Say hello to the new LynnRMitchell.com blog at WordPress

Blogger, we've had a long-time affair going back to 2006 but it's time for me to move on. This will remain the SWAC Girl blog for posting my mountains photos and personal writings -- for now -- but the harder hitting news and political feedback with photos are now published at LynnRMitchell.com.

The paint's still drying and I'm still putting up the curtains but it's time to open the front door and invite everyone inside. Come join the party with some friends who have joined me on this new group blog adventure -- check out the Contributors page and the About page that tells what we hope to achieve.

Join me ... the hors d'oeuvre are ready so stop by and browse at LynnRMitchell.com. See you soon!

Matt Sheffield leaving NewsBusters

NewsBusters co-creator Matt Sheffield is leaving. With many professional irons in the fire, he noted that the blogosphere has changed drastically since he became involved in 2005:

The Right has also grossly misunderstood the role of media in a political system. Too often the conservative response to media bias has been to create niche outlets that are not mainstream, i.e. made for the tiny number of people who are right-wing political junkies. We need a true diversity of voices in the media and that process works in both directions.

I waded into the blogosphere in 2006 and, yes, it has changed considerably. Keep an eye out for Matt's new ventures.

Pineapple and Coconut: 'Stab-o-saurus'

Uh-oh. What's happened to Pineapple? Check out the latest political cartoon by Virginia Politics On Demand (VPOD) colleague Kurt Michael....

Leaders lead ... anonymous blog trolls cower

My blogging colleague Jim Hoeft at Bearing Drift posted about the fact that George Allen, one of Virginia's U.S. Senate candidates, now has not one, not two, but three trackers, courtesy of the Democrats and like-minded groups.

Three video cameras, mind you, to try and catch him in any trip-up or slip-of-the-tongue during the numerous campaign stops, talks, speeches, meet-and-greets, and endorsements he is engaged in for the campaign. Election day for him is still a year-and-a-half away.

In the comments section is the usual array of naysayers. Any leader worth his salt has them, and walking through the mine field makes him a stronger and better candidate.

Vitriolic responses have become common in this day and age of anonymous commenters, those faceless individuals who lurk in the blogosphere as trolls for their chosen targets. Though the blogosphere has changed and in some ways grown up in the past 10 years, some didn't grow up with it.

George Allen, George W. Bush, Bob McDonnell ... they are all targets for the darts and arrows along with the slanderous lies and rumors. Wouldn't it be nice if those anonymous commenters came out from the shadows and faced their targets head-on?

Would they?

I'm betting no because their game is a coward's game and a reminder of this Theodore Roosevelt saying:

"The credit belongs to the man in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood ... who if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

Cowards don't put their necks on the line because they are afraid of failure. Meanwhile, leaders continue on. If George Allen had not stepped back into the arena, he could have safely remained on the sidelines ...

... but that's not the way of a leader.

The great name search for The Other McCain's "Baby Smitty"

Have I mentioned  Smitty is expecting? Or, more specifically, Mrs. Smitty is expecting and the new little Baby Smitty is due in July. Today Baby Smitty takes over the keyboard from his/her dad over at The Other McCain to plead for help in a crisis ... a name crisis.

Apparently the name search is on and Smitty is in need of suggestions from the blogging world. Now, I could warn him that turning to that eclectic group could be risky because who knows what kind of names will be put out there for consideration especially with the names of those in the blogosphere ... Little Miss Atilla, Fausta, Granny Rant, Haemet, DaTechGuy,  Blogustine, Jawa ... how about Troglopundit?

See what I mean? Smitty is asking those of us in the blogosphere for suggestions of names for his first-born! It could be a risky request but then, again, it could be very simple. If it's a boy, he could be called That Mr. G Guy. If it's a girl, I have the perfect name. How about SWAC Girl? Yeah, that's it.

What? You want something different? You mean something more mainstream like Andrew or Matthew or Susie or Katy?

