August 11, 2005

Today's Lunchtime Links

Wally Bangs celebrates one year of blogging by looking back at some of his best stuff. It's probably the only spot on the entire Internet that mentions Glenn Reynolds, Suzanne Vega and Johnny Ramone in one spot. Wait, now there's two. Bangs offers "a big THANK YOU to everyone who reads this blog" and adds, "I promise to get better at this blogging deal if you promise to keep stopping by."

... From Newsweek, Jane Bryant Quinn's column on how the Internet is undermining the "real estate cartel" is a must-read if you're planning on buying or selling a house. Don't pay an agent a six percent commission if you don't have too!

...An editorial in today's Tennessean says the Bush administration ought to be turning over classified info to the former members of the 9/11 Commission so they can contiue helping protect us from terrorists.

Robert Byers has a much different view of the commission, saying they seem to be most interested in protecting themselves:

According to today's reports, the military intelligence program known as Able Danger told the Commission on three occasions about what they knew--including the identity of Mohammed Atta and his closest associates in 2000 and the fact that the Clinton administration refused to allow them to share that data with law enforcement--yet none of that information was included in the final report. When the story first broke, the Commission first denied receiving the information at all. After it became clear that wouldn't hold water, they tried to downplay its importance and reliability. Now they're revealed.

I'm going with Byers on this one.

...Speaking of terrorism, How would a mass-casualty terror attack with a nuke impact the political center in America? Donklephant mulls the matter, and concludes that "terrorists disrupting entire cities might create a new reactionary populism, moving away from centrism. ... Nuclear terrorism would challenge centrist moderation."

I think that's a polite way of saying if the Islamists nuke an American city, all bets are off.

...Also at Newsweek.com, Mark Starr writes about a guy on a bicycle who has raised millions for cancer research. No, it's not who you think.

...Lance in Iraq notes progress in restoring and improving electrical service in part of Iraq. He also points (gleefully, I'm betting) to some polling data that's bad for Democrats.

...The federal government notched record tax revenue in July. I blame the Bush tax cuts.

...Donald Trump is blogging.

...Terry Heaton has a valuable post about the hidden bias of elitism in the mainstream media. Heaton: "You can't call people smart and stupid in the same breath and hope to get away with it."

Well said.

Okay, lunch is over. Back to your cubicles!