Around the Blogosphere This Week

It's been a hectic week, and with the weekend starting I've been catching up on some reading. Hope you'll enjoy some of the interesting items I've come across while surfing the web.

NewsBusters (subject link) has a hilarious quote by the managing editor of the Seattle Press Intelligencer, who refused the FBI's request to post photos of two men who have regularly engaged in suspicious activity on Seattle ferries. David McCumber said, "We get to decide what is news and what isn't." You might have had that power once, Mr. McCumber, but it's a new media world, or hadn't you noticed?

The Democrat Clamor for a Housing Bailout: A few days ago I posted about Hillary Clinton's plan for taxpayer-funded mortgage bailouts. Michelle Malkin has more.

Has Fox Dismissed Fred?: Ed Morrissey notes the condescension towards Fred Thompson on Fox News Channel's Special Report With Brit Hume. I've noticed myself that the channel's news reporting, as well as the roundtable, has been lopsidedly negative toward Thompson in recent weeks. The roundtable panel's dismissive writeoff of Thompson as "an actor" shows how quickly those Beltway types forget. The last actor to live in the White House was one of our greatest Presidents. I don't know yet if Thompson's the man I'd vote for, but considering his standing in the polls without yet officially entering the race, it certainly seems premature for the pundits to assert his "boomlet" is over.

Getting Serious on Reforms of the Nominating Process: This year's endless leapfrogging by states wanting to hold the earliest primaries makes it very clear that the parties need to reform the primary process. Betsy Newmark has a good post on this topic. I don't care for the proposal that big states always go last, which strikes me as unfair, but I think rotating groups of states is a fine idea, as I mentioned here last May. As for Iowa and New Hampshire, they've had long turns being first and I think they need to get over themselves and "play nice" in a new primary system.

A Quake Lull, But For How Long?: Yikes. Another reason to leave California? This story ran on the front page of today's L.A. Times. I hear that James Dolan, the lead author on the paper discussed in this article, is an excellent professor.

Dorms Gone Deluxe: College is on my mind this week... Some student housing these days is unreal!

The Curious Incident of the Funnel Cake in the Lawn: Knott's Berry Farm sells funnel cakes, but dare I confess I've never tried one?

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS DVD News: Has anyone seen this show? I loved Kyle Chandler on HOMEFRONT and GREY'S ANATOMY. The DVD set comes with a "money-back guarantee if you aren't completely hooked."

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 on DVD: Finally, more DVD news, and probably the last HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2 post for a good long while (grin) -- an "extended edition" of last week's ratings smash will be released on December 11th, just in time to fill Christmas stockings.