Burnt Orange Report

I see a pattern, do you?

By Jim Dallas

First Tom DeLay criticizing Justice Kennedy for doing research on the Internet ("that's outrageous!"). Now, Bob Novak criticizing NARAL lobbyists for searching public records (from Pandagon).

(To be sure, CNET argues DeLay might have (operative word "might") had a point; although I disagree -- judges do conduct sua sponte investigations often enough for lawyers to invent the term sua sponte and law students to know what sua sponte means. I'd criticize a judge for doing bad research (ala Pierre Salinger), not for doing research.)

I'm a bit torn on this issue, so let me elaborate. Normally us liberal types are for individual privacy. When you go and compile information on people without their permission, that makes us liberal types cranky.

But I, personally, would note, that once you've compiled the data, the worst thing that you can do is to hog it for yourself. David Brin, who normally writes science fiction, wrote a book a few years back making this argument - that it's better to have transparency.

People who go ape about search engines are not trying to defend privacy. They are trying to keep you from getting your hands on information that exists and someone else would otherwise hoard - and hoarding for their benefit, NOT for yours. Information not only "wants" to be free, it must if we are to have a free and accountable society.

Die, Nazi Spam, Die!

By Jim Dallas

I'm moderately frustrated by spam for herbal viagra and free porn. I'd probably be slightly frustrated by spam selling world peace and universal harmony (now only $19.95).

But German hate spam, apparently the product of a virus, has assaulted my gmail account, and it pisses me off in ways I didn't even know I could be pissed off.

Update Firefox

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Just to let y'all know, Firefox has released an update to 1.0.4 now. If you havn't yet, update your browsers. If you havn't made the switch from Explorer (or god forbid, Netscape) switch to Firefox. I know personally that Byron and I (and many of the Student Government and University Democrats leaders on campus) are Firefox fans with its tabbed browsing and all of the great plugins that can be coupled with it.

Don't Panic

By Jim Dallas

We're often asked, "what can I do to improve my blog?" Stephen Fry and Joby Talbot answer this question. iTunes required.

Another Blogger Story

By Byron LaMasters

This time from the Fort Worth Star Telegram. My position remains the same - any publicity is good publicity, so thanks for the plug to BOR. We get top listing under "Popular Texas political bloggers":

Burnt Orange Report -- Byron LaMasters of Dallas, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, and friends cover state politics. They support the Democratic party. www.BurntOrangeReport.com

I can't complain with that, and I certainly appreciate the plugs from State Rep. Aaron Pena's blog.

Texas Lege Group Blog

By Byron LaMasters

Aaron Pena is turning our Democratic legislators into legislator-bloggers. Check out the Lone Star Rising. It currently has posts from Rep. Rafael Anchia (D-Dallas), Rep. Veronica Gonzales (D-McAllen) and Rep. Joe Deshotel (D-Beaumont).

Via Grits for Breakfast.

Firefox 1.0.2

By Byron LaMasters

Via Kuff, I see that there's a new version of Firefox to download. Once you switch from Internet Explorer to Firefox, you won't be switching back. Download it here for free.

BOR on CNN's Inside Politics?

By Byron LaMasters

I've received several emails this afternoon telling us that we got a plug on CNN's Inside Politics today. I didn't have the chance to watch, but I'm curious - what exactly did they say?

Let us know in comments...

Update: Ok, via email, here's the transcript (emphasis mine):

CROWLEY: Tom DeLay is among the hot topics in the blogsphere today. Here with me now to tell us all about it are CNN political producer Abbi Tatton and our blog reporter Jacki Schechner. Jacki, what are you hearing about Tom DeLay, or reading, I guess?

JACKI SCHECHNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Candy. What we're reading about in regard to Tom DeLay is just the blogs, especially those on the left, keeping track of what is going on; all of his alleged ethical transgressions. Not so much digging on their part but really sort of collecting a roundup of what has been going on. Over at the Burnt Orange Report, a liberal Texas blog, they smell blood. He says: "There's something big coming soon," over at Running Scared, another liberal blog. They say: "While the Democrats are drooling, the Republicans are concerned. And he says: "With new allegations servicing on a near daily basis, the bug man is rapidly becoming a liability." So speaking of daily.

ABBI TATTON, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Yes. If you're having trouble of keeping track of all the DeLay stories out there, go to thedailydelay.blogspot.com. This gives you a roundup of all the different mainstream media stories out there on the congressman. Now Congressman Tom DeLay is also the subject of tomorrow's Blog Call. This is a group of liberal and progressive bloggers who have got together. They don't want to wait around for the mainstream media to pick up on their exposes. They want attention. So they have organized this weekly conference call, a blog call, where they're inviting members of the mainstream media to call in and find out what they're blogging about. Not reading the blogs themselves, actually calling up on the phone. Now this was the subject of a New York Times piece today that lots of bloggers have been linking to and reading and commenting on. Here, Amy Langfield (ph), not a political blogger, but read this this morning in The New York Times and she wonders why reporters can't just read the Internet. "This story," she says, "it's about some frothy political bloggers holding a conference call so reporters don't know how to use the Internet can listen to bloggers talk about what they've posted on sites in the past week. Just shoot me now."

Continued in the extended entry...

