A Minor Musing About Blogging

Perhaps I should have titled this post "A Minor Musing About Everything I Do Wrong When Blogging."

It springs from Scott Ehrisman's decision to shut down his South DaCola blog and The Dakota Free Press's coverage of that decision.

I have been writing, albeit irregularly, since 2007. Obviously, one thing that any successful online endeavor requires is a regular publishing schedule. That said, here are a few other observations.

First, blogs have entered their zombie stage; they likely will never die out, but blogging will never regain the clout it had in the halcyon days when Andrew Sullivan and others demanded attention multiple times per day.

Second, Cory may lament that old folks are the only ones who seem to be writing blogs, but they may also be the largest audience regularly reading blogs. The politically active young'uns I know are using Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram stories to spread their message. They are consuming podcasts or YouTube, but few seem to reference blogs. (I realize that anecdotal evidence may not be the best source of information.)

Third, blogs need a laser focus. South Dakota War College could easily rename itself South Dakota Republicans R Us (The demise of Toys R Us renders this suggestion an example of a bad marketing strategy.) At Dakota Free Press Cory follows a simple mission: be South Dakota's true liberal media. The blog is a consistent counterpoint to the views espoused by the state's Republican hegemony. 

In short, the successful bloggers don't chase shiny objects. One of my blogging failures is that comic books, folding knives, fountain pens, or Greek myth retellings all seem as interesting as South Dakota politics. The area where those interests intersect in a way to prompt regular blogging or create an audience is minuscule. 

Fourth, successful blogging requires a sense of mission, a belief that one's words can make a difference. That sense of mission comes from an ideology rooted firmly in either the right, left, or populist camps. In a sane political universe, I'm a centrist. In the current climate, I'm too far to the left for Republicans, too far to the right for Democrats, and too elitist for populists of either stripe.

Fifth, regular blogging seems to demand adherence to Marie Kondo's spark joy philosophy. Ehrisman alludes to  the lack of joy in his post.  I seem to exist in mental space that views work as work and play as work. Combine that personality quirk with the aforementioned shiny object syndrome and one has created the perfect storm for irregular blogging.

Sixth, style matters. Dr. Newquist  consistently writes like an academic. Cory's style reflects his passion. I use terms like "young'uns" and quote people like Marilynne Robinson. Once again, the audiences that appreciate these contrasts don't overlap.

Finally, successful blogging requires an ability to accept vagaries. A random post tossed out as an afterthought may well generate far more views than a post that demanded hours of research.

These observations create neither a resignation nor a resurrection post. I'll keep pushing out random musings or rants erratically. Serving as a bad example is something I usually do well.

A Response To Senator Tim Begalka's Rant

Over at Dakota War College, state senator Tim Begalka went off on a rant. According to Begalka, being a "humanist and a feminist" equates to a belief that "one is all knowing and important, and God isn't." According to the senator, announcing one's belief in humanism means one is "mocking God." Humanists, he contends, condone " lying, cheating, and cover-ups" They also support a foreign policy that "coddles [and] empowers" Muslim terrorists "all the while ignoring and suppressing the torture, murder, and discrimination of Bible-believing Christians around the world." Begalka concludes with scripture: “Woe to those who call good evil and evil good.”

I don't want to put words in Begalka's mouth, a courtesy he did not extend to Democratic Secretary of State candidate Angelia Schultz whom Begalka blithely derides without a shred of evidence. The senator should, therefore, feel free to stop by and correct me in the comments.

Begalka strongly implies that faith in God is prerequisite to morality and effective public service. That view seems odd; James 2:19 states, "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble." One hopes that Senator Begalka would not vote for a Republican trembling demon over a human Independent atheist. (I'm trying to be kind and not force him to consider voting for a Democrat. Promoting such extreme cognitive dissonance might be dangerous.)

Begalka's list of grievances implies that he would consider himself a Constitutional conservative. If so, one wonders how he squares the view that only believers should hold office with the Constitution. Article VI, paragraph 3 states,

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States. [Emphasis mine.]

