....EVIL TWIN? NOT EVIL AND NOT A TWIN & NOT ADDRESSING THIS ISSUE FURTHER

OK.... Probably not evil... guess it depends upon perspective... but definately not a twin.... We are not, in any fashion whatsoever, related or connected to Integrity Matters. Period. The only reason we have similar names is because we stole it and added a couple word to more truthfully reflect the value of truth and integrity in the political arena.

WILL THE WORCESTER NAACP DODGE THE BULLET FIRED BY ITS (POLITICALLY SUICIDAL) FEARLESS LEADER?

In a word, Maybe. With the chapter in disarray and, some say, in danger of losing its charter for lack of members, the executive board and charter-members have been searching for new leadership as Eddie Lee's disastrous presidency draws to a close in October. Thus far, no one has stepped into that breech.
But now, with that date drawing near, and the palpable threat of Lee retaining that seat by default, two names are emerging as possible candidates for the job. One is Fred Grant, the director of Pupil Services at the Worcester County Board of Education. Although he's an administrator, those who know him know he's really a teacher in his soul.... not in sense of teaching mathematics, biology, English and history, but in the sense of teaching by example.
Fred and his wife, Sharone epitomize the terms grace, dignity and gentility. They are smart, educated, active in the community, and demonstrate sound judgement. Their public bearing evinces respect and might make you want to tuck in your shirt, tie your shoes and remove your hat in their company. Fortunately, we are dyed-in-the-wool visigothic heathans, to the bone, and so are generally immune from such compulsions. But for those less so committed....
The one sticking point for him, however, is that he is unsure he could do justice to both his job at the board of ed and as head of the local chapter.
The second name is Jim Gattling, a retired educator living in Pocomoke. We don't know him but he reportedly has equally good credentials, which are bolstered Grant's enthusiastic approval of him as a leader.
With two such viable, albeit reluctant, candidates on the horizon, surly one of these gentlemen will assume the duty of wresting control of this group from their Capt. Queeg.

COULD IT BE? NO!! LOOK EVERYONE, THE DAILY CRIME MIGHT BE GROWING A SET!!

Imagine the shock that must have washed over the lower shore last week when the Salisbury Daily Crime actually published a piece of investigative journalism.... that they did themselves.... not a wire story... and then, they followed it up today with a story about how a local state's attorney is opening an investigation into the food bank that was the subject of the news story. Wow.... we're incredibilized, and we can't imagine what happened over there that caused the editors to suddenly sprout hair on their collective chest.... maybe that Eric-guy, the ME, was on vacation, or something. God knows, he never would have allowed it. Those more charitable than us would say he's a "safety man"... wears a belt and suspenders. But we're not that polite.... matter of fact, we don't even like political correctness. So we'll just call him Mr. Scarediepants. The guy has no experience doing any actual reporting. And that may be a good thing, seeing as your average Camp Fire Girl has more of a hunter-instinct than he does...But hey, he likes to draw pictures and he does a fine job of drawing political cartoons, if you like his tightrope walk of balancing topical subjects against the pains he takes to avoid the possibility of offending anyone, especially advertisers, readers, repiglicans, democrats, blacks, whites, women, minorities, cops, lawyers, aliens (earthly and other-planetary) ... lessee, did I leave anyone out: if I did and they're offended, too bad.In effect, that paper is the informational equivalent of a donut-- it looks good but contains nothing of value, and all because that boy has a heart that pumps kool-aid.But all things being equal, the Daily Crime is still light years ahead of that guy Steve, the one on channel 16… you know, the one that looks like he gets his hair groomed by the same barber who does used-car salesmen. That guy is a dream-come-true for the local chamber of commerce. Reporters and camera-people we've talked to say they can't wait to get out of there because Steverino is so conservative he actually spikes story ideas that may reflect poorly on officialdom and on businesses. The reason for that is he's a member of the chamber ... whew, talk about a conflict of interest.... he either needs to quit the chamber, or quit pretending to be a journalist. I vote for the latter. After all, maybe he can get a gig as a flak for the chicken industry, or something, but his credibility as a genuine newsman is zero.

