Indiana Blog Review

Good Bye

I've checked the RSS feed for new material for the last time.  My list of bookmarks is now empty.  My time as editor of the Indiana Blog Review has come to an end.  This is my last post.  Thank you all for reading and keep blogging!

Your Attention Please

• Daily Dose of IP -- An intellectual property law blog by Ice Miller associate Mark Reichel

Bannination

The big splash in the Fort Wayne Bloghood is that Fort Wayne News was kicked off of TypePad (which also powers IBR).  The proprietor of that site, Dan Turkette, has a recurring feature on which he cuts and pastes the online information on local sex offenders and deadbeats, which includes home address.  The problem, it seems, was that the TypePad's terms of use prohibit posting such contact information . . . or speech that could be deemed dangerous.

On the first point, TypePad, as a private business, is certainly within their rights to suspend whomever they want.  On the second point, it's probably less clear that his blog was inciting violence, and the genesis of the complaint to TypePad has become a topic of some discussion.

FWOb reprinted an excerpt from an email sent to FWN that states similar complaints were also sent to the FBI, an attorney, and "other organizations."  FWOb also attracted a commenter named Michael H. Reese who discussed the complaint against FWN at greater length and predicted forthcoming charges. Mike Sylvester has some strong critisims of Mr. Reese.

In the meantime, Fort Wayne News has moved to a new server and is back online.

Your Attention Please

"Fort Wayne Observed is proud to present its first Fall Conference.  It will be held Thursday morning, November 16, 2006, at the Hilton Garden Inn at the southwest corner of I-69 and US 24 in Fort Wayne.

The Fall Conference is to explore public policy, legislative and municipal actions, and community issues.  It is for as well as attorneys and community leaders.

Indiana attorneys attending the conference will be eligible for Continuing Legal Education Credits."

Click here for online registration

Your Attention Please

I've always heard that the way to distinguish your new blog is to find a niche, but this is the most specific blog I've come across so far:

• Indiana Commercial Foreclosure Law -- "Welcome to John Waller's blog, which is dedicated to commercial lenders and banks that need to foreclose on loan collateral and collect commercial debts. "

Your Attention Please?

I'm not sure if this is legal, considering how hyper we are about polling places, but I'll be curious to see whether Shawn Plew's plan works:

I’ll be workin’ the polls tomorrow in an effort to GOTV for IN State house district 89 candidate John Barnes. By my side will be my (friend’s) trusty laptop. If I can get a wireless connection I’ll do my own version of precinct polling during the day. I have no earthly idea where I’ll be or what I’ll be doing, but I’ll make an effort to post info about my experience as “Joe Volunteer”.

Update:  Just showed up in my RSS feed: 10 am, 3:15 pm, 4 pm, and 6 pm.

Your Attention Please

The Official Blog of Evan Bayh's All America PAC is churning out good coverage of Hoosier campaigning leading up to the election.

Your Attention Please

Paul Musgrave was one of the first if not the very first (as my colleague Josh Claybourn claims) bloggers in Indiana.  On Saturday, he bode farewell to blogging with his last post at PaulMusgrave.Com.

I've always enjoyed Paul's blogging and am proud and humbled to have been his co-blogger on two group blogs.  Every blogger could benefit from some sober contemplation of his thoughts on the medium.

Your Attention Please

Did you know Dane Fife has a blog?  It's true.

Progressive Bloggers Forum

As previously reported, Bil Browning of bilerico put together a forum for progressive bloggers to meet local candidates last Friday.  Here are the reactions:

• Bil Browning
• stAllio!, and a follow up post.  This is the best coverage.
• Manfred Eye
• Advance Indiana, and a followup post
• Don Sherfick

More to come! -- Maybe?

Blogfight!

An interesting code to the 7th District race is Steph Mineart's novel gossip/ rumor/ accusation/ lie/ suggestion/ ? that Eric Dickerson's campaign has been surreptitiously passing mud along to his party organs:

I'm sorry -- Dickerson is slinging more than any candidate I've ever seen, but it's not mud he's slinging -- it's s---, plain and simple.

He's feeding libelous allegations and smear tactics to the IndyUndercover site . . . and to Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana.

Indy Undercover gives a jovial but firm denial.  Advance Indiana calls it a lie.

