A WHILE BACK I MOURNED the death of MP3.com. Ali Partovi of GarageBand.com emailed to say that he was going to create something similar, but better. Now there’s an announcement that GarageBand is partnering with Microsoft and I notice that there’s a button on the main GarageBand page to “resurrect your MP3.com content.” I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m going to check it out. I’ve been shamefully neglecting the music stuff lately, and it’s time to do something about that, I think.

HEALTH CARE BLOGGING by health care professionals: This week’s Grand Rounds is up.

HISTORIANS WRITE THAT 60 MINUTES GOT IT WRONG on the Emmett Till case:

Sunday’s report on the killing of Emmett Till was an example of slipshod and misleading journalism. The producers have few excuses in this case. They did it with their eyes open. They were warned not just once but several times that their forthcoming report might contain inaccuracies. In a rush to air the story, however, they plowed ahead, instead of following the first rule of journalism: getting their facts straight. . . .

The producers of “60 Minutes” have an ethical obligation to correct their inaccurate information and to corroborate their claims that five participants in the kidnapping or murder are still alive. Given our previous experiences with “60 Minutes,” however, we have little hope that they will do so. While the killing of Emmett Till deserves more attention from the media, the producers of “60 Minutes” have failed to fulfill their stated mission to serve the public good.

Maybe this generalized demonstration of nonideological incompetence is meant to make their RatherGate defense more credible. . . .

HOUSE REMIXES OF LAWRENCE WELK? Yep. In the latest issue of BPM is a review of Upstairs at Larry’s: Lawrence Welk Uncorked, a collection of — you guessed it — Lawrence Welk remixes. From the review by Andy Hermann:

It sounds like something done on a dare: An entire album of house remixes of tunes from The Lawrence Welk Show, possibly the squarest television show of all time. Can anyone really make “Bubbles in the Wine” funky? Apparently, the answer is yes. The collection’s lack of polkas will disappoint Welk fans, but who cares about them, anyway? . . . Music for squares never sounded so cool.

Shockingly, I don’t own the CD, but you can hear online samples here, and to my surprise it’s pretty good. I think my favorite was the Kaskade Remix of String of Pearls. BT it’s not, but on “degree of difficulty” alone I give it a 9.5.

TOM BROKAW: Booed by fans at the Oklahoma-Nebraska football game. More here.

UPDATE: Reader Gerald Hanner from Papillon, Nebraska emails: “Word around here is that the folks in Norman were not very good hosts to anyone last Saturday. Still, it’s interesting to note that there is someone more hated in Norman than Nebraska.”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Brad Dempster sends this:

As a longtime reader and a lifetime Oklahoma Football supporter, I have to chime in regarding the Tom Brokaw booing incident. I was there, and frankly, was a little embarrassed about the incident. However, this business about Oklahoma not being good hosts in general is pure bitterness.

I won’t go into the “bad host” stuff, other than to say all that was a simple combination of a few bad fans and a frustrated NU squad. And when a fully-geared football player assaults a student, knocking out several teeth and putting the guy in the hospital, it would be hard to justify that from NU’s end. Anyway, all of that is not representative of what normally happens in Norman.

But the Brokaw deal was not related to all of that. The instantaneous response came from a clear majority of the fans. It was also uncharacteristic for this crowd. Usually when quests are introduced, the crowd either claps politely, or pretty much ignores the whole thing. They are there to watch football, and it is a serious football crowd. When they showed Brokaw’s picture on the big screen, it got a resounding negative response. I suspect it would have been the same response had it been at Oklahoma State, most of the schools in Texas, or anywhere else in this area of the country.

My point? This is not Philly, where they eagerly boo Santa Claus and Snoopy just for sport. A response like this is in Norman, OK, should be a clear message to its intended target. I think Brokaw is merely guilty by association.

The big media black eye is carried by all of its personalities, and here in “Red America”, it doesn’t look like people won’t be so quick to overlook the election cycle shenanigans, at least in the short term.

Indeed.

PATRICK RUFFINI is blogging again.

FURTHER THOUGHTS on the Administration’s appointments, over at GlennReynolds.com.

WINNING OVER THE RED STATES:

Following University President Don Randel’s warm introduction, the famed author, host, and wry wit of A Prairie Home Companion, started by commenting on election results.

“I am a Democrat—it’s no secret. I am a museum-quality Democrat,” Keillor said. “Last night I spent my time crouched in a fetal position, rolling around and moaning in the dark.”

