New Friday tradition: pimping the blogroll!

This is the third Friday in a row that I've set out to this, so I say that makes it a tradition...right there with the Tuesday Pirates Rant and Friday Cat Blogging...

First, a non-blogroll link: a phenomenal column from Molly Ivins:

Meanwhile, back at the full-force fun festival known as Washington, here’s a moment to cherish.

Two weeks ago, Amir Taheri had an Op-Ed article in the Canadian National Post claiming that the Iranians have a law requiring Jews to wear yellow badges. It turned out to be a complete fabrication and has been the subject of much contempt among bloggers. So Tuesday, Taheri was invited to the White House along with other “experts” to give the president their “honest opinions.” With advice like that, our war in Iran will be a slam-dunk.

On to the blogroll...

From Alicublog: apparently Jesus doesn't do favors for your baseball team. Of course, being that Dubya owned a team that never won anything, we already knew this.

From AMERICAblog: OUCH. 75,000 jobs in May. That's awful. Not surprising by any means (You mean the economy's really not doing well?? You mean it's all smoke and mirrors?? You mean I should bet the under every month??), but awful nonetheless. Also not surprising: First Draft shows us that works just aren't that confident in the job market. What could they be thinking?? Steve Soto points out that even factory jobs were lost. And he unleashes a smidge of snark (wait, does it qualify as snark if it's totally true?):

So if touting the economy now won't work as planned this November, and bashing the immigrants won’t work, what will Rove bring out of the playbook? Well, we know that we'll get the usual "Democrats are bad on taxes and spending your money" red herrings. For all his alleged mastery of politics, Rove is quite consistent and limited in his arsenal. You guessed it: Let’s tell Iran all summer long that they are “out of time”, sending oil prices even higher. And let’s also demonize gays once again.

Atrios points me to Media Matters, who points me to this:

Discussing U.S. negotiations with Iran over its purported nuclear program, CNN senior national correspondent John Roberts commented that "Iraq endured 11 years of sanctions, and, you know, we still had to go to war to get rid of what it was that they had." As professional journalists, host Wolf Blitzer and Roberts are undoubtedly aware that no weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear or otherwise -- were found in Iraq. Nevertheless, Blitzer responded: "Good point, John."

From Avedon: Gee, I wonder...

And here's an interesting datum:

Daily circulation at The Post peaked at 832,232 in 1993. The Post's daily circulation for the first three months of this year averaged 690,700, the company reported last month.

Okay, boys and girls, what started being even more obvious in 1993 that might have turned off Post readers?

Avedon also has blurbs from Rolling Stone's phenomenal "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" article. (Short answer: yes) It ain't a conspiracy theory if it really happened. Meanwhile, Attaturk prepares us for the talking points. Tristero also chips in:

The real question, of course, is what will be done about it and NO! I refuse to give into fashionable cyncism! So yes, dear friends, I really do believe the country will focus like a laserbeam on our corrupt election practices. I have no doubt the moment there's a squeaker and the Republicans lose a big one by 2% or less, the MSM will ensure that election reform becomes the only subject worth talking about, even more than the civil rights of 1 day-old fertilized eggs! (Unless there's a missing young white woman that week, but that goes without saying.)

From Booman: a thoughtful post about the continuously sad goings-on in my home state.

From Debate Link: a nice takedown of yet another clueless TNR article. I was offered a free TNR subscription last year (through Salon, I think) and turned it down. If Joementum is your hero, you don't get my clicks.

From Demosthenes: I'd missed this too. The troops aren't getting enough armor or food. Sweet Jesus.

Echidne tackles Haditha. So does Steve G. They're stronger than me...I don't even know where to begin about this one.

At Firedoglake, we find the real most important issue in the upcoming elections. And really, who cares about the economy or war or jobs?? Like that makes a difference in anybody's lives...

At Fired Up! Missouri, you can read about the latest Blunt trauma...

Because, you see, as the Governor stood on the dais in the Missouri House Chamber making that [Ethanol] policy proposal, the Governor's brother was already planning to cash in on the Governor's initiative. And Andy was working with a few of the Governor's closest political allies, Mike Kehoe, Tom Kolb and John Kolb, to do it.

From Gadflyer: A pre-review of Peter Beinart's new book...you know, the one where Democrats are actually the chickenhawks. Chris Andersen also chips in.

From Greenwald: a nice guest post (by Hume's Ghost) about media corruption.

From Great Society: I guess I have to update this post with "Election Law violations".

Lance Mannion tackles an issue that actually made the Top Headlines list on cnn.com yesterday. As we all know, the headlines are for the really really important stories.

At Pandagon: a nice summary of "Bush’s go-to black homobigot on marriage."

At Rubber Hose: a discussion of Iran's "turning Arab."

And finally, at Susie Madrak's place: King Shrill gives some advice to the future Treasury Secretary.

Before we get to the specifics, you need to disabuse yourself of any illusion that this administration rewards loyalty. Nobody was more loyal than Larry Lindsey, President Bush’s first top economist. Yet when Mr. Lindsey blurted out an inconvenient truth — that the Iraq war was likely to cost a fair amount of money (although we now know that his estimate was only a small fraction of the true cost) — he was fired.

And not just fired; he was fired in as insulting a fashion as possible, including snide remarks about his personal appearance. (White House aides made a point of telling reporters that Mr. Bush complained about Mr. Lindsey’s failure to exercise.)

Everybody have a great weekend!