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Saturday, October 23, 2004
Frustrations of blogging
Yesterday and this morning have been frustrating.
- For pointing out that Sen. Kerry was trivializing the ethical and moral issues inherent in human embryo stem cell research (by comparing Dubya's opposition to federal funding of such research that would destroy additional embryos to him opposing research on cars or electricity), I was pulled into a debate with a 21-year-old hard-left blogger over whether I'm a likely fertility clinic bomber.
- For republishing a Reuters photograph of a little girl appearing at a campaign rally with Sen. Kerry, I've been accused of "encouraging others to take jabs at an innocent little girl." (I've encouraged no such thing, nor have my commenters done so. And I certainly agree that she's an adorable little girl, and I neither fault her nor her mom for permitting her picture to be taken at the rally. Michaela rools, even if I don't think her candidate of choice does.)
- Folks over at the Democratic Underground are speculating that my September 28th post entitled "John Kerry: Lapsed lawyer of little legal luster" is somehow the basis for a rumored breaking story in Monday's WaTimes on Sen. Kerry. (I'd be very surprised if this were true. Kerry's career as a lawyer is awfully unimpressive, and in particular he's consistently exaggerated his extremely thin credentials as a former prosecutor, but I don't think this is an "October Surprise" by anyone's account.)
- And my dog Weiss' latest online photo album, after being linked by Jonah Goldberg's dog Cosmo on The Corner, got about 20k more page views yesterday than my blog. Weiss insists that this is because she has better manners and is smarter; perhaps she's right. But congrats, Weiss, on your Corner-launch! (Current projected bandwidth usage for my blog and photo albums for October is 1231.72% over my quota — but bless their hearts, TypePad still isn't charging for bandwidth overages.)
Eventually every blogger has days like that. One learns to shrug it off. Tonight I'm off to watch my oldest daughter in her middle school drama class musical, which I'm pretty sure will restore my good humor and perspective.
Posted by Beldar at 03:45 PM in Weblogs | Permalink
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Comments
(1) Mark L made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 4:59:25 PM | Permalink
Illegitemo non carborundum.
(2) Porcell made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 5:30:47 PM | Permalink
Beldar,
Writing from the perspective of an octogenarian and a World War II European combat vet., I can tell you that life can be frequently be a bitch. You win some and you lose some. I hope your daughter does well and that after your, perhaps, messy divorce, you will find a companion and some sort of happiness, as well as a Bush victory.
Meanwhile, you're doing a hell of a job as a blogger.
I write this, happily, from my winter home in the Bahamas, sitting by the pool overlooking the Atlantic with my second wife, well supplied with Viagra, a martini, and a decent supply of reading material.
(3) Jonathan Sadow made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 6:44:37 PM | Permalink
As one of your few readers who's been with you from when you blogged mostly about Houston-area stuff, I'm glad to see you're hitting the big-time, because your logical and respectful argumentation of your views deserves a wide audience. However, this also mean that you're becoming noticed by the lefties, and that can be a challenge.
As an observer of political thought dating to the 1970s, I've seen how leftist political thought in this country has evolved. There's been a shift away from fact-based argumentation on that side to a more personalized type of involvement. Thus, in your conversation with the guy from Pandagon, it only takes a couple of exchanges before he starts the allegations of evil intent on your part; then he works up a moral huff and declares he's taking his ball and going home. I've been to that site a few times, and the general impression given of conservatives there is that they are some sort of morally-deranged troglodytes whose underlying motives are invariably evil.
The problem with you, Beldar, is that you don't know your role. You insist on presenting reasoned and logical arguments. This doesn't conform to the image that those lefties have of conservatives, so they manage to twist things around enough to declare their moral superiority (thus "delegitimizing" your arguments), and then proclaim victory and run back to their echo chamber.
Don't let these guys frustrate you. Just keep in mind that they're not arguing in good faith. They'll find one way or another to conform you to their stereotype, because they can't honestly contemplate the alternative: you might be right. Just let you be yourself, and then they will be themselves, and the result will be telling.
(4) Dave made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 7:51:03 PM | Permalink
Well, in the end, tell them Foxtrot Oscar. 21 year old wisdom is a lot like a toilet paper boat plug.
(5) Kent made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 8:45:02 PM | Permalink
"21 year old wisdom is a lot like a toilet paper boat plug."
It's an oxymoron. There's a reason why 21-year-olds make the best pilots and soldiers: They lack the judgement to realistically assess the danger to themselves.
Jonathan is right on the mark. The Left will beat you all out of shape to make you fit their stereotypes. Which is terribly ironic, if you think about it for a minute.
(6) Keith made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 9:23:57 PM | Permalink
The Boss let me use his computer to type you a note. (and why aren't keyboards made to fit German Shepherd paws, huh?)
Of course Weiss got a lot more hits than you--she's a doll. A sweetie!
She have a boyfriend? hmmm?
Charleywolf
(7) Steven Jens made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 9:25:47 PM | Permalink
Sadow and I should form a club of twins who have read this blog since before that log hiatus.
If the Washington Times were getting story ideas from you, that would be pretty neat.
I don't think Weiss's photo album is getting hits because she's smart and well-mannered; she's getting hits because she's good-looking. If she is smarter and better-mannered than you, though, she should start her own blog.
(8) Whigfarmer made the following comment | Oct 23, 2004 10:34:31 PM | Permalink
Beldar dont let them get you down. First of all it is the pro choicers that kill 1.3 million people a year, it is the pro choicers that advocate human sacrifice for scientific experiments, it is the pro choicers that can't fathom reality. I'm a newbie to your blog but I find it humbling because you always make very valid points and back them up with the facts in such a thoughtful manner. That is a valuable resource to those of us who dont have the education that you do, so I have to say thanks for steering us wannabes on the right path.
It is refreshing and rare to find a lawyer that hasn't turned to the dark side.
Oh by the way I enjoyed Weiss' photo album, she seems much more sensible than some 21 yo kid that thinks you are a fertility clinic bomber.
Keep up the good work.
(9) Connecticut Yankee made the following comment | Oct 24, 2004 8:57:16 AM | Permalink
Hi Weiss--
Are you a bipartisan dog, meaning do you like cats? The three members of the FBI (Feline Bureau of Investigation) who run this household took over the keyboard while the human was out. We're all girls too, BTW.
Congrats on getting noticed by Jonah Goldberg's dog. There must be someone at NRO who's a catblogger!
Princess, Kette, and Sylvester
(10) milton made the following comment | Oct 24, 2004 4:12:01 PM | Permalink
This is a sad scam that will do nothing by some VERY VERY bored left wing bloggers. I guess they got tried of never being read. If anything they have only proven how well connected, informed and excited the right is!!!!!!!!!!!!! These losers spent hours setting up a fake Washington Times page,
http://www.celluloid-wisdom.com/pw/washtimes.html
get a life!
We don't have time to play silly games - we have an election to win!
http://counterpundit.blogspot.com/
(11) Sarah Schreffler made the following comment | Oct 25, 2004 4:28:08 PM | Permalink
Just a note:
I'm here reading your blog cause of that point to your dog.
I grew up in Houston so it's neat to read blogs of people still in the area.
(Unfortunately, I never got to vote for George W. Bush as governor. I left town in May right before he got elected. I am proud to say I finally got to right that wrong in November 2000)
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