Tag: Personal stuff

The drive for top 100

Later today I’m putting up a poll that I would like my readers to consider seriously.

I’ve been doing quite a bit of thinking lately about my writing career and this website’s place in it. While I certainly enjoy writing in this space and have done so for quite awhile, lately it’s become a case of diminishing returns. The site needs a growth spurt in the worst way!

Granted, I have an Alexa rating that is pretty good, and recently I came across a list compiled by a fellow blogger which would put this humble site in the top 150 or so conservative sites around the country based on Alexa rating. Yes, that’s pretty good for a public-school educated guy from the rural farmland of northwest Ohio, but I think there’s plenty of room for improvement. After all, I have goals like everyone else and I think the best way to achieve them is to grow this website’s prominence.

As regular readers have come to find, I don’t always discuss politics here. What I need to know, though, is whether that’s helping or hurting my cause. Obviously there are some features I’d keep around regardless but I’m curious to know what you, the loyal readers, like best about this site. Maybe it’s time to do some prudent pruning of branches which have become little more than dead wood.

But one thing which I have noticed is that my Alexa rating has remained within a pretty narrow range for several months despite the fact my actual readership has done its usual tapering off over the summer. I guess what could explain this is that everyone else is seeing a dip as well, and that makes sense because more people are outside. Heck, I sometimes find it’s hard to sit down and write when the weather is warm and inviting.

Yet I’d like to increase my readership enough to halve my Alexa rating and safely ensconce myself into the top echelon of conservative websites. Knowing my numbers, I think I see where improvements can be made but that could also be a variable I can’t control – hence my interest in what people prefer to see on my site.

Having toiled as a professional writer for a couple years now, it’s clear that I have at least a little talent for this avocation. But to be a success I think I need a larger platform, and what I’m looking for is direction on how to build it.

Weekend of local rock volume 39

You should have received a sampling of these bands last night on my FNV episode (well, 2 of the 3 anyway.) But here’s my rundown of Third Friday’s music. The stated intention of this month’s edition of 3F was to feature female-fronted bands.

One thing about attending an event such as this was that all three bands were playing at the same time, so I could only sample some of each. I’ll work in this case from east to west geographically, and since Pugsly was situated down East Main Street they’ll go first.

In watching and listening to the group briefly, one thing I liked about Pugsly is that they don’t forget the bass. Maybe it was the sound mix, but this group almost seems like they have a lead bass rather than a guitar. Their sound carried well down the street.

They also have a sense of humor, which is good for a stage presence. It was kind of a shame they drew the worst spot for their setup because not many people traveled down Main Street to watch them play.

Moving down to the courthouse, we found Semiblind. They are a versatile, veteran group which has the advantage of being able to play in two configurations. They started out as an acoustic duo…

…then transitioned to their normal ‘electric’ lineup once the bassist and drummer arrived.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m part of an unofficial fan club for the group. But one can’t argue with their success and hard work because Semiblind in its various configurations is in demand and playing practically every weekend this summer all over Delmarva, from Chincoteague to Stevensville. And while they do sprinkle in originals from time to time, the songs I heard last week were classic rockers they placed their stamp on.

Meanwhile, on the Plaza itself the all-female group The Zen Monkeys held court.

As you may be able to tell by the sheer number of instruments on stage, these ladies perform a very eclectic mix of original songs – in fact, in the times I looked on they didn’t use the drums. That’s pretty unusual for a rock band, but so is using a washboard as they did on one song. Suffice to say, The Zen Monkeys are difficult to categorize. They would have probably been at home on the Flavors stage.

But I’m still not done, even though I’ve covered the three ‘official’ bands. These two guys were playing jazz down at the west end of the Plaza.

They weren’t part of the bill because they’re not female, but one thing I’ve noticed about 3F is that things aren’t necessarily planned or scripted. Two guys want to show up and play a little jazz? More power to them; just keep a little distance apart so you’re not playing on top of each other.

Certainly on the third Friday in July there will be music downtown of some sort. Come on down and enjoy.

Third Friday June in pictures and text

I may not be first to post, but I’ll bet I have the most to add to the conversation. The local bloggers were crawling all over this one.

There are those who knock the event for low participation, but still vendors come to the Plaza or open along Main Street to peddle their wares at Third Friday. I’m including the next picture to make a point about one particular vendor and downtown in general.

I have no idea why this building is “coming soon,” when the property records for 224 West Main show the units are sold. (The website doesn’t work either.) So there are a few people living downtown.

Yet there were a pair of realtors at Third Friday trying to sell the 29 remaining units at River Place (of 42 built) for a fire-sale price. Since I was looking at property records anyway, I noticed units there have sold for anywhere between $236,000 and $650,000 (for a larger penthouse unit.) The most recent sale was the $236,000 unit last fall.

I’m not trying to disparage the ladies doing their job or the people who bought high. But in order to bring people to the downtown area to live, perhaps the sights should have been set lower. Does a young professional – the type who would tend to not mind living downtown – really need a 1,600 square foot condo like River Place? Perhaps the reason these units on West Main sold was their size and affordability. (It appeared many in the Brickshire were sold after being bank-owned.)

