Politizine.com's 1,000th blog post

Amazingly, this blog has reached its 1,000th post. Shocking, isn't it? With more than 60,000 hits and 100,000-plus page views, I am so surprised that it has lasted this long. Of course, it would probably be at 2,000 posts at this point if I did what other bloggers do and blogged each entry separately. But whatever. I have a habit of throwing a bunch of stuff into one entry, just to make sure I get all the small stuff in.
In celebration of this blog's milestone, I have a small announcement: On Friday, my wife and I launched a brand new hybrid online/print newspaper called OurConcord.com. The first edition is at drop locations across Concord and most of the content is online. The rest will be updated later tonight while I'm watching the Red Sox game.
For those of you interested in this new publication, please read the "Why Publish?" entry on the site for a rather lengthy explanation of what we're trying to do. On Friday afternoon, I picked up the print edition, 2,500 in all, and was amazed at how great it looks for a first edition. It is pretty impressive, if I say so myself, when you consider it was put together pretty quickly.
Because of this new endeavor and my family and work responsibilities, I will be curbing posts to Politizine.com and concentrating on producing more local content for OurConcord.com. Politizine.com will still exist but I really want to put what limited time and energy I have into publishing the other site. I will get into this a bit more in the very near future.

Holiday link dump

I can always tell when a holiday weekend is coming up because hits on Politizine just drop off the face of the earth. I can only assume that people are actually doing something other than looking at blogs. Imagine that. Wow.
For example, over the last 12 hours, the blog has exactly two hits on it and one of those was me. Usually, overnights, I get about 10 and change. Sometimes less, sometimes more. Some of them are overseas folks or night owl political junkies. But when those holiday weekends come, look out. The hits just drop off the face of the earth. And, ya know, that's kind of a good thing. It actually shouldn't be that surprising, especially with summer ending and all.
Since it is the Labor Day weekend, I will be doing the same thing other people seem to be doing: I'm going to be staying away from the computer for a bit. I will probably be back on Monday sometime, when I will be working for at least a few hours. Monday holidays are the worst for the publishing industry because it means you lose one of your key days to get things done.
However, Rory, one of my co-workers, came up with a cool idea: He is going to drive around in the town he covers and find people working on Labor Day. I think I may steal that idea, too, just because the holiday means were a little short on stories for the week [I can almost see the headline: Working on the worker's holiday ...].
So, for your reading pleasure, here is a holiday link dump, essentially sharing some interesting things which I haven't had a chance to post until now. Obviously, if our government attacks Iran or some other strange thing happens, I may jump back on. But for now, spend a few minutes here and then join me in shutting the computer off and living your life for a bit.

Other Smithfield boycotts and protests
This caught my eye while breezing through the Somerville Journal this week: ["Protest centers on Market Basket selling Smithfield products"]. I lived in Somerville for a few years and still like to keep up with what is going on there.
As previously noted, I and others are actively boycotting Smithfield products for other reasons: ["Boycott Smithfield Foods"].
Interestingly, or not so, I never did receive a response from Smithfield after emailing the company's corporate customer service department. I guess they don't really care about how I feel as a customer [or now, former customer, actually]. I mean, not even a form letter? Wow.
Although, they do seem to care about their corporate image: Politizine was visited by both a big law firm based out of Virginia and a corporate branding firm from Wisconsin after I posted the boycott blog entry. The corporate branding firm specifically searched "smithfield foods" on Google's blogsearch and spent just under 8 minutes checking out the site. One of their corporate links states the following: "Managing Issues: Focuses on protecting reputations and managing perceptions." Gee, how about not treating your corporate neighbors like sh*t, literally, for starters? It's interesting that Smithfield can spend time doing this but can't simply respond to my boycott email or spend the money they are spending on lawyers and corporate branding firms to clean up their messes. What backward corporate thinking in this alleged age of corporate enlightenment. Onward.

Campaign 2008
It was only a matter of time: ["Stop Her Now!"].
And, it was only a matter of time: ["Run Ralph, Run!"].
Former President Jimmy Carter gives John Edwards a wink but not a nod: ["Carter embraces Edwards on poverty, environment"].
An interesting dual endorsement here by the machinists: ["Trade unions back Clinton, Huckabee, Edwards"].
The Dems' 1988 nominee wonders about the party's chances: ["Dukakis, Once Burned, Refuses to Be Optimistic About 2008"].
Richardson, Dodd, and Biden sign onto DNC pledge: ["Democratic candidates asked to take primary pledge"].
More "proof" that Bloomberg probably won't run: ["Rather Says Bloomberg Ruled Out White House Bid"].
The Unity 08 group held an online talk about ballot access: ["Chat Transcript"].

Fox attacks Iran
I've never been a big fan of Robert Greenwald ever since I spent money on his "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's war on journalism" DVD and realized that it was full of inaccuracies and half-truths [Plug: I've commended for being one of the only people in the media world to point out these inaccuracies, as noted here: "'Outfoxed' film misfires"]. While it is important to have the Greenwalds of the world out there watching the watchers, they need to get the story right.
However, this clip of compiled comments about the coming war with Iran he has put together is totally hilarious:

Short cuts
* Vince McMahon seems to want to do something about 'roid use in the wrestling world: ["WWE suspends TEN superstars"]. It's about time, frankly, considering all the deaths involved in the wrestling world of late. And, yes, I admit it, I will actually sit and watch wrestling for a bit if I find it out. Since I downsized to the basic cable service to save money, I don't get to watch it much. But, it is fun for a laugh or two. I joke to my wife, who still watches the soap opera she watched as a teen, that wrestling is like a soap opera geared towards males.
* For those of you who follow Boston media, you might be interested in reading this long piece from Boston Magazine: ["...And Now a Few Words from the Hosts"].
* More on the media, this link about the fabulous American Journalism Review: ["Journal's Pains Reflect Media's Malaise"]. This magazine, as well as the Columbia Journalism Review, is a must read and not just for people involved in the profession. However, I will admit that I often don't have time to read through CJR, never mind AJR. For this reason, I have never subscribed to AJR and only usually pick it up when I find it for free. It is work, if you will, to find the time to update yourself about your work! I would add that it is "big journalism" that is a dying format, it seems. Small micro publishers and local blogs are a rapidly growing sector and may be the wave of the future.
* Two important things from Dan Kennedy. First, this column from The Guardian: ["The dogs of war"] and this: ["Robert Dushman"]. Dushman was a stand up guy and I will always be grateful to him for his assistance in getting public documents when I was editor of The Winchester Star. Granted, it was what my company paid him to do. But, he was a great help.
* Lastly, I meant to post this a couple of weeks ago: ["Pentagon Paid $999,798 to Ship Two 19-Cent Washers to Texas"]. So, there is a million dollars for this but not for all kinds of other things which need to get paid for. Unbelievable.

Dodd gets big endorsement ... but will it really help?

I don't know. But the IAFF, representing tens of thousands of firefighters, could help in some key states. It might give Sen. Dodd a few extra points. I just don't see him getting much more than that out of this. He, frankly, is too far down in the polls at this point to really factor in. He is barely middle tier, if there was a middle tier. Richardson is middle tier, alone. Dodd is barely a blip on the screen, a point or two above Gravel. Unlike John Kerry, who was in the top tier of candidates when he received the IAFF endorsement.
Anyhow, here is some video from the endorsement:



Bubba's $$$
I was sent this link from an aquaintaince who thought I might be interested in Hillary Clinton's financial disclosures. I wasn't, really, but clicked through anyway. Here is the link: ["U.S. Senate Financial Disclosure Report"]. What shocks me about this disclosure is that Bubba is making $150k to $250k a speech! No wonder everyone wants to be president!! The post-presidency speaking fees!

