Blog Day--Some understanding

Thank you to everyone who has read this blog. Tomorrow is blog day for Always Right, Usually Correct.

I have many people ask me about this blog. Not often do I try to catch a story as it is breaking. You will often find that I wait for a few days. Why is that?

The fact is that this blog was created to hash out my thoughts and analysis on various topics. It is an archival for stories that I think may be important later. The purpose of this blog was (and mostly still is) mental preparation for radio. I'm NOT a reporter and I really do not want to be. If you want breaking news on a regular basis go to the myriad of other blogs. Some of them are very good at "reporting" and others try to be.

I am not the cop that arrives at the scene of a murder. I am the consultant that looks at everything after the fact and puts the pieces together. What is important in this individual item. Does it relate to other items. I am the one that lets the department know this murder in Minneapolis is actually part of a theft ring to fund the human smuggling on the border in El Paso.

OK, bad analogy. But you get the picture.

This blog has been an interesting journey. From the College Republican National Committee elections to the Terri Schiavo story. From Mary Kiffmeyer to Coleen Rowley.

I have had some people ask me why I have been so hard on Republicans on this blog. Because I expect a higher standard from them. That was the beginning philosophy driving the political side of this blog. After a while I learned a few more things about me that drive this blog as well. I want to be able to have faith in the political process. Partisanship is one of the most dangerous things to public discourse that exists and I want to erradicate the public's acceptance of it. More stories are tied together than people really want to realize (and not to the conspiracy theorist level). There is more to life than politics. Most politicians that are low on the senority list are not as dangerous to the nation (regardless of party) as those entrenched in Washington (regardless of party). Never trust a politician who smiles at you.

Over time I wanted the blog to be a resource for information in addition to opinions. I figure that liberals may refer to my opinions on the blog on those few occassions that we are in agreement. I figure conservatives will not refer to my opinions on the blog because I am willing to shine a critical light on them when need be. But everyone can utilize actual information. That is why I installed newsfeeds for every country, state, most major international membership organization, major Executive branch departments, every major sports franchise, hot topics and other stuff. That is why there is a list of every World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup and NBA Championship. That is why there is a list of every Secretary of the previously mentioned Executive departments.

Another addition to the blog has been the MENSA question of the day (coincidentally Jon is the person who does those and he is on vacation this week). Our radio show's archives are also linked through the blog. Movie reviews will be a growing part of this blog as well.

The other major addition to the blog is simply experimental this year and will be refined in the future. The Scoreboard. I hate when people endorse others in politics and we really have no idea why? The happy-pappy stuff comes out ("great champion for this cause or that cause") but what about the ideals that the endorser is selling out to make that endorsement. For example, if I were to endorse Jim Ramstad people who know me would have to wonder, "what happened to Tony's desire for smaller government?" Hence the Scoreboard. Candidates and their supporters can know exactly where I stand and why. I say it is experimental because I have found a few problems in comparing candidates and I want to fix those somehow. Looking at the scoreboard's Governor race you might think that my view of Kelly Doran and Becky Lourey are fairly close. They are not. Lourey should be MUCH deeper in the red, but there was little substance on her campaign website while Doran's had some good detail. There was more to evaluate Doran with. Ideas and suggestions on how to fix this are welcome. BTW, there is a huge disadvangate for incumbants vs challengers. I know this and it is intentional.

Finally, a new policy concerning comments. My policy on Anonymous commenters has been poorly enforced before, but will be strictly enforced from this day forward. I do NOT allow anonymous comments. If someone contacts me and wants their comment to be anonymous I open up the feature for them to do so...good or bad. All OTHER anonymous comments that slip through will be deleted regardless of content. I appreciate the need for anonymity and am trying to balance that with accountability.

Thank you again for reading. Here's looking forward to another year.