Cathy Seipp has passed away.

Sign the online memorial petition.

Posted by: Greg at 12:56 PM | Comments (44) | Add Comment
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One of my blogging heroes is dying on the West Coast.

Prayers for Cathy Seipp and her family at this sad time.

Posted by: Greg at 05:47 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Well, looks like the Commies hate me.

Could it be my posts on the oppression of Chinese Christians?

My support for Taiwanese Independence?

Or my comments on a Dallas politician's ex-hooker Chinese wife?

I don't know.

I don't care.

I'm just glad that I'm not considered politically acceptable by the Red Chinese Oppressors in Beijing.

Check here to find out if you are banned in China!

Posted by: Greg at 03:13 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And that includes responding to a subpoena and tuning over material when directed to do so by a court.

He is being cast by some journalists as a young champion of the First Amendment, jailed for taking a lonely stand against heavy-handed federal prosecutors.

Josh Wolf, a 24-year-old blogger, has spent more than six months behind bars in California -- the longest contempt-of-court term ever served by someone in the media -- for refusing to turn over a videotape he shot of a violent San Francisco demonstration against a Group of Eight summit meeting. Unless a mediation session today can break the impasse, he will likely remain imprisoned at least until the current grand jury's term expires in July.

"Even in high school, he was standing up for things that weren't considered popular," says his mother, Liz Wolf-Spada.

But Wolf's rationale for withholding the video, and refusing to testify, is less than crystal clear. There are no confidential sources involved in the case. He sold part of the tape to local television stations and posted another portion on his blog. Why, then, is he willing to give up his freedom over the remaining footage?

"It's one thing to say journalists must respect promises of confidentiality they made to their sources," says Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. "It would be quite another to say journalists have a right to refuse to testify even about non-confidential sources. When something is videotaped in a public place, it's hard to see even an implied agreement of confidentiality."

In an interview with PBS's "Frontline," Wolf says: "There was a trust established between people involved in the organization that I was covering and myself . . . that what I chose to release was what I chose to release, and that I wasn't an investigator for the state."

This is rather cut and dried for me. When a citizen -- regardless of profession -- has evidence of a crime and is ordered to turn it over by a court, he or she has to comply. "I'm a journalist/reporter/blogger" is not a magic shield to exempt one from the basic citizenship obligations we all have. period.

Posted by: Greg at 11:08 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I've had a couple of folks raise questions about my decision to hook up with PayPerPost.Com. They have raised issues of integrity, of whether my advertising is somehow a debasement of my site or my writing, and the degree to which my other posts might be influenced. Let me address those issues.

1) How can my PayPerPost.Com really be seen as debasing this site, given that I've had AdSense up for a very long time, as well as Amazon. Heck, I used to have the LinkShare ads on the site, and didn't get a single penny in six months! I don't see the advertising posts, which are clearly labeled as such, to be any different.

2) My involvement in writing the ads doesn't raise an integrity question, any more than the practice of radio hosts doing ads on their own shows constitutes an integrity problem. Heck, I do more to make my advertising posts clearly an advertisement than some on-air personalities do, so does this really raise an integrity issue at all? I don't think so.

3) Will my paid writing impact my other posts? I do not believe so. I write what I believe, and only take offers I believe are appropriate. I've got one opportunity I've been looking at for some time, but I'm just not sure that I can endorse the product in question in the way they are asking. And if I won't prostitute myself for cash, why would I do so on posts I'm not being paid for?

Lastly, some of you want to know why I'm doing this at all. Blogging is a hobby, after all, right? Yeah, it is -- but the reality is that there are medical bills to pay, plus a mortgage and car payment, among other stuff. My wife can't work due to her health. If I can make a bit of money doing something I love in an ethical manner, why not?

Posted by: Greg at 06:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A fair and accurate profile of the hottest conservative commentator in the blogosphere. And I love her powerfully-worded response to the racist, sexist liberals who regularly attack her.

"They'll ridicule my looks, ridicule my ethnicity, go after my family," the 36-year-old blogger says of her critics. "They've attacked my husband relentlessly. There's a strong sexist strain among my liberal critics, who think it isn't possible I could have gotten anywhere without my Svengali husband, or some white man, embedding ideas in my head."

Make no mistake, though: This daughter of Filipino immigrants plays pretty rough herself. Whether on her blog, her Internet talk show or her Fox News appearances, Malkin delights in sticking her finger in the eye of the liberal establishment. And she is convinced that her detractors don't play fair.

"Particularly when you're a minority conservative," she says, "you get a lot of ugly, hysterical, unhinged attacks, because you're challenging so many liberal myths about what people of color should think."

Malkin is one of my first half-dozen stops on the ‘Net each day –and never a waste of time. Bravo to Howard Kurtz for a fair portrait of a wonderful lady.

Posted by: Greg at 01:31 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I’ll say it right now – I don’t like MySpace because of some of the extremes to which my students (and other young people) go online. At the same time, I don’t see how MySpace can be held responsible for the misdeeds of some users – unless we are going to also hold the phone companies responsible for perverts using the phone to get together with teens as well.

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit against the social networking Web site MySpace filed by the family of a 13-year-old girl who says she was sexually assaulted by a 19-year-old man she met online.

The $30 million lawsuit accused the site of having no measures to protect children who use it. The lawsuit also named MySpace's parent company, News Corp., and the 19-year-old, whose criminal case has not yet gone to trial.

In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks said MySpace is protected under the Communications Decency Act and cannot be expected to verify the age of every user because that "would of course stop MySpace's business in its tracks."

The decency act cited by Sparks generally grants immunity to interactive computer services such as MySpace so that they are not liable for content posted by users. Without immunity, companies such as MySpace "would be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third-party communications," Sparks wrote.

How far would they like to take this logic? Should the local mall have liability if a kid meets a creep there? How about the local motel, in the event said creep takes his prey there? Why shouldnÂ’t such places also be held to this standard of liability if they lack means to verify they are not being used by sex predators out to feed their unnatural appetites?

And I’m curious – what degree of liability should be laid at the door of parents who lax supervision and negligent raising of their children allows such abuse to occur?

Posted by: Greg at 12:38 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Is it just me, or are they really slow with picking up blog updates? I just checked, and it says not one of my favorites have updated in the last 5 hours, and several haven't updated in over 24 hours, even though I know they have new posts.

Any idea where the problem lies?

Posted by: Greg at 01:10 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Could it be that it is uncomfortably close to the truth?

Study: Americans spend more time with computer than spouse

Well, IÂ’ll know for sure if the divorce papers include Intel, Microsoft, and my ISP as responding parties.

Posted by: Greg at 11:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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On the basis, I would presume, that it is a porn site!

After all, how else do you explain its classification as "Adult/Mature Content"?

News Bukit has the story.

So I'm sitting at my favorite Panera/St. Louis Bread Company, eating and mooching Internet. Uneventful, I know. That, of course, is not the story.

The story is that when I went to check out what was new at StoptheACLU.com, a fellow conservative blogger, I was greeted with this message from the restaurant's filtering service.

"Forbidden category," eh? I was intrigued. Blogs are a forbidden category?

Apparently not, because when I went to the SonicWALL link to have the site reconsidered, guess what I found out?

You read that right: "Adult/Mature Content." Looks like a Moonbat has been here. Maybe from StopStoptheACLU.com?

I've entered a request to get it unblocked. Click here to add your voice, too. Don't know how many of these have been locked out, but I'll update if I see any more.

I urge all of you to click the link above and request that SonicWall fix this rating, and allow the free-flow of information to its users.

UPDATE -- 1/23/2007: SonicWall will not budge, refusing to reclassify StopTheACLU.com.

