N.Z. Bear's Ecosystem is a wonderful thing, even if it is manipulated by some to nefarious ends. Why do I say this?

Because, through the link lists at my results page (which showed a terrible dropping off recently), I found a blog that referenced me and which I would have otherwise never found. I say this because it seems that my earlier post about getting Donald Rumsfeld in the Bush Administration quiz has gotten a little bit of attention way outside my normal blogging rounds.

A fellow named Charles Stewart saw fit to link to me in his post of his results. He got President Bush, and mentioned your humble correspondent as one of the powers behind the throne. (We're doomed. --Ed.) Mr. Stewart's site is chock-full of highbrow musings on various things, some of which I can understand. The rest of it (i.e. the theoretizing on the Internet et cetera) pretty much goes over my head.

The site it's hosted on, advogato.org, is a resource for freeware developers, and is thus something I can regard as being akin to magic. ("Whaddya mean hit * to quit? What's *?") but it could be of use to some in the readership.

Thanks for the mention, Mr. Stewart!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Thanks to Comrade Commissar and his Gulag of Fun, we've got something new to play with:

It's a clickable map of the Commonwealth of Blogosphere States! I must thank Comrade Commissar for this, because it appears that the Supreme Soviet (or whoever had the power to do this; I'm not a Kremlinologist) saw fit to name a town in Reynoldssia after your humble honest (Stop lying or there'll be Dean donation receipts drawn on your accounts in your Christmas stocking. --Ed.) correspondent.

Now I've got to find what's near Kountrypundsk, and annex it. Muahaha. All power to the Southern soviets! (I wish I was in the land of kotton; the proletariat there is not forgotten!) Sooner or later I'll figure out how to become the Kountrypundsk SSR, and then all the West will tremble (With laughter or amusement, I'm sure. --Ed.) at the might of the Soviet Blogosphere!

NOTE: This entry has been heavily revised in order to more accurately reflect the fact that the Commissar has done something nice. I originally had it grouped in with two other points that were mostly about this blog, and which had no relevance to the blogosphere map. Therefore, I decided to split the posts up. If this is a problem, yell at me and me alone.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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It appears that an apology is in order.

I cheerily linked to a quiz earlier in the week that let you see which member of the Bush Administration you were most like, and I got Rumsfeld. To me, that's something to celebrate at a whimsical level. I did not immediately realize that the quiz wasn't entirely er, sincere, something that should have been obvious after I read the description of Rumsfeld as 'subtle'. The man's about as subtle as a shotgun blast in the face at ten paces, and I should have detected a certain irony.

I didn't, however, say anything 'cause I wasn't too worried about the mischaracterization of Rumsfeld. My response was to brush it off as silly humor. I should have figured something was up when I saw the text for President Bush.

Bottom line: I didn't post a link to that test out of malice, and I didn't know that the thing would hamfistedly try to smear AG Ashcroft by calling him Heinrich Himmler and implying that he was a totalitarian. Heck, from what little I know about Ashcroft, I like him. Anyone willing to stand up and admit, "We have no king but Jesus" in this day and age can't be all bad.

My apologies.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 06:01 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Several things to celebrate:

1. I'm #1 at Google for "Country Pundit". A chart-topping debut on America's favorite search engine, hooray. Look ma, no brains! (It appears that 16 November 2003 will be the date on which the anniversary of Google recognition will be celebrated.)

2. The Country Pundit has been determined (on the strength of one link) to be a wiggly worm in the ecosystem as established by The Truth Laid Bear.

Hooray. Now, the long mark to respectability begins; today establishment, tomorrow the double digits in readership!

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:43 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Readers of this site will, hopefully, note several new entries in the link columns. Briefly summarized:

ADDITIONS
The Edge of England's Sword - Billed as 'Voices from the Anglosphere', this particular blog piqued my interest by trying to cover an 'Anglospheric' perspective. Inasmuch as I'm favorably inclined towards the idea of such an entity, I'll read that one. If you're wondering just what the heck an 'Anglosphere' is, see An Anglosphere Primer for more information. I, being an American who thinks a fair amount of Teddy Roosevelt, am somewhat suspicious of a call for America to downgrade "hemispherist" ambitions.*

Dixie Flatline - The author of this blog claims to be a Berkeley Law graduate and he takes a fighting rightist tone to various issues. I haven't figured out how to delve into his archive, but on the merits of what I saw yesterday and today, I'll give the guy a link.

USS Clueless - Steven Den Beste's blog seems to be one of those ubiquitous blogs that everyone links to. Well, there's probably a reason. He's another one of these chaps who can expound at length on a variety of things, and he seems to be an intelligent fellow. His piece on George Catlett Marshall, Thomas E. Dewey, and the politicization of intelligence essentially made the decision for me. If you get the chance, read what left me almost awed at the personal sacrifice Governor Dewey made in order to further America's fortunes at war. That's bipartisanship, ladies and gentlemen.**

DELETIONS
Generally Speaking - I like lots of information and a variety of viewpoints. It's helpful in making the best decision. However, some of the recent content at the Wesley Clark blog has either gone into the sophomoric adoration that is typical of any good candidacy, or into the mania that exists somewhere on the level of "Bush eats children". It's stultifying, and the signal-to-noise ratio there is too much to bear. As a result, the Clark blog is cut.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:57 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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