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: The Uh-Oh Version
OK, it's been awhile. But, ya know, I've been a tad busy. Too busy to write about anything, never mind the latest headlines. And, because I've been too busy, I've missed the opportunity to talk about a lot of interesting things, like the potential Michael Bloomberg indie candidacy and all the crap about the Bob Shrum book. Oh well. Here's what we got:

First, the biggest uh-oh of the week, dropped in a WSJ alert at 6:34 p.m. on Thursday night: ["Bancrofts Open Door To a Sale of Dow Jones"]. This is only a meeting and, frankly, I don't know if Rupert Murdoch is that bad of a guy. I've never worked for the man and I blame FoxNews' nonsense more on Roger Ailes than Murdoch. Ailes could easily make the network truly "fair and balanced" by actually making it that way. It was a great antithesis to CNN when it was first created, especially as a watchdog on President Clinton. But its constant cheerleading and fawning over President Bush, and not being a watchdog over the corruption and lies, is downright sickening.
But what I do wonder is this: Is a takeover of Dow Jones the best thing for the WSJ and its employees? After I catch up on the print editions later this weekend, I wil see if the notoriously obnoxious editorial board has had anything to say about this. More than likely, it will be rah-rah, and that means readers have to be a bit skeptical about the deal.

Also on Thursday, the seatbelt law, thankfully, was defeated in the New Hampshire state Senate. Democrats joined Republicans in a 16-8 vote, so at least one nanny state bill has been defeated. Most of us are responsible and we wear our seat belts. But we don't need the cops pulling us over for this and we don't need the fines either.
On the flip, the smoking ban did pass the House and Gov. Lynch is expected to sign it. So now, bartenders and restaurant workers can work in a safe workplace without the risk of being harmed by second-hand smoke. And those of us who don't smoke, won't come out of restaurants and bars smelling like an ashtray! Nice job.

FAIR, the liberal media watchdog group, has a great update here on the fallout from Ron Paul's GOP debate performance a couple of weeks ago: ["Treated Like a Democrat"]. I love that his comments were assumed to be unorthodox when the guy was basically paraphrasing the 9-11 Commission report or the fact that the guy was dead-on correct. Nope, can't have that.
The closing line in the email pretty much sums it up, especially in light of the press conference Paul had discussing his comments, which I didn't even hear about:

The real problem isn't that Ron Paul can't win the White House, or that he might "muck up" a debate; if anything, he started a debate the media don't want to have.

Exactly correct. When are we going to start having a serious conversation about our foreign policy instead of always talking about how tough we are or which and how many foreigners we are going to kill.

While dealing with the truth as spoken by Ron Paul may not be enough, it looks like the GOP faithful are a bit pissed when it comes to their president and his immigration policy: ["Republican revolt over immigration']. If this is true, it is really amazing and it is the writing on the wall.
But imagine, if you will, if one of the stronger Democratic candidates came out against this amnesty package and instead, embraced the closed border policy. If they could get through the primaries, and not be pigeonholed as too liberal, they might actually win the election in a landslide. If you think the rank and file Republicans were mad about Iraq, look at what they are doing about the immigration bill! Their shutting off the spigot. This looks like a prime time opportunity to me.

John Cox, the long-shot Republican presidential candidate, put full-page ads in both the New Hampshire Union Leader and Concord Monitor this week requesting that voters call the UL, WMUR, and CNN, and request that he be allowed into the June 5 debates. He doesn't have the ad on his Web site but he does have a pretty good list of talking points here: ["The Next Republican Debate"]. I especially like this line:

Tell them that candidates like Ron Paul, Jim Gilmore, and Tommy Thompson are not gaining new supporters since they've been in the last 2 televised debates.

Oh come on, John. You know as well as I do that viewers of the FoxNews debate had Paul winning, that is until "Guy Smiley" Romney got all his "followers" to start calling in and bumped Paul down to second place. A solid second place, I might add, 10 points above Rudy Giuliani.
Although, you may have a point: Since MSNBC viewers voted Paul the winner of the first debate, he has slipped to second place. But that is, however, no reason to put you in the debate.
But here is a reason Cox should be allowed in the debate: According to his FEC filings, the guy spent $796k through March 31 of this year, so far, and most of it has been his money. And, if Mike Gravel, the longest of long shots, with Vegas odds of something like 1,000,000 to 1 of getting the nomination, is allowed in, why not Cox?
Note to self: Put $5 bet on Gravel to win the nomination so if he does, I'll get $5M from the bookie.
In the end, Cox will not be allowed in and that's a shame. I interviewed the guy and he is talking about things the other Republican candidates aren't talking about, like a national sales tax. He is also one of the only Republicans admitting that we are in Iraq because of the oil ... Paraphrasing from our interview, since I don't have a copy of it readily available to quote from, Let's get in there and get that oil out of the ground ... And he is correct on this point: He has as much of a shot as the nomination as Jim Gilmore or Tommy Thompson, so why not let him on the stage? They're going to offer a podium to Fred Thompson. That will make 11. When you're at 11, why not 12?
Lastly, it should be noted that WMUR did do a Conversation with the Candidate featuring Cox and that is more than most other long-shot candidates receive: ["Commitment 2008"].

More tomorrow.

Buchanan right on immigration

No pun intended. I haven't read Patrick J. Buchanan's new book, "State of Emergency," but if it is anything like his previous books "The Great Betrayal," "The Death of the West," or "A Republic, Not an Empire," he won't have any trouble convincing me of his theory that illegal immigration has reached the emergency point in this nation.
This may upset my more liberal friends and readers, but the simple fact is that Pat Buchanan, no matter what we may think about him, is correct on many issues, like international trade, the invasion of Iraq, gun ownership, and immigration.
In the past, Buchanan has talked about the issue of illegal immigration from the standpoint of depressed wages and culture.
Frankly, I don't get into the concept that illegals are lazy and collecting welfare and crap like that, some of the ideals espoused by Howie Carr and others. Sure, that might be true in some cases. But, in most cases, it is a rarity. Many illegals are breaking their backs to build our country. The problem is that they are often working for less than the minimum or prevailing wage which then depresses wages for everyone else, especially those folks who were born here, pay taxes here, and have no other choice but to live here.
What they should be doing is breaking their backs to build their country. And, if we didn't have a corrupt foreign policy, our nation would be trying to bring their standard up - and not dragging it down via NAFTA and other policies - which only encourages them to come the United States to work. But, that wouldn't make cheap goods for consumer markets here, now would it?
Illegals are also sending their money back to Mexico by the billions and billions - essentially taking huge swathes of cash out of our economy and putting it into their home economy. This money, had it been earned by native born and legals, would be spent here, boosting our economy, and not that of Mexico and other countries, whether from the south, north, east or west of the border.
Just as an aside, here in the state of New Hampshire, prison costs for illegals costs millions of dollars, with more than 15 percent of prisoners being illegal immigrants; money that is otherwise not being spent on other things, like roads, bridges, and health care for poor kids; cells which would otherwise be filled by other criminals who should probably be in jail too.
This doesn't even get to the issue of future potential terrorism issues and the fact that while our borders are not secure, we are more in danger of attack than anything going on with Iran or North Korea.