16 JUL 08: YOU GET WHAT YOU DON'T PAY FOR

As I write this, I have no idea how the Columbus one-percent sales tax question turned out. I wanted to go out Tuesday night, and share the results and side stories here - but I couldn't. One sick call in the workplace changed everything. And for you State Senate candidates - I think that person already has health insurance.

When the phone call came Tuesday afternoon which blew up my plans, all sorts of emotions went through my head. For one thing, there was deja vu - because we were delayed a day in blogging about the November 2006 election as well. That time, it was due to someone on jury duty. This time, there aren't even any judges on the ballot to blame.

There was also frustration - because the call to work the overnight shift moved up our writing deadline to about 9:15 p.m. ET. So there was no way to write about the primary results today. Even in the age of computerized ballots, the Muscogee County Election Board rarely has final results before 10:30 -- because too many paths to the Government Center have railroad tracks.

If you were in my blogging shoes, you might have been tempted to turn down the overnight shift. You might have decided your readers come first, instead of "working for The Man" (pardon the sexism). But then, would you have considered your checkbook? The Man pays for the work you do. The political campaigns didn't even bother to buy blog advertising space.

The nature of my fill-in work does NOT allow me to blog while on the job. There are simply too many things to do. I suppose that's good on an overnight shift - because I never nod off until the work is almost over....

So when the phone call comes, a choice must be made. Call me a sell-out, but I choose the sure money of The Man. If you think I should take a "leap of faith" and rely on blog readers to pay the bills - well, you probably weren't here two summers ago. I tried a variation of that with sports. Even then, 16 dollars in total income didn't go far.

(This is also why I have NOT committed to playing poker every Thursday night. If The Man needs me to work then, that's a guaranteed small jackpot - and I don't have to compete against six or seven other people at a table to claim it.)

As I meditated on my situation, I realized how many people have come to depend on me. The Man obviously does, in a pinch. But readers here do as well - asking for this blog to probe everything from political campaigns to Little League arguments. At times, I wonder if I should go to CCG-TV and offer to start a local version of "The People's Court."

But here's the thing: so many people want me to investigate, get the facts, bring out the truth, ask the tough or embarrassing questions - and practically everyone expects me to do it for free. Perhaps this explains why most of our blog voters were opposed to that sales tax for public safety....

If you really want this blog to be free to probe such things -- well, I'll quote that Fort Benning cliche. The price of that freedom is NOT free. Or as they might say in a football locker room before a big game: if you want me to be the man, you've got to beat The Man -- in this case, by outfinancing him.

Please pardon me if this comes across as venting - but our title today applies to this blog, more than any question on the Columbus city ballot. I know financial times are tight, but your assistance could help end our frustration at times like Tuesday afternoon. It might even allow me to buy my next pair of glasses in three years, instead of four.

P.S. I could have made a quick trip to the Government Center or a campaign "watch party" Tuesday night, and reported rapid-fire on what I saw there. But I realized I would have been guilty of the very thing I'm writing about - by reaching once or twice for the sodas and snacks on the side table.

BIG PREDICTION UPDATE: But we did have time Tuesday to double-check three predictions we made right after that blog-delayed 2006 general election [9 Nov 06]. Let's see if they were right....

+ "Outgoing Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox will run for the U.S. Senate in 2008, and be the candidate to beat among Democrats." Wrong. Cox instead ran to a college campus and sought asylum.

+ "Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine will run for Governor in 2010." True. He's already announced his intentions - which ought to persuade some people to stop setting churches on fire, to reduce his campaign travels.

+ "Gasoline prices won't plunge again for a long time." Oh dear -- in this case, two out of three IS bad.

E-MAIL UPDATE: We saw what this reader saw the other night, but we didn't have quite the same reaction....

Have you seen the chrysler/jeep commercials in Spanish during the WTVM news commercial? Enough already.................WRBL here we come...............................

So you're saying every second of the TV day has to be in English? Then I'll assume you've already stopped watching public television, because some of those operas are sung in Italian -- and I hope you never ask for an English-only menu at El Vaquero, without words like "fajita."

We still don't have a Spanish-language TV station in Columbus. So what are the listeners to "Tropical 88.5" and "Viva 1460" supposed to do for television? Before you answer, consider this - I heard an announcer on Tropical 88.5 Tuesday night actually say, "Happy Birthday, sister" and "she's real young." In English.

Let's see what else we noticed on the TV news Tuesday:

+ The Phenix City Council voted to revoke the license of the Dirty Dog ATV Park. Park owners claimed they put up 2,000 signs, warning riders not to cross a creek onto other people's property. But that makes a big assumption -- that most of the ATV-riding customers are literate.

+ Workers began digging up the Columbus Civic Center's concrete floor. This comes only weeks after the McClung Memorial Stadium field was ripped up for resodding. Let's hope the crews don't get these projects mixed up - because the Tuskegee-Morehouse football game might become even more like a street fight.

+ Alabama's two-year college chancellor announced new rules for private for-profit schools. He noted a Baldwin County school called "Columbus University" had its license revoked in May. Just wait until that place finds out Dr. Frank Brown is retired....

+ Instant Message to Reginald Pugh: Did I see it right on WLTZ? You actually stood on the same corner as Ed Harbison, waving at voters? And Josh McKoon didn't print out any of those Harbison yard sign fliers or campaign reports, so you could challenge him on the spot?

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: Maybe THIS time we'll talk about the primary....

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