Future

I have it on good authority (pw's mouth) that pw will be posting again this summer as his studies conclude. Despite spending most of my blogging time these days over at EFCA Blog I'll try to pitch in as well. Not sure what Aaron's plans are, but let's all keep our fingers crossed for a revival of sorts.

My New Gig

I wanted to alert TPBP community that my new project 'EFCA Blog' is launching today. I've been working hard on getting this set up the last couple of weeks and have tried to build on my experience setting up TPBP. I've set up a corresponding Facebook fan page as well for the especially dedicated.

As the name would suggest, the new blog will be dedicated almost exclusively to the latest news, discussion, and commentary on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). If you're interested in the issue, would like to learn more about it, or don't have the first damned idea what it is but want to, I encourage you to stop over and check it out.

Fear not my dedicated reader(s), as I plan on continuing to post here at TPBP on any non-EFCA related thoughts I might have.

Until then...

The Movement That Dare Not Speak Its Name

It's unclear whether Aaron should be treated as the proverbial marooned Japanese soldier, unaware of WWII's conclusion, or whether this should all be seen in a more spiritual light, a la the Resurrection. I'll combine the metaphors, pick up a rifle, and join Aaron's island coup. Because after all, one person's raving insanity is two people's grassroots movement..

Aaron tackled this to some extent in the comments section of his last post, but I think the Life and Times of Sarah Palin is relevant enough to warrant continued discussion. Aaron wrote:

As for Palin, I think it's a mistake to simply say, "She lost, forget about her." Palin was hugely popular with the conservative rump in this country.

Though Aaron didn't indicate otherwise, the issue in question is to what degree Palin remains popular with a significant minority of the GOP.

For those not up to speed, Palin's star in Alaska has fallen quite a bit in the wake of her November electoral defeat. She nominated a hard right candidate for attorney general who was subsequently denied confirmation by the Alaska legislature. She has had a series of avoidable problems filling an open legislative seat, the continued and public beef with Levi Johnson and family is increasingly petty and embarrassing, and she pissed off her legislature yet again after ditching the last day of an important session to headline a pro-life group's dinner in Indiana.

Despite all this, it's unclear what effect this will have on her statewide electoral prospects in Alaska, be they in a gubernatorial reelection bid or running for Murkowski's U.S. Senate seat (which appears unlikely).

I'm interested in how (or if) this will effect her popularity in the lower 48. Larison had a fairly interesting post recently on the schism between what he calls "mainstream conservatives" vs "dissidents" and why there was increasingly little conversation between the two groups. As "David Cameron's Tiny Wanker" alluded to in comments, the degree to which Palin has a legitimate national presence in 2012 is the degree to which the GOP is increasingly far afield from the body politic.

Combine this with the increasingly incendiary and bizarre comments coming from very mainstream Republican sources (John Boehner's truly sad interview with Stephanopolous last weekend, Texas' governor talking of secession, or nearly any Michelle Bachman comment). Throw in the fact that there is an established and powerful media presence actively promoting a lot of this rhetoric, and you have a situation that at the very least merits continued comment and observation.

Who is the leader of the opposition party? Seriously. Michael Steele? Ostensibly. John Boehner? Legislatively. Mitch McConnell? Ha. Rush Limbaugh? Rick Sanford? Bobby Jindal? I honestly don't know the answer, but there was a moment in time when Sarah Palin could have perhaps drawn a plurality of Republicans to her banner. It's unclear whether or not that time has passed. I think I would argue that it hasn't. It doesn't matter that that's a sad state of affairs. Sadly, no one knows who David Frum or David Brooks are. They know Palin, and literally tens of millions of people see her as their political leader.

Extinct Blog of the Day

Today's hospiced blog is...The Pseudo Body Politic. For the past two weeks I'm sure our loyal reader(s) has wondered what has befallen TPBP. Rest assured, pw, Aaron, manfish, and myself are all alive and well. Put simply, after a discussion with those folks, I've decided that TPBP has run its course.

