A Big, Wet Sloppy Kiss ...

... to my blog partner, friend, and general all around action hero cool chick, Michele, on the four year anniversary of her taking mouse, and blog, in hand.

The 'sphere has never been the same.

You rock, pards. Like RJD.

Doug Feith Leaving Defense

New poll up on the main page: Is Doug Feith leaving Defense a good or bad thing?

And if you don't know who Doug Feith is, you need to read Command Post more! Here's a primer ...

Welcome Keith of Sortapundit

We're proud to add Keith Taylor of Sortapundit to our ranks of contributors. Visit his blog and help welcome him to the Post.

As for Michele and me: Welcome, Keith!

Objectivity & Truth

The Philly Inquirer's Chris Hedges has a think piece up today titled Journalists' objectivity needs balance of truth. In it he notes:

Balance and objectivity, without a strong commitment to the truth, can turn journalism into farce. It was impossible to witness the army massacres in El Salvador or the murder of children by Bosnian Serb snipers in Sarajevo without being revolted. I hated these crimes. I took risks, along with many of my colleagues, to expose and explain them. And I wanted, through my reporting, to get the world to wake up and put an end to the wholesale murder of innocents. This commitment, however, was effective only when we were rigorous about telling the truth. It is this moral core, this belief that we can contribute to an open society and make the world a better place, that keeps me and other reporters focused on truth as well as balance and objectivity.

And then this:

Balance and objectivity have become code words to propagate the insidious and cynical moral disengagement that is destroying American journalism. This moral disengagement gives equal time, and sometimes more than equal time, to those who spread falsehoods and distort information. It tacitly sanctions the dissemination of lies. It absolves us from making moral choice. It obscures and often shuts out the truth. This sophistry has come to characterize the circus that goes by the name of journalism on cable news shows. Facts on television are largely interchangeable with opinions. The television reporter, like a game show host, makes sure each warring party has his or her time to vent. The veracity of what is said is irrelevant. But the disease of moral neutrality is no longer confined to the poseurs on television, who are, after all, entertainers posing as journalists. It is seeping into those organizations that are still attempting to report the news. Objectivity is not the same as moral disengagement. Balance does not mean giving everyone the same space. We are more than dutiful court stenographers. Journalists have a contract with viewers and readers. This contract was broken. We must make sure it is not broken again.

"Entertainers posing as journalists." Wow. Wonder how he feels about Dan Rather.

And About Lincoln.ppt?

I see the boys at Powerline critique Corzine via a parody of a critique of Lincoln's second inaugural (what?). Reminded me of another Lincoln-related parody. Evils of PowerPoint, anyone?

Wow. Belmont & Jarvis.

This is a great post. "Abramson shuddered." I bet. Enough said.

Shout Out To You, Mr. Hastings Law Reader

Michele just sent me this. Nice to know we've entered the ranks of the academy, if only through a back door. And if you're reading this, Mr. Hastings Law Student, thanks for stopping by. How IS contacts, anyway?

The Command Post: How We Can Get Better

Typing this from 37,000 feet and US Airways flight 1640.

I’ve just completed Hugh Hewitt’s book, Blog. Hugh’s folks were kind enough to send me a complementary copy before its release, but true to form I was only able to start it two days ago. The good news is that I read it in two sittings, most of which were on airplanes, which supports Hugh’s hope that it be a fast read.

I don’t write this to post about Hugh’s book, as much as I liked it. I’ll do that in another post. I’m writing this post to talk about Command Post, and what’s next for me with the site.

Fact is, we’ve been really lucky here. Our post-election traffic has held up quite well, stabilizing at about the same level as it was before the conventions and Election Day. What’s more, the tsunami proved what we’ve seen with the war and with the Northeast blackout and with hurricanes and a host of other stories: when news breaks, people around the world can rely on our network of bloggers to aggregate new fast, accurately, and with more global depth of coverage than just about anywhere else out there. People may not come here every day, but they come here when a story hits.

That’s wonderful, and it’s the point of the site: a sort of “middle ground” in journalism. Not mainstream media, and not the pure opinion of most blogs, but a third alternative, primarily about the news, that’s an awful lot faster, easier to access, and personable than the MSM sites.

And if you trust Command Post more than CNN or FOX, more power to you.

But reading Blog was a catalyst for a bunch of thinking I’ve been doing about the site, and where I’ve settled is that I in particular can get much better as an administrator and contributor. So, without consulting with Michele (she’s reading this for the first time, too ... sorry pards, had to get this on, well, not paper, but screen), here’s what I’m thinking about my commitment to Command Post:

• Bigger network. People come and people go from TCP, and that’s fine. But our policy is to keep people on the rolls, and they’re all still welcome. And I don’t care how often someone posts ... because if they only post once a year, but it’s a key issue or breaking item, that’s good enough for me. That said, I want to expand the network. We have some 170 contributors now ... why not 300? Or 500? Or 1,000? The value of the network is the square of its number ... so let’s grow the sucker. Our mission, vision, values, and posting guidelines are over there in the left-hand column. If you can live by those, you’re welcome to join the team.

• Write more. My posting comes and goes, and is almost always a function of my travel and work schedule, which are both frankly quite demanding. Most of my work days are in front clients or team members or on airplanes, not in front of a PC, and my blogging time is generally restricted to weekends, early mornings, and late evenings. That said, if I can post, I’m going to try to contribute more original stuff. I’ve only really done this twice here, with this Op/Ed and with my APME speech, and both seemed well received. So look for me more on Op/Ed and the Publisher’s Desk. And if you hate my writing, thoughts, or style, well ... sorry about that.

