It's been almost 4 years now, since the day I began this blog. It's been great and I've really enjoyed spending time with you guys, my readers, for all these years.

Although I'm closing up shop here I'll still be around. This blog and its archives will not be removed. I have some grander plans and a move to a new site is the first step on that road.

The new blog has a working title of "Eschew Obfuscation", though that is subject to change.

Come on over and check out my new place. I hope you'll be just as comfortable as you have been here, well, some of you, anyway. The rest I intend to make as uncomfortable as possible.

Cross posted at Eschew Obsfuscation

From the moment I walked into the Colosseum on Saturday morning, I knew it was Ken Cuccinelli's convention. To most of the delegates, selecting Governor and Lt. Governor candidates and a party chairman was secondary. For them, nominating Ken was job one.

I was impressed with the organization Ken has put together. And I'm sure it will only strengthen in the months to come. Congratulations Ken, from a John Brownlee supporter, on a job well done.

Now the tough part begins. It's easy to get the support of those who reside on the right side of the conservative spectrum. Those who are involved enough to pay real money to travel across the state to attend a political convention. It's a bit tougher to get the more moderate. And tougher still to get those guys that have voted a straight Democratic line forever just because Granddad did.

A wise man once told me that any candidate comes into a race with 20% locked down. It's there. You don't really even have to work for it. That's true for his opponent as well. That means you have to convince the voters in the middle. You're both fighting for them.

So, you have to go out there and convince just 31% of the voters that you're their guy. Sounds simple. Only 31%. Until you realize that that most can't name you or your opponent. Sure, they know the finalists on American Idol, but ask them who represents them in Congress or the General Assembly and you get a blank stare. Or you get the name of the last guy they saw interviewed on CNN. They don't know him, they don't know you, and they don't really care.

Now, I'm here to offer a bit of advice. It's worth every penny I'm charging you for it, Ken.

The 9th district will be crucial to your success. I'm sure you already know that, but it has to be said anyway.

The Fightin' Ninth is full of folks just like I have described.

"Granddad was a Democrat, Dad was a Democrat, so I guess that makes me a Democrat. Sure, in a Presidential election I usually vote for the most conservative guy. I'm a conservative guy myself. But, by cracky, I'm a Democrat and I want my local guys to be Democrats just like Dad was."

Or so it goes.

You have to get more than 25% of these leftovers excited enough about you to tell their friends.

The next part may seem mean. I don't intend it that way. The way to their hearts will not be easy. Especially for a guy whose last name ends with a vowel. Face it, Cuccinelli is not a name heard around here very often. I suggest making "Ken!" a catch-phrase down this way. Perhaps they'll even begin to think Shannon is a sissy name. Stress the "Ken", lose the "Cuccinelli". Or shorten it to Cooch. At least down this way. Nothing personal, just the way folks in the coalfields think.

Oh, by the way, there ain't a lot of Catholics down this way either. We're mostly Baptists and Pentecostals. Regardless of political affiliation, probably as conservative as you, if not more so. Most are a bit leery of Catholics, though.

I'm afraid Brownlee was right when he stressed his prosecutor past. Shannon and his cheerleaders are already using it. And you've painted yourself into a corner on the triggerman thing. You can't switch gears now, so stress public safety any other way you can.

Spend time down this way. It worked for Warner. It worked for Kaine. It can work for you. Get to Martinsville. Not the speedway, though that won't hurt. (There is a great 4th of July event there each year. Attend it.) Get to downtown Martinsville. I suggest a Friday evening attending a T.G.I.F concert. Get in touch with Councilman Danny Turner or City Attorney Eric Monday, they can arrange it and they'll be good guides.

Get to the outlying areas of the ninth. Call Jerry Lester out in Grundy. Work with the Kilgores down U.S.23 from there, you know them, I'm sure. Get by here in Stanleytown, we'll work out an event for you here.

Abingdon, Bristol, Roanoke, and even Martinsville are important, but ignore Stuart, Hurley, Norton, and Bassett at your peril.

The Peach Festival in Stuart. If at all possible, be there.

Floydfest in Floyd. If at all possible, be there.

