I'll bet I'm not the only person out there who wonders what Christopher Cross's middle name is. I mean, the site has "XXX" in it. LegalXXX: the legal part is clear, the XXX less so, until we find out what that middle name is. I'll bet it's Christian; that would make the most sense.

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The consensus seems to be that no one wants to subsidize Andrew Sullivan's bandwith costs, which apparently are higher than those of any mere mortal.

Therefore, Laurence is popularizing a program to give our money to bloggers other than Andrew Sullivan.

1. When Andrew Sullivan begs for money, don't give him any.

2. Give money to a blogger other than Andrew Sullivan.

3. Post on your weblog that you're not giving money to Andrew Sullivan and that you're giving to some other blogger.

4. OPTIONAL: Write Andrew Sullivan and tell him you're thought about it and given your money to someone other than him.

My best thought is Ith, who suddenly has to move and now has to come up with first and last month's rent—along with replacing some of those durable goods she was sharing with her family members, and now can't as they all scatter in different directions.

She doesn't have a tip jar, so you'll have to actually wrap some cash in a thick piece of paper, and send it to her "disguised." Or do something equally ingenious.

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Via Mikal comes this fabulous link to a group of libertarian/conservative goths (some of whom, by their spelling, reside outside the U.S.).

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La Shawn talks about what it's like to be Black in America, with no knowledge of where your family came from in Africa—no records, nothing.

It's an interesting question, how much this stuff matters to us. How much meaning it has. How much meaning we give it.

Do you have a family tree? Does it enrich your life? How far back does it go?

Posted by: Attila at 09:11 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Jeff Goldstein has a series of suggested names the Ben & Jerry's people can use for their Ted Kennedy tribute ice cream. My favorite?—Scotch Almond Neat, and no, I donÂ’t want any goddamn water with it.

Go, now. Linger. Read his poem about Sandy Berger, while you're there.

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I know everyone is upset about Alex S. Jones' piece in the Los Angeles Times. And, of course, there is a sense that the L.A. Times wants to somehow reverse the tide, and get people to read more Dead Tree Media again—especially the Times—and fewer blogs.

But the LAT published a piece critical of the blogosphere for the same reason any of us write provocative blog entries.

They did it for the hits.

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The Winds of Change has started a charming and amazing campaign to buy a few drinks (and maybe a smoke or two) for Christopher Hitchens. This is dead serious: there is a Paypal button for it—locked and loaded. At press time, the choice was going to be Johnny Walker Black, or possibly Johnny Walker Blue.

The idea is for the Blogosphere to thank him for enlivening debate and for being intellectually honest.

If you decide to give, keep in mind that in addition to a few devastating critiques of Michael Moore, he's also penned a couple of nasty articles about Ronald Reagan—and recently. Please have your eyes wide open on that account.

But I honestly can't think of anyone on the Left (other than a few people I actually know, of course) whom I'd rather buy a drink for.

Let's move on this.

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Christophe rhapsodizes about the United States Postal Service.

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Laurence Simon discusses the various ways the Fourth of July is celebrated around the world, by disparate peoples united only in their ambivalence about . . . us. Little old us. The tone is ironic, the format is alphabetical, and the Ukraine finally gets some damned recognition:

Ukranians still set their sights on America. The land of the free, the home of the brave, and the target zone for nuclear destruction. The remaining Soviet missiles they own rarely waver from their original settings, and for a few hundred thousand they'd be happy to sell one of them to you.

"You want fireworks?" offer the Ukranians. "We'll give you fireworks."

Pour a drink—a stiff one—and read the whole thing.

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. . . is still deranged, and I mean that in a good way.

Now he's offering up his interview of Senator Robert Byrd's Grand Kleagle hood. Money quote—

me: "...Can I just tell you, though, that you are the whitest piece of fabric I've ever seen! Christ, you're white as a Kerry dinner party, y'know?"

hood:

me: " -- like the guest list at a Barry Manilow concert, is how white you are. I mean, you are one white hood, hood."

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I dropped by Jeff's place today to find that he's been on some kind of bender over the last two days—marked by moments of lucidity and moments when the whatever-it-is he's on kicks into high gear. (I think I know what the "whatever" is, but I'm not telling.)

Happy trails. At least he can spell when he's got some whatever in his system, which is more than I can say about me vis a vis Ambien.

But this is what I like: a quotation on his sidebar (they appear to rotate)—

"Jeff Goldstein is simply the best at whatever it is he's doing."
—
Mike Hendrix, Cold Fury

That pretty much sums it up.

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