SCHECHNER: It's actually organized by a democrats.com, which is a liberal site, the Blog Call is organized by them. So obviously on the conservative side they are lashing out. They've got some pretty harsh words. We found one that was a little less scathing, and it's Outside the Beltway. And they say that they have no problems with bloggers trying to get notice in the mainstream press, or with activist bloggers banding together to get the message out. Their problem, this was interesting, is that the conference calls represent bloggers acting as political operatives and not as journalists. Another story that the blogosphere is talking about, the blogs talking about the blogs today, feels like a Monday, is that over at -- it was News Day, it was Stephen Levy's (ph) article -- or Newsweek, I'm sorry, my bad, Newsweek. Stephen Levy's article about the blogosphere being made up of primarily white males, or dominated by white males. A lot of the blogs think this is just a perception. It's not actually in fact the case. There are some people who feel that that's what's going on. But they have got some arguments against it over at Air Force Voices. This gentleman says he's a Hispanic male, so maybe he should just stop blogging, being sarcastic. What he liked about Captain Ed, over at Captain's Quarters, is he talks about he marketed his blog. He's one of the bigger blogs. And says that in short: "I took the time to learn my market and adapted accordingly. I haven't stopped marketing the blog either and don't plan to any time soon.

TATTON: Chrisnolan.com (ph) here, this is a female journalist writing about politics, the media and the Internet. She is saying -- she is talking about this and she has 10 issues here. One of the things she points out, this medium was first taken up by techies. And she's saying that men are linking to men even though the blogosphere has gotten much larger, most of these men still reading the guys they started out with three years ago. There are broader horizons but it's pretty much just talk.

My general mantra on blogging is that any publicity is good publicity. Even when the mainstream media attacks blogs, their attacks only serve to spur interest in our medium - thus increasing our visibilty and traffic. So, I take pride in the fact that CNN is watching what we write here.

SXSW Interactive blogging

By Nathan Nance

I'm in Austin today blogging the SXSW Interactive Festival. Right now I'm sitting in a panel discussion on blogging about online worlds. Not real worlds; online worlds.

But at least these are our people. They're gamers and bloggers.

I'll be blogging all day from the Conention Center, liveblogging the keynote interiew of Wonkette at 2, and the Al Franken conversation at 5:30. It'll be over at my blog Common Sense at its new URL and blog host. Eileen from In the Pink and Pink Dome are supposed to be here as well.

Not exactly related

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

Just a public service announcement. If you want a G-mail (google e-mail, 1 gigabyte) Account, just leave a comment with the e-mail address you want me to send the invitation to. I have 50 invites and don't mind tossing a few overboard.

Sign the Letter

By Byron LaMasters

All bloggers, left to right, should sign this letter.

Late Night Fun

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

For all of you Austin students that read us, I would encourage you to join the "I Read the Burnt Orange Report" facebook group. Because we love you just as much as we think you love us.

Guest Blogging

By Vince Leibowitz

You know those people the late-night talk show hosts always have on their shows when a big name cancels or when, is in the early days of the Jimmy Kimmel Show, no one really famous wanted to come on the show? The low "B" and "C" list celebraties?

Well, if the Blogsphere has such a list, I'm on it. In addition to my guest posting here at BOR, I've also been asked to participate in a blog from Wood County, Wood County Issues. It's a blog that covers a lot of local politics (check out this great post about a letter the DA recently sent out) plus a wide variety of "other" material like the dangers of feeding deer at Holly Lake Ranch.

Though I'm a Van Zandt County resident, I used to live in Wood County (for more years than I like to remember), so I still keep up with politics over there. Plus, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some other stuff from time to time.

So, now that I have added yet another blog to my list of guest-duties (which I'm very excited about, by the way), I'm wondering...should I send out some head shots and writing samples to try to get more guest gigs? You know, I could probably get quite a lot. I'd be like that guy who always goes on Letterman with all the zoo animals except, of course, without the zoo animals and much more entertaining.

Actually, that would probably not be a good idea. I'm pretty selective about sites I'll associate myself with. Wood County Issues has a reputation in Wood County for really getting down to the truth of various issues and breaking stories the local papers won't touch, so I am pleased to be a part of that. BOR's reputation is, well, obvious, and I am floored every time someone says they've seen my name here. Political State Report, the other blog I write for frequently, is another site that's getting more and more well-known and has a good reputation.

On the other hand, there are a number of blogs I just couldn't see myself writing for. At the same time, there are a number of Weblogs I'd just die to be able to write for on a regular basis in addition to my other blogging (hint, hint, hint to about three or four bloggers in the universe, by the way).

Seriously, though, check out Wood County Issues. I doubt I'll post there as frequently as I post here, but the site's publisher usually comes up with some interesting posts, if you're in to East Texas politics.

HoustonDemocrats.com

By Byron LaMasters

Good for the Harris County Democratic Party. They've started a blog - HoustonDemocrats.com. Via Greg and Kuff.

If they just fix their link to Kuff (which links to BOR instead), they should be all set.

Update: I'm happy to see that the link situation has been taken care of. Kudos to Harris County Dems!

Blogging and Pro-Wrestling

By Jim Dallas

From the frigid plains of Minnesota, Stone Cold Steve Perry takes on Preacher Hewitt:

What I'm talking about is evident in matters of idiom--the countless times, for example, that "liberal" is invoked as a taunting slur, roughly akin to the way "cheesehead" or "the fucking Yankees" might be tossed off on a sports-chat board. It's more than a matter of style; there's a worldview lurking beneath it, and what the worldview entails is summed up in the old Vince Lombardi maxim that winning isn't everything--it's the only thing. Now of course electoral politics has always been about winners and losers in a very important sense. But has there ever been a political moment so openly defined by swagger and triumphalism for their own sake--the will to humiliate the vanquished, grind them underfoot for the sheer pleasure of showing them who's boss? As a popular post-election sweatshirt hawked at the Drudge Report exulted, W is for Winner. Enough said.

What's at stake here in one sense is the difference between the moral universe of the citizen and that of the fan. For the fan, the only crucible that finally matters is being on the winning side. To ask whether what's being won is worth having, or in the public interest, or whether these victories may set the stage for future calamity, is about as interesting and sensible from the fan's point of view as suggesting that the Vikings really ought to think twice about playing the Packers this year (or, more nonsensically still, that bad things may befall them if they beat the Packers). As for the current censorial tenor of politics chat, the most rudimentary piece of fan etiquette is that the spoils and the bragging rights accrue to winners. Trash talk from losers is not endured in good humor. Failing to shut up after your side has been vanquished is an outrageous bit of bad manners--or, when it's politics we're talking about, an un-American activity.