• Link to blogs more. We do a great job of linking to MSM, but I think we can do a much better job of linking to the blogosphere. BUT: we have to link to the left and the right, given our desire to keep this site to the center. So I’m going to get better at finding and highlighting unique, and undiscovered, blog voices on the events and topics we cover here. I’m sure I’ll learn something, and perhaps you will, too.

• Get mobile. I can post from my phone, and did so extensively during the RNC. In fact, near as I can tell, I was the only blogger posting from inside the hall during the President’s acceptance speech. Our whole network needs to be able to do the same, so I’m going to equip us all with mobile posting capability.

• More responsive. Readers send me email and tips all the time, and I almost never respond. I used to, but the volume simply outstretched my available time. I read every email, though. Always have and always will. What I can get much better at is acting on those links and tips. So I may not reply to you, but I’m going to do my best to check out, and if it works, post, the stuff you send. The forums can become yet another source for this ... for readers to post news items and have conversation about those stories. In fact, maybe I need to start a “Tips” forum topic. Note to self ... [Update: Done.]

• More sticky, more fun. Gotta love a line like that. I can do a much better job of making Command Post a more interactive, and frankly, more fun, site. The forums are a start, and seem to be coming along well. I can change the poll question more often, we can have more contests, and we can engage the blogosphere more. Hugh’s done a great job of this, asking other bloggers to post answers to questions and then cross-linking them, and I intend to steal this idea with abandon. (Flattery, Hugh, flattery.) What’s more, we have an awfully funny and compelling writer in Michele, as anyone who reads ASV knows, as we do among many of our contributors. No reason not to unleash those same talents on the Op/Ed page, related to our topics of coverage, or in the form of a bit more personality in our posts on our main news pages. So look for that (and you have been warned).

So ... that’s a start. I don’t expect, nor do I have dreams for, Command Post to be a great revolution in media. That’s already underway. It’s called the Blogosphere, and we’re but a small part. But this is a labor of love, and in the very least, it’s been a personal investment of time, energy, thought. And because of that, it’s an investment I want to be proud of. We’ve done well, being a resource of citizen-journalism for people over the past 18 months, but we can do better. And if I can keep the commitments above, at least for my part, we will.

Just thought you should know.

Thanks for reading the Post.

We’re Incorporated

Michele and I wanted to let you know that we’ve incorporated The Command Post. The official name of the firm is “JBTP, LLC”, with “JBTP” standing for “Journalism By The People.” We took this step based on the advice of Hugh Hewitt, which he dispensed during a conversation he and I had at the DNC in Boston. It doesn’t mean much in a tangible way ... it’s not like we’re making a ton of money doing this ... but it will help us account for our travel expenses at speeches and panel discussions, and our donations, a bit more cleanly.

More important, I think it’s symbolic of our little corner of the Blogosphere becoming “real” enough that we had to treat it as so. Which, I think, is symbolic of the Blogoshpere itself becoming increasingly “real.” (As are the incorporation of Strengthen The Good as a 501©(3) non-profit, the formation of Red State as a 527 ... I’m sure there are others). To that we owe thanks to Hugh and Reynolds and Lileks and APME and many other sponsors and interested parties, but most of all we owe thanks to our contributors and our readers. For all of you: We’re grateful. It’s fun doing this, but only because Michele and I have had occasion to feel part of something larger than ourselves.

Some of you know that I fly almost every week. If you happen to see a guy in his mid-30s tapping a blog entry on a black IBM Thinkpad on your next commercial airline flight, it’s probably me. Say hello, and I’ll buy the drinks.

Inauguration Caption Contest!

Jenna loves Ronnie James Dio!

Inauguration Trivia!

[Not really news, so I'm just sticking this here]

__________ was the shortest inaugural address at 135 words. (1793)

________________was the only president to walk to and from his inaugural. He was also the first to be inaugurated at the Capitol.

The first inaugural ball was held for _____________.

____________ was the first president sworn in wearing long trousers.

____________was the first president to affirm rather than swear the oath of office.

_________________'s was the longest inaugural address at 8,445 words.

The first inauguration to be photographed was _______________'s.

__________ was the first to include African-Americans in his parade.

___________s mother was the first to attend her son's inauguration.

____________ inauguration was the first ceremony to be recorded by a motion picture camera.

__________'s wife was the first one to accompany her husband in the procession from the Capitol to the White House.

____________s second inaugural parade.

____________ was the first president to ride to and from his inaugural in an automobile.

__________'s was the first inaugural address broadcast on the radio.

_________'s was the first to be televised.

____________s inauguration had first poet to participate in the official ceremony.

____________ was the first (and so far) only president to be sworn in by a woman.

_________'s inaugural parade featured solar heat for the reviewing stand.

_____________'s second inaugural had to compete with Super Bowl Sunday.

The first ceremony broadcast on the Internet was _____________'s second inauguration.

Bonus: Name the six presidents who did not take their oaths in Washington, D.C.

[Trivia from infoplease.com. Leave your answers in the comments - I'll post the correct answers tonight.]

New Contributor: Joshua of One Free Korea

Please help us welcome a new TCP contributor, Josh Stanton. Josh publishes his blog One Free Korea from Washington, DC. Josh served in Korea, and is a former Army JAG prosecutor and defense counsel. Welcome, Josh!

Helmets To Hardhats

We were asked to exchange banners with Helmets to Hardhats, a company funded by the Department of Defense to help transitioning military and veterans find careers in the building and constructions trades. We don't run banners (as you can see), but we're more than happy to give the site a plug. Check it out.

The 10 Most Important Ideas of 2004: Blogs & The Internet

Via Weinberger: How to Save the World's list of the 10 most important ideas of 2004, blog/Internet style. My favorite: "The blog is a journal, and online journalism is our game." Or as we like to say: "Journalism is history written on the run, and we record the race."