Scholar Stephen Prothero considers Atheism one the world's eight great religions, so banning atheists from holding elected office seems to violate the religious test clause.  Even if one discounts scholars like Prothero, Begalka is on shaky ground advocating support for only believers in God as office holders. One can be a Buddhist and not believe in any deity. A guy on a bar stool can scream that he wants no atheists in government. He has a First Amendment right to do so. An elected official ought to have more discernment as he undertakes the effort to support the Constitution. It would not be a large stretch in logic to claim Begalka supports a religious test. At the very least, one has more grounds for inferring such support from Begalka's words than he has for implying that Angelina Schultz actively mocks God and supports the murdering Christians based on the word "humanist."

Like Begalka I oppose torturing Christians. I oppose torturing anyone. Let's hope that nothing which can remotely be considered torture is going on at Guantanamo Bay and  that the United States is not rendering prisoners to governments who have no qualms about torture. That said, it's confusing why Begalka thought to include the subject in his rant. it's unclear what the South Dakota Secretary of State has to do with foreign policy about torture. The simplest answer would be that ranting rarely is conducive to logical thought.

Finally and most importantly, Angelia Schultz has never claimed to be an atheist nor has she said she supported impiety or atrocities committed against Christians abroad. Senator Begalka apparently believes he has the omniscience to know she possesses those beliefs.

Implying one is omniscient could be construed as asserting one is godlike. Were I Begalka, I would now go on a rant about hubris leading to destruction and the desire to be like God being the reason humans suffer and die. I'll forego that rant. Instead, I'll ask that everyone quit focusing on tweets and stop asserting candidates have beliefs that they likely don't hold. Again, Schultz said nothing about holding any of the beliefs or supporting any of the positions that Begalka accuses her of implicitly supporting

If everyone moves past minutia, the South Dakota Secretary of State race can be decided on the issues and the candidates' qualifications. An election held under those circumstances might qualify as a miracle and increase everyone's faith in God. At the very least, it will show that we're capable of treating our fellow humans with respect.

**Post originally read Angelina Schultz not Angelia Schultz. I apologize for the error

A Minor Musing About Education, Religion, Literature, Pat Powers, And Larry Kurtz

There's no way this post is going to make anyone happy.

This week, I started reading Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses and James K. A. Smith's How (Not) To Be Secular. This reading has caused abstract, unconnected ramblings about place and spirit to come to mind frequently. These abstractions may infect this post. I've also been reading a lot of blogs and spending a lot of time on Twitter. (Please pray for my wife's sanity because I sometimes tell her what I'm reading on the blogs and in the comments.) Now, let the metaphors and allusions begin.

A few education reforms ago, in a South Dakota education galaxy that seems far, far away, South Dakota teachers were sat down before computers, directed toward a website called Techpaths, and instructed to create curriculum maps. (To the best of my knowledge many, if not most, South Dakota districts abandoned Techpaths when the original funding disappeared.) Techpaths requires curriculum cartographers to develop essential questions as the initial step in map creation.

I rather enjoyed creating essential questions. The essential questions one creates determine how one approaches most situations, so they allow for a little introspection and guide how one constructs a unit or a full course. The asking of different essential questions also explains how different religions and philosophies can come up with radically opposed tenants. David Berge's succinct summation of Stephen Prothero's God is Not One helps make the point:

To investigate these eight religions, Prothero interrogates them with four questions: (1) what’s the problem? (2) what’s the solution? (3) how do we get from problem to solution? (4) who are some exemplars of this path?

Christians would answer these questions: (1) sin (2) salvation through Christ (3) faith and good works (4) the great saints of the church. A Buddhist would answer these questions: (1) suffering (2) nirvana (3) the Noble Eightfold Path (4) arhats, bodhisattavas, or lamas.

As this comparison makes clear, Christians and Buddhists aren't just different embodiments of the same human response to the “divine” as the Perennial Philosophers say, they are different diagnoses of the deepest problem of humanity and how it can be solved.

Blogs in the South Dakota blogosphere seems to be guided by essential questions as well. Reading Pat Powers tweets and his Dakota War College blog convince me that Powers believes that South Dakota is, or can become, a Republican Eden. His essential question seems to be "How can I keep the non-Republican serpents out this South Dakota garden paradise?" By asking how he can keep the serpent from infecting this place, he has taken on himself to do what the Almighty could not, always a risky endeavor.

