Phillip is one of the nicest people I have ever met. I know his heart is in the right place, but I can’t understand the WE Blog’s current course. It could be, that Phillip doesn’t understand it either.
Rhonda Holman is a great writer. She is one of the most impressive editorial writers I have ever met. She is just brilliant.
I will never forget the night that TC’s son had to climb through a window to get Rhonda’s coat on a cold January night.
Back to the topic of this thread: I’d like to go home, but I am thinking that such a journey is no longer possible for me… I am sad, but accepting of this truth.
Iggy Donnelly
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
That place isn’t home. It’s a place I visit for very short periods of time and very infrequently.
The nicer you attempt to be the nastier you are treated. Civility is a sign of weakness and the posters who disagreed with you about something / anything in the past don’t wait to see whether this is a new issue and there may well be agreement or possible compromise. Nope! They see fresh red meat for their enjoyment.
I’m of the opinion that neither Phillip nor Rhonda read BTSNBN, care about or know the posters beyond ‘hits.’ It’s part of their job to intro threads — they do that, PERIOD. No interaction, no accountability, no answering to whether the opinion in the thread header is theirs also. Just high hopes the thread topic will be controversial enough to elicit lots of hits.
I can’t find enjoyment in attacking, neither is there any in proving someone wrong. Most of what happens at BTSNBN is so partisan, so far to both the left or right that it isn’t even interesting. There isn’t an opportunity to ask questions and maybe gain understanding of differences.
Even if the woman who seems to find personal enjoyment in attacking me wasn’t there, even if I was only reading impersonal attacks on others — it’s not healthy, it’s not enriching my soul, or stimulating my intellect.
Home is a place where you find the people that made it ‘home.’ This is home! I met many of you at BTSNBN, and I owe them that! You guys are the best.
When we gentle souls moved here where we could discuss issues, ask questions, examine until we found understanding, who would have guessed we would add to our online community!?
We found all those great blogs in our blogroll and the people behind them who make them great blogs! That’s been a real bonus! I encourage the Prairie P&Ps who haven’t already made it a habit to go make the rounds on a regular basis. See what our new online friends are saying at their blogs, comment and let them know they have an audience too.
I agree Fnord, this is MY home away from home. 🙂 You are creating your own place in cyber space and it is nice and safe. Plus you are making my home in Cyber Space a great place too…so thank you Prairie P&P’s you ARE making a difference and you DO have a voice.
Sometimes song lyrics can say it so much clearer than I could ever try so here’s some lyrics from Shinedown’s Second Chance
My eyes are open wide
By the way I made it through the day
I watch the world outside
By the way I’m leaving out today
Tell my mother, tell my father I’ve done the best I can
To make them realize this is my life, I hope they understand
I’m not angry I’m just saying
Sometimes goodbye is a second chance
Please don’t cry one tear for me
I’m not afraid of what I have to say
This is my one and only voice
So listen close, it’s only for today
Here is my chance
This is my chance
——–
While it’s always tempting to go home in literal or figurative sense. Nothing ever stays the same and change is constant. The impetuous of the creation of this blog (and Sekan’s before this one)was for relevant topical socio/political discussions for those that were willing to discuss in rational, calm, respectful manner. Unfortunately the unnamed blog runs rampant w/ mean-spirited individuals who ‘win’ discussions by becoming juvenile and by personally attacking those with different opinions. That’s not cool in my book.
While I freely admit I don’t post that often. (I do try to lurk. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one’s point of view) most of my computer time is during work. I do try to limit my online times to my breaks.) I do enjoy the varying opinions this site offers. I don’t agree with everybody. I am a registered republican (mainly so I can vote in primaries) but my heart mainly lies with the libertarians. I want a small government. I want social security/retirement to be privatized or the government to stop borrowing from it and put back what they’ve taken from it. I want my guns. I want to send my children to school where I chose – not where you bus. I want my children to learn lessons and not have everything handed to them. I want the pursuit of happiness. I want to live my life. I want you to live your life. I want to help others but let me volunteer my time and money to the causes I believe in.
dang I’m long winded today 🙂
I didn’t really expect my “affair” with BTSNBN to last long. I’ve learned that too many times others will spoil what might once have been a good thing.
