POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

The Sad Truth About Blogging in Obscurity [UPDATE]

Today's most visited posts are below the fold, with the number of unique viewers for each, and the percentage change up or down since yesterday.

You'll notice that despite my posts today (the top figure is for the front page of the blog), the most visited post is one that I wrote regarding dipping my balls in pudding at the Scott Brown shindig. And the reason that it's visited is because someone asked what the pudding thing was, over at Ace's place.

It makes me sad. And then it makes me mad, Dad. You know, I'm not sure what I have to do to get a glance from the likes of Glenn Reynolds, or Ed Morrissey, or any of Breitbart's Bigs, or Ace, or Dan Riehl, or Treach, or Jim Hoft, or The Blaze, or Red State, or Geraghty, or dozens of others. You know, I used to get a little attention when I was at Jeff's place, but I doubt it's because my writing's declined. I'm not asking that you all link me up on a regular basis, but it would be nice to know that you at least have me in your readers. As little traffic as I drive, I do link you all up, and it would be nice to see the occasional reciprocal gesture.

Many times, as with Loretta King searches this week, I get a lot of way-behind-the-curve hits from searches, because I've already been on top of the story, putting the pieces together, trying to drum up more interest. Boobs are a perennial, but some of these stories you've seen here before you've seen them elsewhere in blogs, because I spend a lot of time scanning a very wide variety of sources.

Hell, I even link up their blegs, whereas the last one I succumbed to realized $50 (and, BTW, my thanks once again to the donors). Am I blegging again? You're darned tootin' I am. I've got something in the works, but it's slow going. As you know, I spent the summer mushrooming my ass off to make ends meet, but that's gone. I've applied to a local toy outfit for seasonal employment, but haven't heard back. For the moment, my copywriting and copyediting has dried up.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, it's been 10 years since I've had something that could rightly be termed a vacation. I want to work. I really do. But I've gotten to a place in my life where my daemon is all over me when I'm doing something that doesn't mean a lot to me. I flatter myself that I've been able to do things of service to other people, but I seem incapable of helping myself. Is it my attitude? I don't know, because the number of people who actually talk to me on the intarwebs is very small.

You know, the Island of Misfit Bloggers is a laugh, but as usual, I'm at my most serious when seeming most humorous. Express your support for the little guys, the ones who persevere despite the lack of acknowledgment, even if it's not by hitting the tip jar. And if you're one of the people who links me, who doesn't get any love in return, I want to know, because I imagine I can be just as obtuse as anybody.

While you're at it, please take to heart the fact that my brother's company, SunAnt.com, lost James Shore by the negligence of New Age Guru James Arthur Ray. They do custom websites for businesses and individuals, and they do it for less and better than their competitors.

And let me take this chance to thank especially my co-bloggers, whose efforts I appreciate a lot, and who sometimes receive even less attention than I.

UPDATE: My cri du coeur finds an echo in Maetenloch!

MORE: Thanks to an anonymous donor for the very generous $100 donation.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Obama Sees FOX as Destructive, Self-Interested

From NRO:

In his most forceful criticism of Fox News yet, President Obama told Rolling Stone that the network is "ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country."

"You had folks like Hearst who used their newspapers very intentionally to promote their viewpoints. I think Fox is part of that tradition – it is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view," Obama said.

Unsurprisingly, Obama called Fox's voice "a point of view that I disagree with. It's a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world."

"But as an economic enterprise, it's been wildly successful. And I suspect that if you ask Mr. Murdoch what his number one concern is, it's that Fox is very successful."

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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FBI Terror Suspect and SEIU Employee Iosbaker Tied to New Party, Obama’s First Political Backers [UPDATE: Andy Stern Said Under FBI Investigation][UPDATEx2: Radical Head of Arab American Action Network Also Visited]

Yesterday, I touched on this, here. Today, it's the subject of a post at Big Government. For more background, I recommend that you read Trevor Loudon's posts on the subject.

Just another example of the connections between domestic terror and the Tea Party.

Related: Bob Beckel threatens Pam Geller:

Here's something you don't hear very often from a Fox News Contributor "You're a woman, you better be careful about saying who I carry water for," but that was the threat Bob Beckel made to my friend, Pamela Geller editor of Atlas Shrugs during a heated exchange on Eric Bolling's Fox Business News show Money Rocks last night.