Powers is diligent and not an ineffective gardener. Humans, however, are notoriously poor at maintaining, let alone creating, a paradise; we are much better at creating parking lots. Powers, therefore, serves up lots of what he claims to be apple pie made from trees in his paradise. He has numerous taste testers who proclaim it the best pie they've ever eaten. Some skeptics claim that the offerings remind them of mock apple pie composed primarily from Ritz crackers. Still, voter registration numbers indicate that South Dakotans are not being tempted by fruit Republicans hope to keep forbidden or at least difficult to obtain.

If I read Larry Kurtz's tweets and his interested party blog correctly, he sees South Dakota and his purpose far differently. With due apologies to Flannery O'Connor, Kurtz is asking "How can I reclaim 'territory largely held by the devil?'" O'Connor chose to shock: in her stories, the Misfit kills the family including the garrulous grandmother; the fraudulent Bible salesman steals the nihilistic philosopher's leg and leaves her stranded in the hay loft, and a bull gores Mrs. Greenleaf. It should be noted that O'Connor, who died in 1964, lived in a more genteel age.

Like O'Connor and the best contemporary performance artists of our decidedly more aggressive era, Kurtz has chosen to shock rather than sympathize, cudgel rather than comfort. Audience members may not like the performances, but when one has chosen to fight  the devil, one is engaged in a street fight not a bout conducted under the Marquis of Queensberry rules.

Yesterday, PNR enjoined us to enjoy the holiday:

So celebrate the Fourth of July, the gift this nation has been to us and to the world.

We can fight again on the fifth.

As the arguments begin anew, it seemed worthwhile to discern  how and why some folks in South Dakota blogosphere fight the way they do. Herein endth today's metablogging

Public Service Announcement: Always Follow The Links

Pat Powers gleefully quotes the following passages from this Washington Post article about the South Dakota U.S Senate campaign:

After all, Weiland, a Democrat, was not the first — or even second — choice for the national party. He last ran for office in 1996. His positions on issues such as abortion and the Keystone XL pipeline have led some to conclude he may be too liberal for a state that is trending Republican at the federal level.

 *****

Weiland was far from the national party’s first choice in a state where convincing conservatives and moderates to vote for the Democratic candidate is a necessity. Former congresswoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin was heavily recruited by national Democrats and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), but decided not to run. So was Johnson’s son, South Dakota U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson, who also chose not to jump into the race.

***** 

Weiland is decidedly liberal. He is pro-choice, against Keystone, supports universal background checks for guns and is against the federal subsidization of big agriculture, which he believes is killing family farms.

The passages certainly fit the narrative Powers has worked hard to create: Wieland will lose because he's too liberal for South Dakota and national Democrats don't care if he wins.The quoted passages, in the main, fit the tone of the article, but the article does show Weiland to be an optimistic hard working campaigner.

Also left out is the fact that one could, if one were so inclined, go to the same article and produce the following headline: Rounds Wasteful and Scandal Plagued Campaign Fails To Excite Conservatives."

Rounds has raised $2.8 million and has spent the vast majority of the money.

***** 

Rounds ticked off his conservative credentials; he has, however, been criticized by some conservatives for tax increases.

***** 

Rounds is also dealing with continued fallout over a scandal involving a program that offered immigrant investors visas. It was found that the state lost money on the program, records were destroyed and state and federal authorities are investigating.

Always follow the link

2014 Midyear Blog Review

First, the past six months have reaffirmed my belief that published posts take on a life of their own. I never thought this post documenting a poster that combined Common Core with common double entendre would receive more clicks than any other post published during the past six months.

Second, my proofreading skills have deteriorated. Some posts have been very sloppy. I apologize and will attempt to do better.

Third, my New Year's Eve predictions about Annette Bosworth as a candidate and Steve Hickey's effort to repeal the death penalty were both proven true. My snarky prediction about the Susan Wismer/Joe Lowe primary contest was shown to be incorrect.

Fourth, I had hoped to average two posts per day. I'm not even close. I think I'll settle for beating last year's total.

Fifth, I've tried several, but I still haven't found an Android app for Blogger that I like. I would like to do more posts while away from home and free Wi-Fi. I would also like to avoid buying a mobile hotspot.

Sixth, I have done too many recent posts as lists. I need to get back to regular paragraphs.

That's probably enough naval gazing for today.

Is Bob Ellis The Love Child Of Darth Vader And Al Gore?

