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The Dirty Secrets of a Blogger

Omnipotent Poobah — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:37:57 +0000

A fellow blogger once described me as, “a curmudgeon sitting on the porch, throwing firecrackers at the birds.” That’s a pretty good description I think. My posts are often cranky, snarky, and downright insulting. I don’t suffer fools gladly nor often demure from political incorrectness.

I’ve done this blogging gig a long time, even before there was an Internet. I used to ventilate via the now-quaint practice of writing letters to the editor. The vast majority of my posts involve the incendiary topics of politics or religion (insert shameless self-shill here … there are lots of other things you might enjoy too, so drop by). Most of the comments have been positive or just plain confused. But, many are completely hacked off at what I’ve written.

I appreciate the attaboys as much as the next guy, but I value the negative comments more. Engaging someone of an opposing view is one of the reasons I blog. Like Don Rickles, I suck readers in with insults then debate them using a much more reasoned and fair persona aka the real me. The debate usually betters my understanding of the opposing view. And hopefully, my opponent’s view too. If the argument brings in lurkers, as is often the case, more is the better.

Sometimes Comments Are Scary
Sympathetic readers’ comments are usually benign by nature. Truth be told, most of the negative ones are too. But occasionally, the negative ones cross a scary boundary.

In response to a letter to the editor I wrote at 15, I received a large package of Nazi and KKK pamphlets and the nicest death threat I’ve ever read, “Dear Sur [sic], I am moved to tell you…” The confusing part is that my letter supported the right of those knuckleheads to exercise their First Amendment right to march in a hotly-debated protest in Skokie, IL.

WTF?! Kill me for agreeing with you?

More recently I wrote a post that many women found shockingly misogynistic. I’m not greatly surprised at that because I often use politically incorrect speech. A large percentage of women said the post was demeaning to women in general. However if read carefully, I think it was obvious the discussion was about the sexism of Republican and Muslim men toward Michele Bachmann not about women as a whole.

‘You Are a Filthy Swine’
What made the reaction stand out was the quick and vehement response I received, some from women who admitted they never read the post. By quick I mean 12 (all negative) responses within 10 minutes after the post hit the ether. By vehement I read several comments like, “You are a filthy swine who is an embarrassment to the human race” to an email vow to cut off my balls. In all the years of posting I’ve rarely taken down or banned a commenter. Once for repeatedly violating in a polite request in numerous posts to stay on topic and the aggressive vasectomy post. The rest I’ve accepted, no matter how stupid or odious they were.

So if you read my posts, understand this: I write as a persona that is both arrogant and snarky. The real me is the commenter who tries to treat people politely and fairly and who many times will at least partially agree with you. Don’t mistake my willingness to engage anyone, even rabid sexists, racists, and all the other ists. Bring it on, but bring your A-game.

For those who accuse me, with some justification, of doing the same things I accuse others of doing, I say guilty as charged. My only defense is that I carefully chose what and how I write to get thoughts percolating and stimulate diverse views. Maybe even yours.

You’re free to accept this non-apology in any spirit you wish. That’s your right and I respect and wholeheartedly defend it.

But be forewarned, I’ve been lashed by some of the best so here’s the bat, go ahead.

The Omniptotent Poobah’s Cross Posts on Gather (omnipotentpoobah.com)
Death Threats and Hate Crimes, Attacks On Women Bloggers Escalating (ittybiz.com)
Bloggers, Are You Ready to Air Your Dirty Laundry? (blogworld.com)

Randomness: Cheer Up Japan Style

Omnipotent Poobah — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:29:51 +0000

A Brief Respite from Nuclear Armageddon

Those Tireless Workers of the Exploited Mechanical Class

Click photo for more

A Sucker’s Born Every 59.63 Seconds

It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time

Sexual Healing

Really? The Hell You Say!

