Last updated: January 16, 2010
This blog is not officially inactive but is sometimes much neglected.
Formerly named E!! The True Conservative Story, this site is wholly owned and operated by me, Elizabeth Crum. It is not sanctioned by nor (necessarily) reflective of the views of my employer, clients, associates, family, friends, countrymen or fellow homeowners association members.
For the sake of brevity, I sign everything – and am often affectionately addressed as – “E”. It is that which helped inspire the original name of this blog, a spoof on the Entertainment Network’s cable show E! True Hollywood Story. (I was privately hoping E! would sue me over branding and thus skyrocket me into the national public eye but, alas, that has not yet happened.)
I had been thinking about and finally decided to rename the blog (on 1/16/10) for all sorts of reasons. For one, everyone just calls it “E!!” or “E!!-lizabeth Crum” when they link to it anyway.
Also, I’m experiencing a growing disenchantment with political labels and have a general preference for substance over slogans. I do consider myself a conservative in many ways – but as we (or I) seem to be having trouble deciding what that even means anymore, I have decided to stop embracing the term in my branding.
At present, I am employed as the editor of www.NevadaNewsBureau.com, an independent news service covering Silver State politics and the statehouse. Prior to accepting that position, I was the part-time Communications gal for Citizen Outreach and an award-winning political blogger. Before and alongside that, I worked as a freelance writer/editor and have a professional writing portfolio includes a variety of corporate and political communications projects as well as newspaper, magazine and third party blog content.
I have appeared as a guest political analyst on KNPR, KXNT and KLAS (all located in Las Vegas, NV where I live and work). My writing and/or blogging has been noted or published by Politico, Pajamas Media, and National Review Online as well as numerous independent blogs.
Due to my interest in “new media,” I enjoy training and mentoring people re: the use of the internet and technology to engage in the political process. I occasionally teach workshops and/or sit on panels at conferences around the country. Most recently, I was the coordinator for both Blog Row and the Technology Panel at WCPAC’s fall 2009 conference in Newport Beach, CA and also spoke at a Franklin Center internet journalism conference in late October in beautiful Asheville, NC.
You can follow me on Twitter by clicking here.
SPECIAL PROJECTS & ACHIEVEMENTS
-- Co-founder and partner, All American Media, LLC, which provides web hosting and design services and is also the parent company of RFC Radio.
– Co-founder of RFCRadio.com, an internet radio station and podcasting portal featuring original news and political talk from America’s libertarian and conservative grassroots. Among other things, the station serves as a training ground for aspiring bloggers, radio personalities, podcasters and producers.
– Contributor, National Review Online’s election prediction Symposium on 11/4/08. (What an honor. I was a great admirer of William F. Buckley, Jr. when he was still with us and was tearful at his passing on February 27, 2008.)
– Winner of the 2008 Sam Adams Alliance Golden Sammie award for “Blogivist of the Year” for the “Say Something, Do Something” spirit of this blog.
POLITICS
I am a student of American conservativism – with a wide libertarian streak – and a Constitutionalist in the spirit of the Founding Fathers.
I am independent minded and am not a party partisan. Indeed, I am often disgusted with the leaders and members of both major political parties and find myself wishing for some third way.
I believe government is necessary but am skeptical of the well-intentioned and always very expensive intrusiveness of The Nanny State, aka Big Government. I don’t much like Big Business or Big Labor, either. (They’re all in bed together, you know. And all delight in distracting you with hobgoblins.)
This blog has regularly advocated for:
- open, transparent government (contracts and checkbooks: online and searchable!)
- eliminating waste, fraud, and corruption at all levels of government
- honest, competent cost-benefit analysis of all public policy
- balanced budget legislation in every state
- tax code simplification
- free market policies with reasonable safeguards and regulations
- easing referendum and initiative requirements to make it easier for citizens to put issues on the ballot
- labor union reform
- an interpretive rather than quasi-legislative judiciary
- increased domestic oil drilling and refining, increased use of natural gas, the construction of nuclear energy and recycling plants and the development of “green” energy infrastructure inasmuch as it can be cost-effective
- education reform including voucher-scholarship programs, more charter and empowerment schools, and increased private competition
- health care reform including more privatization, provider choice across state lines and fewer state and federal mandates
- Medicare and Social Security reform (both systems are effectively bankrupt)
- tighter border security and strict immigration law enforcement
- protection of our Second Amendment rights
- a lean, mean military that puts fear and trembling into the hearts of all who would do harm to American citizens
- a free and vibrant Press
ORIGINS
Both my paternal and maternal families hail from Massachusetts, but I grew up in southeastern Michigan where I was the editor of both my high school and community college newspapers. In 1988, I sued my college – with the help of the ACLU – and won an interesting freedom of press case.
In 1990, I moved to Massachusetts and was all set to double major in Journalism and Economics at Boston University, but family and financial circumstances dictated that I drop out of school and go to work.
Between my years in Michigan and Nevada, I lived in Massachusetts (2 years), Pennsylvania (3 years), and Florida (4 years). I spent most of the 90s working in sales and marketing, doing stints as a sales person, sales manager, corporate spokesperson, and sales and marketing trainer.
I first met The Venerable Mr. Crum while living and working in Florida. In late 1998, I moved to Las Vegas, got married, and started a new life which includes three great kids and two very spoiled cats.
EDUCATION
I have been attending UNLV part-time since 2002. I have all my credits and will graduate with a B.A. in English in the spring of 2010. For my next academic endeavor, I am considering a Masters in Ethics and Public Policy or a J.D. from Boyd Law School (which has a pretty good rep now).
RANDOM “E” FACTS
Birthplace: Rota, Spain (1969)
Favorite city: Boston
Favorite vacation spots: Cape Cod, Key West and Napa Valley
Favorite baseball team: Red Sox and whoever’s playing the Yankees
Favorite state motto (New Hampshire): Live Free or Die
Favorite political blog: The Corner at National Review Online (best political writing in the blogosphere)
Person who most shaped my politics: my Mom, and William F. Buckley, Jr.
Favorite conservative writers: Rich Lowry, Jonah Goldberg, Mark Steyn, Andy McCarthy, Victor Davis Hanson, Charles Krauthammer, George Will
Favorite conservative-libertarian funny guys: IowaHawk, P.J. O’Rourke, Dennis Miller
Favorite literary peeps: William Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, George Eliot, Jane Austen, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, John Steinbeck
Favorite Thing About Vegas: Our “Come As You Are” non-denominational church and all the great friends we’ve made there
Greatest Blessings ———————————————————————->
Quirks: Too many to mention, but – happily!! – Mr. Crum shares most of them, so I am not alone in the world