Poor Boy's Dinner in Galax. If at all possible, be there.

The Fall races at Martinsville and Bristol. If at all possible, be there.

You get the idea. It all comes down to six little words. When it comes to the ninth district, if at all possible, be there.

And finally, I'm here to help, use me any way you can.

Yesterday, Sunday, was a busy day here. First I had to see Kilo off safely back to Wise, then off to Church. The afternoon was filled with the first graduation ceremony for our school, V.I.C.A. I got back home just as the race at Dover was winding down, (will Johnson get another championship this year?), then began preparing for other overnight guests on Sunday evening.

Already pretty wiped out from the convention, Sunday evening was spent in my favorite chair, kicked back and relaxing, with "The Fugitive" with Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones.

Now, late in the morning on Monday, the first Monday of my Summer break, I have seen last night's guests off, I have the tractor started and am preparing to spend the next several hours mowing.

But first I want to recap the RPV convention of 2009.

RPV did a stellar job organizing this convention. The facility was great, the only complaints I have, and heard often from others, was that the registration area was very difficult to find, and many units had to climb to the stars in order to find their seats.

Registration was very easy, even though it took me two whole laps around the circular Colosseum before I finally found someone who could give clear directions. (Thanks John Brownlee.)

RPV's organization was once again evident on Saturday morning when Kilo and I found our way to blogger's row. We had the best seats in the house, even though I seldom sat. Kilo did a bit of live blogging, I preferred to visit and look for stories. Besides, what's the point live blogging an event where most of the people interested in the outcome are sitting right in front of you? Those who could not attend for one reason or another, (missed you Norm), could easily keep up with the RPV's own live feed as well as the hundreds of Tweets.

Lynn has a comprehensive list of Virginia bloggers who found their way on and off blogger's row here.

It takes me about 18 hours to mow this place, and I'm at least two weeks behind. I'll add part two later.

I just got back into Henry County. Let Bailey, my dog, go out into the yard and pee on stuff. He really seems to enjoy doing that. I'm about ready to kick off the boots and let the events of the day filter out.

I spent most of the day on "blogger's row". RPV really set up a great facility for us, with the expected glitches, of course. Nothing serious, just a tripped breaker here and there, but all soon sorted out. Thanks to all those who worked that area.

Even though I spent time on blogger's row, I didn't actually write anything while I was there. I did find a few stories to tell, but that will come later. Tomorrow I'll write up an analysis of the day and tell a few of the stories I came away with.

See you tomorrow, good night all.

A lot of to do going on about the infamous robo call. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, I immediately associated it in my mind with the Cuccinelli campaign. Right or wrong, I'm sorry, That's the way I called it.

Did Ken himself approve it beforehand? Not likely. Did Ken himself approve it immediately after it first aired? Possibly.

Is it a major blunder for the Cuccinelli campaign? Most definitely.

The man(?) behind it seems to be one Brian Gentry. A paid stooge for Bob Marshall in a previous campaign. At least Brian proudly claims responsibility for the weakly supported evidence on the website noted on the call in question.

A couple more questions before I get to my astute analysis.

Brian has called Bob McDonnell a "liberal". Brian claims that John Brownlee is anti-2nd amendment. Brian is an idiot.

Wait. Those are not questions, are they?

No. Those are facts. The few facts that can be discerned from reading Brian's website. There are few facts about John Brownlee on a site that purports to expose Brownlee facts. Many innuendos and suppositions, but few facts.

Back to those questions now.

Question one. Brian is on record as a paid performer for Bob Marshall. Does Brian have an equally long record as a Republican?

Question two. Is Brian a member of any Republican committee?

Question three. And perhaps the most important of all. Is Brian affiliated in any way with either the Cuccinelli or Foster campaigns?

Answers please, Brian. Or Ken. Or Dave.

It's the last week of school. Friday will be the last day of school, but I won't be there. Not for long anyway. I'll be leaving fairly early on Friday, heading to Richmond where I'll be a delegate to the Republican party's state convention.

Bob McDonnell will be our candidate for Governor. That has been long ago settled.

