James Wigderson and his critics

But... But... I like Johnny Cash.

C'mon, who the heck is going to take anybody seriously that calls me a "leftist blogger"?

Some people need to put down the ganja and get some fresh air before they blog.

(ht: Capper)

A sadder Cheddarsphere

In every group of people, there is somebody blessed with the ability to look at things from a different angle. All too often, they do not get the appreciation they deserve. - Triticale

Sadly, one of Wisconsin's bloggers, Tom Dee of Triticale, lost his battle with cancer. The gatherings at Drinking Right will be a little emptier without him. The Wigderson family offers our prayers for Tom's family. RIP.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Okay, I'm campaigning

Okay people, listen up. In the Weblog Awards voting we are down in the polls, big time. We're looking like the Washington Redskins against the New England Patriots. Actually, we're looking like the Washington Redskins ball boys against the New England Patriots.

Worse, I'm even coming behind the guy with the crock pot. People, he doesn't even have booze in his recipes.

I know I said I was not going to campaign for this Weblog Award. That was just false modesty, and false modesty is getting it's ass kicked.

This is a matter of Wisconsin pride. Sean at The American Mind isn't doing well in his category, either. Owen's doing a little better, but not much.

So click on the button and vote, or I will post the pictures when Ann Coulter does her inevitable centerfold in Playboy.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

James Wigderson, evil mastermind

From today's Sound Off column in the Waukesha Freeman:

Wisconsin Covenant
The reader’s Sound Off column on Tuesday regarding the Wisconsin Covenant is way off base. Belling, Wigderson, and Robinson are not against students getting an
education, as the reader tries to twist. Nobody of sound faculty and wit would be against expediting education. The compunction here is that having students sign a pledge (covenant) where there is no program, policy, funding or even a guarantee that they will actually earn enrollment if they meet their end of the deal is disingenuous and frankly just another example of the string of outright lies from this administration (yes we have a balanced budget, elect me! Oops, it’s a deficit I wont raise your taxes! Ooh, sorry about that. Here’s a real property tax freeze, wait, um, no, not so much. Embryonic stem cell research has made an actual contribution to disease control, Oh no. Hey Michael, help me out here! Etc., etc.) Getting kids to put their signatures on a program that doesn’t exist is patently wrong. Even if you believe it will seal the deal on a program you wish to implement in the future, it is still a scam. They deserve an actual reward for their efforts.

How did I end up with only second billing?

Meanwhile, le affaire Illusory Tenant has yielded some kind words from other quarters. Tim Rock wrote,

I like James. He has a wonderful wife, cute kids, a beautiful mother and an always interesting father who keeps sending me the weirdest stuff imaginable via e-mail (keep it up, Bill ... I do look at every one of them). James' politics are diametrically opposed to mine, but we can talk. Sometimes it gets a little hot. Most often, though, humor defuses the tense situations and we come to an understanding.

After that he went into some irrelevant rambling off the topic of how wonderful I am. Lefty blogger "Capper" also weighs in on the weighty one,

James is a fairly intelligent person, with a good sense of humor.

I stopped reading after that because it wasn't important.

But Grumps of the Happy Circumstance thinks he sees a pattern. Elliott of From Where I Sit advertised for a "mortal enemy" in blogging. Grumps responded in the comments,

Let’s think this through. The great Criminal Masterminds, Moriarty, Kobayashi, merely sat back and, through the power of their will and their knowledge of other’s failings, led networks of minions to do their bidding, often without their minion’s knowledge or assent.

I think we’re all being manipulated already and I nearly have the evidence to prove it. If something should happen to me there is a file folder in my sock drawer that points straight to this Cheddarspherical genius.

Yes.

I’m talking about….

Wiggy.

You'll never prove it, Grumps! Nobody will ever believe you! They'll think you're mad! MAD! Hahahahahaha! And I'll control the Cheddarsphere! All of it! All the ad revenue will be mine! MINE!

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Am I worth 50 cents? Am I worth three bucks?

From "Crashing the Party", the Insider Pressroom in this month's Milwaukee Magazine:

In the last few years, the number of of independent Internet writers, or bloggers, has exploded. Their impact is increasingly felt.

