250,000

I finally received my 250,000th visit today. The quarter millionth visitor is from Kernersville, North Carolina. I can't tell what referred him to this site, but he reviewed the CNBC prediction for U.S. hyperinflation.

Thinking Blogger Award

Yesterday, Nurse William tagged me for the Thinking Blogger Award, an award that originated with The Thinking Blog.

I am to pick five blogs that make me think and pass on the award to each of them.
This is a difficult task, as there are many blogs that make me think, but the following provide useful insight and information:

(1) Jerri Ward of Sue Bob's Diary, who provides expertise on various legal issues, including advance directives and big brother's increasing attempts to dehumanize us by euthanizing the sick and the lame.





(2) Debbie Schlussel, who writes a great deal about the ongoing creation of the Islamic terror network in the United States and the political arm of this network (as well as the governments' efforts to appease and ignore the growing threat).





(3) Scrappleface, where you can read what the left and the MSM/DNC really mean.

(4) Pamela at Atlas Shrugs, who remains uncompromising in the face of the growing dhimmitude all around us and who finds new ways to promote the truth.




(5) Blonde Sagacity, who always hosts a lively discussion and always asks the right questions.







I hope that each of them picks five bloggers that make them think and passes the award along. [And yes, the pictures make me think also.]

2007

I really did not post much in 2006. I have no major summaries for the past year.

I enjoyed my second Insta-lanche in 2006. I reached 100,000 hits in July. Probably my favorite post from 2006 included the lengthy quotation from Will Durant's 1935 book regarding the Islamic conquest of India.

I want to focus on a few ongoing stories in 2007 - namely Venezuela, China, Islam and MSM/DNC related issues. I also want to hold the new Congress' feet to the fire as they push for surrender in the War on Terror.

I would also like to return to discussions of classic books. I stopped posting editions of "Classics of Conservatism" when Blogger zapped out much of my homepage after I placed too many book buttons in the margin.

I often don't join in the blogbursts of major stories because the larger blogs cover those stories thoroughly and a repetitive post from me would add nothing to the story and distract from the already excellent blogosphere coverage. Instead, I try to focus on a few ongoing stories that have long term consequences.

Now that I can use "labels" with the "new" Blogger, it should be easier for readers to trace progressing stories over several years. My goal this year is to add labels to all of my old posts.

Labels; Blogger beta

I downloaded "Blogger beta" yesterday to take advantage of the software updates. From now, all posts here will include "labels" that categorize the subject matter. This makes it easier to find old posts. This will be especially important from this point forward as we trace the Democrats' surrender strategy from post to post.

Two - year blogiversary; milestones

Today is the second anniversary of the creation of this blog.

Last year on the first anniversary, I summarized the significant posts of the previous year.

On July 13th of this year, I celebrated my 100,000th hit.

On January 14, 2006, I endured my second Insta-lanche with a summary of the MSM/DNC lies of 2005.

I have blogged much more lightly in the past year than my first year.

I would like to return more to the mission set forth in my initial post on September 25, 2004 - warnings about the future.

Specifically, I would like to focus on the following areas:

- China

- Venezuela

- Islam on the march.

- The coming constitutional/electoral crisis.

While I have written much about most of these areas, it seems more imperative now than ever before to focus our attention on the areas that most directly threaten the U.S.' future and the extent to which they go hand-in-hand.

100,000

This blog surpassed 100,000 hits this morning. The 100,000th visit was from Dublin, Ireland. I cannot tell what site referred him to this blog.

Here are links to some of my favorite posts from the past couple of years:

The end of Europe.

Hillary Clinton's college thesis - the Rosetta Stone.

The Clinton-China scandal.

Islamic conquest of India.

Absalom Weaver's speech.

Price controls cause shortages.

Joe McCarthy.

"Anything we do . . . anything we see."

MSM/DNC

Categories of MSM/DNC bias.

Debbie Schlussel blogiversary

Today is the 1 year blogiversary for Debbie Schlussel.



Detroit is a flashpoint for Islamic immigration into and colonization of the U.S. Debbie has been in the trenches reporting on the activities of terrorist sympathizers and enablers in the Detroit area and the law enforcement agencies that are supposed to be protecting us from them.

Congratulations on a successful first year and we look forward to many more.

Insta-lanche anniversary

Today is the first anniversary of my first Insta-lanche. [It is buried at the bottom of the page.]

Why does this matter to any of you? It probably doesn't, but I felt like reminding myself why I keep blogging even though I have no time for it.

