A Chicken Is Not Pillage

The Montana Regulation Project

Dave Budge and Gregg Smith have launched a new project that needs to be paid due attention.  The Montana Regulation Project.  Their mission and background statement:

As the amount of local, county and state regulation increases, the ability of Montana citizens to exercise their rights under Montana’s Constitution Article II “of pursuing life’s basic necessities” has become increasingly difficult. While we understand the state’s interest in protecting the public through regulation, we also understand that the regulatory corpus becomes outdated, ineffective, and presents barriers to entry for people working in their own interest and it needs continual review for rationality, cost effectiveness and process efficiency in order to provide for the economically disadvantaged to rightfully earn a living in the economic pursuit of their choosing.

We are convinced that the regulatory burden falls disproportionately hard on individuals who hope to create and trade products and services who are in the initial start-up or early expansion phase of small business enterprises and that certain regulations are in place either from a poor understanding of the risks posed to the public or by regulatory capture of special interest who, under the banner of public interest, gain by limiting the entry of new competition and market participants. Additionally, over time the bureaucratic processes of regulation become equally prohibitive for new and growing market entrants and increases in perpetuity for the convenience of the regulators at the expense of the regulated.

Thus, the goal of The Montana Regulation Project (The Project) is to reduce the regulatory barriers to entry for first stage growth and other small enterprises to the greatest extent possible without damaging the public interest.

This is not a bad effort at all.  The socialist demon which possesses me tells me that they will likely not find the wealth of bad regulation that they hope.  But there certainly is some out there, and it needs to be exposed, discussed and changed if possible.  That is the point of advocacy, and kudos to Dave and Gregg for taking this beast to task.

Good Night, and Good Luck

When I look back to some of the better times in my life, I can remember many a Sunday evening watching NFL PRIMETIME, with Chris Berman and Tom Jackson, followed by SPORTS CENTER with Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann.  When Olbermann started at MSNBC, I didn't watch him, and then I did.  I found his pompous nature somewhat overbearing, but always enjoyed his smack downs of the hypocrites and the fools.  I didn't watch often, except at certain times, like in 2008.  Lately, I haven't watched Olbermann at all.  Too many other things to do.  But, in the last several weeks, Olbermann has faced derision from Jon Stewart, his own network and most recently, Ted Koppel.

Last night he responded to Koppel, and his commentary is a thing of beauty to be watched by all.  Honesty should be feared, and will be feared.  And Olbermann is honest.

 

Nostalgia, The Saddenning

Despite the onanistic fantasies of some of the more dim in the Montana right, unfavorable elections do not depress or sadden me.  They irritate me; make me cranky.  As I'm certain many others who follow politics at all can attest, especially if they reject the personalizing emotions of it all, it's the nature of the beast to make one irritable, cranky.

But today comes news that has depressed me.  Last night, Jay Stevens announced his retirement from Left in the West.  And early this afternoon, as I had been dreading, Matt Singer followed suit.   As Jay explained this with his usual detail and honesty, Matt summed it up very succinctly:

I'll miss it, too, but it is time.

I'm certain it is.  Matt, one of the hardest working activists I've ever encountered, is taking his organization show on the road to Oregon.  Their gain, for certain.  I first encountered Matt (virtually) from a comment he left at Craig Sprout's website.  I followed the link on his name to Not Geniuses, now well defunct.  Like the stalking little info-sponge that I am, I followed the writings of Mr. Singer and his compatriote Ezra Klein from then on.   Ezra left for Pandagon, The Atlantic and now, The Wapo.  Full on freakish wonk, that boy.   Matt came home, virtually speaking, and founded Left in the West.  It was fun to watch him grow increasingly uncomfortable with expousing in favor of doing.  He's wanted to get things done, and everythinghe wrote exposed that more and more.  He and some buds, in an act of beautiful piracy, poached the domain for Forward Montana, an organization that originally was formed as astroturf for the Montana extraction industries.  I still giggle that these folks (Hello Representative Bryce Bennett) turned that twisted effort back on itself, and Forward Montana is now a youth voter advocacy machine.  I kinda choke up when I think how marvelous that journey must have been.  As FM took off, Matt brought Jay Stevens on board for LitW,  and the site hasn't missed a beat, though it has missed Matt.

