Month: February 2002

White on black websites are hard to read

and it’s shame that so many sites with good content are going that way. I could go into a fine rant on the nature of the eyeball and the design goals of video monitors, but it mainly comes down to common sense. Sullivan has given his readers the option of choosing a color scheme, but … Continue reading “White on black websites are hard to read”

and it’s shame that so many sites with good content are going that way. I could go into a fine rant on the nature of the eyeball and the design goals of video monitors, but it mainly comes down to common sense. Sullivan has given his readers the option of choosing a color scheme, but most who use quirky design don’t. Please, folks, black on white. The eye needs contrast and definition or the brain can’t digest your thoughts.

Another great web site

on politics is Spinsanity – Countering rhetoric with reason. These guys, Ben Fritz and Brendan Nyhan, take on the left and the right with equal relish whenever and wherever they see defective reasoning or distortions of fact. They’re pretty busy. Here’s a bit about Enron: In the ongoing rhetorical war over Enron, both sides seem … Continue reading “Another great web site”

on politics is Spinsanity – Countering rhetoric with reason. These guys, Ben Fritz and Brendan Nyhan, take on the left and the right with equal relish whenever and wherever they see defective reasoning or distortions of fact. They’re pretty busy. Here’s a bit about Enron:

In the ongoing rhetorical war over Enron, both sides seem to be trying to establish false tropes and hoping they’ll work their way into the mainstream. Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings (D-SC) did it last week when he falsely alleged that Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels had been on the company’s payroll. And now two conservatives are falsely stating that former Enron CEO Ken Lay was an overnight guest in the Clinton White House.

They’ll e-mail updates to you if you like.

Discovering Kathleen Parker

— Fox News’ celebrity blogger Will Vehrs has discovered one of my favorite columnists: I think Kathleen Parker is one of the best columnists out there who isn’t syndicated to the WP or NYT. She’s got a nice web site and answered a long-ago email I sent her quickly and very graciously. You can also … Continue reading “Discovering Kathleen Parker”

— Fox News’ celebrity blogger Will Vehrs has discovered one of my favorite columnists:

I think Kathleen Parker is one of the best columnists out there who isn’t syndicated to the WP or NYT. She’s got a nice web site and answered a long-ago email I sent her quickly and very graciously.

You can also read her on Jewish World Review. Parker is one of the sensible voices in the divorce wars, where her experience as a girl raised by her father guides in in the right direction. I first learned about her when she sent me an e-mail about a piece I’d forwarded to some e-mail lists about a study in England showing the women most successful in politics and business had strong relationships with their fathers. Highly recommended.

Speaking of Fox News, they feature Los Angeleno Ken Layne today, doing Dave Barry impressions. Check it out.

Future dim for California schools

— I heard a discussion between the three leading candidates for California School Superintendent on the radio yesterday, and quickly reached the conclusion that things aren’t going to get better any time soon in this state. The leading candidate is state senator Jack O’Connell, and his chief rival is my assemblymember, Lynne Leach. Leach has … Continue reading “Future dim for California schools”

— I heard a discussion between the three leading candidates for California School Superintendent on the radio yesterday, and quickly reached the conclusion that things aren’t going to get better any time soon in this state. The leading candidate is state senator Jack O’Connell, and his chief rival is my assemblymember, Lynne Leach. Leach has her heart (and her head) in the right place, but she doesn’t have a snowball’s chance of winning owing to the fact that she’s a Reep in a one-party Dem state. O’Connell has $2M in union money on his side, and legions ready to walk precincts, drive on election day, and work phone banks. The reason that we need to keep the money in politics, by the way, is to keep the scales balanced between the parties here.
Continue reading “Future dim for California schools”

Fox News clarification

— Will Vehrs says Fox News is gonna put a new blog on their site every day of the week, with his coming back next Saturday as a regular feature. The editor’s note makes sense now. It’s good to see blogs making more penetration into the mainstream media. The first one to emerge was Jack … Continue reading “Fox News clarification”

— Will Vehrs says Fox News is gonna put a new blog on their site every day of the week, with his coming back next Saturday as a regular feature. The editor’s note makes sense now. It’s good to see blogs making more penetration into the mainstream media. The first one to emerge was Jack Kavanaugh’s Rough & Tumble, the Daily Driveby on California politics, featured on CBS’ 60 Minutes a couple of years ago. Kavanaugh’s content is so rich that his site is self-supporting now. He also gets calls from Washington if the content isn’t updated by 7AM Pacific Time, so there’s a downside to every upside.

