Friday, December 31, 2004

Are blogs going to replace the mainstream media?

Whether or not blogs are going to replace the mainstream media was talked about at Crooked Timber, Martin Stabe, and Spitbull.

I agree with what Spitbull said:

Anyone with an Internet connection and a functioning brain can provide analysis of and opinions on the news--newspapers no longer have a comparative advantage in that realm--but someone still has to do the hard work of reporting the news in the first place.

Bloggers have better news analysis and opinions than what you can read in a mainstream newspaper. But how many people are going to forsake mainstream sources and seek out blogs? When most people go online to read news, the first place they go to is CNN.com, washingtonpost.com, or some other big news portal. So big news portals still control the opinions most web surfers read.

I think Matt Drudge has the largest readership of any alternative media source, but he doesn't really offer any of his own analysis or opinions.

I sure hope that blogs will help spread alternative points of view. Because there aren't enough libertarians in the mainstream media.

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I went out with my anorexic roommate last night. Not much to say about that. Gave my phone number to two guys, so maybe I'll get some free dinners next week. I am looking forward to the New Year's Eve party tonight.

Thursday, December 30, 2004

Sri Lanka rejects Israeli tsunami aid

Someone left a comment saying I was "heartless" because I wrote that the U.S. taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for tsunami aid.

But I don't see why Sri Lanka, the country where most of the aid is going to go to, deserves any aid at all on account of them rejecting an offer of Israeli aid. Sri Lanka hates the Jews so much that they'd rather let their people die than allow an Israeli rescue team into their country.

LimeyPundit said in his blog:

If I were making decisions in the upper reaches of the Sri Lankan government, I don't think I would be turning down offers of help from anybody right now.

I am in complete agreement with him.

Smooth Stone wrote about how Israel has sent copious amounts of tsunami aid that hasn't been reported by the mainstream media. I think Isreal has been extremely charitable sending money and supplies to Sri Lanka after being snubbed. If I were in the upper reaches of the Isreali government, I'd tell the Sri Lankan government to go seek aid elsewhere.

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I wrote this post from home because we had an "early release" from work. Whoo! Just like high school. If you're worried about the taxpayers' money being wasted on sending government workers home early, don't worry, nobody was doing any work today anyway.

Is the U.S. stingy with tsunami aid? Who cares.

I agree with the post at Hammer of Truth. American taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for Tsunami relief. It's not our responsibility to help those who refuse to help themselves. The reason why the countries hurt by the tsunami are too poor to afford their own tsunami relief is because their governments are corrupt and they don't allow free markets to flourish and create wealth. Sri Lanka especially is considered one of the most corrupt governments in the world.

The United States, which today has the biggest budget deficit ever in our country's history, already spends billions of dollars more on foreign aid than we should.

Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Welcome to my blog!

I am finally part of the blogosphere. I will use my blog to put down all my politically incorrect libertarian thoughts. And there will also be interesting tidbits about my personal life.

So keep reading!