Dear Customer:

You submitted the following rating request to SonicWALL CFS Support:
Rate stoptheaclu.com as "25.Political/Advocacy Groups" at 2007-01-21 10:25:00.247

The request has been reviewed and rated as:
"6.Adult/Mature Content" at 2007-01-23 03:28:59.453

You should see this rating change reflected within 1 to 3 business days.

Thank you for your request,
SonicWALL CFS Support

Keep writing -- keep pushing -- keep supporting free speech and an end to political censorship by web-filtering companies.

UPDATE 2 --1/23/2007: On the other hand, they seem to have changed their mind, based upon this email just forwarded to me.

Dear Customer:

You submitted the following rating request to SonicWALL CFS Support:
Rate stoptheaclu.com as "25.Political/Advocacy Groups" at 2007-01-23 11:25:00.660

The request has been reviewed and rated as:
"25.Political/Advocacy Groups, 16.Abortion/Advocy Groups" at 2007-01-23 13:40:03.437

You should see this rating change reflected within 1 to 3 business days.

Thank you for your request,
SonicWALL CFS Support

So I guess that persistence does pay off!

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Is It Just Me?, Big Dog's Weblog, Stuck On Stupid, Thought Alarm, Pursuing Holiness, 123 Beta, Rightwing Guy, The HILL Chronicles, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, stikNstein... has no mercy, The Uncooperative Blogger ®, Pirate's Cove, The Right Nation, Renaissance Blogger, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, The Random Yak, Adam's Blog, basil's blog, Cao's Blog, Phastidio.net, Conservative Cat, Wake Up America, Diary of the Mad Pigeon, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Blue Star Chronicles, Diggers Realm, High Desert Wanderer, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 06:53 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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Holy Crap!

I go out to the yard to build a covered swing (remember, I do live in Houston) and return 90 minutes later to discover an extra 500 page hits!

I've been FARKed!

Please FARK me again any time you want!

Posted by: Greg at 10:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I happened across this new blog -- Breath of the Beast -- while perusing the American Thinker blog this morning. The first post, My First Encounter With The Beast, is a chilling personal narrative about an encounter with the ugly side of Islam over two decade ago.

Back in the early eighties my young family and I lived next door to an Iranian family. They were nice, friendly people. Hamid (not his real name) was a physician who was just starting out in his own practice. His wife, Haideh was also Iranian born. She was a mathematician. She taught at a local college. We moved in to brand new houses just months apart and shared the rigors of nurturing lawns where there had been only bulldozer tracks. We cooperated in the planting of trees and shrubs to define the empty expanses between our new homes. We borrowed tools from each other. Hamid and I played tennis often and even discussed the possibility of building a tennis court in the flat spot where our lots met. Our children played together and his son, Amir and my daughter Amy became very close friends. The two of them were barely more than toddlers when they first met but were soon talking about getting married the way little ones sometimes do when they find a close companion of the opposite sex.
The next summer, they went back to Iran to visit with their families. We were afraid for our friends. We knew the country was in turmoil. They were gone for several weeks. For much of the time my AmyÂ’s days were occupied with day camp but she still missed her friend. They finally returned a week before school. The two seemed to pick up right where they had left off.

It was a sunny Sunday morning and Amy went out right after breakfast and met Amir in his backyard. We watched as they began to play and turned away to read the Sunday paper. We were surprised when Amy came back inside a short while later. She walked by us with her head down and started up the stairs to her room. We had expected to have to call her in for lunch so it was odd that she came back so early. I called after her and asked her what was wrong. She told me how little 5-year-old Amir had matter-of-factly informed my innocent 5-year-old daughter that because she is a Jew it is his duty to kill her.

I hope the author, Yaacov Ben Moshe, keeps on writing and has more to say about his topic of choice.

What's more, I've found this week's nominee for the Watcher's Council.

Posted by: Greg at 07:09 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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Well, the fine folks over at bRight & Early have created a database of blogiversaries -- the date on which bloggers began their blogs.

Not only that, they are running a contest or three!

Here they are.

HOW TO JOIN THE FUN:
There are several ways to get in on the action.

1. The first way is the simplest — Add your blog to the Blogiversary Database. One of the confirmed blogs (those that follow the confirmation email sent after you submit your information) in the database at the deadline will be chosen at random. This will include all current participants and those who sign up before the deadline. How easy is that?
2. A separate random drawing will be done for the blogs who include the Blogiversary Database display code on their site. You can see a list of all the BDb blogs, separated into those who have and those who don't have the display code, here. I check the blogs fairly often, but if you think you are not on the right list please let me know. You can send an email to lakelandjim at gmail dot com.
3. The third way to win is to write a post about the Blogiversary Database. You can write what ever you want, but must include a link to the Add Your Blog page, the Blogiversary Database information page, and to this post. You should also create a trackback to this post. If your blogging software can't generate a trackback you can use Wizbang's Standalone Trackback Pinger. Those posts will also appear below.

THE DEADLINE:
The contest will run until the earlier of either 200 confirmed blogs in the database (of the 164 currently in the database 150 are confirmed), or midnight EST on Christmas New Year's Eve 12/24/2006 12/31/2006. The winners will be chosen at random in the week following the cutoff. If the 200 blog threshold is crossed before the 24th it will be announced here.

THE PRIZES:
You where waiting for this part, weren't you? Three winners will be chosen from the categories listed above. You can only win once, and will be removed from the remaining drawings. The prizes will be awarded in this order:

1. Write a Post — The winner will receive a free one month blogad.
2. Display the Code — The prize for this category is a free two week blogad.
3. Join The Database — Win a free one week blogad.

So you will notice the addition of the Blogiversary Database to my left column, right above the licensing information. Scroll down and take a look -- it is worth it, and you never know what you will find!

Posted by: Greg at 04:38 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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It's my old congressman -- Tom DeLay.

And he is making an interesting suggestion about a winning Dem ticket in 2008 -- but not a terribly original one.

I'd like him to address a question for me -- was he in any way behind the staff shenanigans in the office of his successor, Congresswoman Shelley Sekula-Gibbs?

Posted by: Greg at 01:47 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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BUMPED: Since I've now been deemed worthy of no fewer than three posts on his website by the lying, thieving Demo-dirtbag, I figured I'd celebrate by bumping this to the top of the page.

Some weeks ago, I wrote a post in which I used a term that I probably shouldn't have use. I'm told that it is a racist term, though I have always understood it to be a label based upon illegal conduct. After much discussion on another blog, weeks after the fact, I became convinced that my understanding was wrong, admitted as much, and offered an apology. I even included a disclaimer on the post, as I don't believe in sending things down the "memory hole" when they are inconvenient.

That apprarently was not good enough for one moonbat moral midget. He stole a family photo from my site and infringed upon my copyright by having it hosted on no fewer than three separate image-hosting services claiming that he held copyright to the image (and then entered into an illegal agreement with another local Democrat blogger to host the image on her server under her account). I directed him to quit violating my copyright and suggested that he remove defamatory statements about me. I'm taking steps -- not including legal action, which I never intended or threatened -- to deal with him.

He has decided that I threatened a lawsuit or violence against him, and so he decided to "expose" me as a "disgusting racist." He even quotes me from a number of posts -- quotes which are in some cases taken out of context, in other cases legitimate policy or social positions, and in others cases of satire on a level far beyond his comprehension.

Oh, yeah, one more thing. He has also decided I have no right to blog under a pseudonym -- which I have done out of a professional obligation to make sure that there is never any question of my trying to indoctrinate my students with my political opinions -- and posted my name on his site and in a couple of other locations. As such, I won't be linking back to him, for I still intend to maintain as much of my anonymity as I can.

So let's look at the offensive quotes.

The first thing he objects to besides the offensive term is found here.

