I promised not to post anything bad. So here goes the good – In this country people might slander metal, but they don’t jail you for it listening or playing it.

However, in Morocco heavy metal is a threat that deserves jail time. 14 fans and musicians thrown in jail. For music.

Charity packages including compilation CDs of the greatest metal tunes of all time anyone?

The Democrats have candidates. Just not of the typical variety. Atrios nominates Jim Capozzola, of The Rittenhouse Review, to run for Sentate against Specter.

Works for me. Do it Jim! Do it!

Too much bad news. Just too much. Everywhere you turn it’s doom and gloom. Layoffs. Stock market losses. Leaders that don’t instill confidence. It just goes on and on.

Fight it.

There are principaled people out there. Yesterday I linked to two of them. A Democrat and a Republican. Here goes four more… or should I say two more, a very good sign, and something to never forget:

1. Minneapolis agent Coleen Rowley still fights to fix the system.

2. Principal Joan Jackson is doing more with far less. With per-pupil spending among the lowest in the state, and 13 percent of students in poverty, Hill has all fourth graders at proficient or advanced levels on the state tests. I know her husband. And like her, he does what he can to make the world a better place. He’s a Boy Scout troop leader.

3. Whether you agree with their politics or not – the youth of America are waking up. Like I said immediately after 9/11 – “whatever” is dead. There are things worth fighting for. The Boomers and Gen-Xers either can let these kids down, let the world down, or rise to meet the challenge of what’s ahead. Let’s hope that voter participation rises back to 60s levels. For too long, too few people have been voting.

4. Yesterday, in church, in the pew ahead of me, was an elderly gray haired man and his asian wife. At his side was a blue baseball cap. On it read “WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War Veteran”. The love between him and his wife touched me. Knowing this man faught to defend me made me feel like the wuss I am. While I am heartened to see people voicing their beliefs – please – unlike the 60s – let’s never put down those that are standing up to defend us. They deserve our respect, our understanding, and our prayers. Fight the politicians, if you feel they are wrong, it is them that make the policies. Vote them out of office. Use your vote. It’s your right. Remember that. It’s your right. So please do not put down these brave souls that are putting themselves in harm’s way to defend it.

For Lent last year I joked about giving up weblogging. I did cut back, but I was joking. This time I do have a Lenten goal in mind for my site – to post the positive (like the above) and not the negative. To emphasize what I am for instead of what I am against. A crazy thing to try. Should be interesting.

Facing terrible deficits what does Rendell do – instead of offering tax breaks to buy votes that in the end will only make matters worst? He breaks down the budget into two steps: 1. Trim the size of government – balance the budget, get the house in order. 2. Invest in the future.

On the other hand, John McCain is more a Democrat then most Democrats.

Only true if you believe in the sweeping generalizations that everyone holds dear. What makes these two special is that they try and act on their principals.

CSMonitor: Pacific Coast as a boom-bust belt. Everything changes. For so long we’ve been told the opportunity is on the West Coast. No longer.

Steve, you will like this one… 46% of all duct tape is produced by the Manco Company – a $100,000 GOP campaign contributor. Irrelevant? You decide.

For you Wal-Mart haters, a look at the good and bad of the Wal-Mart empire in Fortune Magazine. via Dane Carlson.

Looks like Internet usage made a difference in Korean politics.

Speaking of net usage making a difference, learn How Protesters Mobilized So Many and So Nimbly.

A bunch of WashingtonPost readers are pissed at the paper for revealing too much about operations in Iraq. It seems nothing can be kept a secret anymore. I’m all for investigative reporting, but why did they need to publish those details? They didn’t help the reader to better understand the conflict. They didn’t educate the reader as to the news. They didn’t expose to the reader important facts that they needed to know.

Burningbird and Scripting News continue to have the best commentary on the Google+Blogger deal.

Mike looks more and more like a weblogger to me as he begins “phase three”…

According to Newton (yes THAT Newton) the end of the world is soon anyway. Party like it’s 1999.

A must-see website: LostLabor.com. America used to be the workshop of the world. What are we now? (I think this is via dangerousmeta).

First the good – Mike is considering to resume blogging. I have the very same feelings about Mike’s efforts that Jonathon Delacour did. He’s a great conversation starter and will get you thinking in terms you may be uncomfortable with. He’s back on my on blogroll in anticipation of getting those controversial discussions started up again.

Wired asks Why did Google Want Blogger? while the BBC questions whether Google has grown too powerful. The NYTimes has the best summary I think.

Jeff Jarvis defends his take on “Mr. Duct Tape”.. More and more it looks like a bad episode of South Park. Well… there are no bad episodes of South Park so take that as you may…

A thing that strikes me is how we’ve squandered the world’s support after 9/11. Click the link or the image to the right and know people across the globe stood with us. The attack backfired as far as world opinion went. Now that united spirit has been fractured, maybe even lost. Whose fault is that? You decide.