I ask because Ellis, the angriest man in the South Dakota blogosphere, favorably quotes interesting phrasing in his latest diatribe. It's not his conclusion:

As is always the case with liberals (in both parties), all the burden is on conservatives.  “Compromise” means “conservatives do what liberals want.” “Tolerance” means shut up and agree with liberals.” And “unity” means get behind the most liberal candidate available, regardless of party.

That's standard Ellis fare: "Liberals hate all that's good. Everyone who disagrees with me is a liberal because I am all that's good." Every time I read an Ellis column, I wonder what would happen if he were in a room with a dozen real liberals. I'm betting on spontaneous human combustion, but I digress.

The part of Ellis's post that prompted the question in the post's title was his use of this Steven Deace statement:

This will be a day long remembered. The day eyes were opened to the inconvenient truth . . . [italics in original]

It struck me as odd that a conservative crusader wouldn't recognize a quote from a Hollywood classic, conservatives believing Hollywood to be a liberal bastion of scum and villainy. It doesn't take a pop culture nerd to recognize that the first sentence was most famously uttered by Star Wars uber villian Darth Vader: "This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi, it will soon see the end of the Rebellion."

As to the second part, surely all true conservatives remember An Inconvenient Truth was the documentary about Al Gore and his efforts to make climate change a major policy issue.

Maybe, I went too far with the love child question. It would take some weird cloning to create a love child from Gore and Vader. It's just as likely that Ellis is a closet RINO. Hollywood and Gore sure sound liberal to me.

Hubbel Announcing Candidacy; Sibby Blogging Again; Coincidence?

Perhaps.  To be fair, Sibby's two recent posts, his first since July 23, have been traditional Sibby fare: Fabian Socialists, the national debt, and the Madville Times comment policy will bring about an disaster involving eschatological plagues.

It does seem curious, however, that Sibby resumes posting at the same time that Lora Hubbel publicizes her intention to challenge incumbent incumbent Republican Dennis Daugaard for the South Dakota GOP gubernatorial nomination.

Bob Mercer provides a timely reminder that Hubbel and Sibby have, to paraphrase the young'uns, campaign history:

Hubbel also was one of the forces behind a ballot-measure group in 2008 that received secret sources of funding. She was one of the directors for an organization called the South Dakota Conservative Action Council. The group provided about 80 percent of the money in 2007 to a committee, South Dakotans for Open and Clean Government, that put an initiated measure on the 2008 ballot (65 percent of voters rejected it). The Conservative Action Council wouldn’t reveal its sources for most of the funding that it passed along to the ballot committee. Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity and the National Taxpayers Union were active in South Dakota supporting the effort. The other two directors for the Conservative Action Council were Lee Breard, whose political roots were in Louisiana before he moved to South Dakota to establish the organization, and Steve Sibson of Mitchell, a conservative blogger. None of the three- Hubbel, Breard or Sibson — would disclose the council’s sources of money or the amounts.

Further, campaigns seem to increasingly use bloggers. Most recently, Stace Nelson announced that Ken Santema of South Dakota Liberty. In that light, Sibby serving as Hubbel's official blogger doesn't seem like a big stretch.

A Minor Musing About Blog Tackiness

Bloggers make mistakes. We forget to run spell check. We cut and paste text and leave out important words when we paste. Sometimes we mess up fonts. Our design skills may be lacking. Most South Dakota bloggers have a day job, so one can be charitable.

Some readers are annoyed by ads. Certainly, ads and tip jars are frequently poorly designed. Still, if bloggers can earn a shekel or two for their efforts, I'm not going to judge. One can ignore the sidebar.

However, Gordon Howie, as is his wont, takes blog ads to a new low by mixing used car ads with a post's text. This practice is nothing but tacky and speaks to a certain level of desperation

Howie's Used Car Ads and Blog Text
No word about whether cars have flood damage

I feel a little better now. I'll go back to making my usual errors. I apologize for for any grammarians offended by my beginning a sentence with the word "however."

A Bloggers' Prayer From Flannery O'Connor

Flannery O'Connor, one of America's best 20th Century authors, sought to "depict the action of grace in territory largely held by the devil." 

No lover of the sanctimonious or shallow, O'Connor frequently used her violent and unethical characters as catalysts for her protagonists' epiphanies. She has a spree killer known only as the Misfit kill a racist, self-righteous Grandmother seconds after she recognized him as "one of her babies.". She also depicts an atheist posing as an Bible salesman stealing an artificial leg from woman who proudly believed in nothing. O'Connor's effort to depict grace is not without bits of crude humor; the Bible salesman takes the pseudonym Manly Pointer.

