Tag: blogging

A Liberal Blog pokes me in the ribs

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Ouch.

I got poked in the ribs by a liberal Blogger. It was partially my fault.

Let me explain.

Ed Morrissey made a very insightful observation about Blogs a while back. Basically Ed said that Blogs were a sketch of one’s thoughts. Which is true, this is basically where I come to vent my feelings and share, with you, my feelings about this Presidential Administration and give you my take on news of the day. An online dairy of my thoughts. My own personal bully pulpit. (Hey, Mom wanted a preacher…. She got me…. It wasn’t all bad. I think! 😮 )

There are times when I write something and I do so, with the assumption that everyone else, knows what the hell I am talking about or what I am thinking at that moment.  Unfortunately, not everyone has access to what is happening inside my head. Consider this to be a good thing, there’s some terribly strange shit that goes on up there. 😉

This, was one of them times.

A Liberal Blog that is called “Just Another Blog from L.A.” has taken me to task for something I wrote. It was done in the typically sarcastic liberal manner. If I were one of them uppity Sean Hannity type of Conservatives, I would be ready to rip on this guy. But, seeing I am a bit more laid back than Sean. I am willing to concede that maybe I did not make myself clear.

On my posting about Ted Kennedy, I wrote the following:

He spoke loudly for the disabled, something that I can appreciate, as I am the nephew of a developmentally disabled aunt. (Also known as mentally retarded) The Democrats took up this cause; because the people that should have been taking their cause; that is the Church —— were too busy trying to make themselves more holy and righteous.

Well, Mr. M. Bouffant, did not like what I wrote, He quips:

Yes, let’s leave care of the disabled to “the Church.” (Catholic, we assume.) Because they’ve always done such a good job of that. See: Ireland. Or: Sexual abuses & cover-ups. The Catholic Church: Holy righteous accountability is our middle name.

Truly insane. Charity will cover anyone who can’t afford X hundred thousand dollars a yr. for care of the disabled? And the churches? That’s right, turn the schizophrenics over to the believers in fairies, who will no doubt proceed to scourge the devils right out of them. Medication? A good whipping will teach them not to see things that aren’t there.

First off, Mr. Bouffant assumes that I am a Catholic. If he would have bothered to read my About Me and F.A.Q. sections of my Blog; he would have known that I am not a Roman Catholic. Second of all, Mr. Bouffant’s anti-Christian rhetoric and attitude are duly noted. Although, he does have a point about the Roman Catholic Church’s scandals.

The problem is that, as I am known to do, at times; did not sketch out well enough, what it is that I was talking about. Partially, because I really was not interested in writing a novel and because, again, I was working within my own parameters and I assumed everyone else knew what I was talking about. Bad trait of mine; Oops, Sorry. It is not to say that I do not appreciate the criticism. I do! It keeps me on my toes and forces me to spell out what it is that I am trying to say.

Let me be clear, (Obama would overuse one of the better opening clarification statements out there… thanks Barry! You asshole. 😛 ) I am well aware that “The Church” is not capable of handling ALL of the needs of the developmentally disabled. Especially some of the more severe cases. I realize that some disabled people do need the care of medical professionals; Good God, I am not that daft. But I do believe that the Church could play a more active role in support. Key word there; Support. That support could come in many different forms. I was not referring to medical care, at all.

Again, my apologies to those who, like Mr. Bouffant, may have misunderstood what it is that I was trying to say. Next time, I guess I will have to spell out what I am trying to say, I little better. Least, I take another painful poke to the ribs. 😀

A little horn tootin’

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Not to toot my own horn or anything.  (Toot! Toot! 😆 )

But I just noticed something. I got a mention on a major political magazine’s Blog.

It is over at the Atlantic’s Blog called the Atlantic Wire.

It was about my posting on the boneheaded idiot who brought his gun to an Presidential Appearance.

You can go see it here.

It kinda makes me feel, like this guy here:

Click on this link and watch the video and you’ll see what I mean. Not bugs, the other guy in the video. 🙂 I have varied feelings, The 0:37 and the 6:42 marks in this sum it up.

Another Funny Blog Posting

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I just love reading other people’s Blog. You read some of the funniest stuff sometimes. This time it is Robert Stacy McCain:

BTW, Cynthia called me this afternoon to say she was going to a townhall meeting with Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).

“What should I ask him?” she said.

“Look, you’re well-informed on the issues. Just pay attention to what he says, and what questions other people are asking, and I’m sure you’ll think of something good to ask. . . . You’re a natural-born troublemaker.”

She was in kind of a hurry and said she didn’t have time to take a shower before going to the meeting. So I figure if Cardin gives her the run-around, the headline will be:

SENATOR FLEES SWEATY LESBIAN

I’m anticipating Cynthia’s report.

via The Other McCain: Billy Mays was a cokehead?.

ROFL! 😆

I do not think that I have laughed that hard in a while. Thanks Mr. McCain I needed that laugh. 😀

I do believe that this one approaches the comedic level of Tammi’s Blog posting. The first one, that is. 🙂

Answering Matt Mullenweg’s Snark filled Rant

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Matt Mullenweg and I have had words in the past.  I am sure that he is a great guy; but there are times when stuff comes out of his mouth; well, in this case, from his Keyboard, that send me into a rage.

Instead of getting angry and flipping my cork on him. I figure I will answer his Blog posting on the things, that I am assuming that he finds highly annoying.

…and off we go!

