Blogese

I suspect that most of my five readers are new to blogs, so I will, from the to time, explain certain things about the sphere: lingo, protocol, etc. This, for example, is what’s known as blogwhoring.

The Perfect Gift

For a certain kind of person: Bacon of the Month club. Expensive, though.

Guiliani for Commish

When W. was running for president and people said, “this guy would make a great baseball commissioner,” I think the idea was to distract him from the world’s helm by dangling baseball’s shiny keys. Commissioner Bush would have way to fucked up baseball AND somehow found a way to invade Iraq. Guiliani, on the other hand, could really do the job. He’s not Kenesaw Mountain Landis, and he’s not really a baseball guy, but he’s tough on crime and he loves the wealthy–a perfect fit for the cheating richies that populate the sport.

BoBo Likes Edwards?

David Brooks hates economic populism, of which John Edwards is a leading proponent, so it was a surprise to see him write a fawning column about my guy. Brooks actually did some on-the-ground reporting in Iowa and liked what he saw:

…[T]he Edwards campaign is based on the same conviction that organized his last campaign: no one understands regular people the way he does. No one else can get out of a bus in places like Pocahontas, Iowa, and bond with the farmers, nurses and hairstylists the way he can. No one else comes from their ranks the way he does.

Well said, although elsewhere he says Edwards is “culturally conservative.” A bizarre claim that speaks to JRE’s ability to run to the left and still come off as moderate. A Southern accent has that effect, I guess. Or perhaps Bobo is so surprised to see a liberal connecting with “regular” people, he assumes he must be conservative. Weird. Over at Ezra Klein, Neil the Ethical Werewolf has more.

Hartsburg U.S.A.

It’s an awesome new book by me. Pub date is the 21st, but I’ve already got a review from the Buffalo News and Entertainment Weekly (A-), and a sort-of review from the Times.

Buy it immediately.

The Truth About Insidious Beast

Loyal readers of this blog may have noticed that there’s no one blogging here but me, with several linx to things Mizner. And I’m the only contributor listed. Is this a vanity blog disguised as a group project? What gives?

The truth is, I’ve been promising to start a blog for my friends and me for about two years. (The blog was going to be called Great Dump, but most of my friends found the name unclever.) The little bio in the back of my book says I contribute to “Insidious Beast, a blog that I created,” so I figured such a thing ought to exist. Here it is, thanks to my brother-in-law Bruno, who put this together today.

Once my friends know it exists, anywhere from four to eight of them will be joining me. I already heard from my friend in Seattle, who’ll probably be contributing posts on food, music, and animals. Perhaps he’ll provide our readers with recipes.

Okay, two posts, one book plug, zero funny jokes.

Hi

Welcome to Insidious Beast’s inaugural post. Chances are, I know you, so hi.

I started this blog to give me and my friends a place to put stuff: words, thoughts, opinions, poems, old love letters, new love letters, whatever we want. No rules. To see our contributors, click on that little “about” button up there.

I’m going to be writing about politics, books, and maybe popular culture. I also blog at Daily Kos from time to time, and I have a one-post-a-week-gig at MyDD promoting my choice for president, John Edwards. You’ll hear more than you want to hear about him. In this recent Kos post, I take Matt Stoller to task for claiming that John Edwards’s message on poverty is “a little racist.” How’d I do?

Anyhoo, thanks for being here at the creation.