UPDATE, via Drew M. at Ace's:

Prominent ex-labor leader Andy Stern is reportedly being investigated by the FBI and Department of Labor as part of a corruption probe involving the Service Employees International Union, authorities said.

Two organized labor officials met with federal agents this summer to answer questions about Stern’s role in approving money to pay the salary of an SEIU leader in California who performed no work and a book contract that Stern landed in 2006, The Los Angeles Times reported today on its website.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATEx2: Jim Hoft on another Obama pal, Hatem Abudayyeh. Just read the whole thing.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Study: Mortgage Crisis Caused by Loaning Money to People Undeserving of Credit

Really?

The housing crisis wasn't caused by much-maligned exotic loans so much as lending huge sums of money to unworthy borrowers, a report released Monday suggested.

The misdiagnosis of the housing bubble, whose implosion in 2007 knocked out the broader economy, drove Congress to overreact and ban useful tools, according to a report from the Corky McMillin Center for Real Estate at San Diego State University.

The study examined lending practices in 12 countries and found that many make extensive use of loans in which the borrower avoids paying down principal for a fixed period. With the exception of the United Kingdom, none of these countries had a foreclosure problem nearly as bad as what the United States has endured.

*******

But the crisis cannot be blamed on those borrowers, nor on mortgage brokers or real estate agents, according to a report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, also released Monday.

Instead, authors Eric Belsky and Nela Richardson said that lenders made the mistake of opening up loans to people who had already proven themselves unable to pay.

Wall Street financiers then took these higher-risk loans and combined them into mortgage-backed securities, which in turn received high grades from ratings agencies. The system created a cycle that built on itself, even as regulators failed to apply the brakes to the system.

"Had the financial system itself contained the risk better ---- through effective self-policing or through stronger regulation ---- the performance of nonprime loans (and prime loans for that matter) might well have been much better," the report said.

Article goes on to say that Dodd-Frank is counterproductive. Whodathunkit?

In related news, the IPCC now thinks maybe the sun has something to do with climate.

Also related, via Drudge: Vegas Hotel Pool 'Death Ray' Burns Tourists. Just call it headline of the morning, baby.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Ethics: DoJ, Turbo Timmah, Congressional Staffers, Dearborn, Mexico, Punched Hippies

The more laws, the less justice. Marcus Tullius Cicero

Via Glenn Reynolds, who suggests maybe it's time for a loser pays approach to lawsuits, Rodney Balko analyzes a USA Today investigative piece that finds rampant ethics violations at the DoJ, which are swept under the rug or result in wrist slaps:

Last week, USA Today published the results of a six-month investigation into misconduct by America’s federal prosecutors. The investigation turned up what Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman called a pattern of “serious, glaring misconduct.” Reporters Brad Heath and Kevin McCoy documented 201 cases in which federal prosecutors were chastised by federal judges for serious ethical breaches, ranging from withholding important exculpatory evidence to lying in court to making incriminating but improper remarks in front of juries.

The list is by no means comprehensive, and doesn’t claim to be. I checked the paper’s website for examples of egregious misconduct reported here at Reason: U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan’s politically-charged prosecution of Pennsylvania doctor Bernard Rottschaefer; Assistant U.S. Attorney Brett Grayson’s outrageous persecution of the Colomb family in Louisiana; and the bogus Mann Act charges brought against Mississippi heart surgeon, Dr. Roger Wiener. None are among the cases in USA Today’s database. The paper should be lauded for its groundbreaking investigation, but as the reporters themselves acknowledge, they’ve really only scratched the surface. (The investigation also only looked at federal cases, which comprise just a tiny portion of the country’s total criminal prosecutions.)

This is today's must read, and I doubt it's going to find its way onto the agenda of 60 Minutes, which is too busy trying to boost the reputation of slumlord and fraud Imam Feisel Rauf.

At Big Government, Tom Fitton reveals what Judicial Watch was able to dig up regarding the orchestrated disinformation campaign the DoJ presented, under oath, with respect to the New Black Panthers. As Andrew Breitbart pointed out a few days ago, Malik Shabazz is the new John Smith, and if anyone interviews you regarding politics, I recommend you use that name.

