I've started the first draft of a book recently, so I'll probably be out of it for 3 months or so-- maybe longer. When I write first drafts, I tend to get caught up in the process and pretty much dead to the world around me.
I'm still going to try to post 10 to 15 posts per month while I'm writing, but that's likely wishful thinking and I'll probably post less. It's sort of an inopportune time right now with the budget battles, fleeing Democrats, Middle Eastern revolutions etc. going on right now, but I can't just wait for things to slow down.
Anyway, check out the blogs on my Blog List. And I will continue to be post here, just more infrequently for a while.
Thanks,
Yukio Ngaby
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blogging. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Monday, January 31, 2011
RIP Chris Monson aka snaggletoothie
Chris Monson (1948 - 2011)This morning I was greeted with very sad news. Chris Monson, a fellow conservative blogger and on-line friend, has passed away recently.
From his on-line profile:
"I was a nurse until 3 years ago. I worked on psychiatric and chemical dependency units. I am now disabled because of spinal injuries. I cannot walk very well. My use of my hands improved enough so that I can type and open some jars. I do a conservative political opinion blog with music and poetry. I am nearing the launch of a blog that will be devoted to discussion of the classic great books from Homer to Joyce and Faulkner.
According to Pat Austin at And So it Goes in Shreveport...:
"I received an email from Chris's father this evening telling me of his son's death. Chris suffered a seizure Monday, fell and hit his head, and by the end of the week he was in a coma. He died Friday afternoon."
Chris was an early follower of this blog (as he was of Pat's). I had several online discussions with him on many blogs and found him to be kind, witty, intelligent, and well-informed on a wide variety of subjects. We shared a fondness for literature and several times Chris directed me to informative articles about my writings' subjects-- articles that would have completely escaped my notice otherwise. The novel I'm currently working on changed significantly because of one of his suggested readings. When my hard drive failed and I lost a draft of my last book, he was one of the first to encourage me to get back to writing. It was a small thing, but I appreciated it a great deal.
His own political blog, Snaggletoothie of the Loyal Opposition, was always a joy to visit, full of videos-- topical and informative or, at times, just fun. His literary blog The Chinese Jar was likewise a frequent place for me to wander about. Chris was in the midst of posting video readings of Shakespeare's sonnets.
Again from Pat:
"His dad requests that any memorial or donations be made to the charity of your choice in Chris Monson's name. Or just snaggletoothie.
My deepest sympathy goes out to Chris' family. Those of us out here on the internet who came to know Chris will feel the lack of his wit and kindness.
Rest in peace, Chris Monson. You will be missed.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
HillBuzz Under Attack by Daily Kos and MoveOn.org
It seems that the blog HillBuzz, Hillary Clinton supporters turned McCain supporters following the nasty Democratic Primary, is under attack by Daily Kos and MoveOn.org.
Carol's Closet has a good collection here, including details from A Conservative Lesbian.
Backyard Conservative is also noting the story.
Click on any of the links to get started following the story. It seems that the Kossacks and others attackers are using the standard attack of yelling "racist." I have a passing familiarity with HillBuzz, but the attacks themselves seem to be motivated as typical smears rather than anything based in fact.
From HillBuzz:
"The Left is doing this to us now, on a personal level, because we backed Scott Brown, came up with the Hottie McAwesome tactic to defuse their best attacks against him, and refused to buckle and shut up when we were told to.
"Now, we were told by several good friends not to talk about any of this, and not to write a post like this taking this on directly. We were also advised to 'just stop writing' and all of this would go away eventually. There was even one Democrat who advised us, 'if you just stop, and close down the site, I’ll see to it that Kos and the others remove what they are saying, and we’ll help you clean things up on Google'. That sure felt like extortion to us.
"This is really what Democrats have become at this point.
"The party we loved our whole life has been taken over by thugs, who threaten, libel, malign, persecute, and extort anyone who does not fall in line with their Liberal-Socialist agenda. We’ve been on the receiving end of this harassment since November of 2007, when we started campaigning in Iowa for Hillary Clinton and first found ourselves on the receiving ends of Alinsky Method techniques. All of that increased 10, 100, and 1000 fold after we launched this site, started up Democrats for McCain efforts after Hillary suspended her presidential bid in June 2008, and we started actively promoting Sarah Palin as America’s best hope for the future in 2009."
I have to wonder if any of this is motivated by the shock and panic stemming from the Brown Senate campaign-- a reflex perhaps. Maybe the half-baked idea is to drive out effective internet campaigning with these pot shot attacks against people they deem knowledgeable about such and a threat. Don't know, but I gotta wonder...
Carol's Closet has a good collection here, including details from A Conservative Lesbian.
Backyard Conservative is also noting the story.
Click on any of the links to get started following the story. It seems that the Kossacks and others attackers are using the standard attack of yelling "racist." I have a passing familiarity with HillBuzz, but the attacks themselves seem to be motivated as typical smears rather than anything based in fact.
From HillBuzz:
"The Left is doing this to us now, on a personal level, because we backed Scott Brown, came up with the Hottie McAwesome tactic to defuse their best attacks against him, and refused to buckle and shut up when we were told to.
"Now, we were told by several good friends not to talk about any of this, and not to write a post like this taking this on directly. We were also advised to 'just stop writing' and all of this would go away eventually. There was even one Democrat who advised us, 'if you just stop, and close down the site, I’ll see to it that Kos and the others remove what they are saying, and we’ll help you clean things up on Google'. That sure felt like extortion to us.