Another Blogger Forum

Bil Browning:

I'm proud to announce that I've put together a small blogger forum with some local progressive candidates on Friday. I've booked a small meeting space and four candidates have agreed to come and talk to the assembled bloggers and let them ask questions. No topic is off limits and audio and video recording will be allowed . . .

Be sure to check out your favorite local blogs on Friday afternoon to see and read what happens at the event.

Your Attention Please

Congratulations to Shawn Plew, who is expecting a baby . . . and started a blog about it, of course.

Your Attention Please

• The Yuspie Blog -- Even in acronym form, it's still a mouthful.
• Stampede Blue -- An Unofficial Indianapolis Colts Blog

Bloggers Bump

Advance Indiana posts pictures from Tuesday's panel discussion on bloggers in the 7th District Congressional race.

I thought much of the event lost focus.  At times, the discussion digressed to topics unrelated to blogging or the campaign.  Perhaps there really wasn't enough of an intersection of the two to sustain a meeting.  This was also due in part to the selection of the panelists.  For example, none of them had made a strong connection between the 300 East fiasco and Julia Carson (it took Eric Dickerson to articulate the relevance).

The most substantive part of the discussion was the issue of accountability of bloggers for what they post.  This would have been more interesting if the panel had included citizen-journalists rather than people with professional experience in Old Media.  Of course, this issue brought up Dickerson's grievance with TDW over the posting of his and his wife's Social Security Numbers, and to her credit, Jennifer Wagner apologized in person.

The conclusion of the discussion seemed to be that there is still a great deal of uncertainty about blogs.  What kind of influence do they have?  How can they best be used?  What are they?  (One audience member submitted the question, "Can you show us a blog?")  I think it will be a few more election cycles before these questions are settled, but I still think the sponsors and participants are to be commended for exploring the topic, nascent though it may be.

The Blogger Jamboree

Advance Indiana explains why he isn't on tomorrow's panel for "When Bloggers and Political Candidates Collide":

For some of us, it gets back to the old debate of what constitutes a blogger . . .  Each of the bloggers scheduled for Tuesday's events do their work as bloggers in connection with their full-time paid positions. Shabazz and Biddle are full-time journalists. Wagner is a full-time communications director for the Democratic Party. Yes, they are all bloggers as well, but they are quite different from fellow bloggers . . . who are truly independent, unpaid bloggers. This latter group, in which I include myself, is more closely allied with what Internet junkies consider to be true bloggers who write to have their views heard, often which are overlooked by the mainstream media. It's a distinction some may consider subtle, but it's a major distinction to traditional bloggers like myself.

Your Attention Please

Three:

• My Personal Asylum by Jon - "There are now FOUR Fort Wayne Libertarians who run their own blogs," says Mike Sylvester.
• ManfredEye.  - "Looks like there’s a new blog in town: An Indianapolis blogger focused primarily on politics," says Doug Masson.
• Chris Hardie has started a new web thingy: Progressive Wayne County - "an interactive community site that promotes and chronicles the progressive efforts of individuals, organizations and businesses in the area," says he.

Sure Thing

Bilerico welcomes another contributor, Don Sherfick.

Your Attention Please

• Kreg Battles, the Democratic opponent to Troy Woodruff for Indiana's 64th House District (via Doug Masson)
• Bil Browning is working on a new blog for the American Values Alliance.

Your Attention Please

Two new ones

• Hamilton County Libertarian Party
• 'Round the Bend -- a Democrat out of South Bend pushing hard for Donnelly

Your Attention Please

Marcia Oddi of the Indiana Law Blog coyly asked, "can a blogger ever be considered a 'journalist'?  The answer is - YES, at least in Indiana!"

Congratulations to Ms. Oddi for:

being chosen as a recipient of the Indiana Judges Association’s 2006 Media Award for “Excellence in Public Information and Education.” This annual award is given to selected members of the media who have “gone the extra mile” in responsible, informative and educational reporting/programming to the community in matters concerning the Indiana Judiciary.

And well deserved!

Your Attention Please

• Summit City Odds & Ends is now Fort Wayne News.
• Mark Rutherford and Craig Ladwig have teamed up to form the quaintly titled Indiana Committee of Correspondence.
• The Muncie Free Press is a keen site with a blogroll for Muncie.

Your Attention Please

• John Good and Robert Rouse have joined forces to create Fort Wayne Left, "a blog centered solely on the local political scene from the progressive view."
• The Allen County Democratic Party has started a new blog.
• I Choose Indy, "Industry Leaders and Professionals on why they choose Indianapolis, in their words"  Bloggers Ruth Holladay and Jen Wagner have already contributed.

