Hoffmania!

Suggestions Are Comin' In...

First of all, thanks for all the input and email. I really thought most of you would have given up on this mess long ago, but I was wrong.

I'm glad it's not just me getting burned out by politics. They seem to be doing okay without my meddling. I was getting weary of being lumped in with a medium that never seems to be satisfied (look up Dennis Kucinich and Jane Hamsher if you want to see what I mean).

Aaargh, Bonnie and Netto like when we talk about gadgetry, gizmos and my experiments into tech land. I do loves me my gadgets - and ways of hacking them to make 'em "better." My last project was successfully taking a Dell Mini and making it a pure dual-boot of Snow Leopard and Windows 7 (Dell's platform doesn't allow Boot Camp). I'm wondering how I can screw with an iPad, but on someone else's dime.

That's a dandy thought. Some others...

@Cobbnek - No, I don't think writing about the Catholic church is in my line of expertise, nor will it endear me to anyone, but thanks.

@Vermin - Glad you like my cartoon posts. I never tire of that.

@carolt - Really? Cars? My dad was a car dealer, so you'll understand why I have a germ-like aversion to that very topic.

@Nameless Cynic - Keep on keeping on! Check his website, folks...especially the post about Chuck Norris.

Hidflect writes: "This is the standard effect before the rise of the third candidate. Party A(a) and Party A(b) both have slowly twisted themselves into a Gordian knot of mutual action and loathing. Start looking around for the guy/gal whose going to become that shot out of the blue." Interesting thought, but who will that candidate be who we can really believe in and who doesn't turn out to be a closet flaming screwball on crack? (see Ron Paul, Ross Perot)

Keep 'em coming. In the meantime, the Bloggregator alone is definitely worth keeping the domain in operation, so we're not going to pull the plug by any stretch of the imagination.

This Tiny Megaphone

Any suggestions? I find I just flatline when I start writing anything political these days. It's all clatter and din. Does anyone have any ideas for this little piece of real estate? Hit me.

The Busy Season

I guess I have to admit to the fact that those of us who are blessed with still having jobs must now work four times as much to keep them.

That's one reason why my posting has once again ground to a halt. Maybe the other reason is that I just don't want to jinx health care reform via reconciliation by jumping up and down here too much. Besides, it makes the change fall out of my pockets.

Yeah, there's no public option...yet. But there is regulation. We just had nine years of no regulation. This fairy tale known as the "free market" has all but destroyed our democracy.

Corporations are still planting themselves offshore to avoid paying taxes (even though they still got huge tax cuts under Bush). And even if they're forced to pay taxes, the lack of regulation will allow them to raise prices on us. It's a lousy truth, and libertarians get their undershorts soaked when you talk about it, but regulations are necessary. Sorry, kids. Go cry somewhere else. They had their shot at deregulation and it's killing all of us.

"Fair Market" sucks, plain and simple. The cracking down of insurance costs, the ending of pre-existing conditions clauses, the end of randomly revoking insurance - these are all LONG overdue.

We can get to a public option eventually. Right now, the other obscenities the "free market" has allowed have to be dealt with. To use a phrase which the GOP loves to use, let's ram this thing through already.

Good and hard. Right up the obstructionists' filibusters. It's about damned time.

Banner Ad. Dumped.

Some of them were just getting ridiculous, and above all, they were causing the site to load like it had a backpack full of concrete. They're gone. No one was clicking them anyway.

And again we regain our non-profit status. And again, we're sick about it.

On a side note, thank you all for your messages of condolences. As you may imagine, it's been pretty busy over here, so my triumphant return has again been stalled. Thanks for hanging in there.

Statistically Speaking...

You mean I post some crap and my daily hit count doubles in size?

Seriously, that's what happened. You people have the magic. Thanks. Good to be back.

Into the Holidays

I'm hoping you all had a very good Thanksgiving and avoided getting trampled yesterday. Actually, I did wander into a few shopping spots and was both surprised and not-so-surprised at the lack of lines at the registers. Must be some kind of sign, and we'll know Monday.

A big thanks to those who have been keeping the embers burning in the comments. I'm still here and actually kind of getting all my virtual houses in order. It's a bit sad to see the dwindling hit counter, but my mind and body are in a very nice place now.