First Things reports that a prayer journal O'Connor kept while a student at the Iowa Writers Workshop will be published in November. The last two sentences of one of her prayers should be uttered by all of us who hit the publish button and send our thoughts into cyberspace.

“I dread, Oh Lord, losing my faith. My mind is not strong. It is a prey to all sorts of intellectual quackery.

Know Your French Leftists: A Little Monday Night Metablogging

Let's take a little pop quiz. Which South Dakota blog featured a post favorably quoting a left-wing, gay, French philosopher who engaged in some sado-masochistic behavior?

A. The Madville Times authored by a French teacher and self-proclaimed liberal
B. Natural Right and Biology authored by a professor and self-proclaimed conservative
C. The American Clarion authored by a self-proclaimed Christian conservative
D. South Dakota Liberty authored by a self-proclaimed Libertarian

The correct answer is C. (Yeah, I made it easy for you.)

Bob Ellis's RSS feed/blog featured a post by John W. Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute which claims to be "dedicated to the defense of civil liberties and human rights." Whitehead begins his post with the following Michel Foucault quotation:

“Is it surprising that prisons resemble factories, schools, barracks, hospitals, which all resemble prisons?”

Whitehead goes on to list examples of schools acting like authoritarian states rather than learning institutions. The examples, if reported accurately, are egregious. Other Whitehead posts decry the surveillance state, a action that cannot be done often enough.

I know I've done a similar post recently, but seeing that Foucault quotation on Ellis's blog left me gobsmacked. I look forward to the Derrida and Nietzsche posts

After Repeated Errors, A Minor Musing Comes

I'm sure Emily Dickinson is spinning in her grave

I hate making mistakes. I especially hate repeating mistakes. I should, therefore, take a little time to examine what the heck I'm doing when I make and repeat the same blogging error.

A few years ago, I did a little navel gazing and wrote a post titled "What I'm Doing Wrong." I remembered that the conclusion was an Alan Jacobs tweet: "Sometimes I write blog posts not because I have anything original or even distinctive to say, but just to find out what I think." I still believe that sentiment to be true. I still try to practice it.

Until I re-read the post, I didn't remember I had opined that I have lousy keyboard skills, frequently don't proofread carefully, and don't have a consistent writing style. I believe I've admitted those failings elsewhere. I'll have to add that I may not always read posts or follow links as carefully as I should.

I had published fewer than 150 posts in August 2010. I've published over 1500 now. so I'll try to summarize a few principles my mistakes indicate I should practice.

First, John Wooden was correct: Be quick but don't hurry. Nearly every factual error I've made has occurred because I've been in a hurry to hit publish. The only deadline I have is self-imposed, so there's no need to hurry.

Second, exploration is better than confirmation. In other words, write blog posts "just to find out what I think." The posts I like best have been the ones that let me think out loud. As an aside, it seems every blogger who has ever written a post about the act of blogging has said he or she doesn't know which posts readers will generate reader responses. I know I'm surprised at the responses some posts generate.

Third, don't publish a post just to publish a post. I had stopped regular blogging during debate season. When I restarted, I was determined to use this Seinfeld productivity tip: "Don't break the chain." Once one has started a daily habit, one should view daily completion of the task as chain of red Xs on a calendar. One should try to avoid breaking the chain. I don't have a blogging calendar, but I do have the dashboard that lists the dates posts are published. I have tried hard to keep a two posts per day chain going. In retrospect, I probably should have been more concerned about being thorough than breaking the chain.

Fourth, blogging always takes more time than I think it will. That fact makes Wooden's maxim even more necessary.

Fifth, there some things I will never figure out. In the 2010 post, I mused about lack of niche. I'm still not sure I have one. I opine about politics, philosophy, education, pop culture, and whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. I'm not sure I'll change that part of this blog.

Finally, walk away at least once before hitting publish. Most of the grammar and mechanical errors on this blog were published because I didn't walk away for 5 minutes before reading the post for a final time.

Herein endth this moment of introspection.

As The South Dakota Blogosphere Turns: Conservative Boy And Liberal Girl Go On A Mission

Saturday is Free Comic Book Day. Some South Dakota bloggers believe they alone stand against evil from within and without. It's a match made in heaven.

