PSoTD

Trackbacks

I figured I better post this before the nightly Comcast crash...

Have you ever posted a trackback that just keeps sending you traffic? I posted one
for Majikthise's post on March 16th about her picks for Best movies of the 1990s... and I'm still getting traffic from it.

A Lobbyist News/Information Aggregator Blog

Follow the Money and I have been having a blog/comments discussion about lobbying. An initial point I made was that I thought serious political bloggers of all stripes ought to "adopt" a contract lobbyist/firm to report on in a regular and systematic approach. One of his enhancements to a point I was trying to make was that there should be some sort of Lobbyist News/Information Aggregator Blog.

To add a wee little bit, perhaps a single blog could act as an aggregator of the information put out by the dispersed information network of "adoptive parent blogs".

I suggest the above because it seems that over the past few months, different bloggers have taken on different subjects, each rather deeply. Josh Marshall on Social Security; Steve Clemons on the John Bolton nomination; Majikthise (sp?) was the go-to on Schiavo; Avaros on Gannon; Revere at Effect Measure on H5N1; and so on. Ultimately, an aggregator blog (in most of these cases, Eschaton) seemed to keep everything tied together. What appears to be a unplanned strategy (can it then be a strategy?) works exceptionally well...in-depth coverage for those who appreciate it, and a broader overview for scanning.


This would, I assume, work in areas where LobbyWatch doesn't tend to go into much detail - news and information about specific firms and individuals.

The question is, are there enough bloggers who take the time once a week, or two weeks, or a month, to research new information about an "adopted" contract lobbying firm, and post on their site and/or to an aggregator?

If so, I'd like to hear from you.

Who Benefits From Elimination of Federal Estate Tax

No, I'm not talking about the wealthy. Or the kids of the wealthy.

I'll tell you who I think are licking their chops on this: state governments. Does anyone really think that they won't jump on that opportunity hard? Take a look at what Oregon did in 2003.

It's quite an inheritance that state budgets are going to get from federal government if the federal estate tax dies. Unfortunately, the federal government is still going to need that money...

Thursday Morning Hat Tip

Thanks to the following bloggers for adding PSoTD to their blogroll!

sumo merriment
Florida Blues
Proof Through the Night

Cool!

Five Questions About Books

I thought I might slip through without displaying my relative lack of book readin', but Thivai at Dialogic tagged me today.

Q1 -- You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to save?

The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus, Volume 1 & 2. Somebody has to save some of the funniest skits of the last 200 years.

Okay, you mean it has to be a book when F451 was written? Then 1984, by George Orwell.

Q2 -- Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Does Jeannie, from I Dream of Jeannie, count?

Ah, if you mean from a book, not that I can remember.

Q3 -- The last book you bought is?

The Village of Bom Jesus, by Lloyd Hill. I rarely buy books. I tend to borrow them, receive them as gifts, etc. About the only time I'll buy a book is reading material for a trip. I bought this book for my last flight out to California.

Q4 -- What books are you currently reading?

America, by Jon Stewart; Trout Streams of Pennsylvania; The Collapse of the Third Republic, by William Shirer.

Q5 -- Five books you would take to a desert[ed] island?

The above mentioned Monty Python collection; Wilderness Living by Gregory Davenport (or whatever the best version of this type of book may be); Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract; Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (if for no other reason than as a club to kill small animals); and my senior year high school yearbook, so I could have a visual stimulus to remember all the stories from earlier in my life.

And now, for the really fun part... picking five people to tag.

Uncle Horn Head
Cernig at NewsHog
Dave at Fester's Place
Left of Center
Mamie over at Inside/Out

It seems like this meme has been out there a while, there were a lot of folks I couldn't pick because they had already done this.

End Result Orientation

From 11 News:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich majored in history and made his mark in politics, yet his message Tuesday was that the country could use fewer historians and political scientists and more mathematicians and engineers.

The Georgia Republican waded into a rare congressional policy debate since leaving the U.S. House, endorsing a measure by two Virginia lawmakers that would waive interest on student loans for college students who major in math, science or engineering.

Gingrich would like to go even further than the Wolf proposal.

His book suggests more controversial ideas, such as paying high school students the equivalent of what they'd make at a part-time job in exchange for staying home and hitting the books.

