Received word late this afternoon via Twitter:

Brad Friedman ‏@TheBradBlog

RIP: The indefatigable critic of all things RW, @BartCop (est. 1996) has passed away. [….] 4:36 PM – 7 Mar 2014

If I recall correctly, my first ever blog post was on Bartcop’s site – an account of a small number of us picketing George W. Bush’s Dick Cheney’s photo-op at the U.S. Treasury Service Center in Kansas City in July 2001 (where they were printing the checks for dubya’s disastrous “tax rebate”). I sent my description of the event to Bartcop via e-mail. He replied, “This would be even better with photos, don’t you think?” I had to get the film developed and then scan the prints. A few days later the post was up.

In those good old days we used chisels and stone tablets. Times have changed.

If blogtopia had existed then to the extent it does now dubya’s cronies would have never been able to steal the 2000 presidential election.

Bartcop was among the very first. He definitely was an original.

Edit: That was a long time ago…  

Michael Bersin ‏@MBersin

Quip by KSHB-41 TV am anchor after story on NJ Gov Christie leaving early and not attending WH dinner “Hope the traffic wasn’t bad.”

5:43 AM – 24 Feb 2014

Heh.

A bill, introduced today by Representative Caleb Jones (r):

HB 1665

Requires a person publishing an arrest booking photograph on his or her internet website to remove such photograph upon the request of the individual whose photograph was published

Sponsor: Jones, Caleb (050)

Co-Sponsor: Barnes, Jay (060) … et al.

Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2014

LR Number: 5563L.01I

Last Action: 01/29/2014 – Introduced and Read First Time (H)

Bill String: HB 1665

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

Calendar: HOUSE BILLS FOR SECOND READING

What if they’re members of the General Assembly? Just asking.

Didn’t catch this earlier:

PoliticMo to re-launch after brief hiatus

May 28, 2013

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After a three month hiatus, PoliticMo is set to re-launch, editor-in-chief Eli Yokley announced on Tuesday….

….The announcement came as Yokley announced the decision to leave his full-time role as managing editor of The Missouri Times….

What’s up with that?

And there’s this, via the Cape County Tea Party (no, I’m not providing a link):

…The 8th Congressional District Republican Committee will be hosting a CAMPAIGN UNIVERSITY in September. It is being sponsored by HRCC, MSCC, and MRP.

Guest presenters include:

   Steve Tilley

   Shane Schoeller

   Robert Knodell

   Jeff Rowe

   Carl Bearden

   Jaret Jensen

   Josh Haynes

[….]

This University will have classes that include:

   Fundraising

   Vendor Relations

   Grassroots Organization

   Media Contact and Relations

   Social Media

There will also be a forum at the end of the presentations for question and answer about campaigning, issues and experience. On this panel will be:

   Auditor Tom Schweich

   Congressman Jason Smith

   Speaker Tim Jones

   Former Speaker Catherine Hanaway

Lunch will be provided by the Missouri Times. Admission at the door will be $25. Early admission, prior to September 1, will be $15.

[….]

[emphasis added]

Dayam. If we had to provide lunch it’d consist of a soda cracker and tap water. And we wouldn’t be too sure about the soda cracker part. Not that we believe anyone would want us to sponsor a partisan event. Heh.

A few of the people on the list of presenters are quite, how shall we put it, uh, connected.

Rex Sinquefield has joined blogtopia:

Now he’s going to have to keep feeding the content beast.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

There’s a new progressive blog in Missouri, ProgressWomen: by women for women. Welcome to blogtopia (y, sctp!). We look forward to following their work as they feed the content beast…

I was perusing blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase!) at one of the usual sites and noted this advertising slide show directed at constituents of Senator Claire McCaskill (D):

Clicking on the ad takes you to an action page for the NRDC.

Heh. We’re still here.

Chris Bowers is somewhat premature:

Amateur blogosphere, RIP

…RIP to the amateur progressive blogosphere.  It provided a regular feeling of revolutionary ecstasy while it lasted, but there was no way it could last very long.  It was a transitional period into a new media and political paradigm, not a new paradigm unto itself.

What do you mean by “we”, Kimosabe?

No inside the beltway party invitations for us, eh?

* yes, skippy coined the phrase!

Heads or tails? Stenography can be so difficult sometimes.

The stenographer spent some time in today’s edition of the Kansas City Star trying to flip coins (or read the tea leaves) for the upcoming Kansas City mayoral race.

Who leads the mayor’s race? Who knows?

By STEVE KRASKE

The Kansas City Star

…Maybe the bigger question is: How could it come to this…?

…For others, maybe it’s the blogosphere world we live in, where even the wisest decisions are pilloried as stupid and a sure sign of Stalinism, Maoism or Attilaism.

Take Barnes. Some speculate that at 72, she could be talked into running. The city charter says she can run again after sitting out a term.

But didn’t she drag the city down into a financial rathole with the downtown entertainment district? At least, that’s what you hear from some bloggers.

See? Who needs it?

Wisest decisions? And which self appointed gatekeeper is the arbiter of that?

You left out McCarthyism.

Yeah, those unruly bloggers, asking uncomfortable questions, are such a bother. Who knew that they were so influential? Do you think it’s because old media is failing and nature abhors a vacuum?

By the way, it’s blogtopia (y, sctp!).

Today’s Kansas City Star has a lead editorial in their dead trees edition scolding all those unruly Internet barbarians populating the Star’s very own web site.

Incivility? Oh, the humanity. Well, yeah, welcome to blogtopia (yes, skippy coined the phrase!).

The Star:

Posted on Fri, Jun. 12, 2009 10:15 PM

Show some civility in cyberspace, please

…There’s virtually no argument that the Internet has promoted incivility….

…Check out the comment section on any newspaper Web site (preferably The Star’s). Sandwiched between well-reasoned points and fully constructed arguments are vitriolic ad hominem attacks…

Their point seems to be that we should all learn to keep a civil tongue. Okay. Where have you all been the last twenty years? It’s their world, the rest of us just live in it.

But they’re also complaining about the content in the comments at their own web site. Uh, it’s your web site, do something about it. And please don’t whine about the volume.