It’s very cool

that Fox News has picked up Pundit Watch for their website, even if they don’t know what they’re buying. They say: Editor’s Note: Beginning this week, Fox News brings some of the web’s newest voices under its wing with the addition of the Fox Weblog. With it, we hope to bring the farflung corners of … Continue reading “It’s very cool”

that Fox News has picked up Pundit Watch for their website, even if they don’t know what they’re buying. They say:

Editor’s Note: Beginning this week, Fox News brings some of the web’s newest voices under its wing with the addition of the Fox Weblog. With it, we hope to bring the farflung corners of the Internet to your desktop, with a little commentary on the side. For those who don’t know, a weblog is a tour of the ‘net guided by a pilot you will come to know over time. We hope you enjoy the tour.

Fox only carries the Television Pundits part of Punditwatch, not the “far-flung corners of the Internet” part, so you wonder what they’re smoking (besides CNN).

Oh well, at least Punditwatch isn’t totally dependent on Blogspot any more.

Oops I did it again

— In the course of apologizing to Andy for crimes both real and imaginary, InstaPundit made a very passionate defense of blogspot.com. I wanted to re-read that part, but it seems that blogspot has crashed again. Update: OK, it’s up again and here’s what he said: “Yeah, Blogger and Blogspot have their problems — but … Continue reading “Oops I did it again”

— In the course of apologizing to Andy for crimes both real and imaginary, InstaPundit made a very passionate defense of blogspot.com. I wanted to re-read that part, but it seems that blogspot has crashed again.

Update: OK, it’s up again and here’s what he said: “Yeah, Blogger and Blogspot have their problems — but the hosting service I was planning to move to was shut down twice by hackers last month, so I’m just reminded that it’s the nature of the Internet to be less-than-fully reliable.”

Hmm. Most ISPs don’t ever crash, and certainly not on a daily basis. Really. But nevermind.

Ripping Gray Davis

— Celebrity blogger Matt Welch rips Gray and explains how lefties can bring themselves to support such an odious character: Just combine a Tim Robbins-like conviction that Republicans not named Jim Jeffords are evil, with a Naderite certainty that corporations are the devil’s battering ram, and presto! You don’t have to pay attention, and you … Continue reading “Ripping Gray Davis”

— Celebrity blogger Matt Welch rips Gray and explains how lefties can bring themselves to support such an odious character:

Just combine a Tim Robbins-like conviction that Republicans not named Jim Jeffords are evil, with a Naderite certainty that corporations are the devil’s battering ram, and presto! You don’t have to pay attention, and you can vote Gray

Don’t read this if you’re tryng to get less cynical about politics.

Welch says he’s been anti-Gray ever since the robotic one voted to allow off-shore drilling in the 80s. As a former Texan, I’ve always been mystified by the way the people of my adopted state of California feel about oil drilling. If you want to play, you’ve got to pay, so either ride a bike or support drilling.

The Republican Death Wish

— California is effectively a one-party, Democratic state now, since our Republican faithful have adopted the position that it’s better to be right on the moral issues than successful at the ballot box. This has been evident in the choice of a string of hardcore pro-life party chairmen, and in the reaction of the faithful … Continue reading “The Republican Death Wish”

— California is effectively a one-party, Democratic state now, since our Republican faithful have adopted the position that it’s better to be right on the moral issues than successful at the ballot box. This has been evident in the choice of a string of hardcore pro-life party chairmen, and in the reaction of the faithful to Dick Riordan’s candidacy for governor:

Riordan is raising much more cash than Jones or Simon and leads the polls, but he is under heavy attack from some party stalwarts. Last week, former California governor George Deukmejian, an influential Republican in the state, took the extraordinary step of saying publicly that he had “no respect” for Riordan.

This deadly purity of essence makes the Dems who can bring themselves to support Davis, for all his warts, look almost bright.

Link: California GOP Reluctant to Rally Behind Riordan (washingtonpost.com)