Mistakes are made. SB points out something I should have noticed: the quote that "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew" came not from Pat Robertson but from one of his minions, Bailey Smith.

I've been thinking a lot about blogging lately, and this particular error plays into that. We all make mistakes from time to time, but it's far easier to screw up when you're writing a blog than when you're writing a piece for publication. You've got more time, it gets edited -- you know the drill.

We're at a moment when journalistic standards are under fire as never before. Do blogs add or substract from the sum total of our understanding? Is blogging an alternative to the mainstream media, or is it simply just one more thing for people to distrust? Am I contributing to that distrust?

Yes, there are some people who can bang out blog items flawlessly, almost never making a mistake. Right now I'm not sure I'm one of them. The idea is simple enough -- you rifle through the papers, you hit a few websites, you write, and then you go to work. But right now I'm wondering whether I'm really one of those people who can consistently do this sort of speed journalism without ever (or hardly ever) making an error.

I expect I'll muse about this more in the coming days and weeks. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts as well.