I love this woman
Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien, rightwing trollop or gadfly Goddess? You decide, but I know what I think: ["Inquisitive NH Voter Reacts to Giuliani Remark"]. This is the same lady who asked Al Gore in 1999 during a town hall meeting what he thought about Juanita Brodderick's rape allegations against Bill Clinton and Gore looked dumbfounded and said, Hmm, hmm, alot, without really saying anything. Had he had the stones and said he believed her or thought Bubba should apologize or something relevant instead of looking like a mannequin, he would have shown he was a true leader ... and champion of women's rights, too.

Short cuts
* Someone punk'd Rove's car: ["White House pranks punk Rove's car"].
* Ted Nugent was a chickenhawk!: ["Facing a draft, Nugent wet his pants"]. For all his big, bad-ass talk about machine guns and Democrats, and he found a way to get out of it. He should shut up and play his guitar.
* Interesting potential czar find: ["Find Could Be Russian Heir's Remains"].

* While this tart is out of jail after one day, the guy who stole the slice of pizza and it was his third strike, is still in jail: ["Lohan Gets 1 Day in Jail on DUI Plea"].
* A cartoon about Mormon history: ["What Mormon Theology Is Really All About"]. I love the bit about the "Mormon Jesus" and his wives and how blacks are neutral in the war between the "Mormon Jesus" and Satan and that is why they are black. Oh my word.
* Hmm, this is interesting: ["Hannity's "Freedom" concerts are reportedly a money scam"]. I wonder how much money is actually getting to the kids.
* I got a nice mention in Chris Lovett's piece on whether or not Boston should cancel its preliminary election during non-mayoral race years: ["For Council at Large: Later and Less Often"]. Civil Boston, Lovett's blog, is a good read.
* The Weekly World News is now, officially, defunct: ["Weekly World News"].

900th post
OK, I've reached the 900th post here on Politizine. Almost five years and 900 posts. Wow. I was going to write up something special for the 1,000th post but I'm not there yet. I probably would be if I did what other bloggers do, and put everything in an individual post. I just don't have time for that, frankly. And, I like a bunch of stuff on one page. To celebrate, here is a link to some very cool UFO footage, supposedly from Haiti. I don't know what these things are and I don't know if they are real. But, if they are toys, someone tell me where to get one because I want one!

Catching up on things, the mid-June edition

Alright, it is the middle of the month and I'm pretty behind on my blogging. In fact, I know I am behind on it because I've seen my visit numbers drop from 50-plus to 30-plus in less than two weeks. My new job has been taking up a lot of my time, as I get settled in to an old routine and learn some new tricks, too. Somehow, I think I'm on top of it, and then, I don't seem as organized as I thought I was right around deadline time. Granted, it has only been about a month. So, it will take a bit of time. But I'm so loving being back in the newspaper business.
I painted my new office last week, this funky off-green color. I realized after putting on two coats that there were holes which needed to be filled and the trim wasn't going on correctly. So, I filled the holes with spackle and will put up some tape for trim and then, will put on one last coat in the spots sometime over the next few weeks.
One of the things I love about my new office is that I'm right in historic Lexington center, literally a block from the green. It is so cool to see the kids taking the tour of the historic green as I ride into the office each day. And Lexington has free wi-fi in the center, so I'm so loving being able to get faster Internet than my company has, right outside the window of my office on my new Vista machine. Yeah baby!
Also last week, I finished up my Leadership Greater Concord 2007 classes with a graduation ceremony at the Chamber's annual Pinnacle luncheon. Here is a picture of me, below, getting a certificate and pin of appreciation:



Twenty-two of us from the greater Concord area spent 10 months together learning about the community, its intricacies, history, and culture, as well as leadership and how to apply it. Organizers noted that our class really bonded together well compared to previous classes. Most attribute it to the time we spent carpooling together to the first weekend retreat in the White Mountains. At the last class, we were all asked to contribute to next year's program, which I will probably do. It's a great program and I would advise any local residents interested in participating to sign up for it.

Webcasting
As I mentioned a few months back, Webcasting is probably going the way of the dodo, because of the new fees being placed on the broadcasters. Quite by accident, while Googling for Internet radio stations, I found this really cool station, 3WK: ["3WK"]. The station offers two options, indie rock and classic rock. I'm not a huge fan of classic rock but I like indie stuff, so I clicked on it and Wow. It is truly amazing and, frankly, it reminds me of my old Taste the Floor show on WMFO. I've learned about a lot of very cool bands that I wouldn't have found out about otherwise. Very cool indeed. Here's hoping they stay on the air a good long time so I can continue to listen to them.

Former astronaut launches Senate campaign
Jay Buckey, a former Air Force reservist and astronaut from Hanover, announced recently that he will be running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Sununu: ["Buckey08"]. While there isn't a lot of meat on his site, I'm intrigued by his campaign, since he hasn't run for office before and is a total novice. It kinda reminds me of some of the other campaigns launched in 2006, like Jim Webb, who unseated Republican and potential presidential candidate Sen. George Allen of Virginia.
I would be remiss not pointing out that there are two other Dems running against Sununu next year.
Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand is running for the seat: ["Steve Marchand"]. Both Buckey and Marchand are considered long-shots in this race but who knows these days. Marchand has been mayor for a little less than two years and also served a term in the city council, so he has some elective experience. One of the things I like about this guy is that one of his five main planks is "Personal Freedoms."
Katrina Swett, the wife of former Rep. Dick Swett, is also running: ["Swett for Senate"]. She too has a bit more meat on her Web site than Buckey, but most of us will remember that she originally supported the Iraq invasion [probably advice from her dad, Rep. Tom Lantos]. As well, Swett was previously a rabid gun control fanatic - in a state where there are liberals who own guns. This position helped contribute to her loss to then-Rep. Charlie Bass in 2002, despite having hundred of thousands of dollars more in funding. She was also the national co-chair of Joe Lieberman's presidential campaign in 2004. All three of these reasons are enough to question her validity to be a Senator representing our state.
Of course, the big question, is what the Shaheens do: ["Ex-head of N.H. Dem party pushes Shaheen for Senate"].

Gravel to be banned from future debates?
If the almighty Kos has his way, yeah: ["Gravel"]. It is interesting all the "all inclusive" Democratic bloggers are even thinking about keeping Gravel out. And Kos, jeesh. This is the guy spouting off about "crashing the gate" and "people-powered politics," and you can't get much more gate crashing or people-powered than Gravel. This is what happens when people get too powerful. They start wanting to limit things and keep their own. That's what's happening over at Kos. Big shocker.

Tell that to the Nader-haters
What if Al Gore didn't have his 2000 victory usurped but died while in office and Vice President Joe Lieberman became president. Would he be as bad is Bush?: ["President Lieberman: A Cautionary Tale"]. Would we now be at war with Iran? Who would pay for that war? How would we fight a three-pronged war, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran, and possibly even Gaza or who knows where? Leave it to Robert Scheer. I never would have thought of this angle.

Trent Lott thinks rightwing talk radio is too dangerous!
Wow, what a wake up call: ["Senate Leaders Agree to Revive Immigration Bill"]. The key line is this:

Comments by Republican senators on Thursday suggested that they were feeling the heat from conservative critics of the bill, who object to provisions offering legal status. The Republican whip, Trent Lott of Mississippi, who supports the bill, said: “Talk radio is running America. We have to deal with that problem.”

Umm, gee, you think? Pot, meet the kettle. Lott is correct about talk radio. It's one-sided and it has been destroying political discourse in this country for a long time. But on this issue, talk radio and the callers calling in, are correct. And Lott should be listening to the people out here who clearly don't want this bill and don't want amnesty. They want the wall built along the Mexican border and they want the millions of illegals rounded up and deported.

