Sunday, November 18, 2007

Swift Reactions 6

Last week I received an email from one Alex Leo that began "Dear Jon (which I am sure is not your real name)." It was an invitation to join a new comedy site called 236.com, a joint venture between Arianna Huffington and Barry Diller, both very funny people. I assumed she was writing to me because this modest blog was declared by the Weblog Awards to be the third-funniest blog on the Internet and because of my expertise in comedy and that her salutation was a humorous reference to my recent battle with Facebook on behalf of Pseudonym-Americans. Of course, I am always eager to join any club that is willing to have me as a member, but then Ms. Leo informed me that I would need to send her a color picture of myself and my real name. At first I wondered if this was some kind of trap set up by my creditors to trick me into revealing my personal information and a quick look at the quickly slapped together "comedy" site did nothing to allay my suspicions. When I told Ms. Leo that I would be unable to comply, she said that the site has a "non-anonymity rule" and she would be withdrawing her invitation. She claimed the rule is designed to foster a "personalized relationship between our bloggers and our readers." It's the kind of "personalized relationship" that is only possible, I suppose, on a site where all the main stories are unbylined and comments are disabled.

It's bad enough that I must once again suffer discrimination because I am a Pseudonym-American, but when Ms. Leo devalues our relationships as well she has gone too far. Are the personal relationships of Pseudonym-Americans any less worthy than the relationships of "real name" Americans? Apparently the relationship that Mark Twain had with his readers was not "personalized" enough for the editors of 236, and this made him somehow less funny. Now, of course, the bond I have with you, my dear readers, is not on the same level as the religiously and legally sanctified marriage bond I have with Mrs. Swift, that Barry Diller has with his wife Diane von Fürstenberg or that Britney Spears had with Kevin Federline, but it is at least as worthy as a gay relationship or the relationship the anonymous writers of 236.com have with their non-commenters. Ms. Leo concluded by saying, "We think this is important for our readers and for our reputation of standing behind what we publish 100%." So while 236.com may not be the funniest comedy site on the Internet, you can rest assured that it stands 100% behind stories like "George Bush Is a Junkie." Even if this blog does not have quite so good a reputation as 236.com, I am grateful for the relationship I have with my readers. In fact, Mrs. Swift sometimes jokes that I spend more time with you than I do with her and has suggested on many occasions, "Why don't you just marry your blog?"

Lately, I have been particularly proud of the comments here. I think that in the wake of the Writers Guild strike, many are beginning to realize that writing for free is not such a bad thing after all and soon everybody will be doing it. Mr. Hepplewhite, for example, can post his lovingly crafted mini short stories here without having to worry about "notes" from moronic studio executives. I'd like to think that as the money writers make from writing dwindles and the aggravation they get from producers and editors grows, they will always be able to come here to express themselves without any interference or remuneration at all.

My post on the treasonous lady Bridge players sparked a particularly heated discussion here that was a veritable banquet of food for thought as a commenter on one Bridge forum pointed out. Apparently, this incident is the biggest thing to happen in the cut-throat world of competitive Bridge since the Lanzarotti-Buratti cheating scandal in Tenerife 2005, and we all know what a terrible ordeal that was. ZenYenta wondered if there would have been a problem if the sign was worded differently. Kevin Hayden created his own new and improved sign. My most frequent commenter, Anonymous, wrote a very moving tribute to what freedom means in the world of Bridge. "At a bridge event world champions mix with beginners and those from oppressed countries mix freely with those from those of us blessed to live in freedom," Anonymous wrote. "Using this stage to air what are personal political views undermines the whole concept of an organisation free from political shackles." In other words, real freedom can only exist in an environment that is free of distracting free expression. Anonymous went on to say, "You may have the right to bare arms but it would be irresponsible to bare them in a public school," a point that fish enthusiastically seconded: "I too think bare arms in school is atrocious. Long sleeves for all!!"