The mindset expresses itself in a variety of ways. There's the reader who wrote to me shortly after the invasion of Iraq to ask, So what if Bush lied his way into war? It worked. The gleeful contempt with which the epithet "losers" was thrown around after the last election, as if it were the only word they could think of that was worse than "liberal." And the party the Power Line crew is throwing itself tonight at the Center of the American Experiment to mark Dan Rather's forced retirement. Will they rent Stuart Scott from ESPN to lead the room in his trademark winner's jeer, "BOO-Yaa!"? Whatever else you may say about Bush/Rove, they certainly didn't conjure this impulse into being.

You see this streak of end-over-means, in-your-face triumphalism playing itself out in the political alliances now coalescing on the right, where anti-tax, government-off-our-backs libertarians are seen to lie down with religious conservatives who want a government at least expansive enough to make sure no one out there is doing anything of which Jesus might disapprove. Or consider the right-wing blogs' dueling weapon of choice, a practice known as "fisking" that consists of reproducing whole stories from other media and yelling at them in hectoring, frequently disjointed asides until the fisk-er either reaches the end of the text or passes out from hyperventilating. It's a performance whose outcome is fixed with a wink from the start, like professional wrestling or, more exactly, like the version of pro wrestling Rush Limbaugh brought to the radio so long ago now: heroes-and-villains political entertainment made in a controlled setting, with lots of ranting rhetorical takedowns and no fretting over questions of equal time or accuracy. It's a show, folks.

A show... without spandex.

And of course, just like wrestling, blogging is totally tag-team. (See the full details here.)

Firefox 1.0.1

By Byron LaMasters

I just downloaded the latest version of Firefox. You should, too. Link here.

DemsTV

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

I noticed thanks to a Washington Post article that DemsTV.com should be launching in the next day.

Two Democratic political consultants are preparing to launch a weekly online political talk show that will showcase the party's message, lambaste Republicans and, they hope, open a new front in the ongoing media wars.

It's called DemsTV.com, and each Tuesday, beginning tomorrow, the Web site will feature 20 minutes or so of talking-head chatter from a rotating cast of young Democratic operatives.

"The primary focus is on politics, and, frankly, a heavy focus is on pointing out the foibles and scandals and dirty little secrets of Republicans that we think don't receive as much coverage in the mainstream media as they might," said Dan Manatt, one of the producers.

This week, he said, the program will include opposition research on the GOP's possible 2008 presidential candidates, the panelists' picks for the "blogger of the week" and their predictions of who will be the most important Democratic leaders in the coming years.

The program, which its creators say is the video equivalent of a blog, does not have any formal connection to the Democratic National Committee.

Bloggers To Feel FEC "Wrath?"

By Vince Leibowitz

"Bradley Smith [of the Federal Election Commission] says that the freewheeling days of political blogging and online punditry are over.

Give me a break. Please.

Via Off The Kuff, I found this article which did anything but make me want to run out and hire personal FEC compliance counsel:

In just a few months, he warns, bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list, depending on the details, could be punished by fines.

Smith should know. He's one of the six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, which is beginning the perilous process of extending a controversial 2002 campaign finance law to the Internet.

In 2002, the FEC exempted the Internet by a 4-2 vote, but U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly last fall overturned that decision. "The commission's exclusion of Internet communications from the coordinated communications regulation severely undermines" the campaign finance law's purposes, Kollar-Kotelly wrote.

Smith and the other two Republican commissioners wanted to appeal the Internet-related sections. But because they couldn't get the three Democrats to go along with them, what Smith describes as a "bizarre" regulatory process now is under way.

Gee. Could they now want to regulate the Blogsphere simply because, uh, so many blogs are progressive and Democrat-leaning? Hummm.

Thanks to McCain-Feingold, which I've never been convinced is just a terribly wonderful piece of legislation because I think it sends more money "underground" than ever before, Smith seems to think Bloggers may not be eligible for the "press exemption" within the law:

The real question is: Would a link to a candidate's page be a problem? If someone sets up a home page and links to their favorite politician, is that a contribution? This is a big deal, if someone has already contributed the legal maximum, or if they're at the disclosure threshold and additional expenditures have to be disclosed under federal law.

Certainly a lot of bloggers are very much out front. Do we give bloggers the press exemption? If we don't give bloggers the press exemption, we have the question of, do we extend this to online-only journals like CNET?

How can the government place a value on a blog that praises some politician? How do we measure that? Design fees, that sort of thing? The FEC did an advisory opinion in the late 1990s (in the Leo Smith case) that I don't think we'd hold to today, saying that if you owned a computer, you'd have to calculate what percentage of the computer cost and electricity went to political advocacy.

It seems absurd, but that's what the commission did. And that's the direction Judge Kollar-Kotelly would have us move in. Line drawing is going to be an inherently very difficult task. And then we'll be pushed to go further. Why can this person do it, but not that person?

How about a hyperlink? Is it worth a penny, or a dollar, to a campaign? I don't know. But I'll tell you this. One thing the commission has argued over, debated, wrestled with, is how to value assistance to a campaign.

So, if a hyperlink is a contribution, what about wearing a campaign tee-shirt or a campaign button? Would I have to divide up the area of my shirt by the space of the button to calculate the cost of the space the button takes up? If I go to Wal-Mart and more people see it, is that worth more? If a fat man wears a campaign tee-shirt, is that a greater contribution because it's more visible than on a baby, for example? If an extoridnarily beautiful woman dons a campaign tee-shirt is that worth more because more men will want to look at her?

