That’s right…
I was contacted by a young lady named Kerri Wandle, who’s a student at Wayne State, she’s doing a report for a Mass Media and Communications course she’s taking. She asked me some very good questions. and I mean some that I had to really think about how to answer.
Ya gotta love them reporter types. 
Here’s the interview:
General Information
1. Tell me about yourself and how you began blogging?
Answer: It’s a bit of a long story, I started originally back in February of 2007. I had known about Blogs since way back in early 2006. But I didn’t think much of it. The only service I was aware of was Blogger, which I didn’t think much of, looked like a novelty item. You know, something for kids. I then discovered WordPress. But still I wasn’t very aware of the impact that Blogs were having.
My Internet experience dates back to the days of dial up. I also ran a full blown Dial up Land Line Bulletin Board System. I also was a member of FidoNet. Which predates the Internet, by about 10 years.
I guess you could say, I’m quite old school…
I started blogging officially, because, quite frankly, I had a bad experience in the last Baptist Church that I was involved in, without getting into all the nasty details, I pretty much got stabbed in the back, by a Pastor who, quite frankly, didn’t practice what he preached. As it does say on my Blog, I did grow up in Pentecostal Christian circles. Assembles of God to be exact. I left in 2004, due to some issues with the way that movement was headed. I hold no ill will towards the people, but doctrinally, they’re just deceived. Again, that is a very long story, and I don’t wish to bore you with the details.
Oh yes! Personal stuff, 35, Single, Never married, No Kids, thank God! One serious relationship that was like watching a train wreak… Not fun! All I’m saying about that.
2. Have you ever written professionally (i.e. been paid for writing projects)? If so was it for traditional media (newspapers, magazines, etc) or for new media such as on-line publications?
Answer: Not yet. I really am not out to be "Discovered" or anything, I would like to get a syndicated column of some sort, it would be nice to make a little scratch for my talent. Ha! I suppose. (bemused grin)
3. How much time (per day, per week) do you spend researching and writing your blogs?
Answer: Well, seeing that I am unemployed, and yes, that’s another long story. I spend most of the day working on my Blogs. I do this full time.
4. What are your favorite blogs to read?
Answer: Why my own., of course! Ha! I’m kidding… I read quite a few, Moderate Voice, HotAir, and Michelle Malkin, all the ones found on memeorandum.com which is a MeMe tag scanner. I’m not a devoted reader of any really. That’s just for politics though… I enjoy rachellucas.com, because she’s a doggy blogger and she’s funny, which helps. tammisworld.com is an awesome Blog, because she’s a tough lady, she was in an abusive relationship and had the guts to come out. Which I think is awesome, I like women with guts and who aren’t afraid to speak up for themselves. I also, as much as I hate to admit it, I read mountaineermusings.com as well, because that poor gal, lives in her own damn world man. ROFLMAO! Also because she reminds me of some women in some Churches that I’ve met over the years. Very pasty White, Very Christian, Very sheltered, coming from the ghetto (Southwest Detroit Baby, wOOt!) I find those people very amusing.
5. What blogs do you not like?
Answer: DailyKos….. very Liberal, Very Anti-Conservative, Very Nasty, Not my kind of joint. Cold Fury is the same way and it is conservative. Plus me and that guy had an issue at one point. More about that later.
6. What are your favorite traditional media?
Answer: MSNBC for the most part. I am a former CNN watcher, I had been watching CNN since I moved from Detroit to Lincoln Park, in 1989. CNN changed, I felt in the recent years, went too far Liberal for my tastes. After that stupid "What is a Christian" special that they did, which I felt was a veiled slam towards Christianity, I quit watching them, I mean, why didn’t they do a "What is a Muslim?" special? That was end for me. I like Keith Olbermann, his special comments are the best thing out there. He speaks the truth about the current Presidential administration. I was, however, a wee bit ticked that MSNBC took Tucker Carlson’s show off, I felt that they lost their Political Balance when they did that. Tucker Carlson was the only Conservative that I could stand watching without wanting to throw something at the TV. I cannot and will not watch Fox News, or "Faux Noise" as I like to call them. There are two type of Conservatives, real world and Fox News types, the chicken hawks, The Bush’ites I call them. Brain dead types. I also read most of the newspapers, magazines and what have you, via iGoogle, which brings them in via RSS feeds.
