Nosey Online

I've been doing a lot of reading this morning, trying to get to the bottom of something that began a few days ago. Over the weekend, I started to see some performance issues with nosey online. Since I really haven't been updating it much the last six months, it wasn't at the top of my list. But when I wanted to post something yesterday, I noticed it was taking too long to connect to either the main page or my Movable Type login screen. I contacted the support staff at my web host, Hosting Matters, to inquire about the problem. While waiting for a response, I gravitated towards the HM support forums. Turned out that a major traffic spike on one of their servers (the one mine is hosted on) was causing the tremendous slowdown.

Not long after I read that, I got a response from HM saying that everything should be returning to normal. Ok then. However, as of this morning I'm still experiencing a problem. So I start Googling around and couldn't quite find what I was looking for. Then BLAM, I see this post at Dailykos. At the same time I finally get around to reading the headlines at News.com and find this piece. So, as it seems, Captain's Quarters is hosted on the same server as mine (I wonder if the digital liberal & conservative bits that make up our respective blogs duke it out in cyberspace? I demand segregation damnit!)

So since my curiosity was sufficiently piqued, I clicked through to Captain's Quarters. It wasn't my first trip there, as I had visited last year via QandO. Needless to say, Captain Ed's website is the polar opposite of, say, Atrios or Kos. Speaking frankly, it ain't my cup of tea.

So I give his site the once over, and I happen upon this post. It's a conservative response to today's NYT piece about House Majority Leader Tom Delay. Captain Ed feels that while this type of political payola is unfortunately found on both sides of the aisle, the damn liberal media shouldn't be jumping all over Mr. Delay.

Don't get me wrong. I think the practice itself is a problem, one that we should pressure our representatives to end. It can lead to back-door corruption far too easily. However, for the Times and the Left to jump all over DeLay as unethical and singular in this practice is dishonest, ignorant, and transparently partisan.

As if this is the first time a politician was taken to task over something singularly unethical.

Cough, cough, blue dress.

What's real unfortunate here, Captain, is that it's taken so long for Delay to get into the national spotlight. See, the thing is, most of us over here on the Left think that Delay is involved in a plurality (as opposed to a singular event) of hanky panky. The latest gross misuse of his stature came about vis-à-vis the Terri Schiavo case, and his lovely vieled threat aimed at the US Judiciary.

It's not just one singular thing. It's just one more incident in a long line of abuses of power. So much for that Contract with America, eh?