Blog On!

A portion of the USA PATRIOT Act will expire at the end of the year. If you are interested in keeping up on the discussions in Washington DC, visit Patriot Debates, a blog dedicated to the Patriot Act debate. I just love it when the media get themselves worked up over the meaning of blogging as if there is some big mystery that needs to be solved. Here you can chuckle over "The Future of Blogging":

Recently, blogs have been credited with everything from CBS News anchorman Dan Rather's departure, to unauthorized previews of the latest Apple Computer products, to new transparency in presidential campaigns. The big question is whether blogs, short for Web logs, have the staying power to become more than just online diaries. Will bloggers upend the mainstream media? What legal protections should bloggers have? Is there a blogger business model? While no definitive answers exist just yet, experts at Wharton advise questioners to be patient. Blogging, they note, will be around for a long time. Wharton legal studies professor Dan Hunter puts blogging right up there with the printing press when it comes to sharing ideas and disseminating information. "This is not a fad," says Hunter. "It's the rise of amateur content, which is replacing the centralized, controlled content done by professionals."

If anybody figures out how blogging can become a career that will pay the bills, look for a huge change in the nature of blogging. Of course it's the political bloggers who get all the attention, but that's okay. It takes the focus off the rest of us while we plot to take over the world.