How to Read a Blog

The Indiana Law Blog, "I am posting this entry, 'How to Read a Blog,' again for new readers. It has some tips on how to get the most out of this blog, and perhaps some others."

Your Attention Please

Bilerico loses some and gains some contributors.

Update:  And more.

TTFN TP

Sadly, it looks as if one of the best new blogs to join the fray in recent months is calling it quits:

When I started Tippecanoe Politics, I told myself that I would blog for two months and ‎see how well things went. Although things have gone wonderful, I have decided that I ‎can no longer write this blog.

This is  a true loss for the Hoosier Blogosphere, but TP's reasons are completely understandable.

Old Media Blogging

TDW brings our attention to  a new blog by recently-retired Indianapolis Star columnist Ruth Holladay.

Sadly, one of her posts is an ominous speculation that Gannett corporate policies may have hindered efforts to help recently deceased, a much beloved photographer Mpozi Tolbert.  Incredibly, she reports on, "a setup in the newsroom which DOES NOT ALLOW REPORTERS OR EDITORS TO CALL OUT ON 911."

UPDATE:  Advance Indiana takes note of the Star's Exec. Ed. Dennis Ryerson's strenuous denial of Holladay's assertions.  Holladay has backpedalled, leading AI to comment, "Her original assertion was simply misleading."  FWOb, however, says the Star management could have done better.  Industry publications Editor & Publisher reports that  a state OSHA investigation is forthcoming (via ILB).

Thus, this is turning into a big story.  Besides E&P, the Poynter Institute has also been covering this fiasco (see here and especially here).  Yet you won't read about it in local media.  Advance Indiana notes:

If Indianapolis residents want to know what's going on with this skirmish, they're going to have to rely on Internet blogs. The Star and other local mainstream media outlets aren't covering the story--at least so far.

Whatever the outcome, this is a rather acrimonious debut for Ms. Holladay to the blogosphere, one that has perhaps soured relations between Media Old and New even further.

UPDATE II:  FWOb emailed to alert me that my link to his post is misleading.  He also thinks that Holladay's accusations are over the top:

Three of the bases of the emergency care response were in place . . . a 911 call was made; emergency response was prompt, and there were persons performing CPR until the arrival of the emergency medical response.

However, the description of the difficulties faced at the Star sound little different from circumstance at many, many other work places.  It doesn't read as though it is anything particularly tied to the Star being owned by the nation's largest corporate newspaper chain.

I apologize for abbreviating too much on some great commentary.

Your Attention Please

Via Mark Rutherford:

• Tippecanoe County Libertarian Sheriff candidate Casey Shoaf has a blog titled "Casey Shoaf for Tippecanoe County Sheriff".

Your Attention Please

Chris Hardie turns our attention to an exciting new development in online Hoosier news.

• The Richmond News Review: A podcast from Richmond, Indiana about news and opinion from a different perspective.

LPIN Online

"The LPIN Legislative Center returns shortly to the blogosphere with our weekly postings reviewing laws that went into effect following the 2006 legislative session of the Indiana General Assembly."

Your Attention Please

Via Mark Rutherford:

• Rex Bell, candidate for Indiana House 54, has started a new blog titled "Election 2006 - The campaign adventures of District 54 Candidate Rex Bell. Comments, issues, information, and an occasional picture or two."

Help Wanted

Due to its initial success, Tippecanoe Politics is seeking staff and guest columnists.

Your Attention . . . Eventually

FWOb finds that WPTA/WISE has a proto-blog, "which is not ready for primetime."

Your Attention Please

Fort Wayne Observed welcomes a new contributor, Casey B. Cox, native of Allen County, law student at IU Law - Bloomington, Student Trustee of Indiana Univerity, and all-around wunderkind.  I knew Casey at IU, and he's a great guy.  I'm sure he'll contribute a lot to FWOb's already great content.

His first post is on the IU Alumni Trustee Election.

Your Attention Please?

stAllio! points out that, "miss ann, the meridian-kessler dominatrix who's being prosecuted (or persecuted?) by the city of indianapolis, has started her own blog. it's new and still short on content, but it has a couple posts about the latest developments defending herself against the city's lawsuit."

Blocking Blogs

"If the state does choose to block blogs, TDW wants to be on record predicting that her site and other Indiana political blogs will start seeing a jump in readership around 5:30 each evening."