I think it was 5 years ago, maybe 6, but Jay Stevens found an online voice.  He started 4 & 20 Blackbirds, a great name for a blog, by the way.  Unlike myself who writes because I enjoy to write, Jay is a writer.  His eloquence and incisive points were an almost instant hit in the Montana Blogotubes.  The guy can lay it down.    He was a perfect fit for supporting LitW when Matt's time became more limited.  The citizen wonk, the everyman who could express.  A couple of years on back, Jay left the state for work opportunities offered to himself and his own.  It's ironic, possibly only to me, that many who have commented lauding him were the ones who in heated disagreement accused him of not being local.  And that's the also humorous part.  Jay kept up with Montana politics, and still wrote some of the most insightful postings.  That had to be hard, and he's done now.  This, I think  we can all understand.

So, here we are.  Both Jay and Matt are moving on.  Change is innevitable; to struggle is an option.  And I'm finding that an option very difficult to deal with.  I have defended, to the best of my ability, their online offerings.  You would be hard pressed to find a bigger advocate of LitW, even in intense disagreement.  Left In The West was truly a great community, a power in this state's online offerings.  Today, I just feel more isolated, old, sad and alone.  Do not mistake me; I am happy as hell for both of them.   If I had half the intelligence of either one I would have given up blogging, probably many years ago.  But it is what it is.  I am being selfish, 'cause I'm going to miss them a lot.

Our Future

(via Shakesville) 

The haters?  They are so few and we are so many.  I'm so proud of these kids I could cry.

This Is Just Cool

In celebration of Nancy Pelosi's 70th birthday, the community at Daily Kos had 2600 roses delivered to her office.  Even cooler, she shared them with veterans at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and staffers on the hill.  Her thank you on YouTube:

We'll miss you, Ted

When Warren Zevon was dying from cancer, he claimed that he wouldn't die until he got to see the next James Bond movie.  He made that goal, and a little beyond.  It was obvious that Ted Kennedy was set to vote on Health Care reform.  That wasn't to be.  But his legacy will certainly influence how the debate plays out from this point forward.  And even if there were nothing else, that would establish him as one of the Good Guys.  But there is more; a lot more.

Edward Kennedy is already being eulogized vastly better than I could do here.  Most of those eulogies involve using his own impressive words, from a life spent helping, serving and showing others what leadership should look like.  The simple truth is, I didn't know the man, other than as a Senator and a fine leader in that august body.  That he earned respect (and some fear) on both sides of the aisle is a testament to the man's legacy as a serious leader in that circus of clowns we call 'the Senate'.  The Good is that Senator Kennedy's legacy is so potent it will likely be fondly remembered far longer than that of his more distinguished brothers.

The Bad:  many of those opposed to that aforementioned legacy have been gracious concerning his passing.  At least for now.  That includes Our Unhinged Lady of the Concentration Camps, strangely enough.  Too many others, however, seem in competition to see who can sully Kennedy's legacy the harshest and quickest.  Their work is almost cloned from each other.  'His works were not good works because he was not a good man.'  I don't need to point out how backward that kind of Ad Hominem is.  But then again, backwards thinking is the bread and butter of these folks.  Their complaints will be long forgotten before the Congress ever forgets the legacy of Ted Kennedy.

The Ugly:  As the right fumes over the fact that Health Care reform, part of Kennedy's life work, might actually bear his name, at least one is already dismissing his role in defense of the mob.

Meet Jeb Hensarling (idiot, Texas):

"Certainly people honor Sen. Ted Kennedy for all of his work," Hensarling, a top House Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC. "But at the end of the day, this is a democracy, and I think the voice of the people have [sic] been heard quite loudly in the month of August."

Funny, I don't remember any elections held this August.  One has to wonder what kind of fool would invoke "honor" while promoting a complete disregard for a founding tenet of our Country.  Democracy isn't a hollow word to be sullied by misuse of those who've vowed to serve the Constitution ... except to Jeb, apparently.  That alone does more dishonor to Kennedy's legacy and America than any ranting about alcohol abuse from online wingnuts.

