Tune in this Saturday for live coverage of the state Democratic convention. I will be streaming it live via webcam if possible. If nothing else, I will be doing to live blogging.

To toot my own horn, I will be the only person to cover all three conventions: GOP, Democrat, and the Libertarians.

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The passing of Tim Russert is a sad event in American Government. The media’s job is to challenge politicians on their words. No one does that better then Tim Russert. In fact, few do what Russert did. We are entering a dangerous age of journalism, and therefore, politics and government.

The pace of media has quickened. I am in radio, so you’d think that all I’d need to do is confer with sources and read as much as possible to prepare for the show. But as we enter this age, I need to write blogs, post podcasts, record and edit video. They all have to be different, and the content needs to be fresh. All of this takes time. It takes time to create, organize and promote YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook pages. It takes time to map things out, write out bits, record and edit them. The uploading takes forever.  But it all is necessary because other news outlets do it. You have to compete to remain relevant.

There are less people to do these things, because the media business sucks. A reporter, radio personality, or TV producer has more and more to do. As a result of all of this, the more time a media person spends on the content delivery, the more watered down the content becomes.  The pay is shrinking, so the quality of person behind the reports is lessened.

Today’s media will have less time to prepare for interviews. There are fewer reporters with less time to ask hard questions.

Because of the large amount of work to do, and the amount of information to process, many members of the media choose the angle of the story based on their conversations with the other members of the media, not the subject of the story. That is why you hear the same story angle in almost every major media’s (TV, Newspaper, Radio) report. The reporters all fish for a good sound bite. Some members of the local media don’t like that Abdul and I play the entire press conference. Guess Why? It exposes the lack of tough questions, and shows the fishing they do.

The subject (Politician, Movie Star, Sports Figure) are happy to oblige because they want to get on with their life. They don‘t need to prepare for any sort of tough question, because the reporters will all ask the same thing. They just need different versions of the sound bite. If they flip-flop, who cares! The reporters won’t notice, and the listener/reader/viewer is too busy to care.

So you turn to blogs and other forms of “new media” for a different point of view. They are advocates for their cause, and tailor their information to the message.

In fact, Advocacy Journalism will start to dominate the old media because it’s different. There is something that resembles humanity in their reporting. It doesn’t insult the listener/reader/viewer’s intelligence.

I’ll let you comment on the end result of all of this. (Actually, aren’t we seeing it? Isn’t our government dramatically failing us?)

Tim Russert was loved because he was a human being. He didn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence. He was prepared. He was everything a journalist should be, and something modern media should aspire to be.

Ronald Reagan did not believe in third parties. He believed that a person should choose a party that most closely identifies with a person’s beliefs and values. For myself, that is the Republicans. But what happens when a party loses its way? The Republican sins of big government are too numerous to mention for the last eight years. The largest sin is hypocrisy. Because while they commit their sins, they admonish and preach.

Ths occurs in two ways:

1. Larry Craig, Mark Foley, and David Vitter. Enough said.

2. “We are the party of limited government.” Then they vote on every spending bill they possibly can. Bush did not veto a bill until it was time to protect the unborn.

Then came Ron Paul. A person who walks the walk in addition to talking the talk. But because he opposes the war, he is considered a radical and his supporters kooks. But many Classic Liberals, Libertarians, and thinking Conservatives flocked to his message. They are hungry for their party to actually do what it says.

Freedom is the buzz word of the Bush administration and the current Republican Party.

But try to open debate on the party platform or the party talking points, and you are immediately shut down. Try to vote for a candidate that is not the party’s chosen candidate, and they will remove you ability to make that choice. Delegate status removed. Party Chairmen replaced. Rules illegally changed.

Freedom.

So what is a grassroots or regular member of a party supposed to do when their party loses its way? There are a couple of things they can do. A member of a party is punish it by sitting out elections. Large-Scale losses in a party cause a purging of the establishment. When John Kerry lost big in 2004, many of the Clinonistas were tossed out of the DNC. They were replaced by the more radical Howard Dean section of the party.

Or they can switch to a third-party. To you disillusioned Republicans, take a look at the Libertarians. There are more of us moving to a party that actually will practice what it preaches. Third-Parties aren’t as much fun as the big two. There is not as much free pizza, the signs are not as flashy, and the T-Shirts aren’t as nice. But maybe democracy and good government are not about those things.

P.S. The Democrats have the same shenanigans going on.

Two Problems with this NYT story:

1. Broad Ripple in the middle of a weekday isn’t really a great representation of Indiana. The Broad Ripple White Liberals are a rare breed in this state. Most people are normal. So I really don’t think this story should be taken seriously.

2. Second, the White Liberal arrogance is showing through in this story. They make a point that most unsophisticated country bumpkins are looking for a reason not to vote for a black guy. Country-folk and Rednecks are not racists. In fact, I have met more racists in metropolitan areas then in the country. Just because you have to drive to see your neighbors, it does not mean you are a racist.

And if they are racist, they are not looking for a reason NOT to vote for a Black man, they have it! His skin! Racisim is fairly easy to spot in the country. It’s a badge of honor in some, but in most, racisim is deplorable. It’s sad that the rebel flag flying jerks in the country give the truly good hearted country-folk a bad name.

At some point, the person who says, “People in rural areas are looking for a reason not to vote for a black candidate” need to examine their own heart.

Minister’s Comments Hold Little Sway in Indianapolis Enclave

Forget the politics, although it seems as though the General Assembly can’t. Government is by the people, and for the people. So where did Indiana and the U.S. go wrong? This is the real reason for reform:

Hi Abdul,

My story is just one example of why you can’t just take the purchase price and figure a property tax. My house was built in 1870- an historic Irvington home. The purchase price left enough money to start working on it, too, to try to return it to its former glory. Then came the court decision, and then the reassessment. Now the taxes are $420.00/ month. Now there’s not enough money left over for improvements- do you know how big a second mortgage I could have gotten for $420.00/month? So now I can’t fix it up, and I can’t sell it- who would pay what I did for a fixer-upper under the new tax structure? Of course, if enough of my neighbors get repossessed or take the bath selling when they’re upside down, the prices will drop and the taxes with it… but then the neighborhood will be distressed and the loan would cost more. Yes, in ten years or so, the fluctuations will even out, and one could use a sales-based tax system- too late for me.

Thanks,

Joel

Many of you know Gooch the caller, who consistently gives me grief. You may not know that he is a talented cartoonist. I will feature some of his cartoons here. If you want to hire him to sketch for you, or run his material in your publication, give me a call.

I’ve asked Dave Bond of STOP IN to explain their effort to repeal property taxes, as well as bond debt:

Repeal:  The real dealProperty taxes are a feudal holdover from old Europe (barons, serfs, Bayou Tapestry, Battle of Hastiness, imperial crap), in diametric conflict with free market economics, due to the absence of any transactional standard.  There is no market value system other than the market itself.  Buyers and sellers are the only legitimate arbiters of value, which is a transactional reality (an actual sale) and not the guess work of any illegitimately imposed, non-risk bearing, disinterested party (government). 

Welcome back to this blog. We finally have a slick look, and easy to use interface for these blogs. I look forward to posting some interesting stuff.

Let’s get started. In the comments section, please ask me a question. It can either be about WXNT, Abdul, the show, or myself. Anything you’ve ever been curious about when it comes to the show. Thanks!