If you want to be the next George Will or Paul Krugman, you’d be well-served to take up blogging now, because it’ll make you a better pundit. If you want to be the next Ian McEwan or Philip Roth, or the next Alastair McIntyre or Richard Rorty, I’d advise you to rip your internet cable out of the wall now, before it’s too late. Ross Douthat

The Nielsen/Net Ratings have changed the way they measure blog traffic from tracking the number of pages visited to the actual time readers spend on the blog. Since I’d notice a change in my own figures over the last few weeks I thought I’d see what my performance over the last 12 months has been.

What I found was a fortunate spike that I think has been caused by the recent Bloglines hiccup.

How did that happen?

I’m not sure, but here’s what I think went on. On 30 June I fell off the Bloglines radar due to a hiccup at their end. It wasn’t until 12 June that the RSS feed was working properly again. During that time my number of visitors plummeted. (They’re still recovering.)

I have to think that a lot of those visitors were bots of one type or another because they don’t stay long (less than 30 seconds) and they’ve been skewing my linger time. Without Bloglines alerting the bots, I think they’ve been staying away.

The question then becomes, how does Nielsen factor in the bots when things are running the normally.

I don’t know.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

1411 Is It Delaney Or Professor Kirk?
1137 Our Jihad Against Cliches Continues

This could be a fun project. Is there a web savvy artist out there who could do the graphic part if I crunched the numbers? (I got dibs on Hc.)

When I finally slept, I dreamed in headlines and bad newspeak: Predawn fires … shark-infested waters … steamy tropical jungles … the solid South … mean streets and densely wooded areas populated by ever-present lone gunmen, fiery Cuban, deranged Vietnam veteran, Panamanian strongman, fugitive financier, bearded dictator, slain civil rights leader, grieving widow, struggling quarterback, cocaine kingpin, drug lord, troubled youth, embattled mayor, totally destroyed by, Miami-based, bullet-riddled, high-speed chases, uncertain futures, deepening political crises sparked by massive blasts, brutal murders — badly decomposed — benign neglect and blunt trauma. I woke up, nursing a dull headache …’ Edna Buchanan via John Ettorre

Nearly two-and-a-half years ago I discovered the blogging of Bill Callahan and made the comment in A New Roldo… that his writing about economics and politics in Cleveland reminded me of one of my journalistic heroes, Roldo Bartimole. Bill never let me down as this most recent post on our latest power grab by the rich greedy shows.

Bill writes:

Why is Cleveland”s labor federation clamoring for a $400 million subsidy to one of the city”s most anti-union industries… a subsidy that will, in fact, strongly favor the most anti-union local employer in that industry?

That”s one of the many mysteries surrounding the Convention Center Sales Tax issue.

Maybe because the building trades will benefit and they don’t care if their brothers and sisters get screwed?

There”s been a lot of talk about the benefits of this maneuver to Forest City. But nobody seems to have noticed the other big winner – the Marriott Corporation. Or the apparent big losers – the members of UNITE HERE, the hotel workers” union.

Marriott has four downtown properties with a total of nearly 1,300 rooms: The Marriott Society Center, the Renaissance on Public Square, the Ritz-Carlton at Tower City, and the Marriott Residence Inn on Huron. All are within a couple of blocks of Sam Miller”s preferred CC site connected to Tower City, and two are part of the Tower City complex. All are non-union. Everything I hear says that Marriott management in greater Cleveland is quite deliberately and effectively opposed to union organizing activities among its employees.

Bill posed some questions to Tracey Smith, president of Unite Here’s local 10. As he writes:

Two business days later, I haven”t gotten a reply.

Why am I not surprised?

It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

CHUCK HESTON WOULD BE PROUD… Keep reading…

AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring silverscreamgrl. Keep reading…

SWAPPING CAVIAR FOR CHEEZ WHIZ… The gnomes jesters at The Motley Fool have glanced askance at the June sales figures coming out of Wal-Mart and see a harbinger of economic bad times. How could rising sales at the nation”s world”s largest retailer be anything but a sign of good times ahead? Keep reading…

WAL-MART WON”T SUE TUCSON… Is it just me or does Wal-Mart seem to doing a bit of legal triage these days? It seems that the Bentonvile Behemoth is picking its legal battles more carefully. I think this is a good sign for people who think Wal-Mart can change. From The Arizona Star: Keep reading…