There have been a number of new platforms popping up recently that claim to increase your user engagement, get you more comments, increase your traffic, and more, through means that I consider short-sighted and harmful. Since people seem not to mind, I thought I’d write a guide for how to increase the number of comments you get by 400-1,000% and ruin whatever shred of community you had on your site.

Man…. you think we can get a bit more snark in there, please? 😉

The rest after the jump: Read More …

A Blogger friend of mine needs help

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realmeHis name is Sammy, He is Jewish.

I razzed him once about something and pissed him off. After a while, I felt like a dick and apologized. After we became friends, I learned much about Sammy, I found out we had much in common.

Anyway, Sammy’s now looking at some hard times right now; I can relate; many can, times are tough. I however, have a safety net of sorts. Sammy does not, he is toughing it out and making due. Job prospects are bad and he might have swallow hard and do the Walmart thing.

If you can head on over to Sammy’s Blog and give a buck or two. Consider it an act of charity to a man, who is not drinking the Kool-Aid.

Click here to read Sammy’s Blog Posting.

…..and Thank you.

Ezra Levant being sued by serial litigator Khurrum Awan

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Once again, Canadian Conservative Blogger Ezra Levant is being targeted by Lawsuit happy Khurrum Awan.

The Story which comes from Ezra Levant via 5 feet of Fury: (H/T to Pamela Geller)

Khurrum Awan, the youth president of the Jew-hating Canadian Islamic Congress, has threatened me with a lawsuit. You can see the rambling, typo-ridden libel notice here. (Seriously, Khurrum: spell check. It’s free.)

Awan is an experienced practitioner in the soft jihad of “lawfare”, the abusive practice where lawsuits are filed against critics of radical Islam just to harass them and silence them, Erin Brockovich-style. He’s done it before: Awan fronted the CIC’s three identical “human rights” complaints against Maclean’s magazine for publishing an excerpt from Mark Steyn’s best-selling book America Alone. Awan wasn’t the actual complainant in those cases – the CIC’s president, Mohamed Elmasry, was. But Awan was the public spokesman for those nuisance suits.

[…]

That’s pretty much par for the course over at the CIC. A couple of years ago, they distributed Nazi-style anti-Semitic cartoons door-to-door as part of their election efforts. Personally, my favourite Elmasry moment is whenever he denounces the Canadian media as being run by “the zhoos” – a line he repeated again and again without a flicker of embarrassment at a convention of the Canadian Association of Journalists.

That’s the Canadian Islamic Congress. They’re a great fit for Saudi Arabia or Egypt. They’re just not really ready for prime time in a liberal democracy. And now their youth president, Khurrum Awan, wants a full public trial – in a real court, not a kangaroo court – about, amongst other things, whether or not they’re anti-Semites.

I’ll take those odds. With Elmasry as his mentor, I’m guessing Awan is just a wee bit tone deaf on the whole bigotry thing.

It’s nuttier than a Snickers bar over at the CIC, but that hasn’t bothered Awan one bit. The CIC championed the cause of terrorist groups including Hamas and Hezbollah, and opposed the listing of them as terrorists under Canadian law. They actually defended the Butcher of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. And then there’s the hired help: the CIC publishes screeds from anti-Semites like Greg Felton, whose views are as diverse as supporting Iran’s nuclear program to praising Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning the Holocaust.

That’s Awan’s crew: Jew-haters, terrorist-lovers, censors and nuisance litigants. So it’s no surprise, dear friends, that he has decided to come for me.

So, Mr. Levant is going to need some in the legal dept to keep this  Awan from getting anywhere. So, if you would; hop on over there and give the man some help money wise, please. Do it for me and for Liberty and Freedom of Speech. I would send Ezra a nice check myself; but I really do not have it to spare right now. So, I am doing the next best thing. I am blogging about it and passing the word around.

Please note: Last night, when I originally wrote this entry late last night. I went to into a rather nasty rant. While it might have been funny for some; and most of I wrote might be true. After thinking about it and sleeping on it. I woke up today and decided to yank it. Sometimes it’s best to keep your feelings to yourself and keep the damn peace. I wish Mr. Levant all the best and I apologize to any of his friends, if anything I wrote upset them.

Facepalm of the day

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homer-doh-square

It’s a twofer for today!

First off some Conservative Activist dude named Dr. David McKalip forwarded this little jem around:

….and if that was not bad enough. The lamebrained idiot bonehead, who owns Gateway Pundit, points to this picture here, I guess to make the point that liberals did the same thing, when Bush was in office.

Here’s the pic:

bush witch doctor

So, what’s the problem you ask? The Picture above was linked from and pointed to by Gateway Pundit is a Blog called the Romanian National Vanguard News Agency, which is owned by Romanian National Vanguard. Which is a White Nationalist website! Which I will not point to, at all.

Good Lord people, the Liberals ALREADY think that we Conservatives are freakin’ Nazi’s, do we REALLY want to keep giving them reasons to believe this? 🙄

D’oh!

The A.D.H.D. of the Conservative blogsphere

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I cannot believe I am using that title, seeing I have A.D.H.D. and take meds for it daily.

I hate to always be the wolf to break away from the pack. But sometimes common sense has to start somewhere…. Many of my fellow right wing Bloggers are howling about this one:

In a reflection of a legislative strategy that has left no stone unturned, President Barack Obama on Monday called on like-minded bloggers to help his administration keep the heat on lawmakers to pass health care reform.

