The Pennsylvania Progressive

Testing the New Blog

The new version of The Pennsylvania Progressive is up and running.  We are in a testing phase so please bear with us.  I need to find out if all the features are working properly so come by, write some diaries, post some comments, and join us getting it off the ground.  Fine tuning remains to be done and the header and footer are being worked on along with the contact and FAQ pages so please realize not everything is yet complete. 

Users must register at this site and you must have a valid email address to do so.  You can comment right away but there is a three day waiting period to post diaries.  One of the features of the new blog is that anyone can register and write your own articles, as diaries, to the blog.  Use this, for example, to tell us what is happening in your part of the state.

Another nice feature is the "scoop" comments.  This means you can respond to someone's comment directly and your comment will appear under the first one instead of down the comment list.  This enables much easier following of discussion threads.  You can also insert pictures and links in your comments and diaries (using html code).  Come on over and join us as we test drive the new place.

New Blog Under Construction

The Pennsylvania Progressive is going to continue in a new incarnation at a new host, SoapBlox.  It took about a week to set up the new account and now the new blog is being developed.  It's going to take several weeks, at a minimum, due to my having to learn some programming.  You can register now as a user though and observe our construction process.  The domain name www.ThePennsylvaniaProgressive.com now takes you to the new blog and will be the official URL of the blog.  I also own PennsylvaniaProgressive.com and that will take you there shortly.

Please have some patience as I learn how to set this thing up.  I'm a writer, not a programmer.

There will be many new features on the new incarnation such as scoop comments, user diaries and all who want to post comments or diaries must register with a valid email address.  If you're familiar with DailyKos, MyDD, Booman Tribune, My Left Wing and other liberal blogs we will have the same format with the same host company.

Update:  I'm having difficulty getting support at the new site.  The domain name isn't working (hasn't now for a week) and access to the new blog requires refreshing your browser, crossing your fingers and hope it works.  Contrary to rumor this isn't some super secret code for entry.

This is extremely frustrating.  I'm not sure if there's enough support at that host for the blog. 

I'd like to address the idiot who wrote on a blog that she's surprised I had to shut this blog down here at Typepad.  This host informed me that "I cannot use anyone's name without their permission."  That's an all inclusive restriction.  It means I cannot even mention, by name, the President of the United States.  I am not going to write articles in which I cannot use anyone's name, even sources.  That would make the blog unreadable.  I'm amazed at this person's stupidity since she's the one who shut us down.  What did she expect was going to happen?  This is exactly what she intended after all.  It's interesting that while searching for more of her public blogging persona to document the fraud I came across her old DNC Party Builder profile where she clearly and publicly identified herself as both of her blogging identities.  Claiming she is anonymous is a crock and Typepad should be ashamed they fell for this scam.

Hiatus

I've been down with a wicked flu for over two weeks so I'm just beginning to look into setting up the blog elsewhere.  I have found a new home for The Pennsylvania Progressive and I think readers will like the new look and format.  The bad news is that this will take some time to set up, test and implement.  When we moved from Blogger I had the luxury of setting this up here at Typepad while continuing to write at Blogspot.  Circumstances do not allow that luxury now.

Hopefully all the content from here will be transferred so the archives won't be lost.  It will take time to set up all the sidebar links and blogrolls, test various features and so forth.  The new format will be much easier for readers and commenters and allow for more input from you.  The domain name ThePennsylvaniaProgressive.com and PennsylvaniaProgressive.com will both take you to the new blog once it is up and running.

Thanks to Markos for suggesting the new platform and home for our community.

Update (May 2nd):  The new host for the blog is being established and work developing the blog, design, formating, links, blogrolls and features will begin being developed next week.  The domain name for the blog, ThePennsylvaniaProgressive.com will be the URL for the new location and is no longer linked to this location.  I'm sorry for any confusion resulting from the changeover.  It may be some weeks before we are up and operating again.

Farewell

I am ending The Pennsylvania Progressive.  Over the course of 23 months we published about 3,800 articles and 435 more at Berks Democrats.  I attended many campaign events, read countless books and websites and too many public meetings than I care to count.  I'd like to thank our readers and the commenters who made this a virtual community of sorts.  I particularly want to thank our writers. 

