I'm pleased to report that An Army Of Davids has arrived in lovely Southern California, and was last seen working on its tan.

Which is a good thing, because let's be frank: it may well be the best book to explain just how the Web and other digital technologies are reversing the polarities of modern society, but honestly, it's kinda pasty-looking.

A MANIFESTO AGAINST ISLAMISM (7 links)
Michelle Malkin
Danish reader P.H.N. sends an important document published today in the Jyllands-Posten from 12 brave intellectuals:
MANIFESTO: Together facing the new totalitarianism
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Cable Guys in VoIP (7 links)
The VoIP Weblog: Main Page - Your idea of Voice over IP
I just noticed a disturbing little graph on Om's site. Apparently the cable companies have 52% of the VoIP market right now. The cable VoIP growth is going to be good news for folks like Motorola (GI group) which...

British Business VoIP User Base Grows (7 links)
The VoIP Weblog: Main Page - Your idea of Voice over IP
Is it possible they'll overtake the US' lead anytime soon? While consumer VoIP in Europe is has good growth potential and history, enterprise VoIP hasn't done so well. In fact, though GB is just barely behind the US in...

How To Slant A Poll 101 (12 links)
Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
Today, we're going to look at two of the techniques that are often used by the mainstream media to slant...

How To Slant A Poll 101 (11 links)
Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
Today, we're going to look at two of the techniques that are often used by the mainstream media to slant...
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Joe Klein in Time:

"The news from the Middle East - Iran, Iraq, Palestine - has been nonstop awful, and Bush is beginning to sound as airy and out of touch as Woodrow Wilson must have in 1919, when that President tried to sell the futile dream of a League of Nations. "

To the claim that the "news" from the Middle East has been "nonstop awful" --- well, yes. Hard to argue. But that's a rather different thing than the reality in the Middle East being non-stop awful, no?

See also, Victor Davis Hanson: "It is an odd war, because the side that I think is losing garners all the press, whether by blowing up the great golden dome of the Askariya shrine in Samarra, or blowing up an American each day. Yet we hear nothing of the other side that is ever so slowly, shrewdly undermining the enemy."

Time, Mr. Klein, and the MSM in general are fond of engaging in this particular dance. Step one ("news" desk): ignore any signs of progress or good news from the Middle East; report in lurid detail all bad news. Step two ("editorial" desk): write pithy columns about how "the news" from the Middle East has been nothing but awful. Rinse. Repeat.

I can take some small pleasure in taunting Time, however, because they've obviously invested this week's issue in the concept that the mosque bombing last week is starting a civil war. As they explain breathlessly in their press release:

"AN EYE FOR AN EYE TIME's cover story this week, "Breaking Point," explores the roots of the murderous rage in Iraq following the bombing of the al-Askari shrine and looks at why the U.S. may be powerless to stop it."

But of course, a civil war is exactly what we're not seeing, based on reports of the past few days. Captain Ed points out that even Moqtada al-Sadr, of all people, is encouraging calm and helping to keep the peace. And Omar at Iraq the Model notes that initial reports of the violence were dramatically overstated.

At times like these, it really sucks to be a weekly, doesn't it? Faster, please...

Update: It's murderous rage, I tell you, all of it!