Redefining Journalism

The next generation of dictionaries will contain the entry

journalism, n. Gossip, rampant speculation.

I had hopes that the C-SPAN coverage of the Democratic National Convention would be better than the coverage from the so-called news channels (every time I take a peek at MSNBC, they’re concern-trolling; I haven’t even bothered with CNN), but those hopes have just been dashed.

One of the talking heads was filling up the time until the speeches start by speculating on which Democrats might run for president in 2012.

The wrong hiding place flooded

Isaiah 28:15, 17

You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
with the grave we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
and falsehood our hiding place.”

…

I [The Lord] will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line;
hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie,
and water will overflow your hiding place.

Michael McCarthy, London Independent

A major nature reserve is to become one of the first casualties of the rising seas around Britain.

It’s All Good

I wasn’t a fan of Joe Biden’s efforts to run for president, and even less so after he gave us the Debt Peonage Bill (aka “Bankruptcy Reform”). But I’ll give him credit for being an attack dog, the Bad Cop to Obama’s Good Cop. Plus, making him Vice President pulls him out of the Senate (don’t worry, Delaware’s governor is a Democrat, so Biden’s replacement in that Senate seat will be a Democrat, too), which means that, as Al Giordano, notes, Chris Dodd replaces him as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee — and that’s a very good thing.

Plus, get a load of these numbers from FiveThirtyEight (h/t Al Giordano again):

Independents

Candidate Fav-Unfav
Biden 42-29 (+13)
Bayh 31-21 (+10)
Kaine 24-23 (+1)
Sebelius 18-21 (-3)
Clinton 39-57 (-18)

With the bases of both parties firming up, it’s the independents that are the big focus. And Biden brings them to the Democratic fold better than anyone.