An update to a story that I blogged on the other day. One of NRO’s writers named Ed Whelan outed a centrist Blogger who we now know is named John Blevins, but blogged under the pseudonym of publius. Earlier I shared my feelings about this. But it appears that Ed has apologized and John has accepted.
On reflection, I now realize that, completely apart from any debate over our respective rights and completely apart from our competing views on the merits of pseudonymous blogging, I have been uncharitable in my conduct towards the blogger who has used the pseudonym Publius.Earlier this evening, I sent him an e-mail setting forth my apology for my uncharitable conduct.As I stated in that e-mail, I realize that, unfortunately, it is impossible for me to undo my ill-considered disclosure of his identity. For that reason, I recognize that Publius may understandably regard my apology as inadequate.
Done in very good form and I hereby retract my statement about him being an f’ing a-hole. It takes a big man to apologize and admit you screwed up.
Publius as well, in good form accepts the apology:
Ed Whelan has written both publicly and privately and apologized. I know it was not an easy thing to do, and it is of course accepted. I therefore consider the matter done, and don’t intend on writing about it anymore.
The real story here wasn’t really about me anyway — it’s about whether the norm of pseudonymity is a good thing. And there’s a legitimate debate about that. Personally, I think that pseudonymity is a net benefit, whatever other costs it brings. More voices are better than less — and pseudonymity (to me) enriches the public sphere by adding voices that could not otherwise be heard. But people can disagree in good faith about these things, as Whelan correctly notes.
Anyway, I’m moving on. I appreciate Whelan’s update. And that’s all I have to say. Let’s talk about Jon & Kate Plus 8 instead. I’ve heard they hired attorneys.
Some are saying that this apology was forced. Whelan is denying this charge and I do believe him. I highly doubt that NRO would get involved in such matters.
Anyhow, to both of them; well done. I just wish that the rest of the blogsphere was this civil and decent.
I am commenting on this because I think it deserves a comment. I have very mixed feelings on the outing of a centrist Blogger, who blogged under the name of publius over at Obsidian Wings.
The reason why I have these mixed feelings is this. Because I personally know how frustrating it can be, when you have some anonymous Blogger or even person on the internet harassing you. Believe me when I tell you; I have been there and done that. However, I also believe in the right to privacy as well. So, I am quite conflicted.
To his credit, publius or John Blevins gives some very valid reasons for his wanting to remain anonymous:
As I told Ed (to no avail), I have blogged under a pseudonym largely for private and professional reasons. Professionally, I’ve heard that pre-tenure blogging (particularly on politics) can cause problems. And before that, I was a lawyer with real clients. I also believe that the classroom should be as nonpolitical as possible – and I don’t want conservative students to feel uncomfortable before they take a single class based on my posts. So I don’t tell them about this blog. Also, I write and research on telecom policy – and I consider blogging and academic research separate endeavors. This, frankly, is a hobby.
Privately, I don’t write under my own name for family reasons. I’m from a conservative Southern family – and there are certain family members who I’d prefer not to know about this blog (thanks Ed). Also, I have family members who are well known in my home state who have had political jobs with Republicans, and I don’t want my posts to jeopardize anything for them (thanks again).
All of these things I would have told Ed, if he had asked. Instead, I told him that I have family and professional reasons for not publishing under my own name, and he wrote back and called me an “idiot” and a “coward.” (I’ve posted the email exchange below).
So there you have it – I’ve been successfully pseudonymous since the Iowa caucuses in 2004. During that time, I’ve criticized hundreds of people – and been criticized myself by hundreds more. But this has never happened.
And yes – I criticized Whelan rather harshly. But that’s what the blogosphere is about. Blogging is not for the thin-skinned. And you would think that someone who spends their days trying to destroy other people’s reputations in dishonest and inflammatory ways wouldn’t be so childish and thin-skinned.
Again, I believe that Ed did have a right to know who it was that was criticizing him. However, I have reviewed the posts in question, and I simply do not believe that a public outing was necessary and quite frankly; it shows a lack of class and a very childish demeanor on the part of Ed Whelan. I do however disagree with the line of “But that’s what the blogosphere is about.” I feel that if you are going to criticize someone, you should have the guts to give your true identity. Criticizing someone behind the cloak of anonymity is the essence of cowardice, in my humble opinion.
The bottom line is this; if you are going criticize someone and you are going to hide behind an assumed named, you should be prepared to be exposed for the coward that you are. Further, one should not complain that they are being exposed, because a “pen name” is not a guarantee of privacy.
