Although my traffic count isn't the best (around 100 per day average) I've somehow climbed to #231 in the TTLB. Don't ask me how I'm there because I've got no clue. I'm not trying to be arrogant or anything either, especially considering my low level hits. (most people in my TTLB area on the ttle are getting around 200-1,000 hits) I was noticing all of the people I've just surpassed...barely:
Practical Penumbra aka the Hostess
Louisiana Conservative aka Jeffrey Blanco
Editors in Pajamas aka Pajama editors, aka Mac daddy P.J.s (coincidentaly, Patty-Jo is guest blogging there while The Editor is stuffing his face with Turkey left-overs.)
This makes me happy because most of these people I consider to be my peers. If not peers, people I've looked up to. I'm sure this will all fade away shortly but I'm enjoying the next one:
Will Wheaton aka The Kid from Star Trek: Next Gen.
What makes that one special is that A. he's famous and B. He's a super Uber-geek and has gained my utmost respect through his geekiness.
The last one is better than everything and I'm not even going to honor them with a link. This 527 represents everything that is non-conservo-republican. They're the one all of the movie farces flocked to. I've now surpassed:
MoveOn.org
(can you feel it? Yeah, it feels real good.)
..........and thanks again to Jane for helping my publish something!
Normally, I'd split this up into a few separate items but the heck with it. I'll try something new.
1. I'M PUBLISHED!!!!!!!! Yes, Jane has informed me that someone in the real world of journalism has determined that I am not just some blogger sitting in his pajamas but a journalistic contributor. You can find the article at Opinion Editorials. Jane has been getting published for some time now and if it wasn't for her I never would have done it or even known where to start.
2. I've been playing with my template again. I changed back to a gray scheme because when I go into colors I either end up with green or gay. All of the other hardline bloggers are using green and well, quite frankly, I'm straight, so the pastels really don't work for me either. I still need to change my comments section from pastel though. Everything is still 800x600 compliant for you blind people out there. It's also still Firefox compliant for you rebel alliance fighters out there. If you've got suggestions on how to make it better I'm always open to suggestions.
3. Charlie, aka Pusillanimous Wanker II, now aka Douche (You got me fair and square with that one Charlie.) has been kind enough to give me a gmail account. I can be found at: jeremy.bol@gmail.com now. I've also changed my e-mail on the sidebar and will include some cool gmail button once I find one or make one up. If you don't have a gmail account you're sort of out of luck unless someone is kind enough and has a free referral. Another place you might want to try if you're wiling to beg for it is gmail Swap, because people are nice...usually. It's a place where people with extra referrals can give them to those without.
4. I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. For our household it's not really too much about the big fat quelude bird (term coined by my dad this year) it's about the day after...black friday. My wife was sitting outside BEST BUY this morning at about 3:00 in the morning and was still about 50-60 people back in line. My mom may choose to get her shopping done early but not us. We, my wife that is, still loves the thrill of the hunt. There's nothing like the game of it all to spur you into action. I one foul swoop she managed to come up with 900-1000 dollars worth of stuff for 350-400 dollars. We shall be going back out for round two shortly. Wish me luck! ;)
There are many people in the realm of free bloggers that believe that Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, leads a normal life as a normal guy with an abnormal ability to write commentary on current events. I'm here to tell you it's all lies, smoke and mirrors, frivolities, reports worthy of Dan Rather, they're just plain wrong!
Through a bit of research, a few FOIA suits, a bottle of Wild Turkey (tis' the season), and a bribe to his undocumented maid I managed to completely destroy the man that all of those Instapundites love so dearly. To speak frankly, he's got a rap sheet longer than ODB's. Because of how much he's got on him I'm just going to do a year in review:
Instapundit Glenn Reynolds, A Year in Review: 2004
FEB 27: A Glenn fan comes clean and confesses to some of the horrors about Mr. Glenn Reynolds. He is a Satan-worshipping, hobo-murdering, Vespa-driving freak. He secretly calls the Instapundit: "Evil Glenn".
APR 29: Another Glenn fan admits that the Instapundit is, in reality, a mafia lord. That's right folks. Mild mannered, shark-biting lawyer, Glenn Reynolds is: The Blogfather.
JUL 18: Evil Glenn Reynolds is found out as the force behind the New York Times. He is also known for his incitefully stinky feet.
SEP 03: (I had to go all the way to Australia for this one.) Glenn Reynolds' plan to assimilate his readers into a phase much darker than anything in the Patriot Act has in mind: Constant observations from one's own digital cameras. It doesn't end there. He plans to convince his mindless zombies to purchase only the products he suggests, a sort of digicam mind control.
