Dusting, Sweeping and Musing
DUSTING
Been making a few cosmetic changes to the blog. Nothing dramatic. If you see anything you just hate, let me know and I'll probably change it...'cause I'm a whore that way.
I upgraded to the new Blogger a few weeks ago. Here are my thoughts.
I like it. It was mostly painless.
Commenting on other blogs is kind of a pain. I created a new ID and password for my upgraded blogger account (my choice for my own reasons...I didn't have to). But now I have to remember/know which ID to use on which site.
If it is a blog that has already upgraded to beta.blogger.com like I have, I have to use the new ID.
If it is an older blog that hasn't upgraded from blogger.com, I have to use my old ID.
But if I logon using my old ID, it takes me away from the blog I was commenting on, wipes out my typically verbose rant, and takes me to my own blog home page. So on those blogs I have to remember to copy and save my carefully crafted masterpiece so that I can paste it back after I've been authenticated.
SWEEPING
Switched around some of the right hand column stuff, fixed the hit counter at the bottom, stole some stuff from other blogs, will probably do some more stuff like that. Again, let me know what you think. You are the ones who actually view this page and read it.
MUSING
Lately it seems I've been spending more time commenting on other blogs than I have posting at my own. Lots of them have been conservative republican blogs which was interesting...venturing into The Belly Of The Beast. Sometimes I've been responding to comments left by conservative bloggers left on friend's sites.
It's fun, for a while. Thinking you are taking on The Enemy. Fighting The Good Fight. Trying to change hearts and minds via earnest, open and intellectually honest dialogue. Mano a Mano. Your Idea vs. My Idea.
Nah. It actually gets pretty boring after a while.
It's like trying to teach a pig to sing. All it really does is waste your time and annoy the pig.
It's basically one big republican circle-jerk. They all make each other happy by reinforcing what they believe to be true while collectively shooting down any invaders from the outside who might sway the weak.
These right-wing. neo-con, religious, conservative, dubya-zombies are so mentally fortified against actual facts that is mostly a waste of time to even talk to them. Instead of responding with any real thoughts, they just hit the PLAY button on their FOX DVR and spew whatever rhetoric they have been programmed to respond with.
It's all Record and Repeat. Record and Repeat.
The paucity of critical thinking, intellectual analysis, skepticism, scientific methodology and just plain common sense exibited on some of these sites scares the Holy Hell out of me.
They don't question. They don't doubt. They don't even WANT to. They truly want to believe everything they are told. It's so much easier and reassuring than actually THINKING.
Their idiocy appalls me, but I provide links to them anyway. Everyone should have access to all information and make up their own minds.
I don't have a monopoly on The Truth.
Neither does anyone else.
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Bush Rants
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11 comments:
Hey. I'm republican.
It's getting kinda hurtful seeing rants like this at my favorite blogs every week. Will it stop after the election, perhaps?
Not all of us are idiots, is my point. And it's getting to be like everyone who disagrees with the current administration (and likely ones from the past as well...) feel it's ok to bash on those of us who aren't democrat. Not that it's new, but c'mon. Just because some of us vote a certain way doesn't make us idiots. I'm sure you have arguments against that point, but I feel rather intelligent most of the time (when not falling off stairs in the dark in my backyard, of course), and take offense to people constantly calling me names because I vote a certain way.
Politics suck.
Well you certainly weren't one of the sites or bloggers I was referring to.
I had no idea which way you leaned (politically) until just now.
I can't claim to actually "know" you, but you don't strike me as one of the knee-jerk types that I despise so much.
I think that you would listen to a cogent presentation of a dissenting point of view and respond with an equally thoughtful counterpoint.
But when I make a comment on OTHER blogs and start seeing phrases like "moonbatty" and "islamofacist" and "defeatocrats" pop up like mushrooms after a spring thunderstorm, it sure does sound like pre-programmed, brain-washed, ditto-speak to me. It's like they are channeling Ann Coulter or Bill O'Reilly instead of atually thinking about things using their own minds.
That is the sort of mindless zombieism I object to, on either side.
Use your brain. Think about things. Form an opinion.
I respect that. No matter which side you come down on. Show me that you made an effort.
But don't just spout crap that you heard people on TV say because it makes you feel good and saves you the trouble of actually thinking. And don't confuse clicking on websites that you KNOW agree with your point of view as "researching".
Luv ya Faith!
Keep me posted on the job search and let me know if there is anything I can do.
Don't take this the wrong way XO, but I've rarely (if ever) seen you post "earnest, open and intellectually honest dialogue."
Your forte is more the off-the-rails rant type, which is entertaining but not likely to sway any hearts and/or minds.
Of course, I haven't read all of your comments/responses so it's entirely possible that I've missed something you've written.
I would encourage you not too look at those with differing viewpoinst as "the enemy," but merely someone with a different viewpoint.
And while you acuse those who disagre with you of using canned rhetoric, you do the same when you use terms like "neo-con dubya-zombies."
It's difficult to have an honest discussion if we all divide ourselves and stay on our own sidelines lobbing expletives at each other.
No offense taken, XO...I know you didn't know what I was, and that's usually the way I like it, actually. I'm not a political blogger, and I tend to avoid the political sites. They don't interest me.
But your rants DO make sense to me, most of the time. I appreciate them, really. I just feel sometimes they attack a bit, even though I know you're talking towards the other blogs that you've been commenting on (which I don't visit, because, duh, see above), but just being a republican that tends to keep quiet about her interests (for obvious reasons!), it's getting ugly out there for folks like me even in just visiting the normal, everyday fun sites we like to visit!
For the record, I do disagree with some of the republican platforms. But the overwhelming financial effect that a democratic-held office has on my family tends to keep me loyal. We'll see what happens when the majority changes over again, and if we wind up with a democrat for a president after the election in 2008.
