Ah, yes. I’m slowly getting back into this blogging thing. It feels good. Here’s more stuff you should have been reading this week…

• When Digby says “Wish I’d Said That,” it must be good. And it is. Avedon at The Sideshow—get this—reads the Constitution and discovers that—get this—it has a few things to say about what it means to be an American. And what it means to be an American—according to our founding document, now—is—get this—not really indistinguishable from what it means to be a liberal. Funny, that.
• It must suck to be an ex-president in this day and age, but it sounds like Clinton is still finding ways to duke it out constructively with Republicans. (First Draft)
• Speaking of duking it out, check out David Brock taking the fight to O’Reilly. Now, that’s the way we do it uptown, sucka. (via Eschaton)
• Note to self: When the Sherlock Holmes radio broadcasts come back online, grab ‘em!
• I love As The Apple Turns, and especially look forward to each Friday’s “Wildly Off-Topic Microsoft-Bashing Day.” This weeks was a doozy: Microsoft just bought a company that makes anti-spyware software, and plans to release the program to users of the MS OS for the price of “initially free.” A good deal, right? Microsoft sells you an operating system that leaks like a sieve and their solution is not to patch the holes in their own stuff, but to procure a software package that supposedly patches Microsoft’s own buggy software! And they leave the door open to the possibility that one day, they might charge you for the software to fix the software they originally sold you. The only thing bigger than the size of Microsoft’s bank account is the size of their balls.
• Don’t hate MS enough yet? Read this open letter. The Money Quote: “The Windows platform is not just insecure – it’s patently, blatantly, and unashamedly insecure by design.” (via Slashdot)

It would be… no… yeah, I guess it would be better to have the real hockey players back on the ice, but as long as my beloved Lightning keep winning somehow, I almost don’t care:

Flyers, Lightning, Oilers enjoy good week in simulated NHL season

NEIL DAVIDSON
December 14, 2004

The Canadian Press – Dec 7, 5:00 pm EST

(CP) – The Calgary Flames continue to lead the league but Philadelphia and Tampa Bay made moves this week to top their divisions in The Canadian Press’s simulated NHL season.

The Lightning (14-13-4, 32 points) took seven of eight points on offer during the week, defeating Chicago 2-1, Montreal 3-2 and the Islanders 2-1 while tying the Minnesota Wild 1-1 in games simulated for The Canadian Press by Electronic Arts, using its made-in-Vancouver NHL 2005 game. That run moved the Stanley Cup champion into first place in the Southeast Division ahead of Atlanta and Florida.

Cleanin’ out the old link closet tonight. Here’s a list of the stuff you should have been reading over the past few weeks.

• One word: Awesome! (Slashdot)

• Mind Hacks looks like a cool book. So does the blog. (BoingBoing)

• Ariana Huffington posts the November 3 Theses.

• The Poor Man has written quite eloquently and effectively about science, especially the wingers’ disdain for it. See here and here for a couple good examples. Also see him demolish Kaye Grogan’s inability to read the Constitution.

• CJR also has an article on crappy science reporting.

• The Daou Report is a rundown of the latest buzz from the blogs.

• James Wolcott watches Iraq go down the drain. He also notes the slippage of Brand America.

• The Talent Show spots the Specter of fascism.

• Damn. Thomas Friedman goes off. (NYT, reg. req.)

• Congressman John Hostettler (R-IN) suggests anarchy. He hates the courts, and he’s not the only one. The right wing continues to assault one of the three pillars of our Republic. One question: are they insane? (First Draft and Steve Gilliard)

• The courts aren’t finished yet, though. (First Draft)

• Bob Novak: Douchebag. (Washington Monthly) Update: Major Douchebag.

Jeez. Maybe the parallel is blindingly obvious and I just never noticed, but I just got chills watching the trailer for Stephen Spielberg’s coming remake of War of the Worlds. (Thanks, Boing Boing) The trailer rewrites the opening lines from H.G. Wells’ classic novel so that, to me at least, the analogy to the 9/11 attacks just screams. Chilling. Should be a fun movie.