...and speaking of Eddie Lee, the self-proclaimed Lord-High-Ruler of the local NAACP Chapter, we hear a member of the board of county commissioners was attending a meeting on the far side of the bridge recently and ran into some leaders of the state and national chapter of the aforementioned organization. By and by, the conversation drifted onto the subject of Mr. Lee and ground to a halt, like a boat striking a sandbar. Apparently, the leadership is unhappy (maybe VERY unhappy) with him, as queries from local and national news organizations have started trickling in regarding the highly self-esteemed leader. We don't know what the queries are about, as there is a ton of controversy swirling around this man, but we wonder if he's about to be sucked in to a catastrophic whirlpool of his own making. While Lee's enemies (and there are many) may see this as a good and just thing, such a whirlpool could have negative effects on the local NAACP chapter, leaving it without leadership and jeopardizing it’s ability to remain viable.... but it may end up being a wash, as some reports indicate that Lee's leadership has fractured the local chapter, causing some of it's best and brightest members to leave.

Integrity: Explanation, Marginalization & Rationalization

This seems to be as good a time as any to talk about why this blog carries the name it does. We won't mince words; this blog is a slap in the face of another blog that bills itself as Integrity Matters., and is operated by a person who calls them self Truth in Action.That blog started off with good intentions, vowing to tell the truth and hold public officials accountable for their integrity, or lack thereof. But very quickly it became clear that "truth" and "integrity" would have to take a back seat to certain socio-political considerations. And first among those considerations was Sonny Bloxom.Sonny, as you know, is an attorney and County Commissioner, been one since Christ was a carpenter. Nice guy. We like him and think he's done a pretty good job as a commissioner. But we ran afoul of the Thought Police when we said we would not vote for him as State Delegate because of his dogged determination to stave off a court decision that mandated voting districts, more specifically a minority voting district, in the county back in 1993-94. Although some of his friend and fellow politicos say his effort was not based upon racism, and was instead rooted in his inability to pull enough votes from the south-county to win a seat in a district voting system, we had doubts about that explanation. Ultimately, even if that explanation was true, if he had been successful, it would have denied a whole class of citizens the right to equal representation. In the same comment, we recalled a conversation with Sonny on the steps of the courthouse, not too long ago, in which he said he wants to see a thousand-year Reich of Republicanism in this nation.Integrity Matters spiked that comment. So much for Truth in Action. So much for Integrity accounting for anything. Apparently the perception and implication of truth and integrity is what really matters. ... Thing is, we like Sonny and respect him. That is, we think his social and political philosophy is as twisted as a teenage-girl's panties as she's sitting in the backseat of a '57 Dodge with her boyfriend at the drive-in movies. But we respect the fact that he has the honesty to publicly admit, without equivocation, his position and the integrity to defend it... And that's a lot more than can be said about Integrity Matters.

Despite getting his head handed to him last week by local newspapers for his racist comments in a letter sent to his opponant in the election for a seat on the Democratic Central Committee of Worcester County, Eddie Lee is still trying to trump Meme Wells-Suznavick's legitmate candidacy by pointing to the color of his skin. In a mailer sent to voters in the minority Second District this week, Eddie screams; RETAIN THE SECOND DISTRICT AS A MINORITY DISTRICT. The obvious implication here is that unless he is elected, the minority status of the district will cease to exist.... Geez. Mr. Lee is not a stupid man. He may be a racist . He may be emotionally unstable. He may even be dishonest. But he's not stupid. So his mailers can only be interpreted as him thinking the voters in the Second District are so uniformed that they would believe his claims. The truth is that no matter who is elected, the status of the Second District will not change. ATTENTION MR. LEE: You need to know that high-profile elected communittee leaders in the Second District are backing your opponant. And they're doing so because they don't like or trust you. And you know exactly why that is. ... that, in turn, leads us to wonder how many of the electorate likes and trusts you.

Welcome. Just like a similarly-named blog, this site is about social and political ideas that may be of interest to those on the Eastern Shore. Unlike that other blog, there are far fewer rules. Here we may discuss any social or political ideology we want to discuss. In that context, we encourage spirited debate of issues, but we strongly discourage personal attacks upon those who may post to this blog. That is, you may argue the merits of someone's post; you may even dissect the logic behind the comments, and comment on its soundness or lack thereof. But we ask that you refrain from calling people names just because you disagree with them. For the short term, at least, we're going to steal comments from integritymatternow.blogspot.com and respond to them, because the owner of the blog seems too timid to address or even read comments about the issues that he/she raises.