SEARCHING FOR AMERICA… Keep reading…

NOW THIS IS SERIOUS ANGER… Via Post Secret. Keep reading…

WHAT BUYING CHEAP PLASTIC CRAP GETS YOU… The good news is that Wal-Mart, through it”s British subsidiary Asad, is investigating near-slavery levels of employee abuse in Bangladesh. The bad news is that Wal-Mart through its the focus on prices creates the precise situation that it is investigating. Keep reading…

“IT”S JUST ONE SUPERMARKET…” I read a lot of Southern writers because I find their voice authentic. Lately I”ve been noticing Wal-Mart showing up more and more in Southern fiction. And what the authors have to say ain”t pretty. Like this passage from Boy”s Life by Robert McCammon: Keep reading…

ONLY FIVE…? I”m not sure why this story is showing up on the radar – it”s two-years old – but it”s still interesting. While Tom Peters Wallops Wal-Mart, 37 Signals found 5 business lessons from Costco in this New York Times article. Keep reading…

THE WHOLE WARMTH BUSINESS… Despite the hundreds-of-thousands (millions?) of dollars it spends on public relations, Brian White opines why exactly it is that Wal-Mart can”t seem to catch a break when it comes to how its image is portrayed in the media. Keep reading…

FORGET WARMTH… WAL-MART IS RELENTLESS… Here”s a cautionary tale that might make you think that Wal-Mart has been taking lessons from Bart and Lisa Simpson. The citizens of Lawrence, Kansas are learning that vigilance is the price of freedom from cheap plastic crap. Keep reading…

STILL MORE WAL-MART POISON FROM CHINA… How about a bill in Congress declaring a moritorium on all products manufactured in China until we work out this whole poison-Americans thing? What I like is how the manufacturer is in Providence, Rhode Island; but the earrings are manufactured in China. Keep reading…

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

My son came home from school one day,
With a smirk upon his face.
He decided he was smart enough,
to put me in my place.

“Guess what I learned in Civics Two,
that’s taught by Mr. Wright?
It’s all about the laws today,
The ‘Children’s Bill of Rights.’

It says I need not clean my room,
Don’t have to cut my hair
No one can tell me what to think,
or speak, or what to wear.

I have freedom from religion,
and regardless what you say,
I don’t have to bow my head,
and I sure don’t have to pray.

I can wear earrings if I want,
and pierce my tongue & nose.
I can read & watch just what I like,
get tattoos from head to toe.

And if you ever spank me,
I’ll charge you with a crime.
I’ll back up all my charges,
with the marks on my behind.

Don’t you ever touch me,
my body’s only for my use,
not for your hugs and kisses,
that’s just more child abuse.

Don’t preach about your morals,
like your Mama did to you.
That’s nothing more than mind control,
And it’s illegal too!

Mom, I have these children’s rights,
so you can’t influence me,
or I’ll call Children’s Services Division,
better known as C.S.D.”

Of course my first instinct was
to toss him out the door.
But the chance to teach him a lesson
made me think a little more.

I mulled it over carefully,
I couldn’t let this go.
A smile crept upon my face,
he’s messing with a pro.

Next day I took him shopping
at the local Goodwill Store.
I told him, “Pick out all you want,
there’s shirts & pants galore.

I’ve called and checked with C.S.D.
who said they didn’t care if I bought you K-Mart shoes
instead of those Nike Airs.

I’ve canceled that appointment
to take your driver’s test.
The C.S.D. is unconcerned
so I’ll decide what’s best.”

I said “No time to stop and eat,
or pick up stuff to munch.
And tomorrow you can start to learn
to pack your own sack lunch.

Just save the raging appetite,
and wait till dinner time.
We’re having liver and onions,
a favorite dish of mine.”

He asked “Can I please rent a movie,
to watch on my VCR?”
“Sorry, but I sold your TV,
for new tires on my car.

I also rented out your room,
you’ll take the couch instead.
The C.S.D. requires
just a roof over your head.

Your clothing won’t be trendy now,
I’ll choose what we eat.
That allowance that you used to get,
will buy me something neat.

I’m selling off your jet ski,
dirt-bike & roller blades.
Check out the ‘Parents Bill of Rights’,
It’s in effect today!

Hey hot shot, are you crying,
Why are you on your knees?

Are you asking God to help you out,
instead of C.S.D..?”

