Fifty years ago

We called the village Camelot.



And then, on this date a half a century ago, everything changed.

Iraq - ten years after

Ten years ago the Bush administration launched the Iraq invasion. They promised us we woud be welcomed as liberators and showered with flowers and sweets. Didn't quite work out that way. And on this grim anniversary, the violence in Iraq is still ongoing:

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than a dozen car bombs and suicide blasts tore through Shi'ite Muslim districts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad and other areas on Tuesday, killing nearly 60 people on the 10th anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Sunni Islamist insurgents linked to al Qaeda are regaining ground in Iraq, invigorated by the war next door in Syria and have stepped up attacks on Shi'ite targets in an attempt to provoke a wider sectarian confrontation.

Ten long years of horror for the Iraqi people and nothing has really changed. I almost couldn't bear to look at the historic photo galleries at Time and Reuters, especially knowing they only cover a few pages in that long sad story.

I'm also reminded that this is the 10th anniversary of when I became a blogger. My first blog post ever was about the demonstration against the Iraq War that sprung up outside my office. I left work and joined it. The archives are muddled, so I'll just reprint it. It was a fleeting moment of hope in a long and tortuous decade:

RETRO-ACTIVISM and HOMELAND INSECURITY

There was an anti-war demonstration in my town yesterday. I had a perfect view from my second floor office window. There were at least 400 people and fully half of them took over the major intersection downtown. Some of them lay down on the pavement in a *die-in* and the rest formed a circle to protect them from the oncoming law enforcement. In the end 42 police officers arrived to arrest about 30 people, including two elderly women in wheelchairs. The remaining protesters chanted from the four street corners.

"Tell me what democracy looks like" rises from one corner to the beat of the Revolutionary Drum Corps.

"This is what democracy looks like" thunders back from the other three.

The crowd was deliciously mixed. The American Friends crowd has been demonstrating on that corner every Saturday since the US imposed sanctions on Iraq so many years ago. The college kids were also to be expected but the number of high school and even middle school kids was more suprising. The crowd swelled however with those who would not usually be there. Families with young children and old activists from the 60s who have, over the years, become respected business owners downtown. The latter poured out of the adjoining establishments, along with their employees, to reinforce the numbers. I met my own boss on the corner. He gave me a NO WAR pin someone had just handed to him.

We all stood there shivering in an increasingly chill wind for another 20 minutes in this moment of spontaneous consensus. Those who had not planned to be there stood mostly silent, looking as bemused as I felt, pondering our own role if this is indeed what democracy looks like, now.

For myself, I found it heartening to see the positive energy of the crowd and the planning of the organizers. It was a non-violent action in the name of peace. There was no vandalism and the only blood was of the fake sort that the *dead* had painted on their tshirts. I was not the only one in the 60s contingent who remarked on how the scene evoked memories of our own demonstrations.

However, as my photographer friend remarked, "It's the cool thing to do right now". He's been covering a lot of the protests and notes they are growing. The question in my mind is whether that energy will translate to the ballot box. It's clear they are willing to march, but are they willing to vote? Will they take the time to get politically involved outside of what one has to admit is at least partly a fun social event? I hope so because there are a lot more wars going on right now than just Iraq.

That night, after work, I spent hours on a bar stool explaining to drunken Republicans why the invasion was such a big mistake. I didn't change any minds. I didn't stop the war. But I tried. My conscience is clear. So there's that. [photo via]

RIP Challenger crew

[Photo via SpaceX]

It was 28 years ago. I got up at the crack of dawn to watch the Challenger launch. I witnessed the explosion live. Heard the disbelief and horror in the news anchor's voice as he described a scene gone so terribly off script. It was gruesome... Spent the rest of the day in a near trance, watching the sanitized video loop a thousand times while I struggled with my own shock and grief.

It was also the day I realized video can lie, even on the news. The loop didn't nearly capture the searing violence of that moment. Perhaps for the best that most were spared the memory. It's long been burned in my mind. Even now I can can feel the confusion when the smoke trail goes off course... and the sorrow when what happened became clear.

I don't need to watch the video to relive it. Nor to remember they didn't show most of this in the loop that played over and over and over again.



At that time the editing struck me as devious. In retrospect I'd like to believe their motivation was more merciful and grounded in respect for the privacy of the family members who were caught so publicly in a moment of profound private grief. You don't see that sort of justifiable discretion anymore. Instead, BigTV magnifies private grief and hides public perfidies. Which in so many ways is just as sad as this tragic anniversary.