Update 2/24/2003: The Washington Post decided on publishing a story on this today. How timely.

The anniversary of Daniel Pearl’s horrific murder just passed by. Read his wife’s impassioned plea to attack the real enemy. We must be intolerant to intolerance and fanatical against fanaticism. True evil lies within each.

Let me urge the Dem webloggers on my blogroll to link to one another more often.

Oliver Willis, Eschaton, Rittenhouse, rc3.org, dangerousmeta, BillSaysThis, Jonathon Delacour, Burningbird, PageCount.

Actually – the last three already do. They cross-blog like crazy. But my associates at the top sometimes miss each other’s good works. Republicans seem more likely to link to one another. Is there proof of that somewhere? I’m just making a personal (unfounded) observation without analyzing any data. Nevertheless…

And if you are reading my site scratching your head about the sites above… well.. visit them! Not your average ordinary bears.

Read about it in the Washington Post. I still don’t know what to think. Saddam must go, but does all out war need to be the answer? This fellow says we’re losing the propaganda war in a big way.

Update: It was one of the largest peace demonstrations in Philadelphia history. Protestors and anti-protestors, peaceful activism. What an amazing global event.

“God bless us all… . Be safe, stay connected and we will win.” Only by coming together can change happen. That runs against what many believe. Yesterday – people came together on both sides of the fence to be heard.

Both the US and UK are toning down their stands on Iraq in response. The protestors made a difference. That and the inspector’s report of course.

Can a person with the more nuanced views of Jonathon Delacour, like myself, be heard in the din? I believe Saddam has got to go. Unlike so many protestors, I recognize this is about more then oil. Far more. But I have issues with how, when, and what happens afterwards. I get pissed when people oversimplify the threats and causes. I get mad at the creeping anti-semitism (oh it’s there alright, read about it at Yourish.com), and the anti-Americanism. I’m proud of this country. I’m blessed to live here. I’m frustrated and confused at hearing new Bin Laden tapes being released. Why isn’t he dead? Why isn’t his organization wiped from the face of the earth? Why?!?! I tend to think people with Jonathon’s beliefs are in the majority – worldwide. They are amoungst many I know. Other webloggers who doesn’t shy from posting complex views are Oliver Willis and Dave Winer. Gotta participate in one of these protests to find out.

BTW, contrary to popular belief, Clinton was good for our armed forces. Thank you, yet again, President Clinton. We miss you.

“Senator Robert Byrd gave a floor speech yesterday that’s one for the history books.” That’s what Rafe had to say about Senator Robert Byrd’s floor speech. Read it. You will agree. The Senate seems asleep at the wheel.

Well at least Congress caught the Administration’s screw-up forgetting to give Afghanistan Aid. via Oliver Willis. Just a little oversight right? Pftt.

“Each one of us for one reason or another dreams of America, and America is everywhere.” That’s Italian commentator Alain Elkann in this NYTimes piece on how some European commentators see the growing rift between us. via dangerousmeta.com

Disable your cookies. Get a personal proxy (well I gotta do that one!). Google may win the Big Brother of the year award. A must read. via Scripting News. Gotta point you to Phoenix, the browser I use when I’m off the clock. Simple to use cookie management.

If you’re poor, the GOP wants to tell you it loves you with it’s compassionate conservative embrace.

Local and certainly not connected – viruses run rampant at schools. A stomach virus is shutting schools down.

What will happen at the UN today?

Finally some good news, from ABC: Terror Alert Partly Based on Fabricated Information.

Comic books. Store houses of wisdom they are. I’ll be seeing Daredevil over the weekend. A quote to heart right now:

“The measure of a man is not in how he gets knocked to the mat, it is in how he gets up.”

InternalMemos.com: A Clear Channel radio station prepares to for war.

CityJournal: How I Joined Teach for America ?and Got Sued for $20 Million. Man oh man.

PolicyReview: From Sarajevo to September 11. “…the world could rejoice in 60 years of extraordinary peace and progress. The first great age of globalization had made the world seem an infinitely smaller place. So great were the twin powers of technology and ideology intellectuals prophesied the end of all wars. Yet on that summer?s day, one act of terrorism in Sarajevo ? the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife by a Serbian fanatic called Gavrilo Princip ? set off a sickening train of events. The world plunged into the most horrific war in history, and even after the killing had stopped, countries everywhere renounced their previous openness, fortifying their borders to limit the movement of goods, people, and even ideas.” A few edits there… but you get the point.

The Moscow Times (yes you read that right) Most Righteous War of All: A supportive (yes supportive) essay from Russia. You can almost here the snicker at the thought of how France and Germany are acting. via dangerousmeta.

Sen. McCain Address to 39th Annual Wehrkunde Conference. There are leaders out there! A Republican I would vote for. In a split second. via dangerousmeta.

BBC: Japan warns N. Korea.

Legal Affairs: Dante and the Death Penalty. A must read. Thought provoking.