Shaun Kenney

Maybe… though I haven’t quite sold myself on it.  One thing is for certain — the days of blogging once every few days (weeks?) are over.

What’s happened?  With the previous design, I thought I could get away with quality posts over the quantity of posts.  Though this works for a time, it didn’t quite stitch itself together with the old design.  Sure some of the rare posts did get a lot of traffic, but I can’t say SK.com is enjoying the luster it enjoyed back in 2005 and 2006 when it was a top dog in Virginia.

So it’s back to basics.  And a bit less worry about being effective in the Virginia blogosphere or playing team ball.  Sure blogs can move public opinion, and yes — by ignoring the medium, you might as well take a cart and buggy out on the NASCAR circuit.

Still, not only is the medium dying a death-by-infohaze — how do you separate the nonsense from the reality? —  the fact of the matter is that two immutable facts still stand out.

1.  Social media has found its niche.
2.  Traditional media still rules the roost.

We can pontificate all we want about print media or the MSM dying off, about advertisers leaving in droves for non-traditional methods of public relations.  Bottom line remains that no blog (or blogger) is going to adequately take on those who buy ink by the barrel and paper by the ton.  It’s a big world, and those who make it move could care less what’s on your Twitter feed.

This says it all:

As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.

You want to know the best part? The juicy, plump, dripping irony?

The author who was the victim of this Big Brotherish plot was none other than George Orwell. And the books were “1984” and “Animal Farm.”

Yeah, you read that right. Reason #543,463 that I refuse to buy a Kindle.

I’ve been watching the results from Honduras with interest, though I will say that I am neatly shocked at how quickly the so-called “Green Revolution” has dropped off the radar of the American chattering class.

The ubiquitous green-tinted Twitter icons were little more than tying on a ribbon to show how very much you care… nevermind the fact that a changing of the guard from Ahmedinejad to Mousavi would be a mere changing of the guard within Iran.  As Mousavi was the prosecutor of the Iran-Iraq War during the 1980’s, one had a difficult time convincing the change would have been anything different.

But I digress.  Honduras is the new Iran.

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Today is Independence Day… independence for $100 of Waldo’s money that is!

That’s right, baby!  Last November, Waldo Jaquith offered to wager $100 that then-RPV Chairman Jeff Frederick would not resign from the House of Delegates as promised.  After a healthy pause from the Virginia blogosphere, I took up the bet.

In good conscience, I can’t really say the bet was won… though Frederick did not file, it took until June 2009 — eight months after the bet was made — before either Waldo or I felt confident that Frederick would not run in the 52nd District.  When the filing deadline passed, the clock sorta ran out.  In the end, Jeff Frederick kept his word, and did not run for re-election to the House of Delegates.

Nevertheless, a crisp clean $100 (or a check) has been deposited in the safe hands of RPV.

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With the recent passing of Karl Malden (who played General Bradley in the film Patton) I couldn’t resist giving you probably one of the more memorable moments in cinematic history:

You’ve probably already seen video clips of yesterday’s kerfluffle between the White House Press Corps and Press Secretary Gibbs, but just in case…

Now my question to our gentle readers here is this:  In this outburst in defense of the Fourth Estate, are we finally witnessing a split between liberals and progressives?

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Chopin’s Four Mazukas, and probably my favorite piano concerto (if it can be called that).  Just click on it and let it go in the background for awhile as you surf/work/blog.

St. Thomas More, patron saint of statesmen and politicians.  His feast day is today, 22 June 2009.

Surpise surprise… yet another leftist blogger is outraged — yes, OUTRAGED! — that public opinion has a problem with bringing terrorists to Virginia.

*sigh*

Maybe it was how close the vote was?  Passing 213-212, several Democratic representatives could have tipped the scales, namely Congressmen Connolly and Perriello.  Bearing Drift issued the commentary that seemed to hit the Virginia leftosphere hardest:

Rep. Perriello just voted with Speaker Pelosi on an amendment to allow for funds to close Guantanamo Bay facility and move those detainees to Virginia. Perriello voted against an amendment, offered by Rep. Lewis of California, that would have prohibited the closure – the amendment failed 212-213 with Mr. Perriello casting the deciding vote.

And with what intelligence has the Democratic leftosphere refuted such argumentation!  Cited by AIAW, aznew over at Virginia Democrat:

…a patently absurd argument…

Lowell Feld over at Blue Virginia (the shadow of Raising Kaine) pretty much posts a “what he said” response.  Meanwhile, Drew over at Dem Bones (new blogger?) offers this erudite response:

…this Republican fear-mongering belittles both our prison facilities and our prison guards…

Ah.  Now I get it.  We just don’t trust our prison guards!  Those dastardly Rethugs Republicans?  Just “read(ing) the same talking points” as the other blogs, since naturally Republicans require such things because naturally, our public school educations simply don’t afford such out of the box thinking as “bring the terrorists here, and the problem goes away,” amongst others.

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