"If I see students who are dropping out of math and science so they can go to work at McDonald's and Burger King, we'd better roll up our sleeves, apply common sense and change the rules of the game wherever we need to," he said.

First things first - we should be working to keep students from dropping out of high school period. It doesn't matter if they're good at math or science or political science or history - or if they're not. Education is a benefit in and of itself.

Secondly, to take a page out of the Republicans' playbook, throwing money at this isn't the solution. There are strong societal pressures involved here that aren't going to be resolved by interest-free student loans. If a lobbyist or lawyer or entertainer or athlete gets paid $2 million per year in America and that information is splashed in Parade magazine and the news media in general, don't you think that is an incentive for folks to study something other than math and science?

How about economic pressures? If an American scientist has to compete with the wages of a scientist in Brazil or in India or in China in the international marketplace which is science, how is that person going to be impacted? Take a look at the computer programming industry. Think about what is going on there.

Frankly, our country needs more historians, because people have very little sense of it.

I'm all for more math and science education, but not at the exclusion of history. And I think we need to look at our society as a whole, rather than just the education component of it, as to why we're reportedly fading in that area.

About Choices

This week's question at the Unpaid Punditry Corps is about religion. Before I go any further, I'll state for the record: I'm agnostic.

This Week's Gravitational Pull-Up: About Religion

Time to delve into faith a bit. A simple question can complicate so many things:

Is the religion or belief structure that you practice, or try to follow, a matter of personal choice?

Let me get to my answer first, and then why I think this question is important in today's political climate.

Yes, I believe that religion and/or belief structure is a personal choice - to a point. In as much as society and culture and environment and upraising can formulate what a person will and will not believe, there are limitations on that choice. A Southern Baptist very likely isn't going to "choose" to follow the full belief structure of a Shiite Moslem, if for no other reason than simply because that person doesn't know about that belief structure. We have choice. Ignorance limits our choices. But there is still choice.

Every other factor only impacts our choices. Societal cost, financial cost, time cost - they all go into play as we "decide" what religion, and the beliefs within that religion, and the interpretations of those beliefs, we choose to follow. Do we honor the Sabbath by not working? Do we not drink alcohol? Do we eat pork? Do we celebrate Halloween? Different religions have different "rules", and the fact that there are so many faiths and so many rules and so many interpretations of the rules and new rules being made up all the time leads me to believe that we all have choice.

Today there is a lot of religious fanaticism - or at least posturing - in politics. It tends to be most prevalent on "gay rights" issues. Much of the opposition to civil unions comes from a religious standpoint that gay relations are wrong. There is no assumption of a religious choice on this issue by these people. They are applying their religious standard to the world at large as The Law.

This is a denial of the possibility of freedom of choice in religion.

It happens all the time in government. That's why there are Sunday laws. That's why there are vice laws.

Those who are fighting for issues that pit them against religious zealotry ought to be rethinking their debate with these foes. They tend to get caught up in debates over the "law", and often it eventually becomes a disconnect - they are arguing against religious law, not Constitutional law. The opposition's references to Constitutional law are often just support arguments to their major tenet - which is a religious belief.

The real question, when confronted with opposition that dissolves eventually to "because my faith says so", is to ask if they follow everything in their faith, and to pursue a path of a discussion of free choice in belief. It isn't a dismissal of what is believed, it's merely an exploration of why it is believed. It is fine for people to say something is wrong, and I wish everyone would have strong tenets of personal morality. But there's nothing wrong in questioning why a person believes as they do. Exploration of faith should be a benefit, not an aversion, in such public questions.

Faith questions eventually come to some sort of answer of priority, that some items in faith are more important than other items in the same faith. Again, isn't that a choice? What's more important, cleanliness or loving thy neighbor? Is it always the same priority, or does it change based on circumstances? Would you besmirch a neighbor that prioritized those two items differently? If not, is that because you accept a choice?

Those who find themselves opposed in the public arena by organized religion have a choice: struggle against the premises and framework set by their opposition, or expand the debate to question their opposition's foundation for those premises and framework. A discussion of faith, morals and organized religion - and its place in America - is due. America shouldn't be afraid to make that choice.

Taxation As A Step to Legitimacy

Brothels Ask to Pay Taxes

Although county governments collect license fees, Nevada has never taxed brothels. If an industry lobbying group and a lawmaker have their way, that could change this year.

