POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

“Rerum Novarum” at the Cosa HuffPa, plus Tab Clearing

I try not to quote myself too often, but:

AOL-HuffPo fallout: Stacy notes that Matt Lewis is leaving AOL Politics as Arianna takes the editorial reins in the Dali-esque bargain struck by the AOL nitwits. Yesterday, Ed Morrissey and the guest on his show goggled about the finances of the deal. Arianna and her partners got over $300 million, almost all of it in cash, for the buy-out, but she stays on as editor at another several million per year.

As Ed points out, the vast, vast majority of the content is written by unpaid bloggers, with a few star names getting some money. Given the nature of the politics of envy, it’s going to be interesting to see whether the unpaid minions start clamoring for a slice of the pie. I see the potential for a lot of humor in this.

Of course, making that call was about as prescient as saying that it would be chilly in January in Vermont.

Still, Three Beers Later blogger Richard McEnroe is on board with the rebels, who find it . . . incongruous that AOL should have forked over $300 million and change for the enterprise, and they go unpaid. Moe Lane, on the other hand, feels that he doesn't have a dog in this fight, and is popping the corn.

I don't read Vanity Fair very often, so please forgive me for not knowing what James Wolcott has written on the subject, though I can understand how some of them feel taken for granted.

BP officials are being queried on possible insider trading and stock price manipulation in the weeks after the Gulf Horizon disaster.

FDIC sues WaMu biggies in another civil case. Mustn't charge them criminally.

We'd address this fraud, but it would take too much work.

Wankers oppose palm oil boycott.

Dane County, WI judge orders halt to implementing Walker's collective bargaining restrictions, promptly goes on vacation.

NJ shuts down Barack Obama Elementary School for underachievement.

In video, a cool passive solar soda can furnace.

Evil hippie Santa Claus pleads to child molestation charges.

Would-be British Airways bomber sentenced to 30 years. He happens to be Muslim.

Once again, creepy educators urged to crawl students' Facebook pages to search for evidence of bullying. More bullying.

Columbian army claims to have seized Venezuelan weapons in FARC-frequented territory, but hey, who you gonna believe?

Lovely photographic essay on Italy's short-lived North African Empire.

Why did Italy arrive so late to the Empire Game? Well, she's just celebrated her sesquicentennial. Before that, she was (as Dante lamented) just a tessellation of city states. Happy birthday to the Bel Paese.

Sophia Loren. I do believe I can feel myself risorging.

Gee. Maybe I should post another bleg.

Many thanks to Jimmie Bise and Ben at AoSHQ (in sidebar) for linking me up, and the very kind compliments. Many thanks as well to Cynthia Yockey for her kind donation and message. I'm going to be busy this weekend writing thank yous.

Aaaargh! How could I almost forget Mike at Cold Fury? He's got a lot of good stuff on the Madison thuggery.

I'd do something more Rule Fivey, but I'm so disheartened that I forgot to add nude Jedediah Bila to my previous post that I don't feel worthy.