I also read Newswithviews.com and WorldNetDaily.com. amazingly, much of what is being printed by those guys, Keith Olbermann is saying in a different sort of a way. Same chorus, just different lyrics and music. (so to speak)
7. How large is your readership?
Answer: No clue, I try and not worry about it, if I did, I’d always would be fretting about it. I like to think people read my Blogs. But I don’t obsess over it.
8. Do you use a style guide (such as the AP or MLA styles) when you write?
Answer: Style? What’s that? (laughing…) Seriously, I don’t stick to one style of writing all the time. Because, I feel, that if you get stuck in one style of writing, you will get bored and burned out quickly. Sometimes, I will just write a single line, with a link to the story I am referencing. Sometimes, I will do an intro line, then the link with the story title and source, and then my comments at the bottom. It just depends on my mood, the level of interest in the story. Sometimes, I will fire up Microsoft Word and write a complete editorial on a said subject. That’s the wonderful thing about Blogging, it’s your voice, and you can use it however you want. I think that is why the main stream corporate media hates us so, because we have the freedom that they don’t.
Politics (oh noes!)
1. How, if at all, have your political opinions evolved or changed because of your blogging?
Answer: Oh Yes! When I started, I was left of center, very much anti-bush, anti-war, anti-everything that is and was wrong with Washington DC. However, after that little stunt that MoveOn.org pulled with mocking General David Petraeus, that was when I basically stopped and went "Wait a minute now!". You see, I am all for criticizing the Government and the Politics of Washington D.C., But leave the Military out of it! Those guys are just doing their jobs. This is why I was quite pissed off at Keith Olbermann, for his comment accusing Bush of pimping out the military, I let him know this too. That was just f’ing (you know the word…. Hehe) Wrong. As. Hell.
My position on Iraq is as follows, yes, we went in there on bad intelligence, But if we pull out, like the far lefty lunatic fringe wants us too, Iraq will collapse into chaos and we’ll the most hated country on the planet. We went there, we broke the damn country, we should fix it, it is called personal responsibility. Something that the far left knows nothing about apparently.
2. What are the five most important political issues for you?
Answer: Accountability. Upholding the Constitution. Freedom of Speech, Second Amendment, getting rid of corruption.
3. How do major stories such as the Detroit Mayor scandal and the presidential election affect your blogging?
Answer: As for the Detroit Mayor story, It was a big story for about a day. I still follow it, It didn’t make me "a big star overnight", kind of a thing, not at all. But I still follow it.
On the elections: I pretty much Blog about the big stories that come out. Sometimes the stupid minor stuff tends to bore me, the "He said, she said" stuff gets quite stale. I will be blogging the general election, I don’t plan on going to a convention or anything, unless I get an expenses paid invite… But I shall not hold my breath, least I turn blue and die! Hehe…
4. Do you feel your political blogging fills a specific niche or are there other blogs that reflect politics similar to yours?
Answer: Well, I consider myself "Real World Right of Center", a moderate, if you will, Other Blogs like mine are Moderate Voice, Middle Earth Journal, most of the centrist Bloggers, and there are many… (I can’t remember names…) So, yeah, there are others like me, I tend of lean more right, than some however, because of my Christian upbringing.
5. In your opinion, what are your most controversial political views?
My opposition to illegal immigration. My Nationalism, My Christianity. Need I say anymore?
Specific to your blog(s)
1. Why did you shut down The Populist Blog?
Answer: It got hacked, I got into a "pissing match" with a Blog named "Cold Fury", One of his co-bloggers, took a nasty swipe at me. And I responded back and unwittingly ended up insulting the Blog owners dead wife……. Ooops! Anyhow, that started a war and at the time, I was running Drupal, with WordPress in a subdirectory and they got me, injected malicious code into a SQL Database and it got it. Two days before Christmas. Nice present eh? Honestly? Had I known who she was and the story behind it, I wouldn’t never said what I did, and I felt terrible about it. But the owner of "cold fury" should have shown some responsibility for what was being said on his Blog. But no, he wanted to be an asshole, so, I said "fuck it". He won the battle, had his sock puppets do his work for him. All I’m going to say is, Karma’s a bitch. What goes around, comes around. He’ll get his one day.
