From the diaries - Todd

This week's roundup is made possible thanks to the major efforts of boadicea. Residing in one of those "W" states, I'm turning the tyranny of the alphabet on its head this week. Here's the 50 State Blog Network Roundup--this week running from Wisconsin to Alabama!


Advertise on the 50 State Blog Network. Read the 50 State Blog Network Roundup F.A.Q.

Wisconsin  
   Uppity Wisconsin discusses the disquieting implications of the US Attorney scandal on all prosecutions.

West Virginia
   WV Blue has Senator Rockefeller's statement, and a translation from Capitulating Weasel to English.

Washington  
   Washblog is taking on the question of media ownership in a pragmatic way by encouraging readers to support local community radio station, KSER. They share some fairly compelling reasons to do so.

The first Beatle to die tragically young once said, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." Life is also what happens when we're not blogging. In the better-late-than-never-category, life has finally gotten out of the way to allow this week's 50 State Blog Roundup to emerge.

If your favorite 50 State Blog member is missing from this week's roundup, I promise no slight is intended. It just means no one had a chance to nominate a post for the week.

You can help make sure that doesn't happen again in the future. You can submit a nomination for any blog listed at the BlogPAC state blog roll via the nifty automated nomination system prepared by Ralph Bordie. Give it a try next week.

From the diaries - Todd

There's lots of great stories from the 50 State Blog Network this week. Please take your time this weekend, pour yourself a cup of coffee (tea, or soda) and savor the reading. You'll be glad you did.


This week's Roundup is brought to you by Clem Guttata of West Virginia Blue.

Featured Items

* As Marshall said when he promoted this item, "Excellent work...this is journalism!" Crandall Canyon, The King of the Mountain, The Fox in the Coop. Additional notes: The same item was cross-posted at As Ohio Goes. There's a reason Crandall has been a big contributor to Republican politicians.

* The Albany Project and Daily Gotham were all over the story of (now) resigned GOP operative Roger Stone. If you don't know the story, do yourself a favor and visit the two blogs that helped bring him down this week. (There's too many posts to pick just to link to.)

* I can't stress enough how devastating this is to the Appalachian region: Expansion of Mountain Top Mining. Learn more about Mountain Top Removal.

Welcome to this week's roundup, brought to you by Clem G. of West Virginia Blue. So much for August as a slow news month... there's plenty to dig into here.

Of Special Note
* Congratulations to The Albany Project. As Phillip Anderson puts it,

I'd have to say the highlight of our week was the Governor stopping by to congratulate us on a great convention in Chicago and inform our readers that he will soon be starting a regular liveblogging gig at The Albany Project. it's pretty cool.

* MyLeftNutmeg recaps the many stories of the one year aniversary of Ned Lamont's primary victory. Lamont's victory, showing Democrats the power of embracing the Democratic Party, led directly to our 2008 general election gains.

I know we often make fun of lawyers in this country ("What do you call a smiling, sober, courteous person at a bar association convention? The caterer."). On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for the value of training in law for political leadership. The Clintons (Bill, Yale; Hillary, Yale), Barack Obama (Harvard), John Edwards (UNC), and Harry Reid (George Washington U.) all have law degrees.

Then we have our Republican mis-leadership. There's George Bush with an Master's in Business Administration. That's the same degree that Duke Cunningham and Jeff Skilling have. There's Rep. Shelley Moore Capito with a Master's in Career Counseling. That's the same degree as... well, actually, no one comes to mind. Bush and Capito share a mis-understanding of the law, too. Whereas Bush missed the week in high school civics class about constitutional checks and balances, after six years in Congress Rep. Capito still hasn't figured out the basic mechanics of when a law is needed.

Case in point: Rep. Capito is crowing about her success in using an obscure legislative maneuver to outlaw something that is already illegal!

There has been a flurry of developments in WV-02 during the last two weeks. All of them point to one conclusion: State Sen. John Unger's challenge of vulnerable incumbent Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is a top-tier pick-up opportunity for the Democratic Party in 2008.

Unger--recruited by both netroots and the DCCC--has emerged as an early, well-positioned challenger to Capito. The major recent developments include:

This week's Roundup was compiled by Thomas at Blue Indiana. Permission is granted to cross-post at your blog, too. It's Blue Indiana's honor to present this week's 50 State Blog Network Roundup. I've been called off and have to run out of the house this evening, so I'll leave my introduction short, and direct you all below the fold. Enjoy your Friday!

Compiled this week by Zappatero at Squarestate.net. Permission is granted to cross-post in entirety at your blog, too.

Read on for this week's 50 state blog roundup!