Just as The New York Times (Jason Blair), CBS (Dan Rather) and Reuters (fauxtography) have shamed the mainstream media, the Edelman public relations firm has shamed the blogosphere. According to The Writing on the Wall (quoting Online Media Daily), the PR operation has “fessed up” to creating so-called “flogs” (phony blogs) for promotional purposes. One of them has the name “Working Families for Wal-Mart.”

Now I am not pro or con Wal-Mart per se. But I am decidedly against this misuse of blogs. It undercuts the transparency that we are trying to achieve. [FULL DISCLOSURE: In the interest of transparency, Pajamas Media earlier this year had discussion with Edelman about public relations representation that did not pan out. They did not then mention creating any "flogs" for us. If they had, I can assure you we would have rejected it out of hand.]

Of course, this kind of pseudo-publicity ends up backlfiring for Wal-Mart and for all of us who wish to see blogs thrive intellectually and commercially. For a good analysis of what this means, see Tom Hespos’ Wal-Mart: Blazing the Trail to Distrust. [ANOTHER FULL DISCLOSURE: Hespos' Underscore Marketing works with Pajamas on our business side.]

BTW, J ohn Tierney at the NYT has written some interesting defenses of Wal-Mart in other (non-blogging) areas. Alas this is behind the paper’s fuddy-duddy “select” firewall. (Note to Sulzberger: In the words of Peter Robinson, “Tear down that wall!” It’s worth a shot with your stock going into the toilet.)

UPDATE: Edelman “defends” himself in Advertising Age. Hespos responds.

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Apparently Ned Lamont has blown about ten million of his personal change in his “liberalist” attempt to unseat Joe Lieberman. At the moment, Joe is cleaning his clock. Imagine what Lamont’s dough could have done for something serious like medical research or education!

MEanwhile, watch out for the rise of the independent (Freeranger?). The traditional parties are getting mighty rusty in our society. Nothing stays the same forever.

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I mean why bother if people go around leaking almost everything to the press. But … in an interesting development that could … just could … lead to some examination of this loathsome behavior … according to the AP: House Intelligence Chairman Peter Hoekstra has suspended a Democratic staff member because of concerns he may have leaked a high-level intelligence assessment to The New York Times last month.

How impolite of Hoekstra not playing ball with the discrete charms of the liberal media bourgoisie. He wants people to abide by the law – imagine that. Well, we shall see what we shall see. The New York Times … you will be shocked to learn … has not commented. Why would they? They know best.

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No, really. I could get rich — from my reading … so far… of the Al Dura Verdict in which Phillippe Karsenty has been ordered to pay 3000 Euros to Charles Enderlin and a symbolic 5 Euros to France 2 for “insulting” them. These days I get insulted about once an hour. Just think about the possibilities, even deducting legal fees. But seereeusly folks – there’s something very spooky about this Al Dura business. As we all know Karsenty was merely expressing a view of the Al Dura video – that it was unabashed fauxtography – that he been expressed by many. In this post-Reuters era, most honest people would find such a video at least suspicious. [But we're not talking about honest people.-ed. We're talking about the... Don't say it!] Okay, I’m not moving. This sure does make you think about French statist corruption, doesn’t it? If you have been following Nidra Poller’s coverage on Pajamas Media, you would have thought this trial was headed for a victoire for la justice. Mais non. Something happened between trial and verdict. Did “people” talk with the judge? Was a “consensus” reached that would not offend France 2? Will we ever know? Unlikely.

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… but I have been working my fingers off over at Pajamas Media, especially preparing for an event we are covering next week in DC (political breakfast with Dick Armey, Dick Gephardt, George Mitchell and James Blanchard).

Of course, I have had a chance to read Peter Robinson’s excellent WSJ piece on my alma mater. It’s not just for Dartmouth graduates. The situation in Hanover is hardly unique and has a lot to say about about the condition of academia generally. The professorate has evolved into an American nomenklatura. But like the Soviet version, it may contain within itself the roots of its own destruction, especially as the cost of the education/indoctrination offered by this rigid system escalates into the stratosphere.

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Those folks at Canon keep getting better and better. I just purchased a Pixma 6700D for 170something bucks at Amazon and tested it with some photos taken last weekend with my already aging Nikon D70. (Well, not really aging, just compared to Gerard’s lighter and more nimble D50.) Anyway, the Pixma is producing gorgeous prints straight out of the box without any of those tiresome and tiring adjustments. The ink (aye, therein will lie the expense) is said to make prints of a new sort that last thirty years or more. You can check back with me at that time. But I will say this, most of my first generation digital prints are fading badly after three or four years. This printer may get a workout. The problem is, I think you have to stick with Canon ink if you want those good and enduring results. One other good thing, however: the print head is replacable. No more throwing out the whole machine when those pesky devils get clogged beyond redemption.

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Senator Harry Reid (D-NV… where else?) “has been using campaign donations instead of his personal money to pay Christmas bonuses for the support staff at the Ritz-Carlton where he lives in an upscale condominium. Federal election law bars candidates from converting political donations for personal use.” (AP)

This reminded me of something… oh, yes… Remember Senator Pat Geary from Godfather II… Wasn’t he from Nevada?

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According to the list of polls at Pollster.com, Lieberman is doing very well with Independents, but not so well with Democrats. No surprise, I suppose.

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I will be camping with my daughter’s school over the weekend, so (probably) off line until Sunday night. I leave you with this: The Harry Reid Scandal linked by Glenn says everything about our politics today. It’s blood sport performed by truly uninteresting performers-basketball without Kobe, Shaq or Jordan. People like Reid, Hastert, Pelosi are complete mediocrities who should be at much lower levels in our society. Something is fundamentally wrong on both sides of the aisle if they are the upper leadership of our Congress. Maybe the Internet (properly used) can do something about this by exposing them. A good example of what the Internet can do is the analysis in the comments of Omar’s article on the Lancet report on Pajamas.

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Check out my podcast interview with David Zucker and Myrna Sokoloff about their infamous suppressed political ad featuring Kim Jong Il and Madeleine Albright. Zucker apologizes to Albright (sort of). Lots of one-liners, some even good.

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