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

[Hat tip to Sherry Chandler for this particular find.]

This is a passage I copied from War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning by Chris Hedges.

All human history, he argued is a tug-of-war between [Eros and Thantos.] p. 158

Eddie: A couple of days ago I was doing some of the last studying for my NCO of the Quarter board when I discovered that the exam was not going to take place at the base I was at. Wow, what a surprise. Thank God the board got pushed back another day. I had a good bit of the information down, but there still were a few things that I had just received and…

This whole ordeal with the board is totally insane. No answers and no plan in place. I guess they will just wing it as they go. Moving teachers and staff well into September. It”s all a game to play with peoples futures, not only employees rifed or unrifed (who knows at this point) but also with our children”s future. my head may explode

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

0920 Priorities and Political Will
0752 Remains of the Day, 7-16-07
0734 …the difference between harassing versus non-threatening

If that headline appeared above the fold in a daily newspaper our reaction would be to ask: who do we go to war against. But there is no one enemy. There is no bearded face. There is no evil other. There is only ourselves. Honestly, I don’t know why we don’t talk about the people who die in our hospitals from correctable errors.

Tom Peters has a rant.

Let’s spend as much time and energy fixing the fixable enumerated above, 99% independent of the insurance debate, and seeing if we can tease out longer lives as a result of our investment. If our life expectancy is so damn low compared to those spending much less, aren’t we at some level getting screwed? I know that’s crude and bizarrely oversimplistic-but there’s also a big kernel of truth to the intemperate statement, isn’t there?

And as Michael Moore illustrates in Sicko, it’s not always someone else getting screwed.

There is an intense connection between poetry and political activism. I like to think it is because poets, forced by their art to see more deeply, must also suffer greatly for their passions and be driven to speak their rage at the injustices of the world. Sherry Chandler illustrates my point this week with a series of posts of the wrongs she seen this week.

I am thankful for her and her vision.

President George Bush’s former Surgeon General, Dr. Richard Carmona, spoke to Congress this week about how the Bush White House has politicized what ought to be objection, science based decision making. Sherry points to another aspect of this phenomenon at the Department of Health and Human Services.

If I’d had any facility with foreign languages, I would have been a double History/Journalism major in college. Sadly, my brain just isn’t wired that way. But I did get a minor in History and I focused on East Africa and The Middle East.

Those studies were one of the reasons I knew our adventurism in Iraq was a bad idea. Sherry, links to one more example of the consequences blind Western imperialism and its creation of The Durand Line.

There are poets on all sides of conflicts and we would do well to listen to their words. Specially when their words challenge our own thinking. Sherry links to a Ha’aritz’s coverage of a speech delivered by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish in Haifa, Israel.

I support the death penalty. If a society justly convicts a murderer, then I see no benefit in a life sentence. The problem, of course, is with the justly thing. As Sherry illustrates, our justice system is broken and to continue to execute potentially innocent people before we fix the system does harm our society.

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog pause I present: From My Dad.

Before anyone gets alls teary eyed thinking that Ohio’s senior senator has seen the light and gotten all lefty and stuff, remember his tenure as mayor of Cleveland and governor of Ohio. Senator George Voinovich was, is and always will be about bidness. (If you don’t remember all this, take a stroll through Roldo’s archives.)

So when I read this morning the Senator Voinovich thinks President George Bush has fucked (take that CNN) up the war, I have to ask: for whom does the senator think our president fucked it up?

Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, told CNN that he warned Rove last week that “The president is a young man and should think about his legacy.”

(Read: his business opportunities after January 2009)

He should know history will not be kind unless he can come up with a plan that protects the troops and stabilizes the region,” Voinovich said he told Karl Rove, whom Bush dubbed “the architect” of his 2004 re-election.

Voinovich added that other Republicans are close to speaking out against the President”s current strategy.

“I won”t mention anyone”s name. But I have every reason to believe that the fur is going to start to fly, perhaps sooner than what they may have wanted.”

In private, Voinovich is more blunt, using a profanity to describe the White House”s handling of Iraq by charging the administration “f-ed up” the war.

George Bush could bring the troops home tomorrow, fire Rove and his entire staff, shave his head and declare that he was henceforth devoting his life to feeding the homeless and it wouldn’t change his legacy one iota.

And he knows it. That’s why he’ll leave office when we pry his fingers from the edge of the desk in the oval office.