Happy Blogiversary to Atlas Shrugs

Today is Atlas' one year blogiversary. Congratulations and we hope it is the first of many.

Quote of the day - Garet Garrett

"Americans now are of three kinds, namely: those who are very unhappy about what has happened in one lifetime to their world - to its morals, principles and ways of thinking - and have intuitions of a dire sequel; those who only now begin to read the signs and are seized with premonitions of disaster; and three, those who like it."

Garet Garrett People's Pottage (p. 91)




Click here to vote for the Garet Garrett blog in the Weblog Awards. Today is the last day for voting.

Quote of the day - Garet Garrett

We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. If you ask when, the answer is that you cannot make a single stroke between day and night: the precise moment does not matter. There was no painted sign to say: 'You are now entering Imperium.' Yet it was a very old road and the voice of history was saying: 'Whether you know it or not, the act of crossing may be irreversible.' And now, not far ahead, is a sign that reads: 'No U-turns.'

Garet Garrett (1952), [from The People's Pottage]



Please vote for the Garet Garrett blog at the Weblog Awards.

Weblog Awards - three more days.

There are three more days of voting for the Weblog Awards.

To repeat my previous posts, my favorites are as follows:

My other blog, Garet Garrett, is nominated in the Best of the Rest category.

I think I will achieve my goal of not finishing last. I currently stand as number 13. Numbers 14 and 15 are way behind. I am within three votes of catching number 12.

I endorse a number of other blogs in different categories:

Scrappleface is the best in the humor category. Scrappleface is more than simply a humor site. The Scrappleface posts reveal the MSM/DNC's actual positions/opinions stripped of their hypocrisy. It is that simple. If the MSM/DNC were honest about its goals and beliefs, MSM/DNC statements, arguments and news items would be indistinguishable from Scrappleface posts.

I endorse Right Wing Sparkle in the 1001 - 1750 category.










Please vote for Confederate Yankee in the 251-500 category.

In the Best Conservative Blog category, I support Debbie Schlussel. Debbie's posts provide valuable updates on how the U.S. government coddles and ignores those who pose domestic terror threats.





[Honorable mention to Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller and LaShawn Barber in the same category.]

Samantha Burns is nominated as the Best Canadian Blog.







[I know I am including photos only of the girls, but can you blame me?]



And finally, please vote for Pamela at Atlas Shrugs for Best New Blog. She is as witty and insightful as she is uncompromising.











Vote for all of these blogs once a day through Thursday. And thanks to Kathleen, Debbie, Samantha and Pamela for giving my readers a reason to linger at my blog.

Quote of the day - Garet Garrett

There are those who still think they are holding the pass against a revolution that may be coming up the road. But they are gazing in the wrong direction. The revolution is behind them. It went by in the Night of Depression, singing songs to freedom.

Garet Garrett, [from The People's Pottage]



Please vote for the Garet Garrett blog at the Weblog Awards.

More Weblog Award recommendations; Atlas Shrugs and Samantha Burns

In a previous post containing Weblog Award recommendations, I neglected to mention two sites that have blogrolled me and have received nominations for awards.

Atlas Shrugs is nominated in the best new blog category. Samantha Burns is nominated in the Best Canadian Blog category. These are excellent blogs and deserve your vote in their respective categories.

I apologize to these bloggers for not mentioning them before.

What to do with a dead blog; Politickal Animal and Spoons

LaShawn Barber recently posted some advice on the disposition of your blog in the event that you are no longer around.

LaShawn's advice might have come in handy for "Politickal Animal". His blog was linked on my blogroll until very recently. He had written about giving up blogging in recent months. A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that his links were dead. Shortly thereafter, I noticed that his links now lead to some online gambling website. I am sure the gambling site has nothing to do with "Politickal Animal." I suspect that Animal deleted his blog instead of simply letting it linger unattended. Once the blog was deleted, someone snapped up the address in the hope of diverting Animal's traffic to the new site. {I believe that Animal was a "large mammal" or at least a "marauding marsupial" with a fair amount of traffic.] He probably still appears on a lot of blogrolls [but not for long I am sure]. Animal probably did not anticipate that someone would use his former address for these purposes.

I will soon delete him from my own roll (even though I hate to do that). If you really want to give up on blogging, it is better to let your blog linger than to surrender the address to whatever pitchman or spammer will be first to snap it up. Cold Beverage has been dormant for almost a year, but we can still leave messages for him in the hope that he might see our comments.

Spoons has found a much better way of gracefully exiting his blog.

