Some bloggers are experiencing traffic surges, thanks to the continued uproar (in the blogosphere, at least) over the cold-blooded murder of American Nick Berg by terrorists in Iraq.

I’ve never seen anything like the deluge that’s hit from the Nick Berg tragedy. I went from averaging 4,000 or so unique daily visits (as calculated by SiteMeter) to over 11,000 yesterday, starting with a huge surge around 9 last night. For some reason, this OTB post is the #2 result on Google for “Nick Berg.” I’ve had over 22,000 today and it’s not even 7 a.m.

Apparently, this spike is widespread. Jeff Quinton is getting so much traffic that heÂ’s worried about his bill for excess bandwidth charges. If you can help him out, please do. Kevin Aylward, which has a direct link to the video, is experiencing so much traffic that heÂ’s experiencing technical problems with the site. Kate McMillan is getting a ton of referrals and didnÂ’t even mention Berg by name in her post.

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More info is starting to come out about what will emerge from the ashes of Comcast's purchase of TechTV.

As most folks know by now, the entire staff of TechTV was given a 60-day notice last week, that they all would lose their jobs. Inside word says that there will be a skeleton news staff remaining in San Francisco, while the bulk of production will move to G4's facilities in Los Angeles.

The new network will be called G4techTV, and will go live on 5/28.

The existing TechTV and G4 networks have a number of programs that will migrate to the new network -- shows like The Screen Savers, Fresh Gear, Robot Wars & Unscrewed from TechTV (no Call for Help on the list! [sniff!]); Cheat!, Cinematech, Portal, Judgement Day and others from G4.

The networks are each giving viewers a taste of some of the other network's programming this week and next; at 5P & 10P ET on TechTV; 4P & 11P ET on G4. A variety of programs are being shown so you can get a sample of what is going to show up on the new network.

I'm hopeful, but not optimistic. I'll give it a chance though -- the inner geek in me demands it.

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The World Wildlife Fund (I still haven't forgiven them for swiping WWF from WWE) swears up and down that there will be no more cod left on earth within 15 years.

"Overfishing of cod continues because fisheries policies are driven by short-term economic interests," said Scott Burns, director of WWF's Marine Conservation Program. "In several areas, like the North Sea and the Barents Sea, scientists are calling for lower fish quotas and cod fishing bans, but they are ignored, and business carries on as usual. The onus is on Russia and Norway to prevent the Barents Sea cod stock from suffering a similar fate to that of the North American cod stock which imploded in the 1990s and has not recovered yet."

"Oh, well, move on to something else that tastes good!"

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I see BlogSpot picked Monday (the day I also picked to finally divorce myself from them) as the day to launch their "newer, friendlier" Blogger interface.

'Course, no matter how you dress it (and how pretty it looks), under the hood, it's still BlogSpot.

I'm still looking for a decent "BlogSpot Free" button for my button bar on the left rail... If you know of any, let me know.

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Looks like Bubba is lending his support to anti-Bush groups across the board.

He appeared at a fund-raising rally for MoveOn.org and Voices for Working Families yesterday in New York. You know the spiel: "Bush is evil. If you vote for John Kerry, you can get the evil Republicans out. Just donate "X" for these organizations doing yadda-yadda-yadda..."

Feh.

But the interesting thing that came out of it was that while MoveOn.org is working against the President's reelection bid, they are "non-partisan."

Groups like MoveOn, the Media Fund and America Coming Together have raised more than $25 million for advertisements that criticize Bush's policies. Republicans contend the groups are "shadow parties" created by Democratic supporters to raise soft money.

Wes Boyd, a founder of MoveOn.org, said those accusations are unfounded and that what they are doing is legal.

"The Republican National Committee has been trying to intimidate opponents of the Bush agenda," said Boyd who maintains his group is nonpartisan. "Those charges are ridiculous."

Boyd is about as non-partisan as Al Franken's shoe. But of course, since ABC said it, it must be true, right?

Yeah. Right.

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This is actually a double-edged sword.

CBS broke all sorts of taboos by showing the Iraqi prisoner torture/humiliation photos on 60 Minutes II, justifying it by saying that it was important to show because of what it represents.

Of course, they haven't and aren't going to show the murder of Nick Berg. They are too busy looking over their shoulders with the FCC's "decency club" held high over their heads.

But seriously, there's the principle of the thing. It's easy enough for them to bash the President and the Administration, but when it comes to showing how truly evil these animals are, they drop the ball. They're not concerned -- they still got to bash Bush.

Not to worry though; Say Anything has the video if you really feel the need to see how evil these animals are.

