Red Net Alert

Local blogger spotted having dirtier shoes than "homeless" man. Joey must be too busy not fact-checking all the stories/rumors he has been posting lately to keep a moderately presentable appearance.

A tip for my main man Joey:

While the mayor's decision to wear shorts in public may or may not be of a journalistic nature, if you choose to make such vital attacks it is probably best to not present yourself resembling a rumpled sack of potatoes.

At some point in every man's life he needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and realize that his body just isn't what it used to be. I unfortunately think that pretty soon Joey needs to sit himself down for a much needed talk with himself (about his appearance. When the other voices in his head are done, of course). It is at least time to untuck that (CJ!) t-shirt buddy, as it is like framing a turd.

I have known many journalists, and they aren't exactly known for their cutting edge sense of style. But would it kill you to at least look more presentable than a "homeless" man getting arrested, pretty please?

Chuckie Has Some Advice For Mr. Harris


The Ralph Nader of Salisbury is good for one thing- A good guide as to how NOT to run for office on the Eastern Shore. When you have Joey in your camp and he is your biggest cheerleader, the best you can hope for is to at least obtain more votes than the statistical margin of error. You may not be a realistic factor but you can at least be statistically relevant!

Zoo and City Says to Cops: Let Them Eat Cake


If I were Joey and wanted to write another attack against the zoo and the city officials with whom I have a personal vendetta against, I would start with a vague call for higher pay for local cops. I would be sure to use a lazy and unimaginative literary tool such as writing to the Mayor in the voice of the new police chief. I would assume that when I nailed the assignment to write in another individual’s voice in 4th grade, I could so nail it now! (Ironically this piece is the highest level of writing and reasoning used on his site to date. Way to step up the game Joey!)

I would make unsupported and wholly arbitrary propositions that random line items in the entire city budget, conveniently supported by those I am against, was the reason for low pay for the officers. However, I would leave the bulk of my hypothetical screed to the mayor (and I mean lets be serious here, it is a complete fantasy scenario as old Joey Boy would never subjugate himself to a woman) against the obvious excesses of the zoo. How dare they improve that zoo without me? Mostly I will be upset that it is for the upcoming budget so that I cannot personally inject myself in depth into the process. Now, if they were to postpone the projects for, say, 2 years, then maybe I will allow the money to be spent so that I can expose how that zoo guy is screwing it all up.

Blogs bring down Dunn.
Joey wins, Democracy loses.


The problem with the Dunn situation is that we have is a closing image of an elected official who is not stepping down in disgrace, a la Nixon boarding the plane, but an amiable public servant who has been personally attacked at every turn…

Now please correct me if I am wrong, but I see that the biggest problem many people had with Dunn was his municipal growth policy. For what it is worth, I personally do not agree with giving developers added incentive to develop an area beyond the profit they will receive in selling the finished product. I disagree with that as much as I disagree with the Bush Administration’s decision to pay the energy companies to develop new energy ideas that they can then profit off of. To me, you are just subsidizing the wealthy’s business plans while minimizing their risk.

However, that is a little off topic. What we have here is an elected official that made an unpopular decision with his constituents. Now instead of holding him accountable for his decisions at the polls, he is instead personally attacked and slandered. He has gone from a developer’s politician, as opposed to a people’s politician, to a sympathetic figure.

Some blogs, and I think we all know which ones, have taken this amazing new medium and tried to pass it off as something it is not. They have also managed to hijack what was already a contentious tone and made it worse. What began as an amazing debate about elected officials and a strong showing of democracy in action has instead turned into vulgar scribblings on a bathroom wall.

The community has allowed a vocal minority to dictate the tone and direction of local government in Salisbury. How does this announcement by Dunn make life better for those in Salisbury if he is only going to be replaced by someone of the same ideology but thicker skin? The debate has gone from right and wrong, to drawing up sides. …

Local government is based on a structure of representational democracy. The people are not to make every single decision, but to guide their elected officials towards a specific destination down the road. IF the citizenship does not like direction that the government is going, they have the right to vote that representative out. Now some may beg to differ (and both conservatives and progressive liberals have both taken umbrage to my beliefs on this matter), but I do not believe our country’s system of governance cannot withstand the populace voicing an opinion on every matter. In politics and the business world (as well football, ahem Mr. Gibbs), it has been shown that delegation by committee does not work.

Now that does not mean that the populace should be inactive outside of an election, they should always be there to keep the politicians honest. I believe it is the part of the minority to voice their opinion on record and document the direction the majority has taken. If you are right in the end, when the time for reckoning approaches, the best way to unseat the majority is to confront them with their own words and actions, to which they will have no response.

