Time to wrap up 2008 with a review of the stories told and topics covered. I also will give the top ten posts based on page views.
By far the election was the broad topic which generated the most page views. Aside from the Berg vs. Obama thread, readers prefer to comment on the sexual identity related posts. As in past years, I will pick out my top ten themes in a later post.
Top ten by number of comments (fluctuation should be minimal since most of these threads are quiet now)
1. Berg vs Obama: Response to Supreme Court due December 1 (796)
2. New study casts doubt on older brother hypothesis and reparative drive theory (460)
3. Gay City News prints letter clarifying sexual identity therapy (282)
4. New Direction for Exodus? (277)
5. Day of the Golden Rule? (264)
6. Sally Kern: What should she do? (248)
7. Study examines brain differences related to sexual orientation (239)
8. Multiple factors involved in sexual orientation, part 2 (221)
9. Sexual orientation theorizing: Is change possible? (219)
10. 60 Minutes Science of Sexual Orientation: An update from the mother of twins (217)
Top ten by page views are:
1. Berg vs Obama: Response to Supreme Court due December 1
2. Hey Florida, is this ok with you?
3. Ohio plumber Joe Wurzelbacher talks about his dialogue with Obama and spreading the wealth
4. Berg vs. Obama: Update and current status
5. Michelle Obama likes upscale clothes too
6. Donofrio vs. Wells: NJ Obama citizenship case slated for SCOTUS conference
7. What Might Have Been – The Man Who Could Have Reversed Roe v. Wade, Part two
8. Some light on Sarah Palin’s church affiliation
9. Did Barack Obama vote to withhold treatment to infants surviving abortion?
10. Day of Silence and Golden Rule Pledge on Appalachian State University
The top post has been viewed over 15,000 times with the other posts gradually decreasing from there. These numbers are constantly changing.
Tag: joe wurzelbacher
State of Ohio employee ordered to check on Joe the plumber
Where, oh where is the truth?
The Columbus Dispatch is on this one.
Friday, October 31, 2008 10:21 PM
By Randy Ludlow
Vanessa Niekamp said that when she was asked to run a child-support check on Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16, she thought it routine. A supervisor told her the man had contacted the state agency about his case.
Niekamp didn’t know she just had checked on “Joe the Plumber,” who was elevated the night before to presidential politics prominence as Republican John McCain’s example in a debate of an average American.
The senior manager would not learn about “Joe” for another week, when she said her boss informed her and directed her to write an e-mail stating her computer check was a legitimate inquiry.
The reason Niekamp said she was given for checking if there was a child-support case on Wurzelbacher does not match the reason given by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Director Helen Jones-Kelley said her agency checks people who are “thrust into the public spotlight,” amid suggestions they may have come into money, to see if they owe support or are receiving undeserved public assistance.
Niekamp told The Dispatch she is unfamiliar with the practice of checking on the newly famous. “I’ve never done that before, I don’t know of anybody in my office who does that and I don’t remember anyone ever doing that,” she said today.
Read the rest at the link
Julie the records clerk charged with investigating Joe the plumber
Toledo Police have confirmed that a TPD records clerk is accused of performing an illegal search of information related to ‘Joe the Plumber.’
Julie McConnell, has been charged with Gross Misconduct for allegedly making an improper inquiry into a state database in search of information pertaining to Samuel Wurzelbacher on Oct. 16.
Wurzelbacher came under the spotlight after being spoken about during the final presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.
The inquiry into Wurzelbacher’s record is a violation of department and state policy governing the use of the Law Enforcement Automated Data System. The clerk is under fire for making the inquiry for a non-law enforcement purpose.
McConnell was hired by the Toledo Police Department in April 1995 and assigned to the Investigative Services Bureau.
A discplinary hearing will be scheduled within the next ten days.
That makes two public officials investigating JtP.
Why does the media care more about Joe Wurzelbacher's record than Barack Obama's record?
Joe the plumber was on the Mike Huckabee show last night. I was unable to watch it but the Toledo Blade has some coverage. I have been amazed at how the mainstream media can apply journalism to Joe’s past but for some reason we hear very little about Obama’s past. Understandably, the scrutiny is intimidating to Joe W.
Mr. Huckabee said that Mr. Wurzelbacher only asked a question when Mr. Obama happened to stop by his current neighborhood a week ago. Mr. Huckabee asked how Mr. Wurzelbacher felt about the scrutiny he’d received.
“It actually upsets me,” Mr. Wurzelbacher said. “I am a plumber, and just a plumber, and here Barack Obama or John McCain, I mean these guys are going to deal with some serious issues coming up shortly. The media’s worried about whether I paid my taxes, they’re worried about any number of silly things that have nothing to do with America. They really don’t. I asked a question. When you can’t ask a question to your leaders anymore, that gets scary. That bothers me.”
The moral is, if Barack Obama comes to your door, don’t answer.
Most of what I can find about Obama’s record on housing is on blogs or primary sources. Other than the Boston Globe article, where is the investigative reporting of Obama’s record in Chicago?
Wurzelbacher a plant? Not possible, says reporter on the scene
On October 12, Barack Obama held a campaign appearance in Toledo, Ohio. On his way to a planned speech, Obama stopped to do a little door-to-door politicking in the suburban Toledo neighborhood where Joe Wurzelbacher lives. Investigating the suspicion by some that Joe Wurzelbacher was a McCain campaign plant, I called reporter Tom Troy of the Toledo Blade. Tom was covering Obama’s visit to Toledo and was on the scene for the meeting between Obama and Wurzelbacher.
According to Troy, the stop location was known only to the Obama campaign and the Secret Service. Troy said, “Nobody in that neighborhood knew Barack Obama was going to be there.” The press was aware that some kind of unscheduled stop was possible but they did not know where or when it would happen. Said Troy, “It’s not possible for him to be a plant. It was totally unplanned.”
Mr. Troy told me that the motorcade stopped so that Obama could talk to voters in an informal manner. According to Troy, the conversation between Obama and Joe occured “right in front of his [Wurzelbacher’s] house.” Troy said that Joe gave credit to Obama for being willing to stop and talk to people.
I hope that clears things up.
Read Tom Troy’s October 12th article.