The Clarkbot is a “Perl script written by Rick Heller. It searches the Feedster RSS search engine for references to “Wesley Clark” To be picked up by the Clarkbot, a blog must generate an RSS Feed, and that feed must be listed with Feedster.”

Oh how it must have pained the NYT editorial board to write this. Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair are entitled to claim a large share of the credit for Libya's surprising announcement. To an extent that cannot be precisely measured, the fate of Saddam Hussein, who was ousted from power by the American military with British backing after endless prevaricating about Iraqi weapons programs, must have been an important consideration in Libya's decision.

Ed Cone: “North Carolina should be a great proving ground for Internet campaigning at a state level.”

I went to see Dean speak yesterday. I wonder how many people who support him have. Then I stumbled across an essay I wrote in 1998, about the Vietnam War and Clinton, and how we got to this place where we elect people who are “Successively better airbrushed, more and more tuned to polls, fighting for the center, telling us what they think we want to hear, trying to nudge the numbers up, but not relying on the minds of the electorate. They were smart not to rely on our minds, because there was no evidence that we wanted to use our minds.” That was totally consistent what I saw with Dean last night. There were 150 people in the room, mostly it was about lies, bedtime stories, telling people what they want to hear. No minds activated. Some good lines, a glimmer that minds may have played a role in the Dean campaign at one time, but not today. Now they're trying to get elected, and I believe in doing so are guaranteeing that they won't. If you're looking for an airbrushed guy, Clark is much stronger. I don't know why people care how much money Dean has raised, that's just going to buy commercials. I'd love to see one of the pols use their money to solve some problems now, whether or not they get elected. Put some teeth behind the We Love The Internet and The Internet Loves Us.

RSS Winterfest is a two-day conference, Jan 21-22, for people who use RSS. An audio conference that you participate in over the telephone. No charge, but registration is required. Should be very interesting. I'm doing the opening session, from a conference room at Harvard Law School, with people who are using RSS, and we'll talk about what they want to do with RSS, what they like about today's software, what they don't like; products and services they might want to buy. How do you feel about ads in RSS? How can schools, businesses, the government, better use RSS? I asked to lead a discussion about and with users so this doesn't turn into the usual Boy Kills Boy technology slugfest. Maybe RSS has something greater to contribute than just being the latest battleground for techies.

Back from New Hampshire with pics of Dean and Lieberman.

Saddam Capture Leads to Miliary Advances in Iraq.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Richard Meyers, on Fox News Sunday

WALLACE: There's some late news out of Iraq that I'd like to ask you about. First of all, a major sweep, arresting dozens, perhaps more than 100, Saddam supporters across the country. What can you tell us?

MYERS: Well, some of the information we gleaned when we picked up Saddam Hussein led to a better understanding of the structure of the resistance from the former regime elements. And we've — actually, we've picked up more than several hundred, at this point.

WALLACE: More than several hundred?

MYERS: Yes.

WALLACE: How many are we talking about?

MYERS: Well, I can't — I don't have an accurate count right now, because it goes on and it goes on. But a couple hundred detainees so far.

WALLACE: And how senior in the insurgency?

MYERS: Well, we think they're some of the leadership of this insurgency, absolutely, some of the cell leaders.

WALLACE: So what would you say this has done, sir, to the resistance?

MYERS: Oh, I think the capture of Saddam Hussein and the intelligence we gleaned from him is a big step in the inevitable process of Iraq's march to a democracy. And it's a huge step, but it's not the only step required. There's a lot of hard work yet to go.

Al Gore's son is arrested for pot posession. It would be really cool if one of the Democratic candidates could explain why marijuana is illegal.

Jon Postel: “Be liberal in what you accept, and conservative in what you send.”