Bloggers Owen Robinson and James Wigderson now write newsaper columns (both write for papers owned by Conley Media, which includes the Waukesha Freeman and West Bend Daily News). Along with liberal Jay Bullock of the blog folkbum, they're also used by local television stations to comment on election results.

I checked, and I am not featured in the article on Whitney Gould or on finding the right neighborhood for gay acceptance. They also forgot to mention Bullock's time in the center square.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

And then tragedy struck

A friend of mine just told me her main power cord on her computer died. I feel I should send her a card or somethin'.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

They call me... Deep Wiggy

I want to blame a few people for not being able to write as many posts as I would have liked the last couple of weeks. Normally somebody tips me to something, I investigate, and if I find it interesting then I write about it. Instead there's been a rash, even a flood, of e-mails and phone calls to me that have been "off the record", or even "strictly off the record", or even "in confidence" and "not to be made public."

Fair enough. I like good gossip like anyone else, and if you want to tell me something I can lend an ear, maybe two.

What really struck me were the writers who sent me e-mails without establishing whether the conversation was off the record first. Oops. I was really tempted to print the last e-mail I got like this (it's saved for my memoirs).

Instead, I remembered this primer on "Off the record" from the US State Department, and thought it would be a good time for bloggers, readers and correspondents to refresh themselves on the rules. The State Department standard I think is pretty good and, as any student of foreign policy knows, when it comes to leaking information there is no greater authority than the United States Department of State.

Ground Rules for Interviewing State Department Officials
Ground Rules
Ground rules must be agreed upon at the beginning of a conversation or an interview with State Department officials. The discussion should proceed only after you and the officials are clear on exactly how the information can be used or attributed.

On the Record
Information may be quoted directly and attributed to the official by name and title.

On Background
The official's remarks may be quoted directly or paraphrased and are attributed to a “State Department official” or “Administration official,” as determined by the official.

On Deep Background
The source cannot be quoted or identified in any manner, not even as “an unnamed source.” The information is usually couched in such phrases as “it is understood that” or “it has been learned.” The information may be used to help present the story or to gain a better understanding of the subject, but the knowledge is that of the reporter, not the source. No information provided may be used in the story. The information is only for the reporter's background knowledge.

Off the Record
Nothing of what the journalist is told may be used in the story. The information is meant only for the education of the reporter.

My advice to bloggers and anyone else is to assume that you are always "on the record" unless you clearly lay out ahead of time that you're not, and that both parties agree ahead of time.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I just got some more good gossip in my e-mail. Off the record, of course.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

We have a winner

We have a winner to our contest. First, let me thank the many entrants to the contest. Some of the entries, while not quite the winner, were too good not to give special consideration.

We had two entries with a Apocalypse Now theme, "Ride of the Valkyries" and "The End." Had to reject The End because I can't stand The Doors, especially Val Kilmer. As for Wagnerian opera, I appreciate it too much to have it linked with Hillary.

I loved the pick of "Evil Woman" but it's such an obvious suck-up. Besides the lyrics, "There's a hole in my head where the rain comes in/ You took my body and played to win" just make me really uncomfortable of picturing Hillary Clinton. Like I would have to consider celibacy.

"Surrender" by Cheap Trick is now the national anthem of France, so we had to rule that entry out of order.

Sean gets bonus points for Iron Maiden, but isn't Eddie dead? I believe I heard Sean whistling "The Bitch is Back" when Ann Coulter started speaking.

"Sympathy for the Devil" was too sympathetic, "You're So Vain" too Warren Beatty, "Friends in Low Places" too country.

I'm saving "It's the End of the World As We Know It" in case Al Gore enters the race.

AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" reminded me of my last girlfriend.

Finally, the winning entry was "Devil With a Blue Dress." The song is now stuck in my head, and the winner is Al in Dubuque, IA. We're counting on him getting his prize personally autographed as Hillary campaigns for the Iowa Caucus. We'll Fed-ex his prize out as soon as he e-mails me an address.



Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Help Hillary Find a Theme Song Contest

I want to give everyone an update on our contest (details and rules here) and our 200,000 page view milestone.

