Around the Blogroll and Elsewhere

Yes, I know this is the second one in three days, and that I'm bordering on Atrios-like cop-out from actually writing anything. But hell, it's a beautiful weekend, everyone is outside (or so it seems from my traffic levels), it's Mother's Day and who's going to spend the day reading blogs anyway, when tonight is The Sopranos, The Tudors, Dexter, AND the Survivor Finale (go, Yau-Man!) And this weekend Mr. Brilliant and I are on a feng shui tear.

Inspired by our recent Mandatory Purging of Old Books, Videos and Other Crap resulting from our flooded basement adventure, we are trying valiantly to declutter. So far he is doing better than I am. A former Latina co-worker once told me that Latino men never help clean the house unless you're having a party, and then they can straighten up like nobody's business. Mr. Brilliant isn't Latino, but I suspect it is less about ethnicity and more about gender. We aren't having a party, but when he sets his mind to cleaning up, he's a demon at it and does it SO much better than I do. I tend to just take things and move them around helplessly -- unwilling to keep them, but unable to quite let them go. But when Mr. B. sets his mind to cleaning up, he shows no mercy to the very things that seemed indispensable a month ago. So amidst all this making the house safe for human habitation, it seems reasonable that when I see something others write that's worth your time, I'm going to send you over there rather than always ripping off their stuff. So without further ado, here are your marching orders, just faxed in from the Streisand compound:

Cernig on British press reports that Karachi is in chaos and the Musharraf regime is in jeopardy. If Musharraf goes down, we are in some very deep doo-doo indeed.

Times Select-challenged unfortunates can read Frank Rich's column on Republican presidential candidates lusting after the Ronald Reagan mantle like so many Gollums lusting after the Ring of Power at Welcome to Pottersville.

Cat Blogging: Just months after losing both Larry the Little Black Cat Bent on Stealing Your Soul AND her father, Tata has two new kittehs. Read about their recent Bathtub Safari.

Yet another A-list blogger tells the rest of us we suck and shares the so-called One True Way to Blog Fame and Fortune.

Over at Shakesville, Wolfrum on what happens when Christofascist Zombie presidential candidates. try to get all manly and stuff. And Litbrit tells us that if you like a little Chinese melamine in your chicken, fish, and pork, the Bush Administration now wants to let the Chinese export pre-cooked chicken to the U.S. without identifying it as such. Bon appètit!

And finally, Frogsdong on Mother's Day around the World. (And here I thought it was a day to celebrate the work of Frank Zappa...) And Maya's Granny reminds us of Julia Ward Howe's original proclamation.

And while you're enjoying your Mother's Day barbecue, or lovely restaurant lunch, or whatever your plans are, please take a moment to think about Saverina Romeo from Lodi, New Jersey, whose son Staff Sgt. Vincenzo Romeo was killed in Iraq last Sunday.