Thanks to every one that submitted.


Debbie Higgins presents Real Estate Blog - Panoramic Virtual Tour Sign Riders - PanoRiders posted at Deb's Blog. Woody Maxim presents You can't please them all posted at Woody Maxim. Chris Hedges presents Phoenix Lander Tweets From Mars posted at Christopher Hedges. Nwihoops presents Report: Scott Martin to Notre Dame posted at Northwest Indiana Basketball. Dan ODay presents Scaling Mount Everest - Reality Check posted at prayeramedic.

Jon has been taking a beating from inside his own party. It is sad to watch those that claim the "true conservative" mantel acting like hysterical liberals. For years we've heard that conservatives just want to debate issues, no name calling, no personal attacks just the issues. Now we have blogs that support Zoeller attacking Jon as liberal, big government, and a union guy. They are even quoting local goof Mikey Essany. Unfortunately most of the "facts" they use are brutally twisted, at the end of the post I will provide links to an accurate explanation of Jons record. Even more pathetic are some of the blogs that won't even allow comments to rebut some of their claims.  If you support Zoeller act like big boys and explain why, without smearing Jon, without complete disregard for truth, without quoting local turds and without whining.

Here is a Costas video




Meet Jon Costas from Jon Costas on Vimeo.


Jon is small government

County Seat Mall: A Valparaiso Success story

The smoking ban

Union support

A touching video put together by a Navy seal team. If you can watch this without choking up you're  a jerk.


Below is note that was sent to me by my Uncle. I'm not sure why I saved it but the video reminded me of the line about smelling a letter from home.

This is powerful…think about it as you read….

This is deep....

Your alarm goes off; you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes.

He stays up for days on end.

You take a warm shower to help you wake up.

He goes days or weeks without running water.

You complain of a "headache", and call in sick.

He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.

You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.

He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You make sure you're cell phone is in your pocket.

He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.

You talk trash about your "buddies" that aren't with you.

He knows he may not see some of his buddies ever again.

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.

He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about how hot it is.

He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.

He doesn't get to eat today.

Your maid/mom/wife/self makes your bed and washes your clothes.

He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair redone.

He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.

You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.

He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.

He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.

He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.

He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.

He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.

He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

You see only what the media wants you to see.

He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't.

He does exactly what he is told, immediately.

You stay at home and watch TV.

He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.

You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.

He crawls under a tank for shade and a 5 minute nap, only to be woken by gunfire.

You sit there and judge him, saying the world is probably a worse place because of men like him.

If only there were more men like him!

If you support your troops, re-send this to everyone you know.

If it gets to a veteran who hasn't received it yet, it will bring back memories and know that some understand his sacrifices.

Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you; Jesus Christ and the American G. I.

One died for your soul, the other for your freedom

Someone asked on a comment or forum recently about the NWI blogging community, I'm not sure where it started but I found a great answer and explanation at a local blog covering politics. I don't think I can add much to it so I will just post it here.




First, I think it's important to note that although some major metropolitan areas like Seattle and New York have thousands of active bloggers, we do not have an extremely vibrant blogosphere community ... Yet! I believe it's coming, but as for many trends we lag the coasts a bit.

If I was starting today, with a goal of blogging or just connecting to the blogging community in NW Indiana I would do the following immediately (right after starting my own blog):

1. Subscribe to the following sites using Google Reader (Google's free RSS feed reader system - hosted online so it doesn't take much memory at all) take the second web address (right click and choose copy shortcut) and use subscribe button on feed reader to put that address into the field (right click and choose paste) Now Google Reader will give you a feed "headline" everytime this blogger posts. You don't have to go to the site, just your reader to see what's been added.