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Nick Berg owned a business in suburban Philadelphia. His dad, his brother and his sister live in the Philadelphia area. He was a contractor who went to Iraq to help out in the rebuilding of the infrastructure of that war-torn nation.

Nick Berg's face was seen today on a web-site known to belong to Al Qaeda. Berg was sitting in front of a group of masked thugs, who forced him to give his name, then promptly decapitated him.

And we're stuck listening to whining and crying about Iraqis being humiliated.

Perky Katie Couric keeps trying to tell us how evil the Bush Administration is every morning; Snotty Peter Jennings makes sure you know the same thing as you eat dinner each evening.

Nancy Pelosi screeches the same thing with all the presence of a mynah bird. John "Ketchup Boy" Kerry fusses about it -- at least between sessions of bitching about how pundits, commentators and other politicians need to leave his wife alone (when I hear Ketchup Boy try to play tough, I keep seeing Robert Conrad from the old Eveready commercials -- you remember the ones, with the battery on his shoulder, daring you to knock it off).

But none of them will reserve the same level or intensity of anger for Nick Berg's life.

Oh, we'll hear Al Franken and Whoopi Goldberg make light of Berg's death all over the place; we'll see postings from Democratic Underground and retardedly scrawled cartoons from Ted Rall insist that Berg deserved what he got because he worked for "eeeeevil" Halliburton or some other defense contracting firm -- after all, if he's associated with the defense industry in any way, shape or form, he's gotta be evil too, right?

My God, a man's life was taken by barbaric animals! Animals who have no concept of the meaning of the words "honor" or "integrity." No idea what "freedom" really means. "Truth" and "justice" are just some misbegotten notion to them.

And we're left with people like Jesse Jackson insisting that since a few prisoners in custody were harassed by their jailers that we are all of a sudden worse than the cretins who took Nick Berg's life.

Hand-wringers like Tom Daschle will show up on the Sunday morning talking head shows to try to tell us that we deserve anything we get, because we, as a nation, didn't do what the United Nations wanted us to do; because we didn't do what the Democrats on the Hill and across the nation wanted us to do.

What do you say to Nick Berg's family? Huh?

Oh, I know -- you'll want to lay the blame for his death at President Bush's feet.

Never one to place blame where it truly lies.

President Bush didn't stand over Nick Berg with a mask on. Donald Rumsfeld didn't raise a large knife over Berg's head and cut it off -- mind you, yelling "Allah Akbar" in the process. The Republican Party didn't plaster this on their web site, claiming that this fate awaited all other Americans.

But the liberals in this nation are going to place the blame squarely at the feet of those of us on the conservative side of the fence. "If we hadn't gone to war in the first place, none of this would have happened," is what they'll say.

If we hadn't gone to war, would Washington or New York or Los Angeles be a smoking crater right now? Huh?

A new CNN survey touted on the news this morning, indicates that more than 50% of Americans believe that the Iraqi war was not "worth it." How many more Americans' deaths will it take before it becomes worth it?

To hear John Kerry tell it, we would do better to pick up our toys and go home; a veritable modern-day Monroe Doctrine, if you will. Are you ready to wall off America from the rest of the world? Are you ready for the bad guys to come knocking on your door?

After all, the city council in Hamtrammack, MI has already given the OK for the Islamic Call to Prayer to be pronounced on loudspeakers in that sleepy little Detroit suburb. How much longer will it be before the city council in Hamtrammack "encourages" people to go to the mosque on a daily basis?

Bill Cosby unwittingly came up with the best analogy to this in his classic routine, Lights Out: "It's in your home state...[bump-bump, bump-bump]...It's outside your front door...[bump-bump, bump-bump]...and it's going to eat you up!"

You want to stop it now? Or wait until it's "outside your front door?" [bump-bump, bump-bump]

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The head of Iraq's war crimes tribunal says that the US has pledged to hand over Saddam Hussain along with about 100 other criminals by June 30. That is the same day that soverignty would be returned to an Iraqi government by the United States.

Salem Chalabi told reporters that trials would begin early next year, and that judges would receive "files" on the suspects at the end of this year.

Chalabi is in Kuwait to collect evidence against the suspects.

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"Iron Blogger Republican has opened with a skewering of Pelosi, peppered with a light comparison to Leona Helmsley and a strong hint of Rumsfeld's defense!

"Also, from the Challenger's side, several dishes with a deeper history than Iraq are begun, capped off by a question of whether or not the US will win the war at all!

"Back to you...."

"Thanks, Ohta! The opening volleys in Battle Rumsfeld are complete! The Iron Blogger Republican and the Challenger have until midnight tonight to give rebuttals to the opening posts!

"You can join in and comment on both sides as we continue on Iron Blog! We'll be right back!"