“It is important just to keep the pressure on members of Congress because what happens is there is a default position of inertia here in Washington,” the president said during an invitation-only conference call. “And pushing against that, making sure that people feel that the desperation that ordinary families are feeling all across the country, every single day, when they are worrying about whether they can pay their premiums or not… People have to feel that in a visceral way. And you guys can help deliver that better than just about anybody.

via HuffPo: Obama Calls On Bloggers To Keep Health Care Pressure On Congress (AUDIO).

Some of the Republican/Conservative Bloggers have some seriously short memories or something.  Because Bush did the same thing, when he was in office. See here, here, here, and here. So, while it might be cool to attack Obama for his policies, it just seems mighty silly to attack Obama for something that the Bush Administration did themselves.

Nice try guys, but this one is a bit silly IMHO.


Time to thank the people; that make this Blog what it is.

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I was looking at the backend of my blog, (The backend, is the place that the admins check in to do Admin stuff…) and I saw the posting below…..:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a disturbing trend. Many of the plugin authors I have spoken with throughout the community tell me that very rarely do they ever get a donation let alone a Thank You for releasing their work to the public. Based on the plugin authors feedback, end users demand more features, demand better support, and in the end, have this feeling of entitlement even if the plugin is available without a price tag. The reality is, that for a freely available plugin, you’re not entitled to anything. I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not like to be part of a community that is known as thankless.

Before I list a few ways of curbing this attitude, I must say that not EVERYONE in the community acts in the ways I described above. I know many of us have donated to plugin authors, have written reviews of plugins to give them exposure, have said thank you, etc. This post is not geared towards you but towards those who seemingly want to have their cake and eat it too.

Saying Thanks – I believe saying thank you is underrated these days. Saying thanks can go a long way in making a plugin author feel good about themselves for their contribution to the community.

via Is WordPress A Thankless Community? | Weblog Tools Collection.

So, seeing today is a bit a slow news day and because I’m really not much in the mood to write about silly political stories. I thought, instead of sitting and e-mailing all these people, I will write about it and then e-mail them, if I can, a link to the blog entry.

There is a great number of people to acknowledge for making this blog great.

  1. First off is the team at WordPress. WordPress is the best Blogging platform around. Matt and the team have advanced in great strides in the last few years in advancing the software. I give them top billing.
  2. Second off is my buddy Ryan Yaple, Ryan is a saint of a young man; who stepped into a rather bad situation a few years back, and basically gave me hosting for free. I am getting a check from Adsense soon here and I plan on giving him some of it. Thanks Ryan, you’re a saint man! 🙂
  3. Thirdly, Site5 hosting; The service can be described in one word — Amazing. They’ve went well and above what most hosts would even do for their customers.  Even when I have contacted them having a bitching screaming fit when my blog was down. You guys are the best, and I mean that.

Before I get into the Plug in’s. Let me tell you about the template that I use,  that makes this Blog look so good. I’ve done little modification to it. One minor one, and I changed the header photos, and do I plan to add more as I go along —- The Theme name is called Atahualpa and it is written by a man named Flynn, who lives over in Germany. Here’s the site for it — Drop over and tell Flynn how much you like his theme. You’re the best, Flynn! 🙂

While WordPress is awesome, and the hosting is no slouch either; WordPress would be nothing with the Plugin Authors. Here are  the one’s that I use and recommend highly to any Blog that wants to do this for a living — and actually make money doing it. They are:

