I'm not sure about the cat part, but if a reporter like John Burns -- who has covered Iraq from the ground level for several years -- enters the troop-level debate, I would read that intently. But, as a colleague of mine says, 'People in the business' -- that is, the editorial side of the publishing business -- 'know that most of what the average citizen knows about a particular topic is useless.'

Is this attitude elitist?

Not really. When you've interviewed experts and non-experts for more than 30 years, as I have, you come to understand it's true.

Think of a disaster movie where the pilot and co-pilot become incapacitated and the stewardess asks over the PA system, 'Does anybody know how to fly a plane?' If a blogger who writes a hobbyist column on flying remote-controlled airplanes raises his hand, I'd keep on praying.

Yes, there are bloggers who have expertise in their field, but it takes an awful lot of separating the wheat from the chaff to find them. Thus, the value-add of Helium.