I Feel Like Jerry (Seinfeld)

I always even out.

...so because of that, I will be once again shuttering Lakeshore Laments until after Election Day.

Fairly Conservative is back online sometime this weekend.

Update your google reader as necessary.

Blogs vs. Big Brother

Julian Sanchez at Cato discusses a Pew poll that finds more people think that "Increased surveillance/security" has been a change for the better than "Internet blogs".

First, are there any blogs other than "internet" blogs? I'm not really sure what exactly the purpose of that modifier was.

Second, to those who answered blogs have been a change for the worse, or haven't made much difference, I can only ask: What blogs are you reading?

I really doubt that anyone who spends time on well-written blogs would have such an opinion. I would think this was even (especially?) true if you read well done blogs that come to conclusions with which you disagree.

Sanchez makes a sensible point about why we probably shouldn't get too concerned over the high polling of the surveillance state, but adds a cautionary note about its negative effects being largely invisible even though they are real.

So the next time you take a break from worrying about the creeping surveillance state, go read some good blogs like these: Fairly Conservative (hurry, before its too late!), Marginal Revolution, Matthew Yglesias, Lakeshore Laments, Illusory Tenant, Dad29, Waxing America, Cognitive Dissidence, Fox Politics.

H/T Yglesias

Bonus Coverage

Andrew Ross Sorkin of the NY Times recently made an attempt to follow The Other McCain's Rule 4, but only on the flimsiest of pretexts, so I really don't think that it counts.

Mr. Sorkin argues that we should, in his words, swallow hard and pay the AIG bonuses that have caused so much outrage over the last two days in order to maintain the "sanctity of contracts."

Meanwhile, preeminent econoblogger Tyler Cowen over at Marginal Revolution takes time to blog about the fact that he is not blogging about the AIG bonuses.

Memo to these agents provocateurs of media old and new: Bucking conventional wisdom in such conventional ways does not make you Christopher Hitchens. It won't even get you points toward your contrarian merit badge.

Did we really need Sorkin to extoll the virtues of maintaining contracts when we already have Ed Liddy and Larry Summers doing the same.

As for Cowen, if blogging about blogging is 'meta', what is blogging about not blogging?

Try again guys. Next time just don't try so hard.