Tuesday, August 25, 2009
I've had it with Mt. Blogmore.
Randy Rasmussen's most recent post is unconscionable. I'm not going to link to it. I'm not even going to discuss what it says. I'm simply going to announce here that I'm not going to contribute to Mt. Blogmore any longer. Rasmussen has defiled what was once one of the finest Political blogs in the Nation. Very sad. I'm so personally offended by his post, I don't want my name on the Mountain anymore.
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25 comments:
A little behind the scenes info. I posted my resignation to Mt. Blogmore at 6:56 am. As of this posting, my comment is still "awaiting moderation."
I guarantee the language I used was completely in bounds.
Here's what I wrote: "That’s it. I’m done posting here. Thanks for ruining Mt. Blogmore Rasmussen."
I'd be most interested to know why the Blogmore editors are holding my comment back.
They have a habit of failing to post comments which have links indicating the regressives are dead wrong on facts or logic. It does get irritating since it gives the impression the lunacy has been unchallenged.
Apparently they also don't like the term "Famn Damily" either. Now and then the prissiness is more than a bit cloying. I guess if they want Mt. Blogmore to be suitable for reading first graders in Sunday School, they are on the way.
I will keep posting there anyway, because to not post gives the illusion that the right wing irrelevancy is truth, apple pie, Chevrolet, and the American way.
I have seldom found debating folks that agree with the likes of Rasmussen useful. It is unfortunate that Mt. Blogmore has been taken over by the extremists at the RCJ. That blog has not represented an open exchange of ideas for sometime. The blog of Harlan, Woster and Ross is gone. RIP open debate and intellengent commentary on that blogsite.
Good luck, Doug. I'm done with them. The only way I'd even consider posting there again is if Rasmussen retracts his garbage torture post and apologizes for insulting both his Blogmore readers and every American soldier who has ever died upholding our Nation's honor.
Bill,
Perhaps you are upset about the same humorous style to make political points that you so often use?
i gave up on blogmore a long time ago. i know what doug is saying, but it's really an endless battle that wastes more time than it's worth. there are better ways to spend your time. look at the responses by 'marie' and 'ray'... the that now inhabit the mount are not looking for discussion, they are looking for affirmation, which randy gladly supplies (or maybe it's the other way around?).
it's a downward spiral.
personally i think wooster should get out of there before he gets sucked down in it. it damages his reputation to be involved with it at all, at this point. if he did that, the reaction of the editors would make their true values painfully clear to everyone.
If you think it's funny Steve, you read it, ok?
steve: just because randy attempts to make a joke, and bill often uses humor to make a point, does not equate to using 'the same humorous style'.
do you think bill cosby and dennis leary have 'the same humorous style'?
Somehow I don't get that you are upset by Randy's post. It is far less insulting to the troops than the way the CIA is being gutted right now. But you are entitled to your opinion. Why don't you ask the troops which they prefer?
Thank you anonymous blog commenter for so generously granting me entitlement to my own opinion.
Now if I could just persuade you to refrain from trying to instruct me as to what that opinion is, we might actually get somewhere.
to anonymous:
why are we asking the troops what they prefer? it really isn't their decision to make. it's the decision of their commanders who are responsible to our elected officials. since these officials are elected by you and bill and i, then it is really up to us.
it is quite clear that the american people (troops included) do not condone torture of any kind, and support finding out and punishing those who committed those criminal acts.
many troops do not support torture because it creates a situation where they may be more likely to be tortured if captured.
finally, gitmo has made us less safe. it ferments hatred in the minds of those who already dislike us. it is equivalent in succeeding at reducing 'enemy combatants' as reagan's 'war on drugs' has been for marijuana use. namely, it has done exactly the opposite of it's 'purpose', and has actually decreased our safety (which, i believe, was its real purpose in the first place).
The CIA is not being gutted. It is being directed back towards its proper course of gathering information through clandestine means.
Gutting is what Novak did when he outed Valerie Plame at Cheney's behest.
Betty, I think the troops prefer that if they are going to be asked to fight, then they be allowed to do it without their hands tied. And going after the CIA etc does tie the hands. We lost Vietnam by allowing the politicians to run it, and we will lose this for the same reasons. I don't condone torture either BTW. We just differ on what torture means. And we always will. I do not condone pulling out fingernails, beheading, any of the stuff that was done to McCain by the Vietcong, and I'm sure you don't either. But a little humiliation in my mind is not torture. And going after people who in good conscience were following legal precedents in intelligence gathering to save American lives, when Obama said he was going to look forward and not backward, is not in our best interests either. Allowing our enemy to know all about our intelligence gathering, and showing our allies that information shared with us is not necessarily going to be held private by another administration because they simply want to castigate said administration (regardless of which party does it), will place us at jeopardy.