He then goes on to accuse Councilwoman Ada Edwards of "scrambling for a few more Hispanic votes like they were crack rocks."

As the councilwoman is black, he clearly means to imply that I was using racist stereotypes to attack a black woman. But let's look at the whole quote in context.

"I apologize to the Johnson family today for one of our colleagues attempted to pimp the death and tragedy of Officer Johnson for their political career," said Councilmember Ada Edwards.

Edwards, of course, was whoring herself out to those who support the violation of American law and American sovereignty, scrambling for a few more Hispanic votes like they were crack rocks, just to advance her own career.

So as most folks of any degree of intelligence would recognize, I was playing on Edwards' own invocation of pimping, extending her own metaphor. I guess that escaped his understanding, even though I explained it elsewhere when he objected.

And then he goes on listing other excerpts from posts on my site, claiming "there is obviously no context in which these hateful remarks are acceptable." In doing so, of course, he gives himself license to take the quotes out of context.

I'll let you decide -- both if they are acceptable, and if he is honest in his characterization of what was said in these ofhter posts.

1) He objects to this.

"That's one more dead terrorist in Hell with Allah."

Of course, that statement comes from a post making fun of a jihadi suicide bomber who blew himself up early while riding a bicycle to his target. He believed he was going to spend eternity in Allah's abode, and I presume he knows best -- and since he was on a mission of murder and mayhem, I can only presume that his final destination was Hell. I see nothing to apologize for -- but if my Democrat friend chooses to be an apologist for terrorists, he is welcome to that role and should fit right in with Sheehan, Murtha, and Lamont.

2) He is also troubled by this excerpt.

"In return, we will ship the Arab Muslims in the United States -- regardless of their citizenship -- back to the Middle East...They and their relatives back in their homelands have shown their utter inablility to live at peace with neighbors who are different from themselves....After all, if the Jews are not a good fit in the Middle East, why should the unassimilable Muslims be welcome in America?"

I might almost agree with his assessment -- were it not for the fact that he raped the context to post it. You see, the entire piece was a satirical response to an editorial in a Jordanian paper advocating the expulsion of all Jews from the Holy Land. And my conclusion? Try this on for size.

And if my proposed solution -- excluding people from America based upon religion and ethnicity -- is unacceptable, upon what basis can anyone support the expulsion of Israel's Jews from the land given them by the international community in the 1940s and which they have defended time and again over the last six decades? The only possible answer is a rank, festering anti-Semitism which abides in the blackened souls of the opponents of Israel.

I'm not sure if this moonbat is an anti-Semite or simply never read "A Modest Proposal" in 12th Grade English -- or the entire post from which he quoted.

3) Now this quote might appear hard to defend at first.

"Where are the peacemakers from the Religion of Peace? All I see are jihadi swine."

But then again, it was a story about one more group of would-be terrorists -- and my excerpt from the story once again made it clear I was talking about Islamic extremists being a threat. However I, like many Americans (indeed, like many people worldwide), am waiting to hear more forthright, non-nuanced denunciations of terrorism and unambiguous moves to expel the extremists from their midst or to marginalize them within the Islamic faith. Or is it that my liberal friend is offended that I would hurt the feelings of jihadi terrorists by calling them so vile a name as "pigs"?

4) I'll concede I might have done better on this one, and further thought and reflection might have led me not to phrase this quite the way I did.

"Sorry, no respect for any ethnicity or religion with this scumbag...Just following the example of Muhammad, I guess. I recall that he liked sex with little girls, too. Would somebody please remind me what is there in Islam that is good and noble?"

But then again, I refuse to offer a lick of respect for someone who decides that his religion and culture dictate that he violate a court order regarding custody, take his child to another country beyond the reach of the courts that awarded custody, all with the intent of having his 12-year-old daughter marry a guy in his mid-20s. If it is the position of my esteemed opponent that I should respect such behavior, that is fine -- but then I want to know what principled objection he could possibly offer to the Mark Foley "talk dirty to me" IMs? Or does he object to my stating the historical fact, acknowledged in Muslim religious works, that the "Prophet" married a girl at age 6 and had sex with her at age 9 to cement an alliance with her father? Maybe he just likes the idea of sex between older men and young children. I just don't know.

5) This one looks bad.

"Israel has the capability to nuke your camel-humping ass."

Of course, the quote does come in the context of a commentary on news that Iran is buying subs capable of launching nuclear missles -- shortly after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel should be wiped off the map and at a time when his nation is working to develop nukes. Now I suppose members of the Ahmadinejad Fan Club might take exception to my insulting the genocidal Holocaust-denier who is the leader of Iran, but I don't -- especially since he was one of the folks who took Americans hostage at our embassy in 1979. I hope that my critic doesn't find my anti-Fidel quotes, either -- after all, if he likes Ahmadinejad, he must love Castro.

6) You decide on this one.

"In other words, fundamental human rights are anathema to Islam."

This was commentary about a case involving a woman who has been baptized and seeks to be recognized as a Christian. She has been told by Malaysia's civil courts that it is a matter for the Muslim religious courts, and the Muslim religious courts have indicated the she will be imprisoned until she recants her apostasy. I guess that this leftard doesn't find that sort of theocratic infringement on human rights to be offensive -- only Christians in America being allowed to vote and have their policy preferences make it into the law.

7) You could argue that this one is bad.

Under no circumstances should any alien not yet legally admitted to the United States be held to have any rights beyond the right to continue breathing.

I think the remark stands on its own -- but if you wish to shill for those who violate our nation's immigration laws, go right ahead. I will add that I believe such folks do have one other right -- the right to immediate deportation, with the associated costs deducted from the foreign aid appropriated for their homeland.

I was simply pissed-off when I wrote this -- but he does a creative editorial job to make it appear I am saying something else entirely. Here is his version.

"Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans?"

Then there is the complete sentence (note to moonbat -- when you edit, make sure you punctuate it so that is evident).

Why are we sending one thin dime to a backwater, Third World hell-hole like New Orleans -- especially as long as this jackass is in charge?

Oh -- it was actually a commentary on Ray Nagin, who had just described Ground Zero as "a hole in the ground" that New Yorkers have been unable to get fixed. Given the conduct of our "guests" from New Orleans over the last year (hey, folks, thanks for the soaring homicide rate!), I see nothing to repent or apologize for -- and as far as Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin is concerned, I described him in significantly more polite terms than the average lefty moonbat uses for our president in daily conversation.

9) Not only is my critic a supporter of illegal immigration, but he objects to criticism of other criminals as well -- even when their actions causs the suspension of search-and-rescue efforts in the aftermath of a major natural disaster. After all, this is viewed as hateful.

"What needs to happen is that those caught looting especially those armed thugs we have all been hearing about simply need to be shot on sight."

Here comes what I actually said, and you will see that the context is everything.

First, the priority is wrong. Search-and-rescue needs to be the primary mission, not property protection. What needs to happen is that those caught looting (especially those armed thugs we have all been hearing about) simply need to be shot on sight.

Yes, I have sympathy for those who have been getting food, diapers, and other necessities. However, the situation is so out of control that order needs to be restored ruthlessly. I don't believe there are many recipes that call for a boom-box, a 32-inch flat-screen television or ten pairs of designer jeans.

I think you see where there is serious dishonesty at work. But if he wants to oppose the imposition of law and order so that people can be rescued from the riseing waters of a hurricane, let him defend that position.

10) Oh, and he objects as well to this, though he doesn't bother to provide more than a snippet.

A reader emails to tell me that [he] is still at it, and yesterday called Islam "the religion of barbarism."

Well, yeah -- but I think you need to consider exactly what was written.