• Christopher Hedges - RSS Feed for Christopher Hedges Chris is probably the most prolific blogger that I know in NW Indiana, posts on politics and region news and life. There is a second RSS Feed for his comments, and I'd say he gets the most comments of all our bloggers here in the Region as well. Well worth watching on your reader.
• Porter County Politics - RSS Feed for Porter County Politics This is the site you're currently reading. We have five authors, and I'm trying to add a few more this month in anticipation of a lot of political activity over the next 9 months. We've endorsed Jon Costas for AG, Mitch Daniels for Governor and John McCain for President.
• Northwest Indiana Real Estate - RSS Feed for Northwest Indiana Real Estate Another of my sites, focused on real estate trends especially here in Northwest Indiana. Key political rants here focus on cities and towns and their hunger for cash, normally balanced on the backs of developer and home builders.
• Energy Savings - RSS Feed for Energy Savings as the name suggests Aaron writes mainly on energy efficiency and energy savings for homes and businesses. The occasional rant on politics, though his other site NWI Reviews gets more of the political activity.
• Blue County in a Red State - RSS Feed for Blue County in a Red State written by author calling himself Buzz cut with a definite edge. Lots of politics with an edge against fraud and politicians in Lake County.
• Life and Lawns - RSS Feed for Life and Lawns written by Allyn Paul, during the spring and summer almost everything is about landscaping.
• Dripper Underground - RSS Feed for Dripper Underground. Jean writes about a whole host of things, but is a huge Barack Obama supporter!
• Inkspot Printer - RSS Feed for Inkspot Printer. Chris writes about printing, marketing, and politics ... not necessarily in that order. Chris worked on the Jon Costas for Mayor campaign in 1999 and 2003 and knows online marketing.
• NWI Reviews - RSS Feed for NWI Reviews Aaron uses this site to rate websites, blogs and restaurants in Northwest Indiana. Watch for political endorsements and ratings on political websites as well.
• NWI Blogs - RSS Feed for NWI Blogs My original attempt to review and link up all the sites I could find in NW Indiana. Many of the sites listed in the sidebar are inactive, so this list here is my best guess at the people writing most every day. I'm sure I missed some, so if you read this and you got missed, use the comments to leave a link or address.
• Prayeramedic - RSS Feed for Prayeramedic. Dan was using this site for everything he had to say, recently he added Tyranny Watch below, and is using this site predominantly for humanities and religious debate.
• Tyranny Watch - RSS Feed for Tyranny Watch. This is Dan's newest site, with his strongly worded positions on world and political issues, including a decided slant toward Ron Paul.
• South Shore Progressive - RSS Feed for South Shore Progressive. Ok, I'll admit, the only strongly Democrat site I have subscribed. This doesn't mean more don't exist, it means I haven't found them yet. Just think how many Obama or Clinton supporters there may be in NW Indiana on Myspace or Facebook or other similar social blogging platforms. I was just on the site and noticed some links to other possible left leaning sites, I'll keep an eye on them and post if they are active.
• Hammond Ramblings - RSS Feed for Hammond Ramblings. Matt Saliga and his comments and debates about things Hammond and Lake County in general. I think Matt has run for office, or was seriously considering at one point.
• Kevin Tracy - RSS Feed for Kevin Tracy. Our very own Huckabee favorite, who seems to be strong for Republican candidates but also currently leaning toward Bob Barr for President. Kevin is a great writer, even when we disagree he writes terrific, and strongly Catholic to balance the strong evangelicalism of Dan's Prayeramedic posts.
• Post Tribune Jerry Davich - RSS Feed for Jerry Davich. As near as I can tell Jerry is the closest thing we have to an active journalist blogging in NW Indiana. Some other journalists have blogs but they post so seldom that the readership has to be pretty minimal so far.

Sure there are more sites than these, and perhaps this post will bring more of those that are political in nature to the fore. The Times hosts a message board, NWI Interact, which many of us posted on pretty regularly back three or four years ago. Frankly, the message board format is pretty used up and I know many of the commenters have multiple names and there aren't that many serious people on there. They've also added blogging or more aptly commenting to their articles but to date very few people are commenting, and the comments are more like Quicklies ... pot shots from anonymous posters.

2. Next, a rule of thumb in blogging is that if someone comments on your blog, you return the favor and comment back on your own blog (always be the last comment on your own posts) and go to the commenters site and leave a comment on one of their posts. Now, this suggests that the commenter leaves a way of finding them. This creates and maintains active commenting threads and debates. Google loves this stuff, because the deeper the comments go the more active they rate the site for the types of words used in the post.

3. Lastly, at least for now (we'll call this Part One), I did form an online social community for Northwest Indiana Bloggers. Frankly, the campaigns and craziness of 2008 kept me from promoting it well. Here's the address: Northwest Indiana Blogging Social Network ... If we get some members, I'll post more and we can work together more fluidly.