After the United States Bridge Federation's attorney Allan Falk sent me an email calling me a "nutjob" and comparing me to Ted Kaczynski, I wrote him back to thank him for his very kind words and offered him a chance to respond to the charge of one of my commenters, Den Valdron, who said, "Their legal counsel has embarrassed himself and his entire profession with an unprinciples and offensive stand. A lawyer should talk sense to his clients, not cater to their worst impulses." Mr. Falk replied almost immediately, which I'm sure will make Susie Bright doubly jealous: "I can't do my job and worry about what outsiders think of me. I'm representing the USBF as a volunteer, and have been targeted by both sides for caustic comments. Being very pachydermatous and concerned only with fulfilling my responsibilities to my client, I don't let such things bother me." Frankly, I had no idea what "pachydermatous" meant so I looked it up and according to the dictionary it means "like an elephant," which left me even more confused. How exactly is Mr. Falk like an elephant? I wondered. Does he have a long memory? Is he afraid of mice? Does he have big ears or a long trunk? If a group of blind men touched different parts of him would they each think he was a different animal?

Mr. Falk was not the only luminary from the world of Bridge who wrote to me. Robert "Bobby" Wolff, who has won 11 world championships and 30 national championships, and was quoted in the original piece on the "criticize-one's-leader-at-a-foreign-venue-in-a-totally-nonpolitical-event exception to the First Amendment," wrote to me in an email, "This is of course a complex question. We have not heard the last of it. The TV and blogs will keep us involved for longer than we care to be, I suspect!" Possibly even longer than that, Mr. Wolff. And "World famous" Bridge player Petra Hamman wrote me to say, "It would be so refreshing if journalists gathered all the facts before publishing so much self-serving hyperbole…" Mrs. Hamman, I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately, my post did elicit some criticism, most notably from someone calling himself "Man enough to admit he's afraid of morons like you," who said, "Jon, You are truly terrifyingly stupid. I'm more fearful of idiots like you than anything overseas. "

While I encourage free-wheeling discussions on my blog, other blogs have a different purpose. KT Cat's blog, The Scratching Post, is not just a blog, it's a work of art. "I've been deleting one or two of my old posts and portions of just a few others lately," he wrote recently. "For me, this blog is as much an artistic expression as it is a recording of thoughts and interactions with friends. Painters remove some unwanted brushstrokes and poets rewrite lines. The end goal is a work that expresses you and not the steps it took to get there." One of the "brushstrokes" KT Cat decided to remove was this statement, which I wrote about here: "Blacks in America have become the perfect laboratory for the consequences of annihilating traditional sexual mores. At 70% illegitimacy, they have destroyed civilization at the molecular level. Still think it doesn't matter? Live it up, guys. Enjoy."

Unfortunately, some critics gave him very bad reviews for this statement because they believed that blaming blacks for the destruction of civilization was somehow racist. KT Cat responded by deleting those bad reviews from his blog, something I'm sure a lot of artists wish they could do. Now, I had to delete my notorious April Fool's Day post this year to avoid a nasty lawsuit, but I think KT Cat may have taken this whole creative destruction thing a bit too far. When he complained on his blog that "lefties" were unfairly characterizing his post as racist without actually referring to the words that led to this charge, I thought I would helpfully direct his readers to places where they could read what he said like here and here so that they could see just how unfair those "vicious" attacks were. But Mr. Cat deleted my comment and replied, "Dude, take a long look at this blog and then fill in the blank in this sentence. 'I make this blog better at what the author wants to do with it by __________.' Hint: The correct answer does not involve giving me moral instruction." Unfortunately, I have to admit, Mr. Cat, I am at a complete loss as to how to make your blog better. Perhaps, more cat pictures and less sociological analysis would help.