However, in the wake of the shooting of the abortion doctor and many of the other incidents in the last few months, one would think that Ed Whelan would have used a bit more common sense in a situation as this. But then again, we are talking about Neo-Cons. Not that they care about privacy, just ask George W. Bush. 🙄
Update: Ed Morrissey gives his take and quite surprisingly basically somewhat agrees with me. Not to rip off Redd Foxx or anything, but….This is the big one, Elizabeth I’m coming join you honey! Oh hell, Here’s Mr. Foxx doing it better, than I ever could: (Scroll to the 3:13 mark, if you want to see what I’m referring to…)
Update #2:Ed Whelan posts a follow up, further proving that he’s nothing more than a fucking asshole. But then again, you most likely already knew that. I retract this, click here to see why.
It is not everyday that I get to do something of this nature. As you all know there was a murder of an abortion doctor in Kansas yesterday. As I said last night, I do not support this sort of extremist nonsense. As neither does any other sort of sane thinking American; Conservative or Liberal, or anything else in between.
These videos, I believe are a text book example of the dogmatic positions that have infested the Liberal and Conservative factions of the political debate in this country.
First off, here’s Bill O. condemning the attacks, and all the while denying the fact, that the killer might have actually watched his show:
Notice that there is no “Hey, We’re sorry that the man is dead.” or anything of that sort, just an arrogant bristle at his critics that accuse him of having at least some sort of culpability; even if it is simply being a messenger boy for the traditionalists.
Next up, we have the poster child for the far left, the man; whom I thought was a legit answer to Wilsonian, Neo-Conservative Foreign Policy of George W. Bush. Whom also magically transformed himself, after the election of President Barack Obama; into a political hack and a defender of the throne, of sorts, to the new Liberal President. What follows is nothing more than a Left Wing smear of the Conservatives, of all stripes and flavors:
As a libertarian-minded, Paleo-Conservative; I find both of these men equally disturbing. First off; any broadcaster and political opinion maker who favors “quarantining” anyone’s freedom of speech, is as far as I am concerned not better than the soviet communists of old. That goes well beyond just being a Liberal Democrat; that is basically being a far left wing Liberal Fascist. This sort of nonsense is NOT, I repeat, NOT what the founders of the Democratic Party of old would have wanted.
Further more; I find Bill O’Reilly’s arrogance to be absolutely sickening. A man was just gunned down in the lobby of his own god damned Church for Christ’s sake; and the best this idiot Irish piece of shit can do, is smirk and bristle when someone points out the obvious about the far right and their tendency towards a fascist position of individual rights and freedoms of women? It is no damned wonder that ALL of the old media is tanking like a leaking boat! 🙄
While I am quite sympathetic to the right to life cause. I cannot and will not endorse a policy that I feel to be border-line Nazi Fascist in nature. This is one of the main sticking points between me and the G.O.P.; I believe that Abortion and ANY laws pertaining to it, should be on a STATE level and NOT on a Federal level. How these Republicans can talk limited Government out of one side of their mouth and then want to have Federal Government regulation on something is now and should always be the choice of the individual, is nothing short of an equal with Hitler’s Nazi Germany. There is no such thing as big Government Conservatism. You are either a big Government type or a small limited Government person, you cannot be both.
While I am on the soapbox here, let me say a few other things that are radar here. I notice that today that there was a shooting of couple of our American Soldiers, by some Negro Muslim convert. I notice the Liberal Blogs are not exactly running this one up a flag pole, now are they? No! You know why? Because the Radical Muslims and possibly all Muslims in general share the same trait as the Liberals in this Country, and that’s a hatred of this Country’s Christian values and our Military.
…and one more here, before I finish this rather cranky blog post, another thing that I saw that burned my damned balls with this little gem by noted Neo-Conservative Blogger Ed Morrissey, on the Tiller Murder:
The murder of George Tiller at his church is a heinous crime, without any sense or justice. Regardless of how one feels about George Tiller’s profession, his murderer is nothing more than a domestic terrorist — someone attempting to impose by force a policy that one cannot get in place through democratic means. Tiller’s killer is no better than William Ayers, Kathleen Soliah, and Eric Rudolph, people who attempted to use violence for their extremist ends. Those who value life know that murder is the antithesis of the pro-life movement.
