Good afternoon Politics Blog readers, I hope you’re well.
A quick roundup of all the little things I’ve heard out there in terms of political gossip/rumors and other tidbits recently:
• Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike is on the East Coast visiting family in New Jersey. From what I understand, it’s his first extended vacation since taking office in 2007. How extended? He’s not back in the office until August 4.
• As blogged before, Whatcom County Councilman Ken Mann and wife, Amy, are expecting their first child. Mann said at this week’s Whatcom Transportation Authority meeting that they’re expecting the child this next Wednesday. He mentioned it, because the board might meet Thursday to make more decisions on service cuts. Mann noted that there’s a chance he just might not be at that meeting.
• I’ve heard from several people recently that we may see a few more female candidates seeking Bellingham City Council offices next year, though apparently nobody has decided on anything final yet.
• In what appeared to be both an inspiring but heartwrenching moment for the crowd at last night’s Bellingham Tea Party forum was when 40th district Republican candidate Donna Miller - a San Juan Island resident who decided she should run because she was simply a concerned citizen - got up and walked off stage because she basically said the forum was too stressful for her. Miller had enough gumption to pay the cash to run, but in the end, she said she was having terrible neck spasms and was simply going to leave. “This is harder than raising five kids,” she said before exiting to applause from the crowd.
• Twitter often has a whole other language to itself (shameless plug, follow the Politics Blog on Twitter). Take today, for example, where I learned even more about Twitter’s universe of acronyms people attach to their posts. They do that so when people keyword search, their posts show up in the search feed. Looking for info on the 2nd Congressional race? People tag those posts #WA02. Info on the U.S. Senate race? Why, that’s #WASEN of course. So I was glad when someone clued me in on #WCOT, which, for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out when it kept showing up in posts regarding state politics.
Why, that stands for “Washington Conservatives on Twitter,” of course.
Enjoy your Friday.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Well done as always. Thank you Sam.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:07 PM
My favorite tweet regarding the political hashtags.
If all of your tweets contain >2 hashtags, you’re doing it wrong. #wagop #waleg #tcot #wcot #teaparty #twitterfail #fail #wsrp #hashtagsftw
‘fail’ is bad and means you’re doing something wrong.
‘ftw’ stands for “For the win” and typically is a good thing, unless used sarcastically. See above.
I don’t know who came up with the #wcot or #tcot hashtags but they fail the self descriptive test. Not to mention are redundant. You don’t need to include “on twitter” of course they are on twitter. *sigh*
July 16th, 2010 at 12:09 PM
Yet we still go to ATM Machines. You know “Automated Teller Machine Machines.”
July 16th, 2010 at 12:12 PM
B’hammer, what’s TCOT?
July 16th, 2010 at 12:14 PM
TCOT = “Taylor Caught On Twitter”
July 16th, 2010 at 12:16 PM
TCOT appears to stand for Top Conservatives on Twitter. There’s also a #TLOT hash tag but it looks like its mostly used by conservatives to taunt liberals
July 16th, 2010 at 12:19 PM
TLOT apparently stands for Top Libertarians on Twitter. I assumed it stood for Liberals.
July 16th, 2010 at 12:45 PM
Hope my mayor stops by Trenton while on vacation, there a new man in town there that he could learn much from!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
July 16th, 2010 at 1:04 PM
Real life repeats the movies:
Sheila Jackson-Lee: I’m So Glad That We Won In Vietnam And That Both Vietnams, North and South, Live Together In Peace Side-By-Side…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK3rTUgoQD4&feature=player_embedded
As The Comedian Said… “Thank God we won here in Vietnam… I don’t know what this country would have done if we lost. It might have torn itself apart, you know?”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhKp72c6xCY
From: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/303677.php
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
July 16th, 2010 at 1:25 PM
#wadem is for the progressives, democrats and liberals out there, and Murray supporters sometimes tag with #votepatty
July 17th, 2010 at 9:17 AM
Dan Pike in New Jersey for a few weeks. No big deal Mayor Webster runs the show anyway what’s the big deal any way?
July 17th, 2010 at 10:59 PM
I’m glad the Mayor is taking a break. Mr. Webster is totally competent overseeing his end, as are all the other heads. And our outstanding city attorney, with a little help from the county,has beaten back the tax grabbing Canadian hordes…for now….but still a victory of note…. can I get an eh?
July 17th, 2010 at 11:44 PM
It’s always good to come back from New Jersey.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:28 AM
Maybe Pike should stay in New Jersey!
July 18th, 2010 at 3:24 PM
Shaun - You are totally out of touch if you think the city is being managed well. It is a monarchy. Bellingham City mployee morale is at the lowest you have ever seen. Department Heads are rarely involved in anything they are just told what they are doing. Many have left under the Webster style of management. If those X department heads where interviewed one would learn they all left for some of the same reasons. They all liked Bellingham. But, they had no use for how they were treated as Department heads. Of course, the one’s remaining can not say a negative word or they are out on the street without a job. But all those around can tell. This mis-management syle is so bad that even Ray Charles could see it.
Many of us will be very active in the next election helping Pike and Webester get to the unemployment line.
July 18th, 2010 at 4:28 PM
Not out of touch, but of a different opinion.
I have never known an organization that didn’t have malcontents.
But I think this is all so much malarkey without any real identities behind it and just a lot of allusion to people who don’t dare speak out..
Pretty safe snarky snipe there Mother…..
July 18th, 2010 at 5:59 PM
Shaun - No worries they will all speak out LOUDLY and CLEARLY in time for all to know and see once the campaign gets going to un-elect SPIkE - Oh, I meant pike!
July 18th, 2010 at 6:11 PM
Nobody mentioned the Twitter hashtag for progressive governance: #fail.
July 18th, 2010 at 6:13 PM
(I know that Bellinghammer mentioned that hashtag in another context.)
July 19th, 2010 at 6:58 AM
Pipe dreams, Mother?
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/cb-CXuMhHwbLXaONwfTWJjqUXicDaW6wGET/preview_shauns_pipe_dream/
July 19th, 2010 at 8:52 AM
Let’s get this week started off right!
I’m wondering if Arlo hasn’t also been thinking, like me, that these tea party folks could be the hippies of today. They have no leaders, no lobbyists in Washington, no financial backers telling them what to do next. But they do have powerful media critics. The mainstream newspapers and news outlets have spent a lot of time and energy trying to demonize and marginalize the tea party movement.
I’m sure Arlo remembers how the establishment treated hippies in the 1960s, when even tossing Frisbees in the park was suddenly deemed a subversive activity.Hippies were mocked as outcasts by late night comedians then, too. They were called rowdy and disrespectful and ill-groomed. Rather than rebut the ideas of a peace activist like Joan Baez, she was rechristened “Phony Joanie” in the funny pages of the so-called “straight” press.
All I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if Arlo Guthrie shows up at a tea party rally some day. I know he’ll agree to sing to the crowd, and when he does, I can’t think of a better choice for him to sing than a little ditty his daddy wrote called “This Land Is Your Land.”
http://www.explorehoward.com/blog/artform/157/of-woodstock-and-tea-parties/
AFY!!thehelotsheepdog!!!