Blog milestones

Today I finally moved up in the ecosystem to "Large Mammal." The move may be only temporary. I have been a "Marauding Marsupial" for most of the past 6 months (with occasional retreats into "Adorable Rodent" status). Still, it feels good to be a Mammal even for a little while.

Coincidentally, I crossed the 60,000 hit mark today.

Thanks to all of those who read and link to this site.

NBC's canoe stunt vs. ABC's racially charged Toledo riot lie.

Today I have witnessed an interesting blog experiment. The whole thing was entirely unintended.

Yesterday, I entered two posts onto this Blog. Each post discussed a different MSM lie. The first post discussed the NBC Today show canoe stunt that went bad when the reporter was caught on live TV.

The second post discussed ABC's dishonest headline, in which it claimed that the rioters in Toledo were white.

Each of the posts linked to a NewsBusters post. Each of the posts also trackbacked to a NewsBusters post. The Toledo story linked also to a comment at NewsBusters.

There were 2 differences.

(1) The Toledo ABC News lie is much more harmful, as it represents the MSM/DNC's propensity to mask the identity of those who destroy and undermine our way of life. The Today show canoe lie is entertaining, but almost harmless. It would be totally harmless if it wasn't part of a larger trend of MSM/DNC dishonesty.

(2) The NewsBuster trackbacks produced wildly different results in terms of traffic. The canoe story produced a high volume of hits from the NewsBusters trackback for this blog, while the ABC racial lie produced almost no traffic. Apparently the viewers want to read about and follow the links related to the canoe story, but remain less interested in ABC's racially charged lie.

I think this demonstrates a weakness in the blogosphere that we need to correct. We need to learn what it is that really threatens our civilization. We need to realize that the MSM/DNC harms us most when it covers up those threats to civilization. Racially motivated gangs that destroy for the sake of destruction become more dangerous when they are ignored, just as Islamist terror grows worse when the MSM/DNC refuses to identify it.

The canoe story is great and helps to prove our point, but we should not get distracted laughing about it when the MSM/DNC acts more ominously in other matters.

Check out the list of 2005 MSM lies. See which ones matter the most to you.
-------------------------------
update
Michelle Malkin posts NBC's lame attempts to defend itself. A lame defense proves that the blogosphere's exposure is working. It is a shame that ABC hasn't been forced by negative publicity to defend its Toledo headline.

One year blogiversary

I made it. I lasted a full year without getting tired of blogging.

One year ago today I tried to leave a comment at the Belmont Club. I had to register with Blogger to leave a comment. In the process of registering, I received a message that told me that I now have my own blog. I thought about it for about 5 seconds and figured I could find something to say once in a while that someone else might read.

As I wrote earlier, I had originally started reading blogs because of Rathergate:

Perhaps most importantly, the blogosphere grew by leaps and bounds as a result of that scandal. While I had begun to follow certain blogs as the election campaign wore on last summer, Rathergate was the hook that reeled me in. My own blog began at the end of September, 2004, as I joined in the wave that carries us to the new media future.

While I can take no credit for the blogburst that brought down Rather and CBS, I do claim to be a child of Rathergate. I suspect that all of those political blogs whose archives go back only to September and October, 2004 were similarly Rathergate generated.

A blog can serve as a summary of the history of any period that the blog covers. The past year has been quite "historical".

I immediately identified "Cassandra" and gave a hint as to topics I would like to cover in this blog.

I followed up with links to election fraud scandals in Wisconsin
- a recurring theme on this and other blogs over the following weeks. We all have written too little about this subject in the past 10 months.

On September 27th, I wrote of threats to the electoral college and what those threats meant to the integrity of U.S. elections.

On October 4th, I wrote of Saddam Hussein's WMD's and Al Qaeda connections.

On October 5th, I wrote of the Democrats' use of campaign violence as a tactic. Now would be a good time to deal with this issue instead of waiting until the next election. Updates were provide on October 6th and October 7th, with parallels to ancient Rome included.

On October 8th, I commented on the ABC internal memo that counseled employees not to hold both sides in the election equally accountable.

On October 9th, I linked to a story of Islamic attempts to get in on the voter fraud racket and Islamic terrorist blueprints for various schools in the U.S.

On October 11th, I noted election violence in Washington State and elsewhere.

On October 12th, I linked to a story describing the Islamic fetish for beheading videos and the meaning of Kerry's positions on the war in the face of such an enemy.

Also - more Democrat inspired campaign violence, from Alaska to Washington to California.

October 13 - 25 Chechen terrorists may have entered the U.S. through Mexico.