In that regard, if you disagree with Dunn: voice your opinion, make sure your representative is aware of your views, fully comprehends the issue and understands the ramifications of their decision. If there is illegal actions or pay-to-play issues that need to be addressed, then by all means address them in the correct legal manner.

However, in the end if there is no illegal action being taken by the representative, you should lick your wounds and wait until the tides turn. To me that is where the blogs have done an amazing job in creating a forum to engage and inform the community. Make sure that everyone knows the aspects of the important issues and where they believe mistakes have been made.

Unfortunately in this circumstance, bad actors have come into play. The debate has been hijacked by certain individuals who do not care about the causes, only the players. They do no care about the governance, but those who govern. We are now faced with a popularity contest of the worst regard that was non-existent a few years ago, that now has elected officials dropping out, not because the electorate has rejected their leadership, but because personal attacks have become too much. How is it good for democracy that discourse has been replaced by baseless accusations and bullying? Why are the minorities in the minority party allowed to dictate who is acceptable of praise and who is deserved of scorn?

It should be evident to even the silent observers that the opinions on certain individuals can change with the wind and can be turned on. If this is allowed to continue, who will want to subject themselves to that level of unbalance scorn? The community will have to settle, when before it was allowed to choose.

There has already been rumblings of discontent, but there needs to be a decision that is made about these blogs- will they bill a tactic to educate and galvanize the public or will they be a tool to ridicule those whom you disagree with? There needs to be an eradication of the negativity on these blogs, from the blogger to the commenters to those who read without remark.

The World According to Joey.

In the first installment of a hopefully recurring feature on this blog (that is if Joey deems it a proper use of a blog), I look to examine an issue that the world has wrong and Joey has right.

Today I ask- “What are blogs for?” (Besides petty attempts to bring down an entire city government that went out of its way to personally slight you).

Bragging incessantly about your accomplishments? (Wait, I forget, did you say you were a successful businessman?)

The ever important graffiti pictures? A city with no real entertainment venue for kids has petty destruction of property??? Seriously?!?! I bet no other city has that.

Are pictures even vital enough to post on blogs? (I would agree so. I mean its not like Big Foot has been found, right? He is still out there until someone with a camera constantly tracks him down. I believe Joey is the man for this job. And trust me, when Big Foot shows up in Downtown Salisbury, we are all going to have egg on our face and Joey can rub it in our faces about how he was right again. But hey, in the meantime, keep snapping away as we could always more pictures of the Chief, Doug Church, and the mid-sized sedans that litter the Plaza.)

Now Joey, which category do pictures of the mayor’s headlights fall under? Local news, personal or your special revenge/spank bank category? Because let me tell you Joey, I am glad you decided to include pictures of elected officials’ private parts, because a story about, say, Scooter Libby without an accompanying shot of his bulging crotch, is just incomplete. Tit shots are what any true reputable news source needs.

I think we can all agree that blogs are not for the free exchange of ideas and civil discourse, but constantly shallow, narcissistic, self gratifying diatribes and attacks against real and imagined evils of the local community. (Don't forget to make them personal!) That is what America is all about after all, isn't it?

Hello World!

In wanting to determine the legality of a blog like this, I, like J.A.C.K, called my father. Upon asking my father the legality of a blog such as this, much to my surprise he stated, “I work in finance, I am not a lawyer. How do you have the time to do this? Are you finally going to do your taxes yourself this year?” I mumbled a quick excuse and terminated the phone call.

I then called my girlfriend and asked her about the legality of this blog, to which she replied, “How would I know? Why would you do that, and where are you getting all the time to write this? If you have so much time, how about you hang out with me more?” I mumbled a quick excuse and terminated the phone call.

Not wanting to face anymore nay saying or requests to be more productive with my time, I have decided to forgo outside authorization and depend on the legal expertise I have gleaned from the law class I took, as well as all the episodes of Law and Order and Judge Mathis I have seen.

So for all intents and purposes, this public face of this blog will be a vehicle to satirize what I see as the polarizing and changing face of local politics in small town America. However, deep down I am really writing this as an excuse to get close to the man I see as a true American Idol, the Eastern Shore’s very own- Joey Albero.

Our American Idol


I have wanted to start blogging for many months now, but a true effort has never materialized. That is until Joey Albero came into my life. Much as I am sure that other American Idols like Kelli Pickler and especially Clay Aiken have inspired Joey, he has inspired me. I am hoping to take the world of blogging in the same way that Joey has taken Salisbury- by storm. A loud, raucous, hot air filled summer storm, that when it is all revealed, is but merely a smattering of life giving rain. Joey is the rain, merely a joyful wet spot on all of our lives. Joey is, for instance, a wet spot on a mattress, but that is neither here, nor there. What is important is that I am blogging, and like Joey, I will be heaping upon you my unrequested advice and opinions. You are welcome.