Italian journalist who converted to Islam kidnapped by jihadis in Afghanistan – who demand the return of an Afghan convert to Christianity for application of the sharia penalty for apostasy (which is, of course, death). Am I the only one who smells a set-up here? Better idea – the civilized world will keep the Christian and the followers of the Religion of Barbarism can keep their co-religionist.

Hey -- I'd argue that anyone who doesn't find the actions committed in the name of Islam by these folks to be barbaric has the problem, not me. I guess we see what some Democrats really stand for.

Now I considered closing this blog in response to this controversy. I'm not going to do so. This attack means that my blog has become important in a way I never expected and never dreamed -- and never wanted.

The Left is afraid of ME.

This is an attempt to embarrass me and silence me -- and there have also been email and online threats to try to get me fired from my teaching job (I guess you have to be a left-wing academic fraud and faux-ethnic like Ward Churchill to qualify for free speech in the academy). But I look around at folks I admire -- Sean Hannity, Bill Bennett, Michelle Malkin, Dr. Mike Adams -- and I recognize my beliefs as mainstream. Yes, my rhetoric is Coulteresque, but it certainly is more elevated than what is found on "mainstream" leftwing sites like Kos or Democrat Underground.

So here I stand; to do otherwise is to betray the First Amendment and my own beliefs.

And to quote a bunch of liberals whose politics I despise, "I'm not ready to make nice, I'm not ready to back down."

Posted by: Greg at 12:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Over the past 2 ½ years, I’ve given glimpses of my life to you. Probably the one thing that I’ve made most clear is that I am married o a woman I passionately love, and that I want to have as the center of my life for the rest of my life. You would also be aware that there are health issues in her life that are a source of great concern.

And for that reason, some changes are coming.

I plan on blogging a bit less – and I want to explain why.

IÂ’m up before sunup every morning, out the door by before dawn, and donÂ’t return home until for another 9-10 hours. I teach a night class that takes me out of my home several nights a week. That means my evenings with my wife are at a premium, especially since my return time is late enough that she will be asleep or ready for bed when I get home after class and so there is not any significant time to spend with her then.

And I look at how I have spent those evenings lately – including a bonus one last night, when torrential rains and flooding in the Houston area caused the cancellation of my night class – and I’m not happy.

I’ve spent them making replies to the Holocaust denying neo-Nazi troll who just won’t leave, despite my best efforts to rid my site of his filth. I’ve done the same with the filth-spewing “liberal” who can’t string three words together without one being a profane insult. I’ve made posts on my site and commented on others – and last night found myself doing battle with a thief who stole a photo off my site, among other things….

And then IÂ’ve spent what time is left with the woman that I love.

IÂ’ve been struggling with this issue for several days now, and driving in to school this morning, I found myself asking a basic question.

“What is your priority and why?”

And in one of those brutal epiphanies that are a part of life, I recognized that the answer I wanted to give wasnÂ’t well-reflected in my actions.

After all, this blog is simply not that important, but IÂ’ve let it become a driving force in my life to an extent that has ceased to be healthy. And IÂ’ve let it begin to take the place of what matters most in my life, allowing this hobby to become too time-consuming and too important.

And so I will be cutting back. I have to, for the sake of my own sanity and the happiness of the person I still want to spend the rest of my life with.

That will mean probably only one or two posts a day, and possibly days without any posts at all. It will mean putting the focus on the part of my life that really needs to be the priority – my wife, especially while she still enough has enough good days to balance out the bad ones that have slowly come to be more frequent over the last few months. I want to take those walks and long drives. I want to go shopping with her. I want to go out for a movie or dinner or take a romantic weekend away. And maybe I’d rather not have thoughts about possible posts, how to respond to commenters, and site traffic levels crowding out my attention to her when she needs it most.

In short, I need blogging to be less of a jealous and demanding mistress and more of a recreational diversion.

I hope folks will still come around. I hope people will still comment (well, maybe not KKKen or Nunya, but decent people), and maybe even link back to something that you like. But if the changes don’t meet with your approval, please know that I have appreciated your visits and wish you well – and hope you will still pop in from time to time.

And sweetheart, if you are reading this, know that IÂ’m sorry for too many evenings and weekends when IÂ’ve failed to give you your due. I know I canÂ’t make them up, but I can strive to do better.

Posted by: Greg at 05:44 PM | Comments (19) | Add Comment
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I won't be buying the newest operating system from Microsoft -- and will likey get a Linux machine if these licensing terms remain in place.

From the Houston Chronicle's TechBlog:

Earlier this week, Microsoft released the license terms for the various versions of Windows Vista. As is always the case with a new operating system, there are some terms that weren't present with Windows XP.

One of them has caused a firestorm among computer enthusiasts who build their own machines and/or frequently upgrade hardware. As Ed Bott writes, Vista now limits the number of times you transfer the operating system from an old machine to a new one.

Specifically, you can transfer your Vista license once. That means if you install Vista onto a new PC, you must remove it from the old one. And you may only perform that maneuver once.

In addition, making enough changes to key components in a PC will constitute transferring the license, effectively creating a new PC.

I spoke with Shanen Boettcher, the general manager of product management for Windows Vista, who confirmed those scenarios. Those used to being able to use the same copy of Windows XP on multiple machines -- so long as the same copy isn't being used on more than one at a time -- will be out of luck after that first transfer.

Boettcher said this change was made to clarify that "Windows is licensed on a per copy, per device basis."

Of course, Windows' current activation process pretty much assures that. With XP, you're not able to have the operating system running on more than one device -- Microsoft's activation servers will block XP, and you'll be forced to call an 800 number to explain yourself.

Boettcher said that, as with Windows XP, an algorithm in Vista is used to determine the hardware fingerprint of a system. Change enough of the fingerprint, and the system is considered a new PC. Two things that are sure to trigger that, Boettcher said, is replacing the hard drive and/or the motherboard.

Those may not be things most users do every day... but they are not unusual things, either.

So what does that mean? You are paying more for the latest software, but have even fewer rights under the license than you did before. Indeed, not only are you limited in how many times you can transfer the software from machine to machine as you upgrade to meet your technology needs, even hardware upgrades on the same machine may be enough to qualify as that single transfer that you are permitted. In other words, simply installing a new hard drive after one crashes (a choice I considered this spring when mine failed) constitutes a transfer of the software, even though you continue to use what is, effectively, the same machine!

Frankly, I'm tired of Microsoft's BS games with consumers. Monopoly power chas led to teh screwing of the consumer with this latest OS. How long until XP is no longer supported, and new machine purchasers find themselves coerced into buying machines with the new licensing agreement.

Here's hoping that the consumers say no -- and that computer manufacturers start saying no to Microsoft Vista.

H/T: By The Bayou

Posted by: Greg at 02:15 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Trying to eliminate some of the comment spam, several non-spam comments were unintentionally deleted.

However, since they are from foul-mouthed leftist trool MYOB (aka Bubba) and Holocaust-denying troll KKKen Hoop, I don't feel they are worth losing any sleep over.

Posted by: Greg at 11:33 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Several months ago, I met a fellow who has become a good friend in the time that has followed. You folks have come to know him as Boyo, one of my semi-regular commenters. He and I have a compatible view of political matters -- especially state and local politics.

He'll be posting soon, to introduce himself and comment on whatever suits his fancy. Welcome aboard, friend!

Posted by: Greg at 02:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As folks around here know, I don't ban commenters very often. Indeed, I had only one banned individual on this site as recently as an hour ago -- a guy who kept insisting upon posting profanity-laced rants on my site rather than engaging in reasoned argumentation.

And that leads me the decision I made this afternoon.

I've had a commenter who is vigorously opposed to Israel commenting here. Now I'm willing to accept that position as legitimate -- indeed, it has not been too many years since I was a vigorous critic of Israel. I recognize that opposition to Israeli policy and criticism of Israeli leaders need not be based in anti-Semitism, and respect an honest discussion of the topic. I would, in fact, welcome such discussion here.