  1. Akismet – Akismet is a Plug-in that checks my Blog comments and makes sure that they’re not spam, if they are; it tosses ’em into the spam folder. — Matt Mullenweg wrote it originally, but now, there’s a team handling it. Here’s the Company’s website.  Without this Plugin, life would not be happy for WordPress users.
  2. All in One SEO Pack –There is one word to describe this plug in; and that’s awesome. You want to be seen and read in the Blogsphere and want the google juice? Get this Plug in. If you came in via Google search; it was most likely because of this Plug in.
  3. Apture – Apture is the plug in that creates that neat little symbol next to links that I post to Wikipedia Entries and/or Youtube or google videos. There’s much more to that plug-in, half of which I do not even use. It’s quite the awesome plug in and I like it quite a bit. Check out their site!
  4. Contact Form 7 – A very simple, but very nice form to mail plug in. If you have ever contacted me via the Blog. You have used this Plug in. Check out the author’s Site.
  5. Drafts Dropdown – This is a new plug in that I just installed, but it was written by one of the WordPress team members. Check out Crowd Favorite‘s Website! – This plug allows me to access any draft posting for the blog, that I may have created, easier. I highly recommend it for all wordpress users.
  6. FeedBurner FeedSmith – A Great plug-in that basically makes it much easier for you people to get my Blog via RSS. Feedburner’s Site is here.
  7. Google XML Sitemaps – Another great plug in, that basically helps with the google juice. – Plugin’s Home page and the Author’s Homepage
  8. Podcasting – Podcasting is just that, a simple WordPress plug-in to allow people to set up a simple podcast from their Blog.  It is written and supported by Spiral Web Consulting. Visit the Plugin’s page here. — Whenever I link to any offsite audio or video, I am using this Plugin to do so. It is quite the awesome plug in, I highly recommend it.
  9. ShareThis – ShareThis is a neat little plug in, that allows me, or you, the reader to share blog postings with all of the nifty social networks out there. I highly recommend it. – Plugin Website.
  10. StatPress Reloaded – If there is one thing that we Bloggers are most anal retentive about, it is stats. (well, at least, I AM anyhow… :D) We Bloggers like to know, where, how, and how many. This Plugin Delivers that and much more. – Visit the Plug-in’s website and the Author’s website.
  11. Subscribe To Comments – This nifty little plug-in does what the title says, allows you to get an e-mail, if someone replies to your comment or if a new comment is posted. You will see a box asking you if you want to subscribe to comments. If you have checked it, this plug in handles your request.  A handsome young man, by the name of Mark Jaquith writes this Plug in.
  12. WordPress.com Stats – As I said before, we blogging types like our stats. Some of us really like our Stats. This is another one of them kinda Plug-Ins. This one was written by the fellers at WordPress. It was written by some dude named Andy Skelton. (I wonder if he’s related to Red Skelton?) Here’s the Plug in’s webpage.
  13. WordPress Beta Tester – There are actually some weirdos who actually like to Alpha and Beta test software on live Blogs. I’m one of them, this is a nice little plug in, that helps that process along. By the way, I am Alpha testing WordPress Version 2.9. Strange folk aren’t I? 😀 – Plugin’s Website.  Plug-in Author Peter Westwood‘s Site. Update: I removed this Plug in, as I stopped Beta testing. But it was a great plug in.
  14. WordPress Mobile Edition – This Plug-in allows you to view my Blog on your cellphone. So, whether you are on a BlackBarry or one of them snobby elitist iPhones —- that I cannot afford, this Plug-in is helping that along. Plug-in HomePage — Author’s Homepage
  15. WP-Ban – This is one plug-in that I did not want to install, but there are those idiots that just cannot be told, “You cannot do that!”, so, I had to install a plug-in to keep the idiots out. Here’s the Plug-in’s Website and the Author’s Site. Update #2: I removed this Plug in, was causing some issues with people being able to view the Blog. I do not think that it is 100% compatible with Wordpess 2.8.x
  16. WP-SpamFree – This plug-in here is another line of defense against spammers, Plain and simple; the plug in works damn good. In fact, there was one instance were it worked too good, and kept a legit comment from getting though. I fixed that, I tweaked the setup just a bit, and that should not happen again. (I Hope!) – The plug in is written by a fine young man named Scott Allen; of whom I have yelled at a few times, when he was first getting started, because his plug-in did not sit straight and fly right. Instead getting angry and folding his arms, he worked harder and now that plug-in almost looks professional. 😉 Seriously, if you want cut down on the spam, get the plug in, you won’t regret it. Update #3: I had to remove this one as well, as it was preventing people from being able to comment. Although, it did work well, perhaps a bit too well!
  17. WP Super Cache – This awesome Plug-in right here saves my behind every month. It keeps me from burning through bandwidth and causing my server to meltdown. It is written by Donncha O Caoimh who lives somewhere across the big pond in Ireland. Donncha is a good sport, I’ve hollered at him, when his Plug-in decided that it wanted to do things it’s way, instead of mine. He’s a good sport, he hollers back! 😀 Anyhow, If you are one of them professional blogger types, this; and all of the others I have listed are the one’s to get. It will keep you up and running during traffic spikes. — Plug-in’s Homepage

I guess the only thing left is, well, You. You guys are the one’s that have really made this blog what it is. That’s right, you; the reader. Many of you are silent, some have braved my comment rules and have stepped in and have told me that you agree, or that I was a damned idiot and didn’t know what heck I was talking about. You have also took blog postings and have left them in forums, sent them in e-mails to your friends and family, and sent me tons of traffic;  you did that. Heck, I’m just the store keeper and I just have the know-how of how to keep the store running. You people are what makes this Blog really work.

This blog, never was, nor will it ever be; about me. If it ever becomes that, I will close this blog down, sell the domain and go back to just being another unemployed truck driver.  It is about you. The American people, those of you, who are not willing to accept the lies and the deception of the Liberal Main Stream Media; but want to hear the truth or at least my take on it. Those of you who know and realize that the Democrats and yes, some Republicans; are not for the American people, but have their own self interests in mind. That is what this blog was founded for, and is what it is about today. It is about getting the truth to the people; even if it tends to hurt myself or the group of people that I align myself with.

Again, I am eternally grateful to all of you who take the time to stop in and read; even if you do not comment. You should know, that I know that you are here. I read the stats, I see who comes and goes. Thank you for your Faithfulness, Even if you do not agree; I at least know that you care.

Eternally grateful for each one of you,

-Pat

Around the ‘Sphere….

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That’s it till next time!

Andrew Sullivan calls names

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Here’s one of the many reasons why I dislike Andrew Sullivan:

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Some of you may have come across a neo-fascist blogger, Ace of Spades, who makes Glenn Beck seem like Jim Lehrer. All of this is to say: even he can’t quite put up with the degenerate dorks who now constitute much of the Republican base. Here he is inveighing against the commenters he has spent the last few years whipping into an anti-elitist frenzy.

The Post he is referring to, is the one I pointed to earlier.

Let me get this straight; If I happen to disagree with Sullivan, I am a neo-fascist?  Nice.

Sullivan, you are a damned idiot.

This is from the same idiot who posted stuff like this; on the internet, and thought he could get away with it: (WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO! NOT SAFE FOR WORK!)

Read More …

Andrew Sullivan Praises Obama; gets attacked by Wilsonian Republicans as an Anti-Semite

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I will be the first to admit, there are times when Andrew Sullivan gets under my skin. But this is not one of this times. Sullivan has gotten attacked by Wilsonian Republicans, because someone dared to point out their pro-war mentality. The reason they are attacking him, is because he invoked a word, which is commonly used to describe that faction of the Republican Party. That word is “Neo-Cons”, Which is generally what they are. Former pro-war Democrats or intellectual classical liberals who left the Democratic Party, because of their opposing of the civil rights act and other such related events.

