Friday, December 01, 2006

Failed States


Think things are going well for us in the good 'ole US of A? The Fund for Peace has a new study out. The United States is now considered by a number of measurable standards to be a "failed state". Interesting. Helluva a job Chimpy. Editor and Publisher writes about this pressing issue. And of course you have papa bear sticking up for his boy-tyrant.

More on Failed States, so to speak: There was quite a brouhaha over at firedoglake the last couple of days. In many ways it was hugely disappointing to see the 'management' over there get so defensive in so many ways. The good thing is I have found a number of good, new (to me) sites at which to read. I've put them on my blogroll and I recommend giving them a looky-see. If you're interested in the dust-up at fdl (which I no longer link to), I'm linking to some sites to start your reading. Disclaimer:There are in excess of 900 comments between the various sites, it was a 'discussion' I found valuable, but I did have a headache by the time I was finished. Here is a good place to start, "Feministe". Now appearing on my blogroll. Also a trip to Tom Watson's place where the debate began is a must-read. For the "former commenters" of FDL, Eli over at Multi-Medium has a downright Homecoming for all fdl neer-do-wells. Donna from The Silence of Our Friends has done a killer round-up of all the dirt and links-to-dirt blogosphere-wide regarding the swamped lake. Brevity being the soul of lingerie and all, commenter King of Pants over at Tom's summed up the brouhaha best: "The lameness of the joke is directly proportional to the amount of effort one needs to defend it."And I cannot close without including Neddie's Proclamation:

You wanna know how to be a fucking revolutionary, Pachacutec?
How about this: The most revolutionary act you can perform in this fell, death-infected year 2006 is to act like a goddamned adult.

3 comments:

MarcLord said...

SwimD,

I'd like to talk to you sometime re: the FDL post.

Marc

Anonymous said...

Hope, next stock market correction, then recession, coupled with a jump in oil prices, and we'll move up quite a few spaces on that list.

Anonymous said...

Ooog, op, no room for Crispness Cheer, huh? Well, I didn't suppose so. (a flowah shivers off some of her 1,000 petals)

Hope, m'dear, thanks for this good synthesis of it all. Though that reunion at Eli's was a major thrill, the treat of finding so many good ol' companions again has cost me some hard-won peace of mind. Isn't it remarkable how, as much as it meant to us not long ago, now just spotting the letters "FDL" triggers a flat and chilly feeling -- like a taste of beer that's sat open in the fridge for a few days (I'm not much for even good beer).

Discovering all these many bloggers still rapt by tacky events and personalities I've been letting go for months now surprised me, to say the least. For me, though at last getting to tell my banning story to caring people who were open to hearing it felt wonderful, pushing on down the road away from there again feels even better.

(I see my verification letters this time very nearly spell "yer bitch" -- snort!)