(to you-know-who-you-are): You've had your moment. I've had mine. I have taken you off my blacklist. Whether you do the same or not is your business, but I did want to let you know you're lifted off of mine.

As I was reading a pice on the recent SCOTUS decision by Bahu (I can never spell his last name right, so I won't even try), I was inclined to reflect on what it is I like about certain liberal bloggers. Bahu falls into that category of a blogger who will challenge the argument rather than the opponent in a discussion, and while we have found ourselves on opposite sides of many discussions, there's never an anger or bitterness in it...because the argument never degenerated into personal attacks. ...

I'm about to lose my Google AdSense account. And I'm actually very bitter about it. Why? Well, I'll give you the text of the email I received from them to explain why: It has come to our attention that invalid clicks or impressions have been generated on the Google ads on your site(s) through users of third-party programs paid or provided with other incentives to visit your site. Such programs may include, but are not limited to auto-surf, pay-to-surf, pay-to-read, or pay-to-click sites....

OK, Here's MY "Random Facts" article (interestingly enough, the facts you choose say a lot about your interests): I am a 14th generation American (the continent, not the country, obviously) on one branch of my family, 11th generation on another, and have Cherokee ancestry. None of my ancestors arrived in America after 1800. I am related to William Bratton, who was part of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and who most notably appears in their journals because of a lengthy illness. He did ma...

I hope y'all understand, I'm not being a poor sport in not having put up a "tagged" article, I'm just having a hard time coming up with five embarassing moments. So, to keep with the spirit of the tagging movement, I'm going to change the rules just a smidge to still give you a little bit of insight into who I am, but not burden you with some less than pleasant memories. This is about having a bit of fun, after all (I'll get in at least one embarassing moment, though, to keep with the whole spir...

One of the things I love most about blogging is that it is a forum where you will get feedback from your readers, regularly. Sometimes more than you'd like. In nearly two years of blogging, I believe I have improved myself as a writer, through what I have written and through what I have read. While readers may take issue with my politics, they rarely take issue with my writing. And so, in the interest of helping other bloggers as I've been helped, I'd like to share some of the most important tip...

Discussion is a good thing. In a democracy, in fact, I would argue it is essential. Without discussion, laws don't get changed and injustices are never remedied. Government agents that abuse their power are essentially given unlimited authority if there is nobody present to debate the validity of their actions. But discussion doesn't take place if you exclude valid points from the debate. Just as American voters never get a true look at their choices because of the fact that many candidates a...

One of the first rules of "point whoring" for a blogger, I have discovered, is to include the names of celebrities in your article. Preferably with a host of other keywords, such as nude, titties, s&m, or other words describing sexual behavior (even and especially deviant sexual behavior). But the celebrity names themselves will generate hits, if they're hot enough. I found this out the (err, ahem!) hard way when I first started blogging and wrote the now-notorious "Mary Kate" article (as...

I don't think I need to mention the name of the person I'm addressing with this article, but I will offer a few brief words, stolen from an old TV favorite (with minor appropriate revisions):   Welcome back, Your dreams were your ticket out. Welcome back, To that same old place that you laughed about. Well the names haven't changed since you hung around, But those dreams have remained and they're turned around. Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thoug...

I am stoked. This is the kind of fuel someone needs to keep them "on the path" as a blogger. Some time ago, I wrote an article on Theodora "Tonie" Nathan, the 1972 Libertarian vice presidential candidate who, due to the independent principles of elector Roger McBride (the party's 1976 Presidential candidate), cast his electoral vote for the Libertarian ticket of John Hospers and Ms. Nathan, making the latter the first woman in US history to receive an electoral college vote. The article posed...

I'm sitting just short of 1500 blogs in my tenure on JU, and I don't know where I'll go from here. I did not get out to blog at all yesterday, due to feeling pretty lousy, and after perusing the forums today, have to admit, I'm not in much of a mood to blog at this moment. Now, that may all change even before my time online ends, I don't know. But let's just say that I'm in a less than generous mood for communicating online, especially when reading a number of less than civil posts or comments t...

I surf BlogClicker frequently to bring traffic to my blog. While I appreciate BlogExlosion, BlogClicker has at least brought in a small revenue stream. What gets me, though, are the contests. See, there are two contests on BlogClicker every month. One is for sites surfed via BC, the other is for referrals. While I surf as much as I can to earn credits (I have a paid membership, both to make a little extra money and because I get more credits for each blog surfed), I do it in streaks. I still ...

****SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT**** Although I'm not going anywhere, I wanted to alert my readers to my newest blogsite, soon to be linked on the sidebar. As you all know, I have been with blogexplosion for some time. They are a great service for bringing traffic to your blogs (blogclicker is another...both linked on my sidebar). Blogexplosion is launching a blog service that is supposed to pay based on readership and ad revenue. While I have no illusions about getting rich by blogging anytime so...

OK, this will be my final word on "the subject". I'll move on from here. But there's one thing more that needs to be said, and it needs to be said in front of all of you. First of all, this is not an apology. I don't feel I have anything to apologize for. Nor do I feel Sabrina or Simon have anything to apologize for. We said what we said, and we are who we are. What resulted from the recent conflict was simply a byproduct of who Sabrina is, and she should be proud of that, at least. Duri...

One of the pitfalls I've found about blogging is that, while it is my personal journal, sometimes readers tend to misunderstand that. If I write an article, they will always assume that it is about them, or about a current event related to blogging. And usually they're right. It may not be a direct connection, but there is a connection, nonetheless. But every so often something occurs in my life that piles up continually. And then something happens online, the "straw that broke the camel's ba...