WE’RE GOING ABOUT IT ALL WRONG! If we’re going to invade Iraq, we’re supposed to impose our films first.

Hmm. Well, maybe this one.

EVERYBODY’S HAVING FUN WITH PHOTOSHOP.

HERE’S A REPORT OF AN ANTI-IRAQ PROTEST at Northwestern.

MATT CRANDALL is predicting disaster for France.

I MEANT TO LINK THIS EARLIER: Talking Dog’s annotated guide to the blogosphere. I’m glad I’m not the one who has to keep it up to date!

FOLLOW THE MONEY: Byron York looks at where Not In Our Name gets its funding.

JOSHUA CLAYBOURN EXAMINES ANTI-AMERICANISM IN EUROPE as a function of extreme anti-American slant in European media.

SAKHAROV’S ADVICE: Michael Barone raises some good points. Excerpt:

Sakharov’s advice to American policymakers: “Do not trust governments more than governments trust their own people.” . . .

Many people said in the 1970s that Latin Americans were unsuited for democracy, in the early 1980s that East Asians were unsuited for democracy, in the late 1980s that Eastern Europeans and Russians were unsuited for democracy. Many people worried in 1945 that the Germans and Japanese were unsuited for democracy. There were reasons for their doubts and fears. But the United States took chances on democracy, transforming Germany and Japan into decent independent nations we can live with and helping to move Latin America, East Asia, Eastern Europe, and Russia in the same direction. We have no choice now but to do the same, first in Iraq and then in other parts of the Middle East.

Read it all.

I THINK IT’S UNPATRIOTIC to publish secret intelligence documents like this one just to get the story ahead of other people. This could do great harm to American intelligence operations in Iraq if Iraqi intelligence agencies find out about it. I sure hope that they don’t.

AFRICAPUNDIT is a new blog dedicated to, you guessed it, things African — like the spread of radical Islam in Nigeria.

UPDATE: Then there’s this bit of Africa-related news.

TIM BLAIR IS CHEERING CAMERAMAN NUMBER TWO — plus, Robert Fisk accidentally says something true!

BILL QUICK is running a Four Horsemen of the Ablogalypse photoshop contest — follow that link to find out how to enter. And click on this image to see it full-size.

Me, I’m still wondering: Which way do you ride a Pale Horse? English? Or Western?

MICHAEL KELLY’S report on the crushing of debate in America is now up on the Atlantic Monthly website. Many blogs are mentioned by name.

PUNDITWATCH IS UP! Don’t miss the “best quip” section.

MARK KLEIMAN’S FATHER PASSED AWAY Friday night. Mark has a moving eulogy on his site. Please join me in extending the condolences of the Blogosphere for his loss.

GROUCHY MEDIA has a rather bellicose pro-war video that I imagine some will like, and some will be horrified by.

THERE’S A NEW SMARTERHARPER’S INDEX UP.

HAS PATTY MURRAY been proven wrong? PrairiePundit thinks so.

UPDATE: Oops, now his archives are hosed. Here’s the page link. It’s currently the top post.

THOUGHTFUL COMMENTS for and against war, from Colby Cosh.

UPDATE: Then there’s this from Tom Paine.

FROM THE “THIS SUCKS” DEPARTMENT: Sonic Foundry, maker of terrific audio software that I use a lot, is in financial trouble. Well, lots of companies are, these days, but they have terrific products in their Acid music software (I did the music for my wife’s documentary, largely using Acid Pro 4.0, and it rocks) and they’ve just released their new Vegas Video 4 video-editing software, which is rumored to be great, and to have an integrated DVD-authoring package that actually works, something not to be taken for granted. I’d hate to see them go under. How come so many companies with crappy products manage to stay in business?

By the way, if you’ve used Vegas 4, especially with the DVD-authoring feature, please drop me an email and let me know how it works.

And if you’re a turnaround expert — go save ’em! They’ve got consistently great products, an excellent reputation, and a lot of happy customers. That should be worth something, right?

UPDATE: A reader emails:

I read your post on Sonic Foundry. They are one of my customers, so I thought I’d give you a little hope. They have great ideas but horrible business skills. They have brought on people to help them with this. Sonic Foundry is stripping away its business units that lose money so that they can focus on their core business. It may also be noted that they are “plugged into” the local and state political structure. I suspect that they will get enough help so that they can restructure and come out stronger. The have a great product and a loyal customer base. They just need to focus.

Of course, they could botch it all up. It wouldn’t be the first time a great company was sunk by bad business decisions.

I hope they make it. They make great stuff.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Techblogger Jim Zellmer has some observations. And another reader points out that even if Sonic Foundry dies, the technology will probably live on. No doubt. But still, I’d like to see them survive.

THOSE L.A. BLOG PANELS MUST BE GOOD, because apparently everyone’s too drunk/hungover to write about them that night or the next day. But here are Rishawn Biddle’s predictions.

UPDATE: Luke Ford, by virtue of skipping the big party at Heather Havrilesky’s, was neither drunk nor hungover and so has posted some comments.

WILL ANTIGLOBALIZATION LEAD TO DEPRESSION? Jim Bennett writes:

Today the collapse of the Cold War international order, the rise of global terrorism and the backlash to globalization have among them raised the specter of a shrinkage, or even collapse, of globalization — one perhaps even more catastrophic than the reversal of globalization from 1914 through 1945. Such a collapse, greatly limiting the international flow of goods, capital, and people, would have a number of consequences.

One repercussion would be a global depression probably surpassing the severity and breadth of the 1930s. The second would probably be the return of empire as a strategy for securing resources and security. These two are familiar from history.

The third would be the elevation of weapons of mass destruction, but particularly nuclear weapons, to an effective requirement of sovereignty, and to create an arms race to develop countermeasure, such as ballistic missile defense, and new, hard-to-counter weapons of mass destruction.

Gee, that’s something to look forward to. Another reason to end this quickly.

PRO-WAR RALLIES

Thousands rallied Saturday in support of President Bush and U.S. troops in a possible war against Iraq, turning their criticism to anti-war protesters and France’s opposition to military force.

About 2,000 people turned out at an Orlando rally that featured a reading of the Gettysburg Address, while another 1,000 prayed and marched in Pensacola.

“I was so saddened to see so many in our nation not supporting our troops and our country,” said Naval Warrant Officer David Wolff, a Desert Storm veteran who arrived at the Pensacola rally in uniform. “This is very uplifting.”

Rallies were also held in Indianapolis and Washington state, where more than 2,000 people gathered for a pro-war rally in Bremerton, home to a naval station where the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson departed last month.

And somehow they managed to organize them without enlisting A.N.S.W.E.R.

UPDATE: Here’s more:

The Pensacola rally was a grass-roots effort coordinated by Milton resident Sam Mullins, while the Orlando event was put on by the talk-radio station WFLA-AM.

“There’s a silent majority out there that really hasn’t had a vehicle yet to get their voices heard, and that’s what this is all about,” radio host Shannon Burke said. “These are people who love their country, and they’re just here to share that.”

No reports of any stilts or giant puppets, though. Don’t these people know how to run a protest?

TOM LANTOS is arguing against appeasement, and criticizing the Germans and French.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE ABLOGALYPSE: I love this.

I was holding out for Pestilence, but I’ll take whatever.

Considering the source, it’s an honor indeed.

UPDATE: Andrea Harris is savaging Sawicky for sexism!

ANOTHER UPDATE: From the comments thread here:

The Weasel-Riders of the Apocalypse!

Sophistry, Petulance, Derision, and Angst!

Heh.