As for the crowd down there, you can judge for yourself. I took these shots between 7 and 7:30 around the Plaza. Note the weather was looking more threatening as time went on.

Again, I guess anyone who comes downtown on a sultry night either wants a bargain or just to participate in a fun community event in an All-American City. When did they put these banners up?

I think it’s a little ironic that Delmar Pizza is a sign sponsor, but I suppose they want to advertise too.

And the artists were there, inside.

They were selling beer there, but you couldn’t take it outside. What good would that be? Sometimes I think the nanny state goes a little too far with alcohol-related regulations – why not allow open containers in this case since the Plaza is closed to traffic?

Maybe it was better in the end, though, since the rain hit about 8:30. I’m sure the passing shower didn’t do wonders for the impromptu Flavors Memorial put up for Third Friday.

People were leaving impassioned messages, too.

It makes you wonder why the business closed if so many were interested in it. Then again, I don’t know what the margin on beer is as opposed to the margin on pizza. I thought their pizza was pretty good on the three or four occasions I went to Flavors and I can vouch that at least The Permilla Project drew a crowd there.

But now it’s just another restaurant casualty in Salisbury like Checkers, English’s, and many others through the years which are missed to a varying extent.

Of course, the problem whereas Third Friday is concerned is that Flavors served as an anchor and draw at the eastern end of the festivities. Now they don’t have much to draw people down that way, and it creates a scenario where businesses along East Main may not have as much incentive to participate. Perhaps Third Friday needs to retrench and just concentrate on participation by Plaza businesses unless someone else steps up to create an attraction in the area where Flavors was.

Yet as long as someone is interested in taking a little time and trying to make a little money I suppose Third Friday will survive a little longer.

You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the musical aspect of 3F – well, what do you think my Weekend of Local Rock series is for? Look for that in the near future.

Odds and ends number 30

It seems like I’m doing these quick-hitter articles more frequently; whether it’s because I’m attracting more interesting news or getting the attention span of a 14-year-old is the question. Now what was I saying?

Oh yeah. Let’s start with the public service announcement that’s part of the “Keep Jim Fineran Occupied Act”:

Due to extreme heat and drought conditions, County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., has issued a burn ban order for Wicomico County effective immediately. Pollitt took the action on the advice of his Burn Ban Committee. The group is composed of representatives of the County Health Department, the Forestry Service, Emergency Management Services, fire fighters and a local meteorologist.

Of course, there are exemptions so one can still fire up the grill and watch the fireworks after Shorebirds games. (If the ban is still in effect next month the July 4th fireworks will go on.)

It seems to me that Rick Pollitt has wised up on that account, since I recall a few years back that fireworks displays were part of the burn ban and the Shorebirds had to scrub a couple slated shows.

Speaking of which – the next resolution the county needs is to provide an exemption from the 11 p.m. curfew on fireworks. It seems like several times a season the Shorebirds manage to play their extra-inning marathons on fireworks nights and if an inning starts after about 10:40 the fireworks can’t go on. That’s ridiculous.

Now it’s time to go national. For all his faults, Newt Gingrich can sometimes get to the heart of the problem:

To make Washington smaller, we as citizens must become bigger.

We must persuade one person at a time, one family at a time, and one community at a time that we have better solutions than the corrupted, collectivist policies we’ve seen from Washington.

Because the renewal of America can only begin with you, this will be your campaign.

As someone who has been in public life for nearly forty years, I know full well the rigors of campaigning for public office. I will endure them. I will carry the message of American renewal to every part of this great land, whatever it takes.

Next Monday, I will take part in the first New Hampshire Republican primary debate.

The critical question of how we put Americans back to work will be asked of me and the other Republican candidates.

It is the most important question of this campaign.

For Newt, though, a close second in “critical” questions will be who’s going to run his effort. There’s a lot to like about Newt, but perhaps his time has passed him by. I’ll still be interested to hear what he has to say about issues but his intangibles are a definite minus.

Now we come to an interesting dichotomy. This was an e-mail I received from the Barack Obama campaign – I like to get these for laughs. (My editorial comments are in bold.)

We’ve been working on bringing new people (illegal aliens and others dependent on government) into the political process. That will be the story of our campaign from start to finish. (Aside from the billion dollars you plan on raising.)

But right now there’s a concerted effort being made in states from New Hampshire to North Carolina to Ohio to make sure fewer people (Democrats) vote in 2012.

Here’s how they’re doing it: In some crucial battleground states, more than 50 percent of ballots are cast as part of early voting, which makes voting an easier and more flexible process. In 2008, a third of voters nationwide cast their votes before Election Day. (Something tells me this includes absentee ballots, which have nothing to do with early voting.)

These voters tend to be working families and young people, and a whole lot of them voted for Barack Obama — in some states providing our margin of victory. (If they’re still working families, they’re lucky. The young aren’t generally among the working.)