He may want to get some pointers from Jeff Goldstein, a writer and teacher at a private college, who has turned his blog into a performance piece entitled "How To Guarantee That I Will Never Be Offered a Better Job at a Big Name School." This way we can always point to Jeff Goldstein as an example of how conservatives are discriminated against in academia. Usually, I have no idea what his posts mean at all. He is vaguely more lucid when he is attacking people for making fun of him for thinking Michelangelo painted the Mona Lisa or engaging in homoerotic verbal fisticuffs though not much more enlightening. I think he was worried that someone might mistake the murkiness of his prose for profundity so he brought on someone named Dan Collins to make sure that that any potential employer will definitely think twice about hiring him. Some thought Collins had put the final nail in the coffin of Goldstein's future career when he called Glenn Greenwald a "faggot," but apparently Goldstein didn't think that was enough to permanently blackball him. So Collins decided to help out by attacking his ex-girlfriend from 25 years ago (though the pain of his emasculation stings like it happened yesterday).

At first, even Goldstein thought Collins might be going over the line (and apparently succeeded in getting him to take down her personal information, which Collins had posted for other stalkers). I was puzzled because I thought the conservative strategy was to go after gays, immigrants and Muslims first and then go after our ex-girlfriends. Had the strategy been changed without informing me or had Collins gone rogue? Apparently, Collins has the blessing of Jeff Goldstein, however, because he is still posting there and is completely unrepentant (and if you have a lot of time on your hands, check out the comments to this post). I think we can all safely run those "Harvard Discriminates Against Conservatives Because They Won't Hire Jeff Goldstein" posts now. Maybe we can convince Harvard to make amends by hiring KT Cat as an artist in residence since he isn't racist at all.

Update: In a comment on his blog, Jeff Goldstein attempts to school me in the semiotics of comedy in a last, desperate attempt to impress members of the Modern Language Association: "I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of having Mr Swift comment here before. Talk about bringing the funny! The whole, “did I miss something? I though conservatives hated gays, Muslims, and immigrants most of all” schtick never gets old. I mean, the mock confusion — as if his worldview has been shaken? Comic genius. I’d bow down before him, but that would be a bit too Muslimish. And f--k if I’ll even inadvertently show respect to those brown bastards…"

Update 2: In yet another follow-up post, Dan Collins pleads for understanding, invoking the Pachydermatous Man defense: "What I’ve done is so unforgivable that Jon Swift is waving my balls around his head like a bolo. When I point this out, I am special pleading." Not only does he claim to have had no idea that attacking one's ex-girlfriend and linking to her private information is considered stalking, he also doesn't seem to realize that referring to another blogger and not providing a link is considered very bad manners. I believe both of these lessons are taught within the first days of blogging Kindergarten, which Collins may have to repeat next year if he's not careful.

Update 3: More comedy lessons from Jeff Goldstein, who devotes an entire post to railing against me and absolving himself from responsibility for anything that happens on his blog. And Dan Collins just can't stop writing about me. Apparently, I struck a nerve.

Update 4: Simon Owen has a very thoughtful post at Bloggasm about KT Cat, which includes some comments from Mr. Cat himself, who claims that his contention that blacks are destroying civilization is based on "statistical analysis" and that only "slavering, rage-filled crazies" could possibly disagree with him since he has "advanced degrees in mathematics."

47 comments:

James Higham said...

I was thinking about this scam to get you to reveal your identity - they really seem quite keen, don't they?

Anonymous said...

Actually, I don't think Goldstein had anything to do with Dan removing the link. As near as I can tell it was when Michael Berube, who went to school with Collins and his ex, pleaded with him to take it down at TBogg's place and PW.

DavidEhrenstein said...

tbogg's DA BOMB!

Julia said...

eh. He said in his own comments he realized from what some of the vulgarians at TBogg's said that there might possibly be people reading the internets who wouldn't see his invitation to get in touch with his ex combined with the information about her breasts, her sexual history, her substance abuse problems and her home addressed in a nuanced way.

Fran / Blue Gal said...

Oh please. Are we SURE "Arianna" is her REAL name?

