Pirate's Cove

A little something that I have had my parrots out gathering info on for the last week. First we had Jonathan Klein of jammie’s fame:

Not everyone is a fan. Former CBS executive Jonathan Klein complained
on Fox News that "these bloggers have no checks and balances. . . . You
couldn’t have a starker contrast between the multiple layers of checks
and balances and a guy sitting in his living room in his pajamas
writing."

Then we have Brian Williams (via Powerlineblog):

Williams, 45, is capable of showing good humor and a dry wit in public.
When Time magazine held a lunch to discuss candidates for its person of
the year, he exposed a side of his personality that is seldom seen on
the air.

When a fellow panelist mentioned that bloggers had had a big impact
on the reporting on Election Day, Williams waved that point away by
quipping that the self-styled journalists are "on an equal footing with
someone in a bathroom with a modem."

So what did the parrots find? They found some interesting folks who are blogging:

1. MSNBC has Joe Scarborough, Chrissy Matthews, Keith Olberman and David Shuster, among others.
2. FoxNews has Greta Van Susteren and E.D. Hill
3. Michelle Malkin
4. Hugh Hewitt
5. Harvard Law School
6. The Wall Street Journal-Opinion Journal Online
7. Both George Bush and John Kerry had blogs with their election websites. W supposedly has his own personal blog. Not sure about Kerry.
8. Have run across lawyers, doctors, professors, teachers, fireman, policeman, military, nuclear scientists (ran across one from a plant in Ca, sorry forget the address), and millionaires, to name a few.

And all these folks are apparently blogging in their jammie’s while sitting on the throne. I wonder what the folks at MSNBC who blog think about Mr. William’s comments?
And, apparently, we are all parasites, Right and Left bloggers alike, courtesy of Eric Enberg (the parrots ran across the article while searching):

The public is now assaulted by news and pretend-news from many
directions, thanks to the now infamous "information superhighway." But
the ability to transmit words, we learned during the Citizens Band
radio fad of the 70’s, does not mean that any knowledge is being passed
along. One of the verdicts rendered by election night 2004 is that,
given their lack of expertise, standards and, yes, humility, the
chances of the bloggers replacing mainstream journalism are about as
good as the parasite replacing the dog it fastens on.

Some may be trying to break in to journalism, but I have a feeling that no one is looking to replace the MSM’s. There are lots of reasons we blog, and those that deal primarily with news and politics are looking for some accountability from the MSM’s. Part of what we do is act as a watchdog. And, Mr. Enberg should understand that parasites can be nasty little creatures, and create big problems for creatures that are much bigger then they are. Just ask Dan Rather. Will have to catch him before the screen door hits him on the way out. And, BTW, you will not get any pop ups at most of the blogs in the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem, like you will at MSNBC, which can give you some nice spyware, along with the annoyance.