As delegates, we will have several items to decide. We gotta pick a Lt. Governor candidate. Easy. I'll get to that later.

We need to come together on a choice for Attorney General. This one is a bit tougher, but I'll get to it a bit later too.

And we have to choose a new chairman for the group, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

The recent L'affaire Frederick being still fresh in everyone's mind, this may be the toughest choice as well as the most important of the weekend. In many ways this one election will set the stage for the future of our party in Virginia. Not only will this be a referendum on which of the two candidates, Pat Mullins or Bill Stanley, will lead our party, this is in many ways a referendum on the vision and leadership of our state central committee.

After dumping Jeff Frederick, in a manner that was widely criticized, the state central committee installed Pat Mullins as chairman. Pat may be a great guy. I don't know. The Virginia political expert I rely on to advise me on such matters does not know him either. He's a local unit chairman in the same congressional district as my expert adviser, but still unknown.

Bill Stanley, on the other hand is also a local unit chairman in my expert's district. I've met Bill Stanley. I don't really know Mr. Stanley. But I've met him, he's very likeable, he's a good conversationalist, and he seems trustworthy.

I've received many emails from Mr. Stanley, I suppose you have too. I've received one mailer from Mr. Mullins. I've also received one mailer from Stanley.

In his emails and mailer Mr. Stanley has outlined many innovative ideas and plans. Mr. Mullins has touted his endorsements. Endorsements are good. I'm essentially putting forth some endorsements here today. I like endorsements.

I like ideas and plans better, though.

Right now I'm leaning hard toward Bill Stanley. Before I can fully endorse him though, I feel it is only right that I actually meet Mr. Mullins. That won't happen until Friday afternoon at the earliest, so I'm tentatively endorsing Bill Stanley for Chairman. If that changes you'll be notified early Saturday before the voting begins. No update will mean that Bill Stanley remains my choice.

Now let's move to the easy choice. Bill Bolling is and will be our next Lt. Governor. I see no point in even mentioning his opponent's name. A solid conservative to the core, Bill, with roots in SWVA and a conservative record in Richmond that is unequalled, will leave the convention with 70 plus percent of the delegate vote. Bill Bolling has a proven record to stand on.

1. A 100% pro-family voting record from The Family Foundation
2. A 100% pro-life voting record from the Virginia Society for Human Life
3. Endorsed by the Virginia Society for Human Life (2005)
4. Supported parental notification and consent legislation, a ban on partial birth abortions and higher patient safety standards for abortion clinics
5. Cast the tie-breaking vote to deny state funding to Planned Parenthood
6. Fought to restore abstinence education funding that Governor Kaine stripped from the budget
7. Led the fight to pass the Marriage Amendment
8. Has opposed every tax increase proposed by Governors Warner and Kaine
   

Bill Bolling is my choice for Lt. Governor.

Now the tough one.

No question about it, Ken Cuccinelli is my hero in the Virginia Senate. When Ken first announced his intention to run for attorney general, I wholeheartedly supported that move. Remember though, that was when he was a lone candidate in a field that has since grown by two. Two other excellent candidates have since joined Ken in his quest to be our next attorney general.

Dave Foster is a candidate I could, (and will), support in the future. Dave will someday make a great Lt. Governor candidate, a great AG candidate, or even a great candidate for Governor. But not yet. Not quite. It's not that Dave is not ready. Instead, we as a party are not ready for him.

What I mean by that is the reason that John Brownlee has my enthusiastic support for AG.

My history with John Brownlee goes back to sometime in 2002 when he prosecuted my BOS member. You can read about that here.

There is more to my support for Mr. Brownlee than that though. As early as last Summer John assured me that he would not oppose Bolling for the Governor spot next. He promised to hold out if Bill Bolling decides to run for the governorship after McDonnell.

Our party has a line-up that is pretty much unbeatable for the next 12 years if, and only if, our candidates agree to work together.

On Friday I'll be asking both Dave Foster and Ken Cuccinelli their plans for the future should they win the AG nomination. Their answers will be posted here on Saturday morning.

Until then I don't see anyone persuading me to change from my wholehearted endorsement of John Brownlee.