Anyhow, here’s what Sullivan said, I’ll bold and underline the parts that sent the “Neo-Cons”, if you will; into a tizzy:

Did you notice how many times he invoked the word “justice” in his message? That’s the word that will resonate most deeply with the Iranian resistance. What a relief to have someone with this degree of restraint and prudence and empathy – refusing to be baited by Khamenei or the neocons, and yet taking an eloquent stand, as we all do, in defense of freedom and non-violence. The invocation of MLK was appropriate too. What on earth has this been but, in its essence, a protest for voting rights? Above all, the refusal to coopt their struggle for ours, because freedom is only ever won, and every democracy wil be different: this is an act of restraint that is also a statement of pure confidence in the power of a free people.

via The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan.

Well, I guess now, the word “Neo-Con” is now code word for “Jew Hater”. Which is so absolutely funny.  Because these bloggers are the same bloggers, who decry the race-baiting of the far left; only to do it themselves, when it comes to Jewish people. Since when does using a term, such as Neo-Con or Neo-Conservative constitute a racial slur? Sorry folks, but that is nothing more than race baiting in it’s purest form. You should all be ashamed. So, next you hear Wilsonian Republicans, like Michelle Malkin and those of her ilk, decrying the race baiting of the left, just remember; they do the same thing, when it comes to the Jewish people.

Neo-Con a racist term…. Please, as if! 🙄

Update: Please note: I originally ended this article with a rather crass term used amongst African-Americans; and I see that “The Daily Paul” linked in; and for that I am grateful. Anyhow, I changed the ending. I understand that not everyone out there gets my type of “I grew up in inner city Detroit” sort of humor. So, to those who were offended; I apologize. Again, thanks to the folks that linked in from the Daily Paul.

Round up of the race-baiting right: Don Surber, This ain’t Hell …, Riehl World View, Moe_Lane’s blog, Althouse and American Power

Publius-Whelan-Gate Continues: Whelan Apologizes and Publius accepts and moves on…

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An update to a story that I blogged on the other day.  One of NRO’s writers named Ed Whelan outed a centrist Blogger who we now know is named John Blevins, but blogged under the pseudonym of publius. Earlier I shared my feelings about this. But it appears that Ed has apologized and John has accepted.

The Apology:

On reflection, I now realize that, completely apart from any debate over our respective rights and completely apart from our competing views on the merits of pseudonymous blogging, I have been uncharitable in my conduct towards the blogger who has used the pseudonym Publius. Earlier this evening, I sent him an e-mail setting forth my apology for my uncharitable conduct. As I stated in that e-mail, I realize that, unfortunately, it is impossible for me to undo my ill-considered disclosure of his identity.  For that reason, I recognize that Publius may understandably regard my apology as inadequate.

Done in very good form and I hereby retract my statement about him being an f’ing a-hole. It takes a big man to apologize and admit you screwed up.

Publius as well, in good form accepts the apology:

Ed Whelan has written both publicly and privately and apologized.  I know it was not an easy thing to do, and it is of course accepted.  I therefore consider the matter done, and don’t intend on writing about it anymore.

The real story here wasn’t really about me anyway — it’s about whether the norm of pseudonymity is a good thing.  And there’s a legitimate debate about that.  Personally, I think that pseudonymity is a net benefit, whatever other costs it brings.  More voices are better than less — and pseudonymity (to me) enriches the public sphere by adding voices that could not otherwise be heard.  But people can disagree in good faith about these things, as Whelan correctly notes.

Anyway, I’m moving on.  I appreciate Whelan’s update.  And that’s all I have to say.  Let’s talk about Jon & Kate Plus 8 instead.  I’ve heard they hired attorneys.

Some are saying that this apology was forced. Whelan is denying this charge and I do believe him. I highly doubt that NRO would get involved in such matters.

Anyhow, to both of them; well done. I just wish that the rest of the blogsphere was this civil and decent.

Others covering, on both sides of the aisle: The Moderate Voice, Right Wing Nut House, The Anonymous Liberal, Winds of Change.NET, Balloon Juice, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway, The Daily Dish, Macsmind, Lean Left, Bloggasm, The American Scene, Southern Appeal, And So it Goes in Shreveport, QandO and Majikthise, The Moderate Voice, Bench Memos, Riehl World View, The Debate Link, The TrogloPundit, The Daily Dish, TBogg, The Anonymous Liberal, PointOfLaw Forum, The Opinionator and pandagon.net

Mixed feelings on the Blogger outing

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I am commenting on this because I think it deserves a comment.  I have very mixed feelings on the outing of a centrist Blogger, who blogged under the name of publius over at Obsidian Wings.

The reason why I have these mixed feelings is this. Because I personally know how frustrating it can be, when you have some anonymous Blogger or even person on the internet harassing you. Believe me when I tell you; I have been there and done that.  However, I also believe in the right to privacy as well. So, I am quite conflicted.

