Not promoted from the diaries by anybody because we’ve promoted Aaron to the front page. Yes, yes, I know “My God, what hath thou wrought?” I’m asking myself the same thing. — Erick

Come, sit by the campfire while I tell you a story.

September 2000 I left the U.S. Army confident that Al Gore would be the next President of the United States of America. The next year passed quickly as I scrambled to find my place in civilian life. On Sept. 11th I was driving to work and heard the news. Thus began a fixation on current events that I have yet to shake.

The next spring I quit my job and took a contract in Kosovo as a Systems Administrator. I spent roughly two years living and working in Kosovo. In between trouble tickets, I diligently clicked refresh on Drudgereport, which I had only recently discovered. Once I returned to U.S. soil I began to notice that the country had changed while I was away. Drudge, despite his best efforts, had failed to clue me in to the degree of animosity that was bubbling up from the fairly new fever swamps we are now all so familiar with.

I was a foreigner in my own land.

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With all the talk lately that we should be ready to take pictures of Democrat wrongdoings, I’m wondering if I should get a camera myself. My Blackberry can take pictures, but the pictures it takes would be too blurry to be of much use in a political scrap.

So, I put it to the crowd: What are the options? Is it possible to get sharp pictures below the DSLR level? If so, what do I look for, since I do know enough to know that the resolution of the sensor is only one part of the story quality, so just comparing ‘megapixel’ ratings on displays isn’t nearly enough. What do I avoid? What are the tradeoffs? is video capturing worthwhile to have as a priority, or is the quality too bad to bother? Am I better off just buying an HD video camera that can take pictures?

If I were to buy a low-range DSLR, what do I look for? What do I avoid? Again, is video worth considering?

And of course, I may not be the only one of us thinking along these lines.

Open Thread.

Senator Cornyn continues to put out a question of the day for Judge Sotomayor in anticipation of the hearing to begin next week. The following question was put out yesterday - my apologies for the late posting - but it is particularly important given recent judicial interference with punishments chosen by the people through the democratic process… for example, overturning the death penalty for child rapists.

Sen. Cornyn’s Daily Question for Judge Sotomayor
Question 16: Monday, July 6, 2009

Should the Constitution be interpreted to allow the death penalty, and if so, under what limitations?

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In Maricopa County, AZ there are 700,000 registered Republican voters.

There are 6,000 precinct captain positions for the Republican Party in Maricopa County. Of those, only 2,000 or filled. In other words, one-third of the precinct captain positions are filled. More bluntly, three-tenths of one percent of the registered Republicans in Maricopa County, AZ are actively engaged in their party.

Back in February, 200 people showed up at a tea party protest in Maricopa County. Assume, if you will, that half are not actively involved in the local Republican Party. That makes 100 people who were so hacked off at out of control government that they showed up at noon on a weekday to protest.

If those 100 people each became a precinct captain, they would have enough impact to make significant changes in the Maricopa County Republican Party. Why? Because of the 2000 named captains, not all are actively engaged. And of those who are, not all can show up at a meeting because of schedule conflicts.

If the 100 stand strong, they can approve the larger leadership of Maricopa County.

Just 100 people.

Yes, let’s remember that 300 Spartans held off the Persian Army. Small numbers compared to the thousands of well armed Persians (sorry, Pej).

Small numbers working well together can be powerful numbers. It just takes some dedication.

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Let us know in comments about any events today you’ve been following. We’d like to see if anyone has an overall estimate of the number of events or total attendance today, as well as any particular stories that need to be told.

Please use this thread for discussion, and use the Tea Party Turnout Thread for actual hard numbers.  Even if you post the numbers here, also post them on the Tea Party Turnout Thread!

I remember some time last year, mortified Texas Republicans found themselves having to explain how it was that they granted a vendor selling campaign pins saying; “If Obama is President will we still call it the White House?” space at their convention.

All over the blogosphere, the Left went nuts with joy; and remarkably echo-chamber like talking points “See? See?!” they shrieked in smug elation “The GOP is filled with nothing but racists! Racists!! YAAAAYYYY!!!!”

As for me, my first thought was that this was far more likely to be a Democratic dirty trick. As far as I’m concerned, only a Democrat would believe that such a sentiment on a campaign pin would draw appreciative laughs from a Republican audience, so I looked for any story about this vendor - his name is Jonathan Alcox - that would also spare a few a lines to shed some light on his partisan affiliation, donation records, etc.

No such luck - for some reason, no one in the media thought to check up on that.

What I did discover though was that he was something of an equal-opportunity offender i.e. he makes political pins, stickers and buttons for sale to both Republicans and Democrats at their conventions. This was the button he sold at the TXGOP convention that got him into the news. The one on top is the one that got him and the TXGOP as collateral damage in the news. The one at the bottom is one he made to sell at the TX Democratic convention.

The kicker is this though - on the “Obama button” at the TXGOP convention;

“I only made 12 buttons to test them out … And, I only sold four. Two were sold to journalists who were looking for a controversial story to bring out of the convention.”

On the Bush-Chimpanzee button at the TX Democratic convention;

“… they sold out almost immediately.”

Ask yourselves, which one better reflects the mindset of its target market? And how come only one of these buttons made the news?

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