So there you have it. For what it's worth, I'll be voting Saturday for the following;

1. RPV Chairman; Bill Stanley
2. Lt. Governor; Bill Bolling
3. AG; John Brownlee

See you in Richmond on Friday and Saturday.

School's Out For Ever!

Alice Cooper said it in song years ago.

School's not really out forever, but for the next couple of months school's out for me. I'll be working with a couple of students on their summer school courses, and I'll be working on getting our newest campus in Ridgeway Virginia ready for next year. But I'll have much more time for frivolities like blogging in the next few months.

I'll also be launching a new Virginia political magazine this summer. I'm really excited about this new project. Similar in content to Jim Bacon's excellent "Bacon's Rebellion", but going a few steps further, I have high hopes for this new project. I'll keep you updated on the progress here. I have a couple of well known Virginians signed on as regular writers, but I need more. Please contact me if you would like to apply for a liberally unpaid position as a regular columnist.

I've been pretty much inactive lately. Especially when compared to my early years in this blogging thing. I do still read many blogs. I do still get my dander up when folks on either side spread political BS like it was so much fertilizer.

The latest fertilizer spreaders I've noticed are Lowell Feld and that perpetual spreader, Waldo Jaquith.

Blogging.

On the surface, blogging is easy. Real journalism, now that's a bit tougher. I don't claim to do either, let alone one or the other particularly well. Both these characters claim, publicly or privately, to be experts at one or the other. Or both.

Let's examine a couple of recent "posts", as bloggers call an article, and see where they really come from.

Let's start off with Waldo. I'm sure you know Waldo, the cute kid from Charlottesville with a great smile and good hair. He's also got a really good looking wife and a pretty smart brother. I never really learned how to smile for a photograph, and I ain't got good hair. Oh, I got hair, just not much of it anymore, and what's there has gone really, really blonde.

Waldo recently "posted" what he would call an "article" about the "Global Warming Crisis". Yes, apparently Waldo is an Al Gore disciple.

Waldo has discovered an old report from the Global Climate Coalition, an enregy industry-financed group, that he says, decided years ago, that “the scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied,”

Waldo does not include a link to the report he quotes. Oh, he does include a link to the New York Times report on the report, but once there you have to have really sharp eyes to find the link to the actual report.

Here you need to remember the quote from Waldo; "...the scientific basis for the Greenhouse Effect and the potential impact of human emissions of greenhouse gases such as CO2 on climate is well established and cannot be denied..."

There's more.(PDF link) Read the report yourself. NOTE: Unlike Waldo, this is a link to the actual report. Read it yourself.

Waldo could have included this link, but chose not to.

Read the entire report and you find that not only can man's contribution to climate change cannot be denied, you also cannot determine whether man's contribution will add more to global warming, or global cooling.

Read that again. The report does say that man's contribution to global warming cannot be denied. It also says that it cannot be determined whether or not man can contribute to warming or cooling. The report is also very careful to note that, although the hypothetical contribution by mankind to climate change cannot be denied, it cannot be determined how much or how little mankind may be able to contribute.

Sure. We may be able to affect the global temperature, but to what degree, and in which direction, no one can say.

Next, Lowell Feld and the recent Unemployment fiasco in Virginia.

I've not written much on the Employee Free Choice Act before. I have, however, written about my thoughts on unions in general;

Any union, whether it be my old brotherhood the Teamsters, or my Grandfather's UMWA, or your local teacher's union, the VEA, is based on a single flawed premise. All unions are based on the concept that all workers are equal. Anyone who has spent a day on the factory floor, or a night in a mine, or a few miles on the road in a Freightliner knows that just ain't true. Even Dan, my beloved uncle, if he were to be honest about it would tell you that, given a choice, he would rather go down the road with Gary Martin than Roger Potter, two drivers I had the privilege to work with at that time. Yet in the eyes of the union they were equal. Horse hockey!

As a former union member, and an engineer working in two heavily unionized industries, I know a thing or two about unions and their organizing methods.

All's fair that ain't ruled unfair. And even then it's iffy.

