Sunday, November 20, 2005: FYI, the commenting and trackbacking features on this post have been disabled since yesterday. If you sent a trackback today and it didn’t appear, that is the reason. Rumors of trackback deleting on LBC are greatly exaggerated. Get a life, bloggers.
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I’ll update this post with news and views (and photos) on Open Source Media later today. In the meantime, check out funnyman Scrappleface (blogging on WordPress now).
Live-blogging the launch!
Update (10:07 a.m.): I’m sitting in the Rainbow Room at 30 Rock with…bloggers! Dave Johnston, Fausta, and Jonathan Schlein of Philomathean. I met Pamela of Atlas Shrugs, Lucianne Goldberg and Charles Johnson. I saw Kevin Aylward and Mike Krempasky of RedState again (met them at CPAC).
First panel: “Are Blogs The New Black,” led by a non-blogger and bloggers I’ve never heard of. 
There’s more to life than political blogging, I guess! The non-blogger thinks blogs are “absurd” and says she doesn’t know why she’s here. OK. Controversy makes things interesting. I’m having a little trouble following this discussion, to be honest. Someone who runs this blog and this one are talking about blogging. “The Manolo” is an anonymous blogger who blogs about shoes, and he’s on the telephone.
Thanks for the trackback, Pieter.
This panel is soooo boring. Not into the “fashion and beauty” stuff, or celebrity news. I think most attendees are political bloggers. I see a lot of blank stares and glazed-over eyes. Ed Driscoll and New Dave are live-blogging. The non-blogger on the panel said that because of the current conservatism and “fundamentalism” in the country, fashion has become conservative. And the moderator said that after 911 he noticed that fashion became more conservative. Who are these people? I don’t know.
11:11 a.m.: The first panel is over. Thank goodness! The next panel is “Gonzo To Blogs: Who Is A Journalist in 2005?” This is my kind of thing. Panelists are John Podhoretz, David Corn, Richard Fernandez, Larry Kudlow, and Claudia Rosett.
Corn makes a distinction between what traditional journalists do — gather information — and what bloggers do — react to information. That’s what we need to change! Fernandez talks about bloggers’ audience, who add value to the blog.
LIVE-STREAM AUDIO of the panel. Kudlow’s in the house, and he’s a REAL blogger. The discussion is getting interesting. Lots of back and forth about the role of MSM and the role of the blogosphere.
Really Important Statement: I noticed that race- and class-related rant-posts get the most comments. LBC commenters, not necessarily LBC readers, aren’t much interested in posts like this one. Unless I’m ranting and raving against liberals or illegal aliens, you guys aren’t interested, eh? After two years of blogging, this is the first time I’ve blogged about this, but I’ve noticed it for a while.
I don’t blame you. I’m kind of bored, too. But…I’m intrigued by the idea of blogs becoming primary sources. That’s definitely not boring. Jeff Jarvis is confused.
12:05 p.m.: Almost time for lunch!
1:36 p.m.: OK. I’ve eaten. I’m in a better mood now. In response to my “Where are the commenters?” rant, a commenter writes:
I find this interesting, LaShawn….but informational, and not thought provoking and thereby invoking a need to comment (wait, isn’t that what I’m doing now?) …but then again, as 99.9% of the time I agree with you…
Thanks for indulging me. 
I was hungry and some of the panelists said unkind things about bloggers. The pity party has been disbanded. Now, before my battery runs out, I’ll give you a summary of Judy Miller’s speech. As you may know, she’s a journalist and former New York Times reporter who spent time in jail to protect sources re: the Valerie Plame “scandal.”
Note to self: Stephen Green is sitting at the next table. Must get photo with him.
Miller talked about the importance of journalists protecting their sources. She briefly discussed being in jail in Alexandria, Virginia, and reading inaccurate articles and blog posts about the “scandal” with no ability to defend herself or set the record straight. Miller can’t say much today, either, because she might be called as a witness in the Scooter Libby case. (Related news at JustOneMinute).
4:19 p.m.: Stephen Green (pictured) is a nice guy. Have you ever met him? Very cool, and I’m not saying that just because he asked me to guest-blog while he was on vacation.