October 14 - "KERRY/EDWARDS ELECTION DIRECTIVE: CHARGE VOTER INTIMIDATION, EVEN IF NONE EXISTS!"


Also - Voter fraud in Colorado and Pennsylvania - and the failure of government's price control/flu vaccine program.

And - an Ohio judge allows voters to vote at the wrong polling place.

October 16 - more flu vaccine rationing consequences and violence.

October 17 - voter fraud in Florida - absentee ballot irregularities.

October 18 - Chinese troops in Haiti.

And - the Ohio crack for votes program.

And - Iraqi WMD's in Syria?

October 19, 2004 - more voters than people in Philadelphia.

October 20 - Ohio vote fraud here and nationwide vote fraud here.

October 23 - More election violence.

Plus - election officials register a Somali terrorist in Ohio.

A link to the Stolen Honor video.

October 25 - The Final Week - I discuss voter fraud, terrorist attacks and the Democrats' October Surprise.

October 25 and 26. The Al Qaqaa phase of the October Surprise.

On October 27, I noted the Pennsylvania Governor's suppression of the military vote.

And - ABC holds back a terror warning.

Election fraud regarding illegal aliens in Wisconsin and victimization of senior citizens in Pennsylvania.

The Iraq-Russia-Syria connection.

October 28 - a strategy for combating fraud.

October 29 - A call for election day volunteers.

October 30 - Osama and the second half of the October Surprise.

And - Terrorists Support Kerry.

October 30 - John Kerry's letters to Wallace Carter.

Also - the final 2 1/2 days - a simple strategy.

November 1 - election eve.

November 2 - voter fraud in Philadelphia on election day.

November 3 - dodging the bullet.

November 4 - Arlen Specter's backstabbing. More on Specter on November 7.

November 9 - the next terror attack - crop dusters and propane cylinders.

November 10 - scorecard on Specter.

Also - I commented on how to be prepared for last minute false exit polls.

On November 11 - I made it onto one of the Commissar's maps.

November 12 - Arafat post-mortem.

November 13 - prosecute the fraudulent voters.

On November 18, I commented on the Islamicization of Europe prosecuting fraudulent voters a North Korean leadership mystery, and the growing Iranian threat.

On November 20, I began the Book-of-the-month recommendation (later to be called "Classics of Conservatism."

On November 23, I noted Hillary's attempt to triangulate the immigration issue. I note now that Republicans have done nothing to improve their position on this issue since that time.

On November 24, I commented on increasing Islamic influence in public schools.

Also - I summarized the case against the U.N.

On November 25, I posted the first of many posts about the Washington State fraudulent elections. This topic would take up much space for many bloggers over the next few months.

Also, a Democrat congresswoman admits that "the media certainly is not in our hands any longer."

On November 28, I noted a comparison between carousel voting in the U.S. and the Ukraine.

On December 3, I noted growing opposition to the UN.

On December 5, I commented on the leftists attempts to rig the blogger awards.

On December 6, I quoted several sources on the Intel bill sham.

Also - union opposition to anti-terror measures for schools.

December 8 - WMD's in Iraq.

On December 11, I noted the Netherlands Exodus.

On December 14, I finished in 8th place in the Weblog awards.

On December 17, I noted a connection between the secularization of Christmas and Islamic terror.

On December 26, I summarized the top election outrages of 2004.

On January 1, 2005, I tried to note blogosphere trends for the coming year.

On January 2, I commented on Wizbang's reference to the "Chamberpot defense." Also - my first use of "MSM/DNC".

On January 7, I commented on some good Rathergate summaries.

On January 10, I commented on the CBS "independant" panel report on Rathergate.

On January 14, I commented on the election fraud crisis in this country.

Also - I began the list of MSM lies of 2005. Work continues on that list.

January 24 - another Washington State election fraud post.

January 30 - waiting for the MSM spin on the Iraqi elections.

January 31 - MSM/DNC - a singular noun. I am gratified to see this term in use somewhat around the blogosphere over the past 8 months.

Also - concrete consequences from immigration.

February 2 - terrorists kidnap a G.I. Joe doll. G.I. Joe is rescued by the Ann Coulter doll.

Also - conservative talk radio has a deep bench.

February 3 - Social Security "privatization"?

February 12 - Easongate.

February 13 - the blogosphere needs to write more about economics.

February 14 - Watergate, Deep Throat and beating the dead horse.

February 15 - General Pershing's solution for terrorism.

February 16 - Ayn Rand, Garet Garrett and Absalom Weaver.