We're about to do some serious traveling and getting set to launch Bullit's new cookie business. Great Big Radio is still rocking out loud (we'll be playing everything from 1972 between Christmas Eve and New Year's Day for our annual holiday special). And like the rest of the planet, we're getting ready for the next chapter.

Ever notice the annoyance of politics goes away when cable news, book hawkers and Washington shut down for a long weekend? I'd love to keep it this way. Let's work on that.

As always, we're still maintaining the Bloggregator if you need your political animal fed and walked. Let us know how you're doing.

How Many Times Can You Keep Saying the Same Thing?

Not sure what the number is, but I'm pretty certain I've reached it.

[NOTE: This is not a goodbye speech. I'm just letting you know why I'm not posting a dozen things a day any more.]

I'm trying to keep up the good fight and I'm trying to disseminate as much information that either really matters or really entertains, and it looks like the former is just getting redundant.

The health care circus like all circuses just gets on one's nerves after so much time. Are we going to try to get SOME GOP involvement in this? I'm 99.999% certain the answer will always be a resounding "no" - an answer the Republicans have made abundantly clear in their quest to make this Democratic president fail.

Will we actually use our power to make change happen? I'm not so sure. Consensus-building was something BushCheney completely avoided. Obama's giving it the college try, and I commend him for that. He seems so determined to make it happen, but you can't help but wonder if he's even remotely aware of the futility. He must. That's my assessment and I'm sticking to it.

Beyond health care is something which is just killing Americans' financial futures - the credit crisis. There was supposed to be a great reform in the way credit card and loan companies treated their customers.

I just don't see it.

American Express once gave generous credit limits to its revolving charge card "members" (Optima, Costco, JetBlue, etc.). Late last year, much to the shock of cardholders, they threw a wrench into the machine by slamming credit limits down to cardholders' balances. In the process, they destroyed their customers' debt-to-available-credit ratios, leading to plummeting credit scores.

The harsh economy has led families to more credit card spending on the more conventional cards like Visa, MasterCard and Discover. With families' emergency spending on essentials racking up balances on those cards, more debt-to-credit alarms went off, resulting in those companies recently raising APRs to 29.99%.

We know all about this. We tried launching a new business this year. That plan's been tossed on the scrap heap. We've stopped using (or have opted out of) just about all our credit cards - a move which, ironically, also negatively impacts your credit score. But if we can't get decent credit now, what's the point? It's cash only from now on.

The administration proudly proclaimed a victory over credit card companies' abuse in legislation passed last May.

Again...I just don't see it.

I can go on and on with kitchen table issues that should be acted upon, but this treading water is really getting tiresome. It'd be more beneficial to my physical and mental health if I did real treading water at the pool instead of in the political arena.

President Obama is an extremely smart man. I don't think my whining will have much effect on how he conducts his business. The Democrats are always going to be Democrats. The wingnuts will always be wrong. Republicans have a golden opportunity to redefine themselves, but they're too busy being resolute and posing as badasses to do anything new or constructive. I still haven't found the sane third-partier.

In short, I'm really getting irritated trying to make sense in an arena where the whole concept of sense makes none.

I do know I'm thankful I don't depend on the likes of Sarah Palin to guide my conscience. I can recoil at wingnut radio and pump my fist at progressive radio all I want, but at the end of the day, we all still have our convictions and we all are guided by our knowledge - or lack of same.

Truth be known, I want to spend more time with my wife and friends who really need me. I want to get my house and my general health (I'm fine) in order and I want to have a little more fun than I've been being part of this echo chamber lately. I hope in the days and weeks to come, I can have some of that fun on this board. The posts will be sparser. I hope to make them matter more and be more entertaining. And I certainly will not be closing this thing down.

The Bloggregator is where my political animal feasts on its red meat, and I sure hope most of you will continue to use that to feed yours. By the numbers, it seems you've all been doing that anyway, and I thank you for that. The sites we follow over there are all exceptional, and they continue to reach more people than this li'l pothole of cyberspace ever will.

I really have grown fond of the quirks and qualities of every one of those sites. I'll always marvel at how Atrios can post an "Oy" and a link and get 10,000 comments. Josh Marshall always amazes me at how many of his own links link to his seven dozen TPM properties, no matter how many times you click. ThinkProgress never disappoints me with their thoroughness and fastidious research. Same with Greg Sargent's Plum Line and of course Media Matters.