To his credit, publius or John Blevins gives some very valid reasons for his wanting to remain anonymous:

As I told Ed (to no avail), I have blogged under a pseudonym largely for private and professional reasons.  Professionally, I’ve heard that pre-tenure blogging (particularly on politics) can cause problems.  And before that, I was a lawyer with real clients.  I also believe that the classroom should be as nonpolitical as possible – and I don’t want conservative students to feel uncomfortable before they take a single class based on my posts.  So I don’t tell them about this blog.  Also, I write and research on telecom policy – and I consider blogging and academic research separate endeavors.  This, frankly, is a hobby.

Privately, I don’t write under my own name for family reasons.  I’m from a conservative Southern family – and there are certain family members who I’d prefer not to know about this blog (thanks Ed).  Also, I have family members who are well known in my home state who have had political jobs with Republicans, and I don’t want my posts to jeopardize anything for them (thanks again).

All of these things I would have told Ed, if he had asked.  Instead, I told him that I have family and professional reasons for not publishing under my own name, and he wrote back and called me an “idiot” and a “coward.”  (I’ve posted the email exchange below).

So there you have it – I’ve been successfully pseudonymous since the Iowa caucuses in 2004.  During that time, I’ve criticized hundreds of people – and been criticized myself by hundreds more.  But this has never happened.

And yes – I criticized Whelan rather harshly.  But that’s what the blogosphere is about.  Blogging is not for the thin-skinned.  And you would think that someone who spends their days trying to destroy other people’s reputations in dishonest and inflammatory ways wouldn’t be so childish and thin-skinned.

Again, I believe that Ed did have a right to know who it was that was criticizing him. However, I have reviewed the posts in question, and I simply do not believe that a public outing was necessary and quite frankly; it shows a lack of class and a very childish demeanor on the part of Ed Whelan.  I do however disagree with the line of “But that’s what the blogosphere is about.” I feel that if you are going to criticize someone, you should have the guts to give your true identity. Criticizing someone behind the cloak of anonymity is the essence of cowardice, in my humble opinion.

The bottom line is this; if you are going criticize someone and you are going to hide behind an assumed named, you should be prepared to be exposed for the coward that you are. Further, one should not complain that they are being exposed, because a “pen name” is not a guarantee of privacy.

However, in the wake of the shooting of the abortion doctor and many of the other incidents in the last few months, one would think that Ed Whelan would have used a bit more common sense in a situation as this. But then again, we are talking about Neo-Cons. Not that they care about privacy, just ask George W. Bush. 🙄

Update: Ed Morrissey gives his take and quite surprisingly basically somewhat agrees with me. Not to rip off Redd Foxx or anything, but….This is the big one, Elizabeth I’m coming join you honey!  Oh hell, Here’s Mr. Foxx doing it better, than I ever could: (Scroll to the 3:13 mark, if you want to see what I’m referring to…)

Update #2: Ed Whelan posts a follow up, further proving that he’s nothing more than a fucking asshole. But then again, you most likely already knew that. I retract this, click here to see why.

Update #3: Whelan Apologizes and Outed blogger accepts. Case Closed. Well done on both sides.

Others:The Anonymous Liberal, Washington Monthly, Outside The Beltway, JustOneMinute, Opinio Juris, The Strata-Sphere, Riehl World View, PointOfLaw Forum, PoliGazette, Sadly, No!, TBogg and Balloon Juice

Video: O’Reilly Versus Olbermann on the Tiller Murder

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It is not everyday that I get to do something of this nature. As you all know there was a murder of an abortion doctor in Kansas yesterday. As I said last night, I do not support this sort of extremist nonsense.  As neither does any other sort of sane thinking American; Conservative or Liberal, or anything else in between.

These videos, I believe are a text book example of the dogmatic positions that have infested the Liberal and Conservative factions of the political debate in this  country.

First off, here’s Bill O. condemning the attacks, and all the while denying the fact, that the killer might have actually watched his show:

Notice that there is no “Hey, We’re sorry that the man is dead.” or anything of that sort, just an arrogant bristle at his critics that accuse him of having at least some sort of culpability; even if it is simply being a messenger boy for the traditionalists.  

Next up, we have the poster child for the far left, the man; whom I thought was a legit answer to Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy of George W. Bush. Whom also magically transformed himself, after the election of President Barack Obama; into a political hack and a defender of the throne, of sorts, to the new Liberal President.  What follows is nothing more than a Left Wing smear of the Conservatives, of all stripes and flavors:

As a libertarian-minded, Paleo-Conservative; I find both of these men equally disturbing.  First off; any broadcaster and political opinion maker who favors “quarantining” anyone’s freedom of speech, is as far as I am concerned not better than the soviet communists of old. That goes well beyond just being a Liberal Democrat; that is basically being a far left wing Liberal Fascist. This sort of nonsense is NOT, I repeat, NOT what the founders of the Democratic Party of old would have wanted.

Further more; I find Bill O’Reilly’s arrogance to be absolutely sickening. A man was just gunned down in the lobby of his own god damned Church for Christ’s sake; and the best this idiot Irish piece of shit can do, is smirk and bristle when someone points out the obvious about the far right and their tendency towards a fascist position of individual rights and freedoms of women?  It is no damned wonder that ALL of the old media is tanking like a leaking boat! 🙄

While I am quite sympathetic to the right to life cause. I cannot and will not endorse a policy that I feel to be border-line Nazi Fascist in nature. This is one of the main sticking points between me and the G.O.P.; I believe that Abortion and ANY laws pertaining to it, should be on a STATE level and NOT on a Federal level. How these Republicans can talk limited Government out of one side of their mouth and then want to have Federal Government regulation on something is now and should always be the choice of the individual, is nothing short of an equal with Hitler’s Nazi Germany. There is no such thing as big Government Conservatism. You are either a big Government type or a small limited Government person, you cannot be both.