February 17 - my first of many posts on Terry Schiavo.

March 5 - The first of many quotes of the day. I have included a new quote every day since then.

March 6 - I quoted Nelson Ascher and the "Berlin Wall's Orphans".

On March 7, I noted AP's Sgrena lie.

On March 8, I noted the euphemism "failure to authenticate" as an MSM/DNC fig leaf for Rathergate.

March 9 - the first of many Axis Sally posts and comparisons to modern day leftists.

On March 10, I commented on Dan Rather's farewell appearance, and made the following comment:

LGF's post has encouraged me to create a more comprehensive post that categorizes the MSM/DNC tactics into several genres. I think this will help us understand what we face every day in the MSM/DNC and help further the new media revolution. If Rather's career is to serve any good purpose, it will be as fertilizer with which we can create a deeper understanding of the MSM/DNC machine that he so loyally served for almost five decades.

emphasis added

On March 17, I noted the push to adopt the Law of the Sea Treaty and its dangerous consequences.

On March 28, I noted Roger Ebert's efforts on behalf of a terrorist.

On April 1, we learned that Chris Matthews has no soul.

On April 2, 2005, I posted the categories of MSM/DNC bias. This post resulted in my first "Instalanche" a day later.

April 6 - I described some of the results of my "category" post.

April 8 - I noted a Peggy Noonan column summarizing John Paul II's greatest legacy.

April 10 - polls are meaningless.

April 18 - Time Magazine, Ann Coulter and Robert Ringer.

April 19 - I described the MSM/DNC attacks on Pope Benedict XVI.

On April 24, I exposed the historical fallacies about Joe McCarthy.

On May 2, I wrote one of my favorite posts on the leftist use of the "hagfish."

I also (sort of) defended the runaway bride.

And also don't forget the North Korean missiles and who was President when N. Korea acquired the technology.

On May 4, I mentioned the Dishonor Awards and MSM/DNC's home run strategy.

On May 7, I noted some movies related to Islam and history.

On May 12, I commented on the changing language, including use of the term "reinvent."

May 15 - the Newsweek - toiletgate story began.

May 20 - Encirclement from without - demoralization from within

On May 23, I commented on the filibuster cave-in. We don't yet know how much damage that deal will do.

On May 24, I noted John McCain's history of sellouts.

I also wrote about Patty Hearst and today's left.

On May 25th, I took note of a Debbie Schlussel column detailing Oprah's whitewashing of terrorists.

On May 27, I noted that Hillary got away with another campaign finance violation.

On May 28, I compared the Star Wars series with our own history of drifting toward empire.

On May 29, I celebrated France's vote against the EU constitution.

On May 30, I noted an ironic anniversary involving Joan of Arc.

On June 4, I noted the State Department's much ignored "Trafficing in Persons" report.

I also commented on a change in attitude since 9-11.

On June 9, I compared the blogosphere to a historical archeology mission.

On June 10, I wrote that we cannot survive another Clinton Presidency.

On June 11, I began the 90 day Rathergate anniversary countdown. Over the next three months, I would make the point, in various posts, as to why Rathergate was the defining moment for the modern mass media.

June 12 - Mark Steyn - the Chinese Century?

I also commented on Ed Klein's book, the Truth about Hillary.

One June 13, I posted the definitive article about the Clinton's China scandal.

June 14 - more thoughts on Ed Klein's book and why we don't need to defend the Clintons.

On June 15, I generated some heavy comments from the ESPN chat rooms as I repeated an e-mail from a WNBA ass't. coach to Debbie Schlussel.

On June 23, I tried to make sense out of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision.

I also praised Karl Rove for his comments on leftists and 9-11.

On June 26, I noted Peggy Noonan's reference to Hillary Clinton's Rosetta Stone.

On June 29, I commented on the Chinese military buildup.

On July 2, I presented a strategy for fighting the Supreme Court battle. That strategy applies even more today.

On July 4, I used Justice Janice Rogers Brown for the quote of the day for the first time.

On July 7th, I discussed the London attacks in terms of the immigration issue.

July 11 - the left's Supreme Court strategy.

On July 15, we saw a map of Islam in Africa.

July 18 - a sad anniversary.

Also - bomb the Kaaba stone?

On July 19, I speculated on the possibility of a Clement nomination here and here.

On July 20, I began to worry about Judge Roberts after previously expressing contentment.

On July 21, I wrote about moderate Muslims and Mecca.

On July 25, I noted Rick Santorum's new book.

On August 3, I noted an article that commented on the true meaning of Islam.

