Doorbell Queen is moving

Please set your links to doorbellqueen.com

I'm making this move to help keep commenting open and free, while maintaining a bit of order. I just couldn't figure out how the heck to get Blogger to allow anonymous commenting, without allowing anyone to comment as "anonymous".

See you over there!

Brief Note

Discussing Delgaudio's behaviors and parsing his letter in the post below is definitely on-topic. Attributing those behaviors and the wording of the letter to a mental illness is not, even if you are attributing it to a specific mental illness.

Delgaudio is mean, narrow-minded, and preys on the fears and loathings of others. Not all people who do these things are mentally ill, and not all mentally ill people do these things.

Personally, I believe that Delgaudio is acting, that he is a con-artist, that he behaves this way because it makes him money.

I am leaving up nazani14's comment on the post below, but I am asking you all, nazani14 included, to please stop speculating about Delgaudio's mental status.

Thank you.

Attention Candidates!!!

The State Board of Elections has ruled the following about websites:

Each page is accessible via its own link and address. Therefore, each webpage must include the disclaimer.

Quite frankly, I would never have interpreted the law this way, since the law says,

Radio, TV and print media communications must include disclaimers displayed conspicuously. Print media includes billboards, newspaper and magazine ads, mailings, fliers, email and websites. Printed pieces consisting of more than one page need bear the disclaimer only on one page or face. VA. CODE ANN. § 24.2-955.1 (defining “print media”).

However, I'm not in charge. The SBE is.

I will not insist that your campaign websites conform with this new ruling to be eligible for inclusion in my Campaign Websites page. From here on, I will list one link per candidate no matter what.

If you don't have a campaign website, but you do have a facebook page or a blog or whatever that, please send me ONE link to the site you would like me to include. I would prefer that it not be an official government site, but if that's all you've got, I'll accept it.

Gah. So far not terribly happy with Google Ads

There's an advertisement for my ideological opposites, politically speaking.

I am a liberally liberal progressive. Liberally liberal progressive. Got that, Google?

Ads

I'm trying out having ads in the sidebar for a bit. I may not keep them.

Input please

I've noticed that, in general, the School Board candidates haven't got campaign websites. They've got facebook pages, and government pages (if they are already serving), and blogs; but only a third have campaign websites.

Which means that my campaign websites page seems woefully incomplete.

However, I'm not really willing to widen my definition for that page, since it would be a holy mess to keep up-to-date if I count every fb page and blog that anyone had (if I were running, for example, I'd be able to list 5 or 6, that's ridiculous.).

I could create a new tab for School Board Candidates only and ask each for the ONE and ONLY ONE link that they would like included.

But treating School Board candidates differently from the other candidates really bothers me. One particular candidate complained to me recently that School Board races are treated as less important than all the other races; that they are after-thoughts; that people think of it as a "starter" race. Well, my friend, it doesn't make your case when you're not putting up a campaign website. Domains are cheap, and a website doesn't have to be expensive to create.

So, dear readers, what do you think? Do I create a separate and DEFINITELY unequal space for SB candidates? Or do I treat them as at least one has asked to be treated, as equal members of the candidate pool?

Attention, candidates for offices in Loudoun County!

If you've got a website, and I haven't already posted it, please drop the link in comments here - along with what office you're running for (including district, please).

This is an open call to all candidates, Democratic, Republican, Independent, Whatever.

This especially goes for School Board, HOD, and State Senate. Thank you!

Campaign websites

As a public service, I have a page that will have links to the campaign websites of every declared candidate for local office.

Supervisors and Constitutional Offices are there now, School Board coming tonight or tomorrow. State offices will be added soon.

I will be posting later on the asthetics (or lack there of) of the various sites.

Brief note

While I have been LOVING the comments and the general level of discussion on the previous post, a few of the comments have rankled with me because they speculate about Andrea's state of mental health and...well...

I just wanted to say that not all people who are temperamental or hard to work with have mental illnesses.

Conversely, not all people with mental illnesses are temperamental or hard to work with.

I'd prefer it if we could talk about behaviors instead of motivations. K?