"This is really what Democrats have become at this point.
"The party we loved our whole life has been taken over by thugs, who threaten, libel, malign, persecute, and extort anyone who does not fall in line with their Liberal-Socialist agenda. We’ve been on the receiving end of this harassment since November of 2007, when we started campaigning in Iowa for Hillary Clinton and first found ourselves on the receiving ends of Alinsky Method techniques. All of that increased 10, 100, and 1000 fold after we launched this site, started up Democrats for McCain efforts after Hillary suspended her presidential bid in June 2008, and we started actively promoting Sarah Palin as America’s best hope for the future in 2009."
I have to wonder if any of this is motivated by the shock and panic stemming from the Brown Senate campaign-- a reflex perhaps. Maybe the half-baked idea is to drive out effective internet campaigning with these pot shot attacks against people they deem knowledgeable about such and a threat. Don't know, but I gotta wonder...
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Happy Birthday Critical Narrative! One Year of Blogging Down and Who Knows How Many to Go...
Yup. One year of blogging... It's funny. I never meant this to be a purely political blog, but the events of this past year seem to have shaped it into just that. Well... worse things have happened.
I'll lay off the ruminations and reflections that often go with this sort of thing. I will say, however, that even though this is a relatively rarely visited blog, this year has not been the lonely, big empty that I expected when I first started this largely cathartic project.
I'll lay off the ruminations and reflections that often go with this sort of thing. I will say, however, that even though this is a relatively rarely visited blog, this year has not been the lonely, big empty that I expected when I first started this largely cathartic project.
To my wife, my great thanks for putting up with me (an unenviable task most of the time), especially during my long rants that resulted from reading thousands of pages of incredibly bad health care "reform" legislation. I cannot find the words to express my appreciation for your boundless patience. This blog would never have existed without your whole-hearted support and encouragement.
To all my various readers and fellow bloggers (almost all of whom I have never met in person) I have to say that I am very grateful for the support and kindness offered to me over the course of this year. Your sympathy and kindly words during my computer crash and my health issues were especially appreciated. It really means a great deal to me. Thank you.
To all my various readers and fellow bloggers (almost all of whom I have never met in person) I have to say that I am very grateful for the support and kindness offered to me over the course of this year. Your sympathy and kindly words during my computer crash and my health issues were especially appreciated. It really means a great deal to me. Thank you.
And now onward. Another year to go. More bad legislation, more political spin, more hard Left Obama, and more attempts at creating big nanny government await...
Monday, March 30, 2009
Deceptive Tactics of the Online Left?
Check out this article by article by Andrew Breibert in the Washington Times.com via (h/t) Pundit & Pundette (check out their link to R.S. McCain's post as well).
So, are there trolls roaming about in the conservative blogs? Well the answer is, of course, yes. Although I haven't had one visit this tiny blog, a number of other more popular blogs I frequent have had to deal with them, and I have seen these troll posts. William A Jacobson's Legal Insurrection had this post on his experiences.
Tactics such as these do present us with a difficult problem. Ideological shills spreading misinformation and false racist, sexist, or misogynistic hatred to discredit their opponents is a tactic becoming more common and, I'm afraid, might eventually be viewed as business as usual.
Of course the right is not immune to using such tactics, but I vehemently discourage indulging in it. In my view, people are defined by their values and actions. One should reflect the other, and nothing short of mortal peril or war should compromise this relationship. When a person (right or left) stoops to such dishonest tactics, their compromises invariably distort their ultimate intention and the result is unavoidably warped from their values. If a person adapts to their newly warped values, reapplies this tactic and then re-adapts again, this sets in a motion a pattern that often creates monstrous results. The art of compromise is one thing, adapting your values to these compromises is something else.
Of course, this presents us with a problem as Pundit & Pundette note: how to we deal with these tactics. They are, after all, reasonably effective in the short-term, and when the intention is narrowed to only create discord relatively simple to employ. It's something to think about, but I'm sure there is a solution beyond just riding it out. It's simply a matter of finding it.
So, are there trolls roaming about in the conservative blogs? Well the answer is, of course, yes. Although I haven't had one visit this tiny blog, a number of other more popular blogs I frequent have had to deal with them, and I have seen these troll posts. William A Jacobson's Legal Insurrection had this post on his experiences.
Tactics such as these do present us with a difficult problem. Ideological shills spreading misinformation and false racist, sexist, or misogynistic hatred to discredit their opponents is a tactic becoming more common and, I'm afraid, might eventually be viewed as business as usual.
Of course the right is not immune to using such tactics, but I vehemently discourage indulging in it. In my view, people are defined by their values and actions. One should reflect the other, and nothing short of mortal peril or war should compromise this relationship. When a person (right or left) stoops to such dishonest tactics, their compromises invariably distort their ultimate intention and the result is unavoidably warped from their values. If a person adapts to their newly warped values, reapplies this tactic and then re-adapts again, this sets in a motion a pattern that often creates monstrous results. The art of compromise is one thing, adapting your values to these compromises is something else.
Of course, this presents us with a problem as Pundit & Pundette note: how to we deal with these tactics. They are, after all, reasonably effective in the short-term, and when the intention is narrowed to only create discord relatively simple to employ. It's something to think about, but I'm sure there is a solution beyond just riding it out. It's simply a matter of finding it.
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