First, we passed 200,000 sometime today, possibly a day or two earlier than I expected. I want to thank everyone for stopping by, even if they were just hoping to see a picture of Jessica Simpson. Will you settle for a picture of OJ Simpson instead? In all seriousness, thanks. We're still smaller than many blogs, but we're larger than a few, and we're having an impact. I say "we" because I'm only the messenger. Somebody has to actually do something, and quite often that somebody is one of my readers. Now do something useful.

Next, a contest update:

We're having so much fun trying to help Hillary Clinton find her theme song, we're going to run this contest through Friday at midnight. Doreen and I are going to have a tough time picking a winner. Note to Dave in SF, you get points for making a music video. You lose points because it's Sondheim.

To enter, make a comment for this blog post using a valid e-mail address, or send me an e-mail at WigdersonLibrary@yahoo.com. As entries are received I will post them as quickly as I can. If two people submit the winning song, it will be the entry that was received first.

Entries e-mailed so far:
"The Bitch is Back" by Elton John
"All By Myself" by Eric Carmen
Verdi's Dies Irae (Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning)
Who's Sorry Now?
Everybody Ought To Have A Maid
Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood
"Somebody Slap Me" by John Anderson

Entries from the comments so far:
"Hail to the Chief"
You're so Vain
Accidents will happen
Positively fourth street
It's my turn
Evil woman
"I Have Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks
Won't get fooled again
Sympathy for the Devil
"The End" - The Doors
"Everyone knows I'm in Over my head" by The Fray
"Devil With A Blue Dress"
"Theme from The Twilight Zone"
"Surrender" by Cheap Trick
"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden
Its the end of the world as we know it. (REM)

Contest with a real prize

As you many have seen on National Review Online, Senator Hillary Clinton needs your help picking out a campaign theme song.

Coincidentally, we're looking forward to the 200,000th page view at the Wigderson Library & Pub since we started keeping track. It should happen sometime this coming week.

To celebrate this milestone, we're having a contest. We're asking you to pick an appropriate theme song for the Hillary for President campaign. The winner will be the funniest, most fitting entry as judged by the Lovely Doreen from Waukesha and me.

To enter, make a comment for this blog post using a valid e-mail address, or send me an e-mail at WigdersonLibrary@yahoo.com. As entries are received I will post them as quickly as I can. If two people submit the winning song, it will be the entry that was received first.

The winner will receive a Big Willies Edible Cigar. Although, I wouldn't suggest eating it. Yes, here is your chance to have a souvenir from the Clinton Administration that didn't require dry cleaning.

Anyone living in the contiguous 48 states is eligible to enter the contest. Outside the 48 states you'll have to pay for your own shipping. The only restrictions are 1) the song title cannot contain any profanity, and 2) the song and/or the recording artist must be recognizable to a majority of our readers.

Tips: Keep the song focused on Hillary, not Bill. So "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw" is not appropriate, but "Stand By Your Man" would've been appropriate had Hillary herself not made that song ineligible in 1992.

D'oh! 5:43PM Forgot to add, one entry per person.

Update! Entries e-mailed so far.
"The Bitch is Back" by Elton John
"All By Myself" by Eric Carmen
Verdi's Dies Irae (Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning)
Who's Sorry Now?
Everybody Ought To Have A Maid
Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood

Entries from the comments so far:
"Hail to the Chief"
You're so Vain
Accidents will happen
Positively fourth street
It's my turn
Evil woman
"I Have Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks
Won't get fooled again
Sympathy for the Devil
"The End" - The Doors
"Everyone knows I'm in Over my head" by The Fray
"Devil With A Blue Dress"
"Theme from The Twilight Zone"
"Surrender" by Cheap Trick
"Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden
Its the end of the world as we know it. (REM)

The sound of silence

Haloscan, the service I use for comments, is experiencing a hiccup with one of its servers. You can see the comments in the right hand column but they are not appearing below the post.

I think it's a conspiracy by the Libertarians.

If you're frustrated about not being able to read the comments, let me catch you up. I suck. My wife sucks. I'm mean spirited. I'm a pot. I'm a kettle. I'm illiterate. I only hate liberal children. I'm a hypocrite. I never criticize any Republicans. And I may or may not have committed countless comma faults and errors in hyphenated modifiers.

