On the air right now, a Red State blogger / lobbyist to whom I don't want to link has made some wild assertions about the state of blogging today. Perhaps the gentleman would be interested in knowing some of the other uses of blogs that exist besides slinging mud at the opposite party than the one affiliated with the bloggers.

This is a smokescreen, as is the privacy debate on this edition, because the real issue is the ownership (and eventual profit) of content.

The content rights management issues that are presented by blogger and the Web in general are are not simple. If we follow the money, we might find out why this person is emphasizing privacy and free speech over control of content as the real issues. We may be alarmed to find out where the money trail leads us.

4000 bloggers apparently agree with this person's perspective.

According to Technorati, there are about 14.2 million blogs out there. I personally know of billionaires, lawyers and other educated professionals who blog and have blogged for years. The majority of us are not blogging about political issues. It's unfair to extrapolate the partisanship of DC to the rest of the world.

Don't do the rest of us any favors. We need to keep our eye on the real issues. Want the real story? Don't rely on spin. Find the text of the legislation at www.ftc.gov and decide for yourself. This overview of the FTC's powers related to the Web also makes good reading.