Insta-hoglets

OK, changes at Newshog. I figure I am the only one who remembers that there is meant to be a "news brief" Sunday and Wednesday and a "blogabout" on Friday. I also figure people don't give a damn about the format. That being said, I think I will just post a bunch of links to stuff every couple of days to no particular schedule and do so in a format I find fun to write. Here we go with some more Insta-hoglets!

Justin Webb, the BBC's correspondent in Washington, says transatlanic divisions still run deep. Europeans see Americans as "strait-laced and earnest",

America is fast becoming a nation of faith not fact. A nation where the unpleasant aspects of human existence are simply airbrushed away...Americans want to believe in miracles, their heads are in the clouds. While Europeans fret about what they regard as real life, about poverty and social justice and about combating AIDS, Americans find it easier to rally round a vision, however otherworldly it might be. Millions of Americans, 17% according to a recent survey, seriously believe that the end of the world is coming in their lifetimes and that they will be sucked up through the clouds to heaven.

Whereas:
Americans have long regarded Europeans as weak-willed, lily-livered, morally degenerate moaners, incapable of clear thinking or resolute action.

So do conservatives get confused between Europeans and Democrats? Well, Kerry was French, wasn't he?

Chris R, guest blogging for Ezra, blasts the idiot Hugh Hewitt about the "self-correcting blogosphere" and wonders why, in that case, the right hasn't corrected Drudge all the way out of town after making up stories.

The New Republic has an intersting article about armed militias, in other words, Afghani style warlords, who are popping up in Iraq with well armed and trained soldiers. The US military are ignoring the issue because...well...ummm...all the militias belong to allies of Allawi. Key quote? ""We don't call them militias," Major Chris Wales, who tracks the pop-ups for Lieutenant General David Petraeus, diplomatically explained to Jaffe. "Militias are ... illegal." Indeed, as Glenn would say.

The Guardian newspaper has been looking at transatlantic differences too, this time the actual issues that divide - Iran, Kyoto, Nato, arms for China, poverty aid for the Third World and the International Criminal Court which Bush seems to have a fear of appearing at as the star turn one day if ever he acknowledges it's existence.

Although Christians today, particularly Evangelicals and, increasingly, Catholics, are often associated with the Republican party, the truth is that faithful Christians are found at all points on the political spectrum. So says Hootsbuddy as he links to the Barnabas Project, "a bridge-building exercise, hopefully with a view of finding common ground that Christians both left and right might share". Hootsbuddy doesn't sound to hopeful though, and follows up with a link to John Dear's essay, Pharisee Nation which he feels accurately reflects the religious right in the US who shudder every time he talks about social issues around them.

Obsidian Wings, the right-thinking blog for rightwingers, is bucking the trend again. While asserting that bringing democracy to Iraq was always a reason for the invasion, not just one added on after the fact, Von admits that on its own, it wasn't reason enough. The post concludes with the refreshingly honest and level-headed words "Yes, I'm cheering for the Iraqi democrats. I'm hoping that Iraq's new constitution is a resounding success. I'm grasping for silver linings. But that's what they are: silver linings in clouds we should have avoided."
That's telling it like it is.

The Independent newspaper says:

Scientists have found the first unequivocal link between man-made greenhouse gases and a dramatic heating of the Earth's oceans. The researchers - many funded by the US government - have seen what they describe as a "stunning" correlation between a rise in ocean temperature over the past 40 years and pollution of the atmosphere.
The study destroys a central argument of global warming sceptics within the Bush administration - that climate change could be a natural phenomenon.

The paper then goes on to explain why Bush's advisors fight the evidence about climate change.

And Mike at Rhetoric and Rhythm asks :
What will the right-wing response be to these latest scientific studies.
A. Ignore it.
B. Denounce it as biased.
C. Call for more studies.
D. All of the above.
Then gets the answer in his comments.

When is a conservative like an ostritch? When he doesn't like the facts.

Morgaine at P! feels the same way as I do about the Democrat's rollover on Chertoff, and expresses her not-so-mild misgivings in an open letter to Howard Dean. There now follows rapturous applause from the Newshog gallery.

The People's Republic of Seabrook cracks me up. Here, northstar makes the point on Bush's ability to play with the statistics. If you consider the world devaluation of the dollar, the Stock Market has dropped 30% on this time last year. A little creative financing goes a long way.