By the way

It seems odd to me, but over the last month or so - readership here has doubled, and I've been slacking in writing. I'm not claiming to be "popular" in any sense of the word, but about 80 people come here and read my blog each day. I've been thinking about what that means, and I really have no idea. It's just kind of cool that there are people that take time out of their day to read something I wrote, even if they think it's stupid, or whatever. Atrios may get 100,000 readers a day, and that has to be pretty amazing, but it's no less amazing then 80 that show up here.

I haven't been as motivated lately because most of the political winds have been taken out of my sails. It was much easier to write when we were the abused minority. Hell, now newspapers are dropping Ann Coulter from their papers because of a slur she made a couple weeks ago. The political war is over, all that's left is trying to get the media to understand that.

It's hard to bitch about Bush when his approval ratings are in the toilet (high 20's), and all he's doing is jetting around Latin America talking about alternative fuels. It's hard to bitch about Dick Cheney when he is despised world wide and has a blood clot in his leg. It's hard to bitch about Karl Rove when nobody has seen or heard from him in ages. It's hard to bitch about Congress when they are actually getting work done.

It's even hard to bitch about right wing Christian freaks, when most Americans think they are off their rocker fucking crazy, and the right has done more to destroy religion in America than any atheist could ever dream of.

It's hard to bitch when you read things like this;

From amending the current federal Hate Crimes law to make sure it includes everyone, and not just the religious right (which it already covers), to banning job discrimination based on sexual orientation (it's legal to fire someone for being gay in the majority of states), it's turning into a banner year for civil rights, let alone the civil rights of gay and lesbian Americans. Congressional Quarterly looks at the details, via Bloggernista.

After 14 years, the anti-gay Republican congress is history. And even though the anti-gay Republican president is still with us - let's hope Mary Cheney finally weighs in with Bush and does her spouse and her child-to-be some good - we have a real chance to finally make some incredible gains at the federal level this year.

Most sensible Americans (which excludes the south) end up hating the haters. It's a nice boomerang effect.

So, it's getting harder to find stuff to bitch about. Hell, Scooter even got convicted. Isn't it great? I'm sure he's not going to spend any time in the slam (know why they call it that? LOL) but it makes a point. Republicans are corrupt and deserve to be in jail. It's working out beautifully.

Just as an aside, I wonder if Duke Cunningham has found out what the "slam" is yet? I understand the Dukestir liked the boys so he may not mind.

Oh hey.. here's a question for the straight guys. Suppose if you committed a crime, you'd be locked up in a federal pen, where they fed you 3 times a day, gave you a clean place to live, let you exercise and read.. plenty of free time, and surrounded you with women who wanted to do nothing but jump your bones night and day. Would you be tempted to rob a bank?

I'd imagine the thought has occurred to some gay guys... Not me of course.. but for some.. I'm sure..

/update

Just after I wrote the above, I went to read Eschaton, where Atrios wrote this;

Anyway, one thing I really don't understand is people who think about their blogs in terms of success and failure. I didn't start this blog because it was going to make me rich and famous, I started it because I wanted to rant away on the internets about politics, to push back against the conservatarian domination of blogs and the internet generally, and to highlight the infinite media misdeeds. It was a hobby.

That is exactly the point, which is why I'm surprised more than 5 people (who have to) read this blog. I write this to bitch about things, I don't write to attract readers, and I don't go to other blogs and try to get people to come here and read.. Well, except for the loons at the winger's blog I mention below. I was just trying to goad them into mucking it up in comments for some fun.

The point is, if I wanted to try and attract readers, I'd clean up the language a bit and specialize in content. I wouldn't review a movie, or post a song. I like a certain type of reader who understands content more than presentation. That's why I laugh at the right wing freaks, who get all bent out of shape at the utterance of the word "fuck". To them, presentation is everything. That's why my ex-favorite right wing freak can continually make straw man arguments, and post factually false information. They don't give a flying fuck about the information, it's how it's posted that counts. And the way they post it has to be in the context not of the issue itself, but how it relates to a liberal position and how it can best be used to attack the liberal political movement. The issue matters naught.

That's why it's so hard to debate them. I post the factual information, complete with links and such, and eventually they freak out and just start deleting my comments, calling me a "troll". Yes, I think that content matters more than presentation. I think if you fuck around posting bullshit all the time, you aught to be called out for it in a demonstrative way.

It's just really hard to find a right winger that will debate factually. I've invited them here, but aside from Bushwhackjob, oh he of the threatening violence and blood vessel bursting in his head, none will adventure it. Their sensibilities would first, and foremost, be offended by the language. It would so scramble their minds they couldn't even grasp the point of the argument. It's that way time after time.

Hell - I wouldn't even quote Nazi war criminals and delete their comments like they are quite fond of doing.