There is no way to put a pretty face on this blatant power grab by unions and their bought Democratic stooges. If enough workers in a plant, store, jobsite, mine, or whatever can be arm-twisted into signing a card, the union is in.

No democratic election. No secret ballot. No anonymity allowed. You've been arm-twisted, your "vote" has been recorded.

Then the nightmare begins.

The workers and their employer will be forced into a binding arbitration if the employer does not immediately capitulate to the union's demands. Even if this arbitration is so detrimental to the company's business that it results in the demise of the company.

Virginians need to know that Senator Mark Warner has decided that the democratic (small "d") process need not apply to you and your workplace.

I spent quite a bit of time today on the phone with an RPV executive committee member in whom I have quite a bit of trust.

I will report in more detail on my thoughts concerning the L'affaire Frederick soon, it's being written, revised, re-written now.

H/T to JAB for the title.

Hello Lloyd. Nice to see you drop in. Guess there's nothing much new to plagiarize lately?

Let me back up a moment.

My previous little clip was a critique of a bill recently passed out of the House of Representatives. A bill co-sponsored by Virginia's boy wonder Tom "Terrific" Perriello, HB1388.

A couple of commenters got their panties in a bunch because they have fallen for the talking points and not read the bill for themselves.

Lloyd Snook, an attorney from Charlottesville, even begins his comment with the snide remark, "Didn't read the bill before blogging about it, I guess..."

Yes, James and Lloyd, I did read the bill. Now perhaps you two should go and do likewise. Stop listening to defences of the bill and actually take the time to see what it really says.

Neither Lloyd nor James offer arguments of any substance, just platitudes and talking points.

They both claim that I'm wrong when I say that the bill bans participants from regularly attending church, or teaching in a church youth group, but the bill is quite clear on this point. I would also like to be clear on one point. I am not a lawyer. Don't even claim to be, like Lloyd does.

Here is the actual text from HB1388 (now S277) as passed by the House;

Emphasis added;
PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.Section 125 (42 U.S.C. 12575) is amended to read as follows: `SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.

`(a) Prohibited Activities- A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

`(1) Attempting to influence legislation. (No letters to your Congressman, or I suppose, letters to the editor of your local paper.)

`(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes....

And so it goes until it gets to paragraph 7;

`(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.

Both James and Lloyd claim the above applies to the organization receiving funds, not the participant.

OK.

Besides the fact that the word participant is plainly used in the above quoted section, the bill itself has a section titled "definitions". In that section there is no official definition for "participant", however the word "participant" is used extensively throughout the bill to describe a citizen volunteer "participating" in this endeavor. Organizations receiving funds are typically referred to in this bill as "Organizations" or "Grant Recipients".

So, I suppose if you're tasked with the rather onerous job of defending this mess you must disregard common English language and its generally accepted use in favor of made up stuff which you've been told to say.

A participant is a participant unless he's an organization, then he's a grant recipient. Give me a break, Lloyd. I may not be a lawyer, but I can read the English language.

Jonas Clark, one of the Virginia patriots at UCV, tells us of the requirements for Obama's much vaunted "Volunteer Corp". You remember, he spoke of it so many times during his campaign.

Tom spoke of it often as well, but neither had the courage then, or now, to tell the whole truth of the matter.

Jonas does have the courage to speak of it, but not in the glowing terms you've heard before; He quotes the actual text, as it passed in the House, (with Tom Perriello as Virginia's only Represenative co-sponsoring).

(Italics Jonas')
SEC. 1304. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.
Section 125 (42 U.S.C. 12575) is amended to read as follows:

SEC. 125. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES AND INELIGIBLE ORGANIZATIONS.
(a) Prohibited Activities-A participant in an approved national service position under this subtitle may not engage in the following activities:

(1) Attempting to influence legislation. (No calling your congressman to tell him/her to vote yes or no)

(2) Organizing or engaging in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes. (No grassroots organizing, no parades, no protests, no Grassfire.)

