A bit of bad news for anti bush blogging.

Atrios and Lindsay have both got posts today about a bill just signed into law by Bush which could be used by the bush league to harrass their political enemies. This new act has a name that sounds like it would be protective of good citizens but the language allows it to be used to protect bad politicians. For those who, like myself, blog anonymously to save themselves and their family or employer from distress and unwanted attention, this is clearly a threat to free speech. As Mumon points out, you don't even have to lose the lawsuit that could show this is an unconstitutional bit of bushwhackery to be damaged by exposure...who wants to sue first?

But why should I worry? The bush league would never harrass someone just for saying bad things about them. Of course not!

Wee, the media

NYTimes, getting even with the bloggers who have been stealing the the Times' thunder or at least explaining to the rest of us that the loud booming sounds we hear are just the flatulence of a paper that sleeps with its sources, review's the new book by Wonkette's A. M. Cox. To make darn sure we don't pay for the book, the Times quotes the only two good jokes they think the book has. To make sure you don't buy that issue of the Times just for the jokes, here are those jokes:

Sparse as it is, the book's snarky humor is welcome. In an otherwise dopey parody of the Swift Boat Veterans' assault on Senator John Kerry, the fictitious Democratic candidate is libeled by "Citizens for Clear Heads" as having been brainwashed, "Manchurian Candidate"-style - "which at least would give him some foreign policy experience," Melanie supposes. Reading The Economist at bedtime, she asks herself: "Is it still passing out if you're sober?"

[Melanie is Ms. Cox's alter ego in this novel, ur ah, I guess thats "blovel".]