That stupid idiotic nonsense up there that I bolded, italicized and underlined up there. Could have been written by John Podhartz or Bill Kristol, both noted Neo-Conservatives. The cold, hard, sober fact is that this Scott Roeder is nothing more than a cold blooded killer; who was a part of a far right wing, anti-Governmental underground group, he is NOT a jihadist. I, quite frankly, wish that Ed Morrissey would pull his rather pointed head out his ass long enough to realize that. This drivel comes from the same place that says that Israel has never, ever, committed any acts of “Terrorism” themselves and the CIVILIANS (not Hamas or Hezbollah) of Palestine and more specifically Gaza; got exactly what was coming to them.
“More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when the Bush crowd was looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”
“More and more the timeline is raising the question of why, if the torture was to prevent terrorist attacks, it seemed to happen mainly during the period when we were looking for what was essentially political information to justify the invasion of Iraq.”
All Dowd did was change “we were” to “the Bush crowd was”.
Now, I’m all for cutting & pasting. As a blogger I do it all the time, but I always give credit.
So, if this isn’t outright plagiarism by a top NY Times Editorialist, than I’m a happily married, straight man with 4 kids, 2 dogs, a lovely 2nd wife of 15 years with a girl half my age on the side.
Which I assure you all, I am not.
Josh has a valid point. When we bloggers use content from other sites, or we copy something, we ALWAYS; well unless someone’s being an prick or something like that, credit the original source and link to that source article. Like I did this piece. What Dowd did was totally unprofessional and just plain rude. Of course, when called on it; Dowd is in full backward cat crawl mode:
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, in an email to Huffington Post, admits that a paragraph in her Sunday column was lifted from Talking Points Memo editor Josh Marshall’s blog last Thursday.
Dowd claims that she never read his blog last week but was told the line by a friend of hers. In a follow-up email, she forwarded her desire to apologize to Marshall, writing that had she known, she would have gladly credited Marshall.
josh is right. I didn’t read his blog last week, and didn’t have any idea he had made that point until you informed me just now. i was talking to a friend of mine Friday about what I was writing who suggested I make this point, expressing it in a cogent — and I assumed spontaneous — way and I wanted to weave the idea into my column. but, clearly, my friend must have read josh marshall without mentioning that to me. we’re fixing it on the web, to give josh credit, and will include a note, as well as a formal correction tomorrow.
Oh Yeah, the old “I got it from a Friend” line…. Josh chimes in here:
Indeed. Dowd got busted and now she’s trying to walk it back. She’ll be either fired or will take vacation till the heat blows over…. or at wost, end up as lackey over at MSNBC with the rest of the Plagiarizing idiots. (You know who I mean… I hope.)
Boy. Take a break from Blogging and all the cool stuff happens. Wow! 😮
Yes, I have seen and know about the Video of Kareem Dale expressing his and the White House’s Love for MSNBC. However, I refuse to write a blog posting attacking the man, and I think if any of my fellow Conservatives had actually watched the video; they would have most likely not have attacked this man in the fashion in which they did.
The Video:
Notice anything overly different about him? No, I am not talking about him being a Democrat…..
The man is stone.friggin’.blind. —– Well, partially blind according to what I have read.
I have a rule, when it comes to blogging, writing and just life in general, and that rule is this; you just do not mock, bad mouth, or generally give a hard time to the handicapped. You just do not do that. I do not care what Mr. Dale said. He is blind, you do not mock the handicapped. If Mr. Dell would have said that he thought President Obama was Jesus Christ; I would feel the same way.
I hate to be the one to say this, but I think my fellow Conservatives need to go back and read books on manners. Because really, we are making our cause look horribly bad, at this point. Yes, I know what liberals did to John McCain during the election; So what? Does that make it automatically okay for we Conservatives, who are supposed to be better than the morally depraved liberals, to mock someone who has a handicap, that he has no control over? Not the last time I checked.
Sorry guys, whoever thought that it would be funny to bring this up, obviously did not look at the tape, and notice that they were about to mock a man, who was, essentially blind. Sorry to say it; but mocking the President is fair game, mocking his policies is also fair game. But mocking a man who has been blind his entire life, that is off limits in my book. As someone who has a developmentally disabled aunt, doing this sort of a thing is just god-awfully wrong.
