These days it’s hard to tell your media players without a scorecard. Bloggers are going mainstream; MSMers are blogging. We could score this a victory for the blogosophere, but that would be triumphalist (who us?). But it’s not, really. What this actually underscores is the growing democratization of media.

PJM has decided to hasten that along, establishing our PajamasXPress blogs where are inviting some of the most distinguished writer/journalists in America to blog right here at Pajamas Media:

Victor Davis Hanson is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, a Professor Emeritus at California University, Fresno, and a nationally syndicated columnist. He writes a weekly column for National Review Online and has authored or edited 16 books.

Claudia Rosett is a journalist-in-residence for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and writes, among others, for the Wall Street Journal and the National Review.

Ron Rosenbaum is the brilliant columnist and cultural critic for The New York Observer. He is also the author of books on subjects ranging from Shakespeare to Hitler.

Journalist Bill Bradley has brought his popular and well-known “insider blog” on California politics, New West Notes, over to PJ for our fourth PajamasXpress Blog.

The MidEast War, 2006: A Living History
It started in a limited manner with a short item (“Developments in Gaza”) on July 11. Now it is almost a month later with no end in view. From the beginning, Pajamas Media has devoted itself to covering the MidEast War, 24/7, in a comprehensive manner, using more sources from the traditional and new media than any other site on the Internet. Today we are making available our coverage of the first week of the war arranged in the order in which it unfolded; a living history of events and opinions that are, even now, continuing to shape the world for today and for tomorrow. We will continue to add to our archives in this manner in the days to come. This is the first installment: The MidEast War, 2006: Loomings, Origins and Week One.

Opposed to sound-bite politics, POLITICSCENTRAL aims to promote a deeper level of discourse, and seeks to introduce a consistent tone of civility in our coverage and discussions.

In addition, POLITICSCENTRAL will address the environment, which has allowed our discourse to become often crass and frequently thoughtless — that is the environment of knee-jerk polarization and hardened partisanship.

As citizen and voter you have undoubtedly noticed that American politics has become pretty polarized - meaning - are you in the “liberal box” or the “conservative box”. In addition partisanship goes further - “are you 100% in the liberal or conservative box or not?” (See X21 Central for more.)

In sum POLITICSCENTRAL will present the thoughts, opinions and insights of a broad range of people that span the American political spectrum. In doing so, it will strive to create a civil and collegial atmosphere to encourage this more thoughtful discourse on our views and aspirations.

FORGET AVIAN FLU. 9/11 Induced Mental Illness is a Pandemic That Has Already Hit.

by Craig S. Karpel

Manic Depression Has Captured America’s Soul

Suicides once worked in private, bringing tragedy only to their immediate friends and family. The new global fashion in suicide is to go out with a bang in some public space taking as many random individuals as possible along for the ride. This “weaponization of suicide” has had a less-than-salubrious impact on public mental health.