(7) Engaging in religious instruction, conducting worship services, providing instruction as part of a program that includes mandatory religious instruction or worship, constructing or operating facilities devoted to religious instruction or worship, maintaining facilities primarily or inherently devoted to religious instruction or worship, or engaging in any form of religious proselytization.
[LINK]

Jonas doesn't tell us this final bit of news, but if you scroll on down the text of the bill, to section 6104, you find that this "Volunteer" group will eventually become required service. Sort of like the draft. Except in the Army you can at least attend the Church of your choice.

Way to go Tom! That's really standing up for true Virginia values. NOT!

I know. I know. I promised to provide my opinion of the "smoking gun" that was offered yesterday. Sometimes things just don't work out.

This morning I put on a pot of coffee, and nothing happened. Well, not nothing. Something happened, of course. Just what was supposed to happen didn't. The water never got hot and forced its way up that little tube into the nozzle that sprays out over the freshly ground bean fragments, converting them into a damp, dark brown, muddy looking mass while producing a hot pot of morning. Instead, the cold water just sat there. Slowly leaking out onto the counter, an obvious omen that the day would not go according to plan.

I searched through the garage for my old Mr. Coffee backup, as reliable as it is ugly, and tried again. Of course, it worked.

While performing the monthly de-batcherlorization of my kitchen, I spoke again with my SCC friend. He was going to try to fit me in between two other meetings today, one early this morning, the second at 3:00pm at a location almost 3 hours from here.

It couldn't happen. If he made the one hour detour by my house, he would be almost 2 hours late for his second meeting. Can't have that.

We'll try again in the coming days, and once again, I promise. You'll be the first to know.

Just got off the phone, about an hour or so ago, with a member of the SCC.

It was an interesting conversation, as conversations with this individual usually are. This SCC member is understandably concerned with my position, as stated below, on the Jeff Frederick kerfuffle. (Yes, I'm going to continue to call it a kerfuffle. For now.)

I told my friendly neighborhood SCC member that I too was disappointed. This whole episode has been badly handled from the beginning. Not by that particular SCC member, who is known for handling things well, but by just about everyone else involved.

See, the problem is, most everyone who paid real dollars to travel to Richmond last year, and real dollars to stay at that really nice hotel across the street from the convention, and even more real dollars for food and drink while they were there in support of Jeff Frederick came back from that convention well pleased that their guy had won.

Almost immediately they began to hear rumbles and non-specific gripes from their party elders who had supported Lt. Governor Hager. Some had even been pressured by those same party elders to change their mind at the last minute to vote for Hager.

By the time of the Advance, in December, those rumbles had grown to a dull roar. Yet still there were no specific charges against Chairman Frederick. Just complaints from those whose guy had lost many months before.

Now we come to the point, a few weeks ago, where news reports began leaking that the SCC had decided it was time for Jeff to go. He had been asked to resign, had been told that if he didn't he would be removed in April. But still no specific charges were put forth to the people who had elected him. It still looked to those good people as if the party elders, who had been griping incessantly, were about to exercise their muscle. Strongarm style.

Finally someone had the good sense to release the specific charges to the press. Now the people could at least decide if their party elders were exercising muscle or brain. With Chairman Frederick's release of his response to the charges, one by one, it seemed to most that there was much more muscle than brain at work on the SCC.

Still, as I explained to my SCC member, I knew the SCC had more information than I did. They knew more about the actual situation than the grassroots members knew. But they were not forthcoming with it. For fear of "bad press" I was told, on more than one occasion. By more than one "insider".

My God, how much worse could the press get?

Speaking of bad press, the reply, from some un-named SCC member, to John Gizzi that no thought whatsoever had been given to a possible replacement, was enough for me.

But not yet. Not quite. I've maintained an open mind on this episode this far, I'll keep it open a few more hours. My SCC contact will be visiting me in the morning for coffee. He has what he calls the smoking gun. He has permission to show it, let people read it, let them absorb it, but they cannot copy it.

Fair enough. I'll look at it. I'll absorb it. I'll treat my friend to a cup of great Honduras Coffee and we'll talk about it.

You'll be the first to know.

I've stayed out of this until now, but the following quote seals it for me;

"No one yet. We haven’t thought it through that far. Right now, getting Frederick out is the main idea."

