Hi folks. I left for vacation today to celebrate my fortieth birthday. I'll blog more about it when I have a chance. In the meantime, I have a request.

I haven't been following the threads today, but I still have had to field concerns and complaints via iPhone, which suggests that hostilities are still flaring at dagblog.

As a favor, or perhaps a birthday gift, I would like to ask you all to chill out. Please tone down your responses to one another and try to avoid the urge to lash out, no matter how much you think someone deserves a lashing.

Articleman and I and the other dagbloggers who are covering for me would be grateful. And I think we all could use a break.

Thanks,

G

Bob Dalrymple and his girlfriend, Kathy Neal, are leaving Michigan and heading for Colorado, because, Bob says, the economy's suffering, the winters in Michigan are too cold and it's time for adventure.  He wants to go someplace warm.  That's what he says.  His two kids live in Colorado, but apparently they've neglected to tell him there's a reason crowds of retired Snowbirds aren't descending on the Centennial State.  It's snowy and blustery and cold there in the winter!
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Just wanted to give a shout-out here to A-man and Genghis for creating a great site and for keeping the lights on. 

Kudos! Good Job! Congratulations!

Latest in a series of observations, leaping from subject to subject.  Usually I have twelve, but as Nigel Tufnel would say, this one goes to eleven.  So here it is:

11.  The folks on TMZ.com who thought it was appropriate to publish a picture of post-stepdown Steve Jobs looking extraordinarily gaunt and seemingly near death are ghoulish, rotten people.  Seeing that site commodify something as personal and sacred as death the same way it publishes pictures of Lindsey Lohan's new tattoo turns all of us into meat for the grinder.  Don't click on TMZ. [Read more]

I felt a small vibration around 9 AM this morning, like a big truck was near the building. My nearest coworker thought I was tapping my foot. That was apparently the 3.6 quake that Dickday posted about.

Update: We heard it again this morning. The guy that parks right below my desk must have gotten a diesel.

A few minutes ago, around 2 PM, the building started seriously shaking and we all filed out and down to the sidewalks. Someone says it was 5.8 and the epicenter was Mineral VA. USGS says it was 5.9.

Update: Seems that USGS changed it back to 5.8. [Read more]

Dear readers and contributors,

First off, thank you for being part of the dagblog community. Or rather, thank you for being the dagblog community, for there is no community without you. Your eloquent writing, cogent arguments, passionate beliefs, and sharp wit has made dagblog a unique and (in our opinion) wonderful space in the blogosphere.

In any passionate community, there are bound to be strong ideological and personal differences. Our aim as moderators has been to protect and preserve the political debates while curbing the personal conflicts. Because so many of you have worked hard to respect these goals, we think that we have succeeded better than other comparable websites. [Read more]

Dear readers,

I am sad to report that dagblog has been forced to dismiss a member of our team after years of faithful service.

You may not know TinyMCE by name, but she has served has our Rich Text Editor since 2008 when dagblog was founded. Every word that you have ever typed at dag has been tenderly processed and formatted by the indefatigable Tiny.

True, she sometimes garbled the font and impulsively inserted extra lines between paragraphs. And yes, her spellchecker never worked very well. But she did her job every day without complaint and kept dagblog humming. [Read more]

Newt Gingrich understands today's youth. Graphic via Blue Gal.

News/Politics

The Travails of Newt Gingazzle: Seems the Newtster started a charity. For Himself.

Bin Spyin': Pakistan punishing those who helped CIA keep tabs on Osama bin Laden.  [Read more]

Nope. No future Presidents here.

News

Unemployment: That summer job just isn't there anymore.

Now You See it ... : Ok, we lost $6 billion or so in cash in Iraq. Soon, this could really start adding up. [Read more]

A poor Internet connection means Wolfrum's Morning was spent doing other things than collecting links. But take it from Neil Patrick Harris at the Tonys, the theater, and this blog aren't just for Gays anymore.

--WKW  [Read more]

If Neuticals changes the name to Newticals, Gingrich may have a new career. Cause politics just ain't working out.

News

Brazil's Dangerous Activism: It's becoming more and more dangerous to an activist in Brazil. [Read more]

News

Drones: France and Britain plunk down another $1.5 billion for more drones.

Yemen: More drone bombs, please.

Syria: Syrians begin escaping to Turkey out of fear of their own government.

Pakistan: Death, drones and chaos. [Read more]

Enjoy the galaxy from South Dakota in this spectacular time-lapse video. [Read more]

Andrew Breitbart tried to steal the limelight yesterday at the Anthony Weiner press conference.

 [Read more]

Some see "The Life Zone" as an insane right-wing anti-choice tank job. Me, all I see is Robert Loggia.

 [Read more]

When in the course of human events it becomes necessary to write a periodically recurring column, one finds that a list of declarative statements will do just dandy.  I hold these truths to be self-evident:

1.  That all people are created equal.

2.  That the iPad is the most important new technology for daily life since the BlackBerry, because everyone will be using iPads for video telephony in the near future.

3.  That Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player of all time.

4.  That walking in a forest away from roads is the furthest thing from lost you can be.

5.  That everywhere you walk, the dead are just below the ground.

6.  That more people own guns than have good reason to. [Read more]

Yes, as a matter of fact, that is Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby.

News

Switching Teams: Ex-Iowa GOP lawmaker is now backing same-sex marriage.  [Read more]

Happy Hump Day.

News

War Crimes: Ratko Mladic arrives at the Hague to face justice. War crimes. How novel.  [Read more]

You have to Like Dog Bless You.

News

Out of Space: The space shuttle Endeavor ready for its final return.

Bachmann Fever: Michele Bachmann is thisclose to announcing her run for President. Comedians worldwide rejoice.  [Read more]

Let us remember.

New

Memorial Day: David Blight takes a look at how it all started. Also, take a look at CNN’s Home & Away presentation.

Obama in Joplin: President amazed by destruction as death toll climbs to 142. [Read more]