The blog has died because of one woman, a Democratic Committee woman from Pike Township, Berks County who filed a complaint with Typepad, my host, that I used her name without permission.  I use people's names all the time, it's impossible not to.  These are public figures with no legal expectation of privacy.  This woman was angry that I exposed the treachery she and her husband used to smear several Democratic candidates and officials.  She objected to my linking her to her blog even though, when she created it, she sent an email announcement to several hundred people.  That identity was no secret.

To continue The Pennsylvania Progressive I would have to cease using anyone's name, as subjects, sources or any other reason.  I won't write half assed articles that way.  The only other alternative is moving the blog and beginning anew.  After two years of work and effort on this that's devastating to face.  It takes too long to build a blog and, at 56, I'm not prepared to do that again.  I could relocate to an offshore server where these issues would never arise again but that means hiring someone to create the website.  The business model and funds for that don't exist.  Not one paid advertisement appeared on this blog in 23 months.  Democrats and Pennsylvanians have not supported this blog and there is no prospect they will.  It doesn't make financial sense to invest money in such a venture even if I had it.

So this is farewell.  I loved doing this and will miss arising every morning and deciding what topics and news to discuss.  I'll miss driving around Pennsylvania covering the campaigns and supporting our candidates.  I was headed to the Pittsburgh area this week to work with a Congressional candidate there and to Gettysburg to finish an article on private development of the battlefield.  I regret not being able to continue my work.

I'll continue to write.  A friend suggested I do an anthology of the most important blog articles and I rather like that idea.  I also think I'll do a book about blogging, its trials and tribulations, the stories behind the stories.  I even have a working title for that one, "The Nefarious Blogger."  Aside from that there's a good bit of litigation ahead so that will also keep me busy. 

I want to close by thanking the family and friends who did support this blog financially.  It wouldn't have existed without your support.  It's a shame Democrats refused to join you in this.

Update:  Thanks for all the emails and invitations to join other blogs.  I now have an attorney working on this matter and I'm going to spend some downtime figuring out what to do next.  I have a lot of thinking to do and we're now fearful of what these Obama supporters might do next.  I've never seen a campaign breed such hatred and vitriol at those not supporting their candidate.  What is it about Barack Obama which is causing this meltdown among his supporters?

Update II:  My thoughts, as of Saturday, April 19, are that I will not continue The Pennsylvania Progressive.  After all I do, after all the work and expense I put into covering and promoting Democratic candidates I am not welcome at Party functions.  After all the support for organized labor, all the articles supporting labor, they treat me like shit.

Obama Volunteer Shuts Down Blog

In a serious free speech violation a volunteer for Barack Obama, a woman who has repeatedly smeared me because I won't support the Illinois Senator, has succeeded in shutting down The Pennsylvania Progressive.  This elected public official, a Democratic Committeewoman from Pike Township, Berks County, filed a formal complaint against me and my blog for using her name without her permission.  She told me she was blogging on January 26, 2008 along with two others, witnesses to that fact.  She never expressed confidentiality and never said the information was off the record.  Now she is claiming that two months after the fact.  She freely and voluntarily offered this information and openly disclosed facts about herself on her blogs which anyone could use to determine her identity.  In fact she made no attempts in her writings to conceal her identity.  Now that she has publicly disgraced herself she is claiming confidentiality.  Unfortunately that isn't a right an elected official can claim under the First Amendment.

Typepad informed me today of the following:

Dear Mr. Morgan,

If Ms. W---z did not give you permission to post her name on your blog, then it is still an invasion of her privacy to do so. I have consulted with Six Apart counsel and he does say that the full name must be removed. This is a valid complaint under our Terms of Service and is not criminal. Please comply with the request. Otherwise, we will need to edit the post and comments ourselves to remove the disputed content.

Thanks,
Laura
Six Apart, Ltd.

Because of this, we must ask that you remove the name from the above-mentioned content and not re-post it.

Please remove this material as soon as possible and contact us to let us know of your compliance. If we have not heard back from you within two business days, specifically by April 14, 2008, we will remove the disputed content.