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Finally, some liberal blacks are starting to see what I've been trying to say for the longest time: that the Democratic Party takes black America for granted.

"They really don't care about us," said Delegate Tony E. Fulton, Baltimore Democrat. "We are used every four years, then thrown back."

"The Democratic Party acts as if they own black people," said Delegate Clarence "Tiger" Davis, Baltimore Democrat. "The state party is racist to the core."

Another insult, said Delegate Nathaniel T. Oaks, Baltimore Democrat, is that party leaders press black candidates more than white candidates to vote for tax increases, which could cause them to lose their seats in coming elections.

"I think the Democratic Party takes black people for granted," Mr. Oaks said. "I think what [the Democratic Party] does in the state is just a reflection of what it does as a whole on the national level."

I wish more would take to heart what one of the more liberal black legislators (US Rep. Charles Rangel, D-NY) said; that black America as a whole would gain much more political power once a true two-party dialog asserts itself.

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Am I the only one who's seen commercials for the upcoming MGM movie, Soul Plane and asked, what the hell is that?!?

The description of the movie leaves my jaw hanging down to my keyboard.

Why just fly when you can soar with soul? After a humiliating experience on an airplane, Nashawn Wade sues the airline and is awarded a huge settlement. Determined to make good with the money, Nashawn creates the full service airline of his dreams, complete with sexy stewardesses, funky music, a hot onboard dance clud, and a bathroom attendant. Departing from all-new Terminal X in Los Angeles, Soul Plane gives "fly" a whole new meaning taking it's passengers on a maiden voyage full of comedy.

This sounds and looks like what my father would call a "waste of good electricity."

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Willie Talton, chief deputy of Houston County in Middle Georgia, is unopposed in his run for the Georgia House as a Republican.

"I have voted for lots of Democrats," says 60 year old Willie L. Talton, of Warner Robins, chief deputy sheriff of Houston County. "But in the last two or three years, I have been an independent voter. And as you start voting, you start learning things. I realized all of the candidates I was voting for were Republicans, so I started watching them and I started attending meetings. It seemed like it was the party of opportunities and very family-oriented. That attracted me."

Other black Republican candidates are looking to join Talton, like 30 year-old Nick Chester of Mableton (a friend of mine who lives nearby).

"I wish I could tell you that being a black Republican for me was some sort of epic adventure, but the truth is, it is not," says Chester, the son of a career military family who spent eight years in the military himself before settling with his wife, Donna, in Cobb.

"Most African-Americans are naturally conservatives," he says. "I believe in smaller, more efficient government and I believe in the traditional family as defined as one man and one woman. I am a Bible-based Christian . . . I trust that the people, when given the opportunity, make the best decisions, not the government."

"I often tell my African-American friends that we believe in the same things, except I belong to the party that cares about those things," says Chester, who is running in House District 33 against white incumbent Democrat Don Wix. The district is 31 percent black with a Republican base of about 43 percent.

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As if this would surprise anyone, Jesse Jackson has now called for the withdrawl of troops from Iraq.

The Gypsy appeared this weekend at a conference in Greece, where he made a number of statements critical of the Bush Administration's handling of the Iraq War.

During the opening session of a conference on religions and cultures in Greece, Jackson said Bush must “end the occupation of Iraq and return sovereignty to the Iraqis as quickly as possible in cooperation with the United Nations and Europe.”

“The US bias toward Israel and its support for (Ariel) Sharon’s aggressive policies have obstructed peace and triggered violence and hate in the region,” he said.

Leave it to Jesse to grab an international spotlight when he can't get a domestic one.

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1 The Gypsy! LMFAO!!!!!!!! Need to clean my monitor now

Posted by: tasha at December 05, 2004 06:27 PM (ZhvMb)

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From Sunday's New York Newsday:

Minority children are more likely to be hurt in falls from buildings than white children, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center.

Young Latino and black children were twice as likely to be seriously hurt in a fall from a building than white children, the study found.

It also found that children in low-income ZIP codes were more likely than those in more affluent neighborhoods to suffer injuries in a fall from a building.

I'd better not say that too loud, the Soul Patrol may pick up on that and try to use it for real!

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1 If I was living with small children in a multi-story building that had windows without screens, and the building management would not provide screens, I would go to the hardware store and buy a hammer, nails and a roll of wire. Then I would drive nails about 5 inches apart into the wall around the lower halves of the windows and weave wire back & forth and then up and down to make screens. When I moved out, the nails could be pulled out and the small holes spackled over.

Posted by: N. Beckmann at May 09, 2004 12:59 PM (0GNJF)

2 "Young Latino and black children were twice as likely to be seriously hurt in a fall from a building than white children, the study found." Hmmm, maybe white men can't jump, but they bounce better?