So Republican-controlled legislatures are cutting the amount of time people have to vote early, restricting when and how organizations like ours can register new voters, and making the voting process itself more difficult by requiring new types of identification, which lower-income voters are less likely to have. (So we can’t commit fraud as easily. ACORN screwed the pooch for us.)

They’re doing this because they have cynically concluded that they do better when fewer people vote. (We do better when more informed people vote.)

That’s the opposite of the kind of politics we believe in, and of the kind of campaign we want to run. (Obama believes in raw power and eliminating the field before the vote is held. See Illinois.)

So when we talk about the work this campaign will do to bring new people into the political process — registering new voters, training new volunteers, building an organization — it’s not just the right thing to do. It’s absolutely urgent.

Help us protect the right to vote for all. (Whether they are legally entitled to or not doesn’t matter as long as they vote the correct way, right? That’s why you don’t work too hard to make sure military votes count.)

Personally, I’d love to see 100% of the informed voters turn out. While I think early voting is a crock and didn’t support the concept, the numbers last year proved that not all that many people in Maryland came out to vote early anyway. A state which has “shall-issue” absentee ballots for the asking doesn’t need early voting.

And it looks like voter ID is a losing issue for Obama. Here’s the other, more important half of the dichotomy:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 75% of Likely U.S. Voters believe voters should be required to show photo identification such as a driver’s license before being allowed to vote. Just 18% disagree and oppose such a requirement. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Eighty-five percent (85%) of Republicans support a photo ID requirement at the polls, as do 77% of voters not affiliated with either major party and 63% of Democrats. But then support for such a law is high across virtually all demographic groups.

Supporters of photo ID laws say they will prevent fraud at the polls; opponents insist the laws will discourage many including minorities and older Americans from voting.

By a 48% to 29% margin, voters think that letting ineligible people vote is a bigger problem than preventing legitimate voters from casting a ballot. (Emphasis mine.)

So how does that crow taste, Jim Messina?

Often I refer to the “nanny state” of Maryland, and a study released last week shows I’m pretty much right.

With a hat tip to my uncle Jay, I found out the Mercatus Center at George Mason University ranked all 50 states on a variety of issues related to personal freedom and civil liberties. (Or maybe he reminded me of something I forgot.)

While Maryland scores reasonably well in the category of fiscal freedom – surprisingly, we are 11th while Delaware is 43rd – once we get to regulatory policy the numbers are more of what most would expect: Delaware is 20th and Maryland 44th. Yet in the economic freedom ranking Maryland is again ahead of Delaware, but not by much (28th compared to 33rd.)

The scary part comes when authors William P. Ruger and Jason Sorens calculate the personal freedom index, where Maryland is indeed the ultimate nanny state as we rank dead last. Delaware’s not much better as they rank 44th.

So what states are the most free? South Dakota leads the pack in fiscal policy and economic freedom rankings, Indiana is the standardbearer in regulatory policy, and I was sort of amazed to discover Oregon was tops in personal freedom. Yet the overall winner was the state whose very motto of “Live Free or Die” would suggest they would be on top: New Hampshire. Delaware is 39th and Maryland 43rd.

I do have a few quibbles with the author’s recommendations for Maryland to improve its rankings, because their number one priority would be to legalize civil unions. I think that’s a little bit too radical of a position to make top priority as their number two and number three suggestions are sound regarding marijuana laws and occupational licensing. Their analysis of Maryland as a nanny state is otherwise very sound.

Finally, a personal note of sorts.

There was a blogger awhile back who believed so strongly in his Alexa ratings after a number of “record days” that he thought himself mainstream media. In truth, I haven’t had any “record days” lately because my years of experience tell me political blog readership tails off during the summer, only to rebound after Labor Day.

So I was pleasantly surprised to see that my rank among websites reached a new low for me last week (like golf, a lower score is better.) Yesterday my U.S. Alexa number declined to 61,383 while my world rank reached a new low of 357,454.

Of course, when I compare this to Pajamas Media (U.S. rank 1,402) or even local media outlets like the Daily Times (U.S. rank 22,686) or WBOC (U.S. rank 23,789) I harbor no delusions of grandeur.  (I am ahead of WMDT, though – their U.S. rank is 68,045. To me that’s sort of funny.)

But in the end I’m just a guy who writes and is blessed with a fairly solid readership. It’s the reason I write for Pajamas Media, because if I were a more obscure blogger no one would have read what I’d written and decided it was worth taking a chance on.

Unlike many in the writing field, I don’t have a journalism or English degree so I am essentially self-taught. God-given talent and years of practice and perfecting this craft got me to where I am insofar as ability goes, but it’s thanks to my readers that the word spread. It’s why I keep doing this day after day for not a lot of pay, because I enjoy putting together good things to read.

I have a lot of interesting items coming up over the next few weeks, so stay tuned. (No summer reruns here.)