Anonymous said...

Wow, those people are nutso! Where do they find the time for these wacked-out imbroglios?

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure who's mocking who here.

Anonymous said...

Checking out the blog in question, here's a sample of their work.

[quoting from William Tracy's "My Favorite Questions from Thursday's Democratic Debate"/]

"The next question is for Governor Richardson. Governor Richardson, where do you stand on the issue of....uh....I'm sorry, your double chin is really distracting."

• "Congressman Kucinich, let's just pretend for a moment that we lived in some sort of topsy-turvy storybook town where you could be elected president..."

• "I'd like the next question to be answered at the exact same time by Senators Edwards and Obama, and then halfway in we'll throw in some Kucinich, and then maybe add a little twist of Biden at the end."

• "Senator Edwards, I want to remind you to please answer all of your questions in the form of a direct attack on Senator Clinton."

[/quoting from William Tracy's "My Favorite Questions from Thursday's Democratic Debate"]

Reflect carefully, "Jon Swift." Can you live without having your work included on the same page with such subtle yet mordant satire or with Arianna's delicately ironic writing?

Save the Oocytes! said...

Oh Jon, you don't come out of this blogspat looking very conservative at all. You are supposed to express understanding and reflect on how many people could reasonably make a mistake and post some contact information for an ex-girlfriend and uncomfortable details of her history on their blog.

It's something to keep in mind... you never know when your personal details may be published by an ex- on a high-traffic some decades later.

It really isn't good for this woman that Left Blogistan decided to point everyone to the contact information for the purpose of pointing out how awful this Collins fellow is. I think they were already pretty much convinced of that based on his political views anyway.

Sister Nancy Beth Eczema said...

Mr. Swift: I agree with commenter A above, that you have failed Conservatism. Is everyone so cowed by feminism that they're afraid to blame the victim here? Surely she must have done something -- going to medical school, getting a job, having breasts -- to incite this cri du coeur from Mr. Collins. It's high time The Left drop their moral posturing and acknowledge how their aggressively anti-family social engineering caused all this. Praise Him!

timb said...

I agree. You seem way to rational and intelligent to be a conservative. Besides, everyone knows the height of comedy is making jokes about junior high school girls' locker room AND cock-slapping a critic. Until you can work that in, Jon, you can never be mentioned int he same breath as the hilarious, exceptionally hilarious, Jeff Goldstein.

Nothing funnier than what happened to Padilla, just ask the "classic liberal" Goldstein.

PS On a relatively serious note, Protein Wisdom traffic had been tanking for weeks....I'm sure this little spat helps Jeff pay his bills.

If not, he could always beg for money again.

gregorya57 said...

This is sad. Even your commenters aren't funny.

Carl said...

She claimed the rule is designed to foster a "personalized relationship between our bloggers and our readers."

Clearly, sir, this is a nude webcam site, and you can expect spam from Nigeria any minute now for refusing to "bare all"

As to Dan Collins and Jeff Goldstein...sir, is this some new form of Internet performance art where conservatives now circle-jerk each other with trackbacks and such?

If so, does it generate income and if so, how much, and if a lot, may I join in? I haven't taken any rubes to the cleaners this week.

Yet.

Carl said...

gregorya57 said...
This is sad. Even your commenters aren't funny.


Now THAT's self-referential comedy!

timb said...

We're trying, Greg, we really are, but, when faced with the intellect of the PW contingent of geniuses and refugees from Towson, funny is hard to do. I think my favorite moment of this whole dust-up was when a PW commenter compared my incessant criticism of Goldstein to "unrequited love." Given the context of this dust-up (i.e., Greg, Dan's burgeoning anger at a chick who ditched him 25 years ago), I found that to be very ironic and funny.

To tell you truth, Greg, I don't have the commitment of Mr. Infidel, brainlessly posting conservative talking points for months, rhetorically fellating Goldstein and Collins, ponying up funds on a monthly basis so Goldstein's latest bout of anhedonia can dissipate, all just to set up a deliciously hysterical tour de force of irony that sails over the head of the intended targets! It's just too genius.