I say this, because on a former blog, that I used to run; before it was hacked. I made one of those sort of mistakes, one so horrible that I do have the stomach to even mention what it was, mostly because I am ashamed of it. Let me just put it to you this way; remember what Ann Coulter said to that disabled vet, that go her tossed off of MSNBC for a long time? Remember what Michael Savage said that got his late night TV program cancelled? Something along those lines. Oh Yeah, I screwed up bad, and made many people angry for it; Mostly Conservatives. How is it that they now can mock this blind man, and it is okay? I just do not get it.
Anyway, There is my reason for not mocking Kareem Dale. I just wish others felt like I do. Maybe, just maybe our movement would be taken seriously again.
I realize that no matter how I phrase this posting; someone is going to be offended or is going to hate me to the point of wanting to see my death. I mean, in this sort of a damned thing, you cannot win. If you say anything that one of the parties dislikes, you will be smeared and forced to take a side in the argument. When I lost my other blog to a hacking job; by somebody who was angered about comment that I made about a person on another blog, which was a horrific misstep on my part, which I did and still do readily admit. I made a promise to myself, that I would never engage in Blog wars or any other sort of nonsense.
However, I believe it is important to be clear where I stand; and because of this, I am going to make my feelings clear…
I was contacted by Dr. Robert Spencer about my initial posting. We discussed what I wrote and how I phrased my posting. He did ask me some very pointed questions and I answered honestly, I commend him for writing and asking. Because of this I feel the important need to clear the air.
It appears that Charles Johnson is playing a little game; a deadly game, that hurts people, smears them and makes them into something that they are not. This, I am afraid is wrong. That game is called “guilt by association.” This is a game that liberals play, especially when they are trying to further their agenda of identity politics. It appears that Mr. Johnson is now trying to smear Pat Buchanan, he seems to believe, for whatever foolish reason; that Pat Buchanan is an Anti-Semite. This is nothing more than a classic liberal smear. That’s right, I question the very idea that Charles Johnson is even a Conservative.
For the record, I have zero against Israel, Jews or Judaism. I do however, reject the Zionist movement, on Biblical theological basis only. (See 2 Corinthians 6:14-18) I have Zero against those who choose to practice Islam. However, I reject Islam as a false religion, and those who practice it, as lost and in need of Salvation, that comes only by Jesus Christ. The same goes for those who reject Christ and follow strictly after of the Law of Moses. (See John 14:4-11 and John 10:22-38 and Galatians 3:6-18)
Now, I will be the first to admit that some of the postings over at Pamela Geller’s Blog are, at times, borderline hysteria and could be interpreted by some as Anti-Islamic. However, for Charles Johnson to simply smear someone, because they are associated with a particular group is, in my opinion, unfair and is borderline libelous. I suppose that someone like me would be labeled Anti-Semite by Johnson as well, because of my issues with the Zionist Movement and its influence on the foreign policy of United States. If that is the badge that Mr. Johnson wants to hang on me; fine, I will wear it, I make no apologies for thinking and believing that the Capital of the United States of America is Washington D.C. and not Tel Aviv, Israel. If the Neo-Conservative and Liberal thought police want to try and smear me on this one, fine.
While my initial posting might have sounded like I was praising Charles Johnson, I was not, at all. It was simply lamenting the fact that people, who are supposedly opposed to Islamic fascism, were engaging in a bitter feud. However, since that posting, it seems that Charles Johnson wants to go after people like Michelle Malkin and others, who are in support of the combating of Terrorism and Islamic Fascism. This is totally unacceptable, and I hereby reject Charles Johnson as an enemy to America and a Liberal.
Pamela Geller may not like me, because of my position on Zionism. However, I stand for Freedom of speech and against the Liberal thought police. Hopefully, she understands.
The Internet is the last best source of free and independent information left. Think where the liberty movement would be without the Internet. But even as we speak, President Obama and his allies in Congress are attempting to obtain the authority to censor information on–and curtail access to–the Internet. Plus, in the name of “cybersecurity,” they are plotting to obtain the authority to monitor and seize anyone’s personal computer at will.
Yes, Only I would quote a line from a three stooges flick to title a story about a flu epidemic…..
Like AllahPundit, It is times like these; when I am glad that the majority of my time, is spent in front of my laptop. Now, if I could just convince my dad to stay in the house. Yeah, good luck with that. 🙄 This is a guy that has A.D.H.D worse than me. (Undiagnosed, of course…) The man is always on the go.
Unless you have been hiding under a rock; you most likely know that there is a very serious flu epidemic that is happening to our south, in Mexico. (Yes, that Mexico, with the drug wars.) What is worse, there are some cases of it being reported here in America as well. Which is not good at all.