Sorry, but if that's the "plan" of the SCC, I just ain't gonna go along with it.

I've read the charges. I've read the responses to those charges by Chairman Frederick. I'm reminded of two modern quotes;

"there's no 'there' there." Gertrude Stein

And

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Walt Kelly, via Pogo

*Kerfuffle; (Noun)1.- a noisy and disorderly incident

By Barnie Day; Another Guest Shot From Meadows of Dan


Not just yet. Let’s at least have a national debate before we bury this one.

The cataclysmic demise is well documented. Going forward, the question is: Is there a model that (1) acknowledges and accommodates the current reality and (2) preserves the critical role of a free and independent press?

There might be—a national newspaper trust that could purchase these faltering papers. (If there is an upside to an 83% devaluation in newspaper stocks in 2008, it is the creation of an incredible buyers' market.)

Sure to God, if such a structure can save swamps, farmland, old buildings, artifacts of importance, odd plant life, long-eared rodents, queer little birds, and a host of other good and worthy considerations, such a thing could be established to preserve an entity that is so very crucial to policy, to government, to Democracy, to our collective well-being, as independent newspapers are.

There is no evidence whatsoever that the industry can save itself. Newspapers are cannibalizing themselves by giving their content to the Internet, and if that’s not bad enough, they’re slashing the only real competitive advantage they have—their reporters, writers and editors. Seems an odd survival strategy, if you ask me.

If newspapers are to survive, then retro, or old school, journalism relieved of profit pressure by trust ownership and subsidy may be the model.

How to fund such a trust? Three ways:

1) A national newspaper lottery would generate significant proceeds. Although 42 states and one or two territories conduct lotteries of some sort, there is no national lottery in the U. S. Lotteries are a form of taxation, but as Jefferson pointed out, the fairest form of taxation in that the burden is laid “only upon the backs of the willing.” This burden would be a worthy one.

2) A voluntary one-dollar check-off contribution on federal income tax returns would raise significant money, too—and give taxpayers a direct voice in how at least some of their money is spent. It wouldn’t be complicated. They could say “yes” or “no” simply by checking or not checking the box. It’s a pity we don’t have more such direct opportunities to say “yes” or “no” with a lot of other spending.

I know the "government" argument. It makes some folks queasy. It does me sometimes, but the granting of tax-exempt status and playing the role of mere pass-through collection/disbursement agent for a lottery and for income tax check-off falls short of "government sponsorship of newspapers."

A national trust would, in fact, come closer to vesting ownership with that teeming miasma otherwise known as "the people"—a good thing, in my opinion—than any other arrangement I presently know of, far closer than family and/or corporate ownership (think Rupert Murdoch) does now.

3) The largest consumer, and beneficiary, of newspapers in the world has to be Google, which means Google, and other search engines, have the most to lose if (when) the newspaper industry collapses. It is an interesting paradox: the primary instrument of newspaper destruction has the most to lose. The implication is that they must dance together.

Google doesn't pay for newspapers' proprietary content, although it does pay the Associated Press under a contract negotiated in 2006.

Let's consider the numbers.

Google performs approximately 235 million searches per day. If ten percent of these searches referenced newspaper print, and if Google agreed to contribute one penny ( 1 cent) for each of these to a national trust, the annual contribution would exceed $85 million. Can Google afford this? Yes. They earned $1.21 BILLION just during the last 90 days of 2008 alone. (I won’t even point out that Google could write such a contribution off as a tax deduction.)

Why propose this? What does it matter? That's the easy one. It is in our national interest that newspapers survive.

Barnie Day is a banker in Stuart, Virginia

Somewhere today I read that Senator McConnell (R-Ky.) has come up with a novel way to explain just how much President Obama and the Democratic Congress has spent in the first 50 days of this administration. His math was pretty straight-forward, coming to roughly 1 billion, (with a "b"), dollars per day.

1,000,000,000.00 Dollars. Every day. For 50 days. Less than two Months.

But that number is still out of reach for most of us to understand.

Let me see if I can bring it into a more readily digested form. Let's suppose, for a moment, that you were there in Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago when Christ was born.