Go ahead ... send your name suggestions to Baby Smitty and perhaps he/she will sort through them and bond with one that feels just right. LOL. It's fun to name babies but also a little stressful knowing that whatever a parent writes on that birth certificate is final and legal.

Happy adventures in name searching!

P.S. As I reread the post, I noted it was written by "Unborn Son of Smitty." So it appears we're looking for boy names. Too bad ... looks like SWAC Girl is out of the running....

"More key lime pie, please"

When a new restaurant opens and the patron's review is, "More key lime pie, please," you know you've got a good pie!

A delightful post by fellow Washington Examiner blogger Jessie Newburn explains the title of this post ... and hers ... as she summed up her sweet tooth experience:

Never in my life have I had such exquisite key lime pie as I had at Stanford Grill. Normally not much of one for dessert, I will certainly make sure, next time I'm there, to leave room for their melt-in-your-mouth, gift-from-the-gods key lime pie. Yum! Double yum. And then some more yum.

Be sure to read all of Jessie's experience and, for those who live near Columbia, MD, a culinary delight awaits you at the Stanford Grill.

Cross-posted at Virginia Virtucon

The News Hound sniffed out some really good posts today....

Tom White's "News Hound" at Virginia Right! is on the trail daily sniffing out news stories from around the blogosphere ... and today he has an exceptionally good selection of subjects and authors. Thanks for the leads, Tom!

Phil and Mike and Bob and Jason and David....

The SWAC bloggers have been busy disseminating news, information, and entertaining bits to the blogosphere and, as always, I'm grateful to be part of such a great bunch of guys. Phil has the rundown of conservative bloggers on BlogNetNews.com/Virginia where he comes in at #2 this week and Mike is #4.

Bob has so much great stuff that includes opinion as well as photos ... David and Jason, both considered First Responders in the Homeland Security program, stay busy with their jobs but jump in there whenever they can.

Tom White at Virginia Right! has today's News Hound, sniffing out the best of the blogosphere on a daily basis.

I am in awe of our military men and women, and Carl posted about a U.S. Army sniper's feat that makes the troops even more awe-inspiring. Would you be accurate shooting a weapon and taking out your target 1 1/2 miles away? That's an accurate sniper and an accurate weapon.

Dr. Bob Holsworth writes on his Virginia Tomorrow blog today about Cuccinelli, conservatives, First Amendment questions, Bob McDonnell, Sean Connaughton, double standards, and Hampton Roads.

This Ain't Hell blog alerts to CNN's latest slam accusing U.S. troops of using chemical weapons.

Bruce McQuain at Questions and Observations blog writes, "If oil spill is Bush’s fault, is 9/11 Clinton’s fault?" Interesting thoughts....

Donald Douglas at American Power posted Jan Brewer and Sarah Palin: Secure the Border - Support Arizona.

There's lots of great reading out there....

Blogosphere roundup

Congratulations to my fellow SWAC bloggers for their BNN rankings this week ... Yankee Phil is #2 and Fishersville Mike is #4.

Speaking of Mike, he has his weekly roundup of posts from around the blogosphere. I found this "Tea Party Barbie" on his right sidebar ... too cute!

Phil is spot on with this post about Bill Ayres and the leftists trying to rewrite history, summing it up by saying, "What a great big pile of yak manure!" Good post.

Tom White at Virginia Right! reports on the oil rig fire which begs the question ... what caused that disaster? I have heard whispers of environmental terrorism....

Riley at Virginia Virtucon found GEICO insurance had to fire their voiceover artist. Be sure to check out the comment from Rick Sincere.

Donald at American Power highlights the hatred of the Left against Sarah Palin. They are a shining example of, "Listen to what I say, not what I do." Aren't you glad they don't believe in hate?

The Other McCain looks into the liberal Left "Coffee Party" and discovers The Coffee Party: It's About Hate.