Most of Conservative Boy's words come from here. Most of Liberal Girl's words come from here.

A Minor Musing On Star Trek And Poltical Writing

I have never been fond of Star Trek TNG's Captain Jean Luc Picard's catchphrase, "Engage." Spock's "Fascinating" has always seemed preferable.

Today's David Brooks column contrasts the two catchphrases as they relate to political writing. Brooks asserts that the "engaged" writer "closely and intimately aligns with a team," "provides arguments for the party faithful," builds community by reminding everyone of the errors and villainy of the opposing side," in order to energize and  mobilize "the people who already agree with [them]."

According to Brooks a "detached" writer "wants to be a few steps away from the partisans," "fears the team mentality will blinker her views," "wants to remain mentally independent," "sees politics as a competition between partial truths," and "wants the liberty to find the proper balance between them, issue by issue."

The whole column is worth a read, but Brooks avoids one key issue as urges political writers to become more detached: those writers he calls "engaged" have more readers. 

In this regard, South Dakota's blogosphere seems a useful microcosm. The two biggest kids on the block, The Madville Times and Dakota War College exemplify what Brooks would classify as engaged writers. Those blogs also have the widest readership. Most political readers desire powerful confirmation of their own worldviews and strong condemnation of opposing views. Others seem to enjoy being angry, and few things promote anger more than reading someone who promulgates the "wrong" political view.

Maybe that emotion is why Picard and Kirk made captain while Spock was the first officer

Let's Fold The Flag In The Applebee's Parking Lot

There once was a pastor in St. Louis who went to Applebee's as a member of a group of ten. The restaurant, as many do, added an 18% gratuity to the bill because the group was larger than six. The pastor then crossed out the gratuity on the bill and wrote that she gives God 10 percent, so the server should not expect more than God. The server's co-worker photocopied the bill and posted it on Facebook. She was subsequently fired at the pastor's urging. After the story broke, a bunch of people want to boycott Applebee's.

There was once a school janitor in Fort Pierre who got mad that a fellow custodian was not folding the American flag but rather leaving it in clump.  He claims to have complained to his superiors. After not getting a response he posted pictures of the flag on Facebook. He was fired.  A South Dakota blogger got mad became obsessed.

I have a 4 point modest proposal.

1. When tempted to post stuff online in order to get even, wait at least 24 hours before hitting submit or publish or whatever the heck Facebook asks you to hit so that the item gets published. (I have no Facebook account because I don't want people to find me, or I'm worried no one will want to find me. The reason changes daily.)

2. Play by the rules when out in public. There are rules for folding the flag and tipping. Both are published.

3. Read the Bible's book of James at least once a week, especially these verses from Chapter 1:

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

4. Listen to some Aretha

According To Brad Ford Hurricane Relief Means Liberals Are Nazis

Brad Ford is at it again. For those who have forgotten, Ford has asserted that slave owners did not abuse slaves.

Farmers don’t abuse, neglect, or minimize animals under their care because problems will show up.  Even slaveowners centuries ago understood this.  No, people aren’t animals, but the same dynamics about caring apply. Families know this instinctively.

As I noted when Ford first posted this ridiculous notion, 12 million slaves died over the Atlantic. Further, 27 million people are still enslaved today.

Just to update the numbers a bit, Manna Freedom reports:

Globally There are more slaves today than at any time in human history.  An estimated 27 million men, women, and children are living in bondage. In 2007, slave traders made more profit than Google, Nike, and Starbucks combined.

•     There are over one million new people trafficked annually.
•     80% are women and 60% are children.
•     Every minute two children become victims of human trafficking.
•     The average life span of a child caught in the sex slave trade is two years.
•     They are either beaten to death, contract HIV/AIDS, contract bacterial                meningitis, or overdose on drugs forced on them.

Then there was his infamous racial blending post.

Today, Ford asserts that Hurricane Sandy relief is evidence that the United States is governed by people with Nazi sensibilities. If I follow the train of thought correctly, Hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast. The Northeast is hyper-liberal. Chris Christie threw Mitt Romney under the bus. Massive fraud will ensue and be supported by the Federal Government. The only obvious conclusion to be drawn from these observations: Nazis.