Meanwhile, in the Conservative/right wing/Republican Blogosphere things are bit; shall we say, Varied. While the Neo-Conservatives are making a valid point that maybe now the US Government will take the illegal immigration problem seriously. Some others on the right are really milking this for what it is worth. I do not know which is worse, or more stupid; the idiots who are reporting that a man, that the President met with in Mexican died the next day, with flu-like symptoms, while insinuating on their Blogs that “maybe he will get it and die too!” Then there is the tin-foil hat crowd that is now claiming the United States of America actually made this virus up in it’s medical labs, so that it could distribute bad vaccines to people, in order to kill them off, all the while making a profit. No wonder the rest of American thinks that Conservatives are a bunch of crazy gun grabbing, Bible thumping, crazies. 🙄
How any person could use a situation like this to hustle Americans with ignorant paranoia and sleep at night, is well beyond me. Further more, how anyone can make such sick insinuations on a Blog and be able to sleep at night, is beyond me as well. Here is hoping that these people catch this disease and die themselves, God knows; the Conservative community would be so much better off, without them.
Anyhow, Mexico is working on containing the virus and our Government is as well. Something tells that this will be a non-story within days.
I am always the last person in the world to find this sort of stuff out. Mark Penn, the person we all know, who make Hillary Clinton look like a buffoon in this last election, says this about Blogging:
Demographically, bloggers are extremely well educated: three out of every four are college graduates. Most are white males reporting above-average incomes. One out of three young people reports blogging, but bloggers who do it for a living successfully are 2% of bloggers overall. It takes about 100,000 unique visitors a month to generate an income of $75,000 a year. Bloggers can get $75 to $200 for a good post, and some even serve as “spokesbloggers” — paid by advertisers to blog about products. As a job with zero commuting, blogging could be one of the most environmentally friendly jobs around — but it can also be quite profitable. For sites at the top, the returns can be substantial. At some point the value of the Huffington Post will no doubt pass the value of the Washington Post.
The barriers to entry couldn’t be lower. Most bloggers for hire pay $80 to get started, do it for about 35 months, and make a few hundred dollars. But a subgroup of these bloggers are the true professionals who work at corporations, serve as highly paid blogging consultants or write for sites with substantial traffic.
Pros who work for companies are typically paid $45,000 to $90,000 a year for their blogging. One percent make over $200,000. And they report long hours — 50 to 60 hours a week.
I humbly submit that this is very much news to me. To be fair, Penn is referring to two very different kinds of blogging. The first is the corporate blogger, someone who is employed by a existing company to Blog about said sundry subject. Which I happen to think would get god-awfully stale after a while. The other, is the kind of blogger, that I feel is the epitome of lame; the sponsored post blogger. These are the writers who, as far as I am concerned; should be donning a dress and whoring their bodies out on the street corner. Because in essence, they are being “Pimped Out,” as it were, by their sponsors. I am all for capitalism, very much so; but I happen to find these people who are doing nothing more than writing glamorized spam blog postings. Which, frankly, I find nauseating.
Do not misunderstand me; I am all for the idea of capitalistic Blogging world. But I believe in earning revenue from writing about legit subject; such as Politics, Celebrity, Technical items and so forth. I also believe the revenue should come from incidental items, such as Advertising. I believe that the whole idea of a “Sponsored Posting” is the equivalent of Blogging prostitution. Why am I so against this? Because it cheapens the profession of blogging, it also cheapens the value of the writer.
On the other hand, writing for a political magazine; like The American Conservative, Taki’s Magazine, The Politico, or any of the other great ones; is every bloggers dream job. Yes, it would be the quite the awesome thing to have say, The Washington Times call me up and ask to blog for them. That would be the ideal position. Although, I will admit, if I had my choice. I’d rather write for possibly the New York Daily News, Harper’s, The New Yorker; something in vogue. Although, I tend to believe that my hardened Conservative views would not be appreciatied at those fine establishments. I would not even remotely consider TownHall or The Weekly Standard. Those are places that I do not wish my name to be associated with. As they are not considered among the general populous is legit sources of information, but rather political propaganda rags.
So, as you most likely have seen the other Bloggers write. We bloggers will be keeping our day jobs. Well, those of us who actually have day jobs. 🙄 Until some serious changes happen in this bastard economy, this is my damned day job! 😡 Hope and Change my ass!