Which also begs the question of "if I am fascinated with Goldstein, Collins, and their offspring, because I criticize them, with whom do they direct their unrequited love?" First, obviously, Glen Greenwald. Their fascination over his musings and hatred of his success is amazing. Second, ummmmm, John Cole. Third, Al Gore....

I think somewhere in the teens you will find dear little me. Seems I can't say anything on the internet without Goldstein whining about, Collins moaning into his lonely pillow at night, or Goldstein threatening to reveal MY IDENTITY.

Irony rears its head again! By the standards of OI, we have unrequited love for each other! OI is a singular genius.

Anonymous said...

While we appreciate the kind sentiments that seem to lie behind your comment about our mini-short stories, we would have you know that Mr. Hepplewhite is not part of a labour union or any trade association. We are, rather, an old and established firm of Indian writers (plus one Mr. Rao, an attorney at law) who work here under the sunny blue skies of Madras (although it is true that we don’t see these blue skies very often any more since we have to work nights in order to answer the phones).

Our independent writing is of the highest quality, sir, and furthermore we are paid by the word (which means that for each and every word we write regardless of its length, we receive a certain sum of money in remuneration and following this, the more words we write the more money we receive.)

American film and television producers have been outsourcing your writing to us for years away from greedy unionized American wordsmiths. It is one of your country’s many dirty little secrets. Remarkably few people know, for example, that the recently released Coen Brothers movie was actually written by Krishna Panipatipalimaharanabali and Dr. Babu.

The world is flat, sir! So I take your insinuation that we must kowtow before the lash of some producer and I pound my brown fist on the cover of my Merriam Webster New American Dictionary (5th Edition) and say “You’re Mama!”

gregorya57 said...

Congratulations. You've managed to move the meter, from "Sad" to "Pathetic."

Carl said...

"When I point this out, I am special pleading."

Is that "special" like the short yellow bus, hockey helmet special or the two-for-one special Collins gives to his favorite blowjob clients?

Carl said...

gregorya57 said...
Congratulations. You've managed to move the meter, from "Sad" to "Pathetic."


Well, that's the first parking meter that moves itself...anybody got a quarter? Maybe we can get it to move itself back to Protein Wisdomtoofs

Anonymous said...

"Congratulations. You’ve managed to move the meter from “Sad” to “Pathetic”."

Dear Mr. Greg Orya 1957, it is so good to see a fellow Asian writing comments on this blog. One word of advice, however. If you make no attempt to be entertaining, people won’t want to read your comments, especially if you are commenting on other people’s ability to be entertaining. Not many people in the United States will be able to figure out from your name that you are a member of a small Indonesian community living in Timor and that English is your second language. They might just think that you are a douche bag.

gregorya57 said...

I was merely trying to be helpful. I leave "entertainment" to you people who have no useful skills.

Anonymous said...

Here's an example of gregorya57's terrific sense of humor from a comment he left at The Belmont Club:

Yet, we fall all over ourselves to "save the planet." How do we get the same sense of urgency regarding the REAL threat? I want all of us to tell Society of the Perpetually Offended to take a hike, and start looking at everyone of foreign origin with a flinty eye. Seal the borders. Start sending Islamists to hell in bunches, and smoking.

Hoo hah! Bring the funny and stack it up like burnt corpses! Funnier than the Holocaust is Mr. gregorya57! ROTFLMAO!!! Now that's "entertainment"!

Anonymous said...

Pachydermatous = like an elephant = like Horton = faithful 100 percent?

Anonymous said...

