SNTP enters post-Pombo period

Been awfully quiet on this blog. The reason is we accomplished our goal -- Pombo is out of office as of Jan. 4. So now where does the blog go? Pombo was the central figure. With him ousted, the focus is gone, and now the blog needs to find a new focus or hang up its hat.

This blog has gained good readership and people have liked the comments. But the posts have already dwindled and it is hard to know what to post without knowing the blog's purpose, or if it even should continue.

With McNerney in office, there may be people who want to watch McNerney and comment on his actions or help him in some way. That of course leads up to the 2008 election, with people already positioning themselves for that.

This blog could morph into a McNerney blog, but then it should really be named something like "Say Yes to McNerney" or "McNerney Watch". However, I don't think this blog can be renamed, and more important, I don't know if the current posters would be interested in that focus. The audience would be more limited, I think. Pombo had a way of raising the hackles with his position of power and the irresponsible way he used it, and that attracted a lot of attention. With a McNerney blog, the audience would probably be political types, mostly from the district and surrounding areas.

Because of Pombo's position as chair of the Resources Committee, and the power that gave him over the nation's lands, this blog attracted readers interested in environmental issues. These issues are national, indeed global, in scale.

The particular focus of the blog, if it wanted to cover environmental issues, could become Pombo's "Wise" Use Agenda, with his attacks on the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws, the calls for resumption of whale hunting, off-road vehicle use expansion, energy development, pesticides, etc. etc. But I think without Pombo in office, these become general issues. The blog would have to become "Say No To Pombo's Way of Thinking", maybe.

The blog could also focus on CD-11 environmental issues -- the Delta, traffic, clean energy, air quality, restoring flows in the San Joaquin River, etc. That would be "Say Yes to a Clean CD-11".

Or even, in that respect, it could be on CD-11 issues in general, not just environmental -- social issues like immigration and crime, housing, land use, etc. That would be "Say Yes to a Better CD-11".

Another area this blog focused on was Congressional corruption. This may come as a surprise, but there is still a lot of that running around. Some people who worked against Pombo are now focusing on Rep. John Doolittle, the other area "friend of Abramoff", who managed to retain his seat (barely) but still may be indicted. It's not like there is any shortage of material, with Abramoff, the Marianas Islands, Tom DeLay, etc. That would be "Say No to Not Only Pombo, but to All Corrupt Representatives".

Those are some ideas and comments. The point is if this blog is going to continue or evolve and have relevance, it needs to decide what its focus is now that Pombo is back on the ranch. Either that or ride off into the sunset, saying "Well, my job's done here. We cleaned up this here town " [person hops on horse] " and now it is time to move on." [Rider tips hat, horse and rider slowly saunter out of town, fade into the distance.]

Meanwhile, Happy New Year!