Irish Trojan in Tennessee

SoCal VoCals are world champs!!

By Brendan Loy

The International Championship of Collegiate A Capella was tonight in New York City. I don't know yet how the SoCal VoCals did. I assume The A Cappella Blog will have results up soon. Go VoCals!!!

UPDATE: THE SOCAL VOCALS WON!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!

Congratulations, VoCals!!!

UPDATE 2: The A Capella Blog writes: "The SoCal VoCals' winning set gave them perhaps the best-deserved victory I've ever seen at an ICCA show. This is the sort of set that needs to be seen to be believed and I am proud to have been a witness to something truly fantastic. Believe the hype -- this was probably the best competition set I've ever seen."

With "analysts" like these...

By Brendan Loy

...who needs P.R. hacks?

To the public, these men are members of a familiar fraternity, presented tens of thousands of times on television and radio as “military analysts” whose long service has equipped them to give authoritative and unfettered judgments about the most pressing issues of the post-Sept. 11 world.

Hidden behind that appearance of objectivity, though, is a Pentagon information apparatus that has used those analysts in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance, an examination by The New York Times has found. ...

[C]ollectively, the...several dozen...military analysts represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants. The companies include defense heavyweights, but also scores of smaller companies, all part of a vast assemblage of contractors scrambling for hundreds of billions in military business generated by the administration’s war on terror. It is a furious competition, one in which inside information and easy access to senior officials are highly prized.

Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks. ...

In turn, members of this group have echoed administration talking points, sometimes even when they suspected the information was false or inflated. Some analysts acknowledge they suppressed doubts because they feared jeopardizing their access.

A few expressed regret for participating in what they regarded as an effort to dupe the American public with propaganda dressed as independent military analysis.

(Hat tip: copndor.)

The Shirt

By Brendan Loy

The Shirt 2008 is out. It was unveiled yesterday. (Hat tip: Lisa.) The money quote is "NOTRE DAME WILL RISE AGAIN," which seems appropriate.

Domersphere reactions? Her Loyal Sons hates it. Rakes of Mallow likes it, although he wishes it was green. Blue-Gray Sky thinks it's "pretty good." Of course, it features the famous quote about "the blue, gray October sky" that BGS is named after, so they would like it. ;)