As many of you may have noticed by now, I have accepted an invitation to join the excellent team of bloggers over at Bearing Drift. I am truly honored to have been asked to join the premier conservative blog in Virginia and look forward to the opportunity this collaborative effort provides.

Unfortunately, that opportunity also means that some changes are in store for this site. SST has been a part of my life for more than 3 years now and, as such, I can't completely say goodbye to it. Thus, SST will remain in existence, but will probably just be used more as my personal blog mostly for things Virginia-related and non-political. If you are looking for my political commentary, that will be found at Bearing Drift and perhaps also occasionally at the Tertium Quids blog, which I have also been asked to join.

Thanks to all of those who have supported us here at SST and I hope you'l come back from time to time just to check on us. In the meantime I hope you'll read and enjoy my work elsewhere, just as I'll enjoy delivering it.

Sic Semper Tyrannis,
Old Zach

We here at SST like to think of ourselves and our fellow bloggers as sort of the 21st century version of the Revolutionary Era pamphleteers. The accessibility of the Internet allows the masses to present their ideas in published form and, through an informational free market, allows the best ones to rise to the top.

That is why this blog on The Federalist Papers is so intruiging. It pays homage to the spirit of free exchange and debate of ideas that resulted in the government we have today, while simultaneously seeking to continue the discussion started over 200 years ago. It is like a political book club on the Internet. Awesome!

I applaud the individuals behind this effort and encourage lovers of history and politics to go participate in this discussion.

I have to apologize to Norm and to the readers of this blog (if indeed there are any). Sadly my old laptop broke its leg and had to be put down a couple months ago and I simply haven't had time to acquire a new one until now.

I am relieved to once again have an outlet to vent my political musings so that my friends, family and coworkers need not suffer any longer. Funny how you often don't miss things until they are gone.

Now, about this Presidential election...

Today's Washington Post featured this article by Tim Craig discussing the validity of using reader comments from blogs in political advertising. The focus, of course, is on Tim Hugo's use of comments apparently made by a Democratic activist on the blog Raising Kaine.

In the article, Craig quotes a University of Alabama political science professor as saying that "it is like quoting graffiti off the underside of an underpass and using it in a political ad."

Beyond the question of why we are getting Virginia legislative election analysis from a 'Bama prof, is the question of the legitimacy and appropriateness of using such comments in campaign ads.

The 'Bama prof states that "Most people . . . have no way of testing the veracity of something posted on a blog." Yet I feel that this reservation is misguided in the instant case. (I wonder if the professor actually watched the ad or if she just had it described to her) The ad in question features comments under the heading "What others are saying" about Rex Simmons. The only veracity that is relevant in this case is whether others actually made the alleged comments, which they did. Further, the comments were sourced to Raising Kaine so that people could read them for themselves. While it may have been better to source the comments to a particular individual or at least "a democratic activist," I don't think their use here is entirely inappropriate. I also think people are just going to have to get used to seeing blog posts and comments show up in political advertising.

This doesn't mean, however, that it would be appropriate for any candidate to use any blog comments in any context. Had Tim Hugo attempted to appropriate a comment that claimed Rex Simmons was a fan of dogfights or something, then the veracity argument would be valid. Factual claims should be properly validated, but the quoting of someone's opinions, which they have openly published, is another story.

With any luck, these developments will only have a chilling effect on the blogosphere to the extent of the more outrageous comments that are made. Our Virginia blogosphere is an active arena for discussion and this blogger hopes it remains so.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to point something out to our readers about how this blog works.

While there are, at present, five contributors, we also encourage anyone who reads this blog to create their own bulletins (i.e. blog posts) about any topic that strikes their fancy. Those bulletins will show up in the right sidebar, along with the front page content.

If we like what we see, the powers that be may promote your bulletin to the front page, as I have done for reference with nickfinity's post below.

This is a community blog, not a vanity project, so feel free to add your own $.02 to the discussion. We'll all be better for it.

Jim Webb's campaign guru, Dave Saunders (a.k.a. "Mudcat") is guest blogging at Time's "Swampland" blog. Here's his first entry, which borders on the trollish, but is nevertheless entertaining (some of the comments are quite funny). Snip:

So to those bloggers who believe in a straight-forward dialogue and exchange of ideas, God bless you and thank you. Together, you're coming up with a lot of good stuff, and frankly, much of it has been helpful to me. At the same time, those Democratic bloggers, who have appointed themselves as intellectually superior and believe the only way to win an argument is to shot the loudest with personal attacks, you can go to Hell. Intellectually superior? The truth is these people remind me of the guy who told so many people he had a horse that he finally went and bought a saddle. The "incivility" in their tones tell me they would be much more happy following "pro rasslin" than the political blogs.

Hmm. Not quite Gabby Hayes, but close enough for Time. Does make me wonder, though, whether he was paying any attention at all to the Virginia blogs during his client's Senate race.

Plenty of shouting and personal attacks there, Dave. But those were aimed at a Republican, so that made it okay, right?

Yer darn tootin' t'id.

Jon Henke, one of the guiding lights of Q and O before he left to take on George Allen's and, subsequestly, the Senate GOP's online efforts, will be returning to his public keyboard and working for Fred Thompson:

I've joined New Media Strategies - an early pioneer in the field of Online Intelligence — as an Online Brand Manager. Among other projects, I will be working with the Fred Thompson campaign.

Good for Jon. Better for New Media Strategies. And better still for Fred Thompson.

Greetings, fellow web-travellers. It's your friendly, neighborhood conservative blogger here. I'm pleased to be here to herald the arrival of a new force in the Virginia blogosphere.

Those of you who were around during the epic campaign of 2005 may remember the name of 'Sic Semper Tyrannis.' Well, now that name is back with a new look and a grand new vision for the Commonwealth's right-osphere. We couldn't be more excited.

Things are going to be changing around here a great deal over the next several months. However, we feel that we have been able to build a solid foundation for a vibrant internet community that will offer engaging and respectful debate over the future of our Commonwealth and nation, from a right-wing perspective, of course. We hope you'll feel free to join us by creating your very own SST-ID.

We ask that you please begin by reading our Rules of Net-iquette. Failure to abide by them could mean removal from the site. If you want to know more about us or how to contact us, just click on the 'About SST' link at the top of the page.

Our newest original content will always appear on the front page, while your personal bulletins will be accessible through the sidebar. If you wish to get more news from around the blogosphere, we also have a blog aggregator set up for that purpose.

We hope you'll take a look around and then come back frequently as we hope to have a lot of good stories to read and interactive content to participate in. Then we hope you'll invite your friends. This community is all about YOU, after all.

Preservando,
The Founders