But deliberate fraud by individuals may not be the biggest problem.  America has liberal power brokers ensconced in the highest levels: government, education, and the media.  Thanks to political correctness and demagoguery, their authoritarian controls rival that of Nazi Germany, though in different guise today to elude obvious parallels.

Are there even any independent conservatives still left in America who can be watchdogs of Hurricane Sandy relief payments to make sure the Northeast doesn’t glut itself with excess.  The money should go to those who really need it.

Ford is free to make his assertions, but I wish he'd remember Godwin's Law. More importantly, I wish he's remember just because one has the opportunity and right to make inane or offensive remarks doesn't mean that one should.

Superman To Become A Blogger

Finally someone more indefatigable than Cory Heidelberger has a blog. USA Today reports that Clark Kent, Superman's alter-ego will quit the Daily Planet and start a blog.

Newsrama.com reproduces a page in that shows Clark undergoing a bit of career angst.

Somehow it all seems fitting; if politicians resemble supervillains, the world needs Superman as a blogger. It appears that is further evidence that newspapers are going the way of this 1950s TV intro for a Superman television program.

Reason #33 Cory Heidelberger Is A Better Blogger Than I Am

Cory and I both saw this Nathan Johnson post on the recent Yankton City Commission meeting. We both read the hyperbolic rant:

A lack of volunteers does not indicate community disinterest, Commissioner David Knoff said.

“The Fourth of July is a perfect example,” he stated. “If you don’t think it’s that important of a deal to the community because the Chamber doesn’t want to do it, then let’s quit doing it. Then (the public will) come in here, set us all on fire, shoot us and do everything else. They want the event. They just don’t want to step up to it. They want to go to it.

Cory saw Dave Knoff's rant as the basis for profound philosophical questions about human nature, the role of government, and the needs of a well-ordered society.

I saw

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Worldviews

Ok. it's probably worth only three or four.

I think it's a great visual writing prompt.

Steve Sibson probably thinks it dipicts an actual Illumanti meeting.

Cory might muse that the guy to the alien's left looks a lot like Gorver Norquist would look if Norquist shaved. Cory might also make his students write about the picture in French

A person who thinks that Mitt Romney should have picked Allen West as his running mate probably wants to burn everyone depicted in the sketch at the stake and then try them as Communist sympathizers.

Picture via IO9.com

Gordon Howie Proves "The Onion" Prophetic

The Onion responds to the Colorado shooting with appropriately revealing satire:

"I hate to say it, but we as Americans are basically experts at this kind of thing by now,” said 45-year-old market analyst Jared Gerson, adding that the number of media images of Aurora, CO citizens crying and looking shocked is “pretty much right in line with where it usually is at this point." "The calls not to politicize the tragedy should be starting in an hour, but by 1:30 p.m. tomorrow the issue will have been politicized. Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shooter’s high school classmate is interviewed within 45 minutes."

This morning, Gordon Howie writes political boilerplate that The Onion's editors would have found too stereotypical to publish:

The Colorado incident would have had a far different outcome if someone in the theater had been exercising their right to carry a gun. This deranged shooter would have been stopped and many lives could have been saved.

The real problem in Colorado was that there wasn’t anyone prepared to DEFEND their self or others.

Tomorrow, I expect Howie's column to blame the slaughter on the fact that Batman and Catwoman had sex in Catwoman #1 during the DC comics New 52 reboot.

At South Dakota Politics Dr. Blanchard concisely sums up the situation:

The eWaves are afroth with unsupported speculation, hand wringing, condemnation and counter-condemnation over the atrocity in Colorado. Uncharacteristically, I won't add my bit (at least not just yet). Whatever we may learn in the days to come, I am confident that there is very little we will be willing and able to do about it.

There's little doubt we will be able to do much to stop a person set on doing harm to others; therefore, can we all just agree to prove The Onion wrong and wait until all of the funerals have been conducted before writing laughable political tripe?

I've Learned About Another Freedom

Hugh MacLeod who built an Internet cult following with his recommendations about how to be creative and his skill at doing interesting artwork on the back of business cards, has written a paean to blogging: Freedom Is Blogging in Your Underwear.  He has made made a few of his works free for bloggers to use as they see fit.

I decided to give myself a reminder that if I want to be a hipster blogger like this cat,

I really need to remember not to rise to every piece of political bait.