All those guys have the time and resources to do what I can only dream of. Because of time constraints, my job here lately has been merely passing on the best of their good work to you.

Just as our mentor Stranger, we're going to pop on here for some online therapy to prevent ourselves from exploding. We're just not going to do it 24/7. A brain is a terrible thing to burn out.

I'm looking forward to spending what was a bulk of my blogging time with my beautiful bride...what's her name. And to figure out what to do about the happy and sudden popularity of our internet radio station, Great Big Radio.

The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And Hoffmania lives on.

Just a little more quietly.

The Dodgers

This is one of the reasons I've been so exhausted lately. They went on an end-of-season swoon against the three worst teams in the league when all they had to do was win one game to win the NL West title. They waited until the next-to-last game to do it against the Rockies - who needed to LOSE one game during that swoon for the same result.

They faced arguably the best pitching and best hitting this side of the Mississippi during the NLDS (the first round of the playoffs) and swept the Cardinals in three games. They now face either the Rockies or the Phillies for the right to go to the World Series - which they won't know until it stops snowing in Denver.

And during this time, I had to write and produce "next game" promos for the radio network. (I also had access to take that photo of Manny Ramirez during batting practice.)

THAT'S why I've been so crazed...but with the win yesterday, not only did they shock just about every sports writer on the planet, I actually have today off. I'm gonna enjoy it. Do the same.

Recharging the Batteries

Yeah, I got burned out yesterday as you can tell by the post below. No, I'm not going to do one of those "I'm hanging up the keyboard blah blah blah" posts, but I am taking a little time off. I'm heading up the coast to reunite, dine and drink with some old working buddies.

If I get smashed enough, I'll post something. Otherwise, talk among yourselves.

Tryin' To Get Good

Sorry for the lapse. I've been having a falls-count-anywhere loser-leaves-town steel cage match with a couple of computers in my business and NONE of them are cooperating. There's a lot of crap going on (aside from the crap I'm working on), so we'll get on those soon. I really do have more to add than the Adlai Stevenson quote above. Thanks for coming back - and as always, come for the Bloggregator, stay for the pie.

Hoffmania.com is Switching Hosting Services

We might be down for a spell when that happens, so please bear with us. The insanity should commence Monday.

Thanks!

DAMMIT!!!

DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! CRAP! And I'm up to my ass in tee shirts and bumper stickers. DAMMIT!

Hey. Wait! They're now collectors' items!

Please Stand By

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"Democrat Socialist" - Wear It With Pride!

Our readers should really be careful what they ask for. Like this.

The Hoffmania Democrat Socialist Store!

Shirts and stickers telling the world we're Democrat Socialists - and we still kick Republican ass.

I Smell Bad

Maybe we'll win the Koufax award for Best Post Title with this one. Nah. It's not in our DNA to win awards. But I'm making a pitstop at a tavern in Port Townsend, WA after a few nights in the wilderness, camping. We're now going to be spending some time with my politically polar opposite in-laws, so I'll no doubt be in a writing mood.

But it's still beautiful here. Spend some vacation money here if you can't afford Europe this year. And you can't, so do.

Travel Day for the Team

We're grabbing the dog and computers and heading for the Pacific Northwest. We'll be checking in tonight with the view from up north.

Okay, So We Have Banner Ads

They raised the rates on hosting, so this'll offset it. If it's a problem, put an inch of duct tape on the top of your screen. On with the show.

Say Hallo to Our New Twitter Followers

Vickiroush, Marusoze, xaymaca9, ViewsNews, Grandchessboard, vrenejuste, and...Alan Colmes? Yep. Alan Colmes.

Welcome all of you. Hop aboard and we'll tweet your ass too.

Isn't Life Grand?

Ya gotta take care of it occasionally. I did today, and I'm back.

On Lack of Advertisers

I've said this a zillion times before, and I'll say it again. This blog costs me a grand total of $14.95 a month to run. The other little apps like the live chat and occasional Zonkboard cost an annual fee which are far from bank breakers.

I do this mostly as an outlet, a way to propagate some of the more fascinating things being said out there and as therapy for me and anyone who wonders if things are really that nuts out there. Hoffmania tells them "Yeah. They are. So let's deal with it."

