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Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Tuesday! Deadline Linkdump
For most people, the week begins, when, Sunday? Monday? For me, it more or less begins on Wednesday, so Tuesday is like my Sunday. Er, except I'm at work. But I work Sundays, too, most of the time...
Anywho, I usually have a little time Tuesday to read yer blogs. Hence the linkdump.
• They're back: The Bad Colonies guys made it all the way to Ulan Bator and back, and you can read all about their adventures, via Bad Colonies Motoring Cooperative.
• A short disquisition on what is real: Cartoonist Alison Bechdel explains the recent "speculative" episodes of her comic strip. Did Sydney really arrange an affair with Madeleine while Mo was listening? The short answer is no. Writes Bechdel,
"Being very fond of the first formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative–”Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it would become a universal law”—I like to take it out for a test drive occasionally.
Not often that you see a cartoonist citing categorial imperatives, via DTWOF.
• The secret hold: Carpetbagger Steve Benin Benen explores the mysterious secret hold some Senator put on a bill that would have created a searchable database of government grants, contracts and types of financial assistance, worth $2.5 trillion last year. It's a crazy little trick that's holding up a bill with broad barpartisan support, via Carpetbagger Report. Go Steve! I want to search that database.
• Weekly Hum, via Vermont Hum.
• My last Pluto post, via Tom's Astronomy Blog.
• Sky Barsch of the Burlington Free Press writes a love note to Snarky Boy, via Gadabout.
• "This isn't a racist comment...": Yeah right. You knew those Essex shootings would provoke some kind of outrage on the gay gun nut's blog — indeed, Jeff Soyer describes alleged shooter Chris Williams as "a mutant" and "a low-life thug." But the comments attached to his post say so much more... Via Alphecca.
• More on that mysterious Montpelier performance artist, via False 45th.
August 29, 2006 at 11:07 AM in VT Blogs | Permalink
Comments
Is that love note comment a potshot at Gadabout?
Posted by: anonymous | Aug 29, 2006 2:08:08 PM
Um, no. Just thought I'd point out that somebody out there likes the snarkmeister.
Posted by: cresmer | Aug 29, 2006 2:23:03 PM
Somebody? How about over 600 unique visitors a day, Cathy. Yep, MANY people up here still seem to like some humor with their political sass.
Thanks for plugging the Snarky Boyplug.
Vvvvvrrrrrooooommmmmmm.......
Posted by: SnarkyBoy | Aug 29, 2006 3:15:20 PM
600 a day?
Building that much traffic in less than a month when so few sites link to you?
What a bunch of b.s.
Prove it with sitemeter, you Hayes Group troll.
Posted by: Sans Coulottes | Aug 29, 2006 3:46:20 PM
It's called marketing, my friend, as in ads, posters and -- oh yeah -- content. And you should try to hide that jealousy scar. It's kinda gross.
A big, wet, Snarky kiss to you.
Posted by: SnarkyBoy | Aug 29, 2006 4:36:43 PM
Poor Snark Boy.
He's an emotional train wreck.
He's like a mentally handicapped 11 year old boy -- the kind that smears his own excrement on the bathroom wall just to get SOME kind of attention.
Posted by: Phil Hudson | Aug 29, 2006 5:26:56 PM
Why didn't you take a dump on my page? Why is virtually the entire local blogosphere afraid to touch the PolVT story with a ten foot pole? It's fake people! Doesn't anyone have a friggin' opinion?! Politics Vermont is as genuine as a seven dollar bill. It is a shill for the Tarrant campaign. You don't need any proof beyond the content therein to figure it out. None of us like to admit when we've been snookered. But we have. Hard.
Check the facts. Go to www.burlingtonpol.com and see for yourself.
Posted by: haik bedrosian | Aug 29, 2006 6:05:18 PM
I can't speak for others but for almost 4 years I have referred to criminals as mutants, thugs, gang-bangers, etc. It has nothing to do with color or nation of origin. Only a mutant mindset that allows some people to kill others for no good reason.
Speaking only for myself, I also, in the comments, stated that shootings are also done by white natives of Vermont.
Posted by: Jeff Soyer | Aug 29, 2006 6:21:35 PM
Jeff, sorry for the confusion. I know "mutant" is your standard label for pretty much any violent criminal, white or black or whatever. Didn't mean to say that calling him a mutant meant you were racist.
Posted by: cresmer | Aug 29, 2006 6:37:05 PM
I think your link dump unfairly categorized the Alphecca post. That line you quoted wasn't even Jeff's comment.
I would never link to a racist blog and, frankly, I am tired of that word being tossed about so much. (Not just by you, but in general.) I think it only serves to deepen racial divides when any unkind reference to a black person is deemed racist.
For Pete's sake this man killed two people! What should he be referred to as? "Misunderstood"?
It's not like Jeff refers to all blacks as "mutants." Now that would be racist.
Posted by: Charity | Aug 29, 2006 6:41:58 PM
Argh! Cathy, you posted that while I was posting! I know I shouldn't have said anything!
Posted by: Charity | Aug 29, 2006 6:43:07 PM
That should say: "I knew I shouldn't have said anything!"
Posted by: Charity | Aug 29, 2006 6:44:26 PM
"You don't need any proof beyond the content therein to figure it out."