Thanks, Southwest
A big thanks to Southwest Airlines for great service and safe flights over the past six months to a number of destinations my family and I have had to fly to.

Short cuts
* This blog tracks the new free daily newspaper movement: ["Free-Daily.com"].
* This guy has some things to say to the newspaper business: ["10 obvious things about the future of newspapers you need to get through your head"]. I don't completely agree with him but his comments created quite a debate over here at Media Nation: ["What Craig hath wrought"].
* More evidence of Gulf War Syndrome: ["Gas May Have Harmed Troops, Scientists Say"]. Umm, yeah, you're a decade too late. I was doing radio shows about this in the mid-1990s. I guess it is better late than never.
* So much for enjoying the fizzy drinks: ["Caution: Some soft drinks may seriously harm your health"]. The culprit? Sodium benzoate, which is in almost everything.
* Semi-liberal columnist Sean Gonsalves pitches for Rep. Ron Paul here: ["Ron Paul for President?"].
* I want one of these: ["Consumers Can Now Monitor Energy Consumption"].

I won't be blogging much, if at all, on Father's Day but here is a message for all the fathers out there, from my column this week:

This Sunday is Father’s Day, a day to recognize Dads everywhere for their contribution to the family and society.
You would, however, never know it if you saw what has become of Father’s Day. Not unlike other holidays, Father’s Day seems to be less about Dad and more about being manipulated into buying some big-ticket item for Dad. I like big-tickets as much as the next guy. But I think it would be nice if we could start a new tradition of thanking Dad without all the consumerism. As a dad myself, I know the most precious thing right now is time with my family - not a big screen television or a power tool. I can buy those on my own dime, on my own time. A simple Thank You, tons of hugs, and a few cold ones, will do just fine.
So, Thanks, Dad. And to the other Dads everywhere, Salute.

Missing headlines 2: And other random musings

This is my next attempt to finish up with some of the interesting headlines I've seen over the past few weeks. It will also probably be my last post until the end of the week because I have a lot of things I have to take care over the next couple of days.

"The Brothers Bulger"
I finally started reading Howie Carr's "The Brothers Bulger" last week. I bought it months ago in paperback, because I'm cheap, and it had been sitting on the shelf. So, I decided to bring it into the bathroom, in the hopes that I would actually try to read it. First, it isn't as good as "Black Mass." It does have a ton of juicy underworld tidbits in it and the angle of including Billy Bulger in it, and the flipping back and forth between Whitey and Billy, every other half chapter, really works. Since it is done in chronological order, you get to see what one was doing right after reading about what the other one was doing. And, it is written in Carr's column style. So, it is very snappy, and quick and easy to read. I'm more than halfway through it at this point. There isn't a lot of new stuff in it - especially if you've read "Black Mass" or Howie's columns. But it is still a pretty good read so far.
Beyond reading in the bathroom, I've also had a bit more time to read because I've kept the television off for about three days. It's been nice keeping it off. And there isn't much to watch on it anyway so ...

R.I.P.: Stever Gillard
["The News Blog"]. I didn't agree with him all the time, but he made some really good points on his blog. What a drag. And so young at 41. Yikes!

A changing of the guard at the Concord Monitor
I didn't get a chance to write about this when it initially happened but I would be remiss in not mentioning it. Mike Pride is out as Executive Editor of the Concord Monitor after almost 30 years but has decided to stay on as an editor, to do some writing and work with reporters in the newsroom: ["Taking a new a long-desired role"]. Some of my regular readers will note that when Pride was named the co-director of the Pulitzer Prize, I wondered aloud when he would have the time. Well, now we kinda know.
Felice Belman will be the new Executive Editor: ["A daunting challenge and a great privilege"]. She has big shoes to fill but a lot of talent to work with. Belman has put together some lofty goals, including getting some fresh voices on the opinion pages, opening up news meetings to the public, expanded war photography, more Web stuff, and being a better watchdog over public officials.
I can tell you that I'm not alone in hoping the Monitor will get a bit more serious about its local news coverage, including covering more things in Concord and exposing some of the major problems we have in our city. I could go on a total rant here, but now is not the time for that [Maybe, after she has had some time leading the newspaper, and doesn't address the issue properly enough, I will revisit it at more length].
I would also agree that it would be good to see some fresh faces on the opinion pages. Although I don't necessarily know if getting more teachers, state workers, or "essayists who can write provocatively about natural resources" is something I'd really be interested in reading on a regular basis. That sounds kinda wonky to me. How about some regular folks, like that contributing board series the paper once had? I would personally like to see a gritty city columnist covering things in Concord like Mike Royko or Peter Lukas, or even expanding the Capital Beat column to every day or every other day. I would also like to see city and state representative races being covered with the amount of energy and finesse as the presidential campaigns get covered.
The Monitor Web site also needs to be a bit more user friendly. The content should be posted first thing in the morning and breaking news needs to be posted when it happens and highlighted. It would also be nice to see it a bit more interactive, with blogs and other things more readily accessible on the site, or even the ability for readers to comment on stories like some Web sites are doing these days. The Union Leader has a great feature where you can sign up for email alerts about breaking news which drives people to its Web site on a irregular basis. It might be time for the Monitor to consider such a service.
And more power to Belman about kicking her reporters in gear about the Right-to-Know law and asking the tough questions, both on the state and local level. But readers will have to hold her to it now that she has opened the box. There shouldn't be any excuses - like there have been in the past - for not covering controversial issues which might make people in high places a little uncomfortable. It would also be good to set a goal for reporters of, say, one or two stories per day, in order to make sure that they are utilizing sources and the newspaper is getting the maximum amount out of its staff. Targeted story number goals are not unheard of in the business. But the Monitor regularly looks pretty thin even though it has 13 reporters and 46 editorial employees on the staff.
It will be interesting to see how she comes along and I do wish her the best of luck.

You gotta love this

Hello? Spell check, anyone? Hillarious? [This was spelled incorrectly on purpose].

This video is hilarious:

["My Boobs Are OK"]

More on John Cox
After I wrote about John Cox last night, I noticed that some folks had been tracking posts about him on Technorati, a service which allows you to search blogs for certain topics. Through that, I noticed some sites which are alleging that he is a bit unstable: [John Cox - The Facts] and this post: ["Cox cans campaign manager, again"]. Interesting reading, to say the least. To be fair and balanced, here is Cox's blog: ["Blog for Cox"].

Short cuts
* You say you want a revolution? ["When in the Course of Human events"]
* Stewart Copeland says The Police are "lame": ["Police drummer rips band's 'lame' concert"]
* Ralph Nader backs Mike Gravel's National Initiative idea: ["Let the People Make the Laws"]
* Don't like your local newspaper? Start your own ... like they've done in Dover: ["New weekly newspaper comes to Dover"]
* GM finally, finally considers making a car I might buy: ["GM's 'Maximum Bob' tells of his green epiphany"]
* Clear Channel looks to MySpace for unsigned talent for HD signals: ["TALENTfilter"]

More fallout from the GOP debate

Exclusively, the Rep. Ron Paul edition. Check out some of these links:
["Watch the Do-nut, not the hole"]
["Paul victor-apparent of second straight GOP debate ..."]
["Thoughts on tonights Foxnews debate"] [sic]
["Who Won the GOP Debate?"]
Over at Daily Kos, they offered another post-debate poll: "Who did the best job of winning Republican primary votes (remembering that you, in all probability, do not think like a Republican primary voter)." Sure, it's a trick question.
Here are the results, with 4,260 voting: Paul, listed twice, 35 combined percent, Rudy 14, "Newt, Thompson (Fred div.), misc." 11, Mitt 11, Huckabee 7, Gilmore "(the Girl who didn't make the series finale tonight)" 6, McCain 5, Tancredo 3, Hunter 1, Thompson "Tommy division" 1.