Corporations aren't allowed to donate to campaigns. Suppose a corporation devotes 20 minutes of a secretary's time and $30 in postage to sending out letters for an executive. As a result, the campaign raises $35,000. Do we value the violation on the amount of corporate resources actually spent, maybe $40, or the $35,000 actually raised? The commission has usually taken the view that we value it by the amount raised. It's still going to be difficult to value the link, but the value of the link will go up very quickly.

This is totally absurd. Can anyone say (scream) FIRST AMENDMENT PROTECTION? I'd personally volunteer to be a test case for this garbage.

More:

The problem with coordinated activity over the Internet is that it will strike, as a minimum, Internet reporting services.

They're exempt from regulation only because of the press exemption. But people have been arguing that the Internet doesn't fit under the press exemption. It becomes a really complex issue that would strike deep into the heart of the Internet and the bloggers who are writing out there today. (Editor's note: federal law limits the press exemption to a "broadcasting station, newspaper, magazine or other periodical publication." )

There's sensitivity in the commission on this. But remember the commission's decision to exempt the Internet only passed by a 4-2 vote.

This time, we couldn't muster enough votes to appeal the judge's decision. We appealed parts of her decision, but there were only three votes to appeal the Internet part (and we needed four). There seem to be at least three commissioners who like this.

How can the commission not want to exempt the Internet? How is a Weblog any different from a newspaper editorial endorsing a candidate? It's not, except because of the medium by which it is delivered. If they're going to not exempt the Internet, then, in my view, they would have to un-exempt any newspaper that prints editorial endorsements.

Here's a real kicker:

I'd like someone to say that unpaid activity over the Internet is not an expenditure or contribution, or at least activity done by regular Internet journals, to cover sites like CNET, Slate and Salon. Otherwise, it's very likely that the Internet is going to be regulated, and the FEC and Congress will be inundated with e-mails saying, "How dare you do this!"

This is totally stupid. "Activity done by regular Internet journals to cover sites like CNET, Slate and Salon." Clearly, this would be ripe for litigation. Why would BOR or other sites not qualify? Many sites are written by ex-journliats (In the Pink Texas) or have ex-journalists that contribute (this one, me being the ex-journalist). Furthermore, this day and age, what is considered a "regular" Internet journal, and who is a journalist? It's about like defining what the meaning of "is" is. If you report what you see, write a column on something, etc., you are engaging in the practice of journalism, whether you are working for major media or just posting on some little hole in the wall at BlogCity or Blogspot.

It's going to be a battle, and if nobody in Congress is willing to stand up and say, "Keep your hands off of this, and we'll change the statute to make it clear," then I think grassroots Internet activity is in danger. The impact would affect e-mail lists, especially if there's any sense that they're done in coordination with the campaign. If I forward something from the campaign to my personal list of several hundred people, which is a great grassroots activity, that's what we're talking about having to look at.

If no one in Congress is really willing to stand up (and I doubt that), then it's time for the folks on the Hill to grow some cajones. This has got to be nipped in the bud, and quickly.

Q. If Congress doesn't change the law, what kind of activities will the FEC have to target?

A. We're talking about any decision by an individual to put a link (to a political candidate) on their home page, set up a blog, send out mass e-mails, any kind of activity that can be done on the Internet.

Again, blogging could also get us into issues about online journals and non-online journals. Why should CNET get an exemption but not an informal blog? Why should Salon or Slate get an exemption? Should Nytimes.com and Opinionjournal.com get an exemption but not online sites, just because the newspapers have a print edition as well?

Why wouldn't the news exemption cover bloggers and online media?
Because the statute refers to periodicals or broadcast, and it's not clear the Internet is either of those. Second, because there's no standard for being a blogger, anyone can claim to be one, and we're back to the deregulated Internet that the judge objected to. Also I think some of my colleagues on the commission would be uncomfortable with that kind of blanket exemption.

"The deregulated Internet?" Yes, that's kind of how it is supposed to be, given that, by and large, free speech is deregulated. Consider the irony in this, should Blogs be regulated: It is constitutional to burn a flag in protest, but it is a violation of the law to put a campaign site link on your blog. So, so wrong.

And, how can you get off saying Blogs are neither periodicals or broadcast media? Periodicals are publications updated regularly (blogs), and the Internet sure seems to me to be "broadcast."

Q. So if you're using text that the campaign sends you, and you're reproducing it on your blog or forwarding it to a mailing list, you could be in trouble?

A. Yes. In fact, the regulations are very specific that reproducing a campaign's material is a reproduction for purpose of triggering the law. That'll count as an expenditure that counts against campaign finance law.

This is an incredible thicket. If someone else doesn't take action, for instance in Congress, we're running a real possibility of serious Internet regulation. It's going to be bizarre.

God yes, it's going to be bizarre. Could you imagene the horror at the FEC when two million bloggers start sending in federal spending reports? Seriously, though, this is potentially one of the dumbest things anyone has talked about in a while.

If they're going to consider Blogs as expenditures to count against campaign finance law, then they'll have to make everyone who wears a tee-shirt, puts a bumper sticker on their car, or a yard sign in their yard "count against," too. Clearly, a yard sign and a blog are both free speech. If you're going to say one form "counts" moneywise, then you've got to say the other counts, too--and not just in that the campaign spent the money to print it, but in that someone put it on prominent display in their yard. At least, to me, this is a logical defense against regulation of the Internet.

Grits for Breakfast Wins Best Single Issue Blog Award

By Byron LaMasters

Congrats to Grits for Breakfast - a local Austin blog focused on Texas Criminal Justice System for winning the highly prestigious Koufax Award for "Best Single Issue" blog.

Congrats to all the other winners as well.

