Group of Obscurity
I’m trying to read news coming out of the G8 conference in Japan this week because, well, what the leaders of the US, Germany, Japan, Russia, France, England, Canada, and Italy agree upon should be important news, right? I’m not so sure, though. The Group of Eight nations is setup as a meeting of the world’s economic powerhouses — but wouldn’t a meeting of economic powerhouses have to include China and India in order to get anything done? For an example from the latest conference, the G8 “pledges to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050“. Which sounds great before you remember that: A) such a pledge will cause the political right of our country to flip out; and B) China and India are soon to be the two largest emitters of greenhouse gasses. I’m pretty sure we all see how this pledge could work out: Republicans say that it would ruin our economy by giving China an unfair competitive advantage.
So what’s the point of having a conference where such proclamations are made when all of the nations it effects aren’t at the negotiating table? Why even have a G8 conference at this time?
Scaling Back
Just a quick announcement.
George Carlin Is Dead
And that’s how he would have wanted us to say it.
Apparently, Fidelity shareholders think genocide is awesome
At least that’s the most democratic way of looking at this:
Shareholders of two more Fidelity Funds have voted on a proposal by activist group, Investors Against Genocide to stop investments in companies linked to genocide, the Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of the $41.2 billion Magellan Fund and $37.5 billionGrowth Company Fund ultimately rejected the proposal, but the measure did garner support from 28 and 27 percent of shareholders respectively.
Remember kids, shame is not a commodity.
RCP’s New Cross Tabs Blog
A while ago, Real Clear Politics used to have a daily blog that was dedicated completely to the discourse going on in the blogosphere. Then it kind of went away. I remember a while ago asking Kevin Sullivan what happened to it, and he said that RCP had something bigger and better planned.
I’m honored to be a part of that bigger and better.
Real Clear Politics has just launched its new Cross Tabs blog, where I’m pleased to say that my work will be featured along with the work of Betsy Newmark, Brendan Nyhan, Jon Keller, Justin Gardner, Michael Stickings, Michael van der Galien, and Sister Toldjah. There are names in this list that I have never agreed with, and names that I have admired for sometime, so it’s exciting to be sharing an arena with these folks.
Taking a VERY Long Weekend
Hey gang! Just a quick note on my schedule over the next few days.
Another Kennedy Tragedy
I just saw the news on Memeorandum and read Kyle’s post.
Update: Sen. Byrd broke down on the Senate floor while talking about Sen. Kennedy’s brain tumor. Hat tip to Sister Toldjah.
Couple of Quick Housekeeping Items
I’ve just got a couple of quick things I wanted to announce, and then we’ll return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
From Qara-Hulegu, to Yesu-Mongke, back to Qara-Hulegu, then to Abishqa…
If you don’t hear from me for the next seven days, it’s partly Chaghatai’s fault.
Official Unacceptable Comment Number 1!
You know, I warn folks, and I’m nice about it, time and again, keep things civil, keep them decent, and we won’t have any problems. Unfortunately, Bill White couldn’t do that, threatened one of our writers, and engaged in uncalled for epithets.
Don’t bother finding the comment in the comments section to a post, I’ve erased it already, but in case you are wondering, this is the entirety of what Bill had to say:
Comments From Left Field v3.0 BETA
Hi everyone. If you’re reading this through your RSS feed you’ll likely want to head on over to our home page. If not, welcome to version 3.0 of Comments From Left Field.
Given the recent inclusion of so many quality voices Michael and Kyle thought it a good idea to update our look, to give us a more modern “professional” feel. It’s our goal here to provide high quality discussion and opinion and it’s only fitting our site reflect that commitment to quality.
I personally hope you all approve of the change and while I’ve worked hard to ensure that the site’s theme looks good with all browsers there may still be some bugs that need working out. I’m also still in the process of adding additional features so, for now, enjoy the BETA.
Also: If you’ve got any issues, suggested additions or complaints feel free to add them to this post as a comment. Praise is always good too; I’ve got an ego like everyone else after all 
(UPDATE from Kyle: I just wanted to thank the Newshoggers for the little housewarming, blogwarming whatever you want to call it! Thanks guys!
And When You Get the Chance To Sit it Out or Dance, I Hope You Dance
Caveat: Don’t dance at midnight in front of the Jefferson Memorial, unless you are prepared to have the D.C. cops order you to stop dancing and leave the area immediately. And whatever you do, don’t ask why you can’t dance at midnight in front of the Jefferson Memorial, unless you want to be arrested on disorderly conduct charges.
Sorry, Lee Ann.
Late Saturday Night Musings
If you’re not up for a ramble, please move along, there’s nothing to see. If, on the other hand, you don’t mind diving into my head for a bit, come on in. The water’s fine.
Friday Blog Call — A Little Late
But not too late — hey, it’s still Friday, right?
This video at A Violently Executed Blog is, I think you will agree, worth the wait. Adam Lipscomb put it up on April 4, which gives you a hint as to its subject matter.
If you don’t need a cup of coffee right now, you might after 60 seconds or so of looking at Coffee House Studio. Just kidding, just kidding — you know we love you, Rainbow. While you’re sipping your cuppa, check out the cool posters.
If you want to know what war is (even if you think you know), go to Another Point of View and watch the four videos Mentarch put up.
You probably need a shot of hope after that. In Search of Utopia has it.
Peace and love.
A Difficult Question
We here at Comments from Left Field take pride in our support for the troops, and have teamed up with Fisher House on a couple of occasions to help out those wounded soldiers who come back from abroad.
The latest effort was during our In Honor fund drive in the fall of last year. Partnering up with bloggers throughout the blogosphere, regardless of their political affiliation and ideology, we helped honor the memories of SGT. Yance T. Gray, and SGT. Omar Mora. The drive was such a success that we decided to turn it into an annual event, but I need your help.
A Quick Note On Commenting
I’ve mentioned this before at least once but I’m going to repeat myself for clarity. If you ever intend on posting a comment here at CFLF, please read below the fold.
Billy came with a website, which I will not post; I’m not interested in giving a traffic bump to neo nazis, and, yes, that is exactly what his website is. However, I have no qualms providing Bill’s email:
You know, should you want to share your feelings on how they have treated our writers, or, you know, in general just kinda share your feelings about neo nazis. Either way, I don’ t care.
For the rest of you, I have a pretty high threshold of tolerance, but crap like this doesn’t fly around here. You have been warned.