New Sitemeter features

More charts and graphs: Sitemeter now converts visitor data into pretty cool bar graphs. Above are some of the data from Politizine over the last 12 months.
One of the cool things about my blog - and other blogs - is that I have a Sitemeter program which gives me a bit of information about some of the people who visit the site. It doesn't give me name, rank and serial number. But, it does give me other information.
For example, if a company has an ID on its ISP address, it identifies the company. It also tells me the time the person visited the site and how many pages they checked out during their visit. If the server is located at a work address, it will tell me that too. If you have Comcast, Verizon, or AT&T, it won't tell me your home address is, but it will tell me a nearby town where your signal was routed too. It's a pretty cool program.
Another one of the neat things about it is that I can see all the people who are goofing off at work, Googling to find about the new Buggati or Tina Fey's scar ... workers at Microsoft, Sara Lee, and IBM [Psst ... your secret is safe with me].
Well now, Sitemeter offers these very cool bar graph charts on the site. So I can look at the data in graph form, as you can see above. Instead of just putting down a bunch of numbers, the visuals really let you see the fluctuation of the site visits. For example, traffic was slower during the summer months but then grew during the fall and winter months. This is probably because people spend less time in front of their computers during the colder temperatures. February is also slower, probably because the month is slightly shorter. A few days can make a difference.
Whether this is critical or not, I don't know, but it seems like most visitors come for a page or two but not to really explore the site extensively. The site has a bunch of regular readers, which is cool. But the bulk of the traffic comes from people Googling specific topics of interest. Which is just fine by me. A very cool new feature.

Okay ...

So, is the latest position on the war for the GOP just posturing or are they going to finally come to their senses and bring the troops home?: ["GOP Senator: Patience on Iraq Is limited"].
Jeez, patience, wow. Tell that to the folks back home. Tell that to the folks in Kansas who have so many troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan that they can't clean the state up after those massive tornadoes this week. Tell that to the families waiting for their loved ones to get home safely.

2008 roundup: Another "Law & Order" star and indie Angus King talk about Unity08: ["PostTalk"]. Biden has this pretty cool head to head site comparing his answers at the recent South Carolina debate to other candidates on the stage: ["Head to Head 08"]. Florida moves its primary way, way up: ["Florida ignores national party threat, sets early primary for Jan. 29"]. Some disillusioned Bush supporters are flocking to Barack Obama, allegedly: ["Republicans defect to the Obama campaign']. MSNBC had a poll on its site after the Reagan Derby Debate the other night and with more than 65,000 responses, Ron Paul swept all categories: ["Vote on the Republican Candidate Debate"].

Strike two for former Bass aide: Oh man, this has gotta suck for Charlie Bass: ["Former Aide Runs Far Afield of Main Street"].

Jesus?: No, not Hey-zeus, this guy claims he's Jesus, yeah, Jesus, the real thing: ["Growing in Grace"].

Hmm ...: The SEC is investigating suspicious trading in the wake of Rupert Murdoch's bid for the WSJ: ["US regulators probe trading in Dow Jones before Murdoch's bid"]. Very interesting.

Shortcuts: Learn about digital filmmaking at these seminars: ["Digital Filmmaking Workshops"]. I just found out that Al Quint continues to publish stuff about punk rock only now, he does it on a blog: ["Suburban Voice"]. You can also download his Podcast here: ["Sonic Overload"].

First 2008 Dem Debate tonight
The first Democratic debate will be held tonight at 7 p.m. on MSNBC. I will be out having cocktails with friends so I'm going to miss most of it. But I'm sure it will be repeated and I will catch it at that time.
This may be one of the only debates to include lower tier candidates like Rep. Dennis Kucinich and former U.S Sen. Mike Gravel, since there have been comments in the past about excluding them. So look for them to try and score some points - which isn't hard to do in 60 second soundbites. Kucinich will probably be flailing around, attacking Hillary for her war vote, but will get some red meat flesh for being the only guy on the stage actually trying to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. If Gravel can look presidential - or just offer some out-of-the-loop ideas - he might gain some traction and at least be allowed into future debates. Let's hope so: The guy deserves it.
The MSNBC Web site has a whole bunch of stuff on it worth looking at, including Chuck Todd and Mark Murray's Dos and Don'ts list, as well as comments by Chris Matthews about what he will be looking for tonight.
The WSJ this morning published one of its silly little national polls showing Obama gaining on Hillary with Edwards running third but gaining traction. The poll is meaningless, as I've stated ad nauseum. But it is worth listing the article in order to look at some of the things the public is sensing about Iraq and the Republicans: ["Obama Narrows Gap With Clinton"].
Speaking of polling and MSNBC, its Web site has a "Rate the Candidate" interactive poll, featuring clips and other footage. At around 5 p.m. this afternoon, here is how the Dems were fairing, with positive, neutral, and negative numbers [71,312 participating]:

Obama: 48%P, 28%N, 27%Neg
Edwards: 38%P, 32%N, 30%Neg
Hillary: 27%P, 25%N, 48%Neg
Richardson: 25%P, 40%N, 35%Neg
Biden: 16%P, 40%N, 44%Neg
Kucinich: 10%P, 38%N, 52%Neg
Dodd: 7%P, 45%N, 48%Neg
Gravel: 3%P, 44%N, 53%Neg

It is clear that people who are filling out the interactive poll have very high opinions on both the positive and negative sides. Obama and Edwards are getting pretty high positives while Hillary, the D.C. insiders Biden and Dodd, and lower tier candidates, are getting pretty high negatives. In other words, no surprises here. However, Richardson is kinda in the middle, which is interesting. Everyone is predicting he will be the dark horse in this field. If he can climb into the top tier, the campaign could get a little feisty.

Thanks to all the folks who visited the blog today. I know I've been off it for awhile. However, a couple of other blogs picked up some of my new content and posted it, which led to a slew of new viewers over the past 24 hours. I appreciate your time. Thank you for reading.
If I feel the need to comment on the debate later tonight, I will. I also hope to blog a bit about the excellent Bill Moyers special which aired last night, "Buying the War," and a couple of other things.

Firefighters Scorch Giuliani

This is huge! Read this letter: ["Firefighters Union Letter On Rudy Giuliani"].
First, the simple stuff: IAFF's bipartisan forum looks pretty cool. Both party's candidates are going to be allowed to talk to firefighters. Too bad it is just a forum and not a full-fledged debate. Let them go at it now! I hope that they allow C-SPAN to broadcast it so the rest of us can see it.
Giuliani won't be seeing it though. He isn't invited.
Second, this letter is too amazing. It goes beyond not inviting Giuliani. The union explains that they aren't inviting Giuliani because of his actions during the recovery operations after the attacks of 9/11.
This passage is devastating:

Giuliani argued that the change was for our own safety, but his argument was empty and without substance. Fire fighters had been on that pile since minutes after the twin towers fell — why all of a sudden, after nearly two months working on the pile, was Giuliani concerned about fire fighter safety.
In our view, he wasn't really concerned. The fact is that the Mayor's switch to a scoop-and-dump coincided with the final removal of tens of millions of dollars of gold, silver and other assets of the Bank of Nova Scotia that were buried beneath what was once the towers. Once the money was out, Giuliani sided with the developers that opposed a lengthy recovery effort, and ordered the scoop-and-dump operation so they could proceed with redevelopment.
In the first few days immediately after the disaster, Giuliani had said he was committed to the recovery of those lost "right down to the last brick." We believed him at the time. But, what he proved with his actions is that he really meant the "last gold brick."