I don't think that we should be too hard on Mr Greg Orya 57. It is entirely reasonable for our Asian brother to be terrified of Muslims. Indonesia is primarily a Muslim country. There are only 1,600 Orya speakers left in the whole country and they don't even live together in one place. I had thought that Mr. Greg Orya 57 meant that he was born in 1957, but I see now that he may live with the smallest group of Orya in Kecamatan Bonggo, where only 100 survive. He is no doubt number 57, a very respectable number indeed.

The rumor that Muslims hunt the Orya for meat is of course a slander, but it is not unreasonable to say that in the not too distant past they may have been hunted for sport. Their literacy rate is only about 15% in their first language of Orya, which makes Greg Orya's accomplishment in posting here rather impressive when you think about it. On the other hand, the jungle village that he lives in probably only has one internet provider and he may have the computer all to himself.

We can't blame Mr Orya for thinking that conditions in the United States mirror those in the rain forest where he lives. He should be forgiven for thinking that in the most powerful country on earth we need to be afraid of some Muslim threat. Perhaps some of you more generous people in America might trade him a plane ticket to New York for some of his native products (bananas, pig, wallaby and cassowary fillets) so he can see that Americans have nothing to fear from foreigners.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Jon. I'm not sure why you noticed me, but I hope it was because I was trying to be reasonable with the Genius Dan.

Because it sure is clear he doesn't hold any candles lit for his ex. As I sometimes like to say, from the far center, "Holy Shit! That was just cruel!"

Regards. You kick ass. I wish I was half as literate as you, but it would take me about 40 hours/week to come up with something you seem to do pretty damn effortlessly.

My blog was only Jr. H.S. level.

John O

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I think you hurt Pasty's feelings. He sure spent alot of time on that mock "review". Jeff, if you're reading, and I know you are even if you say you aren't, but Jon nor anyone else has to dig into his thesaurus, use layers of meaning or write a prolix essay to say you're a fucking douche.

Anonymous said...

I wrote about KT Cat's revisionist tactics at bloggasm and he hurried over to defend himself

Anonymous said...

First time I've read your blog. I like your concept. And while the level of your sarcasm is impressive, I can only assume that George Soros pays you by the word. That or your love affair with your own prose must be one for the ages.

Take care

K

timb said...

One more post about Collins, Jon, and he's going to have to write nasty personal things about you in 25 years. I don't know the blogspat version of "stacked". But, since I don't spend weekends in Vermont pining for an ex and wishing I'd used that MA in English better, I am not privy to his madness.

The best part is that when you do one to stalk an ex, you could send them one of those Teddy Bears that Sean Hannity advertises. They, irony of ironies, come from Vermont. The circle is complete.

timb said...

"The best part is that when you do one to stalk an ex,"

Dammit, if I had Dan's gift for writing, I could have written that better AND made it a slur on Greenwald's sexuality

"The best part is that when you do decide to stalk an ex..."

Fortunately, I have Goldstein's intentionalism to fall back as the second version is what I clearly intended to say and nothing in your mind can be different from what I intended.

Anonymous said...

Finally, Timb, I get the Teddy Bear reference.

Jon, this is the first time I've visited your site, and I think it's an ambitious enterprise.

I am afraid, though, that the kind of detachment required by Swiftian satire is not possible for some of your commenters--especially Tim--whose feelings for Goldstein border on the truly obsessive.

Cowboy

Carl said...

"statistical analysis" and that only "slavering, rage-filled crazies" could possibly disagree with him since he has "advanced degrees in mathematics."

I'm pleased to see that, in keeping with the spirit of the 3/5 rule of voting, mathematics is being used to keep the Negro race in its place.

Carl said...

gregorya57 said...
I was merely trying to be helpful. I leave "entertainment" to you people who have no useful skills.


Oh I get it! The "quotation" "marks" "were" "helpful", Greggiepoo...

Anonymous said...

And, Cowboy, your obsession with rebutting me?

Oh, and after today's "f*ck the Indians" rant on PW today, at least I know where you get your screen name. That's cool, you disdain Native Americans because some of them might ungrateful about the genocide that happened to their people; I disdain Dan, Jeff, Pablo, etc. You hold them in esteem; I hold them in contempt. You think Native Americans should be excited over losing 95% of thier population; I think Jeff's a bully who writes drivel.