Two thousand five hundred

It was almost a year ago that I hit my last ‘milestone’ post, and as part of that I outlined some of the websites that I’ve outlasted in the time that I’ve been online. Five hundred posts later, I’m still here as others fade into the woodwork.

But tonight I managed to hit a daily double, getting to another half a thousand posts on the half-year anniversary of my site. And after all the work outside the home and my various writing assignments that I complete each Wednesday, I finally have the chance to sit down and write about the most important aspect of this website: my readers.

Some may have ‘record days’ on a regular basis, but I’ve found over time that I have a loyal base of readers who come back day after day to partake in my opinion, news gathering, and photography. At times I do have more readers than others, as is often the case with a website that’s politically oriented, but many have come once and stuck around to be regular consumers of my writing.

So where do I go from here? Well, I have a lot on my plate these days but I plan on keeping on keeping on, grinding out posts on a daily basis. I still enjoy writing, and it’s good practice for my paying assignments. And with advertisers coming on board in recent months, what began as a hobby and creative outlet now makes me enough to pay for the server, anyway. (There’s always room for more, though!)

And don’t look now, but the 2012 campaign is slowly kicking into gear as more candidates enter various races. The bread and butter of this site is political coverage and comment, so I’ll have plenty to do.

So just keep coming back, and who knows – that 3,000th post might be here before we all know it. Thanks to each and every one of you for hanging here for some part of the first 2,500.

Update: Apparently mine isn’t the only local blogging milestone today. But I’d say this change is more like version 1.21 (rather than the version 1.5 claimed) since G.A. has been there quite awhile – about 4 years if memory serves.  My advice for G.A. Harrison: just go back to what made the site good in the first place (original content) and it may become relevant again.

The 2012 decision

If you’ve been reading monoblogue a long time – I know a lot of you haven’t, although a surprising number are longtime fans – you may recall that I determined who I’d support as my 2008 nominee in the summer of 2007 after a series of posts which covered candidate positions issue-by-issue on items important to me. They, in turn, were one extension of an early project of monoblogue called the 50 year plan. There I discussed my ideas on a whole range of issues which face our nation, and a second extension of these has been a book project I’ve worked with off and on over the last three years. (So maybe now I should call it a 47 year plan.)

Anyway, having been again exhorted to figure out which candidate I would like to see secure our Presidential bid, this post will serve as the announcement that the process will begin again later this summer. While I put my sidebar on the candidates up yesterday, I’m going to wait for a month or two to start the scoring process again in order to devote enough time to research positions and determine how I’ll grade each candidate. (And this includes Democrats, too – I can’t vote for them but I can compare their stances for my TEA Party friends who haven’t abandoned the Democratic Party yet.)

To give you an idea how the point system worked, these were the criteria I used in 2008:

  • Property rights (5 points)
  • Second Amendment (7 points)
  • Election/Campaign Finance Reform (9 points)
  • Trade/job creation (11 points)
  • Education (13 points)
  • Veterans affairs (15 points)
  • Energy independence (17 points)
  • Health care/Social Security (19 points)
  • Taxation (21 points)
  • Fiscal conservatism (23 points)
  • Immigration (25 points)
  • The Long War (27 points)

The total also included single-point intangibles on various issues, with my 2008 winner being former Rep. Duncan Hunter and his 82 points. By comparison, eventual nominee John McCain was last among Republicans with 18 points.

Undoubtedly, as a nation, our priorities have changed – and so will my list. I’m going to combine a couple areas and streamline this process to 10 different subjects. Also, the point totals will change so that the perfect candidate will have 100 points, with a maximum of three given for intangibles.

So the 2012 monoblogue endorsement will be based on the following formula:

  • Election/campaign finance reform (3 points)
  • Property Rights (5 points)
  • Second Amendment (7 points)
  • Education (8 points)
  • Long War/veterans affairs (9 points)
  • Immigration (11 points)
  • Energy independence (12 points)
  • Entitlements (13 points)
  • Trade/job creation (14 points)
  • Fiscal conservatism/taxation (15 points)

Add in the possible three points for intangibles, and a ‘perfect’ score is 100. On the other hand, deducting points is also possible so the ultimate in bad candidates would rank at minus-100.

Since I already have a project to do over the next few weeks (the monoblogue Accountability Project) I’ll likely get started on this after Memorial Day – this will also give the campaigns some chance to put out their issue positions. (Thus far, Herman Cain and Gary Johnson seem to have the most comprehensive positions listed on their respective sites.) But today serves as a good heads-up for summer reading.

And, by the way, I’m going to make a little time over the summer for updating my maunuscript too. Anyone know a good publisher out there looking for a surefire best seller? Okay, how about a tome from a first-time author?

Maybe someday you’ll see it on Amazon.com or at your local bookstore, but in the meantime it’s a diamond in the rough which needs polishing. That’s what I’ll devote some time to doing.

A convention preview

During most years, the Spring Convention of the Maryland Republican Party is a pretty genteel affair – I should have some idea since I’ve gone to the last five. Unlike the Fall Convention where officers are selected or resolutions incite disagreement, the Spring meeting usually is very businesslike and features our annual awards.