Ten of 17 counties in Nevada allow brothels.

"They're a legal business. They should contribute like every other legal business, and I'm willing to make that happen," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno.

That's music to the ears of many in the always-skittish industry. For them, a state tax is a stamp of legitimacy, and something they've pursued for years.

Apparently Nevada currently has about 500,000 "johns" of the legal services, since the bill would set the tax at about $2 per customer and they only expect the tax to bring in about a million in the first year.

Anyone else think that the State of Nevada could ask for more and not get anyone to blink? I mean, what is the price of legitimacy?

Lining Pockets

Radio Left had a great catch of a Bloomberg article. It deserves reiterating.

DeLay's Former Aides Building Lobbying Empires in Washington

April 6 (Bloomberg) -- One of the surest paths to riches in Washington is to have these five words on a resume: ``Office of Representative Tom DeLay.''

Eleven lobbyists who once worked for the Texas Republican and House majority leader helped bring in at least $45 million in fees for their firms in the past two years. By comparison, former aides of House Speaker Dennis Hastert lobbying during that period helped bring in about $2.1 million.

Along the way, Delay's former assistants have aided clients such as ChevronTexaco Corp., Wyeth and Reynolds American Inc. in achieving legislative victories. They have also given DeLay the kind of Washington-insider clout he once criticized when Democrats were in power.

Denny Hastert hires such pikers!

Seriously, this kind of reporting needs to be a matter of routine. Forty-five freaking million dollars in FEES. Obscene.

More Fun and Games with Technorati and Blog Flypaper

Nothing really to see here in this entry... just interested in seeing what happens.

Across the Atlantic, Justene Adamec, AfricaPundit, The Agitator, Ali, Alphecca, Ann Althouse, Steven Antler, A Small Victory, Atlantic Blog, Charles Austin, Professor Bainbridge, Baldilocks, Jack Balkin, La Shawn Barber, Zachary Barbera, John Perry Barlow, Baseball Crank, Howard Bashman, N.Z. Bear,
Mitch Berg, Big Arm Woman, Bigwig, BitchGirls, Blackfive, Tim Blair, Blaster's Blog, Blogosferics, Blogs of War, Rebecca Blood, The Bloviator, Moira Breen, Edward Boyd, Stuart Buck, Keith Burgess-Jackson, Burchismo, Mark Byron, C.D. Harris, Frank Cagle, Brian Carnell, Cato the Youngest, ChicagoBoyz, Citizen Smash, Joshua Claybourn, Cold Fury, John Cole, Ed Cone, Jeff Cooper, Susanna Cornett, Colby Cosh, CounterRevolutionary, Bo Cowgill, Clayton Cramer, Cranky Professor, Crescat Sententia, Critical Mass, Crooked Timber, Cori Dauber, Deinonychus, Brad DeLong, Demosthenes, Steven Den Beste, Nick Denton, Martin Devon, Discriminations, Ben Domenech, Hossein Derakshan, DPM, Daniel Drezner, Ed Driscoll, Electrolite, John Ellis, Ernie the Attorney, Dean Esmay, Amitai Etzioni, Gary Farber, The Fat Guy, February 30, Fight Aging!, Flit, Dr. Frank, Fraters Libertas, Fried Man, FuturePundit, Rich Galen, GedankenPundit, Geek Press, Gene Expression, Jeff Goldstein, GreatestJeneration, Stephen Green, Gut Rumbles, HaightSpeech, Rich Hailey, Andrea Harris, Heather Havrilesky, Hawspipe, Jim Henley, William Hobbs, Kevin Holtsberry, The Homeless Guy, Hoosier Review, Horologium, Horsefeathers,
Denise Howell, Matthew Hoy, Diana Hsieh, IMAO, Iberian Notes, InkWell, Iraq the Model, InstaLawyer, IsntaPundit, Joanne Jacobs, Jeff Jarvis, Jessica's Well, Charles Johnson, Brothers Judd, Kate, Kesher Talk, Lynne Kiesling, Kathy Kinsley, Mark Kleiman, Alex Knapp, Dave Kopel, Jason Kottke, J.D. Lasica, Ken Layne, Kitchen Cabinet, LawMeme, Larry Lessig, James Lileks, Brian Linse, Listen Missy, Andrew Lloyd, Loco Parentis, Derek Lowe, Donald Luskin, Kieran Lyons, Megan McArdle, MadPony, Dr. Manhattan, Jay Manifold, Master of None, MCJ, Messopotamian, H.D. Miller, Jim Miller, MinuteMan, Misha, Chris Mooney, Moxie, Mudville Gazette, Eric Muller, Iain Murray, Charles Murtaugh, Robert Musil, NanoDot, No Watermelons, Fredrik Norman, Brendan O'Neill, Obscure Store, Oliver & Watson, Andrew Olmsted, Dawn Olsen, Walter Olson, Howard Owens, OxBlog, Suman Palit, Damian Penny, Bill Peschel, Photon Courier, Tony Pierce, David Pinto, Stephen Pollard, Aziz Poonawalla, Jerry Pournelle,
Power Line, Quare, Bill Quick, Rabbit Blog, Rantburg, Eric S. Raymond, RealClearPolitics, Right Wing News, Robin Roberts, Milt Rosenberg, Brad Rubenstein, Matt Rustler, Samizdata, John Scalzi, SCSU Scholars, Doc Searls, Andrea See, Donald Sensing, Stefan Sharkansky, Arthur Silber, Silent Running, Geitner Simmons, Laurence Simon, Roger L. Simon, Lynn Sislo, Sgt. Stryker, Mike Silverman, Rand Simberg,
SmartGenes, Sofia Sideshow, Natalie Solent, SpinSanity, Spoons, Bjorn Staerk, Sari Stein, Reid Stott, Tacitus, TalkLeft, Kim du Toit, Tonecluster, Michael Totten, Jim Treacher, Eve Tushnet, Ublog, Howard Veit, The Volokh Conspiracy, War Liberal, Will Warren, Dr. Weevil, John Weidner, Matt Welch, Bill Whittle, Oliver Willis, Winds of Change, Dave Winer, Wunderkinder, Matthew Yglesias, Meryl Yourish, Pejman Yousefzadeh, Yuppies of Zion,

Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Coming to Crawford

From The Peninsula (Qatar):

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and de facto ruler Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz will meet US President George W Bush at his Texas ranch this month with the fight against terrorism set to be high on the agenda.

Abdullah will hold talks with Bush on April 24 during a tour that is also taking him to France and Canada, a Saudi official said.

Another topic on the agenda will be the stalled Middle East peace process, particularly on the Israeli-Palestinian track.

Interesting timing, with gas prices the way they are.

Do you know what Georgia's Most Popular Historic Site Is?

It is FDR's Little White House.

FDR came to Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1924 to find relief and improvement for his legs from his attack of polio. The naturally warm springs there were thought to have curative powers. It was a relationship that grew until he died there on this date in 1945.

Today FDR's Little White House (and we should) honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the 60th anniversary of his death, and the 50th anniversary of anniversary of the Salk Vaccine against polio. Have we had a President since FDR so successfully focused on the eradication of any global illness as Roosevelt was against polio?

Not even close.


FDR, Eleanor visiting with young polio patients at Georgia Hall ~ 1935

Lobbying and Blogging

I posted this last week at the Unpaid Punditry Corps, but wanted to repost here this week as I plan to scope out some more ideas about lobbying and blogging...

Bloggers tend to follow journalists to write about stories. If a story shows up in the Washington Post or the New York Times or Fox News, it's likely to be blogged about. It is much rarer that the process works the other way - a blog story becomes a journalist's story.

It doesn't have to be that way. Newsgathering is a systematic process. If blogs could operate more systematically at times - not necessarily controlled by a central processor, but a voluntary process that creates overall value, then bloggers could more routinely become the source rather than the distributor of news.

One way to do that is to pick arenas where the news media fails and that are completely underreported. And in governing, there is a clear, obvious candidate that is generally undercovered by traditional news.

Political blogs have made large strides in the past two years in impacting political campaigns, in fleshing out the impacts of policy, in expanding campaign contribution models, in exploring what is reported in the news media and why various pieces of the news media report the way they do, and on getting into the sausage-casings of legislation, as far as legislators are concerned.

And, in the arena of lobbying, I think blogs could really benefit the general public's understanding of how things work in Washington DC, could work in a relatively nonpartisan fashion, and work to make a fundamental change in how government activity is reported.