Of course, I'd wager most blogs, including this one (modest though our traffic may be), already have a jump in readership around quittin' time.

Putting the Fame into Defamation

Advance Indiana:

It seems to me, though, that taking the step of sending a letter claiming you've been defamed in the blogosphere often has the complete opposite effect you intended, which is to clear your good name.

He notes his own experience as well as that of bilerico and Taking Down Words.

A New Feature: Yes or No?

Matt Tully is being innovative (for Political Junkie, at least).

Taking Out Words

Did the State temporarily block employees from reading Taking Down Words?

CNN

Wow, Abdul is going to be on CNN Headline News tonight on the Glen Beck Show tonight at 7 pm (replay at 9).

By The Way

Liberal Indiana is back with a redesigned website and oodles of posts.

Sadly, IBR also notes the apparent loss of a citizen of the Hoosier Blogosphere: Tracy Warner's blog is fizzling out.

Another Blogging Politician

FWOb notes that state rep. candidate Phil GiaQuinta has started a campaign blog . . . almost.

Your Attention Please

New blog:

• The Wanderer -- "Reporting on the Presidential Aspirations of Indiana Senator Evan Bayh"

An Unbalanced Blogosphere

Advance Indiana concludes from a recent report from Jim Shella  of WISH-TV on blogs in Indiana that it, "Looks like the Republicans need to go back to the drawing board again."  I'd have to agree.

MetaBlogging

Advance Indiana points us to Ed Feigenbaum's, well, insight into the world of blogging.  Today's required reading.

Your Attention Please

New Blogs, both of which are excellent:

• Indy Biz, "created by Lorraine Ball of Roundpeg, is a place small business owners can come together to share information, resources, and ideas."
• VarvBlog, by the Indy Star's editorial cartoonist, Gary Varvel.

And while we're on the subject of blogs, Entropy Manor alerts us to  an upcoming Midwest Blogmeet July 14-16.

Great News

Mitch Harper announced that not only will he continue to maintain Indiana Parley, but he'll be covering the Indiana State Republican Convention June 19-20.

Your Attention Please

A new blog from down south:

A Fiscally Conservative Floyd County Democrat

via Diggin' in the Dirt

Lunch with Bayh

I note below that last week, I deigned to dip below 96th Street for a lunch with Evan Bayh. As the Senator himself remarked, it's no secret that he's making all the right moves for a Presidential run. It's flattering and interesting that Bayh and his staff consider a small meeting with bloggers to be one of those moves.

No doubt, Bayh is interested in also reaching out to bloggers in key states like New Hampshire and Iowa, and it behooved Bayh to meet first with his homestate crowd. This meeting was, like his proto-campaign, an exploration: are bloggers a force to be courted, defanged, or safely ignored?

The answer is probably all three, as individual bloggers vary considerably. It's also unclear how powerful new media are. The blogosphere, Hoosier or otherwise, cannot claim to have propelled any major candidate to office, nor have blogs been as effective as special interest groups at pushing legislation. There are some encouraging signs, though: the Dean campaign pioneered online activism and, most importantly, fundraising. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is finding persistent support from the quixotic Porkbusters. Astute staffers might already be reading the Kossack manifesto Crashing the Gate:Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics. And blogs quickly corrected Dan Rather when he tried to peddle forged documents as news in the last presidential election.

Ironically, it may be on this last point that Bayh expressed his initial impression of blogs. Bayh styles himself as a dynamic moderate, rising above destructive partisan warfare. He stressed that in order for the national dialogue (and his prospective campaign) to move forward, Republican attacks will need to be blunted. The implied message at the lunch: "And that's where you guys come in."

Whether the (Hoosier) blogosphere is willing and able to come in also remains to be seen, which is, of course, why meeting with them is so important. Like any bloc of supporters, bloggers will need to be wooed. Likewise, in order to continue to have access to power, bloggers will have to demonstrate their value. I didn't really see either of these things going on at the lunch. Perhaps I'm biased because I'm a meta-blogger, but I expected the discussion to focus much more on new media. If it doesn't in the future, I won't really see the point in continuing such meetings. Bayh's staff might not either.

(cross-posted In The Agora)

Fort Wayne Observed Turns One

A happy belated bloggiversary to Fort Wayne Observed, which has been online for a year last Monday.  Mitch Harper notes, "As part of its first year anniversary celebration, Fort Wayne Observed [and IBR]  founder Nathan Gotsch will return to serve as guest editor from May 30 - June 9."

