Orlando Vanity Press

A reader emailed me to ask: Isn't Orlando Vanity Press the name of a publishing house?

I responded:

Were you the person who came up to me after the meeting asking for my email address? If so, it was nice to meet you.

If Orlando Vanity Press is the name of a publishing house, I am not aware. A Google search did not turn it up when I registered it and I don't find it now.

I have had the site since 2004. I only posted for about two months. I took down all the old stuff and put up information on the Community Venues.

I have another blog here: http://sourdoughbaking.blogspot.com/ Also see the about this site page for that blog if interested: http://sourdoughbaking.blogspot.com/2006_10_08_archive.html#116074448872422861 I haven't posted there in months.

When I first started I also registered the name Florida Vanity Press : http://floridavanitypress.blogspot.com/ I have never posted there.

I chose the name as a sort of "fair warning." Vanity press outlets are notorious for printing anything for a fee. This is my work, my vanity if you will.

If any money is involved I am paying myself. I do not get any income from this blog.

I do not pay anything to have the blog. The ads by Blogger and Haloscan at the bottom of each page are required to use their services. They do not pay me but I do get to use their services for free as long as I put up their ads.

I am not in the league with the news and information pros. No matter where one gets his/her information I believe it is wise to verify it. If the war in Iraq, has failed to teach the public that elected officials now "sell" their ideas then I am most disappointed. It happens on every level of government.

The fair warning is: the quality, accuracy and fairness of the work by any blogger should always be verified. I am not a trained journalist. I don't have a corner on knowledge - I often just have a point of view.

Don't believe everything you read, see or hear no matter who says it. There are a lot of people in the media feeding the public fish; I am doing as best as I can to help others learn how to fish. If you go to my Research Links page you will hopefully see evidence of that.
http://orlandovanitypress.blogspot.com/2007/01/links-information-research-activitism.html

Frankly, the older I get the dumber I realize I am. I knew everything when I was sixteen. It has gone down hill since then.

My personal ethics require me to let people know both sides of an issue. I am trying to be an honest broker but like all people I am handicapped by human frailties. I have biases, blind spots etc.

I make an effort to give readers links to information that I believe is useful. I make every human effort to produce information on both sides of the story. I make an open invitation to Venue supporters to produce any peer-reviewed economic analysis performed by economists in the public domain that bolsters their position. I haven't gotten any yet.

I indirectly received from Dr. Sutton at UCF (http://www.bus.ucf.edu/wsutton/) four items. One is not in the public domain; I cannot read it or post it. Two have been on my Community Venues Links nearly since the beginning. The last is a sales and marketing analysis written in Microsoft Word -- more sales and marketing spin if you will. It is the same stuff as the MOEDC as far as I can determine. That is Dr. Sutton's specialty. I won't post it since after the fact evidence indicates what such studies claim never occurs.

As for background on that encounter, Dr. Sutton was my nemesis at Commissioner Moore's meeting. Elected officials effectively used him to stifle my questions and evidence. However, after the meeting I searched the web and found out that Dr. Sutton's expertise is in sports sales and marketing, not economics. I sent an email to Mr. Brooks and others pointing out that fact.

The point is if promoters send me information that is in the public domain by economists and capable of withstanding peer review I will post it. It may be out there and I have missed it. However, I think one has a better chance of finding a Unicorn. I want people to be informed and make their own decisions. It irritates me that this is a sales campaign.

The mantra is sell, market, spin and promote your plan. Half-truths repeated often enough become accepted. For example, some people still believe that Iraq and 9-11 are connected. As you know the 9-11 Commission and many, many others report they are/ were not. Yet, trying to defeat the PR machine that put that into the collective conscious is nearly impossible. Repeat anything often enough and it gets accepted as a "fact" by some.

For many elected officials voter education is too dangerous. It runs the risk that once voters know what is going on, they may disagree. However, to that I offer a quote:

I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power. -- Thomas Jefferson

A very long-winded explanation. I will actually post this on the blog but refer to you only as a "reader." I hope that it answers what you were asking. If not, feel free to ask again. Thanks for asking and being involved.

Regards,

Ray


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