Not one to shy away from speaking his mind, Keillor proposed a solution to what he deemed a fundamental problem with U.S. elections. “I’m trying to organize support for a constitutional amendment to deny voting rights to born-again Christians,” Keillor smirked. “I feel if your citizenship is in Heaven—like a born again Christian’s is—you should give up your citizenship. Sorry, but this is my new cause. If born again Christians are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?”

How many moles does Karl Rove have?

UPDATE: Micah Holmquist emails: “I heard similar comments on Prarie Home Companion recently and they clearly were in jest.” No hint of that in the story, but okay — though I didn’t think that he was seriously planning to amend the Constitution. I suspect that not everyone will be amused, however, as the jest is a somewhat bitter one.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Celeste Morley heard something similar on Prairie Home Companion and didn’t find it amusing. Hey, some people were offended by Earl Butz’s jokes, too! Michael Ubaldi thinks it’s tasteless: “I don’t know about it being a jest. That’s like trying to make a joke about the Jewish vote and Aliyah: can you say, ‘tasteless?'” Yes, I can. And Joe Carter is disappointed.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: More thoughts here and here.

MORE: Eugene Volokh offers this analogy:

Not one to shy away from speaking his mind, Keillor proposed a solution to what he deemed a fundamental problem with U.S. elections. “I’m trying to organize support for a constitutional amendment to deny voting rights to Jews,” Keillor smirked. “I feel if your citizenship is in the Nation of Israel — like a Jew’s is — you should give up your citizenship. Sorry, but this is my new cause. If Jews are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?”

And another one!

Not one to shy away from speaking his mind, Keillor proposed a solution to what he deemed a fundamental problem with U.S. elections. “I’m trying to organize support for a constitutional amendment to deny voting rights to Catholics,” Keillor smirked. “I feel if your loyalty is to a foreign political leader like the Pope — like a Catholic’s is — you should give up your citizenship. Sorry, but this is my new cause. If Catholics are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?”

He observes: “Now if I’m right that the first two hypotheticals wouldn’t be in the best of taste, even if it were quite clear that Keillor was just joking, then wouldn’t we say the same about the real quote, which referred to born-again Christians?” Of course not. Everyone knows that they are ignorant, no-account rednecks and that it’s safe to lampoon them in any fashion.

ABC NEWS IS REPORTING that Condi Rice will replace Colin Powell as Secretary of State.

I think she’s a good choice, notwithstanding the bipartisan appeal of the Lieberman idea (which was probably a nonstarter anyway, as I don’t think the Dems want to lose any Senators). I wonder if she’s being groomed for a Presidential or Vice-Presidential slot in 2008?

Upside: She’s up to speed on the issues. Downside: She’s been working awfully hard for the past 4 years. She’s probably tired. But hey, when Cheney steps down, she can be moved to the Vice Presidency and get a little rest. . . .

UPDATE: Brian Crouch emails:

The media is overlooking something. Not only is Rice the first female black Secretary of State, she’s the first black person to replace another black cabinet official of any gender.

And do I need to mention this is the first administration to have two black Secretaries of State?

Thank God for the GOP’s affirmative action stance. Namely, “may the best person win.“

I think she’s a good choice. I also think she should take a week or two at the beach.

ANOTHER UPDATE: In response to Brian Crouch’s email, Bill Hobbs writes: “Actually, it is an indicator of great progress on America’s racial front that such things are not overly hyped by the press.”

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: The more cynical Rand Simberg emails:

Actually, the fact that it’s not being hyped (overly or otherwise) by the press is an indicator not of progress on America’s racial front, but an indictator that she was appointed by a Republican (you know, the Party of Lincoln), rather than by a Democrat.

So cynical, that Rand.

MORE: Reader Edward Christie notes the rather fractured English of the caption accompanying Rice’s photo in the ABC story: “National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice as they listen to President George W. Bush speaks in the Oval Office in Washington. (Jason Reed/Reuters)”

Are they outsourcing this stuff to some place where English isn’t the native language?

STILL MORE: Condi vs. Hillary, 2008? Fun to contemplate, anyway.

MORE STILL: LaShawn Barber is pleased.

TIM BLAIR: “MoveOn.org should be investigated over its deceptive name.” He suggests a change to “RemainFixated.org.”

I think “KarlRovesUsefulIdiots.org” might be more accurate still. . . .

UNSCAM UPDATE:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Saddam Hussein’s regime reaped over $21 billion from kickbacks and smuggling before and during the now-defunct U.N. oil-for-food program, twice as much as previous estimates, according to a U.S. Senate probe on Monday.

The monies flowed between 1991 and 2003 through oil surcharges, kickbacks on civilian goods and smuggling directly to willing governments, Senate investigators said at a hearing.