How Flattering

Torpor Indy alerted me to the fact that the Indianapolis Monthly City Guide mentions the Indiana Blog Review, "in the Indy Online section with the description of 'The Blog Review is a thorough directory 30-plus blogs by residents or relevant to the state.'"

IBR is happy to be a semi-official blogroll of the biggest blogs and a spotlight for all of your great contributions to the Hoosier blogosphere.  Congratulations on the mention in IM!

Of course, I deserve a little credit for scouring the web far and wide to bring you the finest in Indiana-related blogging.  Like finding a blog devoted to evaluating public restrooms called "Secret Pooper," which has several posts on lavatories in the Indianapolis area.

Only $20?

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, male prostitute.

"Well, it's a combination of two words . . . "

The buzz over at Entropy Manor:

I have a question for those of you in my audience who have their own blogs.  Under what circumstances would you tell a real world friend or acquaintance about your blog?

Your Attention Please

New blogs!

• The Chicago Bears Fan Forum Blog -- According to Jerry Madsen, there are many Bears fans in Indiana.
• Joe's Ocean -- Because there aren't enough blogs in Fort Wayne.  via FWOb
• Tippecanoe Politics -- "Although focusing on politics and news from Tippecanoe County, we try to keep readers ‎informed on what’s happening around the state of Indiana."

Reviewing the reporting on the blogging about the reporting on the blogging

Metablogging at FWOB, Indiana Pundit, and Opening Arguments.

In Sympathy

Terry Hutchins recently lost his father-in-law, Don Hamme.  Send him your best wishes.

Your Attention Please

Hoosier blogger Jerry Madsen brings us a new blog, "A Blog Against Child Abuse."

Your Attention Please

A new blog:  Letter From New Albany

Your Attention Please

Did you know moms blog?  See it at Gayla's Place.

Grace

Leo Morris is back, with a very touching reflection on his late mother, her funeral, and grief.

Who Knew?

Mike Kole has the lowdown on Abdul Hakim-Shabazz:  The dude is funny.

Foul!

Ok, I'm going to issue a judgment from the Olympian Heights of the IBR and cry foul on Jane Lichtenberg for failing to provide a link in her latest post.  Despite the fact that there are at least 88 hypertext links from which to choose, Jane neglects the basic blogging convention of directing one's readers to an accompanying newstory.

But I shouldn't pick on just Jane.  More broadly, I find the Indianapolis Star's blogs very rarely link to anything outside of the indystar.com domain.  Why, I have no idea, but it hinders their writers from reaching the potential of New Media.

Doug Masson also notes that this post is typical of how Hoosier media like to imply Hoosiers are stupid when it comes to DST.

Your Attention Please

A new blog, from Corydon:

Hoosier Pundit

How nice to add some geographical balance to the Hoosier Blogosphere.

Condolences

Leo Morris, who blogs at the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel's Opening Arguments, lost his mother Friday morning.  IBR extends our condolences and kindly asks readers to keep Leo and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Your Attention Please

Please welcome the latest addition to the Hoosier Blogosphere, the Marion Co. GOP blog, "Fix Indy Now."  Advance Indiana reviews the efforts so far.

Who can resist?

Thank goodness for slow news days.  Matt Tully:

Well, it's a slow day in Indiana politics. So with little to report, a colleague and I got to talking about a recent bestselling book, “100 People Who are Screwing Up America.”

I’m not too interested in the book, as it appears to be a simple ideologically driven exercise. But the title raises a good question: Which Hoosiers would be on a list of people who are messing up Indiana? (Yes, unlike the book, I'll say "messing up.")

For today, I offer no suggestions. Instead, the question is yours to ponder: Who is messing up Indiana?

Feel free to include the names of politicians, celebrities, lobbyists and, gulp, columnists. Or anyone else.

Any thoughts?

I'll bet Tully's colleague RiShawn Biddle has someone in mind.

TheFort.blogspot.in.us/fortwayne.html

Craig, "How many blogs does there need to be with 'Fort Wayne' in the title?  Think of something original people. 'Summit City' or 'Three Rivers', anything else."

Word.

Calling Out

New contributors to bilerico.com: Jen Wagner from TDW and Scott Barnes from sardonic-bomb.com.