Unfortunately, the commenter in question, Ken Hoop (revbronco@yahoo.com -- send him as much spam as you want) has crossed the line several times. Not only has he repeatedly made rather disgusting statements in posts, but he also sent me even more vile material in my email. This included links to extremist sites like antiwar.com, davidduke.com, and juancole.com. I can accept such items in the spirit they are offered -- a hate-filled spirit, to be sure, but one which at least makes a pretense of intellectual discussion.

Today I received an email containing various links and graphics from a site called holywar.org. After opening the email and looking at the site, I felt a compulsion to bathe in the hopes that I could remove the contamination caused by viewing such material. I will not even describe it, except to indicate that it is anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and laden with a level of bigotry that I did not think that even Ken Hoop could descend to.

Ken Hoop is now banned. His emails are now deleted before I ever see them. I have blocked every IP from which he has ever posted, including at least two public library systems in the Cincinnati area (one in Ohio, one in Kentucky). If anyone has difficulty commenting as a result, please feel free to email me and I will see if we can make other arrangements to allow you to post while keeping the hatemonger off of this site.

Posted by: Greg at 10:41 AM | Comments (22) | Add Comment
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I've got 10 days until I go back to school for in-service days. I think I'll try to spend a bit more of them with my darling wife, and a bit less with posting here.

I'll still be posting, but probably not as frequently.

Posted by: Greg at 07:29 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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Something knocked all of us Munuvians (except the Jawas, with their shiny new server) off the net for a while today -- from like 9:00 AM CDT until 4:00 PM CDT.

As you can see, we are back.

I'll post shortly, after I get back from picking up groceries.

UPDATE: Well, we had a second outage, but are back again.

Posted by: Greg at 09:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Posted by: Greg at 04:01 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Mysterious announcement over at that popular site.

Due to some possible legal drama, I have to take MacStansbury.org offline.

All the stuff is still there, you just can't see it.

What's maddening is that I can't bring up the stuff that isn't bad, because then you could look at what was there before, and compare it to what's there now, and triangulate the difference. So, all of it - down.

To be clear, it wasn't anything anybody else posted as far a blog-post goes. To say any more would give the whole thing away. And, as I've said, legal drama.

Since a couple of people have asked, I'm not YET in legal hot water, I am AVOIDING legal problems as quickly as possible.

We will be keeping you in thoughts and prayers as you go through this. Hope to see you back very soon.

(H/T Alabama Improper)

Posted by: Greg at 05:04 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Homeland Stupidity.

My first post is up, talking about the proposed flag burning amendment.

It may be akin to heresy, but I just donÂ’t think we need an amendment against flag-burning. And my reason has nothing to do with the rarity of the practice or the sanctity of the First Amendment. Rather, my opposition has to do with the question of property rights.

Unfortunately, some in Congress donÂ’t see it that way.

Drop by the site and read the rest!

Posted by: Greg at 01:23 PM | Comments (133) | Add Comment
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I haven't blogged today. I'm not going to blog beyond this post. I'm feeling like this, to be honest.

Chandler: I just don't want to be one of those guys that's in his office until twelve o'clock at night worrying about the WENUS.

Rachel: The... the WENUS?

Chandler: Weekly Estimated Net Usage Systems. It's a processing term.

Rachel: Oh, that WENUS.

I've spent too much time worrying about how my blog looks, how much traffic I'm getting, and whether I am interesting/topical enough.

So I'm taking the day off for me, my Darling Democrat, and the Apolitical Pooch.

I'll post tomorrow.

In the mean time, one of the two mentioned above wants her belly rubbed. I'll leave it to your imagination which it is.

Posted by: Greg at 12:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Proving once again that Western concepts of freedom of expression are incompatible with the world-view of jihadi Muslims, the fine folks over at The Jawa Report are under a DDOS attack that has temproarily forced them off the the blogosphere. This also temporarily shut down all the Munuvians, until our beloved host saved the day.

Annika sez: i heard a rumor about a hacker threat?

Yes. It's a group of Turkish Islamist hacker-wannabe's going after The Jawa Report. They can't actually break in, so they've settled for a Distributed Denial of Service attack which takes us offline.

Unfortunately, the shared filesystem I built to keep us going in these situations decided to choose today to drop off its perch, so I wasn't able to bring everything back up on the other server. Right now, I'm copying everyone's files across, one blog at a time.

* * *

update: Okay, I think it's all fixed, except for The Jawa Report, which will be back as soon as the attack is over.

I have managed to separate things so that when an attack starts, we can just block it, and only The Jawa Report will go offline.

Thanks, Pixy, for everything you do for those of us in the Munuvian Universe.

And may these Islmaist sons of swine, who keep attacking the free men and women of the blogosphere in a futile attempt to silence the truth, one day receive a gift ordered from the same catalog as that recently delivered to Abu Musam al-Zarqawi.

MORE ON THE ATTACK ON JAWA REPORT at Ace of Spades

Posted by: Greg at 02:37 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Someone posted a comment that contains identifying information about the accuser in the Duke Rape Case.

I'm not a fan of rape shield laws, as I believe they stigmatize those accused without subjecting the accuser to the same sort of public scrutiny that the accused must face. But at the same time, I have some concerns about the sort of information that was posted.

So, folks, what do you think -- should it stay or should it go?

Posted by: Greg at 11:25 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Over at Jawa Report, Dr. Rusty Shackleford has taken the summer off while he travels and (one presumes) engages in intensive academic research/goofs off.

A couple of his summer fill-ins have taken a serious interest in thePhilippines, and has been posting about some of that nation's greatest natural resources.

Really -- go take a look at the eye-candy.

Posted by: Greg at 10:39 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Two years ago today, I made a momentous decision.

I wanted to write about the death of one of my heroes -- President Ronald Reagan.

I also wanted a safe space to talk politics without adding extra stresses to my marriage to my Darling Democrat.

So began Precinct 333, a Blogger blog that morphed into Rhymes With Right the following spring when I joined the Munuvians the following spring at the invitation of one of my online companions.

I'd like to thank every person who has viewed my blog -- and especially the commenters and linkers. It has been an honor to have most of you here (spammers excepted), and I thank you for the time and energy you have put in helping me build this blog into something I've come to be proud of.

May we have many more years together -- and my the growth continue.

* * *

And what the heck -- let's turn this into a special Blogiversary Edition linkfest and open trackback carnival!

You know the rules -- link back to this post with your best/favorite current posts. I won't limit your number of posts, but instead ask you to exercise prudent judgement about how many you send.

Some folks have told me they have problems trackbacking to this site. If this is the case, please use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger to establish the link.

And, of course, don't forget the big three rules.

No Spam. No Porn. No Problem.

Posted by: Greg at 10:36 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Munuviana went down yesterday afternoon. I'll allow Pixy Misa, the all-powerful deity who generously owns, operates, and manages the Munuvian universe, to offer an explanation.

Splat

Sorry about the explosions, fires, earthquakes and other catastrophes today.

Yuri, the server that runs most of the blogs, got hit by a denial-of-service attack.

After disconnecting the server from the internet (if I left it connected, it would crash), I started copying all the blogs across to Kei, the other server.

Then Kei ran into a spot of disk trouble, and it crashed too.

If you're reading this, it's a sign that things are almost back to normal. Except that the entire load of mu.nu is now sitting on one server rather than two. So I have to pry everything loose again somehow, hopefully without eight hours of downtime this time around.

Update: All blogs have been moved and should be working now. I need to activate Fluffy, and I'm sure I've forgotten a couple of other things.

Thanks, dude, for all you do. I really don't say it enough.

And by the way -- where did you get those server names?