On a more positive note, and one of the reasons I'm taking a hiatus from TPBP, is because it's looking likely that I'll soon be a contributing member to Beyond Bread, a blog run by Bread for the City, a large DC nonprofit that engages in all kinds of support services for DC residents in need of help. I'm not sure exactly when I'll be up and running with those folks, but it should be soon. I'll let you all know.

This blog started with a $1 bet (that has yet to be paid) with my friend Dome about whether TPBP would endure for a week. It did. It's been seven months, nearly 500 posts, four total contributors, and 200,000 words of original content. During it's tenure, over 1,000 separate people from 30 countries checked it out at one time or another.

In terms of content, some of it's been shit, and some of it (mostly from pw, Aaron, and manfish) has been quality. Sorry for anybody that had to wade through the former to get to the latter.

This blog came along when I desperately needed something to focus my time on, and a way to sharpen my writing skills. TPBP gave me both.

A blog is, above all, a community. To anybody that stopped by, commented, or contributed in any way, thanks. Commenters db, nick, and anonymous deserve a special shoutout, as does any cleveresque pseudonym my brother invented. Special thanks to Aaron, pw, and manfish, who are all great people and talented writers, and were willing to let me share this space with them.

I won't be "turning the blog off" so to speak. It will remain up and one never knows when one of us will show our Pseudo faces, so feel free to check back at your leisure.

Until then...

Just a Note

Just letting everyone know a couple of things. 1) I've had the opportunity to hang out with posters manfish and pw in the last two weeks, and can safely report that they are (what passes for) fine. I've also spoken with Aaron, who is back in the states, and promises to start posting again soon. 3) I'll be back on my normal, scratch that, new and improved blogging schedule starting today. My Hill internship is up, so I'm looking for a new, full-time staffing position. This should give me significantly more time to assail you with the warm glow of knowledge and witicism that emmanates from my posts. Keep your fingers crossed for me on the job front. Think that's it.

TPBP Week in Review

It's been far too long. Whether it was the job, my peerless status as a DC socialite, or just my disposition, I have neglected to provide my faithful reader(s) with an update on the community that is TPBP.

Fitting we should resurrect this weekly posting with a combination of hellos and a good-bye. First off, a hearty hello to our newest addition to TPBP, poster 'manfish'. Hopefully you caught his first post, and if not you should keep your eye out for subsequent ones, which I believe will always be on Sunday, and will explore all things musical.

Also in the hello category, Aaron reportedly re-entered U.S. airspace yesterday, and should begin posting again soon.

As far as good-byes, I'd like to wish my friend Dave a hearty one. Dave's own (and much more professional looking) blog resides here, and can be visited anytime through a link on the right side bar of this blog. I met Dave while in grad school, and got to hang out with him in DC quite a bit the last few months, while we were both working in DC. Alas, it's back to school for Dave now that his internship's over. He'll be missed, as I don't yet have enough friends in DC not to observe the departure of a good one. On a strictly professional note, you should keep your eye on this kid. He's ridiculously young, but he's got the magic touch.

The numbers are these: Traffic is down folks. I won't lie to you. But, posting's down too, so we won't be casting blame. Only 16 posts this week which isn't awful, but far from great. The bright side is that this coming week will be my last week at my current job. After that I'll have a couple of weeks off during which I'm hoping to write 10K words/week, and be posting far more frequently. I'll be doing a longer piece on my hometown as well. All this, with the return of Aaron, and I think we're in good shape moving forward.

Onto the reader awards:
Comment of the week: Mine, from this post. You don't like it? It's self serving you say? Tough. Make a kick ass comment and maybe I won't have to give this award (and the glorious prizes that accompany it) to myself.
Commenter of the week: The dreaded 'anonymous', I guess. We only had 12 total comments, 6 of which were on 'manfish's music post, and most of them were anonymous. Don't be scared! Insults, thoughtful additions, commentary, they all work.