Most Humorous Blog

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

The Koufax Bloggin awards are out, and in the most humorous category we get Jesus' General, who brings us this most wonderful cartoon which by far beats the anti-AARP ad.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Blog Comments

By Jim Dallas

A surreal thing happened today in the blogosphere. I can't really describe it, so just read these two posts:

First. Second.

Look, ever since the beginning of politics and journalism (the second and third oldest professions, respectively), there have been hierarchies which has tended to disregard input from the bottom ranks since the folks at the top tend to generate much, much more noise. That isn't to say that it's purely a power relationship; there's a rational reason why the top dogs get to the top. Still, the stratification of power tends to have a rather suppressive tendency. And when issues of concern do wind their way up the food-chain, it's usually in a highly-digested form (with credit not always going to where it is due).

I guess it was only a matter of time before this latest experiment in dot-communism eventually resulted in such blow-ups. That said, some forms of organization are considerably more permissive of bottom-up percolation.

Bets may now be placed on how long, if ever, the blogosphere will take to organize itself into an optimal information-synthesizing institution.

Some Texas Blogs I've found Recently

By Byron LaMasters

Rio Grande Valley Politics and Dos Centavos...

Geez, those PowerLineBlog Republicans are real A**holes

By Byron LaMasters

Read this and you'll see why.

Update: I've been asked to note, via email, that the blogger in question, John Hinderaker has apologized for the email in this post here. It's clearly written to try and shift the blame back to his opponents on the left, but it's an apology nonetheless.

Jerry Brown Has A Blog?

By Vince Leibowitz

I can't remember now how I stumbled across the link, but it seems that Oakland Mayor, former California Governor, and several-time Democratic Presidential Candidate Jerry Brown has a blog.

It's a Typepad blog, is pretty plain-jane and only has two posts. But, it is interesting that public officials are taking to the Blogsphere.

My question is why don't more elected officials have blogs? Maybe they should read this article on how blogs could be used to better inform their constituents.

Of course, the problem with any elected official writing anything is that their staff usually will end up writing it for them. However, with Brown's blog, I thought surely he must have done it himself, or else it might have been a little more flashy.

Even if written by "staff," blogging would be a good thing for the Texas Lege. Except for press releases and lots of stats, most of their websites are pretty useless. At least one Rep has already attempted to harness the power of blogs, Rep. Aaron Pena.

I mean, seriously, if you've ever been in the gallery of the Texas House or Senate you know there is a lot of "down time," so to speak. So, why not sit there and send your constituents a little note about what you're doing, via blog. Or, heck, "liveblog" some of that lovely debate such as we witnessed in 2003 over tort reform.

If I was in the lege, I'd tend to try to throw some humor into my blog, and would then probably get screwed come election time after the opponent's consultants sent out a mailer with what I wrote. For example, if I were in the House, I might write...

We're having some debate on HB 111111 today. It's rather amusing. I stopped listening to the Republicans an hour ago, because their arguments are all the same. Betty Brown broke her heel on the way up to the well of the House. Poor, Betty. We all laughed. I'm glad she is OK though. She could have sprained something. And Speaker Craddick looks like he used a little too much hairspray this morning. Can you believe Texas Monthly put him on the cover? Does he really have that much power? Also, did you know they have little "cartons" of Blue Bell Ice Cream in the lounge like we used to get in school? I've eaten 10 already today and it's only 1:30. One of the perks of being in the Legislature. Oh, and today I filed a bil to dismantle Governor Perry's Economic Development "slush fund." More on that later. Oh, wait...we're going to either vote on something or adjourn for lunch or something. Oh, but before I go, what is with all those people in the gallery today? Someone dropped a cell phone from the gallery on down to the house floor. But one of those guys in blue jackets snatched it up the minute it hit the floor. How amusing. Remember, folks in HDXX, if you bring your cell phones into the gallery, don't lean over the railing while holding it in your hand. You're just asking for an accident. I'll be back in the district this weekend and having lunch at the local BBQ place on Sunday, so everyone come by and see me, ya' hear?!

Well, I probably wouldn't blog anything quite like that (then again, maybe I would), but you get my point. By the way, all of that is fictious except the thing about the Blue Bell Ice Cream and the cell phone. My State Representative told me that about the Blue Bell a couple of years ago, and I thought it was neat. But, the stuff isn't free. I think they have to pay like a quarter for it or something. As for the cell phone thing, I saw it happen on the floor, but of the Senate, back in 2003 when I was on the floor where the "credentialed media" congregate during Van Zandt County Days.

Seriously, though, who in the Blogsphere can't see the potential for the state of Texas buying a giant MT license package and letting every state-level elected official have a blog? Supreme Court Justices! Railroad Commissioners! The Speaker! Heck, MT might even give it to the state gratis just for all the publicity they'd get.

Now, think what would happen if every member of the Lege had a web cam attached to those handy little laptops on their desk. Oohhh, the possibilities...

Vince Leibowitz is County Chairman of the Democratic Party of Van Zandt County.

Koufax Award Finalists

By Byron LaMasters

We didn't make the finals in any of the Koufax Awards categories, but go support the two Texas/Texan blogs that made it in the Best Single Issue Blog category - The Daily DeLay and Grits for Breakfast - although unfortunately, you can only vote for one.

Another Capitol Blog

By Byron LaMasters

For an in-depth look at the goings-on of the lege sans the pink, check out Inside the Texas Capitol.

Things are Getting Pink

By Byron LaMasters

It's another week, and it's another pink Texas blog - this one is In the Pink Texas, not to be confused with the Barbie homepage, InThePink.com. That makes two weeks in a row where Texas blog readers have been treated to a new "pink" blog. Last week we found Pink Dome.

In the Pink, Texas will be blogging on the Texas legislature from the capitol, so I look forward to the reporting.