Thanks,
Laura
Six Apart, Ltd.

Her harassment of me has been criminal and I intend to file charges against her to that effect.  Since Typepad is now prohibiting me from using the names of public figures I do not see how I can continue writing The Pennsylvania Progressive at Typepad.com.  As such I see no alternative but to suspend the blog pending relocation.  Meanwhile I am referring these free speech violations to my attorney.

So this is what the Obama campaign represents:  the stifling of voices which dare differ from theirs.  This campaign has done nothing, absolutely nothing, to my knowledge to restrain this lunatic's sabotaging of their campaign.  Interestingly she has a history of sabotaging Democratic candidates as I noted in my article about her.

I revealed the fact she is an elected official in one of my comments on this article.  Typepad has ordered me to remove that information but I dare not since it is a critical issue in a  civil rights case against them and Mrs. Carol Wentz.

I am not going to go about securing the written permission of everyone mentioned on this blog.  That is nigh on impossible.  As such I see no alternative to suspend the blog.  Remember this when you vote on April 22nd.  I know I will.

Update:  I worked all afternoon backing up the blog in case Typepad suspends my account.  I am moving it temporarily pending a new, permanent location with a host which believes in First Amendment rights.  Meanwhile if you would like to comment to Six Apart, Ltd. about their free speech violations, especially if you are a member of the media, legislator, Governor, Senator, Member of Congress, staffer or presidential candidate you can contact them here:

548 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Tel: 415 344 0056* - Fax: 415 344 0829

The hatred and vitriol being spewed by Obama supporters forced Tavis Smiley to quit his radio show this week.  I am hardly the only person who has been targeted by these people.  Meanwhile I suppose it goes without saying that I now endorse Hillary Rodham Clinton for President.  I cannot support a man whose campaign tolerates hate speech.

Update:  I've shut down the comments as part of shutting down the blog.  If I'm successful transferring it to a new host I won't be able to move the comments so why bother adding more?  They won't appear anyway.

Google Ads

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the Google ads on the blog.  It seems few people understand how these work and they keep attacking me for an anti-Obama ad on the banner.  I have no control over what appears on these.  They are paid for by those websites being visited when someone goes to them and Google gets that revenue.  I don't make anything from the presence of these ads.  I cannot actually explain the minimal revenue they generate without violating Google's terms of service, but suffice it to say I have yet to even receive a check from Google.

This revenue is beyond miniscule folks and it doesn't affect my coverage of anyone or anything.  Google Ads automatically selects the content for those ads based on those who are placing ads with them and the content on the website.  They crawl my blog and pick up key words such as issues and candidate's names.  If an anti-Obama or anti-Hillary website places ads with Google they give Google key words Google finds and then uses to place their ad.

For instance, and this is purely a hypothetical, say I write an article about White Supremacist movements and organizations in Pennsylvania (and I have).  Say the KKK puts ads on Google and want them to appear on sites which discuss this topic.  They give Google a list of tags, or key words that Google looks for.  Where Google finds these key words they place the ads for the KKK.  This wouldn't mean I support the KKK.  It just means they want their ads appearing on websites which discuss them and their issues.

That's how the anti-Obama ad appears on the Google Ads here.  Since I discuss this candidate often and since this Google ad buyer gave them "Barack Obama" as a key word their ad appears here.  I can do nothing about that as I could do nothing about the John McCain banner ads which appeared there for several weeks.  Funny how no one complained about those...

This blog only has two sources of revenue:  advertising and contributions via the Tip Jar.  Since there are virtually no contributions through the Tip Jar I also accept consulting jobs to make ends meet and pay for blogging expenses.  It costs money for the blog and to travel to cover campaigns and events.  Hopefully at some point the blog will begin paying for itself but that takes time.  The Google Ads are here to try and stimulate some revenue and I do not earn any money running an anti-Obama ad on that banner.  I find it interesting that those who have complained about the ads have also never contributed through the Tip Jar.

I hope this provides a good idea of how these ads work and how individual website owners have little control over their content.