Plus, I started The Populist Blog, Which was originally named "The Populist Moderate", Then "The Populist", then finally, I just used my name, anyhow, I started that Blog, when I was, for all intents and purposes a populist, more progressive leaning, But I soon discovered that most people like that, are just flat out Liberals. I also began to see that I didn’t have as much in common with them as I thought. I had considered shutting down before I was hacked. They just did me a favor, really. I took a week off, thought about things, regrouped, and started again, this time with a different way of doing things. For one, I won’t get into Blog wars anymore, and I won’t say stuff to garner knee jerk reactions like that anymore. You can be snarky, without being crude. I could have gone back at the guy, without going in the direction I did, lesson learned.
2. You currently have three blogs, one political, one religious, and one general in focus, how does it help to you to segregate subjects?
Well, I had a "one size fits all" Blog, where I lumped everything onto one Blog. I was told by one of the "cool techy geeky web 2.0" guys that those types of Blogs were not very popular. So, on returning to the scene, I decided that I would separate things a bit. It helps because I can separate the "Different Parts" of me. (OH MY GAWD that sounds SO GAY! BLAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) hehe… sorry… I guess you could say that I am a very complex person. I suppose. I guess it helps, me because I have the one strictly for Politics and Page A1 News type stuff, I tend to keep that one strictly on subject. Sometimes, I drift a little. But I usually try and stay on subject. The Christian or Religious one, as you called it, I try and write stuff there that is of interest to that crowd, which I am happy to say that I am part of. (Even though, I do sometimes cuss and swear… (blushing)) The personal one, "Chuck’s Place", is just somewhere where I can post something that amuses me or say something snarky. Without having to worry about deviating from the said topic of the Blog. It’s really a flexibility issue.
3. Of your three blogs, which one are you most proud of and why?
Answer: Wow… I never really thought about it. I’m not much of a prideful person, I guess you could say that I got caught up in that kind of a mindset when I was running the Populist, I was on a domain, I got the traffic and such. It kind of led to my downfall. I don’t look at the Blogs like that. They’re just websites. It’s not like I restored an antique car or anything. I’m not a vain person, really.
4. Conversely which one do you feel most needs improvement?
Well, I really run four Blogs, one’s a tech Blog, which I really haven’t been updating, because I’m not really a big "tech geek", to a point I am, But I’m not a programmer. So, it’s not my obsession. Improvements, I would like to have all my Blogs on domains with hosting, But that costs money, that I just don’t have, being unemployed or not getting paid to write, other than the little money I get from advertising, which isn’t much at all, has it’s downside.
5. Have your blog writings been cross-posted or quoted on other sites of prominence?
When I ran the Populist Blog, Glenn Reynolds of instapundit fame, quoted me once and sent me some traffic. Since then, not that I know of, again, I’m not all hung up on that sort of thing, really. I write, if people like it and quote me, fine, if not. Fine. c’est la vie, I say…
6. You’ve made some enemies, if you will, on the web. How did that happen?
I’ve always said, and I have found out for myself. If you have an opinion and you are not afraid to express it, you going to make enemies. Comes with the territory. For the record, other than people saying stuff about me. I haven’t had anyone try and kill me…..yet. Gulp!
7. One site has an entire message board thread dedicated to bashing you. What’s up with that and how do you deal with that kind of criticism?
See above. Talent tends to draw out the children of our society….and if you’re referring to the message board, that I think you’re referring to, that message board is a fine example of what happens, when you allow uneducated, simple minded ogres near a computer.
8. Where do you see your blogs in 3 years?
Hopefully still being updated. I have no secret plan up my sleeve. I just go with it and hopefully I can make something of it all.
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So there it is, my claim to fame… I got an interview… I feel so strange. 
Cross-posted @ Chuck’s Place
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