Fly on little wing

Dozed off before I posted this last night, so a belated tip of the hat to Jimi Hendrix who would have been 70 years old yesterday. This was always one of my favorites.



Wish he was still with us. So many of the best performers of that era died too soon. On the other hand, they could have all ended up like Elvis, which would have been just as tragic.

Never forget 9/11

Of course, no one who lived through it will ever forget that horrifying day. I was a mess for three days after and I wasn't even in New York. But I remember the shock. I remember the fear for the safety of friends who live in the city. I remember the sinking feeling that the world changed that day forever, and not for the better.

No. We will never forget. And for myself, I will probably never forgive George W. Bush for failing to heed the warnings and for using the chaos of the aftermath to push through an agenda that still works to the detriment of our society today in many ways.

That being said, may those lost on that tragic day rest easy in the Summerlands and may their family and friends find peace. [photo via Holly Bailey]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Suck. On. This.

Ten years today of sucky blogging for Atrios. That's like a million years in internet time. Of course, I kid about the sucky part. He calls it that himself, I suppose because so many people call him a lazy blogger and say his blog sucks. Admit, back when I first started blogging, I thought he was kind of lazy too because his style is so terse. And of course, he got a lot of people really mad at him over the blogroll amnesty thing that seems like a lifetime ago now.

I came to realize it's actually a lot harder to say a lot in as few words as possible. And the more often you read him, the easier it is to understand his shorthand. Also, too, just because he doesn't post about everything, doesn't mean he's not jacked into the matrix and reading all day. He just chooses the most important stuff. Which is also not as easy as it looks.

And the open thread posts that are so widely mocked? Comments move fast there. Threads fill up really fast. After a couple of hundred comments, it takes too long to load. So he does that for the community, which is also unfairly scorned by the way. It takes time to crack that crowd, but if you engage and get to know them, you find they're some of the smartest and most caring people on the intertubes. At least that's what I found. I have many cherished friends there.

Anyway, the internet tells me this about tenth anniversaries.

Thus, traditional 10th wedding anniversary gift symbols are Tin/Aluminum. These materials symbolize the durability and malleability required in a strong relationship. Plus, tin is also resistant to corrosion.

Rather fitting for the blog and the community.

Atrios is kind of aloof and rarely engages himself, not even with his long standing regs. And admit I was one of the people outraged by his dumping of his blogroll. I probably said some mean stuff myself. But he was actually right about that too and over the years, even though he's rarely acknowledged my existence, he's become one of my favorite bloggers. Maybe even one of my favorite people that I've never met, and don't really know. Wishing him another ten years of hearty suckitude.

Oh, and in honor of the occasion, Atrios posted his One True Wanker of the Decade. I bet the under this morning on the twitter and predicted a surprise choice. Of course, Little Tommy Friedman was the obvious pick and rightfully so. He's been the leading wanker on Eschaton for the last ten years and some of Atrios' most enduring memes sprang from his wankery. It's another good one, but the Sully entry is still my favorite of the series.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

So many wankers

So little time. As promised, Atrios is delivering his wankers of decade series daily. I was rooting for Mickey Kaus for today, but his choices are interesting, and apt, so far. Best part though is he's brought back the ponies! Always loved those. Only wish he would give me a unicorn, just once. That would be really fun.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Ancient blogger reflects on his past

I'm a pretty old blogger in more ways than one, but Atrios is older in blog years. He's coming up on his tenth blogiversary and is doing a series of rare long form posts to mark the occasion. Being that I'm pretty sure he invented the "wanker" meme, it's seems fitting that his series is focused on "Wanker of the Decade."

Now ironically, Jane Galt is responsible for my most viral post ever, that being when I was posting at The Newshoggers, where I briefly speculated on whether Fred Thompson's trophy wife would be a liability in his bid for the GOP nomination in 2004. Andrew Sullivan picked it up from her and I was bombarded with a vertiable firestorm of criticism that lasted for a couple of weeks for daring to suggest such a thing. Back then I had no idea who Jane Galt was. I thought it was her real name.

Anyway, I suppose I should be kinder to Ms. McMegan out of gratitude for launching me but fk that. She, and her pink Himalayan salt, deserves a place on the wanker of the decade list. I might have ranked her higher myself, but with so many choices, the competition is stiff.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Happy Blogiversary to me

Speaking of Blogiversaries, just realized that yesterday was mine. Nine years ago, I published my very first post. It was about an anti-war demonstration I stumbled into in lovely downtown Northampton. Haven't, despite many requests, shut up since. Figure I must have billions of words floating through the intertoobz by now.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Happy Blogiversary

My friend Michael J.W. Stickings celebrates seven years of blogging at the Reaction this week. Congrats to Michael and the whole fabulous team of bloggers. I'm proud to be a part of their history.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Happy Blogiversary

A belated Happy 10th Blogiversary to Avedon, one of my very favorite people on the internets. She was one of my earliest supporters and remains a joy and an inspiration to me all these years later.