Overall, it was a good day, not counting sitting through the first panel. My assessment of Open Source Media (OSM) is positive. Bloggers are bad-mouthing OSM all over the place, and that’s good. There’s no such thing as bad publicity, I’ve discovered, and a little blog envy goes a long way.
I don’t know about anyone else in OSM, but I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to do and wish I’d started 10 years earlier. Being a part of the pajama brigade, whether we’re getting good press or bad, is exactly what I need to propel myself (and LBC) to a new level. I like blogging, but I want to write books, articles, get quoted by the national media, and blog. Modest ambitions?
I just realized how boring and spotty my live-blogging was, so I don’t blame anyone for not commenting. 
Yesterday I whined about wishing I had more time (and money) to hang out in NYC for a few days. This afternoon, Fausta, who lives in New Jersey, took me to The Museum of Modern Art. I did something besides hang out at a hotel with bloggers. Hanging with bloggers at art museums is different. Anyway, it was great meeting Ed Driscoll, Asher Abrams, Evan Coyne Maloney, Cathy Seipp, Pieter Dorsman, Pamela, Roger Simon, “Neo-Neocon,”, Kevin Aylward, and others I’m forgetting at the moment. I met Glenn Reynolds (Thanks for the link!) in Nashville.
Tonight we socialize, take more pictures, hand out more cards, and talk about — what else — blogging!
(Thanks for the shout out, Scott.)
10:01 p.m.: The “Happy Hour” gathering was the best part of the event.
I met so many great bloggers and saw others I’d met before at other blogger events. I admit that it’s nice when people come up to me, strangers, and say they read my blog every day or I see them making their way across the room to meet me. I feel the same way about many of them.
Pictured from left to right are Asher Abrams, a blogger whose name I can’t remember (bad!), me with the demon eyes, Karol Sheinin (who I met at CPAC) of Alarming News, and Cathy Seipp, a lady I really wanted to meet.
Tim Blair sat across from me at lunch, and I didn’t know it. For some reason we didn’t introduce ourselves, but we talked at happy hour. Tim is an Australian, journalist, a former editor at TIME, blogger, and very unassuming. Bloggers read each others’ sites and form their own images of what people are like. When we meet them, we’re sometimes way off.
I got to chat with Eric Scheie again. He attended my faith-based blogging session at BlogNashville. I met so many bloggers and several non-bloggers. I can’t remember them all! If I forgot to mention you, send me an e-mail.
In a day or two, I’ll upload the rest of my photos to the Flickr account I set up months ago but haven’t used yet. If I haven’t said this in awhile, forgive me: Thanks for reading LBC! I love to blog, but it’s great knowing so many people read the posts. 
Read the latest OSM posts at The Truth Laid Bear and Memeorandum.
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{ 22 comments }
Thank the Lord Koffeecup Addendum isn’t there insisting that blogs be run by the Untied Notions.
Oooops! I probably shouldn’t have mentioned the subject.
I find this interesting, LaShawn….but informational, and not thought provoking and thereby invoking a need to comment (wait, isn’t that what I’m doing now?) …but then again, as 99.9% of the time I agree with you…I don’t think I fit the mold, per se!
Dan
Does anyone here receive Greg Koukl’s “Stand to Reason” newsletter? This month’s is truly awesome. I would like to invite you to read and comment on it!
Blogs becoming primary news sources?
Isnt there some of that now. Drudge is basically a blogger but people dont think of him that way. You could build a case that worldnetdaily.com falls into that category.
I know that there are news stories that never see the light of day in the traditional media for a variety of reasons. Blogs could do a real service by bringing those kind of stories to people.
Judy Miller sat in jail “reading inaccurate articles and blog posts about herself with no ability to defend herself or set the record straight.”
Hmmmmm. How many times have I thrown a shoe or a cat at the TV screen or stomped on the Washington Post until my vertebrae cracked because there was no way to confront the lying, slanted, sin of omission filled bias that was being peddled as “news”?
It is “comforting” to know that Judy Miller has experienced the
slings and arrows of outrageous journalism.
Sorry, Judy, the drooling class has pitchforks and torches. We are ready to pounce when the MSM starts pulling the taffy.