In the poli-chat where I used to visit–OFTEN–I listened and read much of the same that goes on now at BTSNBN. I learned a lot there, after being a relative newbie to politics, but I also saw hate and bigotry grow from the right. Even sadder, I was called racist by some on the left, the same people who I had called friends before.
I respect the opinions of others, even if those opinions are the polar opposite of mine. I don’t have to agree with people to call them my friends. But when the name-calling begins, all hope is gone, and I won’t stay around to see or hear any more of it.
There’s hope here, and that gives ME hope.
Qn,
Your opinion on social security is very interesting to me. Perhaps that same opinion has been stated before and I didn’t pay as close attention, and maybe that was because it wasn’t stated as calmly and didn’t come from a person I know and respect. 😉
I’m of an age my social security isn’t in jeopardy like yours at your age. Most predictions point to you paying me mine, and none being left for you. And, although I knew that, I hadn’t given it the weight I should have before reading your post this morning!
Yes! We must do something. But until, and unless, protections against what happened in recent months are put in place, I’m still against privatizing social security. Government leaving their paws off that money and paying back what they’ve ‘borrowed’ seems more than reasonable tho!
I want to point out one more thing that could make a difference on attitudes and situations involving social security.
For people my age company pensions were often a given. Social security was also a given. We also didn’t have until around the mid eighties the opportunities for 401k, money markets… Even IRAs are relatively new and have been eclipsed by even more profitable ways of saving for retirement. People my age (I think I’m representative of the average?) invested in our homes and we bought government bonds, and we invested in our jobs — working for one employer most all of our life. We counted on that company pension and social security because we could.
So, in this I’m saying us old farts had advantages younger people don’t, BUT younger people have also had advantages in the types of investments available that we didn’t enjoy.
Always, there are several ways to look at any issue, always there is perspective (as our friend Point of View knows well!). If we aren’t open to the many bits of info our experience and our perspective don’t offer, how can we ever learn enough to come to a viable compromise for all?
Most days it depends on my mood which blog I hit first. If I am in the mood to kick a kitten I go to the blog that shall not be named. This morning I am still reeling from overload of the news, people and the world.
Since my mind refuses to shut off most of the time, I came here first to think in a peaceful way over a general hatred that causes the feeling of what would be the real lost if human’s became extinct?
I left a comment in that line on the other blog yesterday: The day is near when some space alien will say “Well they were too stupid to live anyway!”.
Some days I just lurk the other blog, not wanting heavy drama and as has already been said it is not about discussing there. It’s about stomping the foot and calling each other poop head!
I am pretty sure that Phillip and Rhonda don’t read the other blog. I’m also pretty sure they like it less than we do, even.
The BTSNBN has become pretty much uninhabitable unless you are a mindless RR nut-job troll. It didn’t use to be, but things do change.
I didn’t blog there as far back as many of you. It is worse today, but from the moment I arrived it was a horribly abusive place for a woman. If you men had seen it from the perspective of a woman, it would have seemed much worse sooner than you admitted.
There aren’t many women there and with one or two exceptions we few women had the other’s backs — except the ONE woman who made it her task to attack all evil liberal women and she made things really miserable for ALL OF US! I can understand the men who seem threatened by a strong women a little more easily than a woman who reacts in the same way. No matter the gender of an abuser, the person doing the abusing is displaying the epitome of insecurity!
iggy, I just don’t have that sinking feeling about leaving and moving on. You know enough of my story that maybe you understand my amatuer self-assesment. You’d have to classify the behavior, addictive, compulsive, I don’t know? Anyway, when I do something, I tend to do only that. If I decide to drink, that may be all I do. Same with work, sobriety, church, whatever. I dive deep into it, maybe to the point of burn-out, and then move on.
Example; the house I live in. It needed work. For 5 years that’s ALL I DID. Got burnt out. Moved on. The house is still unfinished.