It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.
W. C. Fields

Update! system appears back to normal at 4:37pm.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Losing that inner Klingon

The Sam Kinison of political blogging, Chris at Spotted Horse 2, is closing his blog to concentrate on the Wisconsin Sports Bar. Apparently Ted Thompson has Chris so irate he's ready to sharpen his Daqtagh on Thompson's bones.

I think Chris was the first local political blogger I met, other than those I knew before they blogged. And yet I kept on blogging. Seriously, Chris is a very nice guy and I wish his Wisconsin Sports Bar the best.

Chris is not leaving us completely, obviously, as he is still a member of the Badger Blog Alliance. Chris will be hosting the BBA Shooting Day on May 19th at the McMiller Sports Center in Eagle, WI.

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

I'm curious if this will work

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has launched yet another blog, Backroom Blog, written by State Senator Jeff Plale (D), State Senator Neal Kedzie (R), State Representative Leah Vukmir (R) and State Representative Jason Fields (D). So far it's been rather cordial, but as the budget debates heat up, will the legislators keep their cool? Or will it read like the New Berlin Now set of "Community Voices"?

For those that are interested, Stacy Forster of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was kind enough to send me the RSS Feed.

http://www.jsonline.com/content/blog/xml/351/RSSfeed.xml

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Updated Comments Policy

Because a few people can't play nice, I've updated the comments policy. My word is final, unless overruled by The Lovely Doreen from Waukesha or my attorney.

(Fans, management and players of the Washington Redskins organization have no protection under this rule. Also, I reserve the right for my readers and myself the unlimited ability to make fun of fans of the song "Luka.")

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

Resume fodder

Dave of Carrick-Round-the-Bend continues with his unhealthy obsession with defending Ms. Ann Coulter’s honor. Whether she’s grateful or seeking a restraining order at this time is not known. However, Dave’s been reading resumes and wants to know the time-span from Sean Hackbarth’s organizing a letter campaign against Coulter to it appearing on his resume. For Sean’s sake, I hope it was nearly immediate. It’s not often that opportunity comes knocking, although a chance to knock Ann Coulter unfortunately comes all too frequently. Bloggers should take credit when they can where they can.

After all, if we don’t, who will give us the credit later?

It is finished

Jonah Goldberg says his long-awaited book is finally done. Well, it's at the publishers. I forget where I saw or heard it, but Fred Barnes was once quoted as saying about an article he did for The New Republic, "It has the quality of doneness."

I sometimes have that same feeling around here.

Update! This is the cover referred to in the comments.


Find classic movies at Amazon.com

I hope this doesn't catch on

So, define "civil" behavior in blog writing and commenting. Yeah, and then ask another blogger to define them, and then ask a couple of readers, and the next thing you know I can't say "Children should be seen and not heard."

Some writer at the New York Times wants us to add badges to our blogs indicating we meet his definition of civility, a blogger's code of conduct. Isn't part of having a blog not conforming with the norms of the Mainstream Media? (Oops, is that term offensive now?)

I write a column for the Waukesha Freeman, and it's understood (but not explicitly defined) that there are some things I can get away with here that I can't quite get away with there. It's just the way it is, and I don't need the editor Bill Yorth sending me memos reminding me where the line is (so far).

On the other hand, there is a self-correcting nature to blogging that I enjoy. If I make an error, some commenter will usually let me know, or some other blogger, and my mistake and the correction are usually transparent. On a less factual but often more meaningful level there is what Mickey Kaus called "the asymptotic search for the truth": Bloggers addressing a particular topic each adding their own thoughts and arguments until we approach something close to the truth on an argument.

As for blogs that don't engage in a little self-correction or don't want to seem to engage in a dialog, well, they have their markets, too. I also see the "Darth Doyle" and the "Bushhitler" comments as having little marginal utility, and they have little market reach beyond a very selective audience. But the nice part is that the audience for those blogs, or any blog, is self-selecting, and the reader can quickly decide whether a blog is worth bookmarking.

A self-selecting blog badge would merely indicate that the author of the blog believes themself to be civil in the blog writing and the policing of the comments, but the reality may be that the author is the most uncivil bastard with an educated vocabulary but lacking in a knowledge of what constitutes libel.