Well, this year may be a little different. I hadn’t thought about writing a preview, but a Facebook friend of mine made the suggestion:

Just wanted to let me know how much I agree with your resolution regarding Rule 11… I think you need to blog about it to create a buzz among the cc members…

The resolution in question is quite simple, and its background – oddly enough – comes out of the last Spring Convention.

If you’ve read along this website over the last few years, you may recall that I fumed about the treatment of gubernatorial candidate Brian Murphy during that gathering. Little did I know at the time the Maryland GOP brass were covertly plotting to assist their anointed candidate (and former governor) Bob Ehrlich by allowing the national Republican Party to waive their rule against pre-primary involvement, known as Rule 11. (Andy Harris was also part of that waiver.)

Once I found out about the situation, I was good and mad because we on the Central Committee were never consulted for input. If they had only brought it before the convention as a resolution, I’m certain the measure would have passed overwhelmingly despite my principled objection.

So I decided to do something about it. Originally this was going to happen for last fall’s convention, but there was enough other business to contend with since the party Chair would be elected – and I thought I’d perhaps have an ally for this resolution in the spring. I’m not sure Alex Mooney fits this bill, however.

Written with Heather Olsen of Prince George’s County, I authored a resolution which would change the party bylaws and make the three representatives to the national party get permission from a supermajority (3/4) of the rank-and-file members before asking for a Rule 11 waiver in the future. Seems like a pretty cut-and-dried, common sense regulation doesn’t it?

Well, apparently not to those who set up the agenda and added a total rewrite of the bylaws (which were just revamped three years ago) onto the business of the convention – then wrote rules to limit the proceedings to three hours and made my resolution last on the list (it’s the only resolution up for consideration.)

I have news for them, though: I don’t give up and I don’t give in. If I don’t get my up-or-down roll call vote this time, you can be sure you’ll see this again come fall. Why not get the debate over with and pass the resolution to allow those elected by the people a check and balance on executive power?

There’s another thing which bothers me about the proposed bylaws. No, it’s not the voting method discussion, which I’ll come back to in a bit. But there’s a proposal to form a Judiciary Committee, a star chamber of sorts to mete out party discipline. Again, my spider sense begins to tingle when we start talking about this sort of matter because I can guaran-damn-tee you there’s a lot in the party who think me at the very least a nonconformist and perhaps some sort of troublemaker. Luckily for me I come from a county which has my back. But what about other TEA Party members and those who don’t share the establishment political background – will they be subject to a witch hunt? I think this is a valid concern.

Now to the voting question. During the national party convention, delegates are each allotted a vote and a candidate needs to win the support of 50 percent plus one of the body there to secure the nomination. The number of convention delegates is known before the start, so the media can focus on the horserace to the magic number of delegates required. It doesn’t work that way in Maryland, though.

The other day I received an e-mail which beseeched me to maintain the one man, one vote principle at the convention (as does this blog post.) While it makes sense on a certain level to do so, the problem is that one county would have 1/6 of the possible votes while others have much smaller proportions. However, that’s not as bad as the previous proportional voting system in place, a different version of which has been in use during the last two state conventions. In those cases, the total delegation of the largest county had enough power to outvote the eleven smallest counties.

In a compromise move, members of a subcommittee got together and hashed out a system which is population-based, but both levels out the playing field somewhat and adds incentives for getting Republicans elected. Obviously the large (and heavily Democratic) counties cried foul about this and I’m betting that’s where the e-mail came from. But with the new system the small, rural counties aren’t completely powerless and can build a coalition among themselves when needed. I think the compromise isn’t perfect, but it’s better than the old system and an improvement over one man, one vote.

But it seems like in this go-round there’s something for everyone to hate. The party has a lot of adjustment to do since there was a lot of new blood added in 2010 and those rookie members have a heavy TEA Party influence (witness who’s taking the lead on the referendum drive to overturn in-state tuition for illegal immigrants – hint: it’s not the state party leadership, but instead a group of mostly freshman Delegates.) One has to ask: would someone like Sam Hale gotten any support at all four years ago?

Nor do I look badly at all the changes proposed – for example, I think two-year terms for MDGOP officers are a good idea for accountability. (Maybe we would have avoided the Jim Pelura controversy, for example.) But the proposal overall needs a lot more work to be acceptable, and I don’t think either the itinerary for consideration or the artificial time limit imposed is the way to proceed.

Our Fall Convention last year took about six hours to recite the reports and elect officers to lead the party. There’s no way three hours will be able to contain a reasonable and reasoned discussion of the bylaw changes; instead, perhaps this is a discussion for the Fall meeting when we can allow for a single-subject meeting at a less hurried pace. (I can also drop my proposal into the new bylaws if necessary.)

The by-laws aren’t going anywhere, so let’s take the time to do them right.

