Yay for bloggers

Two fat ladies argue in court about calling each other fat on their blogs? Sounds like good reading to me. One sued the other for this or that, blah, blah, blah, the good news is the respondent's first amendment rights got the case thrown out. (Redding Record Searchlight)

The W's beat the C's last night. The Warriors have won 13 of 18. (San Francisco Chronicle)

The New York Times, deciding John McCain has had good publicity for long enough, has run a story regarding his non-romantic relationship with a lobbyist, eight years ago, emphasizing romantic rumors. The piece as a whole, is a pretty dirty hatchet job. A significant portion is spent documenting McCain's involvement with the Keating scandals of the '80's, even though McCain was allowed to keep his office and, oh yeah, re-relected. That something, which really belongs on Page 6, may have happened eight years ago but only shows up today with McCain the likely Republican nominee, seems insane. Even more so, the report is not particularly provocative in that much of the 'reported' information has been available for that past eight years. His advisers at the time, the ones who haven't become "disillusioned, " talk openly about it, citing only concerns. The advisors who are described as disillusioned, seem to represent the foundation of information for this piece. All told, the Times story feels like a smear effort when one isn't really there to be uncovered, especially when the bulk of it recaps McCain's involvement in the Keating episode and subsequent efforts to keep a clean image for himself and all of congress. If the New york Times were actually interested in reporting real violations, they might focus on something other than what is essentially equivalent to a McCain nose-pick, focusing instead on the actually corrupt congresspersons. This is nothing more than reaching for hope to aspire for scandal. It's like the Times has adopted the Clemens offense, recognizing that simply throwing information out, however meaningless, might sway opinion if accompanied by a insinuation, however vague.