SEP 24: It is discovered that Evil Glenn Reynolds has infiltrated PayPal and is forcing them to investigate all blog users using the service and sue them for 500$ each if they do not conform with his standards. If they do not comply with his sadistic standards he will sue them for their blood, he is a lawyer after all.
SEP 29: Glenn Reynolds is caught in the act of drinking blood from the freshly severed neck of a hen! "He practically performed the entire satanic ritual right there! I had to leave before he got to the puppies I just couldn't watch anymore!" said one hostess.
OCT 04: Glenn Reynolds makes an attempt to infringe upon the Constitutional rights of the people of D.C. by making legal statements that they are not entitled to them since D.C. is not technically a state. Mindless anarchy quickly erupts.
OCT 08: Glenn Reynolds admits to bribing officials in Iraq with relation to the widely controversial and popularized "Global Test". However, I have since been told by some Glennite hardbloggers that everything I know is wrong and I should stop spreading vicious lies.
NOV 11: Glenn Reynolds does his best to conceal a stash of his own Sarin gas nerve agent that was found in Fallujah. He disavows that it was ever his and claims that the insurgents had it on their own. (We all know the truth Glenn. They were holding it for safe keeping. You better pick a better hiding place next time.)
NOV 17: Glenn Reynolds proves his liberal bigotry by supporting racist caricatures of African Americans. He shows support for cartoon showing Condi Rice as just another Uncle Tom.
NOV 19: Evil Glenn Reynolds' plans for a hobo-amusement park in Berkeley, CA in order to sacrifice their souls to Satan are thwarted with a Bad Example. He was going to call it "Glennyland". I think it was the badgers that saved us...might have been the Llamas too.
NOV 23: Evidence is found that Glenn Reynolds has a Puppy Blender and has been using it for some time. Upon further investigation Wikipedia removes all evidence of the words Puppy or Blender from his entry. For some unknown reason they added the line: "Help! Glenn is holding us hostage until we clean up his reputation!"
There are many, many more suits pending against instasatan from this year alone but these are some of the more egregious ones. Do not be fooled by his boyish charm and whatever you do, don't look into his eyes, or read his blog. That's where he will hypnotize you and turn you into one of his mindless zombies, hell-bent on making puppy with chicken blood smoothies to sell in his hobo-amusement park where he can sacrifice the hobos, and Los Lobos, to Satan.
All links in this article are presented with express consent of the Alliance of Free Bloggers.
And happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Even you Evil Glenn.
Blogger, or bloggers, that think being a vegan (that's not eating meat for those that don't know) is really cool and that's what we're designed for. Please be prepared to debated with. No rally! I know there's some of them out there.
Maybe they''re just afraid we'll go into a frenzied meat eating rage and mistake their scrawny little bodies for a chicken leg or something and eat them?
Yeah, blogging is pretty dry today.
Now that those crappy Presidential Elections are over it's time to vote on what's really important: The 2004 Weblog Awards brought to you by Wizbang!
Currently, they are accepting nominations for a plethora of categories. It is fine to nominate yourself, I've done it, others have done it. Go nominate people, including yourself.
Voting will begin on or around December 1st.
GOTV for the Weblog Awards!!!
Oh, yes, and I'll be keeping this at the top for a while. (Dec 1st-ish)
Okay, I got sick of seeing it at the top.
I have sent out my first editorial to real live newspapers today. It took me about three days but with gentle coaxing (see: swift kick in the butt) Jane, the great and wonderful, editorally published, blogmother of mine, I have sent out my first requests for publication. As with just about everything I get into, I probably over did it with who I sent this out to. The list is bordering on spam. I stopped sending out requests around 3 AM so you kind of get the idea how much I've been spamming people.
The next time I do this it won't be so difficult. The real time consumer is getting a list of editors to e-mail. For the states it wasn't that difficult. Jane came through with a quick and dirty list of the top 100 newspapers in the united states here. So that's the American newspapers. I haven't been able to find an easy online list of e-mail addresses yet. I'll work on it later. The arab news agencies were a bit more difficult to hunt down. Again, I can't find a direct e-mail list and some of them required you to register before they would accept your work through a proprietary system. So here's the lists I sent this out to including e-mail addresses (just so it's easier for anyone else that wants to write editorials.):
These Papers recieved the "Muslim Safe" version
Alarabiya: contact@alarabiya.net
Arab News: almaeena@arabnews.com
Yemen Times: editor@yementimes.com
OPeEDNEWS.com: contact@opednews.com
The Daily Star: letters@dailystar.com.lb
Arab Times: jarallah@arabtimesonline.com
Al Hurra: comments@alhurra.com
Gulf daily News: gdn1@batelco.com.bh
Gulf Times: editor@gulf-times.com
Iran Weekly Press Digest: Editor@iranwpd.com
Ajeeb! (proprietary system)
Al-Jazeera (English) (Proprietary system, I know they'll never take it but why not?)