On behalf of myself, Aaron, and PW, thanks to all of you that stopped by to make TPBP part of your lives this past week. Hope you stop by in the week to come.

Too Small to Save: Update

After getting some extremely positive feedback on this post (most of it private, save for an anonymous comment) I've decided to spend what's turned out to be a totally inordinate amount of time reworking it, and will probably be submitting it as an Op-Ed piece. I'll let you know how it turns out.

A New Addition

The Pseudo Body Politic is happy to announce the newest contributor to our proud community. Starting tomorrow, 'manfish' will be providing our loyal reader(s) with a music review column. A degenerate in most ways, manfish nevertheless manages to be as knowledgeable about music as anyone I've ever met and an intermittently clever chap to boot. A longtime musician and recent music store owner, I have no doubt he'll give our reader(s) an excellent idea of what to check out and what to avoid in the world of music. On behalf of PW and Aaron I'd like to welcome manfish aboard TPBP.

A TPBP Milestone

In the comments section of today's Overheard Line of the Day post was a nonsensical remark posted by one "Thankful Paul". Now, the comment being totally unrelated to the post made it in no way impossible that some irreverent friend of TPBP was using the comments section as a graffiti artist uses an alley. But, further investigation revealed that Thankful Paul just started this blog last month.

You really owe it to yourself to check this thing out, and if you do you'll note rather quickly that "Paul" is a two bit scam artist! The first we've had here at TPBP! He's got the hilariously false story along with the donation link so that he can "commit random and not so random acts of love in the name of Jesus".

I can't speak for PW and Aaron, but in my estimation it's a proud moment for the entire TPBP community. Thanks Paul, and good luck!

Update: Don't miss the comments section (of Paul's blog that is). He erased the negative comments right? I can't possibly be the only one that called shenanigans.

A Third Amigo

The Pseudo Body Politic would like to welcome longtime reader and commenter 'pw', who will be joining Aaron and I as posters within the next day or so. He's an extremely smart guy, and will be a valuable addition to the analysis and commentary here at TPBP. I can't wait to see what he brings to the table. An additional bonus to 'pw' joining TPBP team is that the reader awards are now wide open.

Basking in the Light of Glory That is TPBP

Reader 'Marna R' writes:

I very much enjoy this blog! It slices out a solid 25 minutes of every work day, so thanks for that! Keep up the good work guys!

I think this could be called our first official "fan comment" (shocked it only took a month). Now, you may be asking yourselves if Marna is a close personal friend of mine and Aaron's. Well...yes, she is. But, that's not the point. The point is that TPBP has now become a device by which one kills some small part of one's day at the office, which is really all I ever wanted it to be. Perhaps someday, far into the future, someone who isn't a close, personal friend will see fit to avoid work in a similar manner, though I won't hold my breath. Until then, thanks for reading Marna! Welcome to TPBP community/cult/burrow/subdivision.

Post Script: I might add that Aaron and I are still eagerly anticipating our first piece of legitimate hate mail/comment, hopefully from a stranger. Dream big we say.

Aquarius Full Moon in D Minor

It's all down hill from here. Delivering on her promise (was there ever any doubt?) Mrs Green not only resurrected her Lunar Astrology posts, but saw fit to...I'm tearing up, I'll just let Mrs Green herself explain it:

How often do you get to make someone’s dream come true? Not often I bet. But this morning, dear readers, I wield this enormous power and responsibility by dedicating this post to the honour of The Pseudo Body Politic (TPBP).

Do I understand their blog? Not on your nelly, but as they were good enough to miss my posts, fearing I had died from a vitamin deficiency, or that I was sitting here in the dark after Mr Green’s home made LEDs blew the circuitry, I’m good enough to share the love and do this one especially for them / her / him / whomever…. (and to report, that I am fighting fit with all trace elements in perfect balance AND the lights are working great off a car battery).

Her full post, in all its mystery and glory, is here. You're doing yourselves a disservice by avoiding it for another moment.

So, from the entire TPBP community, thank you Mrs Green.