Currently, blogs mostly avoid any effort of exposure of what goes on among lobbyists. There's nothing systematic in reporting on their activites, in providing any kind of detail about who the players are. Lobbyists operate in the relative dark of the news. When lobbyists become newsworthy, it is quite often disastrous for the individual or firm that's been found in newsprint, because it's usually relating to some pending scandal.

I'm not suggesting that all lobbyists are scandalous - not even the big lobbying firms. ;) However, they are the one major player in the governing process that news media, and now blogs, fail to try to cover as part of routine. It's a disservice to everyone's understanding of what is actually going on in DC.

Sometimes, the relationship of lobbyist to government power source makes it clear that the lobbyist ought to be monitored for newsability. For example, here.

I'm going to flesh this out in the next week, but I have a suggestion. There should be a Blogger Registry of all the firms and individuals - the "for-contract" lobbyists - working the Federal Government. (This could be expanded out for beyond the "for-contract" lobbyists eventually, but it's important that the process focus on the "for money" rather than the "for issue" lobbyist players to start.) Every serious political blogger, if they define themselves as such, could and should "adopt" one of these Firms. Once a week, or at the least, once a month, the blogger should provide a news update on the activities or information acquired about that firm. It's the starting point for pulling together publicly accessible information about lobbying firms beyond their own web sites. Eventually, the content might be useful in a wiki.

At the very least, contract lobbyists would know that there is a public accessible "monitor" of their activities. Eventually, so would decisionmakers in government. That seems like a real benefit to governing provided by blogging, and a real benefit for political bloggers as well.

There's A Loose Thread Here, But The Times Can't Sew

The headline says it all:

Inquiry on Lobbyist Casts a Shadow in Congress

Note to New York Times: if you bother to investigate and report the activities of the lobbying industry in Washington as a routine part of newsgathering, we're going to have a Congressional eclipse.

Who Sucks?

More dumb word games played with Technorati:

"conservatives suck" - 42 posts
"republicans suck" - 118 posts
"liberals suck" - 122 posts
"democrats suck" - 125 posts

"moderates suck" - none. (well, until now)

This Week's GPU: Religion

From the UPC:

Is the religion or belief structure that you practice, or try to follow, a matter of personal choice?

If you have comments on the question, visit the UPC and let 'em rip. I personally think that this question, which seems simple, gets complicated pretty quickly.

The Army Is Moving In Florida

It's the Asian Subterranean Termite army. And they're eating machines.

How Many Blogs Have Died Today?

Blogcritics asks:

The blog world needs reality checking and it can start by answering this question: Does anyone know how many people stopped blogging today?

The point is well taken - we continue to get stats on how many bloggers there are, how many new blogs have begun, etc. But we rarely get stats on how many blogs are dead, or are in the process of dying.

According to Technorati statistics, about 55% of blogs are active, meaning that they have been updated at least once in the last 3 months.

This leaves the questions about the inactive blogs. How long have they been inactive? How long did they blog before they went inactive? Was there a posting frequency or pattern that indicated a likelihood a blog would go inactive? Are most of the inactive blogs on Blogger? And most importantly...

Do you have any dead blogs on your blogroll?

Republicans Are Only 60 years Behind

It's hard to tell why Martin Nolan thought it was so important to pen an opinion piece for the San Francisco Chronicle that implies that Bush and the Republicans are more like FDR than the Democrats are.

That was 60 years ago. Anyone think FDR now would be like FDR then? That comparison doesn't make sense? That's my point.

This Week's Adopted Lobbying Firm

As I discussed at the Unpaid Punditry Corps this week, bloggers should routinely provide information, news, and content about DC-based lobbyists, as they are an important yet grossly underreported part of the governing process.

Here's this week's firm:

Cavarocchi - Ruscio - Dennis (CRD) Associates

They are based in DC. It is telling that their top area listed as "Expertise" is:

Appropriations

Why have organizations turned to CRD Associates for appropriations help?

The answer is simple: We get the job done. It isn't by accident that CRD Associates has a long and impressive track record of success when it comes to appropriations. Each of the principals in the firm have been key advisors to members of either the House or Senate Appropriations Committees. They know the process from the inside, and they understand what works and what doesn't.

Most importantly, they enjoy the trust and confidence of those who ultimately decide the shape and content of appropriations legislation.