Faith, Do you like being lied to? We were all lied to. That really pisses me off. And it should you too. This war was not for the reasons we were told. And you may mention that Clinton lied about Monica. But no one died. It didn't involve the whole country, the whole world. What is happening in the Middle East affects the world. Just ask any family who has lost someone, their world is shattered. We have a friend who signed up, went to Iraq (Bagdad). He is spitting mad about being lied to. He talks about the beautiful, innocent children. And he won't talk about the "things I never should have seen".
Are you rich? I'm not. The government had a surplus when Clinton was in office. But we don't now. How are we going to pay this debt off? Have you ever been personally in debt? It takes way longer to get out of it than in it. How do you feel when in debt? We all will be feeling like that for a very long time. We are going to have to tighten our belts to work on this. Maybe we should sell Texas to Mexico to help pay off the debt? What do you suggest?
emaw - "I've rarely (if ever) seen you post "earnest, open and intellectually honest dialogue."
Your forte is more the off-the-rails rant type, which is entertaining but not likely to sway any hearts and/or minds."
You're right. I have to agree with that. I'm much more interested in entertaining than informing. Often, I fail to do either one.
I confess to sometimes finding my own blog rather tedious. There are mornings when I wake up, read one of my posts or comments and realize "Oh crap. I actually published that shit! What a fucking doofus!"
I will say this. I do actually try to employ a double standard with what I write.
If I'm posting something on my own blog, I feel free to rant, rave and be completely over the top if I feel like it. Fact checking be damned, if it takes too long. I have enough caveats and disclaimers scattered about to warn even the most oblivious visitor that I'm often misinformed, full of shit and should not be taken very seriously.
But I really do try to tone it down and be more factual and respectful when visiting other blogs. I'm sure I fail miserably and often. But I try.
I don't have much respect for those Anonymous commentors who walk into someone else's "house" and start peeing on the carpet and wiping their asses with the hand towels. That's not who I strive to be.
You also wrote "I would encourage you not too look at those with differing viewpoinst as "the enemy," but merely someone with a different viewpoint."
Ya know, you're right again. But it would be a WHOLE LOT EASIER to do that if the other side hadn't spent the last 14 years treating US as the enemy. It's that whole Golden Rule thing. Sort of twisted around and corrupted, but, you know what I mean!
"And while you acuse those who disagre with you of using canned rhetoric, you do the same when you use terms like "neo-con dubya-zombies."
Guilty as charged. I can mount no credible defense.
Spyder,
I could be wrong but I believe we still had a national debt when Clinton was in office. We had a budget surplus (we have a budget deficit now), but we still had a national debt.
National debt and budget deficit/surplus are two separate (but related) things.
emawkc- In an attempt to inform myself I did a google search on USA National debt. I found this site: http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
I pulled this from that site:
"The Presidential contributions to the gross federal debt are computed from data available from the White House.gov in the Historical Tables"
"...the deficit is annual additions to national debt...
The annual deficit is this year's spending minus this year's income. If we spend $900B with income of $600B in one year, the annual deficit is $300B. That makes the national debt go up by $300B.
The annual deficit is how much the debt increases each year. "
Way more info than I can handle tonight. But it doesn't look good for us.
Jesus Fucking Christ. I'm bored by my own blog. LOL!
Plus that graphic I picked is pretty fucking gay-looking.
I'm going to go to bed and pray to The Flying Spaghetti Monster for inspiration for better posts.
And spyder, yes, I am rich. Duh. Well, rather, my father is rich, I grew up in an upper-middle class home with an upper-middle class lifestyle, and I intend to continue to live in such a manner for the rest of my life. I kinda like it.
I've never been in debt. I was lucky enough to be born into a family that makes a good amount of money, which I stand to inherit sometime soon. My father paid for college for me, I know how to pay my bills on time, and I know that I need to put as much into savings each month in case things like me getting fired happens, and I need to dip into it for a month or so to buy groceries and pay the mortgage. I have a *frightening* amount of common sense, dontcha know...:D
And don't give me the "well, not everyone is born into a rich family! Aren't you lucky to have been born rich!? Must be nice to have money GIVEN to you, eh?" Because guess what? I PAY MY OWN WAY. I bought my house, my BMW, the wine I drank last night with dinner, and pretty much everything else I've had in my life for the past 10 years since I graduated from college and have been working for a living. And YES, it was nice to be rich growing up. And yes, I DID get very lucky. I mean, I'm not fucking Paris Hilton, or what have you, and I know the value of a good work ethic, and what it means to have to struggle at times. I feel terrible that not everyone can have the lifestyle that I've been provided, and I plan on doing something to help those less fortunate when I'm in a position to do so in the next 10 years.
There's NOTHING that I can do about the fact that we've been "lied to" or whatever you believe has happened. I don't know anyone that has been in Iraq, but I don't NEED to have known someone to still feel like it's time to wrap things up over there. I wonder why we didn't go into Afganistan myself, but I'm no war/political guru, as I previously mentioned. I DO know that my family struggles financially whenever we have a democrat in the Oval Office. To be quite honest, THAT is what matters to me, as I'm just that fucking selfish, ok?
I don't look at it the same way you do. Accept that and move on.
Faith-Sorry things are as great as they could be right now. At least you aren't Paris Hilton.
If we all/both can agree to try and see other people's points of view then maybe we can all quit pissing on the fence. I didn't come from money, probably won't inherate any either. My point is that the debt of our country worries me, no that's understated. It terrifies me, just as my own debt has in the past.
Hope your foot gets to feeling better.
XO-Sorry if the financial stuff was boring. Maybe I need to drink more? Liquid courage. That's it. I'll start tonight.
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