Posted by: Greg at 01:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I got into a discussion tonight with some folks on a mailing list. It began about drops in traffic over Memorial Day -- which most of us had.

The one paarticipant posted the following somewhat discouraged comment.

OK, if next week isn't 100 views per day, I'm quitting.

(Please go visit Indian Cowboy -- he's a libertarian blogger who comments on politics, society, and science, based upon what I've seen.)

I then decided to post some blogging tips -- for what they are worth, since I am hardly one of the folks who reaches stratospheric numbers, though I have built up a small following over the last two years (the blogiversary is rapidly approaching!)

Here's what came up with, after being prodded to take my initial list of six and expand it to seven. One blogger even inspired me to make my little email into a post, which she has linked. (She also has her own, as does her friend Maureen.)

Seven Tips For Building Blog Traffic

1) Blog daily, and at a consistent time. That gets folks into the habit of looking at your site every day.

2) Become an expert. Make yourself a "go-to-guy" on certain issues. I did on the Abdul Rahman case earlier this year, and have written a lot on William Jefferson. School censorship cases are also a topic that I often write on.

3) Find out what is hot and blog on it. I try to blog on at least one article from RealClearPolitics' Buzztracker section each day. I also like the Washington Post as a source for articles, because they have a link to Technorati with their articles.

4) Be interesting; be yourself. Duh!

5) Don't be afraid or ashamed to be provocative.

6) Trackback to other bloggers writing on the same article. Trackback to bloggers you admire. Trackback to open trackback posts/linkfests.

7) Join blogging alliances/groups that you find compatible.

I've discovered that they can all use a little elaboration, so here are my notes on my seven tips.

1) I tend to post at two times during the day. The first is in the early morning, before I go to school.start my day. The second is within an hour or two of my returning home. My traffic spikes when folks get to work (be honest -- how many of you check blogs while at work) and when they come home -- or at least after dinner.

2) Go with what you know, or what interests you. I didn't choose the Rahman story, it sort of chose me. I wrote because it mattered to me, and people responded -- including one newspaper in India, where a columnist spent half his space on blogs about the Rahman story writing about my blog and my take on the story.

3) Is it being a bit of a traffic whore? Maybe -- but then again, I don't blog on a story unless it appeals to me. If the same wire service story appears on 100 different newspaper websites, why shouldn't I link to washingtonpost.com instead of the Podunk Farm News? And those Buzztracker stories are the major ones that I would be inclined to write about anyway -- it is just a question of where my link goes to, the New York Times or the Pine Gulch Gazette? Use what you can to attract those hits -- your content is what will ultimately keep them.

4) Keep it real -- let yourself, your insignts, and your beliefs come through. And even be willing to admit your mistakes. By the way, remember that these folks you debate with can become your online friends, even if you disagree with them.

5) Go out on a limb. State a far out opinion. Make an outlandish statement or two. Such things make people think, or shout, or laugh -- and can make them come back.

6) But always make sure that you reference them somehow -- whether via a quote, a hat tip, or an acknowledgement that they are writing too. It is the polite thing to do, and may get them new readers from your site at the same time you get new readers from theirs.

7) Hey -- you need friends and allies out there in the cold, hard blogospheric world. Find a blogroll or three to join that shares your interests or outlook.

Well, I hope that helps.

Also -- for more on this topic, visit these two posts at Pro Blogger -- he has just written on the topic and has beau-coup links to different folks writing about building blogs.

Happy Blogging!

Posted by: Greg at 04:08 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 Another thing I'll add to this is: Keep on writing. You never know when some bit of junk from your ancient archives is suddenly going to become relevant again.

Posted by: Michael Hampton at Wed May 31 16:22:28 2006 (FVbj6)

2 Thanks for your experienced voice in this entry. I appreciate the contribution to the "Seven Habits" project. It started out in an effort to help new homeschool bloggers and has grown beyond my imagination. Your participation will help others find their own voice in the blogosphere.

I had to leave my secondary blogsite address to be able to comment.

Maureen

Posted by: Maureen at Wed May 31 23:40:59 2006 (zLxNX)

3 lol, I was joking. I've actually been quite pleased (if impatient) with the steady growth my blog has seen. Considering I only started doing it with anything resembling regularity in march (it's been up before that, though), it's done pretty good.

Thanks for the tips, though. They're a concise and clear statement of the stuff you seem to see all over the place. The buzztracker tip was particularly nice (never seen it anywhere else). I'm less topical than most, so I don't know if I'll use it all that often, but very very cool none the less.

Posted by: IndianCowboy at Thu Jun 1 06:55:39 2006 (xV6tD)

4 Hey, I'm glad to hear that I took you wrong. I was just concerned that a good blogger was getting discouraged and might leave because of it.

You have an interesting take on the world, and subjects I would not consider writing about. As such, you broaden my world.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Thu Jun 1 07:07:52 2006 (bvbce)

5 as a future mental health professional, I'd have to take a good hard look at myself if I decided to leave because of my (lack of) visitors.

I really do appreciate your linkage though. Means a lot that you'd think highly enough of me to bother.

Posted by: IndianCowboy at Thu Jun 1 07:59:34 2006 (xV6tD)

6 So, does this mean I can take the opportunity to advertise my blog, which I started all of a week ago? http://bigbadwolfsblog.blogspot.com Or that of my blog-mama? http://warts-n-all.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Ryan at Thu Jun 1 10:08:50 2006 (2wfEd)

7 Hey -- a little blog-flogging is perfectly acceptable to me on this thread!

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Thu Jun 1 10:51:21 2006 (Sh9W1)

8 Reflections on Effective Blogging...

Thank you for the soul fodder.

Warmly,
Ann V.

Posted by: HolyExperience at Thu Jun 1 11:25:46 2006 (xx693)

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It seems that a Canadian university is conducting a Star Chamber proceeding against one of its professors -- because of what he has posted on his personal website hosted on a non-university server. Why? Because a homosexual activist does not like it.

A Cape Breton University (CBU) professor is the target of a human rights complaint by a homosexual student. Comments posted by the professor at his private web site critical of the Anglican Church of Canada for its permissive and condoning stand in relation to same-sex "marriage" are the cause of the complaint.

History Professor David Mullan wrote to his local Anglican bishop in 2004, criticizing the trend: "When Anglicanism in some manner recognizes homosexuality as a legitimate 'lifestyle' for Christians, it will become a church in schism," he charged.

On February 20, homosexual CBU student Shane Wallis, who also co-ordinates the campus' Sexual Diversity Office, lodged a formal human rights complaint with the University. In an e-mail response to Wallis' charge of a human rights offence, Wallis stated in his complaint that Mullan responded that "homosexuality is a repudiation of nature and the apotheosis of unbridled desire."

Please note that in this instance, "sexual diversity" means "anything except monogamous heterosexuality" -- and that while Shane Wallis may believe in "sexual diversity", he does not believe in intellectual diversity. After all, his complaint is based upon the expression of views and beliefs that contradict his own.

What is more, the university has adopted a procedure that repudiates basic human and civil rights.

From Professor Mullan's web site it can be seen that, because the University has acknowledged that the proceedings of a CBU human rights tribunal may be used against him in a court of law, he has declined to participate in complaint hearings. He has, however, challenged both Wallis and the University to acknowledge his free speech rights as a Canadian.

"I have a Human Rights complaint against me, as a result of two letters to my former Anglican bishop placed on my private website and a reply I sent Shane Wallis in response to an unsolicited email," Professor Mullan explains on his web site.