Wonkette has arrived in Texas

By Byron LaMasters

Washington D.C. has its online gossip queen, and with all the wackiness of the Texas legislature, it makes sense that Austin should have one as well. I had my chance a year ago, but I passed on taking it up full-time.

So, for those of you with the burning desire to know the answer to such questions as which state representative is knowledgeable in the art of feng shui, or which state representative has smeared Vaseline on her official photo, then check out Pink Dome.

Pandagon Gets a Divorce

By Byron LaMasters

Ezra has left, relocating to Typepad, while Jesse will remain at Pandagon.

Best of luck to them in dividing their assests. I'll have to add Ezra to my Bloglines, and of course, I wish them well in their future blogging endeavors. They're both great writers, and I enjoy reading both.

Loving the Koufax Awards

By Byron LaMasters

This is the first year where I've really paid attention to the Koufax Awards - the premier lefty blogosphere award. Perhaps it's because we were nominated for two awards, but it's also been a great opportunity to take a look at new blogs, and take a look at posts that I missed earlier in the year.

I'd like to specifically mention the latest Koufax Awards for best series. I should have read through more of the blogs before voting, because there are several great series in there. I voted for the Delay Rule Exit Poll by the Daily DeLay because I appreciated their work in exposing Republicans for their vote on the Tom DeLay rule.

However, I'd also highly recommend the two nominations of Annatopia. She received two nominations for blogging the GOP Convention and for her personal abortion story (1, 2 and 3). I was moved by reading her personal abortion story for the first time tonight, and it reinforces my belief that as a man, especially as a gay man, that I have absolutely no way of ever understanding what a pregnant woman must be going through. I will never have a personal or secondary understanding of what decisions a pregnant woman must go through, and that's one of many reasons why I'm emphatically pro-choice.

For what it's worth, I'd probably vote for Anna's personal abortion story for best series at this point, so hopefully someone of my readers can vote for her to make up for my vote. I'll feel better when someone does.

Anyway, I would encourage all Texans to support your fellow Texas bloggers the Daily DeLay (maybe not a Texan, but the topic is), and Annatopia... not to forget Norbizness.

Vote here.

Something EPIC

By Karl-Thomas Musselman

In the year 2014, The New York Times has gone offline.
The Fourth Estate's fortunes have waned.
What happened to the news?
And what is EPIC?

Watch this future history of the media.
Think News. Think Blogs. Think Different.

And then see this cartoon, Fossil Fuel Terrorists.

Memes and things

By Jim Dallas

Professor Mixon is a big fan of memes, if only because it allows him to say "it [a particular meme such as democracy] has infected your brain like a virus!" every class.

Oh boy, and I thought I was getting bored of the "memes" meme by reading blogs...

Advice for New Bloggers

By Byron LaMasters

I just wrote an email to a new blogger asking for advice on how to build his traffic. I wrote him back with some suggestions for him, but they could just as easily be applied to any new or aspiring blogger out there, so I'll post it here (with a few modifications):

We've been at this blogging thing for almost two years now. Keeping and maintaining a blog regularly helps build traffic. It also helps to have a niche. Ours is Texas politics. My goal is to be one the best Texas political blogs. If your goal is to be the best blog anywhere, you'll fail. Find a niche and try to be the best at it.

The best way to get noticed is break a big story and get lots of linkage. That doesn't happen too often, so most of us have to resort to other methods. As for building traffic, the best way to get noticed is to post a lot (hopefully with your own thoughts, not just rehashing those of others), comment a lot on other blogs, and post on other people's posts, and ping them in trackbacks. People won't just magically come to you, but if you make yourself known on other blogs, you'll see some inquiring minds wander over. If they like the content, they'll stay and come back.

Finally, be patient. Lots of traffic doesn't come overnight. Don't blog because you want to make money off of it, or you want to be famous. Blog because you like blogging. There are much easier ways to make money or get famous. I average $150 / month through advertising now, but even after two years, that's still less than minimum wage if I divide that by the number of hours I spend blogging a month.

Anyway, best of luck.

The first step is admitting that you have a problem

By Nathan Nance

Guest post by Nate Nance

I guess all our fussing and feuding over accountability has sparked someone's interest, Harvard is hosting a conference called Blogging, Journalism & Credibility this weekend.

In order to promote the event, the organizers started a blog. There will be relatively few people actually there, but it is being Web cast live and will apparently be interactive. I'm going to check it out. This is something of interest to me and to I guess most of you as well. How do bloggers continue on their path to changing the world and not end up the whipping boys of the mainstream media? Find out this weekend.

On Kos, Jerome Etc.

By Andrew Dobbs

If anyone ever doubts that Kos and Jerome are loved, check out the defenses poured out on the posts I put up about their blogs. Even though I was the guy "attacking" them, I was bending over backwards to be nice to them. And don't get me started on their defenders- damn if they aren't passionate about the men. You gotta respect a man that can drum up that kind of support. And I do.

What I said was probably written in a bit too much haste. My point I think is valid- even if there could be the appearance that Frost's abandoning Kos' website last year could influence Kos' coverage, he should say something. Its not about whether Kos is a good guy or a bad guy- I know he is a very good guy. It is whether not-so-good guys on the other side will use this to discredit and harm us and our cause. I'm not attacking Kos, I'm trying to look out for him.

But I can understand why you all would interpret that differently, and I respect that. I apologize if I offended anyone, particularly Kos and Jerome. It wasn't intended as a cheap shot and that it was interpreted as such is distressing.

But I will say this- Kos is dead wrong about Frost. Martin Frost has done far more for this party and this country than any other person in this race. 14 congressmen, millions of dollars for state campaigns, revitalizing Dallas County Democrats, grassroots organizing all over this country. He may not have "net roots" cred, but this guy isn't the kind to throw a bunch of money at media consultants and kick back and expect the votes to roll in. He has provided for the training of thousands of door to door, grassroots activists. If you want a party that is democratic as well as Democratic, Martin Frost is your man.