On August 6, I discussed the Hiroshima anniversary in a post that listed my other WWII anniversary posts also.

On August 7, I noted the anniversary of the 1998 embassy bombings.

On August 10, I took note of Democrat/election type math used to compute payments for hurricane victim funerals.

On August 13, I placed Jamie Gorelick's memo in the proper context.

On August 14, I wrote of my own roots with the blogosphere.

Also, I discussed the Gaza pullout in light of a 45 year old passage from the cold war.

I also commented on Able Danger.

August 16 - Open. War.

August 17 - The Chinese aircraft carrier Varyag

August 22 - USS Iowa shunned by San Francisco.

On August 30, I wrote of the freezing of Palestinian assets in the U.S.

- and looting.

September 1 - I wrote on looting and its significance in the context of the welfare state.

And I welcomed Sue Bob as my first ever guest blogger.

On September 3, Sue Bob wrote of Air America's encouragement to looters. [The New Orleans looters, not the thieves who robbed the orphans and diverted the funds to Air America.]

On September 6, Sue Bob commented on history and the need for context.

On September 8, I commented on Rathergate's anniversary.

I also linked to each of the Rathergate anniversary posts from the previous 90 days.

On September 11, I commented on the Islamist slanted memorial that was planned for the flight 93 heroes.

On September 18, I quoted from Thomas Sowell's thoughts on the Bork confirmation process in 1987.

I also recalled Bill Clinton's FEMA failure.

September 24 - Price controls cause shortages.

And - the future of New Orleans.

The past year has undoubtedly been good for the blogosphere. We should remember what we are capable of when we face the challenges of the future.

Rathergate Anniversary - 22 days and counting - 50,000

Sometime around three o'clock today I expect to reach 50,000 on my hit counter. That is not much compared to the larger blogs, but it is a big milestone for me after less than 11 months of blogging. I owe it all to Rathergate:

While I had begun to follow certain blogs as the election campaign wore on last summer, Rathergate was the hook that reeled me in. My own blog began at the end of September, 2004, as I joined in the wave that carries us to the new media future.

While I can take no credit for the blogburst that brought down Rather and CBS, I do claim to be a child of Rathergate. I suspect that all of those political blogs whose archives go back only to September and October, 2004 were similarly Rathergate generated.

Thanks everyone for your links and your hits.
--------------------------------
And, the 50,000th hit is referred by . . . . . . . .Captain's Quarters. May the Air America scandal be as productive as the Rathergate scandal.

Rathergate anniversary - 25 days and counting - Swift Boat Vets, the run up to Rathergate - what a difference one year makes

One year ago today, I stumbled onto the blogosphere for the first time when I followed a Lucianne.com link to a Captain's Quarters post regarding the Swift Boat Vets. The story of my discovery of this post and Captain Ed's blog is discussed here.

By mid-August 2004, the Swift Boat story had been brewing for some time. It is difficult to assign an anniversary date to that story, so August 14th is as good a date as any (not really, but I don't feel like doing more research right now).

The Swift Boat Vets had as much to do with Rathergate as anyone else. They pummeled Kerry with their TV ads all through August. Kerry had gained no traction from his own (end of July) convention and he fell far behind in the polls (BTW - I hate polls) by the beginning of September. The MSM/DNC was desparate.

Ann Coulter believes (and I agree) that CBS' airing of the ANG phony documents on September 8th instead of October 31st was the direct result of Kerry's wounds caused by the Swift Boat Vets. The MSM/DNC could wait no longer. The MSM/DNC would have to find something else for its October surprise. Because the Swift Boat Vets forced MSM/DNC's hand early, the blogosphere had time to react. Rathergate was a 12 day scandal. That 12 day window would not have existed in late October. Read Ann Coulter's column.

So as we look back to one year ago, the sequence that would lead to the earthquake known as Rathergate (and all that followed) was already in motion. But none of us had any idea that events would move so quickly. The Swift Boat Vets were beating up Kerry, the MSM/DNC was desparate to save Kerry, and the blogosphere stood ready to expose MSM/DNC lies.

One year ago today, the network news was still dominated by the big three anchors that had occupied their chairs for the previous 20+ years. The "celebrity anchor" was very much a force to be reckoned with. Today, all three celebrity anchors are now gone, while the blogosphere's power to force the truth on to the front pages is recognized (but not admitted) by all. For those who are still in doubt, read the latest events in the growing Air America scandal.

One year makes a tremendous difference. I cannot wait to see what strides we make by this time in 2006.