Posted by: Pat Curley at May 09, 2004 05:21 PM (XQEqy)

3 Right, right......and if Grandma had "whatever", she'd be Grandpa. Luuuuv that intellectual stimulation.

Posted by: Beau at May 10, 2004 04:28 AM (GpmN8)

4 What a stupid thing to study!

Posted by: La Shawn Barber at May 10, 2004 08:20 AM (Qa+f/)

5 They got funding for this? I must be doing something wrong in my career.

Posted by: maura at May 10, 2004 04:44 PM (OO/sE)

6 Lets have a funded study of why boogers get hard over time. It is equally important.

Posted by: tasha at December 05, 2004 06:29 PM (ZhvMb)

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Actor Brad Pitt says that he thinks fashion conscious men (read "metrosexuals") will wear Greek-style skirts after his new movie, Troy hits theaters next weekend.

At a recent press conference hyping the flick, Pitt was asked about appearing as the nearly naked Achilles.

``I'm naked all the time at home.''

``Men will be wearing skirts by next summer. That's my prediction and proclamation,'' he said with a laugh. ``The film answers to both genders. We were going for realism and Greeks wore skirts all the time then.''

No, I figure this trend is reserved for the Queer Eye set. (Can you imagine a 350 pound denizen of far north Georgia making the trip down just to get his Troy skirt?

Just damn. Now I need Draino to get that image outta my mind.

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The media industry has been infested by the rise of pseudo-journalists who go against journalism's long tradition to serve the public with accurate information, Los Angeles Times Editor John S. Carroll told a packed room in the Gerlinger Lounge (at the University of Oregon) on Thursday.

Guess.

In a scathing critique of Fox News and some talk show hosts, such as Bill O'Reilly, Carroll said they were a "different breed of journalists" who misled their audience while claiming to inform them. He said they did not fit into the long legacy of journalists who got their facts right and respected and cared for their audiences.

Remember? We're supposed to be the bad guys.

Part of the problem of the mainstream media with FNC is that Fox doesn't pretend to be impartial in the same way that many of them pretend to be.

Fox doesn't pretend that the rest of the field is as pure as the driven snow either. Fox dares to cross the line and let everyone else in on the joke: that most of the media are liberal, and that they (Fox) are only providing an alternative.

Does that make them evil "pseudo-journalists," to use Mr. Carroll's terminology?

Of course not! Fox is but an alternative -- and judging by the ratings, an alternative that a significant portion of America is interested in listening to.

It's too bad that Carroll and others like him are so wrapped up in their own self-flaggelation that they don't see that truth.

And if they don't see that; if they only want to report what they feel is "right and just," then the question becomes who actually are the "real" journalists and who are the rumor-mongering "pseudo-journalists?"

(Courtesy Wizbang & blogoSFERICS)

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Ten days ago, a man's fantasy became reality in a form never before seen, Iron Blog, a giant debating battlefield.

The motivation for spending his fortune to create Iron Blog was to encounter new, original thought, which could be called true, artistic creations.

To realize his dream, he started choosing the top bloggers of various schools of thought. And he named his choices the Iron Bloggers, the invincible bloggers of debating skill.

Iron Blogger Democrat is Jay Bullock; Iron Blogger Green is R.G. "Robin" Pratt; Iron Blogger Libertarian is Vinod Valloppillil; and Rosemary Esmay is Iron Blogger Republican.

Iron Blog is the battlefield where the Iron Bloggers await the challenges of master bloggers from all over the blogosphere.

Both the Iron Blogger and the Challenger have twenty-four hours to first tackle the theme topic of the day. Using all their senses, skills and creativity, they're prepared to present intelligent arguements never heard before.

And if ever a challenger wins over the Iron Bloggers, he or she will gain the people's ovation and fame forever.

Every battle, reputations are on the line in the Iron Blog, where supreme debaters pit their skill against each other.

What inspiration will today's challenger bring, and how will the Iron Bloggers fight back?

The Heat Will Be On!

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US Senator Joe Biden (Moonbat-DE) may be inviting a Zot from the Almighty in his zeal for getting to the Bush Administration over the Iraqi prisoner fiasco.

Once those people are identified, Biden said, Bush must "demand the resignations for whoever is involved in this policy, and that includes Lord God Almighty himself. It includes anybody involved."

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Juliette brings up a fascinating point about the confirmation process (or with this Administration, lack of confirmation process) in the Senate.

If Rummy leaves, it ain't gonna be pretty.

Say Donald Rumsfeld resigns or is asked to do so. (Highly unlikely, I know. But humor me.) What are the chances of the US having a new SecDef confirmed by the senate between that hypothetical date and January 20, 2005?

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