While I am on the soapbox here, let me say a few other things that are radar here. I notice that today that there was a shooting of couple of our American Soldiers, by some Negro Muslim convert. I notice the Liberal Blogs are not exactly running this one up a flag pole, now are they? No! You know why? Because the Radical Muslims and possibly all Muslims in general share the same trait as the Liberals in this Country, and that’s a hatred of this Country’s Christian values and our Military.

…and one more here, before I finish this rather cranky blog post, another thing that I saw that burned my damned balls with this little gem by noted Neo-Conservative Blogger Ed Morrissey, on the Tiller Murder:

The murder of George Tiller at his church is a heinous crime, without any sense or justice. Regardless of how one feels about George Tiller’s profession, his murderer is nothing more than a domestic terrorist — someone attempting to impose by force a policy that one cannot get in place through democratic means. Tiller’s killer is no better than William Ayers, Kathleen Soliah, and Eric Rudolph, people who attempted to use violence for their extremist ends. Those who value life know that murder is the antithesis of the pro-life movement.

That stupid idiotic nonsense up there that I bolded, italicized and underlined up there. Could have been written by John Podhartz or Bill Kristol, both noted Neo-Conservatives. The cold, hard, sober fact is that this Scott Roeder is nothing more than a cold blooded killer; who was a part of a far right wing, anti-Governmental underground group, he is NOT a jihadist. I, quite frankly, wish that Ed Morrissey would pull his rather pointed head out his ass long enough to realize that. This drivel comes from the same place that says that Israel has never, ever, committed any acts of “Terrorism” themselves and the CIVILIANS (not Hamas or Hezbollah) of Palestine and more specifically Gaza; got exactly what was coming to them. 

HEH!: Liberal Columnist rips off Liberal Blogger

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Gee, I wonder; would this be the 21 century equilivant of “Dog eat Dog?” 😛 or Dog Bites man…. or Dog something… 😀

Oh, it’s funny and you know it! 🙄

It seems that Liberal Columnist ripped off a Liberal Blogger. Talking Points Memo reports:

Maureen Dowd in today’s NY Times:

“More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17dowd.html?_r=1

Uh-oh.....

Uh-oh.....

(click image for bigger pic)

TPM’s Josh Marshall on Thurs:

“More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/05/bubbling.php

Doh!

D'oh!

(click image for bigger pic)

All Dowd did was change “we were” to “the Bush crowd was”.

Now, I’m all for cutting & pasting. As a blogger I do it all the time, but I always give credit.

So, if this isn’t outright plagiarism by a top NY Times Editorialist, than I’m a happily married, straight man with 4 kids, 2 dogs, a lovely 2nd wife of 15 years with a girl half my age on the side.

Which I assure you all, I am not.

Josh has a valid point. When we bloggers use content from other sites, or we copy something, we ALWAYS; well unless someone’s being an prick or something like that, credit the original source and link to that source article. Like I did this piece. What Dowd did was totally unprofessional and just plain rude. Of course, when called on it; Dowd is in full backward cat crawl mode:

New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in an email to Huffington Post, admits that a paragraph in her Sunday column was lifted from Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall’s blog last Thursday.

Dowd claims that she never read his blog last week but was told the line by a friend of hers. In a follow-up email, she forwarded her desire to apologize to Marshall, writing that had she known, she would have gladly credited Marshall.

josh is right. I didn’t read his blog last week, and didn’t have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now. i was talking to a friend of mine Friday about what I was writing who suggested I make this point, expressing it in a cogent — and I assumed spontaneous — way and I wanted to weave the idea into my column. but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me. we’re fixing it on the web, to give josh credit, and will include a note, as well as a formal correction tomorrow.

Oh Yeah, the old “I got it from a Friend” line…. Josh chimes in here:

Indeed. Dowd got busted and now she’s trying to walk it back. She’ll be either fired or will take vacation till the heat blows over…. or at wost, end up as lackey over at MSNBC with the rest of the Plagiarizing idiots. (You know who I mean… I hope.)

Boy. Take a break from Blogging and all the cool stuff happens. Wow! 😮

Others on both sides of the political asle blogging about this one: HotAir, NewsBusters.org, Townhall.com, TBogg, theblogprof, skippy the bush kangaroo, Shakesville, Hullabaloo, The TrogloPundit, Crooks and Liars, RedState, the nytpicker, PoliBlog,Grasping Reality …, At-Largely, Roger Ailes, The Other McCain, TalkLeft, Hullabaloo, The Sundries Shack, Balloon Juice, Tim Blair and Lawyers, Guns and Money,Pajamas Media, Redhot,Don Surber, Daily Kos, Founding Bloggers, The Greenroom, ATTACKERMAN, Campaign Silo, JustOneMinute and Commentary

Why I will not write a posting attacking Kareem Dale

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Yes, I have seen and know about the Video of Kareem Dale expressing his and the White House’s Love for MSNBC.  However, I refuse to write a blog posting attacking the man, and I think if any of my fellow Conservatives had actually watched the video; they would have most likely not have attacked this man in the fashion in which they did.

The Video:

Notice anything overly different about him? No, I am not talking about him being a Democrat…..

The man is stone.friggin’.blind. —– Well, partially blind according to what I have read.