Fun blogging facts

Did you know there are 133,000,000 blogs worldwide? Did you realize that 48% of all blogs can be found in the United States with the EU at 26%, Asia-Pac 10%, and all others 16%?

Did you realize that 75% of bloggers are college grads ... or that males make up two-thirds of bloggers ... or that 37% of bloggers are professional journalists? One-fourth of bloggers make $100,000 or more a year.

These and more fun blogosphere facts can be found at INTAC.

H/T to Rick Sincere

A blogger's loss....

Gateway Pundit's mother passed away and he writes a moving tribute ... a reminder to us all that life is fleeting....

Amplifying the conservative message ...

This morning I saw where two of my posts were mentioned in two nationwide blogs (actually, one is worldwide as confirmed by global visitors). Both disputed what I wrote but, by advancing my posts, they helped amplify the conservative message.

Roy Edroso with The Village Voice posted On Notre Dame, Rightbloggers More Catholic Than The Pope ... not an accurate statement but it certainly draws readers ... in his regular "Exploring the Right Wing Blogosphere" feature. He references my post Insanity ... Notre Dame puts Catholics in crisis along with numerous conservatives bloggers.

John Cook with Skeptical Science has reprinted my Friday post Global warming ... er, global cooling ... which is it? in which I pointed out a new report by climatologist/physicist Terri Jackson stated there is now irrefutable scientific evidence that the earth is entering a cooling phase. Mr. Cook makes it his business to be skeptical of global warming skeptics.

Congrats, BlogNetNews!

Dave Mastio with Blog Net News shared the good news:

A little while back, we began tracking how many visitors went from BNN’s main site, the rss feeds BNN produces and the headline widgets that hundreds of bloggers all over the country have put on their sites. The weekly numbers have been astounding and last night, they reached a new record, more than 260,000 as of 11:59 est last night.

That means BNN is sending more visitors to bloggers than leftyblogs, the only other site I know that reveals the number (let me know if there are more that do it). And we’re beating them by a factor of ten — more than a million visits a month.

We are truly a blogging community that has gone nationwide, thanks to Dave and Blog Net News. With the new, faster, more intuitive version of BNN ready to launch, the sky is the limit.

Thanks for all your hard work, Dave.

Is "blogger" insurance now necessary for hobby writers?

With the threat of lawsuits being tossed out on an almost-continuous basis in the blogosphere, even with bloggers winning 92% of those suits filed against them, there is a financial drain to defend against something that may have absolutely no basis in reality.

Type "blogger lawsuits" or something similar in a search engine ... and be prepared to be amazed at how many sites come up. The Old Dominion Blog Alliance's own Black Velvet Bruce Li has been sued (Greg wrote earlier this week about this subject) ... other bloggers have received legal threats ... and now I have received notice of possible legal action from Todd Foster, editor at the Bristol Herald Courier (see comments under post for Mr. Foster's first contact with me).

BVBL posted a study that reveals a report from Insurance Journal that bloggers win 92% of their cases. But is it worth it? Are we in a no-man's land where "blogger beware"? Intimidation to shut down freedom of speech ... is it working?

Sadly, the question begs to be asked: Is it now time for "blogger" insurance?

Mastio: "Flagorama: Google shuts down rightybloggers in TN, WI, VA"

BNN's Dave Mastio has his eye on the Blogger/Google shut-downs going on throughout the nation. A LEFTY blogger from Canada left a comment on SWAC Girl today saying it had happened to him, too.

As we move deeper into this year's campaign season, and as tempers flare and patience wears thin, this may just be the beginning of what is going to be a very irritating syndrome for those who are the most vocal in the blogosphere.

Those ever-so-gracious lefty bloggers....

That didn't take long. Within minutes of posting about the "third rail" of blogging, an anonymous (as usual) commenter left the following:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "From On High discusses the blogger 'third rail':"

Ha, I figured those on the right would be super jealous of the left's success, especially our own Lowell Feld.