You can see some of the details of their work on the Web:

D.C. firm is hired to lobby for aid to Iowa

"Congressional lobbying registration records show that the firm of Griffin, Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland, Dover & Stewart filed in November to represent the state of Iowa as a client. The president of the firm is Patrick Griffin, a former aide in the Clinton administration.

Another firm has filed to represent the state: Cavarocchi-Ruscio-Dennis Associates. Hoffman of the Department of Economic Development said that firm is a subcontractor to the Griffin firm."

Or this...

The Township Council also approved a $120,000 no-bid professional services contract with Cavarocchi, Ruscio, Dennis Associates LLC to help obtain federal money.

It's an abstract, can't tell you which Township.

And then there's this:

Colleges Lobbying the Federal Govermment, 2003

Cavarocchi Ruscio Dennis Associates LLC

Total lobbying fees: $300,000
Rank in expenditures among lobbying firms : 38

Client Amount Spent in 2003

Rutgers University $160,000

Franklin & Marshall College $100,000

Columbia University $40,000


CRD Associates isn't even one of the big players in DC. But they show how we are farming out our government representation system to lobbyists. State government now hire federal lobbyists to expand their appropriations. Local government, colleges... they are all doing it.

All this state and local government money - tax revenue - goes to Washington and sits in the bank accounts of attorneys and salespeople and data sifters. Any wonder why housing is so expensive in the DC area?

If You're Ignoring Spring Still...

Here's a few posts this week you may have missed that I found interesting:

- Confined Space has an example that the Anti-Ergonomic faction won't be happy with any regulation, period.

- Roundup, the weed killer, also kills frogs. It's not supposed to. From Invasive Species Weblog.

- It must be Bumbling Brooks Day - Make Me a Commentator discusses David Brooks' latest analysis of the Republican Party's problems.

- NYCO's Blog has the latest on the Onondaga land rights action. New Yorkers, pay attention.

- There's going to be a $100 laptop next year? Steeph has details.

Enjoy!

One Of The Saddest Assessments of Civil Rights...

David Brooks on PBS's Newshour on Friday:

And I think one of the great civil rights triumphs of America in our lifetimes really is the diminution, though not elimination, but the diminution in anti-Catholic prejudice. It's become more acceptable for people.

If this is one of the "great civil rights triumphs" of our lifetimes, then this is an indictment of American society, not a celebration. You could hardly say, at the beginning of Brooks' life, for example, that anti-Catholic prejudice was one of the biggest challenges in civil rights.

Okay, we've made some progress. But let's not trumpet this as great when there's clearly so much more civil rights work to be done.

Still struggling on importing my blogger posts of the past two years.

Texas Politics Suck

I'm sorry for you that live in Texas. Even with George Bush as President, Tom Delay in the House, and all the rest of your Congressional Delegation and the Texans filling the Executive Branch, Texas State Government has to hire a lobbyist to gain additional funding for specific projects as well as helping push through a measure to allow Texans to deduct sales taxes from their federal income tax payments.

The lobbying firm is the Federalist Group. Speaker Tom Craddick gave a $180,000-a-year congressional lobbying contract to this firm that had helped raise money to finance the Republican takeover of the Texas House that led to Craddick's election as speaker. The firm includes Drew Maloney, who is a former chief of staff to Tom DeLay.

The Texas Republican Party is a virus and it is spreading.

The Blogger Television Roundtable

This week's Gravitational Pull-Up from the Unpaid Punditry Corps:

Here's your challenge. You are producing a political television program. And it's your baby, all the way. You're on CNBC, you have a guaranteed year of programming, and you have to select four bloggers who will serve on a thirty-minute-long daily roundtable discussion of recent events.

Who do you pick, and why?

Here's my four:

Michelle Malkin: She gets time to grow or be destroyed. I want people who can argue a point with the intent of convincing skeptics of their point, not of questioning the interests of those arguing against them. I want lucid points. I want a framework of logic. I want people who can think on their feet. So, Malkin is on the show until she proves she can't do those things, and if that likely scenario happens as quickly as I suspect it will, she'll be tossed in favor of Andrew Sullivan.

Michelle Maklin (aka Rox Populi): I also want humor. And bite. And the ability to pull stories from outside the media box. And the willingness to tackle those who normally ally with her on differences on issues. Rox has it all.

