"The Bush Wars" is the charming name of the City Pages' lead blog. I think it's intended to be the vehicle for the newspaper's editor, Steve Perry, to engage in the type of immediate, informal journalism to which blogging is best suited. I say "I think" that's the intent, since Steve Perry shows the same commitment to blogging as the rest of the City Pages staff. They average one, maybe two posts a month, with several of them going more than a month at a time without any new content. Now this may be the appropriate frequency for a blog called "The Wit and Wisdom of Mark Dayton," but when you're covering the broader national political scene, a little more commitment seems to be in order.
Given the fact that you get more frequent comment from them in the once a week print edition of the City Pages, one has to wonder why they even bother with setting up blogs for themselves. Perhaps this collection of self styled iconoclasts was forced to blog by their Big Media overseers at Village Voice Media, and their non participation is their way of passively resisting this intrusion. Righteously expressing dissent through self censorship? It's just a theory, but how else to explain a group of professional writers not writing? It sounds plausible (if asinine).
I will say the "Bush Wars" does get updated quite a bit, but not by Steve Perry. Instead a gentleman named Mark Gisleson does the heavy lifting. And according to a recent scan of his production, to his credit, he gets a post up just about every day. I'm not sure how close he and Perry are in terms of their political philosophies. But I would have to imagine for continuity purposes alone, that their similarities are great.
Which makes a recent post on "The Bush Wars" all the more interesting. Here's an excerpt, and if any of you moderate independents were undecided over which side to take in the "Bush Wars" here's an indication of what the other side has in mind:
In my heart, I still believe in revolution. In my heart, I still think I have the 'nads to put my life on the line for a cause. In my gut I think this is the only way we'll ever achieve our goals of economic and social justice. But in my head, I want to win the next election so we don't have to have a revolution.
Once again, this rhetoric appeared in the blog of the editor of one of the largest newspapers in Minnesota. A newspaper that sells advertisements to the likes of Volkswagen dealerships, the Mall of America, and the Excel Energy Center. I wonder how these businesses might fare after "the revolution"? Or maybe they're just praying George Bush loses the next election and we can postpone the carnage indefinitely. Maybe that can be the Mall of America's new ad slogan:
"There's a place for revolution in your life - unless you vote for Dick Gephardt."
Mark Gisleson used to do a blog called "Career News" where he offered advice to job seekers and those looking to improve their career prospects. As I recall, it was reasonably well done. But it was conventional, offering advice well within the rules of capitalist business traditions. Now that I know his true political desires, I think he may have missed his opportunity to really make some waves in the vocational guidance industry. A little client advice like this might just have sent his business through the roof:
1) Having trouble getting a response from that HR director at your dream employer? Consider attaching your resume to a Molotov cocktail.
2) No luck in getting a raise from your boss? Consider abducting him, his family, and all those who share his counter revolutionary views on increased compensation for your business unit. Then seize power and start your own accounts payable commune.
3) Frustrated that you're the only one who ever makes coffee at the office? Implement a forced re-education camp for known coffee drinkers and those suspected of drinking coffee. No one gets out until they admit they were delinquent in their responsibilities to their fellow employees, and until they agree to automatically deposit their future paychecks to the "coffee fund collective," the proceeds of which will be distributed at your discretion, "for the good of all."
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