Thanks to all two readers who have sent concerned emails asking if I am ok.

I am fine and just very busy with two new projects that are leaving me with very little time for browsing the blogosphere and offering my three cents here on E!!

The first project – RFC Radio – is the brain child of my All American Media business partner and dear friend Andrew Riley.  Ideally, he would do all the work and I would reap the benefits.  Alas, he says he needs me to help with the To Dos.  And check his spelling.  And help make Duane feel guilty for missing our conference call last week.  (there, I did it)

The second project is Nevada News Platoon. Apparently, in a fit of extreme congeniality during which I hallucinated that I have spare time and that I am independently wealthy and do not need to paid for my work, I agreed to be the volunteer editor of this soon-to-launched grassroots news and blog site.

The gist is that we will cover news and politics in Nevada from an openly conservative and/or libertarian perspective.  We will not advocate for political parties, but we will unapologetically promote free-market, small government policies.  And provide valuable information to Nevada citizens who would like to Do Something about the current sad state of affairs.

February 5th is the “soft launch” (that’s New Media talk for all you greenies) and then the ”hard launch” and related fanfare will be sometime in March.

If anyone wants to help, here’s what I need from the conservative and/or libertarian citizens, activists, bloggers, writers, media-gurus, and leaders in Nevada (choose the one that fits):

- Commit to visiting the News Platoon site weekly and signing up for our news briefs

- Comment on our blog posts and stories so we know what you think

- Forward select Platoon news items to help spread the word (at your discretion)

- Send me news tips and story ideas (now and on an ongoing basis)

- Keep me informed of all your interesting political and business activitites (this is your opportunity to share info or expertise that only you have and maybe shed light on things for the public)

- Write letters to the editor (me) when you are upset about something going on in NV

- Refer bloggers and citizen journalists to me as potential contributors

- Tell anyone who’s not reading us that they Should Be

I think that about covers it.

Oh - and if anyone figures out how to squeeze more hours out of the day, please let me know.

It’s not for myself but for a worthy and Fun Project.  (Click here to see our Cool splash page!)  RFC is a partner project of All American Blogger and is owned by All American Media, of which I am a founder and apparently an employee of some sort.

Radio for Conservatives will be a 24/7 internet radio station PLUS interactive website CREATED BY AND FOR CONSERVATIVES.  As the splash page so succinctly says, we will feature News, Rock, and Talk.  And as you can see from the splash page, we will look really cool while doing it.

(What kind of News, Rock, and Talk, you ask?  Oh, my Dearies, it is the kind you will Love.  You will laugh.  You will cry.  No doubt you will ask, “Where has RFC Radio been all my life?” and “Who are the creative geniuses who dreamed all this up?”)

If you choose to help us out with a few dollars, all donated funds will go directly to equipment and software costs and/or service fees.  None will go to our team who will continue to slave away for free in our quest for Liberty and Virtue. 

So far, due to the generosity of 9 contributors, we have raised $376 of the $600 that is needed for a Go - so we are more than half way there.  If you can spare a few bucks, please donate.  And if you have any questions, shoot me an email and I’ll be glad to tell you more.

Also, sometime in the next few weeks, I invite you to contribute to the RFC launch by forwarding our flash page around and leaving a pithy comment on the RFC STUDIO LINE:  623-582-3432.  We will play the best of them on February 16 and throughout Launch Week!

Example:  “Hi!  This is Bill calling in from El Paso, Texas!  Just wanna wish y’all the best and say I think RFC Radio is going to be hotter than than a stolen tamale on the Fourth of July!”

Example 2:  “Hi!  This is Beantown Bloggah callin’ in from freakin’ Beantown, where else?!  I heard you RFC guys ah wicked smaht, so I’ll be listenin’ except when I gotta run to the packie.”

Etc.

Thanks for your support and let the RFC count down begin!

Update:  Here’s more on RFC from our friends at Politeia.

September 17, 2008

Hi,

I finally figured it out!

I have decided to settle down and get serious about a career in Public
Garden Management and Horticulture.  This decision allows me to work in
areas where public transportation is readily available, work in a greenhouse
environment, avoid the stress of production related capitalism, contribute
to the beauty of urban areas, preserve plants for future generations, and
educate people who are really interested in plants.  It also solves the
dilemma about what I want to do when I grow up, because this way I can do a
little of everything.

Cornell and the University of Delaware both have fellowship only programs
for Master’s degrees (both fully funded with a living stipend).  There are
other programs out there as well.

I have joined the Horticulture club as an active member (I might consider
running for an office) and am taking an extracurricular Urban Gardeners
Program with a 40-hour community service requirement at the local community
greenhouse (Hunter Park in Lansing – 2 minutes from my door walking).  I am
working on a proposal for an internship with Beal Gardens here at MSU,
probably revamping the website and working on grant acquisition as we all
know that I can weed just fine.

Now to 4.0 everything and do well on the GRE.

 Love,

 Me

“Cultivated plants are neatly planted; wild plants flourish in chaos.”

