piece of anti-gay-marriage nonsense, which begins here:
http://www.worldwiderant.com/archives/002158.html
I asked Christianity Today to consider carrying it, as it was a response to some idiocy they posted, but - as expected - I've not received a reply.
And for those who don't want to cut and paste, click here.
Posted by: andy at March 29, 2004 09:48 AM andy: Since you recommended the post at worldwiderant, Am I to assume that you agree with what he has posted? No ? Then never mind.
If you do however, then let me make this comment. The whole question boils down to whether or not you believe that God has called, ( in the Bible) homosexuality a sin. The smple premise is that if it is a sin then we don't do it. Now don't get me wrong, Christians, ( people who believe in the Bible)do commit sins. Christians do not practice sin. i.e. Christians do not continue in any known sin. Now I didn't have to go very far in the post from worldwiderant to see from whence he comes. The remark about demigods is quite revealing. Regardless, he is entitled to his opinion. There's an old saying that goes like this. 'While I reserve the right to be wrong, I do not reserve the right to stay wrong'
Tim -
I respect your right to hold your religious beliefs. I do not think you have a right to enforce them upon others who are not hurting you in any way. Further, if memory serves, the Bible only explicitly condemns men lying with men - does this make it ok for lesbians to tie the knot and get funky?
Jon comes from a left-leaning, gay, atheist position. I come from a right-leaning, straight, atheist position. We both come to the conclusion that gay marriage should be allowed, although I'm more inclined to say get the state the hell out of the marriage business to begin with.
I also recommend you read all four parts of the post in question to see just how blatantly dishonest the anti-gay-marriage yahoos at Christianity Today can be.
Hey Walter. I wasn't aware of the RMBR till today, but I wanted to put a group blog in your sights. The Liquid List is run out of Boulder and DC. One of us is currently attempting to ingest only conservative media for 1 month. The other of us is a new dad. We have a few posts up today about Condi and the fear of precedent.
Cheers!
Posted by: Oliver at March 30, 2004 01:34 PMWell, I read the linked article, Oliver (as well as the sneering sputum coughed up into your comments section), and all I can say is I'm glad to see you've gone into your "conservative watch" project with such an open mind.
Sigh. Just what the world needs: another condescending hit piece by a boutique multiculturalist overly impressed with his own Jazz CDs who dreams of having cocktail party kudos directed his way by Maureen Dowd.
Best of luck. And make sure you brush up on your Jeff Foxworthy.
Posted by: Jeff G at March 30, 2004 02:39 PMJeff,
I hate jazz.
I hate Maureen Dowd.
I don't have an open mind about squealing bigots, Orwellian liars, and rich white people posing as victims of multiculturalism.
The commenters at TLL can say whatever they want.
The article I'm writing is about pulling myself out of my element (liberal blogs and mainstream news) and throwing myself entirely to the voices of the Far Right. I am less concerned with their issues than with how the process of alienating myself affects my life.
Thanks for reading. Glad you were so impressed.
Posted by: Oliver at March 30, 2004 03:55 PMNobody can hate Jazz AND The Eagles. It's just not done.
And to think of your subject as a collection of squealing bigots, Orwellian liars (my favorite, by the way, in that I teach at a university and have to be guarded about my positions, or else find one of your lefty "free speech" zones to safely speak from), or rich whiteys -- before even engaging them -- is self-defeating, if of course your object was ever to do anything more than substantiate your own preconceived biases.
I guess what galled my most, though, was your suggestion that you'd have to forego novels. So incredibly self-satisfied. So condescending.
But it's free country. Go. Explore "process." Naval-gaze to your heart's content. But stick to your echo chamber if you hope to have your ego stroked.
Posted by: Jeff G at March 30, 2004 04:51 PMI don't hate all jazz, it's true. I was simply responding to your assumption that I did; an assumption lifted straight from a set of Club for Growth talking points called "How to define a liberal." How cheap. How lazy. You must be watching NASCAR right now, or beating up a welfare mother. See? Just as lazy, just as cheap.
I do hate the Eagles. Because I love roots rock, and they almost ruined it.
As for defining the Right before engaging them, I can see your point. Except that this isn't nearly the first time I've engaged conservative media. I spent years in DC engaging it. This is simply the first time I've engaged them to the exclusion of all other sources. I know the enemy, Jeff. I just wanted to see what it was like to camp out with them for a month. The article, as I said, is less about politics, and more about personal alienation. If you want to call it navel-gazing, I don't mind. Probably guilty as charged. It's just that kind of article. Thay're not all going to be like that, for goodness' sake.
I assume that when you have to be "guarded about your positions" on campus, it's because you're about to say something that will get you killed, or violently attacked by a student or fellow professor. Otherwise, I might think you were scared of a healthy, if emotional, debate. (And don't tell me that you really do fear for your safety, because it's not true.)
I never suggested that I'd have to forego novels. I am merely restricting my media diet to right-wing radio, television, blogs, and newspapers. I'm well aware that there are novels written by conservatives. I am not trying to condescend, nor be self-satisfied. Nor, for that matter, am I attempting to have my ego stroked, any more than any writer is. I know my own ideology. I disagree with the Right. I'm spending a month with people I fundamentally disagree with, just to see what it's like. And then I'm writing about it. That's all.
(PS. If you want to refer to my blog as condescending and/or self-satisfied, that's fine. It's both of those things, plus sarcastic, close-minded, partisan, and a few other bad words. But name me a political blog that isn't. Or any blogger that doesn't want some ego-stroking. Nature of the format, and all that.)
Posted by: Oliver at March 31, 2004 08:18 PMOkay all you RMB's, I'm callin you out.
Help make my vacation a good one.
http://www.pervasivelight.com/blog/archives/00000225.php
Posted by: dave at April 1, 2004 11:48 AM