If you're not reading her every day, you certainly should be and now you can also hear her regularly on Jay Ackroyd's radio program, Virtually Speaking.

Ten Years After - Part Two

I successfully avoided most of the 9/11 TV tributes which at this point seem mostly designed to draw ratings rather than honor the dead. But this was one moment at the Ground Zero ceremony that I really wanted to see and missed live.



I really did get goosebumps watching this. As far as I'm concerned, they could have let this stand as the whole tribute.

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]

Happy Anniversary PZ

A belated congratulations to PZ Myers celelbrating his 31st wedding anniversary yesterday. Just go read his post where he contrasts his moral values with Newt Gingrich.

Oh okay, I'll give you one line.

It's a strange situation where the political party with more ex-wives than candidates, that houses and defends a disturbingly amoral network of fundamentalist operators is regarded as the protector of the sanctity of the family.

Trust me. Read the rest.

Happy 10th to TPM

Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo turns 10 today. Well okay, it's really tomorrow but it's never too early to start celebrating.

Hard for me to believe it's been that long but time moves differently on the internets and I've been reading him since I ventured into the tubes. Truthfully, since he got all that money and went more or less mainstream, I think the site has lost a little bit of the edginess of the early days of Blogtopia. It's not the same blog that forced Attorneygate into the spotlight and probably invented crowd sourcing. But then again, so has most of Blogtopia morphed into more of an echo of the legacy media, than a challenge to it.

TPM is still breaking important news and focusing attention on events that might otherwise be overlooked, so I'm willing to forgive the occassional overindulgence in trivia. I'm grateful for their longevity and the many contributions they made, and still make, to informing us about matters of importance. Hope they're around for another ten and another ten after that.

Man on the Moon

It's the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. You all know how much I love the space program. Always have, so of course, I saw it it live. In fact so did everyone. Leaving aside the hokey, one small step for man thing, what I remember most is the whole world stopped to watch.

You could almost hear the collective silence in the last few minutes. And the universalapplause when they landed safely.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Happy Birthday Errol Flynn

Today is Errol Flynn's birthday, or would be if he was still alive. There's a lovely tribute to him and his work at this post. I think the author overlooks some of his flaws. He was a complex and somewhat flawed man in person, if some of the other things I've read about him are true, but he was one of my favorite stars of that era.

I adored his swashbuckling persona in his movies. He was almost too pretty, but somehow he came across as manly, even when he was wearing tights while he crossed swords with his foes in some castle. I suppose on some level you might call him the first metrosexual. And he had this air of worldliness, but without being jaded or world weary. He appealed to the adventurer in me. I can't think of a single movie he did that I didn't like and would watch over and over again. Thanks to Honey Bear Kelly for the link and reminding me of the date.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Oh baby, Ohio

The massacre at Kent State happened 39 years ago.



I remember the horror I felt when I watched the live footage, like it was yesterday. They died for peace. May they rest in it also.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

Rest in peace Molly Ivins

Today is the second anniversary of Molly Ivins death. To mark the occassion, here's a few of her quotes.

I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.

You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.

It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.

Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don’t like.

There's never been a law yet that didn't have a ridiculous consequence in some unusual situation; there's probably never been a government program that didn't accidentally benefit someone it wasn't intended to. Most people who work in government understand that what you do about it is fix the problem -- you don't just attack the whole government.

What you need is sustained outrage...there's far too much unthinking respect given to authority.

I really miss her. She left us too soon.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News.]

A personal milestone

By Libby

It seems hard to believe I started my first blog five years ago. It took a while to find my voice and my focus but I ended up adding a new blog every year during this same week, so I'm celebrating four years at Detroit News in a couple of days, I think we just passed the three year mark here, but I didn't do much with this one for a few months so I don't usually celebrate it and I'll hit one year with the Newshoggers in a few more days. The Reaction I think I hit a few weeks ago for one year so that's the one that broke the pattern and serves as the two year old blog anniversary.