La Shawn,
The OSM launch sounds like it’s a good thing overall, and I find it funny that The Manolo was on the phone incognito like Charlie. If you haven’t read The Manolo’s shoe blog, you should try it: it;’s actually quite funny.
Since you’re base of operations there at Rockefeller Center, I recommend (if you like Cuban food) to head over a few blocks to Victor’s Cafe over on 52nd between broadway and 8th ave. it is one of my favorite places to go eat, and it is, in a word, spectacular.
Your taste buds will thank you. Have fun. There are a couple of good Russian places (ahhh, borscht and stroganoff…) on that same block as well, if you’re into that.
Why did Pajamas Media steal someone else’s name. This is called trademark infringement by some. See here, http://www.radioopensource.org/
About the lack of comments: there’s nothing to comment on. Who cares about what bloggers are saying at a conference? There are lots of conferences going on–do people care about them?
By the way, I apologize to everyone for my comment, in which I make every typo and grammar error possible.
Humiliating…
A while back I bookmarked your blog because I found you so insightful. This recent entry and recent entries of other bloggers I have loved in the past all seem to be currently pushing OSM, or whatever you call it, and it seems so self-referential and – boring. Is OSM a closed circle? Why would anyone not involved be interested in the minutiae of a conference? Well, actually I am interested in the future of blogging and what it morphs into because I love reading blogs.. so never mind…. long live blogs, long live freedom of the press!
Sounds as though you’re having a great time. Hooray!
I was on the fashion panel that you unfortunately found so very boring. I agree that it didn’t really fit with the theme of the day, but yes, there is more to life than political blogging!
Please do stop by sometime and check out my (and my readers’) perspectives on the event…
Sounds like you had a really good time, La Shawn. Thanks for sharing!!!
Congratulations, and thanks for sharing your day!
Any thoughts on what will happen in regards to this little name clash?
Would true conservatives countenance the fiscal rape of their children and grandchildren?
One thing the Bush Administration clearly has been very good at is focusing the attention of the press (and by extension the American people) on issues that they want to highlight. This has had the effect of advancing the Bush agenda, but has had the added effect of deflecting focus away from things that the Administration does not want to highlight. One of those issues is clearly the rampant, runaway spending of your tax dollars by Bush and the Republican majority congress. At this point there can be no doubt that, as they try to focus your attention on issues like stem cells and Supreme Court nominations, Bush and the Republican Congress are spending us all into a hole from which it will take us, our children and our grandchildren years to recover.
You don’t need to take my word for this, nor the words of any democrat or Bush-hater. You need only to read what conservatives like George Will are saying, or the people at conservative think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute. The Cato Institute recently completed a report on the spending habits of all US presidents during the last 40 years. If you’re interested in reading the report I’ve included a link at the end of this post.
If you want to continue to believe that Bush and Congressional Republicans are “on your side†or if you care only about saving stem cells and banning gay marriage perhaps you should read no further. But if you’re interested in the truth and are concerned about your financial well-being and that of your children, perhaps you should read on. Here’s some of what the Cato Institute report had to say about presidential spending over the last 40 years:
All presidents presided over net increases in spending. As it turns out George W. Bush is one of the biggest spenders of them all. In fact he is an even bigger spender than Lyndon B. Johnson in terms of discretionary spending.
The increase in discretionary spending in Bush’s first term was 48.5% in nominal terms. That’s more than twice as large as the increase in discretionary spending during Clinton’s entire 2 terms (21.6%) and higher than Lyndon B. Johnson’s entire discretionary spending spree (48.3%).
Adjusting the budget trends for inflation Bush looks even worse; his spending rate is much higher then Lyndon Johnson’s. In other words, Bush expanded federal non-entitlement programs in his first term almost twice as fast each year as Lyndon Johnson did during his entire presidency.
George W. Bush is the biggest spending president of the last 40 years in both the defense and discretionary spending categories by a long shot. He beats Johnson by almost 4% in defense spending growth and more than 3% in domestic discretionary spending growth.
And conservative columnist George Will points out that in his column today that federal spending has grown twice as fast under President Bush and congressional Republicans as under President Clinton. And with respect to the argument that this profligacy is related to 9/11 and homeland security, Will and the conservative think tanks have noted that over 65 percent of the spending increase is unrelated to national security.