Iraq.net (You must register first and use their system but it's been successful for Jane.)
Reuters (this will eventually go on the online non-muslim list)
These papers recieved the original text found here.
The Wall Street Journal: edit.features@wsj.com
USA Today: theforum@usatoday.com
New York Times: oped@nytimes.com
LA Times: op-ed@latimes.com
Washington Post: oped@washpost.com
Daily News (New York): rlaird@edit.nydailynews.com
Chicago Tribune: ctc-COMMENT@tribune.com
Newsday (Long Island): oped@newsday.com
Houston Chronicle: outlook@chron.com
Dallas Morning News: viewpoints@dallasnews.com
Bellingham Herald: (look for it mom)
julie.shirley@bellinghamherald.com
jessica.silvers@bellinghamherald.com
Virginia Pilot: (my local paper, proprietary system)
Army Times (proprietary)
Navy Times (Proprietary)
Marine Corps Times (Proprietary)
Air Force Times (Proprietary)
I separated these by American and Muslim safe. Muslim papers are not allowed to print things that disrespect in any form the muslim religion. Simple demographics themselves can disrespect the muslim religion. The fact that the majority of militant islamists are Shiites could get me killed if I quoted this truth in thr wrong place, publicly. I had forgotten about this but once again, Jane reminded me.
So here I am, waiting and hoping that someone will put me in lights. You can wish me luck if you like but you should congratulate Jane for clearing the way. She's been published on at least 25 articles. Go see for yourself.
Now that's seven links in one article for Jane...make that eight. You could say I'm rather thankful of her patience and assistance.
Yes! Dan Rather has now officially stated that he will be stepping down from his perch as the 60 Minutes Anchor in early March. As predicted by many he claims that his decision has nothing to do with the Bush TANG paperwork thuggery. I’m sure no one in the Pajamahadeen is dumb enough to believe that crap. Anyway, here’s the general consensus of bloggerdom on the issue:Dan Rather, one of the most famous faces in TV news, is stepping down as anchor of the "CBS Evening News." Rather, a 40-year veteran with CBS, will step down in March, 24 years after taking over the anchor job from Walter Cronkite. CBS spokesman Gil Schwartz said Rather's decision "was independent of the findings of the panel looking into a '60 Minutes II' report on President Bush's National Guard service."
It was widely known that Dan Rather was going to lose his position as the 60 minutes anchor due to the Rathergate debacle. It was furthermore noted that he wouldn’t do it until after the elections and probably a month or two after the inauguration, just to make it look unrelated. We also knew that he wouldn’t be leaving CBS. We at MSM Jihad headquarters knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away. Some form of action had to be made in order to regain their credibility but an all out firing would have been too much for them. They didn’t do the right thing; they did the minimum required to quell the masses. I don’t think anyone was surprised about that.
Dan will still be a contributing source on 60 Minutes II. He’ll still be pulling all the strings. Don’t think for a moment he’s not in control anymore. He’s gone from being the face you see frothing at the mouth complaining about those illegitimate bloggers in their pajamas to the puppet master. For some reason it reminds me of the end of a Scooby-Doo show:
“I’d have succeeded too if it wasn’t for those meddling bloggers!”
BTW: Just added my Pajamahadeen button.
Maybe I'm overreacting on this but I doubt it. God has been an integral part of America since day one. We all worship the way we chose or even to chose not to. We do not infringe upon anyone's rights by praying. We don't strike fear in the hearts on non-believers by telling them to: "have a blessed day." I have the right to worship anywhere I want, (except in schools) even military bases. They even have military chaplains. Anyone who says I'm infringing upon their rights when I talk about god/God can go to hell. So let me put this news clip before you so I may rant further on the subject:
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland public school students are free to thank anyone they want while learning about the 17th century celebration of Thanksgiving (search) — as long as it's not God.
First off, I'd like to thank dysentery and the many other diseases brought with the English on the trip over that killed many of the American Indians. Now we have more land to roam. Next I'd like to thank the trail of tears that killed off countless more American Indians for again, more land. Of course, these thank-you's probably aren't being taught this holiday season. Why stop with thanking direct relations to Thanksgiving. As long as they're "not God".