Wow.
Now, the IAFF is a powerful union. They helped pull off big wins for John Kerry in 2004. This is going to be so bad for Giuliani it isn't even funny. Combine this with some of the other developer dealings Giuliani is alleged to have been involved in and this isn't good. It's sad actually.

Some other stuff
Here is some other stuff which has come across my computer in the past couple of days.

First, when does the idea primary start: ["When's The Idea Primary?"].
Yeah, Jesus would be appalled: ["Edwards: Jesus Would Be 'Appalled'"].
With all the talk about Ann Coulter calling Edwards a "faggot," this probably should have gotten a bit more play: ["Ann Coulter's Bodyguard Harass Conservative"].
Southwest has a blog: ["Blog Southwest"].

Catching up on the WSJ

Since subscribing to the Wall Street Journal back in early October, two things have occurred regularly: 1) I haven't received a full week's delivery since starting the subscription; and 2) I don't always have time to read the entire newspaper on the day I receive it, when I actually do get it.
I will get to the second part later in this post. But first, the delivery problems.
I sense that there are delivery problems in suburban and rural areas with the more specialty papers like the WSJ but hopefully, they will figure it all out. The people who manage the delivery folks feel my pain, if you will, when I call them to complain. They have been very sympathetic to me and I can hear the frustration in the voices. But the problem remains unsolved.
For example, during the morning of the last three snowstorms, I received no newspaper. There wasn't a lot of snow on the ground Friday when the paper should have been dropped off, maybe four inches. The roads were plowed. The Concord Monitor was delivered and even bagged to keep from getting wet. But the WSJ? Nada. I guess my delivery person takes snow days off. I don't know. The guy doesn't even deliver the paper late the next day or anything. I mean, what happened to the extra newspaper? Did it get thrown away? Is it in the back of his car? At least have the courtesy to deliver it the next day.
Another example? Well, I didn't get a newspaper on Monday and I didn't get one this morning either. No snow, no visible problems, no nothing. Well, OK, it was a bit cold outside today. But is the new policy ... that the newspaper doesn't get delivered when it snows or when it is cold? Come on.
For about two months after I started the subscription, I wasn't even receiving the Saturday edition, which I paid for. It was only after a clerk realized that I wasn't getting it that it started getting delivered.
As I've explained - or complained - to the people who manage the delivery people, I don't understand why my newspaper isn't delivered. You either do the job or you don't.
In addition, I live about a half a mile north of the most affluent neighborhood in the city. I'm sure that there are a ton of people who get the WSJ delivered down there and they probably have the same delivery driver. I seriously doubt they have delivery problems. If they do, they are probably complaining too, which means something needs to be done about the situation.
The worst part about all of this is that I paid ahead for the subscription, for a year. Yeah, I got a special rate [Maybe that's why I'm not getting it every day, I joked to a clerk]. But that shouldn't mean I shouldn't get it. If I paid on a monthly basis, I could deduct the missed papers and maybe that would get the point across. I don't know.

I know newspaper delivery people are a unique breed. Who wants to get up at 4 a.m. to deliver newspapers? I know that both the Monitor and the New Hampshire Union Leader have problems keeping people in these positions because they are constantly running help wanted ads for delivery people in their classified sections. From what I've heard, most are 1099 employees and since it is only two hours work in the morning, they should be independent contractors. The Monitor has a cute spin with their ads - make money on your morning walk. The ads are clearly targeted towards adults and not the kids who have historically done the job.
I also know a bit about the newspaper delivery business because I was one of those kids who "peddled" the Monitor when it was an afternoon newspaper. We used to say "peddle the newspaper" because many of us rode our bikes for most of the year. Back then, in the mid-to-late 1970s, the newspapers were huge ... or seemed huge, compared to the size they are now. Wednesdays were the dreaded circular and store flyer days. On that day, the papers weighed a ton! Back then, the Monitor was a weekday afternoon paper with a morning edition delivered on Saturdays.
I had a route on the west side of Concord, around White Park, down Centre Street, to the area around North Spring and Union streets, then back up Washington. It was altered here and there as paperboys came and went. My friend Leo - who is still my friend to this day - had the area behind mine, near Rumford and Franklin, if I remember correctly.
After our routes, we would meet at this small neighborhood market on Rumford Street - I think it was called Quality Cash or something - for some snacks which spoiled our dinner appetites. The market had three stools so there was always time for Leo and me to shoot the sh*t there before going home. I went through a phase of having Cokes and Ring Dings until I started getting a bit chubby and replaced them with V-8s and Fig Newtons. I was a carb addict even back then I just didn't know it. Leo could eat anything and still stay as thin as a rail. Of course, he isn't Irish and Italian either so ...

I learned a lot from those years delivering newspapers and it gave me a lot of real-life experience at an early age. Most importantly, I learned to love newspapers and the news. I learned so much from reading the newspaper.
It also was the first time in my life when I started to understand about class/caste systems. Even though I had experienced some of those things while living in Warner and being schlepped off to New London Middle School, I really didn't understand what I was experiencing until later on in life.
Interestingly, the less-affluent subscribers to the newspaper were always the best tippers. The paper was $1.15 per week and I made $22 plus tips every two weeks which was pretty big money at the time. One working-class mom, who lived on White Street, used to pay the subscription by giving me a dollar bill and then grabbing whatever loose change she had and giving it to me. It would often end up being a pretty big tip. However, the snooty wife of the insurance executive who lived three doors down from us on Essex Street, would hand you a dollar bill and then count out 15 pennies, never giving out a tip or even smiling. The subscribers who were "office" accounts, meaning they would send a check into the Monitor directly, never tipped at all. It's probably why they paid that way. Today, there is a gratuity check-off on all the bills so you can add a small tip if you like, which I always do. I hope the delivery folks are actually getting the money.
To this day, I often think about Tyler's mom, the one who would just hand over a ton of change to me each Friday night. I wonder what she is doing now. She clearly understood what hard work it was to deliver the newspapers each day. But that is kinda what happens when you have walked in someone else's shoes.

Back to the second point and the whole purpose of this post: Catching up on old newspapers. I do actually try and read the paper every day. If I get up earlier than usual for my morning workout, I'm able to get through the entire thing during a weekday morning, over coffee before everyone else gets up. But that always isn't the case. But if I can't, I will catch up with them on Saturday and Sunday mornings, when I have a bit more time to take in some of the stories. More often than not, the articles take a bit more time to take in. Like I said in a previous post, reading the redesigned WSJ these days is like reading the NYT: It isn't all numbers and statistics but a lot more in-depth reporting about business, trends, and marketing. It is a great read, to say the least, and I have learned so much about business and life by reading the Journal ... which makes it all the more frustrating when I don't get the damn thing.
Now, I can access it online if I want. But for us newspaper people, we like to physically have the paper in our hands ... to look at the pictures ... to smell the ink - which is getting harder and harder to do as the business moves to non-petroleum-based inks ... to do more than just skim - to actually take the newspaper in.
Over the past few weeks, the WSJs have been piling up. I just haven't had a chance to read them all. However, late this week, I made a concerted effort to attempt to get through the pile. And, I'm glad I did. Here are some of the articles which have been featured this week:

First, this pretty big story: ["Federal Aid Does Little For Free Trade's Losers"]. So not only are these programs not working, most folks who lose their jobs aren't able to afford the partial payment on the aid. They also have to jump through all kinds of hoops to even get the aid. Lastly, if you are with the service sector and you lose your job, it is extremely difficult to prove you were a victim of the free trade fraud. This is going on while Bush and the Democrats are talking more trade deals with Columbia, Peru, Panama, South Korea, Malaysia, and the DOHA Round with the WTO. What a disaster!

