Peace Garden - Sowing the Seeds

I've had a difficult time finding blogs I cared to review the last couple of days. I ran into -- and spent a lot of time looking at -- the blog of a Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Gerogia, Sid Cottingham. "Cracker Squire" ( http://crackersquire.blogspot.com/ ) is definitely a blog worth looking at, especially for Georgians. Cottingham comes across as a very knowledgeable old-school Southern Gentleman, and it was particularly refreshing to see someone comment on things that are really germaine to the actual government, like Medicaid funding and oversight of insurance practices, as opposed to ethereal discussions about what government ought to be doing or heated arguments about things that are incredibly marginal to how government affects our lives.

But ultimately I decided that reviewing someone running for an office was too treacherous territory for me. I intend to review blogs, not candidates, and it would be wrong (I think) to give the impression of approving of a candidate without looking carefully at the whole campaign, including what the candidate's opponents say of him. I didn't care to take on that task.

Which brings me to "Peace Garden ( http://peacegarden.blogspot.com/ )."

"Peace Garden" is the political blog of Bush critic and peacenik "Pax." It is, unfortunately, in many ways the mirror image of "The Teddy Bear Blog."

Pax's latest post when I looked began by criticizing GOP convention-goers for supporting Bush while disagreeing with a lot of what has gone into the Republican Party platform. Pax closes his first paragraph by asking, "Shouldn't we be voting for a president who we can trust and support in all his endeavors(?)"

In a very limited sense, the answer to this is, 'Yes -- we should be able to vote for someone we agree with on every issue.' Of course, this is a practical impossibillity, and the question rings a little hollow coming from Pax after he has voiced reserved dismay at Kerry's record of war votes.

Pax also seems very convinced that a Bush re-election will mean more wars, more unemployment, and intrusive domestic spying. I tend, actually, to agree with Pax on these matters, at least to a degree.

But, as with "Teddy Bear," the manner of presenting these is completely antagonistic: these things are THE TRUTH, regardless that the Bush platform has not directly promoted more wars, higher unemployment, and intrusive domestic spying. To those not already singing in the choir, this is a club being swung at them: if you don't agree, you must be blind or stupid or something.

Well, I expect that most people who don't agree will just walk away, and people who might have wondered if there could be some truth to these accusations will know that "Peace Garden" is not a likely place to find the proof of it.

A useful aspect of "Peace Garden" is that it provides links to developments in Iraq, albeit the main thing that Pax seems to be concerned with in these is in how the Bush Administration will be manipulating events there (as well as in the "War on Terror") in order to affect the election.

Pax comes across as very sincere -- one doesn't help push a 2 1/2 ton memorial stone for civilian victims of war for 12 miles without being sincere -- but also impractical. He has taken his position on one side of the political schism that has stricken our country, and the other side is the enemy, who are at best misguided and at worst evil: in any case, there is no point in discussing anything with them.

Writing: 6

Personal/Public: 7

Content Quality: 4

Thoughtfulness: 4

Overall: 4

I can repeat almost verbatim the recommendations I made for "Teddy Bear," the ones that were received so well:

"Peace Garden" needs an overhaul. At the moment, it provides a look into what the opinion of an extreme liberal is, as though that was something hard to figure out. An unquestioning, unchallenged political opinion is about as useful as a solar powered flashlight.

If Pax wants to promote his vision, he needs to communicate with people who might be drawn to it in a language that they can understand. I don't think he does this.