So when does Hillary meet up with Robert Redford?

Today marks the start of SoS Clinton’s 11 day, seven nation diplomatic trip to the African continent.  This visit is record-breaking in a number of ways; it’s her biggest trip since becoming chief diplomat, it covers issues running the gamut from economics to sex and gender, and it’s the earliest trip to Africa by any sitting Secretary of State.

Oh yeah — the military doesn’t give a c**p either.

Faithful (and brilliant) co-admin scrahan posted this comment in response to my article on the DADT-foot dragging.  It’s a very good point, and one I failed to address yesterday. 

Tomate, I think I can make a stab at the (presumably rhetorical) question you posed at the end of this, “Why drag feet on DADT, when the majority of American’s accept the idea of openly gay servicemen and women?” In this case, it’s not whether the majority of American’s are comfortable with it; the question is, are the majority of military, or likely military personnel comfortable.

 I don’t have those numbers, but the conventional thinking (trans. pulling this from my ass and/or heard some homeless guy ranting about it on the sidewalk) is that those are the people who feel strongly about this issue, and would be offended to serve with openly gay servicemen. Is it a good argument? No, soldiers didn’t like blacks or women serving, and both are now integral (if not always, in the case of women, well-integrated. The DOD’s recent study on rape in the military is a pretty harrowing read) members of the military.

 But at least it is an argument, one I would love to see you shred to pieces. At your convenience, my good sir.

Gladly, my good sir.  Gladly.

PoliticoSphere map charts most influential policy blogs

I came across this map via The Map Scroll, a geography/cartography blog that never leaves me disappointed. The map charts over 600 of the most influential policy blogs and charts them from left to right across the political spectrum. You can click on the image below to go to the PoliticoSphere site and embark on a more interactive experience.

Each node represents a separate blog and is colored as follows (thanks again Map Scroll):

Green - Environment and Energy
Pink - Feminism
Brown - Defense
Orange - Education
Light blue – Health Policy
Peach - International Affairs
Gray - Law
Red - Conservative
Blue - Liberal
Yellow - Infopros (Huffington Post, TPM, and MSM news sites)

Interesting how all of the subject-specific blogs, aside from defense, seem to drift left. So often, the MSM seems to blame the lack of a larger conservative blogosphere on the fact that those on the right tend to be older and thereby less tech-savvy. I think this generalization is less of a reality than it is an excuse. You can see on this map that there is a seemingly malignant bulge of red nodes on the right side representing the conservative blogosphere. At first look, the blog nodes seem to be relatively proportional to their liberal/progressive counterparts. The subject-specific blogs drift disproportionately to the left, but at varying angles.

Conservatives have not been slow to the plate regarding blog development, they have just been slow to develop blogs on specific policy portfolios. This map in many ways is reflective of the current national political climate where those on the right seem less able to provide alternatives on specific policy issues (the environment, education, etc.) than their left leaning counterparts.