I'd like to thank Saddam for killing so many of his own people. Without his assistance there would have been no reason to liberate Iraq.
I'd like to thank Stalin. He was the inspiration that Saddam worked off of. He wouldn't have wanted us to thank God either.
I'd like to thank Madalyn Murray O'Hair who spearheaded the movement to abolish god in schools and teach children of religious families that religion has no place in the civil world. But is only for the privacy of one's own life. To be hidden away like a badge of shame if you will.
Most of all though, I'd like to thank Satan for trying to destroy God.
NO!
I would like to thank God, just as the pilgrims did.
As an Ironic note, one of the districts where this article comes from is St. Mary's County Public Schools. Don't some Catholics pray to St. Mary? I guess they'll have to change their name.
I've been debating something for about a week now. I've been watching some of the blogs that I've read and linked to continue to climb the charts in the TTLB Ecosystem. I noticed that most of the major bloggers didn't allow comments and the only way to get in touch with them was by e-mailing them; little to no dialoge. Those that did have a comments section, Like Daily Kos and LGF, were continually bombarded with tons (100-600 comments) of responses. It turned into a different kind of community.
It was then I made a deal with myself to not provide a personal link to anyone over 100 on the TTLB. After N.Z. Bear revamped the site I found that many of the bloggers that I had already linked to and were communicating with me were now on the top 100. It was then I restructured my ideals to allow Playful Primates (30) and below on my blogroll. It has worked for a while but I'm now having some issues with maintaining even this.
Dean Esmay, someone who I've been reading but who hasn't been over to my site in months is currently Number 25. He has crossed over to the dark side. If it were just him I would have no problems but looking at those who are just about to breach the magic number of 30 I am put in a quadary. You see, The Jawa Report is within 5 places of becoming blacklisted.
What should I do? Should I stick to my guns and kick him off the list and do the same to Rusty? Should I make it only those that come by to visit? Should I start going by TTLB's traffic list? Or should I limit my listings to those that have a moderate comments column? Please help!
BTW: Instapundit has been overtaken in traffic by KOS by at least double his hits. Not a complete victory but better than nothing.
Okay, before some liberal wiener picks this one up and runs with it let me steal their thunder:
ANTIGUA, Guatemala — They met during a trade mission, and despite controversy over their engagement, U.S. Rep. Jerry Weller (search) of Illinois and the outspoken daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt (search) tied the knot Saturday in a civil ceremony.
The least he could have done was have a private ceremony. Aren't we supposed to at least fake that we're interested in freedom?
Artest is out for the rest of the season and will lose about 5 million dollars. This is being looked upon as something horrible and it never would have been noticed if a fist fight between players at a different arena had not happened a day or two before this. It wakes people up and makes them more aware of what is going on. The first event that takes place isn't likely to recieve too much flack becauses it's considered an isolated incitent. If it happens again it's a pattern and will be stopped dead to set an example.
Let's take, for example, Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfuntion". Everyone was up in arms but it was considered and isolated incident and forgotten about. It was still talked about but the FCC was no longer under the gun for that particular incident. They were prepared for anything to come so they could step on it ruthlessly to show they meant business with their new policy reform. So, when three schmucks complained about a show being to racy they dropped a 1.5 million dollar suit against the network.
It's called overcompensation, or setting and example, or even scapegoating. It's unfortunate and it happens every day. Just wanted to add my two cents to this mess. Arnet and friends may deserve retribution but it wouldn't have been even close to what they recieved if people's eyes weren't paying attention to fights. He was set up as an example. It's unfortunate for him but that is the designed purpose of scapegoating: to make people stop the undesired action. Whether it's the right thing to do is a topic for either comments or another article.
Amid the torrent of bullets, bombs and beheadings there are many people that are critically skeptical of Iraqi elections to the point of believing absolute terror will reign. This new deadline brings with it a new resolve in Iraq and with it a new hope that things are still progressing, not regressing. Many of the educated will tell you what is happening is the impossible and a mirage the will fade into ever increasing chaos. Much of the demographic reasons for failure are viable but they are not all of the demographic variables that should be looked upon for guidance.
On the other side of things comes the standard counter of the Afghan example. This example shows the liberation of a willing people to undergo free elections in a primarily peaceful way. If we can do it in Afghanistan we can do it in Iraq, right? The demographics of these two countries tell us otherwise. While Iraq holds a 50-60% Shiite majority Afghanistan holds a mere 10% minority.