Well, I ramble. You get the point. When I did ‘discussion’ at WE Blog, I did it hot and heavy. Got burnt and burnt out. Moved on.
I have a new & improved home here.
Hell I’d bet 4 out of 5 doctors would recommend the new vs. the old.
Now to work on moderation and balance…..
Dear god Sekan don’t get bored with the Loon’s blog!!!! I’ll buy you a Three Wolf Moon t-shirt if you stay…or you can borrow Fnords! (kidding Fnord… though I am highly suspicious you are hiding a snuggie blanket!!!!)
Loon, my thermostat is broken and when it died it was stuck on HOT, so the snuggie blanket would only look good to me if I were visiting Alaska or someplace equally cold. 😉
I do have some (minor!) problems tho and since the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt solves everything…
Fnord, you don’t know how much I laughed over that story and video. They are playing that friggin snuggie blanket ad continually over here. Luckily the Three Wolf Moon t-shirt hasn’t made it to our shores.
The abusiveness to women was always a complaint that Phillip and Rhonda made. The female poster fnord refers to always made me think of a brain damaged rabid dog. I always enjoyed hitting her between the eyes with an axe handle. I guess from what she has posted I had hurt her feelings in the past. I knew it was time for me to leave, when I couldn’t fathom that this poster actually had any feelings.
The BTSNBN was a learning experience for me. It helped me realize that I am not as good a person as I aspire to be.
I shared an email with many of the regular posters here from Phillip. I guess this is what got me all mushy about the other place. Sorry. I will try to keep that in check.
There’s nothing wrong with a little nostalgia now and then, Iggy. At least as long as we give it it’s proper due and remember to live in the here and now, not the past. 🙂
I stopped posting on the other blog several months ago. I do go over there occasionally to see who is posting and what is being said, etc. I’ve been doing it daily since Dr. Tiller’s assassination.
I’ve noticed something – each time I am there, the same regurgitation of hate gets spewed again, again and again.
The same talking points are thrown back and forth and exactly how is this changing anyone’s mind or even the perception of another’s viewpoint?
I have to chuckle when a few of the Cons seem to be bragging about how all those evil Liberals left the blog. Are they really that arrogant to think just because they are bullies, we left?
Why continue to fight with a person who refuses to listen? Why continue to fight with a person who enjoys confrontation? Why continue to fight with a person who uses their religion as a weapon?
My life is too short and precious to waste on such tripe.
SEKB was a poster, by a different name, who I used to look forward to reading at the BTSNBN. Many a morning I’d laugh out loud at this commentary. Now I get to enjoy him in a less hostile countryside – that’s an improvement…
Besides, the evil Liberals (with the help of some moderate Republicans) got Obama elected and the Cons grasp on power is slipping – and they know it.
They are running scared. Now, that’s something to chuckle about.
One question maybe someone here knows – does the Wichita Eagle track the hits on their blogs and that has something to do with their ratings or their revenue?
I understand their reasoning for wanting to post controversial topics but some individual postings I have seen are absolutely hateful and borders on threatening.
And just how much power does WE have to pull a blog when things get out of hand?
I know they track the ‘hits.’ I attended one meetup at their place of business and they told us they had the second most hits of _____ (I don’t remember of what). They were proud of it. I don’t know the monetary affect, but suspect they can use the hit stat to at least impress advertisers. As far as power to pull a post I suspect little if any. The most I’ve seen available to them in any quick response is to stop allowing comments on a thread. Otherwise, I think it is a long and not simple process. I think if they monitor, if they control, they also accept some legal ramifications they don’t want.
Yes, Fnord I think you will find if you censor a blog you are then liable. That is why you find blogs such as Perez Hilton just let all the comments on. Oh crap…I think that makes me friggin libel. I better be nicer to Ann 🙂
Interesting Lilac, I was reading today how more and more people are being sued for derogatory comments made on other people’s blogs. Anna Nicole Smith’s mom is currently suing a housewife who went on someone’s blog and allegedly made false allegations about her. The woman claims she was just bored and wrote a piece of gossip on a blog. They tracked her down and she is now fighting it out in court. Slowly but surely they are censoring cyber space. In Australia they have already blocked over 4000 websites. It was suppose to be just child porn sites but it now includes radical political sites and some informative sites which simply the government doesn’t want us reading.