And yes, again, ask the troops. I have no doubt what they would say. And since they are the ones risking their lives, they DO have a right to an opinion on this matter.
Anonymous: "And yes, again, ask the troops. I have no doubt what they would say."
Unbelievable.
Who is this guy, Nostradamus?
anonymous - please explain what investigating cia torture has to do with 'troops' having their 'hands tied'.
The post is sickening. It goes far beyond black humor. Bill and I disagree on some of the issues surrounding torture. We agree on this utterly stupid post.
"just because randy attempts to make a joke, and bill often uses humor to make a point, does not equate to using 'the same humorous style'."
betty, you make a great point, and yes I do mean the same style too.
And sorry Bill, I did not mean to leave the impression that your humor is funny.
Good old Sibby. Always trying to cheer me up. Thanks, man. Now get back on the short bus and go get some dinner. I think it's corn dogs tonite. Your fave.
Not to argue, but from here, the irony of RR's post is thick as molasses in January. All the folks who have experience in interrogation assure us that the 'harsh' interrogation techniques produce little of value. It seems to work better to befriend and even joke around with suspects. There must be Monty Python fans amongst the jihadis who would laugh uncontrollably and then have a hard time playing the tough guy with any interrogator who had dressed in red cassocks and poked them with a sofa cushion, ne'cest pas?
Mr. Bill, I’ve read your posts as an opportunity to gain knowledge and a sense of logic. There is no doubt you’re upset about Randy Rasmussen’s bad joke of a post. It leaves me questioning on why you, a wordsmith, a rock ‘em and sock ‘em type of writer didn’t hit him up on the post.
Maybe you have forgotten I have a child with a developmental disability. Not that I add much to your table, but I could take offense at the short bus insult and quit perusing and commenting on your forum.
It would be immature of me to not overlook those types of comments, although I question what relation the comment had to the decorum of the conversation.
I lack the words in my attempt for you to reconsider leaving Mt. Blogmore. You did bring much to their table and you will be missed. :)
DragonFly, fair honest questions. I'll answer as thoroughly as I can and still hopefully remain brief.
I don't want to have anything to do with talking to Randy R. about his post. It is that offensive to me, and it's obvious that he could never understand why... just look at the rest of what he's written to justify what is to me an unjustifiable position.
There is, to my mind, no better way to state the intensity of my conviction than to abandon what would almost certainly be a pointless exchange of energy before it even begins.
I have a prayer that I say every day. The Serenity Prayer. Do you know it? I ask for the serenity to accept the things I can't change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. My action with Randy has a lot to do with parts one and three of that prayer.
I learned from my teacher, Cesar Chavez ,that sometimes the best way to fight is not to fight, and to witness and be witnessed instead.
As for the "short bus" comment, I myself have ridden in one several times in my life, literally as a patient. So to me, there's no shame in it.
Even so, it's a bit of a custom for Sibby and I to make fun of each other in that way. Perhaps we shouldn't, out of deference to those unfamiliar with how we sometimes carry on and to whom such reference may indeed constitute a real insult.
If that is the case with you, I sincerely apologize.
I would never intentionally slight, malign or ridicule either you or your child.
Or Steve either, for that matter. Sibby and are rivals with conflicting philosophies, but we don't loathe each other. It's more like each of us is trying to save the other from insanity — again, perhaps an exercise in futility.
Such is the nature of relationships on blogs, huh?
Thanks for your concerns and candor, DragonFly. As always, it's good to talk with you.
BF writes:
"I learned from my teacher, Cesar Chavez..."
As in, you've read/admire/take to heart his teachings or were you actually a student?
I was on his staff, Taunia, at the UFW headquarters in Keene, CA from 1973-75.
I was the Communications Director for the movement
on loan to the Union from the National Farm Worker Ministry.
Lot's of stories to tell... maybe later, ok?
Si Se Puede.
Wow...I've been missing out.
Um, yeah, set some time aside for this story, write about it here in a post or e-mail me. You know I'll plague you until you do.
@Anonymous: You said "But a little humiliation in my mind is not torture."
What is humiliation? Humiliation to me may be torture to you.
As for RR's wish to be waterboarded. I have an old Navy Intel friend in DC that I'll call up who may be able to help out, if anything find someone who knows how to do it or has their "Waterboarding License" or whatever it may be called.
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