"I met yesterday morning (in April) with the Human Rights Officer. At that time I asked her whether anything I said in the process might be used against me in court. Today, after legal consultation, she replied that yes, it could be. I immediately told her that I would not participate in the process. I told her also in our meeting that I find that the requirement that I give evidence, effectively incriminating myself (rather like the Tudor Court of Star Chamber and the ex officio oath) when asked for it is in my judgement a violation of the common law, and of my rights as a free-born Englishman. The procedure is a farce, and if pushed I will sue the institution for violating my civil rights."

"The process can never be fair until these conditions are altered, and until the complainant stands under potential judgement for entering a frivolous complaint," he adds. "No one in his right mind would participate in this without incurring the fees of a solicitor, and when found innocent, someone needs to re-imburse the defendant."

What is more, Wallis filed a second complaint because Mullan had the integrity to go public with this attempt to suppress his fundamental human rights to freedom of speech and freedom of religion. It would appear that the recently discovered right to not be offended, right to not be challenged in one's beliefs, and right to screw anything you want are being used to trump those rights. The complaint about breaking confidentiality is apparantly based upon the newly discovered "right to do secretly what no one would stand for publicly" -- for the proceeding has no right to remain silent, and any and all involuntarily coerced statements made in the proceedings may be used against the speaker in a court of law. Again, basic human rights are not a consideration at Cape Breton University.

When i was young, Canada was a free country -- or so it appeared when I visited there. When did that change?

Oh, and by the way, I wrote Shane Wallis the following email. I hope he is man enough to respond.

Shane--

How is it that you have come to the conclusion that your own personal weaknesses and inadequacies are a legitimate basis for suppressing the human rights of individuals to hold religious beliefs and to express them publicly?

Did your university teach you the fascist view that only government-approved thoughts, beliefs, and opinions may be expressed in public, or was did you learn that elsewhere?

Why do you fear views which differ from your own? Is it a fear of diversity, or a recognition of the weakness and inadequacies of your own beliefs?

By the way, my questions have nothing to do with your sexual practices or personal relationships -- they have to do with fundamental questions of human rights enshrined in the founding charters of free societies. I hope you'll take a moment and respond.

Regards
Greg
AKA Rhymes With Right
www.rhymeswithright.mu.nu

To Dr. Mullan, I offer my prayers and best wishes as he fights the good fight for freedom in Canada. And I remind him that America is still free -- though the sodomy lobby is would certainly like to make it less so.

Posted by: Greg at 01:22 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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And now time for our Wednesday linkfest and open trackback carnival!

You know the rules -- link back to this post with your best/favorite current posts. I won't limit your number of posts, but instead ask you to exercise prudent judgement about how many you send.

Some folks have told me they have problems trackbacking to this site. If this is the case, please use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger to establish the link.

And, of course, don't forget the big three rules.

No Spam. No Porn. No Problem.

OTHER OPEN TRACKBACKS: Third World County, Conservative Cat, Bacon Bits, Blue Star Chronicles, Adam's Blog, Sed Vitae, Cigar intelligence Agency

Posted by: Greg at 04:27 AM | Comments (89) | Add Comment
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Look at their Memorial Day Tribute. Make sure you have a barfbag ready.

Shame!

Posted by: Greg at 06:41 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Or at least for 10 days, until I start teaching Summer School.

* * *

And now time for our linkfest and open trackback carnival!

You know the rules -- link back to this post with your best/favorite current posts. I won't limit your number of posts, but instead ask you to exercise prudent judgement about how many you send.

Some folks have tols me they have problems trackbacking to this site. If this is the case, please use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger to establish the link.

And, of course, don't forget the big three rules.

No Spam. No Porn. No Problem.

OTHER OPEN TRACKBACKS: Sed Vitae, Conservative Cat, Liberal Wrong Wing, Bacon Bits, Adam's Blog

Posted by: Greg at 02:31 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Well, I give my final finals of the school year today, and will shove the last student out the door by 11:00. Except for the exams for these two classes, my grades are done and will be submitted by noon.

This has been a rough year -- our 10th graders have been a difficult bunch this year, not just in my eyes but in the eyes of teachers with even more experience than I have. Katrina kids, Rita, my wife's hospitalization, the murder of one student's brother (a former student), the trial of another stuident's brother for a different murder, some unpleasant personalities... it hasn't been an easy year.

I'll miss some of the kids, but will be glad to see others go. I hear that this year's ninth graders are a more pleasant, more serious group of kids than we have sen in several years. I think I need them.

* * *

And now time for our linkfest and open trackback carnival!

You know the rules -- link back to this post with your best/favorite current posts. I won't limit your number of posts, but instead ask you to exercise prudent judgement about how many you send.

Some folks have tols me they have problems trackbacking to this site. If this is the case, please use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger to establish the link.

And, of course, don't forget the big three rules.

No Spam. No Porn. No Problem.

Posted by: Greg at 10:45 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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UPDATE -- 5/25/2006: KIM CONTACTED ME A COUPLE OF TIMES IN THE LAST COUPLE DAYS TO OFFER AN EXPLANATION AND AN APOLOGY FOR HER SEEMING THREATS IN THE EMAILS. I'LL TAKE THEM AT FACE VALUE, AND PRESUME THAT SHE IS SINCERE IN HER STATEMENT THAT SHE JUST WANTED MY cc: REPLIES TO STOP AND DIDN'T REALIZE HOW SERIOUSLY I WOULD TAKE HER WORDS. IN THE COURSE OF THIS MOST RECENT EXCHANGE, SHE SHOWED A LEVEL OF CLASS, DISCERNMENT, AND HUMILITY THAT SPEAKS WELL OF HER, AND LEADS ME TO BELIEVE I MAY HAVE MISJUDGED HER. IN RETURN, I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I MAY NOT HAVE DEALT WITH HER IN THE BEST FASHION AT ANY TIME SINCE SHE ARRIVED HERE. I'VE UNBANNED HER, AND HOPE THAT THIS WILL BE THE BEGINNING OF A HEALTHEIR AND MORE RESPECTFUL CONVERSATION.

Remember Kim, the arrogant spoiled child who irritated most everyone on the Ashley Reeves comment thread. Well, she decided to email me tonight, despite my specific request that she make no more contact with me.

I'll share the email thread with you.

From: Lycansshadow@aol.com Mailed-By: aol.com
To: rhymeswithright@gmail.com
Date: May 22, 2006 4:50 PM
Subject: Hey!

Please disable all of my contact links on the Ashley Reeves blog.
Thanks,
-Kim

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "Lycansshadow@aol.com"
Date: May 22, 2006 11:11 PM
Subject: Re: Hey!

You are in no position to make such a demand -- and I don't have the time to do so. You put them there, you will have to live with them.

From: Lycansshadow@aol.com Mailed-By: aol.com
To: rhymeswithright@gmail.com
Date: May 22, 2006 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: Hey!

Dude, what's your problem? I didn't do anything to you. I don't know if you're embarrassed that you were bested by someone so young, or just jealous that someone so young has that ability, and I don't particularly care. Bottom line is I made a polite request that you disable links so that complete strangers would quit telling me how great, or not great, I am. I know it wouldn't take long, so quit with the"I don't have time" thing.
Do it, don't do it, whatever. It's just e-mails, either way. But I suggest you learn the difference between a request and a demand, and quit taking your dissatisfaction with life out on me.

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: "Lycansshadow@aol.com"
Date: May 22, 2006 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: Hey!

GET LOST.

And by the way -- you were requested to make no more contact with me. You violated that. I will be forwarding your emails to AOL and Yahoo, requesting that they terminate your accounts.

Regards,
Greg


From: Lycansshadow@aol.com Mailed-By: aol.com
To: rhymeswithright@gmail.com
Date: May 22, 2006 11:46 PM
Subject: Re: Hey!

Could you be more of an Idiot? Like AOL is really going to lose 30 bucks a month because some balding, middle-aged nobody can't handle a kid hitting a little too close to the mark. R-ight...