Update, 10 p.m. 5-5-11: My proposal and this post in general were discussed at length on Red Maryland radio (first 20 minutes or so) and I wanted to respond to the questions posed by Brian Griffiths, Greg Kline, and Mark Newgent regarding the 3/4 majority in my proposal.

If Queen Anne’s County Republicans don’t like the proposal, so be it. They can be wrong every so often too. But the reason I insisted on a 3/4 majority was to make it difficult but not impossible to adopt a Rule 11 waiver. I look at it this way: almost every resolution and vote between two options at these conventions turns out to be overwhelming, if not unanimous. (The best example I can think of would be Audrey Scott vs. Daniel Vovak for party Chair in 2009.)

Had the Rule 11 exemption been put up to a vote at the 2010 convention I’d be willing to wager there wouldn’t have been 12 people in the room besides me objecting. And I wouldn’t have objected because I eventually supported Brian Murphy (because at the time I was truthfully undecided between the two) but because I don’t believe in the state party taking sides – that was my experience in the Ohio Republican Party coming out. Remember, as I wrote at the time:

We’re not supposed to endorse candidates pre-primary, but by all appearances the Maryland GOP has placed its lot for better or worse behind Bob Ehrlich. Yes, it can be argued that Murphy has little chance but at least he put his name on the line while someone was dithering about which race to run in – if he would run at all. I think we owed him the opportunity to speak, or else be neutral in the race and find a different keynote speaker.

Now, I’m pleased the trio brought up the “star chamber” aspect of the proposed Judiciary Committee because I think their take is like mine – glad they agree it’s spot on.

But again, I think the Rule 11 fiasco from last year is worth discussing because there’s a potential we could see the same thing happen this fall in the U.S. Senate race or even the Sixth District. (I don’t foresee any GOP challenger for Andy Harris, but you never know.)

The only thing I would have appreciated is the chance to say my piece on the radio show. Just ask.

Salisbury Festival Saturday in pictures and text

I didn’t get to the festival as early as I would have liked, but I found plenty to write and take pictures about (as did my significant other, who took the above photo and several others I’m using here.)

Once we arrived, there was a pretty decent crowd milling around where the riverside stage was.

Some were sitting by the river watching the action on the other side while enjoying a late lunch.

In fact, the food court was pretty busy when we arrived about 2:00.

But I had hustled downtown because I wanted to check out the classic cars before they split the scene. This 1964 Chevy Nova, owned by Anthony and Jeannette Smith of Delmar, was my personal favorite.

Certainly it’s aged better than I have, since we share the same vintage.

Wandering along Main Street, we saw that many familiar groups had tents, with this one being perhaps the most overtly political in a non-election year.

And if that wasn’t right-wing enough for you, even the militia was there.

Oh wait, I doubt that’s the militia you were thinking of. Certainly the guy behind the table doesn’t look all that conservative.

A key theme of the event was recycling, with this large recycling bin prominent along North Division Street.

I’m not sure just what kind of sign it was, but this is where I ran into newly elected City Councilwoman Laura Mitchell. Take from that what you will, but I have an observation: wouldn’t a truly aware artist have integrated the street’s left turn arrow into the chalk display? It would have saved some chalk! Not that there wasn’t a lot of it used along the street, like this detail.

This was placed underneath the Arts on the Plaza sign. Even as that aspect of the festival was winding down about 4 p.m. there was still a significant crowd in the Plaza.

It was a little more relaxed on the west side of the Plaza, as some just took the opportunity for a pleasant stroll.

Turning the other direction, there were a few who ventured to the end of the Plaza for exhibits.

And it wasn’t all visual art, as performances were scheduled all day – like the Footsteps Dance Academy featured in this photo by Kim Corkran.

A local church had street performers in front of their tent, as well as a bubble machine to attact attention (photos by Kim Corkran.)

Another growing influence for the Salisbury Festival is the craft beer industry.

They sponsored a Friday brunch and Saturday evening’s craft beer tasting which went on at the riverside stage.

Meanwhile, this family came by, oblivious to the beer drinking. (Photo by Kim Corkran.)

As one can imagine at this event, local bloggers were coming out of the bushes to cover it.

Those in the know will appreciate how that picture and the next picture go together – it’s from one of the newest Plaza merchants who had his store open for business yesterday.

But the Festival didn’t end yesterday evening.

Those who like the carnival midway can still get their fix this afternoon as the rides will be running from 1 to 5 before we all pack up and prepare for another week in Salisbury. Downtown will return to its staid, businesslike self – at least until the next Third Friday.

But if you weren’t downtown yesterday, you missed a good time with some very nice weather once the sun popped out mid-afternoon. Even Mayor Jim Ireton needed a constant presence there.

In case you’re wondering, there were musical acts down there too, but I’m saving that for a future post. Look for that over the next week.

Radio days volume 16

Once again, it’s been awhile since I was featured on a radio program – my last edition of “Radio Days” was in 2009. (I was a guest a few times on Melody’s show in 2010 as well.)