I am guessing if someone slanders you on …the blog that shall not be mentioned…you can now sue. Or at least get an apology.
iggy thanks for the compliment.
lila, I’m not sure how they get paid, but in short, yes.
hits=ratings=money
Yes Sekan…and you guys should be running adsense on your site!!! I can’t because of the word “friggin” but all my other sites do and it is a great little revenue stream. Every time someone clicks on that ad you get paid. The more popular the site the better the ads the higher the click rate.
I had set up adsense at an old spot, Kansas Mediocrity, b4 I came here.
Like I said. One thing at a time.
I can’t imagine I would have ever got enough ‘unique’ hits and clicks to make it worthwhile.
I was losing interest in blogging altogether when iggy rescued me by setting this up.
OK, OK, but how’s about a “How Pot Saved America” post! 🙂
Or something equally entertaining while being enlightening as only our Sekan can do! There is no one who could ever equal his talents — he is the champion!
I agree Fnord…Sekan is one in a million!
“How pot saved America”
You know, there are old hippies and also “really old” hippies. I heard once from one in the latter demographic that when pot first came to America people thought they were supposed fight one another when they were intoxicated on it – like you do with alcohol. I am thinking I’d take my chances with a stoner wanting to hit me vs. a drunk wanting to do the same thing.
To give you an idea of old this hippie was, he said he used to purchase pot before it was sold in ounces or “lids”.
That sounds like the start of joke, doesn’t it: “Why, that hippie was so old. . .”
My contribution: “Why that hippie was so old, he had to invent fire so he could catch a buzz!”
Top that one, SEKB.
“Why that hippie was so old, he rolled his first joint using Dinosaur skin brand papers!”
“Why that hippie was so old, he was the one who invented pot!”
“Why that hippie was so old, when his body was raked by a T-Rex and the teeth left long scratch from head to toes. Someone ran up and asked how he felt. And the hippie was the first one to use the term “Groovy”.
(LOL I like this game!)
Why that hippie was so old he can’t remember!
HIGH guys. Just got back. You got me blushing.
Awww jeeezzz.
iggy, I’m going to carry on with the old ‘war stories’.
Not only was it a ‘lid’, but you measured it in fingers. By holding your hand up against a standard size sandwich baggie you could tell how many ‘fingers’ your lid was. A 3 finger lid should be more or less an ounce, and acceptable. Back in the day, most people buying and selling really weren’t in it for money, you were usually just buddies. Therefore a 4 finger lid was standard fare.
And I don’t think I ever heard of a pound of weed until I was eighteen. It was so cheap and easy to get that it only came in kilos!
I did kinda mention to loon some post about how pot could save america. Hmmmm……
Hey toosmart…..
I always tell the younger ‘freaks’ that “Back in the day, I was SO COOL… that the Zig-Zag Man got a tattoo OF ME!
BTW, “catch a buzz” was an east coast expression, I think. In college a girl from “lon gisland” asked me to come to her dorm room to “catch a buzz.” I thought I was really in luck. I was, but not in the way I had hoped. Oh well.
I recall “three finger” lids. While hitch hiking in Colorado in my mis-spent years (they were maybe 6 months in length), I remember meeting a deaf hitch-hiker who showed me the sign for a “lid” – it involved using three fingers.
Any you old hipsters remember the word, “can”, as in can o weed? Now that’s going back aways.
Don’t remember a “can of weed” – tell us more jammer…
I would but I CAN’t remember 🙂
“That place isn’t home. It’s a place I visit for very short periods of time and very infrequently.”
Back to the topic: fnord is correct on this one. I recall distinctly meeting fnord on that cold night in January. I am grateful for meeting her and the people that I have met through this venue.
I guess the rest is up to us…