Well, I Pooched That Bet

In an earlier post, I wrote that if the over/under for Sotomayor's confirmation vote was set at 70, I'd take the over.  See, here's what I figured.

All Democrats, and both supporting Independents, would vote for confirmation.  I suspected that either Byrd or Kennedy (or both) would miss the vote.  So at worst, that's 58.  Kennedy did miss the vote, by the way.

I figured that the 8 more moderate Republicans (read that as the sane ones) would vote for, bringing the tally to 66.  Lugar had already stated he would vote for her confirmation, and I thought he would be able to bring on at least 4 more of the hard-core Republicans from states with questionable races coming up, and/or states with larger Latino populations.  That would make 71, even without Byrd or Kennedy.

I also figured correctly that the NRA threats would fizzle, leaving Republicans more secure to actually vote for their constituents and not the special interests of the gun lobby.

What I didn't reckon was how weak moderate Republicans have become in the face of the Limbaugh driven clown machine GOP.  Two of the Senators I thought would be swayed by Lugar's prominence and their state's Latin populace were McCain and Ensign.  That was especially true of Ensign considering the fact that he isn't his state's favored family man right about now.  No such luck, or display of brains on his part.  I also thought Hutchinson of Texas might rise to the occasion.

The final vote was 68 - yea to 31 - nay.  I guess I lose my bet.

Regardless, congratulations to Sonia Sotomayor, the newest Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Not A Fan of Death

I butted heads with Bob more than once.  Which basically means we just disagreed online.  But he was a guy I respected for his caring and true wisdom.  He gave a shit, and I hope that I conveyed to him that I do too.

I knew that eventually someone I knew and considered an online friendly would die.  I am surprised by the depth of my reaction to it.

Mark has the sad news.

ECW Community Meetup, Part Zwei

In the post before this, 'Craig Moore' asked me if I had a Powerpoint of the talk I gave in Great Falls.  No, I don't.  And, no offense meant to Craig, but I do wonder just how people ever conveyed knowledge and ideas before Microsoft came along.  But, always being accommodating, I will post my outline for the talk.  The core remained the same, but I did cut parts out, and deviate from the narrative as audience reaction permitted or dictated.  The thesis, on the other hand, was and remains consistent.

Greetings:

 

Expectation as theme

 

Types of blogs.

 

                        Essayist.  (Digby, Daily kos, Michelle Malkin)

                                    (Pretension of journalism)

                        Blog aggregator. (Glenn Reynolds, Atrios.)

                        Photoblogs.

                        Personal blogs.  Most popular website in

Montana

?

 

Thought experiment.*

            Everyone is unhappy.

 

            Commenters are unhappy:

 

                        Don’t like subject.  (boring)

                        Don’t like writing style.  (jarring, big words, small words, verbose.)

                        Don’t like penmanship (design).

                        Don’t like the person. (vulgarity)

                        Don’t like the implications of the writing.  (Political divide.)

 

Suck it up.  Commenters are not blogging. Writing is blogging.  So why would the bloggers be unhappy?

 

            Don’t like criticism.

            Don’t like attitude.

            Didn’t meet expectations!

 

Differences.

           

Blogging is opt in.  The happiest bloggers are likely those who don’t accept comments.

                       

                        The writer chooses to write.  Why?

                                    Acclaim.

                                    Importance.  (impact)

                                    Validation.  (agreement)

                                    Frustration.  (venting).

                                    Profit!  (silly)

 

                        Commenters challenge that.

 

                                    First read is not a choice, Comment is.

                                    Subsequent read is a choice.

                                    Personality (conflict, no conflict, strong, weak.)

                         Commenters stand in opposition to the blogger.

Relationship building and impact.

 

                        Expectation as a tool of relationship.

 

                                    Like minded, (acceptance)

                                    Contrary minded.  (Debate vs. disagreeable disagreement.)

                                    Trolls.

                                                Personal exposure and anonymity.

                                                Public exposure. (politicians)

                                                Trolls seek to usurp power from where it belongs.

 

                        Ultimate power and setting the rules to serve that.

 

Commenters are at a disadvantage because they don’t know the rules.

 

The blogger sets the rules.

