Jak's View From Vancouver

Less Than Great Britain

Britain has been in trouble for quite a while now, at least since Tony Blair took the Labour Party and turned it into a direct descendant of Maggie Thatcher's Tories.  Blair's Clintonesque Third Way was pure consumer-capitalism with a smiley face.  When that reality failed he turned Atlanticist and became Bush's poodle. 

Marketing, marketing, he won election after election -- which says a lot more about the UK's education system and media than it does about Blair's brilliance.  His time to go has come and gone a long time since.  But still he's here.

I was reminded of all this by Ross McKibbin's excellent piece in the London Review of Books about the Blairite end game in light of this month's Cabinet shuffle.  Well worth the read.

Self-Regulating

I always enjoy the reporting of Jason Leopold.  I have used him as a source for some items in the Plamegate Chronology.  Sometimes, though, he does seem just a little too far ahead of the curve.

Like many following the story, I was excited by Jason's reporting last week that Rove has already been indicted and has been given time to straighten his affairs at the White House.  This would have been the second major shoe dropping, needing now just a smoking gun in the VPs hands to bring Cheney down too.  However, you will notice that I did not rush into print with a link to the story.   Tim Grieve at Salon has an excellent run-down on why.  We all hope that Jason is correct, but we all need a bit more proof than he seems to be able to share right now.

At the same time, Grieve's piece answers the charge that the blogosphere is simply reactive and unthinking.  He shows that by our general reaction to Jason's story we are a well-regulated -- self-regulated -- bunch of folks.  Good for us!

Just Missing, Is All

It has been a dog's age since I posted here.  I'm not gone, just missing in action.  I have taken on new responsibilities at work and seem to spend all day figuring out what it is I have to do next, and how best to manage the growing empire I have created.

I'll try to catch up on the Plamegate Chronology this weekend -- hopefully after Rove is indicted.