I have a rule, when it comes to blogging, writing and just life in general, and that rule is this; you just do not mock, bad mouth, or generally give a hard time to the handicapped. You just do not do that. I do not care what Mr. Dale said. He is blind, you do not mock the handicapped. If Mr. Dell would have said that he thought President Obama was Jesus Christ; I would feel the same way.

I hate to be the one to say this, but I think my fellow Conservatives need to go back and read books on manners. Because really, we are making our cause look horribly bad, at this point. Yes, I know what liberals did to John McCain during the election; So what? Does that make it automatically okay for we Conservatives, who are supposed to be better than the morally depraved liberals, to mock someone who has a handicap, that he has no control over? Not the last time I checked.

Sorry guys, whoever thought that it would be funny to bring this up, obviously did not look at the tape, and notice that they were about to mock a man, who was, essentially blind.  Sorry to say it; but mocking the President is fair game, mocking his policies is also fair game. But mocking a man who has been blind his entire life, that is off limits in my book.  As someone who has a developmentally disabled aunt, doing this sort of a thing is just god-awfully wrong.

I say this, because on a former blog, that I used to run; before it was hacked. I made one of those sort of mistakes, one so horrible that I do have the stomach to even mention what it was, mostly because I am ashamed of it. Let me just put it to you this way; remember what Ann Coulter said to that disabled vet, that go her tossed off of MSNBC for a long time? Remember what Michael Savage said that got his late night TV program cancelled? Something along those lines. Oh Yeah, I screwed up bad, and made many people angry for it; Mostly Conservatives.  How is it that they now can mock this blind man, and it is okay? I just do not get it.

Anyway, There is my reason for not mocking Kareem Dale. I just wish others felt like I do. Maybe, just maybe our movement would be taken seriously again.

Some Conservatives that need to learn this:: The Atlanticist, Outside The Beltway, PoliGazette, Jules Crittenden, Scared Monkeys, TBogg, Fausta’s Blog, Weekly Standard, Sister Toldjah and Brutally Honest (Via Memeorandum)

The Charles Johnson, Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller feud…. A Follow up

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This is a follow up to a posting that I made a while back about the running feud between Charles Johnson against Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller and a few other players.

I realize that no matter how I phrase this posting; someone is going to be offended or is going to hate me to the point of wanting to see my death. I mean, in this sort of a damned thing, you cannot win. If you say anything that one of the parties dislikes, you will be smeared and forced to take a side in the argument. When I lost my other blog to a hacking job; by somebody who was angered about comment that I made about a person on another blog, which was a horrific misstep on my part, which I did and still do readily admit. I made a promise to myself, that I would never engage in Blog wars or any other sort of nonsense.

However, I believe it is important to be clear where I stand; and because of this, I am going to make my feelings clear…

I was contacted by Dr. Robert Spencer about my initial posting. We discussed what I wrote and how I phrased my posting. He did ask me some very pointed questions and I answered honestly, I commend him for writing and asking. Because of this I feel the important need to clear the air.

It appears that Charles Johnson is playing a little game; a deadly game, that hurts people, smears them and makes them into something that they are not. This, I am afraid is wrong. That game is called “guilt by association.” This is a game that liberals play, especially when they are trying to further their agenda of identity politics. It appears that Mr. Johnson is now trying to smear Pat Buchanan, he seems to believe, for whatever foolish reason; that Pat Buchanan is an Anti-Semite. This is nothing more than a classic liberal smear. That’s right, I question the very idea that Charles Johnson is even a Conservative.

For the record, I have zero against Israel, Jews or Judaism. I do however, reject the Zionist movement, on Biblical theological basis only. (See 2 Corinthians 6:14-18) I have Zero against those who choose to practice Islam. However, I reject Islam as a false religion, and those who practice it, as lost and in need of Salvation, that comes only by Jesus Christ. The same goes for those who reject Christ and follow strictly after of the Law of Moses. (See John 14:4-11 and John 10:22-38 and Galatians 3:6-18)

Now, I will be the first to admit that some of the postings over at Pamela Geller’s Blog are, at times, borderline hysteria and could be interpreted by some as Anti-Islamic. However, for Charles Johnson to simply smear someone, because they are associated with a particular group is, in my opinion, unfair and is borderline libelous. I suppose that someone like me would be labeled Anti-Semite by Johnson as well, because of my issues with the Zionist Movement and its influence on the foreign policy of United States. If that is the badge that Mr. Johnson wants to hang on me; fine, I will wear it, I make no apologies for thinking and believing that the Capital of the United States of America is Washington D.C. and not Tel Aviv, Israel. If the Neo-Conservative and Liberal thought police want to try and smear me on this one, fine.

While my initial posting might have sounded like I was praising Charles Johnson, I was not, at all. It was simply lamenting the fact that people, who are supposedly opposed to Islamic fascism, were engaging in a bitter feud. However, since that posting, it seems that Charles Johnson wants to go after people like Michelle Malkin and others, who are in support of the combating of Terrorism and Islamic Fascism. This is totally unacceptable, and I hereby reject Charles Johnson as an enemy to America and a Liberal.

Pamela Geller may not like me, because of my position on Zionism. However, I stand for Freedom of speech and against the Liberal thought police. Hopefully, she understands.

Quote of the Day

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The Internet is the last best source of free and independent information left. Think where the liberty movement would be without the Internet. But even as we speak, President Obama and his allies in Congress are attempting to obtain the authority to censor information on–and curtail access to–the Internet. Plus, in the name of “cybersecurity,” they are plotting to obtain the authority to monitor and seize anyone’s personal computer at will.