Will further reports that Congressional Republicans (who achieved their majority by promising fiscal discipline) have presided over an orgy of pork spending with your tax dollars the likes of which have never been seen before. In 1991, the 546 pork projects in the 13 appropriation bills cost $3.1 billion. In 2005, the 13,997 pork projects cost $27.3 billion.
You may support Bush and the congressional Republicans because of some vague promise of “progress†on social issues with which you and the Republicans agree. In that case perhaps you are entitled to refer to yourself as a “social conservative.†But nobody who calls themselves a fiscal conservative could support Bush and the Republican Congress who are spending your tax dollars in an orgy of profligacy the likes of which has not been experienced in our lifetimes. You can continue to deny yourself this truth, but be assured that true conservatives know the truth. Bush and the Republican Congress are asking you to mortgage their futures and the futures of their children and grandchildren in exchange for soft “promises†on social issues. You are justifying the fiscal rape of your children and grandchildren perpetrated by your “moral†leaders in exchange for a vague promise of gains on social issues. Do yourself and your kids a favor; look them in the eye and explain to them why you have chosen to saddle them with these financial burdens, explain to them your reasoning. Then look in the mirror and explain to yourself how you can continue to support the people who you know in your heart are screwing you and to your kids. Is that morality? Is that conservatism?
Read the whole Cato article here:
http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb-0510-26.pdf
Read the Will column here:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/will/cst-edt-geo17.html
What a fascinating venture! Thank you for taking part in it. I’m following this one closely. It’s what my blog would like to do someday…
TK
I have to disagree with the distinction between what traditional journalists do — gather information — and what bloggers do — react to information. If you look at the MSM, I’d argue very little of what they do is gather information – they spend most of their time telling us what to think about it. And if they don’t like the information they’ve gathered or the implications of it, they either don’t report it or twist it such that is indistinguishable from the actual facts.
Tim:
You are confusing what journalists do with what they are supposed to do – unbiased reporting, and some discussion also unbiased.
Blogging is too new and diffuse to even have a real definition.
Warren Olney of To the Point http://www.moretothepoint.com/
comes close to this.
Locals on NPR say they just don’t know what side he takes – which is the way it is supposed to know.
This is from MS Bookshelf 2000: #3 approaches the ideal. Blogging was not in the dictionary.
jour·nal·ism
jour·nal·ism (jûr?n?-liz´?m) noun
1. The collecting, writing, editing, and presentation of news or news articles in newspapers and magazines and in radio and television broadcasts.
2. Material written for publication in a newspaper or magazine or for broadcast.
3. The style of writing characteristic of material in newspapers and magazines, consisting of direct presentation of facts or occurrences with little attempt at analysis or interpretation.
4. Newspapers and magazines.
5. An academic course training students in journalism.
6. Written material of current interest or wide popular appeal.
Frank:
Actually no confusion – the distinction between “should do” and “actual behavior” is quite right.
In reality though it’s a very liberal thing to do – just change the meaning of a word to suit the current situation. Words don’t need absolute meanings. (At least according to some)
La Shawn,
I enjoyed my first peek at your site, (yay for cute pic of Cathy Seipp!) but isn’t it pretty rude to say you thought the first conference was so very boring? When these are your new compatriots in making BIG money? If they were your co-workers (which they sort of are), you’d be making some new non-friends.
I find political blogs to be oh so boring, but I don’t go around telling them that. I just don’t go there. And if you don’t know about Manolo the Shoe Blogger that’s ok. He’s hysterical, an original smart voice, and has been written up in Forbes, etc, for making in the 6 figures by blogging. He’d be the last person to promote himself, and yet he is quite famous. Don’t they call that backwards thinking?
Bloggers tend to tell it like it is, Donna. Other bloggers called the panel weak and worse. Part of why people read this blog is because I give honest assessments. Thanks for visiting! – Admin
The end of the MSM as we know it. An organized blogging consortium to keep CBSNBCABCNYTIMESBOSTONGLOBEMSNBCCNN…. in line.
Bravo!
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