No Runny Eggs

R.S. McCain nailed it in a post ranging from him getting a mention from Allahpundit to South Carolina voters (or at least those being polled) rejecting the smears against Nikki Haley. The Drinking-Right-worthy quote:

While I despise the pompous expression “online community,” it nevertheless contains a truth. The relationship between a blogger and his regular readers (many of whom, it should be noted, are also bloggers in their own right) is like the relationship between a bar owner and his clientele. The bar is open to everyone, but if someone starts making a scene that spoils the fun for everyone else, the unruly patron will be shown to the door (and customarily stomped senseless in the parking lot by the bouncers, as was the policy at one nightclub where I worked as a DJ many years ago).

Oh yeah – Drinking Right is tomorrow night at 7 pm over at Papa’s Social Club (7718 W Burleigh in Milwaukee for those either stopping in for the first time or with short memories). That’s right – we’re almost to the second Tuesday of June already.

One more housekeeping note – if you haven’t read The Other McCain, what are you waiting for, Christmas? You’re already too late to be visitor number 4,000,000, but there’s always the off-chance you’ll be number 5,000,000.

I’m gone for the next week, so the content will come from Shoebox and the long list of guest-bloggers.

See you next week Sunday.

In case you haven’t noticed, the #demonpass hashtag has sort of gone viral on Twitter. While I might not have quite been the first with it, it wasn’t until the hostess of the latest addition to the overstuffed roll on your right, Sissy Willis of sisu, Melissa Clouthier, and I got together that it took off.

Seriously, sisu is one of the best reads out there. Do not wait as long as I have to make it one of your mandatory reads.

I’m at a bit of a loss for words, so you’ll just have to take my word for it that Cubachi is a great addition to the roll and feed reader, and that you should do the same.

I’ve been under the weather the last couple days, and Shoebox is doing a rather long commute. Guess we should’ve called in the clans, especially since Erick Erickson decided to make the latest Obama video one of his must-reads of yesterday over at RedState.

Let’s see if I can get back in the swing of things. After all, we have the Doomsday Device being readied for detonation to pass PlaceboCare version 4.1, news that the federal entitlement spending has exceeded the total individual tax take, an attempt to extend unemployment another 9 or so months on top of the 18 months it’s already been extended, a call for $7/gallon gas, and a host of other items in my feed reader.

BigFurHat found the Obamese thread Shoebox put together, and his (or perhaps her) readers kicked in some seriously-good suggestions. Based partly on that, partly on The Obamas comic, and partly on the other work the gang does there, it’s past time to add iOwnTheWorld to the seriously-overstuffed roll.

Or at least walking around Shoebox’s and Birdman’s neighborhood, because that’s where Mr. Dilettante’s Neighborhood is. Mr. D was one of the patrons back at The Wisconsin Sports Bar, and in addition to being the neighborhood watch captain, he’s also at True North.

Since The Anchoress was kind enough to link to yesterday’s Social Security post, and since she has the gift of prolific prose, it’s definitely time to put The Anchoress on that gigantic roll to your right.

And that’s the blog name of Chris from Racine – Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. I just hope she doesn’t hit me at the next Drinking Right for taking 2 months to notice she headed out on her own.

Pin-up model and crack shot Phelony Jones has reopened The Confidentials. Trust me; it is a good read.

Robert Stacy McCain and his sidekick Smitty have gone full-bore into the WordPress business, moving The Other McCain over to http://theothermccain.com. Even though all I get is the occassional reach-around, I will take the time to ask you to hit Stacy’s tip jar because running a self-hosted WordPress blog is not free and Smitty forgot to put the tip jar on the new place.

It seems that something broke with cron jobs in WordPress 2.9, which meant that, among other things, posts scheduled for a future publish date would not publish and trackbacks and pingbacks would not happen. The WordPress team put together what they tested to be a fix, and scheduled it for WP 2.9.1, but since Shoebox uses post-dating, and we both use trackbacks/pingbacks, I couldn’t wait to implement it.

That means, if you see this, it works.

Several of the milblogs I read, from Blackfive to CDR Salamander, to This Ain’t Hell to Confederate Yankee to Argghhh! to Neptunus Lex to Uncle Jimbo, have gone into radio silence to protest the treatment of milbloggers in the military, and especially C.J. Grisham of A Soldier’s Perspective. As DrewM said, even though I’m not familiar with Master Sgt. Grisham’s blog, the fact so many who I trust have decided to back him speaks volumes. I’ll use John’s version:

15 DECEMBER 2009

MILBLOGS GO SILENT FOR FELLOW BLOGGER

Milblogs Go Silent

On Wednesday 16 December 2009, many milblogs – including This Ain’t Hell, From My Position, Blackfive, Miss Ladybug, Boston Maggie, Grim’s Hall, Bouhammer, and those participating in the Wednesday Hero program – are going silent for the day.  Some are choosing to go silent for a longer period of time.

The reason for this is two-fold.  First, milblogs are facing an increasingly hostile environment from within the military.  While senior leadership has embraced blogging and social media, many field grade officers and senior NCOs do not embrace the concept.  From general apathy in not wanting to deal with the issue to outright hostility to it, many commands are not only failing to support such activities, but are aggressively acting against active duty milbloggers, milspouses, and others.  The number of such incidents appears to be growing, with milbloggers receiving reprimands, verbal and written, not only for their activities but those of spouses and supporters.