Pike Speak: Who???????

I was torn between picking John Pike or Andrew Sullivan here. I went with John because Sullivan already has gigs, and John can be just as good as Sullivan on his blog. There's not many conservative blogs I read regularly, but John's is one of them.

My last choice was the toughest - very tough. I finally decided on Soj from Flogging the Simian. She's an international news fiend, based in Romania, and it's time that an international viewpoint be in these shows as part of the structure, period.

The last second cuts: Matthew Yglesias, Suzie from Suburban Guerrilla, and Norbizness (I get some pretty good laughs from that site). If anyone else didn't cut the show, they'd be my replacement options.

Adopt A Lobbying Firm

If you're serious about your political blogging, please look at my piece at the UPC and give feedback.

Pete DeCoursey Is Leaving Patriot

From Grassroots PA:

From DeCoursey, who will be with the Patriot-News for two more weeks:

The story is true. AP did sell CW. Ap did fire all of its capwire employees and give them severance. I did join the new co. and the new Capitolwire hired several of them back.

It will be interesting to see who gets the Harrisburg Patriot-News political lead and column. I have never cared much for Mr. DeCoursey's writing or his television performances, they have tended to be inside-baseball-shallow, focusing on personalities and weak on much policy discussion. Mostly bleh. Whoever gets the Patriot gig also will likely get a seat at PCN's call-in shows and other forums. DeCoursey's leaving is a big opportunity for the Patriot-News to improve their State Capitol coverage. Let's see how they step up to the plate.

Hat Tipping, Thursday

I haven't done this in a while... Time to thank all the fine blogs that have blogrolled PSoTD recently:

South Knox Bubba
Ayn Clouter's Blog
/~\ Provident 360 /~\
The Angry Drunk Bureaucrat

Thanks!

Commitment to Commemorating

It's easy to pass a resolution creating an "official" week or month or year to honor or promote something.

But unless there's a commitment to supporting it beyond that resolution, it's just blather. And that kind of blather is just way too prevalent in Washington anymore.

The Year of Languages

The U.S. House of Representatives declared 2005 "The Year of Languages" on March 8. The legislation was sponsored by U.S. Reps. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) and Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio). Holt has been active in sponsoring bills that promote foreign language education funding, both at the K-12 and university levels.

The proclamation is supported by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the main foreign language teaching organization in the United States, because it "recognizes the critical role that language learning plays in enhancing America's national security and our future role in the global community."

Seems great, doesn't it? Unfortunately, there's this backdrop of stories that makes this legislation seem disconnected:

From the Brainerd Dispatch:

Programs and positions discontinued as a result of board action Monday included the STARS program, the gifted and talented program, elementary art program, junior high reading program, an elementary counselor position and the athletic director position. Maureen Morrow, a non-tenured teacher, was the high school Spanish teacher. Her contract was not renewed, eliminating the high school's only foreign language course offering.

From Ventura College Press:

"This is a difficult time for all educational institutions. Nobody's happy about it, but decisions have to be made," said Linda Rubenstein, coordinator of off-campus programs, "My hope is that we'll be able to go back (to Nordhoff) one day." Several of Rubenstein's hours have also been cut.

Auf Wiedersehen, arrivederci, sayonara and au revoir. Good-bye advanced German, Italian and Japanese. The advanced portions of these language classes are now dead at VC.

From MetroWest Daily News:

Sixth-grade instruction in foreign languages, extra teachers to accommodate a surge in enrollment, and a state-mandated remedial math program are among the casualties in the latest round of school budget cuts.

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Chicago Public School principals this week prepared to slash everything from foreign language teachers to counselors to assistant principals as they struggled with the worst budget cuts in more than a decade.

From Finger Lakes Times:

To maintain an acceptable tax levy, Leiby and the board eliminated some non-mandated services. The foreign language and summer school programs in the elementary schools would be cut under the proposed spending plan.

From WISH-TV:

The school system prides itself on its global studies, but the foreign language program may be replaced with study hall.

School board members would not talk on camera. They did say they do not have the power to cut any language classes. However, they do have the power to cut staff and foreign language teaching positions may be on the chopping block.

This is happening all over the country. It sounds like 2005 is the "Year of Cutting Languages" to me.