– Susun Weed

Judges to rule on Georgia citizenship case

and

GOP hired hand arrested in Cali on suspicion of voter registration fraud

E!! is a Proud Supporter of the VIP

Here’s the opening:

I remember reading All the President’s Men and thinking: That’s journalism. You do what it takes to get the truth and you lay it before the public, because the public has a right to know.

This housing crisis didn’t come out of nowhere. It was not a vague emanation of the evil Bush administration.

It was a direct result of the political decision, back in the late 1990s, to loosen the rules of lending so that home loans would be more accessible to poor people. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were authorized to approve risky loans.

What is a risky loan? It’s a loan that the recipient is likely not to be able to repay.

The goal of this rule change was to help the poor — which especially would help members of minority groups. But how does it help these people to give them a loan that they can’t repay? They get into a house, yes, but when they can’t make the payments, they lose the house — along with their credit rating.

They end up worse off than before.

This was completely foreseeable and in fact many people did foresee it. One political party, in Congress and in the executive branch, tried repeatedly to tighten up the rules. The other party blocked every such attempt and tried to loosen them.

Furthermore, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were making political contributions to the very members of Congress who were allowing them to make irresponsible loans. (Though why quasi-federal agencies were allowed to do so baffles me. It’s as if the Pentagon were allowed to contribute to the political campaigns of Congressmen who support increasing their budget.)

Isn’t there a story here? Doesn’t journalism require that you who produce our daily paper tell the truth about who brought us to a position where the only way to keep confidence in our economy was a $700 billion bailout? Aren’t you supposed to follow the money and see which politicians were benefitting personally from the deregulation of mortgage lending?

Read the rest when you have the time.

Hat Tip:  The Venerable Mr. Crum (thanks, honey!)

An online news story reports the successful launch of China’s long-awaited space mission.  The account includes a riveting account of the take off as well as detailed account of the snappy inter-astronaut dialogue.

.

Even more thrilling is the fact that the story was posted online by China’s official news agency Xinhua many hours before the rocket left the ground.

.

In a bold move that has stunned the entire planet, the Chinese, in addition to building a spaceworthy vehicle, have mastered the art of time travel and are now able to report their achievements from the future.

.

The Shenzhou 7 mission, which will feature China’s first-ever spacewalk, was set to launch yesterday between 9:07 a.m. EDT and 10:27 p.m. EDT.

.

The Xinhua story was dated September 27, two days later.

.

Electrifying as this is, with the rising super power now able to send operatives forward in time, hard questions must be asked about potential temporal rifts and disturbances, causality paradoxes, and the stability of the space-time continuum.

. 

The UN should immediately call a special meeting of the Assembly to discuss the appropriate response and prevent a cataclysm that could wipe out most of the solar system. 

Over the weekend, someone faxed him some old copies of the Bullfrog County Times newsletter (circa the late 80s).  Apparently this publication tried to tell ”the other side” of the Yucca Mountain issue – which Nevadans weren’t getting from Bob Loux and the Nuclear Waste Project Office (NWPO).

One Bullfrog newsletter mentioned a letter-to-the-editor written by a man from Carson City who had suggested that “Nevada should be receiving financial compensation for the study of Yucca Mountain.”

According to the Bullfrog, Bob Loux of the NWPO “mobilized his office, cranked up the typewriters and copy machines, called in all of his envelope stuffers, and fired off [a]…news release to every newspaper in the state, large and small…”  In his missive, Loux insinuated that the original letter-to-the-editor was written by the Department of Energy or someone in the nuke industry, “implying that no right-thinking Nevadan could possibly conclude on his own that our state should be compensated for what’s happening at Yucca Mountain.”

The Bullfrog concluded: “The poor guy in Carson City must be wondering what he did to incur the wrath of an entire agency.  We’ll tell you what you did, sir.  You dared to think for yourself.  You dared to speak the unspeakable.  That’s the way it is in Nevada these days.  And it appears that no one in any higher position cares what Loux does with his power or budget.”

Twenty years later, it looks the ghosts of Bullfrog’s past can croak with joy as they finally get to see Lady Justice comin’ ’round the proverbial Mountain for Mr. Bob Loux.

“It seems 58 percent of Nevadans polled oppose the Yucca Mountain project, where the government wants to bury the highly radioactive waste from nuclear plants. But in a different question, 58 percent of Nevadans said they had no problem whatsoever digging up more uranium to refine and use in nuclear power.  Thus creating more nuclear waste.  Thus creating a greater need for the disposal of said nuclear waste.  Thus creating more pressure to build and operate Yucca Mountain.  Which 58 percent of Nevadans say they’re against. 

Does that make sense to anybody? We didn’t think so.”

- CityLife editor Steve Sebelius, 8/26/08

It’s called “Tracking America’s Worst Governor” and is a pretty well-researched expose of all of Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons’ gaffes, inconsistencies, slip-ups and personal indiscretions.  Not sure how effective it will be in pressuring him to resign or getting him recalled, but it’s pretty darn funny. 

Even if you don’t live in Nevada and could care less about The Adventures of Jim Gibbons, you should check it out just for the graphics, fun clicky-ness – and multiple LOLs.