The catalyst has been the treatment of milblogger C.J. Grisham of A Soldier’s Perspective (http://www.soldiersperspective.us/).  C.J. has earned accolades and respect, from the White House on down for his honest, and sometimes blunt, discussion of issues – particularly PTSD.  In the last few months, C.J. has seen an issue with a local school taken to his command who failed to back him, and has even seen his effort to deal with PTSD, and lead his men in same by example, used against him as a part of this.  Ultimately, C.J. has had to sell his blog to help raise funds for his defense in this matter.

An excellent story on the situation with C.J. can be found at Military Times by clicking here.

While there have been new developments, the core problem remains, and C.J. is having to raise funds to cover legal expenses to protect both his good name and his career.

One need only look at the number of blogs by active duty military in combat zones and compare it to just a few years ago to see the chilling effect that is taking place.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to the public.  They have provided vital context and analysis on issues critical to operations and to the informed electorate critical to the Republic.

On Wednesday 16 December, readers will have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it.  Those participating are urging their readers to contact their elected representatives in Congress, and to let their opinions be known to them and to other leaders in Washington.

Some milblogs will remain silent for several days; some just for the day.  All have agreed to keep the post about the silence and C.J. at the top of their blogs until Friday 18 December.

The issues go beyond C.J., and deserve careful consideration and discussion.  We hope that you will cover this event, and explore the issues that lie at the heart of the matter.  Contact the milbloggers in your area or that you know, and hear the story that lies within….

You can donate to CJ’s Legal Fund by logging into PayPal, go to the send money page, and put in his email: dj_chcknhawk (AT) yahoo (DOT) com; or, you can send donations directly to:

Grisham Legal Fund
c/o Redstone Federal Credit Union
220 Wynn Drive
Huntsville, AL 35893

Please write “Grisham Legal Fund” in the memo line if you use this option.

Milblogs have been a vital link in getting accurate news and information about the military, and military operations, to you. Today, many milblogs are gone and others are under attack from within and without. Today, you have the chance to imagine a world without milblogs, and to do something about it. Make your voice heard by writing your congressional representatives and others, and by making donations as you see fit.

The battle for freedom of speech and the marketplace of ideas is fought on many fronts and in many ways. Without your help, the battle may well be lost.

Uncle Jimbo has opened up his own shop (again) over at In the Crosshairs. He has more ways to kill you than you can imagine, so don’t make him angry – put him on your feed reader today.

Once again, Shoebox has come through with a high-quality guest-blogger who goes by the nom de blog Birdman. In addition to the brief bio he sent Shoebox, I’ll add that he has a lot of experience in Twin City-area politics. I’ll let his bio do the talking:

Born in ’61.
Happily married to my first wife.
Two children.
Sexual preference: A lot.

Believe truth is absolute, and that pursuit of truth is a life-long
enterprise.

You can learn all you need to know about the current political trends in
America by reading “The Road to Serfdom” by F.A. Hayek.

Favorite writers: George Will and Robert Bork.

Favorite movies: A Few Good Men and Oh God!

I should’ve done this a couple months ago, but better late than never (I blame that overstuffed reader). Dean has reopened Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative.

We’re somewhere near 400 blogs on that bloated roll to your right (and over 400 feeds in my overstuffed feed reader), but there’s always room for more quality places as we find them. One of those is Soapbox Jill’s Liberty’s Logic.

Since Sister Toldjah has gone down with a nasty bug, she hung out the guest-blogger sign, and invited Phineas and me to cover for her while she gets healthy again.

Get well soon, ST, and the rest of you stop on in over there. Once again, I’ll try to do some exclusive content for her and hopefully remember to repost it here when the comments time out, while doing some other stuff here. In fact, I’ve just put up a look at the media poll question from the WPRI/UW poll from the weekend.

I haven’t been able to keep up with all the moves Alexander/Rabbit has been doing, but at least this time he only changed the name. Of course, since I didn’t keep up with the previous move, I had to do both in the bloated roll. In any case, a Little off Main is back in business.

Since Shoebox has finally started Twittering (do follow him at @Shoeboxnre), I needed to shoehorn a second Twitter badge on the right sidebar. It’s not a perfect solution because, except at the largest resolutions, you’ll need to scroll to get to the bloated roll, but it works for now.

I have to thank a few high-profile people for linking here the last couple days:

- Ed Morrissey over at Hot Air for the video I shot of him at the Defending the American Dream Summit.

- Robert Stacy McCain for me trying to steer you to Part 1 of his reporting from Clay County, Kentucky.

- John Hawkins for naming me the Blog of the Day over at Linkiest. For those of you who don’t know what Linkiest (formerly known as Conservative Grapevine) is, it is an aggregator of who’s who in the conservative blogosphere.

Thanks for stopping in, and do stick around and enjoy the posts from Shoebox and me (and the occassional guest-blogger).

A housekeeping note; I hadn’t realized that John had changed the name of Conservative Grapevine. I’ve updated the bloated roll to the right.