For that, $14.95 is much cheaper than therapy, so it's a price I'm glad to pay.

If someone wants to reach our readers (averaging 1500-2000 a day and has totaled 3.5 million so far), there's a link over there in the right column. But if they don't, I'm not going to go broke.

So when I see the A-list blogs worrying about advertising revenue, I wonder how the hell they're handling their affairs. I'm not talking about the Josh Marshalls and Markos Moulitsases who each have a full time staff to handle the enormous communities on their sites. But I mean the Blogspot/Typepad/garden variety sites (like this one) which I'm certain aren't being bilked for a huge monthly nut by their service.

I know as well that a lot of people get annoyed when I link to Al Giordano because he sees things through the eyes of an actual organizer and not as an armchair pundit (like Glenn Greenwald and uh...me [not that I'm in the same online bracket but I admit my armchairedness]), so he doesn't always align with the well-worked talking points we have. But the story he posted yesterday about blogs and advertisers struck a chord with me, and I highly recommend it.

I'm not as prolific as I was during the past four years because well, we won last November. I'm now trying to wean myself off all that anger I was feeling with all of you, and we've segued into trying to hold a mirror up to what's passing as discourse today.

With that switch in the (groan) paradigm, advertisers on the left are feeling two things right now. The economic pinch and the lack of windmills during this wait-and-see period of the Obama presidency. But because they're not throwing as much money our way, that doesn't mean we shouldn't give them space. I'd say this piece is costing me around 17 cents to post. So...

MoveOn.org. ACLU. Democracy for America. Michael Moore's new venture, whatever it may be. And I'll even throw in a few I see on these blogs. Claritin. Capital One.

There. Free shout outs because they support our side. Didn't cost me anything, and I'm not expecting any of them to buy ads here. We won't collapse either way.

Get your financial houses in order, now more than ever. The road's not going to get any less bumpy and we're gonna need each other at the end of it.

And when you need to raise some fast cash, tee shirts and bumper stickers are a great way to go.

Oh, look. I have to send TypePad another $14.95. Here comes another month of this crap, America. Thanks for reading it.

The Hoffmania Bloggregator Welcomes...

Buzzflash, The New York Times Caucus and Paul Krugman's "Conscience of a Liberal."

Nominees for the Bloggregator

We're considering a few additions. Got one of your own? Throw it in the comments.

Another Idea Bites the Dust

My latest creation...rejected. Damn.

Hoffmania Game Reset

The billions of readers of By Ken Levine were greeted by today's post over there with a link to this little party. We not only welcome them, but question why Ken would risk his reputation like this. No matter. We're glad you're here. For the benefit of them and those who are regulars with short attention spans, here are a few of our features.

Origins - Back in 2003, I got fed up with sending emails with fascinating articles and my own ranting and raving. Going through the address book, picking and choosing who gets what got to be really time consuming. I launched Hoffmania (with guidance from Stanger at Blah3) and told 'em all to go there to pick and choose what they liked. Within a year, we were mysteriously getting over a thousand visits a day, and today close to four million have walked through the turnstiles here. Apparently we're striking a nerve. Likely, it's that little nerve on the top side of your pinky that REALLY hurts when you cut it.

Live Chats - During big events (elections, debates, breaking news) or when we feel like throwing things open, we conduct a really active live chatroom. We used to do them every Tuesday, and we're thinking about bringing them back. What made us think about that was just renewing our contract with the live chat server last week.

The Hoffmania Bloggregator - Many consider this our crown jewel, and it's our most-visited page. (The link is at the top of the right column.) It's a one-stop page with the top stories from all the top blogs, news sources and even a few online bargains. It automatically updates every minute, so reload often.

Johnny Consumer - He'll pop up here once in a while if there's a steal to be had on the web. Among them have been the Dell $189 laptop, the $20 Aeron Chair at Amazon (turned out to be an error, but damn that was a fun night), tech and gadget reviews and a mulititude of freebies.

All that, plus videos, music and a weird little online radio station called Great Big Radio, and you have what we call "The Hoffmania Experience." You'll call it "that site...what's its name." Enjoy the ride.

Site Problems Fixed

It took a while, but we figured out why the site was fighting itself. And oh yeah, we have a new president.