Yeah, just ignore the fact that they were up and running for ten months before they ever mentioned Tarrant.
Posted by: Let It Go | Aug 29, 2006 10:20:38 PM
Yeah, just ignore the fact that they were up and running for ten months before they ever mentioned Tarrant.
You know- Hayes Group person, or Doodle, or Ira, or Mike, or Haiksaboob, or whoever you are chasing me from blog to blog with that same lame talking point- I just want to say thank you for keeping me company. Nobody else will talk to me about this. I'd be pretty lonely without you.
Pretty soon you will realize you don't have to follow me around with the talking point. Nobody believes me and / or nobody cares. Even the "journalists" will accept what is told to them on an anonymous blog and repeat it verbatim like it was fact. Oh! So sorry about your poor poor laptop! The local blogosphere has been like a child personifying a stuffed animal when it comes to PolVT. There's something in our hard wiring that makes us want to belive what people tell us. PolVT, the Hayes Group and Richard Tarrant are using this innate human goodness in a perverted way.
I find this betrayal of trust, this deception- to be an outrage. Unfortunately, it seems like I'm the only one who has put the pieces together thus far. Every one else is either to scared or to apathetic to involve themselves enough to try.
I called you out on the "shrill" thing though, over at Charity's site, didn't I? You must have realized I was doing that on purpose since I know you hate it. When you blew up at me on She's Right, it was just like the "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!" scene in "A Few Good Men." Awesome.
Posted by: Haik Bedrosian | Aug 29, 2006 10:55:15 PM
Oy... Haik, as I told you in personal email, I just don't agree with you. I swear I'm not avoiding the issue, I just think you're misreading the evidence. Sure I think there are Tarrant supporters at PolVT but I think there are detractors as well. And as to the IP thing - well, several of us have noticed that someone ("Jason" I believe for one) has been hitting the blogs from Hayes Group computers for some time peppering the blogosphere with anti-Bernie comments, and I think that's what you're seeing. Whether it's being done with the approval of management is an open question, but I still think it's a misread on your part - that youre identifying the hits from these/this commenter as PolVT proper.
Seriously...haven't been avoiding it, I just don't agree and it seems like your thing, so I didn't want to get in a public back-and-forth thing with you because it's a) pointless for me to pick such a fight, and b) I like you and we seem to get along well.
I wish I could be with you (as it would be an AWESOME story), but I'm just not there. I think PolVT is legit.
Posted by: odum | Aug 30, 2006 9:28:16 AM
Thank you Odum! At least you're willing to share an opinion! As you know, it is impossible to ID someone on Blogger, but I hope eventually to have gathered enough circumstantial and content-based evidence to start to change some minds. In my world, the fact we don't, and can't know who these people are makes them automatically suspect. This isn't snarkyboy were talking about. This is Vermont's premier "online political network."
I'll keep making my case, but in the meantime, please know I'm extremely grateful that you came out and said anything Odum. I was starting to feel like a leper.
Posted by: Haik Bedrosian | Aug 30, 2006 10:04:51 AM
Sorry from me, too, Haik...
My view is basically in line with Odum (including the fluffy, friendly stuff) and I've been writing a somewhat tongue-in-cheek post about it in my head, but haven't gotten around to it, yet...
And, in further defense, I was on vacation when this whole thing started up...
I may not buy that PoliticsVT is a coordinated Tarrant thing, but I think the light you're shining on the Hayes Group is very important.
(And by the way, this is Neil, not Christian (aka Brattlerouser) which I think you thought in your comments. My possible diary title hinges on the pronunciation of your name.)
I might get around to writing it today, and if I do, please know in advance that I respect the work you do.
Posted by: Vermonter | Aug 30, 2006 11:49:58 AM
Goodness gracious, are we done with the navel gazing and public fawning session yet? Please, fellas, get a room.
Haik needs a serious reality check not some kind of full-on-public-tongue-kiss.
So, leave it to Snarky Boy to get real: Yo, Haik, you've lost it on this one. It ain't real. It ain't funny. And it's making you look nuts. Believe me, I know a think or two about all that. Now, please, MOVE ON. All of you.
Or, if want to keep clicking, check out Snarky Boy's "Feel the Love" piece that was just posted. Kisses galore, boys. Kisses galore.
Posted by: SnarkyBoy | Aug 30, 2006 3:28:01 PM
Hey, I see SB has figured out how to make a hyperlink in a comment. Now he just needs to figure out how to hotlink to an actual permalink and he'll really be cooking with n00b gas.
Haik, just so you know, the reason I've been ignoring the PolVT/Tarrant thing you've been on about is because a. I don't read PolVT so I don't really have much of an opinion and b. even if you're totally right, I don't see how they could do any damage. Blogging anonymously and pretending to be someone you're not is incredibly common and not illegal. I suppose you could make some political hay with it agaist the Tarrant camp if you could prove your claims, but it all sounds pretty circumstantial. Also, crying foul about anonymous blogging after you yourself have stated that you reserve the right to post as other people on your own blog seems a bit disingenuous.
All that said, good hunting. If you prove yourself to be right, I'll congratulate you effusively.
Posted by: Bill Simmon | Aug 30, 2006 10:40:17 PM
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