In the same edition, there is this about how Apple is changing their hilarious ad campaign to fit overseas markets: ["Mac and PC's Overseas Adventures"]. No pun intended, probably. Hah. If you haven't seen the ad campaign by Apple, you are probably living in a cave. It starts out with a kinda cool geek introducing himself as a Mac and a middle-age fuddy-duddy saying, "I'm a PC." The old fuddy-duddy has all these problems while the cool guy doesn't. There was a great bit where the PC has a guy duct-taping a Webcam on his head while the Mac says, I have one built in. Totally hilarious. Having toyed around with the new Vista program on the new PCs, Windows is becoming increasingly Apple-like. I only know this because the wife uses Macs - and loves them. I use PCs - and love them. I haven't taken the dive into Vista just yet but it looks like a very impressive operating system.

Here is an interview with the new CEO of Catepillar, which posted $41.5B in revenue last year: ["Global Trade Galvanizes Caterpillar"]. Congratulations to them. But Jim Owens foolishly goes on and on about the supposedly great free trade system the world has. It's amazing how clueless some of these people can be. Here is a nice slice of the silly logic:

"It's [free trade] a very difficult sell. It's like the guy who's making horse carriages when the car comes along. How do you make the case to him that the car's going to make the world a better place?"

Why do these guys keep using these fake, non-existent comparisons? This is the phony Chuck Adler argument: 'We can't protect the buggy whip industry!' Cars, tractors, computers, and other items are not buggy whips and horse carriages! And the high-tech, futuristic jobs which were supposed to replace all the jobs sent overseas are also being sent overseas. Good grief.

More on advertising here: ["Impotence Ads Draw Fire-Just Like Old Ones"]. This one is kinda funny. I mean, you can make the case that these ads should be on later in the evening. But shouldn't kids get a bit of reality? The couple is clearly married and the wife motions to the husband that he should shut off the game and go have some fun. That's what being married is supposed to be about, right?

Lastly, also in the Feb. 16 edition, there was a full-page ad by Chevron, noting that of the 193 countries in the world, none of them are energy independent. The ad points to a Web site about what the company is doing to diversify energy resources: [Will You Join Us?]. Now, of course, this is a PR campaign to make up for bad publicity from global warming, Liberia, gas prices, who knows what. But at least, it would seem, like they are trying to help.

Blogging burnout

Janice Brown has a bit here which we should all take a second look at: ["It's a Crazy World: Fighting Blogger Burnout"].
I meant to write about this before. And, I must admit, I'm guilty, as charged. But I've been busy with other things, like life. I also recently questioned in my own mind, for the first time, what I am doing with my own blog Politizine. Sure, it's one of those silly, philosophical moments. Not to sound like Vice Admiral James Stockdale or anything but What is it? Why is it here? Why am I spending time with it? More on that later ... when I figure it out.
Over the past few months, I've been thinking about how important "time" is, in a general sense. It has been an inner battle: What has to get done, what needs to get done, what should get done, what should get ignored, etc. I've also been thinking about time during the process of thinking about financial budgets, time budgets, organization/reorganization, and how much time is spent doing even the most menial of tasks. Going through an overall life overhaul - which sometimes happens to people when they are thrown into unexpected [or expected] circumstances - brings on these thoughts. It is often looked at as a negative but I've been finding the whole process quite positive.
To be honest, I've never actually thought about time in any way more than the usual cliches: There isn't enough time in the day; life is so short; etc. It is one of the reasons I rarely wear a watch and haven't for about a decade. Sure, I have a phone that has a calendar and set reminders for a day's tasks go off at the correct time. It also has a clock. And I've owned watches in the past. I like them. They look nice on the arm. But I don't really worry about what the time is when I have an electronic reminder. In addition, my mind and body has a magical way of knowing what time it is. I get up in time to get in an early workout almost every morning. No alarm - it's just time to get up. Stomach grumbles? It's time to eat. I don't need a clock or watch to tell me what to do.
I have, however, really begun to think about time in a metaphysical way though. The thoughts have been about more than just being 40-plus, staring at retirement and death, or wondering why I'm still at work when I should be home with my family, etc. It is about being. It is about seconds passing by. It is about feeling fulfilled. It is about the little things and the big things, like quality of life. It is about existence.
Here is a silly example that I've been thinking about: I like eggs, especially for breakfast. But as I was cooking one a couple of weeks ago, I began to think about how long it takes to prepare an egg the way I like to eat them. I like them hard fried, with ham and cheese, melted, on toasted bread, or what is now known as a breakfast sandwich. Each morning after my workout and quickly skimming the papers, I make a sandwich.
But have you ever realized the amount of time it takes to make one of these sandwiches?
I turn the stove on, spray a small frying pan with Pam cooking oil, dash some pepper, and wait for the pan to heat up. It takes a few minutes to get good and hot. I throw some bread in the toaster and set the timer for six minutes [I like the bread toasted somewhere between burnt and not]. When the pan is hot - tested by holding my hand above the pan to feel for heat - I crack an egg and drop it into the pan and it sizzles. I then take a spoon and gash the yoke so it bleeds so it will completely cook through and wait. I then get out a couple of slices of ham and a slice of Swiss and put them on a plate, waiting for the egg to be cooked.
After a few minutes, the egg is finally cooked on one side, I flip it over and then throw on the ham and cheese on top of the egg and cover so the cheese can melt slightly. By now, the toast is done and I take it out of the toaster and put it on the plate and wait. Finally, the egg is finished, the ham is cooked, and the cheese melted. I throw it all onto the toast, cut the sandwich in half, and wait for it to cool a bit before eating. The entire process takes between 10 and 15 minutes. All of this for a sandwich and I haven't even eaten it yet. On Sundays, I try to cook up a brunch-like breakfast, with some Demoulas hash and toast. Sometimes, I will make an omelet instead of frying the eggs, which takes a lot longer than the egg sandwich.
So I'm thinking about all of this the other day - while finally getting to eat the sandwich - and I realize that I'm spending about two hours a week just cooking eggs. That is more than 100 hours a year ... to just cook some eggs. Imagine how much blogging I could get done during that time! Seriously. If I just ate some cereal, it would take me all of 2 minutes to prepare and maybe another 5 to eat and wah-lah, more time!
Last week, I tried something new: I did the dishes which I left from the evening before while the egg was cooking thereby getting two major things done at once! Multi-tasking: The power of a new generation. It still doesn't bring back the time spent preparing the sandwich but at least this way, I get more done. Now if I can just figure out a way to cook the egg, do the dishes, and blog at the same time, I would be golden.
At this point you're probably thinking, How silly is all this? What a waste of time to blog about a fried egg sandwich. But seriously, these are the things that sometimes go through my mind, especially with my new found obsession with time.
I've gone through thinking about these formulas before. The most recent one was during the last gas spike when I was commuting to Massachusetts for work. The car I owned at the time, a miserly Civic, thankfully got about 35 to 38 highway miles to the gallon. This meant I only had to fill the tank up about two to three times a week in order to get to work. When the gas prices went up, the cost of getting to work rose too, without any addition compensation. I began to think about my spending and realized I was spending the same amount of money as a gallon of gas on one Big One coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. Since I was buying two Big Ones per day - one in the morning for the road and one in the early afternoon during a break - I was spending about $4 per day on coffee. That's $20 per work week [$1,000 annually] or about what a tank of gas was going for at the time. All of that on coffee. Yikes.
But I was getting nailed with higher gas prices and needed to figure out how to pay for the extra 30 to 40 cents a gallon. Well, the DD runs went. I started making coffee at home and later, at the office [It helped that our admin found out we could order coffee on our corporate expense account]. Instant savings and the money for the extra gas costs magically appeared.
Now, the larger point is that gas should actually only really be $1.50 a gallon or so and I shouldn't have to cut my coffee expenses to pay for higher gas prices. But I did and it was OK because I can make coffee which is almost as good as Dunkin' anyway.
All in all, time, coffee and gas prices, all get a little intriguing. Balancing out what is important in life is the great puzzle of our lives. Figuring out how to do it successfully, the ultimate goal. When someone figures out how to market all this to us multitasking, multimedia, Type As, I think they will have struck it rich ... and then they can go relax on a beach somewhere earning 20 percent.
Crossposted at Area603

Catching up on things, Part 2

Well, this is part two of Catching up on things since that is what I've been trying to do. Plus, a few new things too.