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: abuse@yahoo.com, abuse@aol.com
Cc: barelymuggle2@yahoo.com, lycansshadow@aol.com
Date: May 22, 2006 11:55 PM
Subject: Fwd: Hey!

On May 14, at 3:37 PM, this individual was requested to cease all contact with me. She has not. Please take appropriate action to terminate her account for violation of terms of service.

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: abuse@aol.com, abuse@yahoo.com
Cc: barelymuggle2@yahoo.com, lycansshadow@aol.com
Date: May 22, 2006 11:57 PM
Subject: Fwd: Hey!

On May 14, at 3:37 PM, this individual was requested to cease all contact with me. She has not. Please take appropriate action to terminate her account for violation of terms of service.

From: Lycansshadow@aol.com Mailed-By: aol.com
To: rhymeswithright@gmail.com
Date: May 23, 2006 12:00 AM
Subject: Re: Hey!

Like I said Could you be more of an idiot? What does that prove other than you enjoy wasting time typing things noone will probably ever read and if they do, won't care about. Geez, man, get a life, and quit e-mailing me, you perv.

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: abuse@aol.com, abuse@yahoo.com
Cc: barelymuggle2@yahoo.com, lycansshadow@aol.com
Date: May 23, 2006 12:05 AM
Subject: Fwd: Hey!

On May 14, at 3:37 PM, this individual was requested to cease all contact with me. She has not. Please take appropriate action to terminate her account for violation of terms of service.

From: Lycansshadow@aol.com Mailed-By: aol.com
To: rhymeswithright@gmail.com
Date: May 23, 2006 12:08 AM
Subject: Re: Hey!

I would quit e-mailing me if I were you. I'm about to tag you as a sexual predator. (who else e-mails teens girls in the middle of the night? Sicko).

From: Greg Mailed-By: gmail.com
To: abuse@aol.com, abuse@yahoo.com
Date: May 23, 2006 12:09 AM
Subject: Fwd: Hey!

On May 14, at 3:37 PM, this individual was requested to cease all contact with me. She has not. Please take appropriate action to terminate her account for violation of terms of service.

So you see, the little bitch is a stone-cold liar. She spread lies about the victim of a horrific assault, and now she wants to spread lies about me for daring to report her for being an abusive annoyance. For all her talk of having high morals, she is more than willing to make shit up if it suits her purpose. She is even willing to make a particular accusation that would cost me my career, my home, my marriage and my reputation -- because I dare to write to AOL and Yahoo about her and forward courtesy copies to her. These emails have no sexual content, and merely state a fact documented elsewhere on this website.

Why am I posting this? Self defense, so that the whole world knows that this child, who was more than willing to leave her email address here when she commented, is now threatening to make a false accusation about me because she isn't getting her way. I'm heading that off by documenting the threat for the whole world to see, because I won't stand by and allow such an accusation to be made falsely.

Oh, and by the way, Kim -- you still are not welcome to post comments on my site -- and any attempt to do so will generate further reports to AOL and Yahoo.

Posted by: Greg at 05:33 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 1031 words, total size 7 kb.

1 Good job on posting up the e-mail. Were some of your "responses" fabricated, all of them, or what?

I have to say "thanks" at least to you for defending my comment in a previous thread (read: flame war). I was quickly jumped on for being a friend of Kim or being Kim herself.

The only thing I agreed with Kim on, was that it should be questioned why such a young girl was with an older guy. Or should I put it the other way around? What was an older guy doing with a high school girl? Defaming her by labeling the girl as a pregnant teen was overboard, so much that the mother had to defend her against the media.

Back to this e-mail debacle. Kim has no reason, nor obligation (besides personal respect) to cease e-mailing you. That's easily fixed with spam-filtering or a blocked e-mail. She *did* make a polite initial request (assuming all of the correspondence above is legitimate) which in no way seemed like a "demand."

I don't think she's in any position to be reported to AOL for abuse, as she wasn't abusing anything. She finally grasped for some form of defense by threatening to label you as a "sicko", after you supposedly e-mailed abuse@aol.com.

You put up with enough crap from teens at school, I'm sure, so I'd recommend just blocking the girl, and leaving her comments up.

You've already wasted enough time as it with her. (On a side note, any chance of allowing my blog, http://www.smarterspam[dot]com/wordpress/ to not get picked up by the spam filter for "spam[dot]com" ?)

Posted by: Eric Clemmons at Tue May 23 03:13:10 2006 (+LgAZ)

2 A couple of issues here.

1) I've tried to block her, but cannot get that done without blocking all of AOL. She was requested not to post here, and continued to do so -- and she was requested not to contact me in the future after her abusive comments here. I merely followed up on my previous promises of action -- and she became progressively more abusive as she found she would not get her way. Quite frankly, I believe she displayed her true character with the threat she made -- and anyway, if I'm a perve for sending her a courtesy copy of my emails to her ISP, then she would have to be a slutty little twit (should that be an "a" instead of an "i"?) who is pursuing an older man who doesn't want to be bothered.

2) All emails are legitimate -- I'll forward them all to you if you want confirmation of that fact. I'm rather offended by your questioning their validity. After all, cut-and-paste isn't that hard.

3) As for your blog, I've forwarded the request on to the fellow who runs all the mu.nu blogs. For whatever reason, nothing has happened to fix the situation.

Posted by: Rhymes With Right at Tue May 23 09:57:16 2006 (fI2Yv)

3 Whoa whoa, buddy! Take it easy I'm on your side! And yes, it's "twat", not "twit." It's a common mistake.

I believe you in that they were valid, it's just that the statement:
"now she wants to spread lies about me for daring to report her for being an abusive annoyance" threw me off on whether she fabricated some of the e-mails to make you seem more corrosive.

Posted by: Eric Clemmons at Tue May 23 13:45:42 2006 (569m5)

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* * *

And now time for our linkfest and open trackback carnival!

You know the rules -- link back to this post with your best/favorite current posts. I won't limit your number of posts, but instead ask you to exercise prudent judgement about how many you send.

Some folks have tols me they have problems trackbacking to this site. If this is the case, please use the Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger to establish the link.

And, of course, don't forget the big three rules.

No Spam. No Porn. No Problem.

OTHER LINKFESTS: Conservative Cat, Outside the Beltway, Samantha Burns, Liberal Wrong Wing, Business of America is Business, Third World County, Adam's Blog, Blue Star Chronicles, Stop the ACLU

Posted by: Greg at 05:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 2 kb.

Why on earth would anyone object to declaring English the national language of the United States?

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid called a proposal to make English the official language "racist" on the Senate floor yesterday.

"This amendment is racist. I think it's directed basically to people who speak Spanish," the Democrat said during the already tense debate over immigration reform.

Moments later, the Senate approved the measure on a 63-34 vote. Virtually all Republicans were joined by 11 Democrats to approve the largely symbolic amendment. Immediately following that vote, the Senate approved a second amendment, declaring on a 58-39 vote that English is the "common and unifying language."

Racist? To declare the major language of the Unite4d States to be the national language? Hardly – and they ought to go the next step, to make it the official language, ending voting and other government services in languages other than English. It would be suppoted by the overwhelming majority of Americans.

A poll by Zogby International earlier this year found that 84 percent of Americans say English should be the official language of government operations. The same poll found that 77 percent of Hispanics agree.

And it's a bipartisan issue, according to the poll, which found that 92 percent of Republicans and 82 percent of Democrats approve making English the country's official language.

Reid, of course, is an imbecile, who is trying to score votes from the supporters of illegal immigration. What he does not want to acknowledge is that those who come to this country and wish to make themselves successful and productive need to speak English to do so.

Posted by: Greg at 04:56 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 281 words, total size 2 kb.