I don't think I'll add any more blogs to my roster but incredibly, I still enjoy blogging after all this time and all these blogs. I didn't get rich. I didn't get famous. But on my better days I feel like I'm having at least a small effect on the public narrative. That's all I ever wanted, was to do my part to change the world a little bit for the better. Some may dispute it was for the better, but I think in those terms, I've succeeded.

Blogroll Amnesty Day - Updated

By Libby

Jon Swift and the guy who named Blogtopia, yes that would be Skippy, are throwing a blogging party this weekend in celebration of the great blogroll purge of 2007. Who would have thought we would have come to view that dark day as a happy occassion and yet somehow it turned out to be one.

The Art of Peace managed to dig up my original post and I see I was really angry. The funny thing is I didn't really care that much when it first happened. I was never on the Eschaton blogroll so I didn't suffer any pain from the cuts. It wasn't until the other A-listers got on board and they all started justifying the policy by suggesting lower placed blogs had no value that I started to get irritated. But righteous outrage didn't set in until I found out that my pal skippy had been cut. Nothing gets my dander up like an insult to a friend.

At that point I was furious. I pounded out that post. I delinked Atrios. I swore to boycott him and all his link cutting cronies and for a long time I did. But the truth is I can't hold a grudge. I'm back to reading Dr. Atrios regularly and have linked to him several times in the last few weeks. That's just how I am. I get angry. I holler. I get over it because eventually I remember that I'm not so perfect myself. Besides something wonderful came out of that bloodbath.

We smaller bloggers bonded and discovered our collective voice. We started linking more to each other. Friendships were formed that endure to this day and I find much reason to celebrate, not the least being that Cernig and I forged a relationship because of it. Newshoggers was born and grew into a collaboration that I'm just as thrilled and honored to be part of today as I was then.

So in honor of what inconceivably became a happy occassion, I would ask that all of you who chance upon this post link to someone smaller than you today and keep the spirit of giving a hand up to beginning bloggers alive throughout the year. Build your blogrolls with under noticed blogs. Trade links. Despite what the A-listers said, links do matter and when you help one small guy, you help build a better Blogtopia for all of us.

For myself, I'd like to also celebrate by updating my own blogroll this weekend. I know from looking at my stats that more people link to me than I link back to and I'd like to find you all. If I'm on your blogroll and I haven't rolled you back, let me know so I can add you.

Meanwhile, I'd also like to thank those who have helped raise my profile along the way. Although our collaboration slightly predates the purge, I owe Michael Stickings at The Reaction, who kindly brought me into his stellar group, a huge debt of gratitude. The now defunct Pennywit was an early supporter who gave me a bigger forum at his blog. If you're reading this PW, drop me an email would you?

Thanks also to Steve Benen, Gun Totin Liberal, Shakes, the good folks at The Moderate Voice and Heretik who have all been generous in linkage to my little place here. And a extra big shoutout to Avedon, who has not only linked to posts at all my blogs regularly for years, but manages to link in at times when I'm at a low point and really need a boost.

Reaching back almost five years to when I only had one small blog devoted to drug policy reform, I think Half Sigma, who had a different blog back then, was the first stranger to link to a post and Annie was the first to blogroll me. I still haven't forgotten the flush of excitement to discover that someone I didn't know thought I was worth a link. Pete Giuther, who went on to become a much bigger drug war blogger than me, was an early source of support and solace. Radley and Jeralyn were the first big bloggers to spike my traffic count into the happy zone. ReLoad's thehim came later but kindly sent my hit counter spinning many times with his Drug War Roundups at Kos.

There are so many bloggers who have touched my life along the way, I can't possibly list them all in one post. I'd encourage you to visit all the blogs on my blogroll, especially the ones you don't recognize, but let me end this with a few more that I don't get to often enough now that I'm trying to keep up with five blogs of my own. Jed at Freedom Sight who was another early linker, Mad Kane, Kathy at Liberty Street, mikevotes, The King of Zembla, and Kathy at Stone Soup, a long time reader and commenter who I believe started blogging at least partly due to my encouragement.

My apologies to those I didn't link to today. Know that I cherish every one of you, named and unnamed, and thanks for the encouragement and camaraderie all these years. Without your company and comfort I may have given up this blogging thing a long time ago. Composing this post makes me realize how much value you've all added to my life.

And finally, I can honestly say thank you Atrios. If it wasn't for that awful purge, us "little guys" may never have found our sense of community or come to appreciate our own value. In the end, you kind of did us a favor.

Update: More linky love to old friends and some new faces at this post.



[Graphics via Skippy top, Zencomix bottom. Thanks.]