Headlines
Well, here are some headlines I've found pretty interesting in the last few days. And, my Wall Street Journal finally started its subscription after almost two months waiting for the damn thing! I have the interactive site working. But I prefer to read the newspaper in my hands and not online, even if that is the wave of the future.

First, Sen. John Sununu and Sen. John Kerry may be in a little bind in the next year: ["Approval Rankings for all 100 Senators]. Look at those approval ratings. Yikes! And both are up for reelection in 2008.

Kerry is probably safe but you can see how he might not be. There is uncertainty there. Look at previous polling numbers from the state, like in 2003 when Howard Dean polled higher than Kerry twice before the 2004 primary cycle. Also, Kerry did have at least one tight race, against then-Gov. Bill Weld in 1996, with a Conservative Party candidate shaving off some support.
You could see a multi-level scenario where Kerry might have a problem getting reelected: 1) A well-funded, union-supported Democratic challenger could give him a run for his money in a primary and beat the daylights out of him; and 2) Some combination of a well-financed, popular liberal Republican was on the ballot with a well-financed and aggressive Green-Rainbow Party candidate, in the wake of the primary battle.
OK, "a well-financed Green-Rainbow candidate" is an oxymoron. But Grace Ross became very popular at the end of gubernatorial race in 2006 and both Dr. Jill Stein and James O'Keefe scored impressive numbers, granted, running against Democrats who didn't have any GOP challengers. Again, it would be a really long-shot for this to come together but you never know. In addition, I don't know if a primary challenge to Kerry would even get on the ballot since there is a 15 percent delegate threshold. It would depend on how early the candidate started and whether or not that candidate could firm up the support.
As we've seen, Kerry's support is fickle at best. He is aloof, out-of-touch, and hasn't passed any significant legislation in his years in the Senate. Although, he always manages to pull it off in the end and there is something to be said for that.

Sununu is a different story especially in the wake of the results of the mid-term elections where no one expected Carol Shea Porter to do anything in District 1 and she cleaned Rep. Jeb Bradley's clock. Again, a well-financed, aggressive, and popular Democrat would have to be on the ballot to challenge Sununu, whose name is a legacy in some ways in this state. Although with the dynamic trends of population shifts in New Hampshire, who knows whether that all matters any more.
Gov. John Lynch has already ruled himself out of that one. There have been some rumors that former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen might end her job at Harvard's JFK School and try again. But that 2002 race was a bloodbath and Dems can't use that GOTV phone-jamming scandal as a reason why they lost that one. They lost it because Shaheen was suffocating her own base - like claiming to be for higher defense spending on radio spots which aired on Seacoast radio stations. Who thought of that one?

Second, Sen Russ Feingold has decided not to run for president: ["Feingold rules out 2008 run for president"]. This is terribly disappointing. Sen. Feingold was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act. He was one of the only ones considering a run who voted against invading Iraq. It isn't good enough to say some of the things that Sen. John Kerry and Sen. Hillary Clinton have been saying to cover their asses on their invasion votes or their Patriot Act votes. I'm sorry. If the regular folks of America knew that these votes were unConstitutional and unneeded, then they did too and just ignored the facts.

Next, daddy Bush gets shellacked by Arabs in what he thought was going to be a soft crowd: ["Pop rocked by criticism of W, U.S.A. "]. I'm surprised that guy didn't get his tongue cut out! Oh, that's right, we don't run the world ... yet.

The Boston Phoenix recently turned 40 and put together this Web site in celebration of the milestone: ["40th"]. There are some pretty cool articles in there, which, obviously, I never got a chance to see because I only started reading the paper in the early 1980s.

Have sex on a plane? You're a terrorist!: ["Mid-flight sexual play lands US couple afoul of anti-terrorism law"]. Obviously, they were being stupid. But come on. Does Homeland Security really have to be called for a bit of nookie?

More stupid stuff from that hack Robert Rubin: ["Rubin's Tax Gambit"]. When will the Clintonistas learn? When will they go away? The government doesn't need more money - it needs to spend what it has more wisely. And, if it does need more money, then it needs to get it by ending corporate welfare, subsidies, and giveaways and stop taking money from us working stiffs.

Rehash, rehash, rehash. Do we really wonder why the music industry is in such dire straits? Could it be rehashing the same old thing every year?: ["An Oldies Christmas"]. I am, though, intrigued by the Beatles compilation especially since they have been using pieces from one song, and splicing and mixing them into another. Interesting, indeed.

I meant to post this months ago but spaced. When I was looking for other folks who had been banned from the Daily Kos site, I found this blog entry from another person who was also participating in the site during its early days: ["Payola at DailyKos?"].

Here is another old post which has been sitting the saved bin for awhile: ["Media ownership study ordered destroyed"]. While this is a couple of months old, it points out a number of problems with the commissioners currently running the FCC. And, in the wake of the Clear Channel sell-off in Northern New England and the problems over at Nassau Broadcasting, one has to wonder why anyone would try to squelch this stuff.
The impending change in the Senate and Congress, however, should make things a tad better - or, at least not any worse. Although, I don't know, since it was Clinton and the Republicans who got the Telecom Bill passed in the first place which created this mess. Before the election, I started working on a post about the need for the reinstitution of the Fairness Doctrine, which I never finished. I hope to finish it soon though.

Another old post I've been meaning to put up is this one: ["Longtime Rock Critic, Christgau, axed at 'Village Voice' in Latest Layoffs"]. This is sad. When I lived in NYC and later, when I moved to Boston, I would pick up the Voice religiously just to read the guy's reviews. After reading this piece, I did a Google on "I f*cked Christgau with my AIDS-inflicted dick," which was the name of a song put out by Sonic Youth - or some other downtown art band of the early 1980s, I'm getting so old - which was put together after the band received a bad review from the guy. Imagine being immortalized like that! Christgau has his own site here: ["Robert Christgau"].

Probably the most powerful political ad of the 2006 election cycle: ["Body Armor"].

Can she get sworn in first?
I can't believe the 2008 Congressional elections are already starting: ["Shea-Porter: Republicans are already campaigning"]. And Bradley, what the heck is he thinking? He gets swamped and he actually thinks he has a second chance? Unless Shea Porter really, really screws up, he doesn't stand a chance, especially in a presidential election year with New Hampshire shifting and becoming a slightly more liberal state with each year. And I don't think being concerned about Katrina victims is going to cost her the Congressional seat. We are all still concerned about Katrina victims and we should be.