Inside Baseball: Pennsylvania Legislative Reporting

Most of you may not care, but those who follow the Pennsylvania Legislature might recognize some of these names:

GovNetPA Acquires Capitolwire from AP; Pete DeCoursey and Al Neri to Join Staff

GovNetPA, Inc., a legislative tracking service based in Harrisburg, has announced the acquisition of the subscription-based Capitolwire service in Pennsylvania from The Associated Press, effective at the close of business on April 8, and the appointment of new leadership.

Craig Leach, president of GovNetPA and the new owner of Harrisburg-based Capitolwire -- which provides state capital news and legislative tracking information to trade associations, lobbyists and other professionals -- announced that Pete DeCoursey, the longtime political reporter and columnist for the Harrisburg Patriot-News, will join Capitolwire's staff on April 18.

Leach also named Albert J. Neri, an award-winning former state capital journalist, to be the managing director of Capitolwire, effective April 8 when the acquisition is completed. Neri is the editor and publisher of The Insider, the state's largest newsletter covering statewide politics. He formerly reported from the state capital for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Erie Times-News. Since 2003, Neri has also been a consultant and weekly columnist for GovNetPA.

I wonder if that means DeCoursey won't be working the political beat for the Patriot-News. Those who appreciate real reporting can only hope.

Mmmmmm, Pork

Citizens Against Government Waste released their Pig Book "Oinkers of 2005". Among my (non)favorites:

$1.4 million for various Halls of Fame, including: $75,000 for the Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame and $70,000 for the Paper Industry Hall of Fame.

$2 million for the buyback of the USS Sequoia Presidential Yacht.

Representative John Peterson (R-Pa.) for adding $100,000 for the Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center Museum.

John Peterson... an embarrassment to governing since his days in Harrisburg.

It's a Four Blogger!

This week's Gravitational Pull-Up at UPC:

Here's your challenge. You are producing a political television program. And it's your baby, all the way. You're on CNBC, you have a guaranteed year of programming, and you have to select four bloggers who will serve on a thirty-minute-long daily roundtable discussion of recent events.

Who do you pick, and why?

Yep, this is what is known as a teaser to my response on Friday. I have the following candidates so far for the show...

Conservative:

Michelle Malkin
Andrew Sullivan
Pike Speak
Outside the Beltway

Malkin is in - the only automatic. I have my reasons...

Liberal:

Michelle Maklin (you know Rox...)
Suburban Guerrilla
Effect Measure
Matthew Yglesias (I promise, this will be the only Matt listed)
Majikthise
Dohiyi Mir
Norbizness

Suggestions appreciated!

Pennsylvania's Non-Definition of Legislator

This is a very common viewpoint of the job of legislator by Pennsylvania's elected officials.

A former Ford City High School social studies teacher and now a state representative, Jeff Pyle, R-60th, went back to school yesterday.

Pyle, a freshman legislator, used his teaching skills to bring the message of state government to students in an American government class at Kittanning High School.

"Government is not hard," Pyle said. "It's there for each and every one of you."

Pyle "exposed the secrets of Pennsylvania government" by explaining how he helps citizens with everyday things such as driver license renewals, voter registration, road problems and Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency loans.

"Any state problem," Pyle said. "It's not all legislation. We take care of the little stuff like that.

"My job is professional helper," he said.

There's something seriously wrong with Pennsylvania's Executive Branch if State Legislators help everyday with driver license renewals and PHEAA loans.

Or, we have too much "non-legislating" time for state legislators.

I have heard dozens of Pennsylvania state legislators say the same thing, they help with working on some of the simplest items of the admitted bureaucracy. I never hear legislators ask, "Why are we paying their salary rate, or their staff's salary rate, plus retirement and benefits, to do this work, rather than a state employee at the DMV?"

No, I hear them teaching kids that their job is professional helper.

Someday, I hope a candidate for Governor in Pennsylvania actually runs on a platform of getting the Executive Branch to fulfill all their duties so that legislators can focus on the duty implied by their job title - legislating. We don't need to be voting for DMV processors in the state districts when the state has so many legislative issues it should be actually considering.

At Another Time...

There would have been a full-fledged media deathwatch. But after three weeks of deathwatches and now Papal funeral preparations, there's just not enough news media to spare. Such is timing, Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Rest in peace.