No, if there are to be blog badges, let them be for something useful. Perhaps a badge indicating that the author is prone to believe in conspiracy theories, or contributes money to the Libertarians, or even a badge for those believing in astrology or phrenology. Upon seeing those badges the reader can congratulate themselves on a narrow escape from someone else's escapism.

In the meantime, the rest of us can escape the badges of self-congratulation.

(Ht: Althouse, The American Mind)

Find classic movies at Amazon.com

That's "award-winning" Jessica McBride to you

Congratulations to Jessica McBride, a friend of this blog and a fellow columnist at the Waukesha Freeman. The Milwaukee Press Club handed out their annual awards. Jessica McBride won in two categories:

Web Category 2
Best Feature Story Originally Published on a Website
1st
Cheryl Sherry, Susan Squires
The Post-Crescent
Dairyland Redefined

2nd
Jessica McBride
McBride's Media Matters
Starfish

Web Category 3
Best Web-Only Commentary
1st
WTMJ 620 AM
Jessica McBride Media Matters

2nd
Sara Oceguera
MKE/MKEonline.com
Summerfest and State Fair Three Views 2006

I had to laugh at Jessica's comment,

Of course, when I wrote the feature story, I was a former corporate journalist writing as a citizen journalist... who is now a corporate journalist.

Maybe a few bloggers oughtta join the club. This award cracked me up.

Television Category 1
Television Journalist of the Year
1st
Mike Jacobs
WTMJ-TV
Mike Jacobs Composite

No, really. C'mon, really.

Comments on commenters, blogging, and anonymity

One, an update on me. I'm better, and will be posting more often again as soon as I catch up on some things. Unfortunately it looks like the end of this week before the house and everything else is caught up.

Two, I thought I'd point to this Ann Althouse blog post, where she finally tires of an abusive commenter and deletes his/her comments without regard to content. All of them. To get to the frustration level where the normally mild mannered Althouse reacts with an "Off With Your Head" order strikes me as an extreme case.

I am less mild-mannered (really), more like Henry Hotspur Percy, and I've only reached that point a couple of times.

Which makes me grateful for the commenters I have. There was some speculation I was going to "out" a commenter or a blogger the other day, and let me say that was definitely not my intention. My intention with the post in question was to remind everyone they're not as anonymous as they think, and to have a good laugh at it.

Along the same theme, I was struck by this post from Kevin at Lakeshore Laments, which was echoed elsewhere, "outing" the anonymous blogger who wrote Playground Politics. For Kevin the final straw was a Playground post referring to the Steven Avery's release from prison and the posing for holy pictures that followed with members of state government. It turns out the "Recess Supervisor" at Playground Politics is a former staff member for a member of the state legislature, and was less anonymous than presumed.

I think upon further reflection Kevin would probably be less likely to allow a fit of pique cause him to "out" an anonymous blogger. After all, it was just last year that the Wisconsin Cheddarsphere of bloggers all defended "Dennis York's" anonymity. It seems foolish to allow one issue, or even an accumulation of minor irritations, to cause someone to 'out" an anonymous writer, especially when that information has no bearing on the subject(s) under consideration.

But Dennis York is no longer anonymous, and now neither is Ryan Gruber.

For the record, I am really James Wigderson.

Find conservative books at Amazon.com

Blogs come, blogs go

I tend not to note here the passing of blogs and the start of new ones as the lifespan of a blog tends to resemble that of a mayfly. But let me a couple of changes in the Cheddarsphere of note.

Kevin and Kurt Binversie are ending Lakeshore Laments.

It is with a heavy heart that I tell you that we are in the final days, if not weeks, of Lakeshore Laments. (At least this incarnation…)

I have accepted a position out in Washington, DC and as part of the terms of that employment, I will have to end posting on the blog here.

Since Kurt is in Iraq, unable to post with any consistency, and “Beefy” has gone AWOL on us, “The Brothers Binversie” have jointly decided now would be as good a time as any to let the blog go out to pasture.

Lakeshore Laments was the first blog to link to mine (because I e-mailed them the link). Lakeshore Laments was one of the smarter blogs out there and I'm sorry it will be gone.

Meanwhile, "Dennis York" aka Christian Schneider has come out of retirement, making more comebacks than Jason, Billy Martin and John Travolta combined.

Find conservative books at Amazon.com