Surfing the Crime Wave

Damn! He Really is Everywhere

More Randomness (omnipotentpoobah.com)
WTF Friday: Taco Bell Continues To Gross Everyone Out (collegecandy.com)
WTF News: Free Naked Rubdowns, Snooki Gets $32k For Rutgers Speech, Wyoming Town Has 4 Residents (coedmagazine.com)
Google Japan Logo For Japanese Doll Festival (searchengineland.com)
Cindy Jackson – The Woman Who Refuses to Age without a Fight (odditycentral.com)
The Secret of Barbie’s Rivals (time.com)
Where Have All the Robots Gone? (makezine.com)
Naked women reading (cancult.ca)
Mom Gets Her First Grader Plastic Surgery (wycd.radio.com)
Reading While Eating for April 8: Making Mischief (newsfeed.time.com)
Random Act Of Weirdness of the Day (thedailywh.at)

OMG, I Agree With Michele Bachmann!

Omnipotent Poobah — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:31:06 +0000

TWO BOMB HANGOVER - He's not going to go easily, but should we be the ones to try to make him?

In the midst of the crapstorm that has become life in these United States, I sometimes feel as if I’ve slipped into a parallel dimension populated exclusively by tea partiers, Glen Beck clones, Sarah Palin stand up comedians, and our reigning dizzy queen Michele Bachmann. That’s why when I agreed with one of her statements, I headed straight for the antipsychotics.

Please God, don’t let me die a “dittohead”!

The Maybe I’ll Certainly Run for President in 2012 Unless I Change My Mind Before Deciding to Redecide Again candidate laid into The Messiah™ for leading his uncoalesced coalition into Libya. Not surprisingly she’s against it, though I’m confident she would’ve been for it if Obama had decided against intervention. But this this time? I agree with her.

Doin’ the Tripoli Tango
Obama made a mistake in entering the fray. Michele and I agree there seems to be little compelling strategic US interest involved. As for the humanitarianism angle, there are places that DO involve strategic US interests AND plenty of poor wretches being ground under the jackboots of a dozen Col. Loony Toons and DickTaters. We aren’t feeling particularly humanitarian there, so WTF? The US simply cannot be the world’s cop. There’s an infinite supply of bad people and you can’t wipe them all out without weakening yourself. Even Bush the Lesser understood that, though he sometimes didn’t act that way.

I think Michele’s a little weak on the whole “al Qaeda” is afoot angle and by referring to the fiasco in the making as the “Obama Doctrine” she’s ignoring the fact that one decision does not a full doctrine make. These decisions should and are based on the conditions at the moment, whether they’re good or bad.

Now, we’re seeing the ghosts of neo-conservatism on Obama. He’s apparently signed a “secret order” authorizing covert support for the Libyan rebels. We’re slow learners about this whole, “let’s have a big freedom party and call all the poor kids over for punch, cookies, and purple thumb votes” thing. See Exhibits A (Iraq), B (Afghanistan), C-Z (dozens of other places where we’ve intervened to no great or lasting effect).

In case you haven’t noticed, democracies ain’t easy. If they were, the US would be in a lot better shape than we are. Bringing freedom to people takes more than no-fly zones, 10+ year wars, or secret orders. It’s an illusive thing being imposed on countries that have no real government to begin with – much less a democratic one. It’s a step learning curve, particularly when you’re being shelled by heavy artillery.

What’s it All Not About?
The question here isn’t whether the Carebear acted too slow or too fast. The question isn’t that he pulled together a coalition – no matter how feeble it is. It’s not about using the UN for a fig leaf. It’s not about how or if he consulted Congress. It’s not about whether he’s more inconsistent than George, because they both were. It’s about why we went in and now that we’re there, how the hell we’re going to exit.

The secret order suggests he’s going down the same rabbit hole as our previous Emperor. We’re already hearing about how things are just going ducky and how we’ll be out of Gaddafistan within days or months. It all sounds distressingly like the nearly 8-years the Dub prattled on about how things would be over soon in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Yeah, how’s that working out for us?

Never go into a battle unless you know what it means to win and how you will win the peace as well. If you’re stupid enough to go in and it becomes plain you had the intelligence of a donut to do it, figure out how you’re going to back out, gracefully or otherwise. The battlefield of statecraft is pock-marked by the bodies of countries that don’t learn those lessons. I don’t know about you, but I’m not in the mood for contributing more cannon fodder for a questionable war.

So Michele, hat’s off to you!

Maybe there’s hope for you yet.