“How was the world so blind to this massive amount of influence-peddling?” asked Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, head of the investigations

I think the answer is that they were not so much blind, as in for a cut.

The record for today’s hearings can be found here. I suspect it contains quite a few gems.

BLOGS AND MICROCHARITY: In the New York Times today.

BLACKHAWK PILOT 2SLICK VS. NBC’S JOHN HOCKENBERRY: Advantage: Well, who did you think?

BUSINESS WEEK REPORTS THAT online advertising is booming. Probably to catch all the guys like me who don’t watch much TV anymore . . .

BUMBLING DADS: Here’s a new manifestation of a problem noted here a while back:

One of the company’s ad shows a computer-illiterate father trying, and failing, to help his daughter research a school project. As the girl gets exasperated, her mother chimes in, telling hubby to leave the girl alone and go wash the dog.

Joe Kelly, head of Dads and Daughters, said the commercial sends the message that fathers are dolts and second-class parents.

Sacks said Verizon would never run the ad if the genders were reversed.

Another Verizon ad shows a father giving his daughters cell phones. When they are disappointed that he mentions more family talk time, their mother mentions they can also talk to friends. The girls hug her, leaving the father standing on his own.

It seems to me that there’s actually less of this in ads than there was a few years ago — but that may just reflect the sharp decline in my television-watching.

JOE GANDELMAN IS ROUNDING UP blogospheric reactions to Colin Powell’s resignation.

OP-ED VACANCY AT THE NEW YORK TIMES: Jonah Goldberg: “If the New York Times would like to make me an offer, I’m all ears.”

I think they should get a rotating stable of bloggers.

MARINES AND ANTI-WAR PROTESTORS meet and greet.

UNSCAM UPDATE: William Safire says the U.N. is obstructing justice regarding the oil-for-food scandal.

THE PHILIPS “HEARTSTART” Automated Home Defibrillator: When I see stuff like this, I know I’m living in the 21st Century. There’s even video of it in action.

UPDATE: Reader Don Vollum emails: “If you think the Heartstart is cool, look at this link.” I wonder how long before they’ll be routinely implanting these things — not for people like Dick Cheney, but just as a standard precaution?

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Ryan Cox emails:

On June 28th 2004, my father dropped like a ton of bricks at our local baseball field. He had no pulse and was not breathing. He was dead. Thanks to the courageous actions of a few people, most especially Ken Kiernan, a portable defibrillator was used twice and my father’s heart started again. CPR would not have saved him. The ambulance with its defibrillator would not have arrived on time. He ended up having quadruple bypass surgery within 3 days and is now continuing his recovery.

9 out of 10 people do not survive cardiac arrest. The defibrillator is one of the best methods for survival of this event and a portable defibrillator in public places will help more people survive.

In one of life’s strange ironies, it was at my father’s persistence as president of the baseball league, that the portable defibrillator was installed at the ball field. 1 year prior after a severe accident near the ball field convinced him they needed to shore up their emergency medical equipment. .

I wish to share this story so more people will continue to learn about these miracle devices. And to give as much credit as possible to Ken Kiernan. He saved my father’s life.

Thank you for informing your legion of readers about this important medical device breakthrough.

My wife knows a woman who collapsed unexpectedly with arrhythmia at the gym, but who was saved by one of these. It’s good that they’re becoming more common.

BLOG-JOURNALISM over at Jeff Jarvis’s place, where he has used FOIA to uncover the shaky foundation for the FCC’s decency crusade.

TOM MAGUIRE: “I think we should demand that the Times editors be encouraged to read their own newspaper.” Or as one of his commenters notes:

I’m not sure if I have this straight: On Saturday, the NYTimes prints a story going after blogs for repeating conspiracy theories that have been debunked.

Then, on Sunday, the NYTimes prints an EDITORIAL latching on to those same debunked conspiracy theories.

Is that right? I’m asking because it just seems so utterly retarded that I can’t believe even the NYTimes would do it.

“Retarded” sounds so harsh. How about “editorially challenged?”

WALKER EVANS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPHERS, and The Walker Evans Project at the University of Virginia has a lot of photos and background on how they were taken. I highly recommend his Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, co-authored with Knoxville literary legend (and uncle of a college friend of mine) James Agee. You can also order copies of Evans’ photographs for the Farm Security Administration. Here’s the catalog.

Meanwhile, the guys at Power Line have their own artistic interests.

THANKS to all the folks who donated over the weekend. I sent thank-you emails, but a few of them bounced. If you’re one of those people, well, this is your thank-you note.

THE IRAQI BLOGGERS AT IRAQ THE MODEL have some thoughts on their first anniversary of blogging.