After the Storm

This was taken with the Canon T2i after the storm that rolled through here yesterday, which tore leaves and branches from trees, made Kasey hide under the desk, and caused three power outages. Click the thumbnail to embiggen & note that with most browsers holding “ctrl” and tapping the plus key a few times will take you to full size and detail.

Saturday Administrivia

That brings me to today, where I am adding Digby at Hullabaloo to my links. I’m adding Digby because they are an old friend rediscovered.

Today I’m cleaning a few things up on the blog and while I’m at it I want to take a few moments to explain some of this blog’s sidebar evolution over the past two years. I thought it appropriate on the advent of adding the first Liberal / Progressive blog in my sidebar since like 2006 or so.

Right now you won’t find very many political blogs in my sidebar, however I used to carry a full spectrum mix of right/left links there. During election 2006 too many of the left links went crazy and became much less than credible – they got dropped one by one as they displayed a mix of anti-semitism, 9/11 trooferism, or outright willingness to pimp lies and kookspiracy, there were too many fellow travelers with Alex Jones and Lyndon LaRouche and ISM/ANSWER/UFPJ who were given platforms.

That same evolution happened with almost all of the right side political blogs the past two years. As Obama took the lead the standard partisan snark ‘n bark on the right escalated to insanely paranoid hyperbole and kookspiracy – formerly fringe scum groups that were not tolerated in the past were given big hugs. The Ron Paul branch suddenly gained huge influence and those sunsabitches, the John Birch Society, were allowed at CPAC. Whirled Nuts Daily and that crowd became even crazier – something you wouldn’t have thought possible, and the apocalyptic fundamentalist wings of the Christian right took the lead. So one by one the blogs on the right dropped out, some for printing things from the odious VDARE crowd, others for pimping White Supremacist Robert Stacy McCain articles, others just for running consistently with the “Outrage of the Day” tempest in a teapot non-stories that are now ingrained with the paranoid on the right. I was like “Birchers, and Birthers, and Bile … oh my…”

That brings me to today, where I am adding Digby at Hullabaloo to my links. I’m adding Digby because they are an old friend rediscovered. We do have some opposing views, but friendship certainly overcomes that. [ One more note to Digby: I blogged anon for years, so even though I came out a couple weeks back your ID is certainly safe with me, you have my word on that. ]