Happy New Year!

Here is a video stand-in for a Fireworks display:

Good bye 2008, and Hello 2009.

I think that we have thoroughly beaten up 2008, and it will never recover from our wounds.

2009 however, is yet young and pliable enough for most of us to believe that we can take it where we will without suffering too much for our efforts.

I officially declare that it is my belief that (at least in North Carolina) 2009 will be the year of the Citizen Journalist. 

Part of my reasoning lies in the utter failure of the Legacy Media (Newspapers, TV and Radio) to provide actual, useful information when it comes to matters relating to our elected officials and what they are doing in their jobs beyond soundbites and lefty-slanted "spin".

The backlash has already begun, and people are racing to gather their forces and train them for the counter assault. Beach heads are already being scouted, and lanes of advance plotted.

This year, there will be thousands of new websites launched and nearly as many social networks built to facilitate that need, and to train an army of people from the precinct up to engage in the political battles to come for the next few years. Many of my Republican colleagues are under the mistaken impression that 2012 will be easy, and that we need not prepare for it until after the 2010 elections because we have a strong field of candidates. 

We'll see about that. 

2009

I will be making a forray into covering state and local politics this year on a scale I have never before attempted...but I won't be alone. I intend to raise an army of citizen journalists (not glad-handers) to help me in this endeavour.

I will have more details, along with links, on January 28, 2009.