So, now we've come to an understanding, could you leave me alone?

Thers said...

I can only assume that George Soros pays you by the word. That or your love affair with your own prose must be one for the ages.

Indeed, Jon. You may wish to consider emulating the prose of your current bloggy antagonist, which every reasonable person must concede is remarkably concise. Almost soporifically so.

Enoch_Root said...

Jon - now granted I am Dan's brother... his linking to her info was a poor decision... but, I have to say you have purposefully taken snippets on the PW blog completely out of context... and that you have done so with the intent of casting JG and DC in a poor light... that is with the intent of doing so... speaks volumes about your character and your inability to find anything truly objectionable. A conservative owes his sword to the truth. And in this case, you have misled.

Patricia said...

As far as I'm concerned, you are Jon Swift. If you aren't, then who is?

Miss Cellania said...

OK, so bloggers are throwing material at you left and right (but mostly right), but you still aren't good enough because you use a pseudonym? Those guys lost a great opportunity. Everyone knows who Jon Swift is.

It will take me all day to read all those links, but it will be worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jon Swift said...

Well, Mr. Root, I think we can all admire your loyalty to your brother. Perhaps I missed his acknowledgment that he exercised poor judgment and his apology for doing so amidst all of his lashing out at those who took him to task. I hope as his brother you advised him that such an ackowledgment would help repair some of the damage he has inflicted on himself and on Jeff Goldstein and that he takes that advice. And I hope he realizes that he is lucky to have a brother like you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and to you Miss Cellenia and everyone who has stopped by my modest blog. Please save me a drumstick.

Enoch_Root said...

Jon -

Seriously. I admitted to Dan's kinship in order that you would not take my critique in the manner you have. First, you mis-characterize my motive by assuming it is "loyalty" which prompted my comment. This is disingenuous. Second, you failed to reply to my points.

I posted in hopes that you would respond to your approach... which, again, in this case is to purposefully obscure... to give the wrong impression with creative editing.

As for my brother, I am not bound by blood to give him counsel. We, as a family, do not subscribe to the "blood is thicker than water" thing. He is an adult and can defend himself. I just visited your blog to discern the hoopla and thought to comment on your approach is all.

Jon Swift said...

Mr. Root, my admiration for you was expressed in all sincerity and not meant to impugn your motives. I provided links to everything I quoted and I am sure my readers, many of whom are also adults, can make up their own minds by taking a look at what I have quoted in context and I encourage them to do so. Thank you very much for stopping by and adding to the discussion. You are always welcome here and I wish you all the best.

Carl said...

ZenYenta said...
As far as I'm concerned, you are Jon Swift. If you aren't, then who is?


*Stands up in short toga and slave chains*

I am Jon Swift!

Ivan G Shreve Jr said...

"I am Jon Swift, and so is my wife!"

Sam Thornton said...

So many targets, so little time.

Here's a link to the Google cache of KT Cat's example of how to deal with cause and effect (re Teh Blacks...) http://tinyurl.com/2jzd98. You have to scroll down to the wisdom entitled, "Blogworld Expo 07 - Raising the Level of Political Discourse."

Amazingly, although Ms. KT Cat provides ample encomiums for her colorfully described statistical credentials, she omits similar descriptions for her unique qualifications as a logician. A cynic might argue that this suggests those classes were skipped or slept through in her extensive education. This would be, of course, a Liberal slur on her fabulous mentational capabilities.

Contrarian exchange of cause with effect is, in fact, the hallmark of Conservative genius and served us well throughout the long, dark nightmare of the soul we stoically occupied pre-Saint Goldwater down even to the present Bush Emperium (praised be His Name).

Jaesoreal said...

I'm black and I'm here to destroy society! Show me da women!

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