Communicating Regional Issues in a New Media World

So Commando - with the new local recruiting center - sorry, "Career Center", have you signed up yet?

Well, I guess this is a regional issue... and a local issue since it was UNC students that the Islamic tried to kill a few weeks ago.

http://www.durhampolitics.org has been updated with a section regarding incidents of Islamic terrorism in North Carolina as well as samples of the Islamic Obsessions video that documents Islam's war against the west.

One such incident was the (thankfully incompetent) Islamic terrorist who tried to kill UNC students as revenge against the US.

Republican Commando (covered with super hero bandaids)
The elections are over, but the problems remain.

--
http://www.northcarolinarepublicans.org
Conservative, non-partisan, er.. well.. sort of... ;-)

Couple of comments for you (Ruby) to consider:
1) I think OP has done a terrific job at keeping it truly LOCAL. I know us progressives really want to change the world and talk about the things we can and should do globally, but your moderation in particular has kept this board (mostly) on track as a local forum and that is a plus for all of us.

2) I agree with Marc's comments about the traditional media's use of blogs. We certainly have examples here where the N&O (Matt Dees in particular?) pulls whatever slant they want out of the words forever typed here. IMHO (and of my UNC J school-degreed wife) it is extreme laziness to use posts from OP as a source. Not to say that the folks who post here aren't useful sources, but to pull quotes from a blog is absurd.

3) I'm most impressed by 2 things in OP's election coverage - the ability to see thoughtful, in-depth "endorsements" by all the folks I respect on this board (especially important in the judicial races this year which of course I had no clue on but were obviously close); and the analysis afterwards showing, for example, how the precincts voted graphically. This is stuff you can't get anywhere else (and only makes sense via this medium).

4) I love this board because far too often public speech in this town is limited to the party line. Your posts about your feelings on NCDs for example, are easier to do here than to express in your official role. It's been great to know that at least some of our leaders are able to think for themselves about the impact of what we think we want for our utopia.

Thanks, Ruby, for what you've done and continue to do here on OP. I hope you'll take time during the conference to enjoy yourself and the success of the positive impact you've had on our community.

-J

Thanks for representing, Ruby.
I look forward to looking this stuff over.
In his recent UNC talk, Dan Gilmor said transparency is becoming increasingly important.
I see it as a way to get us beyond these conversations about objectivity that turn into mobius strips.
We are who we are and can't be robots if we tried. Fair is possible, though. And so is civility.

also, I put up an mp3 of the jets in case you want to hear what you missed.

kmr

Thanks, Marc. I completely agree with your statement: "One still needs to sort through observations painted with personal interpretations but that's the case with most media reports." Whether statements are subjective or objective, they still come from a human being who has opinions. One of the reasons I like blogs is that most of us wear our opinions on our sleeves, you don't have guess to infer what our bias is.

If anyone is interested in what I said to folks, you can see my presentation here: http://orangepolitics.org/ars

Ruby,
Thank you for the opportunity and for your work developing and maintaining OP. It often doesn't come out in my posts - here, STP or elsewhere- but I do appreciate OP and the contributions of my fellow residents on OP. I am more informed and better prepared to consider community issues as a result of reading these posts.

I think blogs serve a need to share opinions and sometimes information. As with many websites, it is often difficult to know what is fact and what is opinion or conclusions based on partial/faulty information. Regulars on any blog know who to trust for specific information but people new to a list must invest time to get to know the group. This is true for any group/topic but is more critical on a forum - open or moderated - where statements are not always references and the creditentials of participants are not known.

Mis-information can be perpetuated when blogs entries (and websites) are quoted in newspapers, TV news, and even school reports/papers without an understanding of the blog itself or the individual who authored the post. A post from OP may represent a progressive position on an issue but that doesn't necessarily represent the general public opinion or even the general consensus of OP particpants.

Blogs are great for reporting observations. One still needs to sort through observations painted with personal interpretations but that's the case with most media reports. BTW, you missed the jets. Actually, the jets reminded me to check OP since last year I found out about the cause of the noise from OP. :)

Sincerely and respectfully.

This, is, I believe another regional issue worthy of your attention. It is notable because we find that our own David Price has very high ratings from groups with ties to Islamic terrorism. Have you people even considered what would have happened if your own Islamic Terrorist at UNC had not been so incompetent? Wake up folks!!

The website http://www.northcarolinarepublicans.org has added a page documenting "CAIR, Liberal Democrats and Terrorism in North Carolina." It is accessable from the "Terrorism in North Carolina" page.

The author states in his introduction:

"The references and resources enclosed below are an introduction to the connections between left-wing political organizations, terrorist groups and supporters. These resources connect them to the American politicians they support and approve. The references and resources include PAC and 527 contributions and more. Much more... The evidence is irrefutable."

The information he provides goes far beyond North Carolna though he lists the ratings of North Carolina legislators by organizations with links to terrorism.

With love and hope,

Republican Commando (covered with superhero bandaids, but still kicking)