This evening, somebody (calling himself "Enlightenment", natch) posted a long screed in the comments to the previous post that hit on every single 9/11 "truther" talking point imaginable. It was in one long chunk of text, rather than being split up into paragraphs, which just added to the craziness.
Let me reiterate...this crap is not allowed on my blog. The main reason is it's disrespectful of everyone who died in the 9/11 attacks and their families. The other reason is that it's stupid, ridiculous nonsense. Anyone who posts this crap in my comments will be banned and will have their comment removed.
As Andrea once said, the short bus is not allowed to stop here.
Poor Lyn...she's so provincial. She doesn't realize there's a whole big country apart from her pampered, la-di-da existence. She really doesn't understand that there are a lot of voters who don't agree with her and her ilk. And our votes count just as much as hers, even if she does think we are just a bunch of rubes. No, if the election doesn't go the way Beverly Hills liberals want it to, it must be election fraud. Take to the streets? And do what? If this is some sort of threat, Mrs. Lear should remember that we are the ones who are armed, despite her husband's best efforts. (Every 1970s TV show that Norman Lear produced had at least one obligatory anti-gun episode.)
If the intention is just to throw a big tantrum, all that will do is anger mainstream America even further. After all, we have grown quite tired of arrogant actors, rock stars and other celebrities trying to tell us how to vote.
* I vowed to never link to that silly pesthole, but this is too pompous and funny to pass up.
Susan is a pretty common first name. It is, in fact, the 25th most popular first name according to this site.
However, my last name -- which starts with a "B", of course -- is very uncommon. In fact, there are less than 3,700 people in the U.S. with my last name.
I'm currently in the midst of making significant changes to the blogroll. I'm getting rid of defunct blogs, blogs I don't read and blogs I just can't stand anymore. There are a few blogs I added because the blogger asked for a link. I don't link bloggers because they request it anymore, so if the blog doesn't interest me, it's gone. Also, I'm adding a few new blogs. Some of the blogs/bloggers who I can no longer stand are being replaced by a blog or two that's diametrically opposed to them. These bloggers probably won't even notice and it doesn't matter if they do or not. I know about it, which is all that matters.
Anyway, it's a work in progress. I'm not going to have any more than 50 blogs in the roll and I will try to make it shorter than that if I can.
Well, this has been a really depressing morning for a variety of reasons, so here's some humor to cheer myself up and you too, if you need it.
I originally posted a link to this one way back and I found it again on YouTube. It's called "Gay Boyfriend":
Also, last week, Barb was asking what our favorite Weird Al Yankovic song was, and I went to YouTube to look for this one, but it was down for maintenance. I just remembered to look for it again. Here's "Another One Rides the Bus". People who have ridden the city bus have told me that this song is pretty accurate in describing the experience:
I could understand the Amish reaching out to the family of Charles Carl Roberts, the man who slaughtered five Amish girls in a senseless rampage. After all, his family -- his wife and children -- were also victims. The man they knew as a loving husband and father turned out to be a monster.
I can almost understand the Amish forgiving Roberts himself. After all, that's what Christ tells us to do. But they seemed to forgive him immediately. If it were me, it would take years to get to that point. In fact, I might never be able to forgive something like that.
So, when I read this story, I have to admit the first thing that went through my mind was this: "Aren't they taking this forgiveness stuff a little too far?"
Of course I know that they aren't...they are doing exactly what Christ tells us to do. It is my own deficiencies that cause me to ask that question.
I don't see eye-to-eye with the Amish on a lot of things but I respect their choices and way of life. They are pacifists, but they are the kind that I can respect. They don't try to force their ways on others and they are not selective in how far their pacifism extends. (For example, some pacifists will condemn someone for defending themselves more than they will condemn the person attacking them -- this, to me, is deeply immoral.)
The forgiveness and courage shown by the Amish is an amazing and beautiful thing. It's more than I can comprehend.
Last night, I completely deleted MT-Blacklist, including its tables in my database which were taking up a very significant amount of space. I kept MT-Blacklist around because it was so easy to blacklist a URL or keyword with just a few clicks. But then those few clicks started taking forever. SpamLookup, which comes with MT, should be sufficient. If I end up needing to block a certain keyword, I can add it to the keyword filter. I close comments and trackbacks on posts after about two or three weeks anyway, so I never get overwhelmed by spam. Most of the time it ends up in the junk folders anyway.
The site seems to be running faster now, so I'm hoping this problem is fixed.
Have you had trouble viewing the site or commenting lately?
I ask because I have had a lot of problems posting things lately. Movable Type has gotten so slow that it's ridiculous. Posting anything or doing routine maintenance is a chore.
I don't know if the problem is with MT, my host (which switched platforms a few months ago) or if the MySQL database MT uses has just gotten too big. I still use MT-Blacklist even though it is now obsolete because it provides extra protection against spam. But now I wonder if MT-Blacklist is the problem.
I need to upgrade MT to the latest version, but I've been putting it off. I may upgrade soon and remove MT-Blacklist and see if the situation improves. If it doesn't, I will have to explore other options.
If anyone out there has any suggestions or comments about this problem, I'd love to read them. If commenting doesn't work, try sending me email.
Update: I turned off MT-Blacklist and upgraded to MT 3.33. I'm hoping this will alleviate the problems I've been having.
I have a lot of new favorite artists, but one old favorite is The Cars. Benjamin Orr, bassist and lead singer of many Cars songs, died of pancreatic cancer six years ago today. As a tribute, here are some live performances by The Cars featuring Ben on lead vocals. I saw some of these performances when they were originally broadcasted.
First off, I'll start with The Cars circa 1982 on Fridays performing "Think It Over":
There's more after the jump...
Also circa 1982, The Cars perform "Cruiser" on the Tomorrow show:
Circa 1979, "Candy-O" (I think this is from the Midnight Special):
Also circa 1979, "Let's Go" (Again, I think this is from the Midnight Special):
And finally, circa 1978, "Bye Bye Love" on Musikladen:
I just recently started getting into searching YouTube for videos and live performances from various artists I like. Below is one that's beyond awesome...16 Horsepower performing "Strong Man" live. It starts off slow, builds and totally rocks out by the end!
(I'm planning a very special musical tribute tomorrow to a performer who is no longer with us. He was in a band that is as different from 16 Horsepower as you can get. Barb, you may be able to guess who he is, since he came from your neck of the woods [Cleveland].)
My back was still killing me yesterday morning, but I took a pain pill and went to church for the first time in about a month. A very nice lady at church (also named Susan...there are a bunch of Susans at my church) said she would add me to the prayer list regarding my back. I started feeling better throughout the day and I was even able to take Betty for a walk late yesterday afternoon. So thank you to anyone who has said a prayer for me...it is working. :-)
