Friday evening and I'm home in front of the computer? Lame? I dunno...I am feeling like swine in excrement because I'm getting caught up on the blogosphere. Alas my day job has been requiring me to actually, you know, work lately so I'm not getting all the media I want. I swam laps earlier, now it's time for pizza and blogs.

For starters here's a dynamite story about attempts by both democrats and republicans to capture the votes of Arab-Americans (according to the story there are 4 million Arab-Americans located in Michigan, the hot spot, and six other states, all considered up for grabs in the 04 elections).

Of course "Arab-American", like "Latino" or "Asian" doesn't mean "homogenous group". It's Romeo and Juliet time if a Mexican falls in love with a Puerto Rican and don't get anyone started on Cubans and of course there are many more groups to consider. It's just outsiders who say, "I dunno...they all speak Spanish...let's treat them as a single group!" This is, of course, true with Arab Americans as well.

I am favorably impressed with a blog put out by, of all organizations, ABC frigging News but The Note is sharp and, while tending towards plugging the Mothership a little too often (oooooooh George Stephanopolous traveled with Joe Lieberman in the candidate's Winnebago and will have an exclusive on Sunday? I'm so psyched) I suppose it is unreasonable for all corporate blog-like entities to maintain the same sense of objective distance Slate appears to maintain from its sugar daddy. Nevertheless it tracks all of the Dem candidates individually so, if you want to see what Sharpton is up to (addressing a whopping 150 students at Claflin University, a historically black college in Orangeburg, SC where he received what the blog notes was a response described as mild, medium at best) then this is your spot.

I guess it's good that I have to work because otherwise I would just sit here, looking at this stuff all goddamn day.