The NewsMediaJournal and JB Williams Are Right

Larwyn just forwarded an excellent post from JB Williams of NewsMediaJournal.US about the importance of supporting John McCain this year. The table in Williams's article is excellent and says it all. See Williams's article here.

Larwyn Is Still Alive

Larwyn and Doug Ross asked me to post this:

Larwyn is not dead yet!
If you haven't been receiving the "Best, Larwyn" collections for the past 3 days, please check that she's not being rejected as spam.

FYI: At approx 6 PM I sent out the collection, subject:
What would 'Will Bill' Donovan do w/ Eclipse & Sat Shoot Down?/ Princeton & Harvard grad take 2 days to spin Speech given TWICE!/If anything ALARMS YOU - Do Not Mention it/.."be very kind to Uncle Castro"/ Beating Obama-Beating Hill


My "collections" are normally sent to my three main lists which I follow up with a confirming "Yr Posts" email letting the bloggers know I've appreciated their posts included in the collection.

Suddenly beginning on Valentine's Day, all collections sent to AOL email addressees were returned to me.

So I pulled the AOL addressees out of all 3 lists and put in segregated group* to make it easier to track returns. Had one brief respite on the 18th. By the 19th Yahoo, HotMail, Cox and other network addresses began being returned to me.

I have the lists broken down as follows
1. 33 contacts
2. 33 contacts
3. 39 contacts in MILBLOG/INTL
*4. 1O AOL addressee contacts (temp list pulled from first three)

Last night subject collection: Email Proves CNN's Sick Bias For Marxist Thugs /OBAMA's GLOBAL POVERTY ACT HR3605 -Biden TRIES RUSH/Kosovo & Denmark/Galen brings tears using Lee Greenwood Lyrics in ALWAYS PROUD/ No one expects to leave the Canadian Inquisition!
was returned as follows:
1. (25) of the 33 sent via Gmail
2. (28) of the 33 sent via Gmail
3 (12) of the 39 sent via Comcast
4 (10) of the 10 sent via Gmail
and 4 of the 16 addressees for the "Yr Posts" confirmation were returned also sent via Gmail.

Hasselbeck versus O'Donnell; Buckley versus Vidal

Jonah Goldberg of NRO finds ABC News's claim that Rosie O'Donnell's and Elizabeth Hasselbeck's debate on Barbara Walters' "The View" "harkens back to a Vietnam-era exchange between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William Buckley."

Larwyn has provided the following link to the New Editor which has clips of both the Vidal/Buckley debate (which I recall took place in the summer of 1967 when I was a camper at Camp Woodcliff in Sawkill, NY) and the O'Donnell/Hasselback debate.

There are two similarities. Both debates are based on mistaken assessments and characterizations about, respectively, the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars. For example, Vidal claims that North and South Vietnam were one country, a mistaken claim that Mark Moyar debunks in Triumph Forsaken. Second, you had some people like Buckley and Hasselbeck both favoring the respective wars and Vidal and O'Donnell both opposing them.

However, there are two big differences. First, neither Buckley nor Vidal are as good looking as Hasselbeck but both are better looking than O'Donnell. Second, Buckley and Vidal are extremely articulate and are the products of education and refinement. In contrast, Hasselbeck and O'Donnell lack these characteristics.

Part of the problem with today's public discourse is that the educational system has failed to prepare Americans to express themselves coherently. The mass media, especially television, have contributed to this inability. College courses no longer require good writing. Opinions count more than learning. Self-esteem and self-indulgence take priority over self-discipline and education.

The difference between the Hasselbeck/O'Donnell and Buckley/Vidal debates is that in the 1960s the public required its television commentators to be well educated. Today, the public commentators are circus clowns.