Kos and others have gone to town on these TV ads, but they don't demonstrate Frost's devotion to the GOP- they show his ability to run a campaign. First rule is to know your audience, know their values, know their interests and use this to craft a message that will convince them to support you. He knew that most of those people were Bush supporters, most of them because he was tough on "homeland security," and that these people weren't interested in some liberal type. So he spoke to them, and guess what? In a 65% GOP district he got 47% of the vote. That means that almost 1 out of ever 5 solid Republican voters crossed over for Frost. If that happened nationally, we would win in a landslide every time. He has the skill to win, and he's the right man for the job.

Martin Frost is a fine man- one who has demonstrated time and again his devotion to this party, this country and our cause- people-driven government. I will not hesitate to jump to his defense, and today I probably should have paused for at least a moment.

I hope you will all keep visiting, all the other guys are nice people. I apologize again if I hurt Kos or Jerome- that was not my intent. Everyone have a great week, and let's try and put this behind us.

Where Are the Disclaimers?

By Andrew Dobbs

Anyone who has been to MyDD or Daily Kos over the last couple of weeks have noticed that in their coverage of the DNC Chair race a couple of things stand out: a pretty intense support (even if left unstated) for Howard Dean and a pretty intense opposition to Martin Frost (stated loud and clear). This is their right, and though I disagree with them it doesn't make me think any less of them as bloggers. What does make me worry is their lack of disclosure on a couple of points.

First, that both of them are business partners in a consulting firm that counted Howard Dean as one of their clients, at least in the past. Once you've had financial ties to someone, you can't very well call yourself a journalist if you don't tag that onto every statement about the person- particularly when your statements appear contrived to make the person look good.

Secondly, that after Kos made some very foolish and hurtful remarks about private military contractors in Iraq (a position my Dad now holds- training Iraqi police commandos in Baghdad for DynCorp) Martin Frost withdrew his advertisements from Daily Kos. Once again, the guy essentially took money out of Kos' pocket and Kos never mentions this potential source of bias when he is reporting on the DNC Chair race.

This isn't meant to bash them or crib a page from the right wing talking points, but I think they should either give full disclosure or stop writing on this topic. As their coverage has been pretty good (if, as noted, a bit slanted towards one candidate) I would hope that they wouldn't give up reporting on the subject. But it is important that anyone who casually saunters onto their sites knows that this isn't just a couple of earnest progressives speaking their mind- they are two businessmen who are commenting upon former clients and unfriendly business associates.

If we ever want blogs to be taken seriously we have to live up to very high standards. When I talk about party matters I note (as I will note here) that I am an employee of the Texas Democratic Party and that nothing I say is meant to be representative of the views of the party, its staff, its chairmen, candidates, office holders, executive committee or contractors. Kos and Jerome should do the same, for the good of blogging.

I hope I didn't piss anyone off, but it needed to be said.

Broken clocks break speed record

By Jim Dallas

I use FireFox a lot when I'm using Windows (continuing my avoidant behavior to IE).

I found a blog comment linking to this Freep post which explains how to make Mozilla run a lot faster. And boy does it work!

Civilians and their darned blogs

By Jim Dallas

Brad DeLong points to this article about the positive role of bloggers and other citizen journalists.

I think the more appropriate term is "civilians," since obviously professional journalists are also citizens, whether they admit or not (unless they're big into civic journalism, but that's a different story), but that's just my opinion. And of course, in war, a civie can shoot you dead just as sure as any professional soldier (they're just not paid to do it).

Regardless, the article asks some big questions about how to integrate new and old media, which makes it worth reading.

Though I'd note that, in it's discussion about news aggregation, it fails to mention IndyMedia, which, despite it's radical tendencies, is (in my humble opinion), an overlooked model of structuring a medium.

My Thoughts On The Kos Non-Scandal

By Vince Leibowitz

Guest Post By Vince Leibowitz

I hate to give any more bandwith to a non-story than it's already getting, but I felt I had a few important points to make on this particular issue--given that I've worked in the realm of both the "traditional" media and for politicians, and been a blogger.

JimD noted in his earlier post on this subject:

What's really at issue is whether employment should (ethically) bar bloggers from writing about their employers. This is really a matter of following procedural ethical norms, not one of substantive honesty.

Jim is correct. This is a personal ethics issue for the blogger, not something that should have any impact on a blogger's credibility in any way, shape or form.

And, as I believe blogs fall under the category of jornalistic media, ethics can be a complicated, slippery slope to navigate when it comes to issues like this.

I firmly believe Kos took all the necessary steps to stay on the right side of the long gray line that is journalistic ethics. He clearly pointed out his affiliation, as mentioned in earlier posts, and acted responsibly.

However, this entire situation brings to light a much more important point: that Bloggers have become and will remain part of the "mainstream" media, thus subject to the close inspection and scruitany of our counterparts. Further, this very "non-scandal" shows just how much credibility blogs have gained in the United States. Since Kos is obviously one of the leaders in the field, it's no surprise to me that he's in the spotlight right now. Though the Kos stuff is a "non-issue," the style of coverage is similar to what happened with the New York Times and Jayson Blair. The NYT is one of the nation's leading newspapers. Any hint of scandal in its hallowed halls is a huge story. Since Kos is so popular, credible and essentially what many other bloggers strive to be, he's become the focus of the media spotlight.

This also points out that there is--and should be--somewhat of a different standard of ethics for bloggers than for mainstream media when it comes to specific areas like conflict of interest.

No one at a major newspaper would likely be allowed to consult for a candidate or be on their payroll while writing for that publication.

