Undoubtedly the hottest story on the blogosphere is this notion of Congress approving $20m for a victory celebration at the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom. (Actually there is some doubt; I suspect that Eva Longoria and Tony Parker's relationship status might be the hottest topic.) My commentary isn't on the futility of such a spending provision - trust me, even as an avid lover of monuments and festivities, this seems premature - but on the role of media. Usually I'm very apprehensive about private news media because they fundamentally rely on new news to stay in business. Without news, CNN could not exist and this relationship does not incent them to be fair and even-tempered conduits. However, on occasions like this I am thankful that they do exist because how the heck else would we find this stuff out? I don't know about you but this afternoon I was busy doing other stuff and not using my Freedom of Information Act rights to find out what the last Defense Appropriations bill allocated towards activities commemorating the cessation of hostilities in Iraq.

posted at 5:49 PM - comments