Tuesday
Round up
Edward at Obsidian Wings is keeping an eye on unrest in Kyrgyzstan. This is one of the many important stories being overshadowed by the fiactacle. I'm not sure that the substance of his post supports the notion which I take from his title that democracy is on the rise, if unstably so. Rather it supports the idea of a democratic crisis with the possibility of things heading towards either massive instability, further autocracy, or further democracy. Actually, I take it back, I think his title isn't particularly optimistic, though it is hard to ascertain quite what the meaning is of Democracy Hiccing Up* in Kyrgyzstan , even with the asterisk explaining that Hiccing Up is: the present continuous form of "to hiccup," in some circles anyway.
Greg at Belgravia Dispatch picks a fight with Matt Y over what our future plans should be for troop levels in Iraq. I'm rooting for Matt, but Greg seems to me to have gotten the better of him for now.
Ogged links to a solid Stephanie Zacharek article on the phenomenon of celebrity blogs. The best bit was: The grandfather may have said it better in "A Hard Day's Night" -- "I was supposed to be getting a change of scenery, and so far I've been in a train and a room, a car and a room and a room and a room" -- but the essence of the musician-on-tour experience (and, presumably, its isolation) isn't lost on Moby.
David Brooks gets himself dis-invited to some Republican dinners, or congratulated at the same dinners for being able to convince liberals that he's really a reasonable guy just by writing one column condemning blatantly corrupt Republican practices. I haven't decided which yet.
