Do Ya Think . . .
Lance Bass Is Gay
Apparently we are all suppose to applaud Mr. Bass’s choice to announce his sexual preference to People Magazine. What should be greater news is that the other guys in that quartet still profess to be heterosexual. That, if you ask me, is the bigger shock.
Is This Thing Still On?
No, I haven’t been around much lately. My time has been consumed with RedState and Peach Pundit.
But for a small update: I have a new car.
I bought my sister-in-law’s Acura. My car was on its last leg. Gina was selling her car for a price I could afford without significant debt acquisition. Christy and I are trying hard to pay off debts without acquiring new ones.
So, I guess I’ll sell my car for scrap — it is not worth any more than that. The new car has more miles on it than mine, but is in much better condition. It is, however, a black car. I’m not a huge fan of black cars, but I can and will survive. That is works, does not leak, and has cruise control make up for the color choice.
Back in Action
The nice thing about now being free from the Washington commute is that I’m back in action politically. It feels fantastic to be doing RedState every day — though I’ve been slow this week between a sick baby and the Tuesday primary (but Peach Pundit has been active).
I have also gotten back into campaigns. I helped out at the last minute on a local race here, am helping in a runoff, did an Alabama race, am doing a judicial race, and have a couple of other projects lined up. Mostly, though, it is RedState full time. And I’m excited by that.
Congrats to Nancy White
She won a three way race without a runoff.
Will God Drop an F-Bomb?
You have to wonder with this news.
Macon Astroturf
“Astroturf” campaigns are campaigns that are designed to appear grassroots oriented, but are in reality backed by an organized, deceptive campaign. Today’s Macon Telegraph unknowingly inflicted an astroturf campaign on the residents of the 137th House District. Who’s responsible? In a very, very close race for a runoff, the former front runner — City Councilman Stebin Horne.
Horne’s astroturf campaign doesn’t just impact his race, it also impacts the races for Governor, Lt. Gov., Secretary of State, and Ag.
The picture to the left shows a sticker that appeared on all the issues of the Macon Telegraph today. The sticker says both “Take this with you to the polls!” and “Paid for by Citizens for Responsible Government.” The sticker does not just list support for Horne, but also support for candidates in statewide races.
Citizens for Responsible Government is a legitimate organization. However, if you note the address of the organization, you will notice that it is the very same address as Firehouse Consulting, LLC. Both Firehouse Consulting, LLC and Citizens for Responsible Government are owned by Jim Cox. Jim Cox is also Stebin Horne’s consultant. In fact, Horne has paid Cox approximately $100,000.00 during this election season. Citizens for Responsible Government, in its June 30 disclosure, reported only about $104.00 in the bank. Where did it get the money to run this ad?
O.C.G.A. Section 21-2-415 is directly relevant to this.
The relevant portion of 21-2-415(a) reads:
No person shall distribute, circulate, disseminate, or publish or cause to be distributed, circulated, disseminated, or published any literature in connection with any political campaign for any public office or question unless such literature shall bear the name and address of the person or organization distributing, circulating, disseminating, publishing, or causing the same to be distributed, circulated, disseminated, or published. To be in compliance with this subsection when an organization rather than a natural person commits any of the acts enumerated in this subsection, the names and addresses of at least three of the highest officials thereof shall also appear thereon. No candidate whose campaign is the subject of any campaign literature shall contribute funds to defray the cost or a portion of the cost of the printing, publishing, distribution, circulation, or dissemination of such literature unless the literature clearly states that the cost or a portion thereof has been paid for by the candidate. Campaign literature published and disseminated by the candidate, bearing his or her name and the office for which he or she is a candidate, shall be considered as in compliance with this subsection.
Here’s the problem for the Horne campaign. First, I don’t think a legitimate argument can be made that this was actually a third party advertisement. The paying party had only $104 and some odd cents as of June 30th. Given that the stickers were on not just home delivers, but also runs for newspaper stands, you’re talking about an expenditure over $1000.00. Neither the Committee or Horne’s campaign have either posted a 48 hour report for a contribution to pay for these things.
Second, if we’re talking solely a third party expenditure, 21-2-415 states, “To be in compliance with this subsection when an organization rather than a natural person commits any of the acts enumerated in this subsection, the names and addresses of at least three of the highest officials thereof shall also appear thereon.” That’s not on the ad.
But really, a reasonable person can conclude that Horne’s campaign was behind this. The consultant is an integral part of the campaign. While Cox may very well have spent his own money on this, there should have been an in-kind contribution disclosure made. So far there has not been one. If Horne’s campaign participated in any way with this sticker being printed, 21-2-415 states, “No candidate whose campaign is the subject of any campaign literature shall contribute funds to defray the cost or a portion of the cost of the printing, publishing, distribution, circulation, or dissemination of such literature unless the literature clearly states that the cost or a portion thereof has been paid for by the candidate.” The sticker does not mention that. With the race as tight as it is, this just might get Horne into a runoff. But then he’s left himself wide open to charges of breaking election law. And, he has probably just burned a bridge with the Macon Telegraph, which endorsed Horne in this primary.
340,282,366,920,938,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 new web addresses created
Ugh. The facts are rather interesting. 32 messages a day?! I average that many an hour. It’s ridiculous. And not spam emails. I get about 100 spam emails a day. No, I get about 32 legit emails every hour during the day almost every day of the week.
50 billion the number of e-mails dispatched every day wordwide; in 2001 the traffic was less than 12 billion88 per cent of e-mails are junk including about 1 per cent which are virus-infected
32 The average number of e-mail messages received per person per day. This is rising by 84 per cent each year
440 million the number of electronic mailboxes in use, including 170 million corporate ones, growing by 32 per cent per year
Me In the New York Times
Yep. Little ole me made the New York Times.
“There are more dynamics in this lieutenant governor’s race than there are in any other race in the country,” said Erick-Woods Erickson, a conservative blogger based in Macon, Ga., who has followed every nuance of the campaign, recently posting a copy of a letter giving Mr. Reed permission to put one yard sign in every Waffle House. “There’s 2008, there’s right versus left, there’s Christian right versus not-a-big-deal Christian.”
Stuck in Atlanta
So, I’m headed back to Macon yesterday from a business meeting and my car begins to overheat. Apparently I have no more fan belt.
Luckily, Clayton and Shannon put me