the evolving concept

There's a lot of blogging out there about political corruption, a whole lot. Since I made no attempt to research it before shooting my mouth off yesterday, I have little idea how much my efforts here are duplicating what's already being done.

But I have noticed one thing about most similar blogging - it is very much a partisan game. You have Democrats attacking Republicans and Republicans calling out Democrats, but on these blogs you will find little to nothing about corruption within one's own party. While most good material comes from such sources, this fundamental hypocrisy undermines this valuable work.

Here is a prejudice of mine: anyone who thinks there is any practical difference between Democrats and Republicans is at best a complete idiot. I mean, really stooopid. Deliberately stooopid. Lying to everyone beginning with yourself brand of stooopid. To think that one of these sides is better than the other requires a complete and willful ignorance of the most obvious reality.

Being a Libertarian, I am gleefully exempt from that. Longtime readers of my work know that I am keenly interested in exposing corruption within my own party. I'm quite comfortable with my own record on this topic.

Going forward, that's my interest. I am picking up the story in progress. So I have little to say right now about Jim Black or Mike Nifong or Meg Scott Phipps, unless there's something new to discuss. Even David Almond is soooo last week to me.

I am very interested in hearing from anyone who has information about corruption by public officials in NC. Here are some ground rules describing what is and is not part of my still evolving concept:

* I am not interested in covering anything without proof. Newspaper reports count as "proof" in this sense, in that someone has the goods.

* I am *not* interested in representing political opinions with which I happen to disagree as corrupt.

* I *am* interested in discussing activities of public officials at any level of government which violate the law or officially adopted ethics.

* I *am* interested in legislative practices which are inherently corrupt, even if universally accepted as "legal," such as a House speaker's "pocket veto" or the US Senate's tradition of placing secret "holds" on bills.

Again, no promises, but my current plan is to update this blog after my morning news reading on days when this offers me something new to report.