Bil Browning writes, "We're aggressively seeking  bloggers for the group blog that focus on LGBT issues in some way if  you wouldn't mind mentioning...  Potential bloggers can email me -  you can post my email address."

Here you go: bil@bilerico.com

Cheers!

Doug Masson is getting some well-deserved attention.

What's Your Sign?

Scott Tibbs: 9 years cancer-free!

Check yourselves, guys.

Your Attention Please

A new blog has come to my attention:

"Service Dispatches" by Tim Mulherin.

Check it out.

By The Way

Big apologies to Bilerico for not mentioning them before.  Bil graciously reminded me that they have been blogging since I started here, so go check out their latest.  My RSS aggregator wasn't reporting their posts, as I must have been using the wrong feed.  The problem has now been solved.

If anyone else out there has been blogging up a storm and found my coverage of your blog to be lacking, please drop me a note.  I want to make sure the net I'm casting doesn't have any more holes.

New Citizens

In the Hoosier Blogosphere:

• Matthew Tully!   Yeah yeah yeah!!!
• Marcy Wilhelm, opinion editor for the Butler University newspaper, joins Fort Wayne Insight.
• Michele O'Mara, 'Indy's best gay couple's therapist,' joins Bilerico.

The New Media

IBR founder Nathan Gotsch had an Op-Ed in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel that's well worth a read, "Fort Wayne blogs show the latest thing is no fad." (via Fort Wayne Observed)

Appropriate to note, then, that the Allen County Commissioners are podcasting.

But there's still respect for Old Media, even from bloggers: Chris Hardie praises WCTV, "Richmond's local public access cable television station." They even have their own blog.

New Blogs

Three new Indiana blogs just came to my attention:

• Paul and Nat's Music Blog
• The Blogged Drain
• Edge of Gloria

Howdy

Hello, I'm Zach Wendling.  As noted above, IBR needed someone to step in and monitor the blogs of Indiana.  I'm happy to say that I've been tapped to serve up the finest of the Hoosier blogosphere.

I've been blogging for almost four years now, starting as a contributor and then editor for the Hoosier Review Over a year ago, I joined the group blog In The Agora.  Editing the Indiana Blog Review represents an exciting new challenge; as Nathan told me, "It's basically like being Instapundit for Indiana blogs."

While I may not be quite the blog-supremacist Prof. Reynolds is, I do think that blogs are a significant and even powerful new medium.  I'm proud to see the Hoosier State has such a great collection of blogs, and I'll enjoy reading your posts and passing along the best of them.

Yet like Instapundit, I must admit to a few biases.  First, I am a conservative Republican with deep libertarian sympathies.  Fortunately, I don't think that current events in Indiana are particularly ideological, and I try to approach them fairly.  Second, I'll also admit that I campaigned for Mitch Daniels.  My party affiliation is rather weak, and I was most attracted to him because I've long believed that Indiana needed a reform governor.  So far, I would approve of his performance.  As a trained policy analyst, though, I maintain a healthy skepticism about most of his policies.  I am dead set against Indiana switching to Daylight Saving Time.  Lastly, I grew up in Hamilton County and currently live in the greater Indianapolis metropolitan area, so I guess I have a central Indiana bias.

Because I value intellectual honesty, I am confident that, more often than not, I will be able to recognize and pass along smart commentary from any political stripe or corner of Indiana.  To this end, I must say I will rely on you, the readers.  If you think I've missed something noteworthy, feel free to email me the link (if possible, please include the full text as well).  I'll be happy to post it if it makes the IBR a better source for learning what Hoosier blogs are talking about.

One final note on my introduction:  I'll be getting off to a rough start.  My work requires frequent traveling, so blogging may be spotty for the next two-to-three weeks.  I'll keep checking the email and play catch up as best I can.

Representative bloggers

Mitch at Indiana Parley writes that two Indiana politicians have been named among the top 6 elected official bloggers in the U.S.

I highly recommend you visit the links to the weblogs of two Indiana state representatives. Representatives Ryan Dvorak (D-South Bend) and Steve Heim (R-Culver) are both bright and personable. This comes across in their weblogs. They can give you a first-hand account of the legislature while it is in session. Both are open enough to give readers a real feel for the thought processes and experiences of being a state representative. I should know.

One of the first posts I wrote at the start of Indiana Parley was about the question "Why haven't more elected officials taken up blogging?" It was entitled , "Just Think of Blogging as a Big Fish Fry." In it, I talked about State Rep. Dvorak's then new weblog.