Blog con audio
For those who are interested, here is the WKXL 1450 story about the N.H. Blog Con. Monique Coppola was nice enough to voice the text for me since I didn't have time: http://www.wkxl1450.com/mp3/OCT%20NEWS%202006/bloggers1024.MP3

N.H. Blog-Con

“Blog Free or Die” was the theme at the first New Hampshire Bloggers Convention, held this afternoon at the Common Man Restaurant in Concord. The event was organized by TJ of Better Living through Chemistry [Terry Connor], with some help from Joanie from Grain of Salt, although she denies it. More than 25 bloggers from around the state attended.
I decided to go for a couple of hours and also interviewed TJ for some audio for the news department at WKXL 1450 [I will post the audio story after I get done putting it together tonight or tomorrow].
The group had collected in the lounge of the Common Man because no one really knew how many people were going to show up. Why spend money on a room or hall if no one was going to show, the logic would go? Next year, I hope it will be bigger and better, possibly an all-day event, with seminars and talks, especially with the primary rolling around. Maybe I'm jumping the gun and thinking too hard about it but I don't think so. However, it was a good first meeting.
The crowd was diverse and interesting, with a mix of political bloggers, parents doing blogs, some folks from Area603, and some political bloggers. There was talk of how to juggle life, family, and blogging, how to increase traffic, and different kinds of technology used. No one seemed to mind that I was a blogger and a member of the media - I guess we are all members of the media in our own way. Because it was so loud in the lounge and I knew I wasn't going to remember everyone’s name or sites, I started to pass around my steno pad to collect as many blog names as I could [the names and links are below].
A few thoughts: While New Hampshire is a small state, this was a good first meeting and a pretty good turn out. I sense that the blogs will remain healthy because there seems to be a lot of interest and energy from this crowd. I was surprised that I had probably been blogging longer than anyone else in the crowd. Some had just started their blogs, which was cool. Granted, I've been writing columns, music articles, and other things for more than two decades, just not on the Web that long.
After making the rounds, I finally found where the political bloggers were hanging out and began to throw myself into their conversations. One of them, Jen Wrobleski, who works for a company Netvocates.com, used to be my media contact at the state GOP. I was also surprised to find out that not all Republicans in this state are gun owners. I was surprised not to see any exclusively liberal political bloggers. I was also surprised not to see any of the most recent political blogs to spring up, like Blue Granite and NH-02 Progressive nor others like NHPolitics.com, PoliticsNH.com, or any of the other more established political Web sites. There was enough press about the event - The Hippo had a piece and lots of people linked comments about it, promoting the event - but whatever. Oh well. I was also surprised that I was the only member of the media attending the event to find out who these people were and what they are about. No Monitor reporter; No UL reporter; although there were some folks from the Nashua Telegraph, which seems forward-thinking in their approach to blogs, having created Area603 and also posting blog links on its own Web site. The lack of media presence may be the lack of understanding about the blogging process or the lack of acknowledgement that this is the wave of the future.

Here are some of the bloggers in attendance and their sites:

Better Living through Chemistry: http://blog.virtualdominion.net/
Grain of Salt: http://blog.grain-of-salt.com/
Wizbang!: http://wizbangblog.com/
Pun Salad: http://okoboji.unh.edu/punsalad/
Chasing Grace: http://grace.asilgrif.org/
Spina Bifida Moms - Sweetie & Me: http://spinabifidamoms.blogspot.com/
Southern New Hampshire Parents: http://www.snhparents.com/
Off Campus: http://offcampus.blogspot.com/
Someone's in the kitchen with daddy: http://daddywhatareyoudoing.wordpress.com/
Blanchard Creative Woodworking: http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
A Dog-Eared Dog: http://gryffynz.asilgrif.org/blog/
American Barbarian: http://americanbarbarian.blogspot.com/
Dujour.us: http://www.dujour.us/
Dispatches from Blogblivion: http://blogblivion.com/
Weekend Pundit: http://weekendpundit.blogmosis.com/
Methuselah's Daughter: http://www.3500years.com/
Margaret Evans Porter: http://www.margaretevansporter.com/
Ernesto Burden: http://ernesto.burdenfamily.net/
Contratimes: http://contratimes.blogspot.com/
The Pop Diner: http://blogs.nashuatelegraph.com/the_pop_diner

Thanks again for the invite and the best to all of you. Long live New Hampshire bloggers!
Crossposted at Area603 and The Concord Journal, a new blog I'm doing for NewHampshire.com.

Catching up on some headlines
For whatever reason, IE has now decided to list all the Web sites in my favorites file in alphabetical order instead of the time I save it to the file or where I put them manually. I don't know why it is doing this, but it is. So, for recent posts, I haven't posted all the stories available, because they've been put at different areas of the file. So, while some of these links may be a tad old, they are still worthy of a looksie.

DNC to decide New Hampshire's fate: The Democratic National Committee will be meeting today to discuss the final 2008 primary and caucus calendar. I don't like the looks of what they are trying to do: ["The DNC Calendar Choices Narrow"]. Their obsession with taking away "New Hampshire clout" is getting ridiculous, especially in light of how Terry McAwful front-loaded the primaries in the past. This process of front-loading - not the NH Primary - is the real reason for the "lack of diversity" in the nomination process, as well as the weak nominee syndrome. Looking back at the 2004 election, Sen. John Kerry wasn't such a weak nominee, he just took bad advice and didn't fight hard enough for it. Kerry missed winning by very little in the scheme of things. Some would also contend that Al Gore wasn't such a weak nominee. The 2000 election was virtual tie. And if anything, it was lack of progressivity, not diversity, that doomed his candidacy, especially after picking Sen. Joe Lieberman as his running mate which allowed Ralph Nader a huge opening to punch the guy throughout the late months of the campaign. In addition, Gore took bad advice and didn't sit down with Nader after he asked for a meeting back in 1999, setting the stage for the 2000 race. Had Gore answered the phone, things might have been a lot different, wouldn't they?

In other 2008 news: It looks like Rudy is in: ["Rudy for president?"]. And Sen. MBNA [aka Biden] comes to our town: ["Talk about retail politics"]. Check out that Preston Gateaway photo too. Just a tad too close for most comfort levels. He looks like he is putting the moves on that girl!

One of my heros, Bill Hillsman: ["Backstory: Reducing the campaign snooze factor"]. Someday, when I get to be independently secure, in the financial sense, I'm going to work for this guy. Or, I'm going to create my own ad ompany to so I can do similar things. Back during the Nader campaign, one of Hillsman's underlings commended the free Nader radio spots I put together for some of the states which could afford to buy independent expenditure ads. The ad descriptions are here: ["Anti-Nader study falls flat"]. Someone needs to put the fun back in politics and this guy is doing it.

More brilliance from Buchanan: ["No, this is not 'our war'"]. And more stupidity by this administration: ["Spy Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say"].

Lieberman-Lamont race: David Sirota has a great piece on Common Dreams with an overview of the CT Senate race, with the beltway insider/cocktail crowd attempting to save it for Lieberman: ["Pull Up A Chair-- This Is the Funniest Show In Politics"]. It is clear that there should be term limits for syndicated columnists and pundits on the talking head shows ... [Hmm, I feel a column coming on ...].
Earlier this week, there was some good stuff posted on Daily Kos by posters following this race. The bloggers are giggling about how they are affecting someone who should really be unelected. The dynamic is interesting, to say the least. The key will be this: Will the bloggers become the beltway insiders at some point or will they truly make the changes needed to run a better nation, via their posts? In other words, are they a part of the solution, or part of the future problems. Before closing out this issue, here is the story that started the onslaught: ["Lamont Has Narrow Lead"].
Also, here is another article about the issue of bloggers which I meant to post a couple of weeks ago: ["Bloggers battle old-school media for political clout"].

This is a sad story and also brings up the issue of state/court control over parental control: ["Judge Orders Teen to Cancer Treatment"]. Where does this judge or this state, get off telling parents that they have to do something they don't think will work? Courts have decided that on religious grounds, parents can't be forced to treat their children. Why can't they have the right to treat sickness with alternative medicine if they so choose?