Just a note - NONE OF YOU will ever make a fraction of the impact we all have. Sorry. The blogosphere just isn't you thing. Stick to gun shows.

Keyboard jockeys funded by George Soros and others. That's okay ... let 'em laugh and misunderestimate the right....

From On High discusses the blogger "third rail"

Paid blogger? Volunteer blogger? Some make a living at it ... but most offer opinions as a pass-time. The paid equals bias discussion could be considered the bloggers' "third rail."

I'll admit ... I am occasionally envious of those who are paid to sit at a computer and write their political thoughts while the rest of us grab limited time to indulge in our hobby. Sometimes, especially on those days when I have much to opine on but feel I am wasting time at the keyboard, I can't help but wonder what a little chi-ching would be like ... all the while realizing I would not want to write under those limitations.

Jerry at From On High adds his thoughts on this subject spurred on by an editorial in today's Roanoke Times. He writes of paid political bloggers:

But there is that nagging appearance of impropriety. These guys take money to write that which candidates want written.

This issue will probably become more prevalent as the blogosphere continues to grow. There are more paid political bloggers on the left side of the aisle but paid bloggers on the right are increasing as the new media becomes more familiar to candidates and their staffs.

I commented about this previously. The discussion has just begun....

The explosion of the rightroots ... they are catching up with left

"Drill Now. Drill Here. Pay Less."

That simple to-the-point slogan from Newt Gingrich and American Solutions has taken on a life of its own among the rightroots, those conservative bloggers who have been outnumbered by the lefty bloggers for years.

H/T to the Crystal Clear Conservative who pointed out this Politico post in which they, while analyzing the phenomenon, wonder if this is the catalyst that catapults the Right into competition with the Left.

In circulating a petition online for "Drill here," the goal of American Solutions was to have 1 million signatures by the 4th of July. They have already picked up 1.2 million with more coming in daily ... and the 4th of July is still three days away.

What happened? What shook up the laid-back conservative bloggers to rally around a cause, making experts question whether the rightroots could now rival the left in blogging power?

$4 a gallon for gasoline. That was the barrier when folks took notice. Even as they paid $2 a gallon, then $2.50, and then $3, no one spoke out. But the glass ceiling appears to be $4 a gallon ... and now America is waking up to the realization that they have slept the past 30 years while radical environmentalists have successfully lobbied to prevent drilling on American soil (or off-shore) and blocked the construction of new refineries. They, quite simply and literally, have America over a barrell.

Frustrated at the newfound information, many heard about the "Drill now. Drill here. Pay less" campaign from American Solutions and eagerly signed hard-copy and online petitions. Many slapped the bumper sticker with the slogan on their vehicles.

An outlet for the frustration had been found ... and with it an activism that is not often seen on the conservative side of the aisle.

Politico wrote:

It’s also inspired hope among the “rightroots,” the undersized kid brother of the left’s far more robust political Web presence, that this could be the moment and the issue that catalyze the emergence of online conservatism as a force in its own right.

"The left has been blocking domestic energy production for decades (drilling, refineries, nuclear, etc), so Newt Gingrich's ‘Drill here. Drill now. Pay less’ message tapped into a very simple frustration around which the right could rally,” said Jon Henke, a strategic manager of New Media Strategies and co-founder of The Next Right in an e-mail. “When you can tell a story about a unifying grievance, you can galvanize people online.”
...
The Drill Here Drill Now mantra that Newt came up with rapidly accelerated everyone coming together on the issue,” said Erick Erickson, who runs redstate.org, an influential conservative blog.
...
While McCain still opposes opening up Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, Erickson and other bloggers are hoping to change that: “I think you can bet on conservatives aggressively pushing John McCain to change his mind on ANWR.”

Jon Henke and Erick Erickson are well-known conservative bloggers who recognize what has occurred and, hopefully, will tap into it. This is an opportunity for the Right to get into the game and give legitimate competition to the Left.

Message = audience = action = results. It's about time.