NewscomaGot A Two-Pack Habit And A Motel Tan

Well, I’ve shilled about coming to Nashville. So, today I head out with Badger and SQ may be joining us later if she can get the signing thingamabob all worked out.

Am I packed? Not really. Waiting on the last round of laundry to get done, folded and packed in the uber suitcase. (I guess I have to do that because suitcase elves are in short supply right now.)

Does my car need an oil change and did I get around to that? No.

Do I still have the zombie snot? No, but it’s settled into my chest and I sound like a dying fainting goat.

Am I going to stay for Sista’s Birthday luncheon? Yup. And is this crack and cheese going to be my heart’s desire?

Will they have to drag me kicking and screaming back to Hooterville once this work diversion is over? Yeppers.

Have I abandoned 365? Umm … can I start over again?

Did I get any more google searches for Sen. Lowe Finney? Yeah, and the last one was mondo creepy. It was “Lowe Finney dreamy blue eyes.” Stop it guys, I mean it. I also got one yesterday for “colon cleanings” and “Larry Elvis Jeffraham Prestonian cats.” There was a fourth one for “boobs.” Go figure that one out ’cause I have no idea.

Why are you coming to town? TPA Winter Conference. 

Okay, I’ll be in town later today. Laptop is coming as well (did you expect any less.) Shoot me off an e-mail if you are so inclined. Tonight is Sportsman’s Grill about 8 p.m. if you want to come by and say Howdy.

No stunt liver required, as work has to be done tomorrow.

Squirrel Queen has a big day. Today is signing day. What, pray chance for you non-sports afficiodos, does this mean you might be asking.

I could go into a ton of detail about why this day is so important, but basically it’s when high-school athletes sign a letter of intent on which college they are going to attend. In the past here in the boondocks, we’ve had some pretty big signings. Chad Clifton, now of the Green Bay Packers, signed to UT, as did Will Ofenheusle (I probably have that name spelled wrong) who went on to play one year for the Jets (He didn’t like playing big-time sports. Being that he’s wicked smart, he now works in government in Metro Nashville). Justin Harrell also signed to the Vols. He’s been injury prone but when he’s good, he’s great.

This year, a handful of students will sign with UT Martin, Union, Lambuth or the like. They usually sit a table and get their picture taken with their coach and family staring on adoringly.

It’s what Squirrel Queen does. I dig sports, but sometimes I wonder why they don’t do signing with chemistry whizzes going to Harvard.

I digress. Squirrel Queen must do her sportly duties and then she’s gonna head to Nashville for the TPA.

A little slice of life from rural media utopia.

Joe Lieberman. Why oh why do you make me run for the Tylenol bottle?

An outspoken supporter of the Iraq war on Tuesday called for a new tax to pay for its astronomical cost as Congress opened a debate on President George W. Bush’s $2.9 trillion budget plan for next year.

I’m going to take four over the counter painkillers and ponder deeply why this man really gives me a headache.

I read progressive, liberal blogs because that’s how I swing.

I also read some conservative ones as well. I like to read it all, quite actually.

I even read some pop culture blogs but I’m very tired of hearing about Lindsey Lohan, so I don’t do that very often. Aunt B. posted today from a blog that linked a Wall Street Journal article on certain bloggers making buttloads of money blogging. I read it and thought, wow, what a life. And then I realized that the piece I read at the WSJ looked a bit like a puff piece.

And then I took pause. I read this today as well about how the tiers of blogging and I thought I might share it with you. This is a post from MyDD.

It’s a long piece, but there are several things of note, and its more than a post about money in blogging (actually that really isn’t mentioned) but more about how the early structure of blogging has changed in the last four years.

The blogosphere may have started as a new form of individual punditry, but at its elite levels, the progressive blogosphere has now moved beyond that. Take a quick look at the structure of the new progressive blogosphere elite, and consider how difficult it is for a new blog to break into this group (or even to maintain its place within the group):

And there is a list after that colon that is pretty extensive list of progressive blog and there are questions about how would someone break into that format. And I think that NiT, the KNS and other traditional media forums are giving the “little guys” a chance where other on-line established sources are more niche/community oriented to a degree.

Now don’t get me wrong, I would love to be linked on Atrios or the Huffington Post, but I’m pretty sure they could give three craps about my Bigfoot obsession, my occasional meltdowns at the newspaper, my dissatisfaction with the war and my girl-love of several bloggers who I would cheerfully dance with until dawn if they asked real nice. I actually have met Atrios. I didn’t tell him what my blog was other than I blogged. He was pretty cool about it and I felt rather silly and unecessary.

But the debate is very interesting. And I like to ponder it. And I’m seeing more media folks blogging, and I guess I wonder where I fit into the big picture.

I guess I’ll go and look up some of the latest news. Check into today’s testimony on the Libby Trial and go see what Mabel the ‘coma hound is up too.

Cause that’s what I do. Just thought it was all very interesting.

Update: Jill weighs in at Brilliant At Breakfast as does Skippy on Bowers column. CE Petro from Thoughts of An Average also comments. I think there are some unhappy people with some of de’ big boys.

Just watching the shit storm from Hooterville.

She’s Back.

And I bet you can tell what she’s pontificating about.

Too Long.

Last Tuesday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup refused to release freelance videographer Josh Wolf from jail, where he has been for 169 days since being imprisoned for refusing to turn over raw footage to a grand jury. Today, he becomes the longest-running imprisoned journalist in U.S. history.

Wolf, 24, was held in contempt of court in August 2006 for refusing to comply with a subpoena demanding the raw footage from a July 2005 protest in which a police officer was injured and allegations of vandalism of police property were made. Wolf’s imprisonment for contempt, if uninterrupted, will run until the expiration of the Grand Jury in July 2007 — even though all the underlying criminal charges relating to the incident have been dropped.

He’s 24 years old. Here is a  breakdown of the information from his site.  Just read the whole thing and make up your own mind..

Here are words from his site that his mother and volunteers maintain.