"Unacceptable Behavior"

That was the title on one of the many emails I received over the weekend as knowledge that I had some tires slashed last week got around the internet.  Many thanks to those who wrote and added their outrage to mine.  I cannot prove who did the dirty deed but most everyone have come to the same conclusion as I.

Last Monday Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop in downtown Reading.  I was unable to cover the event because of other appointments.  I'm trying to continue covering our Congressional candidates, especially those in primaries, so I scheduled a guest blogging session with Mike Waltner.  Following that I had an appointment with Major General Walter Stewart about why he has endorsed Barack Obama.  These conflicted with the Obama event so I wasn't able to be there.  Knowing this I gave the Obama campaign Kirk's cell phone number Sunday evening so he could be there in my place.  He wasn't called so we couldn't cover the event.

I suppose someone got upset we weren't there.  We cannot be everywhere.  Because the presidential events aren't announced until shortly before they occur (security reasons folks) other plans have to be arranged regardless.  Scheduling conflicts are going to happen, it cannot be helped.  I'm sorry I missed that short stopover but the Congressional race in Erie is also important and the interview resulted in a positive article about Sen. Obama.

I stopped by the Reading Clinton office to do a favor for a friend who is trying to set up an event.  It's just two blocks from where Barack Obama was a few hours before and I wasn't there long.  I parked in the rear of the building where there are several secure (supposedly) spaces.  It was after hours and as I returned to my car I think I interrupted the perpetrators.  A young couple was standing next to my car.  The right rear tire was down.

Because I was driving to Wilkes-Barre and Scranton Tuesday morning I took another vehicle.  I didn't get the car to the tire store until Saturday afternoon where I discovered, as I suspected, it had been slashed.  I suspect someone was angry I hadn't covered their candidate, fueled by this irrational hatred that's been directed towards me by a cadre of local Obama supporters.  Even traveling around Pennsylvania, at my own expense, staying in hotels, eating bad food, paying $3.30 a gallon for gas and live blogging video clips of their candidate isn't enough to satisfy these lunatics.  They've continued sending emails and leaving comments here calling me biased and accusing me of being paid to be a Hillary shrill by her campaign.

Nothing seems to satisfy these people and it seems I was targeted for vandalism because of the lies being spread by a local woman.  I will not tolerate to be victimized by people who aren't happy that I am covering Barack Obama.  They remain upset that I wasn't covering the Senator when I was unable to, when he wasn't doing public events and when I didn't have press credentials from his campaign.  These supporters have shown they cannot be satisfied regardless of my efforts to cover their candidate. 

I have notified the Obama campaign I will no longer cover their candidate.  I will no longer publicize their events, write about their media calls and press releases or travel to cover their events.  I will not reinforce bad behavior.  If the result of my doing all of the above means some lunatic supporters vandalize my car then my coverage of their candidate ceases.  There has to be accountability.  There must be a consequence to their actions.  They are sabotaging their own campaign.

Reminder: Monday Guest Blogging

I want to remind our readers that we'll have a guest blogger Monday afternoon at 1:30 pm.  Mike Waltner, progressive Democratic candidate for Congress in the Third District (Erie and surrounding counties) will be here to answer your questions.  Phil English is the incumbent and his voting record is not good for citizens of Pennsylvania and the Third District.

Here's how guest blogging works:  Mike will be a one day contributing writer at The Pennsylvania Progressive and will introduce himself with an article and introduce issues he thinks are critically important in this election.  Mike is in a primary race for the nomination in this District so this is an important contest.

Please stop by Monday afternoon and participate in this important event.

Political Survey

I am posting a link to a survey you each might like to participate in at this website. 

Guest Blogging Monday: Mike Waltner

Next Monday at 1:30 pm Congressional candidate Moises "Mike" Waltner will be guest blogging on The Pennsylvania Progressive.  Mike is running in the Democratic primary for the Third Congressional District which encompasses five counties in northwestern Pennsylvania.  The Erie resident will be here to talk a bit about himself, the race and various issues.  I invite any and all who are following this race to come in and ask Mike a few questions.

This seat is currently held by Phil English who has a very extreme voting record in Congress.  Waltner is a progressive Christian who believes in the true message of Jesus:  helping the downtrodden, poor and disenfranchised in our society.