Citizen Journalism

For Immediate Release
From Far West Reporter Viper3 to the Western Carolina news Network
Congressman Charles Taylor to receive Award!
Last night, the phone rang so hard it jumped off the hook. I could not believe what I was hearing. The 11th District Congressman Charles Taylor will receive the first ever Liberty Bell 7 Award!

This award was created for the sole purpose of honoring those government employees, just like Astronaut Gus Grissiom, who get scared and blew their hatch too soon! This award is for nothing less than being a total failure at ones endeavors.

As I perused the online edition of my local fish-wrap, I noticed this in the opinion section.

Founding Fathers were bloggers

The piece was written by John Locke President (and BlueNC BFF) John Hood.

He opens with...

Well, OK, let me rephrase that. Many of the Founders were the 18th-century equivalent of a certain category of modern-day bloggers — writers on political topics, typically using a pen name, who are also connected to formal journalism and simultaneously active in partisan politics.

Cross-posted at DailyKos

I've been getting more and more into this citizen journalism thing all summer at OAC blog. I think this is more than just a new kind of blogging for me. I think the next presidential election cycle will witness a whole new kind of emerging media. We're seeing glimpses of it now, but in 2008 this new YouTube people-powered journalism could take off. The new media will be the kind that uses websites like this and sites like YouTube to deliver Citizen Generated Content, stuff that we make and not the campaigns.

Evidently , Mr. Ken McKim ,who is attempting to oust State Senator John Snow-D-R-50, doesn’t take the time to talk to the voters of the 50th. Recently, he made some untrue statements about the Senator which I addressed in a LTE to the Local paper.

While reading the article about the Graham County GOP meeting in the August 3rd edition of the Graham Star, I could not help but notice an inaccurate statement by the Republican canadate for state senate.

He is quoted as saying he would be more accessible than our Senator, John Snow. Simply put, No one is more accessible to our District than John Snow is.

Cross posted on my blog and on DailyKos

I ran across an ad for a State Representative candidate the other day in my local newspaper's online edition. I noticed right away that there was no party affiliation listed in the ad, just a nice picture, a few words and a link to his web site. His name is Charles Thomas (R) and he is running for a seat in the General Assembly representing North Carolina's 116th District.

Who else here has thought it would be brilliant to have a Wiki that we could amass our knowledge of North Carolina Politics? Anyone? Okay, maybe it really is just me...

Anyways, thanks to Wikia's brilliant 'ScratchPad' setup, we can have a Wiki all our own, without having to figure out how to build and maintain a wiki on personal servers, etc...

Check out the North Carolian Politics wiki at North Carolina Politics.

I'd appreciate any assistance that would be offered, especially for the counties that I have no knowledge of ... (here's a hint, there's 99 of them!) :)

Democracy for America is hosting the second in a three part "Nightschool" training tonight at 8:30pm. Anyone can sign up to be a part of the massive conference call. Last week's Nightschool had over 1,400 participants.

It's o.k. if you weren't involved in last week's training, you can jump in anytime. Tonight's topic is "Leveraging Online Media", and here's a short blurb about it:

Today I'm going to post the available candidates in the 2nd Congressional District. Bob Etheridge is the Representative for this district in Washington. Leslie H has kindly volunteered to interview Rep. Etheridge.

The following is the complete list of candidates that fall within this district:

Day 8
NC Senate, District 14 (Southern Dem)
Dem. Vernon Malone (i) v. Rep. Richard Doeffinger
Counties and partial counties: Wake

NC House, District 38 (Southern Dem)
Dem. Deborah K. Ross, unopposed
Counties and partial counties: Wake

More below the fold...

This is what has been compiled so far.

Are there any issues that are unique to your district that the rest of the state should know about? What can we do to bring more attention to these issues?

In national polls voters are ranking the economy, the war in Iraq and illegal immigration as the issues that concern them the most. How do these issues rank in your district and how do your constituents feel about each of them?

Huge bank of questions below the fold...

Ok, Ok, so...I'm in over my head and I need some help. I'll admit it. I started a project, or at least started organizing a project that will take many researchers and writers pitching in to bring to fruition.

I would like for us to interview and headline each Democrat running for statewide office and national office. There are so many, I felt if we organized by Congressional district first and then NC senate district we could pull it off.

Please, please, please follow over the fold...