You will not see Ana Marie Cox of Wonkette on my blogroll. She is a paid gossip columnist for a media company, not a political blogger. She markets sexual innuendo about people in DC, but her one-liners and short posts don’t add anything to the conversation because she deliberately stays politically neutral. In spite of this, the people who form panels keep including her. She fails the “Deep Throat Test”, i.e. when someone says “Deep Throat” Watergate is one of your top two responses. She is not acceptable as the “token woman” on the panel, which is also not an acceptable practice.

Melanie, Susie, and Echidne all have post about the panel. Melanie and Susie were sitting in the audience. That was stupid.

The organizers of such panels need to start reading blogs, and stop looking at statistics. As a programmer/system analyst I won’t even charge them to tell them that all current web statistics only have value within their own scope, and only when comparing two sites within that scope. No need to go into the effects of caching by large ISPs, or any other hidden variables. If you are forming a panel and want to know who to invite, ask bloggers.

The ladies on my blogroll aren’t there for “balance”: I read what they write, I refer to them when I post, I comment at their sites. I use my blogroll first, before I use bookmarks. I had to manually insert those sites on my template, so I use them.

The Chamber of Commerce feels that there needs to be something to combat Pensacola’s festivals, so they created this “local legend” about a pirate seizing the town. The pirate is probably real, but the town didn’t exist for a century after the guy died. Given that the Capone mob used to come down here during the Winter, it is highly unlikely that the locals would have done anything but welcome Bowlegs in hopes of selling him some property that was “only temporarily under water”.

[I don’t find fireworks fun. I don’t like being around exploding gunpowder. Large flashes of light and loud sounds do not make me happy.]

Amnesty International says Yes based on the many complaints. The Busheviki say No based on their hurt feelings.

The Medium Lobster weighs in to support the Shrubbery with: So You’re Being Tortured To Death In An American Military Prison!. [Usual warning about visual assault when visiting Fafblog!.]

Steve Bates feels that complaining about AI terms is being used to let Bush off the hook by allowing the conversation to become about terminology in his post: Gulag Absurdity.

I will side with Peter Klein and his NPR commentary: Amnesty Misses the Mark with ‘Gulag’ Tag.

The American system lacks the procedures, and time limits that were part of the Soviet system: the Bush system isn’t as bad, it is worse than the Soviet system with fewer checks and protections for prisoners.

In the Soviet Union you had to be accused of a “crime” and be tried by a “court” before you were sent to the GULag for a stated period of time. You were given an attorney to represent you at trial and you were “released” at the end of your sentence. While it is true that the “crime” was political, the trial was to hear you “confess your crime”, your lawyer was to assist you in writing your confession, and the fact that you were usually forced to live in Siberia after you finished your sentence, there were more “protections” for the individual than under current system. Those sent to the GULag were not subjected to torture, only harsh living conditions.

Where are the protections for “enemy combatants”? Where are the terms of imprisonment? The American system needs many changes to take it to the level of the Soviet system. Such a system does nothing to “spread democracy”.

The Soviet GULag system was harsh, repressive, and despicable. It is sad that the United States can’t even make it over that obscenely low level of legality.

Read the book here: Архипелаг ГУЛаг.

[Update: edited to better express Steve Bate’s point and fix link.]

[™ Kevin Drum]

The Ringo Kid

Crash, what crash?

[Edit: Ringo relaxes in her basket and knows nothing about the mess caused by “someone” attempting to climb a bathrobe left on the vanity. Time to review “kitten proofing procedures”. On the good news front she has figured out the purpose of the pan of granulated clay.]

Friday Ark