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April showers

April showers

Last updated on: April 27, 2007 at 12:12 pm by Fred Clark

April showers 2007-04-27T12:12:37-04:00 Fred Clark

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Things I've bookmarked this month but probably won't get around to writing about.

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Dear South Asia,

Human beings hug and kiss. This is not obscene. This is not wrong.

The rest of us are kind of worried about those of you who seem to think it is.

XXX OOO

— slacktivist

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The Poor Man catches a host of self-described conservatives proudly equating "conservatism" with "racist" and "factually incorrect."

Julia asks, "Where's Bill?" — offering a list of some of the many things that it "seems odd" that shame-of-the-Vatican Bill Donohue has decided not to talk about. (Maybe he went to go Mod Ska dancing.)

Sheelzebub says Blindfolds, not Burkas.

James Surowiecki debunks the idea that layoffs are good for corporations or for their shareholders.

On the Media interviews Jerry Jenkins.

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Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell finds a tactful way to say "I told you so," reaching back to this April 4, 2003 interview with Bill Moyers:

MOYERS: Do you have a sense that when the battle is over, this story's only begun?

MITCHELL: I don't think most Americans understand that this is going to be something that's with us for years and decades, and I'm not sure we get a sense of that from the coverage which seems to be oriented towards next week or next month, when the battle will be over. The boys will start to come home, and it will be a glorious episode in our past rather than something that's just the beginning of this story.

Mitchell was right, which is why he isn't a famous and wealthy pundit, like Bill O'Reilly, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes or Charles Krauthammer.

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Eric Montanez, the Food Not Bombs activist arrested in Orlando, Fla., for feeding the homeless (see earlier) has returned to feeding the homeless in Lake Eola Park. Well done, sir.

Montanez, 21, says he will be pleading not guilty at his May 4 arraignment, so the foolish law itself will not be put on trial, but the kid is back in the park, ladle in hand, and that much is good.

Meanwhile, something called the "Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness" has been formed to study the "issue." Maybe they can get Lee Hamilton to help write their final report.

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This is just to say that I don't very much care how much any given candidate or campaign spends on getting the candidate's hair TV-ready and that I'm not very interested in gotcha stories based on such prices. Such haircuts have less to do with the candidates' supposed vanity than they do with defensive necessity in a campaign atmosphere created by lazy journlists who are far more likely to write stories about the candidates' hair than about, say, the candidates' detailed plans for health-care reform.

I would, however, be interested in learning what kind of tips the candidates leave. That, at least, would be somewhat indicative of character.

P.S. to candidates in need of haircuts: If you're campaigning near Philly's Main Line, give me a call. I have connections.

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On a somewhat related note, Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., is kind of funny looking. I say this with immense respect and fondness, because Henry Waxman is one of the smartest and most effective lawmakers in the country.

Over the past three decades, political success has become increasingly tied to TV-performance. We have seen the rise of many empty suits with senatorial hair. And yet despite his being, perhaps, not the most telegenic member of Congress, the people of California's 30th District have returned Waxman to Washington every election since 1974. This from a district that includes Hollywood — a place supposedly synonymous with shallow, image-over-substance TV attitudes.

What I'm trying to say here to the people of California's 30th District is this: Thank you. Thank you for putting skill and substance first and for voting for this man. Thank you for allowing the rest of us to live in a country in which Henry Waxman — this man who seems to ingest and digest every footnote of every report — is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

And thank you to Rep. Waxman. You might not be Central Casting's idea of what a congressman looks like, but yours is the face that haunts the dreams of every irresponsible public servant and corrupt contractor. For my money, that makes yours one of the most beautiful faces in Washington.

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Newspapers discover trolls: "How to Deal With Online Reader Comments."

"Editors are struggling to find a balance between unfettered reader participation and longtime standards of decency, fairness and accountability" online. And yet, despite much discussion of "blogosphere culture," these newspaper editors don't seem terribly interested in actually reading blogs and thereby, perhaps, learning from people who have years, or decades, more experience in coping with trolls.

The good folks at Making Light provide some good introductory reading on the subject from Dan Katz and Jon Carroll — who notes that this "new" phenomenon newspapers are struggling with has been around since at least 1985.

Bonus: For any newspaper editors wondering if they have "permission" to moderate their comments, Teresa Nielsen Hayden provides such permission, certified and everything.

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