On Language

Originally posted in January of 2010. Posting it again, because it's become current again.

A good explanation of why thinking about the words we use can be complicated and useful.

And another one.
And one more.

There are words I have never used outside of a discussion about why one doesn't use those words.

Here are some words I no longer use because I have been the one who began the discussion by using them:

• Crazy (I'm working on not using this one, it's been hard to scrub from my vocab).
• Insane (same)
• Lame

So my commonly used phrases, "Things are crazy busy here" and "Things have been insane around here" are being slowly changed to "Things are really very busy around here" or "Things have been a whirlwind around here"

And, "that's so lame!" has become "MEDICARE FOR EVERYBODY!!! WHAT'S SO HARD ABOUT THAT??"


If you have words you no longer use because a discussion about why you shouldn't use them began when you did? Please add them in the comments, along with an alternative sentence that expresses the same concept.

Comments that ask what ever happened to freedom of speech* will be deleted from the comments thread, but I will keep a tally of them and will post a total later.

Comments that use offensive words just to use offensive words and not to offer up non-offensive alternatives will be deleted. Repeat offenders on this front will be banned.


*Freedom of Speech is your ability to create your own blog and say what you like there.

My personal pledge

Starting with this cycle, and continuing until I say otherwise, I will not endorse any candidate for any office unless I personally put some shoe leather into the game for that candidate.

No walking? No talking.

If you see me endorsing a candidate here, it will mean I put some sweat equity into their campaign.

I may expand this to candidates I donate trackable money to.

One reason I don't have advertising on my blog

Is that it seems nigh impossible to control which ads run. Daily Kos, for example, has ads for Frank Wolf running at the top and bottom of their pages. Various body positive blogs I read have trouble with diet ads running. Infertility blog readers get upset when the blogs they read have advertising for baby stuff.

And the specialty advertisers like Advertise Liberally won't touch a site like mine that has relatively low traffic (relative to Pandagon, for example).

Other blogs I know sell their own advertising space, but that seems like a lot of overhead.

So, instead, I'm donating space to restaurants that are supportive of Democracy in general and who support causes I believe in. All the logos I have up are of businesses I support with my purchasing dollars. I am receiving absolutely no compensation for having their logos on my site.

Joe's Pizza and Joe's Cafe; American Flatbread; and Jimmy's Old Town Tavern. They are restaurants worth eating at owned by civic-minded and warm-hearted people. Go eat at their restaurants, and tell them I sent you.

Work. Vacation. Work

I've been offline more than on the last couple of weeks. New posts coming soon!

Nevermind

On the same day that I put a link to a particular blog in my blogroll, the moderators of that blog, instead of just deleting a nasty comment aimed at them, escalated the fight in comments. Mean, disrespectful comments by commentors are facts of blog life. Moderators have the power to delete those comments. Not doing so is a choice. Retaliating by using personal, not publicly available, information is also a choice.

They are not choices I agree with. My blogroll has one less blog on it today.

A Change to the Blogroll

Nevermind

For the record

This has nothing to do with this.

My past three blog posts have been about (or by) three different friends.

I still don't have permission to explain what precisely the SQUEEE!!! was about. When I do, I will, and I'll be clear about it.

Prospective policy change

I may begin accepting advertising.

If you're visiting from...

Prop 8 Trial Tracker: I'm avidly following along and hope that marriage equality becomes a reality for California and for everyone.

Feminists with Disabilities: Please email me, I have some accessibility questions!

Too Conservative: Welcome! I'm glad you're reading and hope we can find common ground on some things.

Thank you all for visiting! I will happily accept input on subjects for discussion. Email me at liz*at*millerhousehold*dot*com.

And just a reminder to everyone (progressives and conservatives alike), I am moderating the comments. I've got some guidelines in the side bar, I thank you all for honoring them.

Welcome!

Just wanted to say, once more, that the opinions that are presented on this blog are my own.

Mine.

And that if you think I'm a liberal, you should meet my Grandma.

I just posted a disclaimer and full disclosure in the sidebar there

It's below my rules for commenters.