A ‘doctrine,’ I presume? – Analysts define Obama’s approach (politico.com)
An Obama doctrine or the Bush doctrine by another name? | Richard Adams (guardian.co.uk)
The Obama Doctrine: Humanitarian Imperialism (outsidethebeltway.com)
Searching for the Obama doctrine (politico.com)
Hoist on His Own Doctrine: (brothersjuddblog.com)

Randomness: College of Musical Knowledge Style

Omnipotent Poobah — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:49:53 +0000

The College of Musical Knowledge

Big Ol’ Grab Bag of Fun

Wave at the Crime Wave as it Passes By

The Soft Underbelly of American Capitalism

There’s a Reason They Call You Insane

More Randomness (omnipotentpoobah.com)
“Charlie Sheen still makes more sense than John Boehner, because at least Charlie Sheen is winning.” (shortformblog.tumblr.com)
Sheen’s Escort Pick-Up Line — Hi, I’m an A-Lister … (tmz.com)
Coming soon to safe sex: Sponsorships (msnbc.msn.com)
Drunk Guy Stops Robbery (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
Monks ‘n’ Racks (cuteoverload.com)
A Winner’s Round-Up Of Random Charlie Sheen Links (thedailywh.at)
Even More Bitchin’ Charlie Sheen Links (thedailywh.at)

The Battle Over South Dakota’s Justified Homicide Bill

Omnipotent Poobah — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:50:28 +0000

South Dakota‘s proposed “justified homicide bill” has been withdrawn for the time being, but don’t be surprised if it returns like cow flop on a South Dakota rancher’s boots.

What’s the controversy? Read from the bill for yourself, “Homicide is justifiable if committed by any person while resisting any attempt to murder such person, or to harm the unborn child of such person in a manner and to a degree likely to result in the death of the unborn child, or to commit any felony upon him or her, or upon or in any dwelling house in which such person is.”

Some proponents of the bill, including bill sponsor and anti-abortion advocate Rep. Phil Jensen (R-South WTFistan), claim the bill has nothing to do with abortion. Opponents, and even some advocates believe that’s hogwash – and if you can read, that seems a reasonable interpretation – and doubt that it’s legally sound.

Legal wrangles over abortion have gone non-stop since Roe v. Wade became the basis for the law of the land, but the nation rarely looks at the pretzel logic behind the legality debate.

Pro-lifers often argue a fetus is a full-blown human being and that it’s justified, if not morally correct, to perform a sort of vigilante capital punishment on abortion providers because they’re “murderers”. So if self-appointed juries can mete out capital punishment for “murdering” abortion providers, how can many of those same people support state-sponsored capital punishment.

Even if one wraps themselves in the cloak of religion, how’s it possible to cite the 6th commandment without caveat – Thou shalt not kill – as the basis for killing an abortionist while ignoring it when a capital criminal walks the Green Mile?

And for the record, pro-lifers could reverse this tangle of law and morality to bash the other side. After all, why is it OK for pro-choice advocates to argue it’s OK to terminate a pregnancy, but are equally inflamed about abolishing capital punishment.

The legality of this issue is valid, but it’s a dicey legal case that’s spread beyond just the courtroom. For years, both sides have short-sightedly used Roe v. Wade as a one-issue litmus test for judge approval to the exclusion of all other issues. Judges should be made up of more than this one issue.

Abortion is a tough nut, a moral and legal tangle whipped raw by high emotion. There’s no perfect answer because it isn’t a zero sum issue with a clear winner or loser – no matter how much the opponents and proponents wish it would be.

Perhaps we’d all be better off to step back and think about this a little more dispassionately instead of counting the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pinhead.

Or, a South Dakota legislator.

South Dakota’s Anti-Abortionists Attempting to Justify ‘Justifiable Homicide’ (craigconsidine.wordpress.com)
South Dakota legislator backs down from ‘pro-life’ bill to legalize murder (alternet.org)
SD Looks to Legalize Murder of Abortion Doctors [Dispatches from the Culture Wars] (scienceblogs.com)
South Dakota GOP Propose Killing Abortion Doctors is &Ldquo;justifiable Homicide” (socyberty.com)
Lawmaker Behind South Dakota’s ‘Justifiable Homicide’ Bill Defends Measure, Makes Changes (huffingtonpost.com)
Open Season on Abortion Providers in South Dakota (and on Women Everywhere) (blogher.com)