However, in the blogsphere, many of us are or have been on candidate's payrolls, worked on campaigns as volunteers, or hold leadership positions within our party. That said, some of us may have an inherant bias going into specific stories which may color what we do. But, the same is true in journalism. Though most mainstream journalists aren't simeltaniously working in campaigns or holding party leadership posts, they all have their opinions and biases and--regardless of what is said about the "unbiased media," those biases often show through in journalists' work.

Does that make them less credible? In most cases, no. While it might make them "muckrakers," who needlessly go after people, agencies, etc., it doesn't make them less credible. Facts are facts, though sometimes the benefit to the public of those facts becoming part of a front page story is debateable.

During my tenure as editor of the Van Zandt News, Canton Herald, and Wills Point Chronicle in Van Zandt County, I was put in the spotlight on one occasion in particular for a story I did about a county commissioner.

The commissioner, Ricky LaPrade (R-Grand Saline), hired his father to do dozer work for Van Zandt County and submitted bills to the County Treasurer to have him paid for that work. Obviously, that's a no-no (it's called nepotism). The County Auditor refused to pay the bill, and sent him a strongly-worded letter about nepotism.

I got wind of this, and secured the documents in question. I wrote a story about this incident with comments from the Auditor, District Attorney, and other officials. However, the Commissioner in question never returned my calls.

At the next meeting of the Van Zandt County Commissioners Court, County Judge Jeff Fisher (R-Martins Mill)--now the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas--criticized me, my story, my ethics, and my truthfulness in open court at the conclusion of the meeting and without provocation. He--a sitting judge who hears criminal cases mind you--put his arm around the commissioner in question and proceeded to say he'd done nothing wrong and was innocent of my trumped up, muckraking charges.

At the time, I was sitting in the jury box in the county courtroom, where the press usually sat. I decided I'd had enough of this garbage, and stood up and asked Fisher if I could now respond in the same fashion since he'd taken about five minutes to slam me in open court. Stunned, he agreed, so I walked out of the jury box to the court table and sat at the mic reserved for those speaking to the court. I launched into a five-minute recitation of the facts, noted that they were all from public records, and (perhaps my biggest mistake) criticized Fisher for so openly and loudly criticixing me, proclaiming LaPrade innocent, and intimating that I had a hidden agenda in writing the story. Keep in mind that at this time I was not the party activist I am now because of my job at the newspaper. In fact, I don't think that, up to this point (sometime in 2001), I had attended a single meeting of the Democratic Party in this county.

The other local media had a field day with this story, and wrote about it on their front pages--including when Fisher followed me to the hall continuing our exchange, which, at that point, was really rather polite. I, on the other hand, wrote nothing of it. Since our papers were the "big dog," (wealthiest, highest circulation, most awards, etc.) they couldn't wait to smear this exchange on their front pages.

Overall, it had little impact on me, my job, or my credibility. I was seen as defending myself by the public. Oddly, one local journalist who published a monthly newspaper focusing only on politics, compared Fisher to Nixon and made me out to be the hero in his column.

However, from that point on, I was hated by Fisher loyalists and most of the local GOP-establishment--in spite of the fact that they got just as much good press as they got bad press, which is the same thing that happened with Democrats during my tenure.

The point is that, as a journalist, blogger, or whatever, when you express a strong opinion, present stirring facts, or even get a lot of attention for simply doing good work, you're going to come under tremendous fire--sometimes from all sides.

When I was a journalist, the wall of awards I'd earned (including the Nancy Monson Award from the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas and the Texas Press Association) doesn't make any difference to the people who disagree with your or who are looking for a reason to bring you down. To those folks, credibility isn't the issue--you yourself are the issue.

As a blogger, on the other hand, I took a decidedly different appropach when I went to work for the Bob Glaze for State Representative Campaign as its Communications Director. I stopped blogging, period. I did't blog on my personal blog, Free State Standard, and I didn't contribute to the Political State Report, either. I stopped cold. Why? Not because I didn't want to promote my boss, that's for sure. In fact, if I had been blogging, I would have blogged on all of our opposition research and had a field day. Whould that have been credible? Yes, I had all the facts and sources to back it up. Would it have been considered a conflict of interest? Likely yes, by many, even if I stated I was working for Glaze. Would it have been useful? Without a doubt.

However, I stopped blogging for another reason entirely. I stopped blogging because I didn't want the campaign to be hurt or criticized for anything I published. I am, after all, quite opinionated, and tend to call things as I see them. And, most often, the GOP is the main source of my "wrath," so to speak. So, knowing this, I didn't want Glaze being painted as having hired a liberal member of the " liberal blogsphere" (or whatever) who had become a lightening rod for the campaign.

If I had to do it over again, however, I probably would have kept blogging during the campaign. For one thing, I'd have kept an online but private daily campaign journal. And I would have exposed Dr. Glaze's opponent for what he really is when it comes to his votes on the issues. Maybe it would have helped, maybe it wouldn't have helped. But, I think I would have felt better doing it.

The bottom line is that this entire Kos affair is a non-issue. It's pointless for the media to engage in it. But, it's something we should all come to expect. As we become the prefered source of news, opinion, and information for so many people, bloggers will begin to be attacked and will be put in the spotlight in ways we've never before thought about.

The idiocy of kos-gate

By Jim Dallas

This is not going to be a well-linked, well-worded post because the point I will be making is a simple one, and doesn't need lots of URLs to be self-evident.

Anyone alleging that the Dean campaign had an interest in surrepitously "buying" Markos or Jerome as a sort of fifth-column doesn't understand how Democratic politics work.

Do I think that the hiring of two well-known, well-read bloggers was calculated to improve Dean's standing among bloggers and grassroots activists. Obviously! When you hire consultants, you are not just buying a service, but also a bundle of things li