One thing that is often requested is a thorough list of a blogger's social connection nodes, I list many of these on sites not necessarily about politics, but here are a few of mine:

Twitter

Facebook

FriendFeedb

Our friends over at Reason Bell Society are endorsing Jon Costas for Attorney General. NWI Reviews is also officially endorsing Jon in his campaign. Jons track record in Valpo speaks for itself, a town with beat up old buildings, roads, shopping centers and a dead downtown has begun an impressive revitilization led by Jon. Politicians would get a huge bump in reputation if they were as honest and humble as Jon Costas.
Good luck

This won't be a typical review, we took my Mom out for Mothers day and she would have shot me if I was scribbling notes. I instantly liked Paparazzi as soon as we walked in, old original brick walls, high tin ceilings and white paper table cloths. It felt like a little old nieghborhood Italian resturant in Chicago. We were able to sit in one of the private little alcoves along the wall, great for being able to listen to Mom. The food is traditinal Italian, pastas, veal, chicken, shrimp, scallops and a couple of steaks. We ordered crab cakes and artichoke dip before our meal.The artichoke dip is worth going for alone, not overpowering garlic with a little sour kick. We also enjoyed Shrimp diablo, veal parmagian, chicken marsala, and shrimp and scallop pasta. The food was oustanding, everyone with a full mouth and wide eyes nodding at each other. Our only complaint was the attention of our server, she was always polite but just didn't seem to get the hang of what she was doing. There were several times we had to ask more than once for something to be brought out. It was to the point of affecting our meal. With all the attention to detail of the setting, food, menus, presentaion and layout this had to be some oversihjt or first time jitters. No resturant can be that good at most aspects and totally blow service, for now I'm going to call this an oversight.

My buddy Dan over at Prayeramedic wrote a review of Gelsosimos that I'll show here.

Gelsosomo's Pizzeria... Strikeout

Pass Times: A small pub restaurant located within the Napoleon Center in downtown Valparaiso. Nicely designed,  with three small dining sections and a bar. It feels like an old time establishment with a high tin ceiling, original brick walls and an outdoor eating area that is probably the nicest in the downtown area. The bar is a beautifully carved section that dates back to the 1920's.

Nestled between 2 old buildings, there is a quiet disconnect with the street traffic. Seafood bisque, french onion soup and chili lead the way accompanied by four salads. Ready appetizers are the traditional bar style; quesadillas, bayou shrimp, artichoke dip and such.
Almost missed the fresh made and homemade onion dip. Fairly usual sandwhiches; burgers, ham and cheese, phillys's, cod, roasted vegi. I orderer the chicken philly.  It was big and messy, gooey cheese, fresh tender chicken on a crusty roll. A great fun sandwhich. Several entrees include stir fry, shrimp, scallops, fetticcini alfredo, chicken marsala. None of the entrees were over $14.
They also have the 'Hall of Froth' where you can have your name on a plaque on the wall if you have 50 of their 80-90 craft and import beers. Overall Pastimes has good food an amazing selection of beers and ales and an atmosphere conducive to hanging out with friends .

Other Passtimes Reviews

Passtimes- for a good time call

Charlie's Restaurant/Pub in Munster claims American home cooking; fresh, flavorful, wholesome and unfussy. Charlie's doesn't serve the typical deep-fried bar food- they've taken it a little more upscale. Appetizers include pot roast, egg rolls, fresh chunk crab cakes, and baked goat cheese.  Along with several flat breads there are about eight salads offered all big enough for a meal, including grilled tuna, Asian salmon, and grilled steak. Main courses start with several cuts of steak, prime rib, Mongolian strip steak, salmon, tuna, and whitefish. Other homier  favorites include meat loaf, pot pie, pot roast and southern fried chicken all between $12 and $22.
For lunch or light meals, they have 7 burgers around $8 including turkey and veggie. BLT, mushroom, salmon and ham sandwiches are also available. I ordered the chicken while my guests had the grilled tuna salad and pot roast. The pot roast was lean and tender enough to cut with a fork, along with crisp green beans and mashed potatoes with gravy. The tuna came out a little more rare than ordered, but the waitress quickly took it back to be redone. Besides being a little underdone, the tuna was fresh and the vegetables were crisp with bright colors. The dressing was a little heavy so if you enjoy a lighter dressing maybe ask for it on the side. The southern fried chicken was crispy, juicy, and tender and is top shelf comfort food served with coleslaw and mashed potatoes with a light pepper gravy.  Charlie's has a pleasant staff  that all seem to enjoy their job. All-in-all, I really enjoy Charlie's; the great food, fun bar, neat architecture with high stamped tin ceilings and a huge choice of import and craft beers and ales. Charlie's is a great place to go with some friends for really good food and an impressive choice of brews

Terrific writer in Northwest Indiana, longer than average posts on everything from foreign policy, biblical and religious studies, to politics at the local and national level.

You can tell Dan loves to write.  Here are some recent posts:

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Why rely on facts when fear, myths and rumors will...

300,000 possibly dead in Darfur

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Controversial New Book For Christians To Hit Shelv...

The 'Governator' a Nazi?

Food Rationing... in America? (UPDATE)

Law of Return Applied to Messianic Jews!

Head over to Prayeramedic and subscribe to his feedand join the conversation.