Another example is the extreme repression of a rural people compared to the repression of an industrialized people. For more on how this works consult the works of James C. Scott. The promise of agrarian reform, unfortunately in poppies which no one should be surprised about, has been integral part of the successful reformation of a democratic Afghanistan. These differences do not mean that Iraq is doomed because they are not covered under these select demographics.
The one underlying demographic that compounds the problems in Iraq and sends defeatists into a tailspin is the Shiite majority in Iraq. As of 2003 Iraq was made up of about a 50-60 percent Shiite majority. They will compare this directly with trying to topple Iran in the same manner. The defeatism lies in the Shiite majority being primarily made of the radicals within Islamic religion. While it is true that many of the Shiite Imams are counter-western and the demographic of Islamic terrorists is primarily Shiite it does not encompass all of the Shiite people, nor does it cover the majority of Iraq.
The modernized portions of Iraq bring with them what many call a westernized culture. Yes, Iraq is banking on what is called “Modernization Theory”. Modernization theory is basically the theory that a developing country can increase its standings in the international community as well as standards of living by enhancing their technology. This shows itself as evident by the influx of high-tech goods being flown in daily. For example, air conditioning units can’t be flown in fast enough. They’re already sold practically before they ever arrive in Iraq.
Some may contrast this with the rolling blackouts that never happened under Saddam’s regime as a sign that modernization will not take place but fail to realize that the rolling blackouts are not caused by bombs or American incompetence. They’re caused by the increased desire for more power to feed their newfound technological freedom. Their need for power is simply outstripping the supply. It is seen as a boon to the Modernization theory, not a bane.
Another misconceived notion is that Sharia, or Islamic law, will take over in Iraq due to the vast majority of Muslims in Iraq. There is a possibility of this happening but it is not as likely as one might be led to believe. Although the dictatorship of Iraq brought with it a brutal regime that killed many and tortured untold others it can be considered a bridge to democracy. This may seem like the wild ranting of a madman but it is based in fact not fiction. Saddam’s style of dictatorship had little if any religion involved. It was an almost entirely secular environment. Imams had no power in government and only a subdued and censored voice amongst the people. Many people, particularly and traditionally the young and the women, will find fault with the break from a secular society. They are the ones that desire the freedoms they had under a secular society that would otherwise disappear under Sharia.
If none of these factors were enough to convince you, and I’m sure there are plenty, then even if all of the demographics fail they still need to bring to bear three things to carry through with the rebellion according to Charles Tilly:
First is something recognizable as an alternative government. Currently, the only thing remotely resembling that is Al Qaeda and the other splinter terrorist groups. There is little to no organization amongst these groups except to stay out of the way of the hard-line Al Qaeda members. They are like rats scurrying in the night.
Second is a following of people significant enough to make the change in Iraq popular. There is a significant number of those in Iraq that do not want us there but they are not formed against us en-masse and would prefer us as occupiers much more than they would prefer the alternative of terrorist rule. We need to keep it that way.
Third and final is something Theta Skocpol considers Regime Decay. This is the state of the government and military defenses protecting the government. If it falters the possibility for regime change can occur. This too can be argued for both sides as we are still in an interim government and our forces, although highly unlikely, can be defeated. For us it is a matter of maintaining resolve through the attacks and beheadings.
The terrorist organizations understand this at their core and are doing everything within their power to disrupt the governmental structure in Iraq in order to cause regime decay. If elections go forth come January 30th or sometime shortly after then it will be a major blow against their efforts to overthrow the Iraqi government. In fact, all of these things are dependent upon our ability to prevent terrorists from dismantling all semblance of civility and maintain that, for the majority of Iraqis that Al Qaeda is a terrorist organization and nothing more.
Bibliography
Handelman, Howard. 2003. “The Challenge of Third World Development”. 3rd ed.. Pearson Publishing. ISBN: 0130993093
CNN.com. “Iraqi elections set for January 30”. Nov. 21, 2004. URL: http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/11/21/
iraq.election/index.html
Rashid, Ahmed. "Karzai wins power in Afghan elections". Apr. 11, 2004. Telegraph.co.uk. URL: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/04/wafg04.xml&sSheet=/
portal/2004/11/04/ixportal.html
“Afghanistan, Opium and the Taliban”. February 15, 2001. Future Opioids. URL: http://opioids.com/afghanistan/
Rebuild Iraq 2005 exhibitor list. URL: http://www.rebuild-iraq-expo.com/exhibitors_list.asp?products=&country=&company=&page=2