Now let's suppose that your way to celebrate this great occasion was to begin handing out 20 dollar bills. There were no cigars to hand out at that time, so a paper portrait of Andy Jackson will have to do. (Never mind that there were no 20 dollar bills 2000 years ago either. We're supposin', remember?)

When you're standing on a corner handing out 20 dollar bills, word gets out pretty quick. A line forms. Soon you are handing out 20 dollar bills at a rapid clip --about one per second-- $1200 bucks per hour. I know some lawyers, a few bankers, a preacher or two, and some doctors, but I don't know anyone who makes $1200 bucks an hour.

Anyway. You stand there. Handing out your 20 dollar bills as fast as you can. People file past and collect their 20 bucks and shuffle on their way. You continue to do this until you've spent your own 1.2 trillion dollars. (I know, you don't have 1.2 trillion dollars. Obama and Congress don't either, but that didn't stop them. Did it?)

You finally exhaust your pile of Jacksons about the time that Obama is elected.

Over two thousand years. At 20 bucks per second. Twelve hundred bucks an hour. I know some lawyers, a few bankers, a preacher or two, and some doctors, but I still don't know anyone who makes $1200 bucks an hour. But I know of some folks who can spend it way faster than that.

NOTE:
This exercise, by necessity, is an estimate only. For the first 1500 years or so you will run out of people in the world before you run out of seconds in the year.

Boss Bird Is Back In Town

By Barnie Day

HEADWATERS OF THE DAN—The kingfisher kept his word and came back yesterday. He left out in mid-October—probably to South America. I don’t know for sure. He keeps his secrets, too.

I was on our back patio, watching the sun come streaking and flaring over the mountains, and he announced his return from his favorite perch, a maple limb that hangs out over our pond. He is an exuberant, raucous male in his flashy prime.

This is his sixth trip back. I don’t know that he’s the same bird, but he says he is. He doesn’t strike me as a liar.

He is always first, always early. There are still slips of snow in fence corners and along the line of trees that flank our driveway. The willow tree is barely budding. The frogs still sleep.

Other water birds come and show proprietary interest—ducks, herons, cranes, plovers, pipers, egrets. Big geese glide in, flaps down, honking loud enough to
wake the dead, and slalom the water as if wearing skis.

In mid-summer, an osprey, heavy enough to sway the pine boughs back and forth, will come to fish—and bicker back and forth with the shrieking crows, and other water dwellers—beavers and muskrats, lizards and water snakes, booming, bellowing bullfrogs—will show themselves—but the kingfisher gets dibs on this pond. He always does.

The Dan is birthed from a clear, cold fissure spring in a swampy place half a mile distant, ponding on my neighbor’s place, then on ours. From here, it meanders back and forth across the Virginia-North Carolina border for maybe a hundred and fifty miles until it joins the Roanoke River and disappears into
Kerr Lake Reservoir, a 50,000-acre Corps of Engineers flood control and hydroelectric impoundment built in the 1950s—a place better known as Bugg’s Island.

This bird is mouthy. He screeches and clacks. He fluffs himself. He buffs his beak against the maple limb. Boss bird is back in town.

I know his exuberance—to splash your face in a spring that is a river’s origin gives rise to such—but I know, too, that he doesn’t preen and brag for me.

A mate is somewhere near. I haven’t seen her yet, but I know that she is here. No doubt, he is promising her the moon. She will settle for something less—a
tunnel dug into the bank across the pond from where I stand, a six-to-eight foot tunnel, and at the end of it, a cubbyhole nesting room.

No, they won’t peck it out—they will dig—more a dance—it with their feet. They bring tiny shovels. The middle toes on each of their feet grow together and
make small scoops just for this. They will raise a small brood of chicks on insects, small fish, and other aquatic life.

In all, there are maybe ninety species of kingfishers spread across three families—Alcedinidae (river), Halcyonidae (tree), and Cerylidae (water) and scattered in woodland and water habitats throughout the world.

This is a Belted Kingfisher, the most common in North America—and here in Meadows of Dan—if you can call such an exquisite creature “common.”

(Photo Credit / Wikipedia)