Both Rep. Dvorak and Rep. Heim are listed as among the 6 top bloggers among elected officials in the United States by the weblog "Lawmakers." This is a weblog promoting the idea that more elected officials should contribute to weblogs as a way to strengthen democracy. Lawmakers does such a good job it has also been added to the links.

Annoyed

Alli at Fox Rants is annoyed.

Lately I’ve found myself becoming more and more annoyed with the people in my town. Some of it is my own unhappiness at being stuck here for long periods of time, but the rest of it is them.

There are so many people here that think EVERYTHING is a tragedy. ...

Top 10 blog mistakes

Brylo at Bilerico.com has a list of things to avoid when blogging.

Wait

Fox Rants has found the key to a successful relationship.

       

This has gone around a lot, especially by girls. At least once a week one of my friends will have it as their away message….

Wait for the guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him. Wait for the guy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you are just as pretty without makeup, one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have you, the one who turns to his friends and says, “That’s her.”

I’m so blessed.

      

'Rose City'

E. Thomas Kemp at Kemplog reviews Rose City, written by Hoosier Jean Harper.

Local author, professor at IU East, and blogger, Jean Harper has her new book out. I mentioned this before, but now I have had the time to buy the book and read it. So, I want to offer my review:

The focus of her book is her stint as a greenhouse worker at Richmond famed Hill’s Roses (which, at one time, held the world’s largest collection of roses under glass, but is now, alas, gone). The job itself is a literal dead end, the kind of blue-collar work that pays you the same rate at the start of your first year as your twentieth. But Jean is not marking time working in the greenhouse, she is on a journey. One that takes her from a comfortable married life in Massachusetts to loving relationship here in the Midwest. On the way, we witness the destruction of 2 marriages, and the aftermath such a move leaves behind in a small community like Richmond, and even smaller group like Earlham College.

'Rational thought involved?'

Entropy Manor tries to figure out the opposite sex:

I think I just figured out why I’m having such problems understanding the fairer sex. It appears I have made the error of assuming that at some level rational thought was involved. I started to get the hint of this from these two posts by Alli. Then I looked at an attractive young lady who is actually looking for a guy who Astroillogical “Sign” is in a list of eight. Of course it doesn’t really matter that Capricorn isn’t one of the signs she’s looking for, because she’s the cutest barking moonbat I ever saw.

True love

Fox Rants has some exciting news:

Good relationships are built on more than love. Respect, trust, laughter, friendship and a simple fondness for each other are the foundation. Without these things I don’t think true love can be there. And I’m so glad I found it. Or that it found me.

Funny how you stop looking for something and thats when it finds you. So I was going to try to tell everyone in private, but since the ISB grapevine is in full swing its better for people to hear it from me or him before they get the idea from other people: M and I are engaged. He asked on New Years and I said yes. Yes, we know its fast, and a shock to a lot of people. ... We haven’t set a date yet, but its a work in progress.

So it was an exciting new years for me…. how bout ya’ll?

IBR's Nathan Gotsch mentioned in journalism review

Indiana Blog Review's editor, Nathan Gotsch, is featured in Online Journalism Review for his work on his USC blog, writes Indiana Parley.

Blog censorship?

Deliberate Chaos discovered a story about a staffer at a major ISP who is upset about an alleged decision by his company to pull the plug on a Chinese blogger critical of his government.

This is a breaking story and information isn't clear at this time, according to Scobleizer, who adds many disclaimers to his post.

Scobleizer writes:

OK, this one is depressing to me. It’s one thing to pull a list of words out of blogs using an algorithm. It’s another thing to become an agent of a government and censor an entire blogger’s work. Yes, I know the consequences. Yes, there are thousands of jobs at stake. Billions of dollars. But, the behavior of my company in this instance is not right. ...

Niche blogging wave of future?

Is niche blogging the wave of the future?  Joshua Claybourn is featured in a magazine article introducing people to blogging and expresses some thoughts on the subject.

Because the market for nationally-focused blogs is largely taken, local niche blogging remains the future in my opinion. That's why I offered this quote:

"Mainstream media probably wouldn't have cared even if they had known because it wasn't that big a story. But that's an example of a niche story. When you think of small niches, you realize there are all these small pockets that are being ignored, and blogging - which is so easy, so simple - can do it."

2006 resolutions

Entropy Manor