Althouse: "There's blogs."

March 23, 2006

"There's blogs."

Says Bush.

20 comments:

Bruce Hayden said...: Exactly the right answer. Apparently somebody returning from Iraq had a lot of video footage of our reconstruction efforts, and was trying to figure out how to get the MSM to run them. The President essentially suggested using the New Media, notably blogging, to get the word out - and PowerLine is already trying to track the people down and help out.; 3/23/06, 8:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Chris: I don't want to encourage that.; 3/23/06, 9:28 AM
Icepick said...: Dang, now the rest of us are wondering what Ann doesn't want to encourage. And of course she can't tell us, because that would only encourage 'it'. I hate these itches I can't scratch....; 3/23/06, 10:23 AM
Anonymous said...: I've been reading about the 1930s and the runup to World War II, including attempts to buy peace with appeasement or containment. So many similarities to now: the confused politics, the polarization of the electorate, the hatred of "warmongers" like Churchill and worship of men like Chamberlain, and the domination of a few key media outlets. The West avoided a little war and got a big war instead.

My dream is this: one day history will write How the Blogosphere Saved the World. Blogs broaden the discussion that began with the shock of 9/11--and, yes, a lot of it is crap but so is much of the content of the legacy media or academe. I don't want to debate the Iraq war again, but nothing except blogs serve those who might want to consider that pre-emption can be credible foreign policy and who look for answers in history.; 3/23/06, 12:54 PM
Robert Holmgren said...: When can we expect to see a blog roll at www.whitehouse.gov ?; 3/23/06, 3:44 PM
Mark Haag said...: What's to prevent conservative magazines from passing on all of the supposed good news that isn't getting out there? Or Fox news? Can't conservatives make-and fund-documentaries?

Or, perhaps its hard to make good news documentaries about Iraq because the real news is bad-as many conservative commentators are saying...; 3/23/06, 3:46 PM
Beth said...: menlo, you think that blog roll would represent the people's house, or just the ones that vote in the current resident, whover he or she may be at the time? I think when the government starts endoring particular media outlets, we call that propaganda. I can't see that that would be good for the party in power, or the loyal opposition.; 3/23/06, 6:35 PM
Beth said...: I can't wait to see that, Jim. "And in local news, LOTS of people weren't raped tonight!"; 3/23/06, 6:36 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Sorry, Chris. Let everyone know that Chris isn't a crank and didn't do anything wrong. I just have a preference for not giving publicty to some things, and he hit on one of them. I've deleted other comments on the same standard. Please don't take it personally.; 3/23/06, 6:51 PM
Mark Haag said...: Bruce,
could you post a link to those "good news about Iraq" CD's/videos when they appear? I am looking. It shouldn't be too hard for them to be made available given the importance of the topic,and the number of people who are hungry for the good news.; 3/24/06, 11:22 AM
Jennifer said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3/24/06, 10:43 PM
Jennifer said...: This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.; 3/24/06, 10:49 PM
Jennifer said...: Sorry about all the deletions - when I preview, my links are all laid out all nice and pretty. Then when I publish it goes haywire. So, forget the links.

Quietnorth: If you are truly interested, here are a few web sites.

These aren't the videos you're looking for. They are, however, exactly the types of places where you'll find the videos, interviews and documentaries that document the progress and the good news but never quite seem to make it to the mainstream press.

There are sites specifically focused on good news from the war front:
http://goodnewsfromthefront.com/>
- These guys took over after Arthur Chrenkoff hung up his hat.

http://www.kmax.ws/b/goodnewsiniraq.htm

http://www.windsofchange.net/

There are sites written by people in Iraq where you'll find a mix of the good and bad:
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/

http://www.michaeltotten.com/

There are milblogs:
http://www.mudvillegazette.com/

http://www.blackfive.net/main/

http://iraqnow.blogspot.com; 3/24/06, 10:52 PM
Jennifer said...: Quietnorth: I happened upon this at Junkyard Blog this morning.

http://junkyardblog.net/archives/week_2006_03_19.html#005598

If its video you want, video you shall have!; 3/25/06, 9:58 AM
Jennifer said...: Quietnorth: One more...

http://billroggio.com/; 3/25/06, 1:22 PM
Mark Haag said...: Thanks, Jennifer,

I will check them out; 4/5/06, 10:11 AM
Jennifer said...: No problem. I can absolutely appreciate the difficulty in finding anything good to point to.

When my husband was there, it was so frustrating that every time someone died on his base, it hit the news immediately. But, I never did see any of their accomplishments on the news.

He didn't care because he was getting feedback directly from the source. The majority of Iraqis he came into contact with really appreciated a lot of what his BN did.

Of course, he was also getting feedback in the form of mortars and small arms fire.; 4/5/06, 10:35 AM
Mark Haag said...: Jennifer,
I hope the video from Junkyard Dog isn't representative. A few clips of concrete being poured, without context or identification? It is hard to "fact check" that. My guess is that you could get a clip of concrete being poured in any failed state in the world.
There is a lot of blogging going on in Iraq, and I do recommend both soldier's blogs and blogs from people who live there. I focus not on the opinions of the bloggers, but just on the first person, day to day things they are doing.; 4/5/06, 10:44 AM
Jennifer said...: Quietnorth: No, no, it was just the only video I came across while I was aggragating links for you. So, I tossed it in as your specific request was for video.; 4/5/06, 11:04 AM
Parmer said...: This is good and wonderful site
mba distance learning; 1/19/10, 2:19 AM