Those rules should and must serve the expectations of the blogger.

 

The real power of blogging is in fulfilling expectations of blogger and commenters.  Community is built.

 

                                    Like minded community (social networking)

                                    Advocacy and organization.

                                    It’s dynamic, organic and fungible.

The media sucks.  Its expectations are well known.  We all agree on             that.

Evolution.  (Social networking, change in standards, the government.)

 

Discussion.

*The thought experiment was really simple.  I asked everyone in the room to imagine that I had given them 20 minutes to write a 'blog post'.  Then, they were to have 5 other people read it.  The end result?  Everyone in the room is unhappy about something, because at least one of the 5 readers didn't like something about what the 'blogger' wrote.

Keep in mind that I am available for finer parties, Bar Mitzvahs, funerals, proms and sporting events.  My fee structure is such that I require lunch and at least an hour of good fishing talk with an attractive woman.

P.S.  The outline was copied from a Word document, so blame the formatting issues on that.  There's times I really hate Microsoft.

ECW Community Meetup

Before anything else is written, I want to extend heartfelt thanks to Gregg Smith.  He opened his heart, his will, his mind and his home to the blogging community of Montana.  He, and his beloved, hosted a great event.  I also want to sincerely thank Bob Adney, and the Treasure State Network.  They bought me lunch; well, me and everyone else.  That was *cool* in a can, no lie.  Finally, I want to thank my beloved for giving me up for a whole Saturday, and letting me borrow her car which a) gets vastly better gas mileage than my truck, and b) simply looks far sweeter cruising down the road.

I had the rather unbelievable honor of tooling to Great Falls this Saturday to meet with other bloggers and blog commenters and spouses of the web addicted.  Gregg had asked me to present a talk, and I simply couldn't refuse him.  In all honesty, I was as nervous as hell.  I disagree rather vehemently with many of those I thought might be there, and more to the point, they disagree with me.  I sincerely felt like a guy who'd gotten dared to step in a bear trap, and did it just for the filming of the next Jackass movie.  But, Gregg had some confidence in me, and I wasn't gonna let him down.  Hopefully, I didn't.

I'm not going to go into a whole lot of specifics about who was there, what we did (other than have fun), or the play-by-play.  If you expect that, Sorry!  I'm mostly going to give my general impressions.  Since time is limited for me, this may spread out over several posts.

The initial get-together at the restaurant was awkward, I haven't doubt.  Most everyone there was from Great Falls, and that's why I refer to this as an ECW community meetup.  The only out-of-towners were from Bozeman.  I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get to meet some of the folks from Missoula.  (But I am hopeful that the next such grouping will take place there.)  I was relieved that Dave Budge wasn't there.  Get the two of us in the same room and it might be like matter/anti-matter.  Shit might go terribly wrong.  Those that were there certainly didn't know what to expect from me, and I had no clue what to expect from them.  That was the perfect way to begin.

The talk went well.  I strayed from my narrative a bit, and left a bunch of stuff out, but I was more interested in hearing what others had to say in response.  The point of my presentation was that commenters/readers are the bane of bloggers because of differing expectations, and that bringing them together builds community which will satisfy all parties.  It's win/win.  Because the attendees shared a respect for Gregg and the idea of community, they were remarkably receptive to, what is in my mind, an obvious message.  There are websites in Montana that are really building some things that are powerful, and Electric City Weblog is one of them.  They are building community.  I don't state this as proof of thesis, but as a witness to what happened on Saturday.  Trust me, that was cool beans.

Many of the people there were/are associated with GF city government.  I am stunned with how well they have embraced the online media as a tool and as a forum.  That struck me hard, but on many levels.  It struck that Great Falls is not only isolated in geography but in outlook.  They see themselves as 'different'.  (Don't mistake me.  Many other Montana cities do as well, but this was different from my experience.)  These are the people of the river.  It infuses their lives.

I did finally get to meet an old nemesis/friend.  David Sherman was there.  We have been together online for a very long time.  He had a strong invite to party in my backyard, but didn't do so.  Finally, I got to meet him.  I have real affection for this guy.  He has been many places, but adores his community in Great Falls.  I do wish him the best.

Time is up.  More later.