Poll: Selecting A Presidential Candidate

What do you take into consideration when making your choice for the White House? Does the candidates overall level of experience matter, or does it boil down to something more specific?

Does their stance on foreign policy issues outweigh their take on domestic issues? Are you a voter who is only concerned about the party flag a candidate runs under? Does a candidate's character count when it comes to winning your support?

Vote in our new Web poll or voice your comments here.

Poll: Tackling The High Price of Gas

For this week's Web poll question we try to tackle the high price of gasoline.

What do you think is the best method for bringing down the high price at the pump? Should we tap into oil supplies in the Arctic National Wildlife Rescue in Alaska, shale oil deposits in the badlands and drill in the Gulf of Mexico or even the Great Lakes as a way of adding to our supply?

Is the answer to crack down on BIG OIL by taxing their windfall profits? Or should we give up on fossil fuels and move to renewable energy sources?

Voice your choice in our Web poll or comment here on how to best address this economic issue.

Poll- Who's Your Choice For President?

In our first Presidential straw poll, we want to know who your choice for President will be. We have included the Democrat and Republican party nominees as well as former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr who is running as a Libertarian Party Candidate. It's the top of the ticket with no VP-hype, that will come in later straw polls.

We didn't include "none of the above" in the list of choices, but if your not happy with the nominees, then tell us about it in the comment section of this post.

Go With God Jack

I am deeply saddened by the news that the Erie blogoshere has lost Jack Tirak. Jack's Erie Media Blog was a daily stop on my way around the Web.

We have lost not only a friend, but I fear a unique portal into the Erie and national media. Jack seemed to be way ahead of the curve on many of the breaking stories and the view of the underbelly of the local news shops.

The question is will anybody or can anybody step up and fill the void Jack passing has left? For now we bid goodbye. Rest easy Jack, go with God.

Poll: Finding the News

Plenty of big time research and news organizations love to ask the question of news consumers, "Where do you get your news?" So why can't a small fry like me ask the same question? Based on a recent comment here from reader Dale Hannah about his thoughts on talk radio and blogs, I thought it was worth asking.

I could have broken the answers into about a million different segments, but choose to keep them more general in nature. So using radio for example, it would include national and local (!) radio newscasts and talk shows, even those streamed on the web. Newspapers could include the Erie Times News or if you pick up the Plain Dealer off the news stand, but not if you read it online, I'd bump that over to the Internet category.

So this week's web poll question is where do you get your news? You can vote in the web poll and leave your comments about the state of the media here.

Hard Hitting Talk Radio!

Now that's what I call hard hitting talk radio! The masters of morning radio disaster Barry Dane and Jim Le-snore-chick over on AM-1400 really know how to hold local leaders feet to the fire!

Yesterday while interviewing County Executive Mark Divecchio they really pressed the hard hitting issues, first raising questions about an Erie County Sheriff''s vehicle still sporting studded snow tires here at the end of May! Just imagine!

They then followed that foray into the controversial by pressing the County Exec on the difficult issue of the staff at the Blasco Library speaking too loudly! Apparently one of their six listeners was upset after a recent stop at the stacks and wanted the dynamic duo to press the issue.

You've got to be kidding me! This is what passes for hard hitting talk radio?! The most pressing issue facing county taxpayers is studded snow tires and loud talking library staffers? I felt like I had entered an alternate universe when Divecchio actually responded to the library question by defending the local public library system!

Is this what passes for serving the community that the radio station is licensed to? If given the choice I'd take another bunch of infomercials about cleaning up mold or some local senior citizens home then this crap!

Memorial Day 2008

May God bless our troop and all of the families who have sacrificed loved ones for the freedoms that we enjoy. Take a moment from your picnics with family and friends to remember them all.

May God continue to bless America.