Hey you. Sitting there in front of the computer. Yes you. What do you think you are doing anyway? Oh, you're
blogging. Gesundtite. Oh, the
political kind. You're all blogging this, and blogging that. Ooh. Look at you type.
Come on. Do you really think you are doing anything. I mean, really. Oh yes, you are all hot and bothered about the DNC chair, you're up on all the latest Rathergate stuff, and I won't even get you started on Bush or Ohio. No, I'm not going there. But come on. You don't have a vote for DNC Chair, Rather and his staff are gone, and Bush is in the White House. What'd you do about it?
Oh yes. You typed. You typed hard and fast. You typed with righteous indignation. You typed the truth, the fiction and the tin foil. You cursed. You cried. You flamed away. Some of you even cursed, cried and quit smoking all at the same time. Bravo. But just remember, after all is said and done, you're just a blogger.
Pissed off yet?
That's right boys and girls, we're just bloggers. We're the ATM. We're the nut case conspiracy theory unwashed rabble somewhere between the media and the guy running for school board member. A bunch of geeks in our pajamas sitting around typing away, railing for change, change, change out here in the cold of cyberspace. Boy that stereotype gets me pissed off quickly.
If we're just out here doing nothing, why were we named Person of the Week by ABC news? Why is every pundit under the sun choking on the term "web-log" as they try to define it and set up their own? Why are we having an impact? Case in point:
Legislation that would have required mothers who had failed to report fetal deaths to the police within 12 hours of the delivery to face a possible misdemeanor sentence will be withdrawn, its patron said on Monday.
"I've elected to withdraw HB 1677 from consideration by the General Assembly this year. The language is just too confusing," Del. John Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, told The Augusta Free Press.
Cosgrove's surprise move came after a firestorm of controversy spread across the World Wide Web over the weekend about the possible far-reaching effects of the measure.
Poorly written and confusing legislation withdrawn. Gee, how did that happen. Could it have been due to this post from Maura in VA? Surely the media would have caught this. Eventually. Just like they would have caught this Pennsylvania bill that gave goodies to Verizon while outlawing municipal wireless. From jsundman:
Thanks to a mini-firestorm of citizen protest generated by blog land (several other bloggers wrote their own analyses), some of the very worst aspects of this bill were toned down before it was, alas, signed into law.
Now we're in our pajamas creating mini-firestorms. How special.
Since we are dressed for work, let's not forget about our President's $40 million inaguration party! We're so overjoyed about that event that bloggers have outdone themselves typing up storms like Not One Damn Dime Day, the ever popular New Orleans Jazz Funeral, and who can forget the graphic stylings of Black Thursday protests just to name a few. These bloggers are typing so rightously that they even got a nod from the Associated Press and then invited to go on Hannity to be chastised. Hell, Chris Bowers at MyDD even was quoted on George Stephanopoulos "This Week" on ABC. Now that's righteous typing indeed!
These are just from the posts I've seen this week that show just how much our blogging is actually doing. I wish I could link to more, but my blogging time is limited by my nearly 4-year old daughter. She doesn't see the intrinsic value of blogs. Something about not being able to read them or something. Hey, I wonder if Barbie has a blog...
Hi. My name is Michael. We're just blogging.