But, out of the blue on Wednesday I was invited to go national for the first time as a guest on the Thom Hartmann program. Ironically enough, one would gather he’s the liberal answer to Rush because he occupies the same time slot during the day. But they wanted to discuss my Pajamas Media piece on regulation, and I received a message from Danielle Howe (who works for Black Rock – they handle PJM promotional appearances) asking me if I’d do the show and warning me that I could be ambushed since Thom is a ‘progressive.’ Didn’t faze me any.

So now you have the background – how did it really go?

Well, first of all, the people I worked with at Hartmann’s show were as nice as they could be, and, to be honest, so was Thom. We had a relatively civil conversation and I worked to get my points across. It wasn’t exactly how I’d have scripted it but I thought I was decently effective fighting behind enemy lines, as it were.

Something much different about this experience was working the Skype video in. I have used Skype audio before for a writing client of mine, but in this case I had to drag out an old webcam of mine and hook it up to my laptop. Well, I got that figured out but then they didn’t like the fact I had a window in the background so I had to turn the camera (and place my chair) at a more awkward angle – I was squished up against my bookshelf. At least my closet door provided a darker background.

Then, I had assumed that I would need a remote microphone but instead the call was on my cel. So Skype provided the video feed but my phone the audio. Hopefully that was in sync for the viewing audience.

So once the logistics worked out, they called me twice – once to test the Skype and the other to go on the air. That was about 1:00, so I was treated to Thom’s top-of-the-hour reading and remarks on the news of the day. Yes, it was a Republican-bashing festival, and if I have one thing to say about how Thom reacts – well, he’s exceptionally hyperbolic. Everything is a disaster to him. It’s why I started right out, right after he introduced the piece with his lengthy contention about the bad old days when there was no regulation whatsoever, saying he’s occupying an “extreme” position that’s not reflective of a normal view of costs vs. benefits.

One case in point was when we were speaking about the offshore wind turbines. (I thought it funny how he misunderstood me to say “windows” – is my diction that bad?) Thom was all up in arms about oil, coal, nuclear, and natural gas and the health maladies they allegedly caused. I understand the principle behind fracking, and obviously there is a slight amount of risk behind the technology. But that risk can be easily mitigated, while the benefits of clean-burning natural gas to create electricity (at a far cheaper cost than wind power) are much greater. Had I thought quickly enough I could have ticked off a number of drawbacks to wind turbines – they’re noisy, bad for aviary life, and not nearly as reliable as other forms of power generation because the wind has to blow AND it has to blow within a certain speed range.

And what was that about the 5% more moisture in the atmosphere causing storms and brought on by global warming? (Maybe that was on the news.) Since we all know there have been other warm periods in Earth’s history (well before the invention of the SUV) can we establish if those periods were overly moist as well? Or is Thom and his listeners just looking for any port in a storm (pun intended)?

But the final point was the one where I wished we had a few more minutes, because I was making the argument that Thom and I were essentially on the same side but had a completely different idea about the solution. Thom would get rid of the lobbyists (I think he said “arrest” or “imprison” them?) through a particular means but I would take care of the problem in another fashion by draining the money swamp. If there’s less money and power to be given out, then there’s less need for lobbyists and they can return to making a more honest living. My contention wasn’t completely addressed, and perhaps that’s my fault for not steering in that direction more quickly. (Hey, ten to twelve minutes on the radio flies by in a heartbeat.)

Still, I would imagine that opening that door will give me a better opportunity at round 2 at some future date. As I said in my wrapup thanking the staff, I’ll just have to keep writing good stuff and surely they’ll want me back.

Like I said to them, I had fun. I guess that’s what counts.

The market basket 2011

It’s the return of a monoblogue tradition, but with a slightly new twist.

I was inspired by a recent report regarding New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley and comments he made about the rate of inflation. Inflation, he said, is measured by a number of factors but doesn’t include food and energy costs. When an observer asked about this, Dudley reminded the questioner that the price of an iPad 2 is the same as the iPad 1 when it came out – “you have to look at the prices of all things.”

Retorted the questioner, “I can’t eat an iPad.” And it seems to me that a lot of food and energy prices have surged over the last two years. Fortunately, I had done my ‘market basket’ series from 2006 to 2009 so I had a handy reference guide to see just how prices have progressed. Instead of its original purpose, which was to track Walmart’s prices in the wake of the ill-fated ‘Fair Share’ Act Maryland passed in 2005, I used these comparisons as a general consumer guide to local grocery prices.

In the wake of Dudley’s remarks I decided to see just how rampant inflation was, since I got the same perception from my frequent grocery shopping trips. But instead of comparing all four local stores I opted to just compare Walmart year-over-year. Here‘s what I found.

Overall, I was surprised that inflation among all items was just over 4 percent, particularly with that 75% surge in gasoline costs. But a lot of the key elements bringing down the rate aren’t necessarily grocery staples – the surge in chicken prices more than counteracts the drop in beef prices. Bread may be a little cheaper but milk has gone up quite a bit. Among the few declining items are non-grocery items like detergent and soda pop, which not all shoppers need every week.