Jason Mattera springs the moral authority question on Turbo Timmah:

Capitol Hill staffers owed over $9 million in unpaid taxes last year, "a sliver of the $1 billion owed by federal workers nationwide but one with potential political ramifications for members of Congress."

Jury Acquits the Four Christian Evangelists Arrested For Proselytizing at the Dearborn Arab Festival: these people ought to sue the police chief's ass off.

Mexico asks the US to stop deporting its nationals back to them, when they've committed serious criminal offenses. Mexico building anti-illegal immigrant fence along its border with Guatemala.

Via Jim Treacher on Twitter, punched hippies waking up to Obama's arrogance, realizing that they've been lied to and used. And in an epic ephiphany, a New Media Guru realizes that all of Obama's troubles are traceable to a handful of disaffected Proggbloggers.

Related: Chicago guys don't know nothin' 'bout courtin' no wimmens.

Also related, from Ric Locke: "Consider a man alone."

Will "Svengolliwog" Folks writing a tell-all book.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Models. Smart Phones.

Via Sex, Cigars & Booze

As long as you're here, it appears that Microsoft is going to move everyone blogging on their other platforms to WordPress. If you're moving, it's the ideal time to employ SunAnt.com to provide you with the site you want, considering that they're liable to provide you with just the basics.

Some linky love for friends:

The fellatio ratio is low.

Lance predicts a Packers victory based on 25-year-old evidence.

No Sheeples takes a look at Lurch.

Axelrod and Obama's commie mentors.

Carol's Closet: It was Larry Summers, so we'd better find a female replacement.

Yid with Lid: Oh, I see!

Serr8d: Obami say Yes! to socialism (via TSI)

Jimmie Bise on SEIU. (ACORN hasn't gone anywhere. FDIC claims they're not playing favorites. Chicagoland has some great schools, and vouchers are unfair).

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Now I’m Hungry

I'm home sick from work today, and was flipping around the net when I found the story about San Francisco proposing a ban on toys in happy meals that aren't healthy enough.

Now I want to go get a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese ™ and a large fry.

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

Jennifer Rubin on Coates: Testimony So Stunning the NYT May Have To Cover It

Coates' testimony "inappropriate," but Colbert's not:

Try as Democrats might to ignore the blockbuster evidence, Coates’s testimony was a game changer. Granted, the testimony contained information already revealed in conservative outlets and by former DOJ attorney J. Christian Adams. But Coates confirmed these facts and added a wealth of new details. An African American attorney and his mother (who also works for DOJ) were harassed for working on a voting case brought against an African American defendant. Obama’s deputy assistant general for civil rights, Julie Fernandez, repeatedly told attorneys not to enforce Section 8 or bring cases against minority defendants. Coates’s supervisor, who directly ordered the case’s dismissal, told him to stop asking applicants if they could enforce laws in a race-neutral fashion. Coates briefed civil rights chief Thomas Perez on the hostility toward race-neutral enforcement of voting laws — before Perez feigned ignorance of such sentiments in sworn testimony. In sum, Coates’s appearance was the scandal’s tipping point.

Conservative outlets have reported on the case for over a year; mainstream reporters have averted their eyes. After Coates’s performance, the Washington Post’s page-one story proclaimed that the case is “ratcheting up.” Politico had pooh-poohed the story; it now acknowledges that conservatives had it correct all along. (“Coates’ highly-charged testimony before the Civil Rights Commission echoed [conservatives’] allegations, as well as the testimony of J. Christian Adams.”) The testimony was so stunning that the New York Times might have to cover it.

Meanwhile, the DOJ’s spokesman bristled that Coates wasn’t “authorized” to testify and wasn’t an “appropriate” witness. In a transparent coordination with Yaki, DOJ’s spokesman blamed the Bush administration for politicizing the department. But it will be impossible to shrug off or smear Coates. As the Post conceded, Coates’s testimony will “carry greater weight because he worked decades ago as an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, has won awards from civil rights groups and lacks the partisan GOP resume of the department’s harshest opponents.”

Tangentially related: Segway company owner dies in Segway mishap

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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