And it’s gotten quite a bit more expensive to get to the grocery store with that huge spike in gasoline prices. I didn’t begin tracking them until 2008 but we’re closing in on the $3.419 that my April, 2008 survey found, with prices usually not peaking until around Memorial Day. $4 a gallon isn’t outside the realm of possibility, particularly for those who drive trucks and need diesel fuel. They’re generally the people who deliver groceries to the stores.

So it’s not your imagination, when 12 of the 20 items sampled have gone up in price. That’s 60% of the items surveyed.

And, finally, if you live in the city of Salisbury and haven’t voted yet – what are you waiting for? There’s quality candidates who need your support (and lesser ones who need to be told to hit the bricks!)

Whither the truth?

Update: this whole sordid affair has now drawn the attention of the Baltimore Sun. Talk about an ego stroke.

I wasn’t necessarily planning on writing this today, but recent developments have made me consider saying my piece about them. It’s sort of unfortunate that I have to write this on April Fool’s Day, when a number of internet-based practical jokes are pulled, but as usual I’m serious here.

Today the Daily Times ran a story written by Sharahn Boykin on Roberta Wechsler’s Tuesday “rant” against Joe Albero. I had my own reaction to the piece, which I’ll share here as a slightly cleaned up version:

Perhaps it’s a sorry state of affairs that, with an election upcoming that could help decide the fate of Salisbury and the surrounding area over the next two years, this post has drawn the most comments. But I believe I have something to add to the discussion.

As it so happens I’ve been involved in the blogging business for about the same amount of time as Joe (his site came online in July 2006, mine in December 2005) – suffice to say, we’ve both spent a significant amount of time on our respective endeavors. Obviously we have our different styles and areas of interest, and for what he has accomplished Joe deserves a certain amount of respect.

But as time goes on it’s more apparent that he’s built a Potemkin village, dealing less and less with the investigative journalism with which he made his name and more on personally attacking those he doesn’t like. Look at it this way – I don’t like the effects of Leftist politics on my nation, state, and local government yet I get along with most who would be enemies politically. Maybe not being such a polarizing figure means I have fewer readers because of it, but I sleep well at night too.

Certainly I don’t agree with much of what the Daily Times writes, but look how they built this story: using the premise of Mrs. Wechsler’s remarks they interviewed a number of people affected on both sides of the issue. Moreover, they are accepting most of the feedback which springs from the article (with some exceptions, presumably those which violate terms of service.) There’s a few Albero haters here and some who support him within this comment thread. From many reports, that’s a fairness that Albero lacks on his own site, which has devolved to a simple news aggregator.

It’s interesting to note that many local bloggers have some experience with Joe Albero as current or former contributors, for better or worse. One needs to ask just why most of them backed away?

I had that chance too but I relish my independence.

Ironically, today the Daily Times website is featuring a USA Today story about the Modesto Bee pulling the plug on its blogger site, citing the “chaotic free-for-all of vitriolic name-calling, finger-pointing and mud-slinging.” So it’s not just us, Salisbury.

I’m not naive enough to believe there aren’t people who will bend the truth to suit their needs; unfortunately our political world is infested with them. When I put my own opinion out there it’s indeed an opinion no matter how much I wish it may not be so. I can’t claim to have every single fact on my side but I believe I have a pretty good preponderance of the evidence based on where we have been and where I think we could be going.

As to the local blogging scene, human nature being what it is I suspect things might get worse before they get better – hopefully I’m wrong on that one. Now we hear about boycotting this, making fun of that, and other character assassination that makes me wonder where the truth is being served? As I note, we have an election in four days yet public interest is more riveted on this story of personalities.

Indeed, this is why I don’t write about politics all the time because it’s a cesspool which can suck you in if you’re not careful. I like having an outsider’s view looking in.

It’s also why I believe that many of our ills could be cured if money and power were removed from the comparatively small enclave of Washington, D.C. and restored to the broader base of our state capitals and county seats. At least that way if someone is too power-hungry for their own britches we have a natural check and balance; unfortunately we are missing that here.

But that’s just me. In many respects what we have lost over my lifetime and perhaps a generation or two prior is our character. Sure, there are some who still carry themselves with honor in their lives but over time too many are corrupted by the siren song of instant gratification, wealth, and fame. I think this is what happened in the Albero case, although many debate whether he ever had that character to begin with. One has to wonder what made him so vindictive toward certain people, enough so to smear them all over his website. On the other hand, one also has to ponder the character of those who let his actions affect them to the point where they obsess over every move Joe makes. It’s a vicious circle, much like water swirling down the drain.

Maybe I don’t do as good of a job as I should of staying above the fray, but there are times I feel my reputation is threatened by the actions of this group. I can choose my friends but I can’t always choose my associates, and there are many good bloggers out there who get hurt by the bad apples.

It’s for them I say this piece, too. May they all rise above the bilge that has lately been spewed out on the local blogosphere and bring the level of conversation to one befitting our society.