2012 DNC Convention

Don't think this needs anything from me.

Gus Wuz Thinkin' About Political Cyber Stuff

You probably recall that during the 2008 election, the Democratics gloated about how much the Internet had aided the defeat of Hillary and then McCain in the general election.  Although I hadn’t paid much attention then to what kind of organizing can be done online, the notion was intriguing and I decided to look into it. 

The introduction of Windows XP in 2003, soon followed about 2005 by wider access to broadband for the masses released the enormous creative power of millions of very intelligent people.  And after 20-years of software development for PCs, compatibility of a large number of applications became a reality, especially for non-techies.

The technology knowledge had been known within large corporations for several years before the masses began to avail themselves of it.  So, growth and experimentation was sporadic.  As I recall it, the Republicans were largely absent from the cyber world in 2008.  They’ve begun to correct the disparity in this 2012 cycle.

However, the Democratics and their constituencies still show a remarkable devotion to making use of the online environment for a lot of their efforts.  By fairly loosely “friending” people in Facebook, I’ve encountered a few kooks who usually show themselves in a political conversation.   Some of them can quickly come off whatever is passing for their rails.  Dealing with them until they blew me off for not agreeing with their ranting was useful as a means of learning a bit of what makes them tick and gets them motivated.

 A couple of sites they liked to use for their kick-off discussion topics for a thread were Truthout and Common Dreams.  Any attempt I might try to have a rational exchange with them invariably fell into a flood of childish twaddle and bad language I wouldn’t dream of using in this environment. 

If you haven’t paid much attention to this stuff, as I haven’t, you may be surprised how much work has been going into the left’s “occupation” of cyberspace.  Note the image at right that shows a grid of 12 boxes, each containing about 10-12 links to other urls.  Ultimately, the links lead to about 400 (apparently) different web sites.  Some of them are probably substantial, some of them may be run from the same office, others may be a guy in a basement somewhere.  It’s difficult to tell, as you know.  This particular grid come from a site called, “Common Dreams.”

 

The following 4-pages are the names of the sites that are pointed to by the above grid…about 400 of them.

The logos shown at right are from a page calling for help with the Wisconsin recall effort.  Note all the interlinking.  And the list at left of links accompanied some other kind of protest during some of the “occupy” protests a few months back.  The thing to keep in mind is that a web site or blog can be constructed and posted in a very short period of time by someone who knows what they’re doing, so it’s possible that a number of these sites lack substance…others could be quite large in terms of funding and staff.

Conservatives are belatedly beginning to link their sites together, but appear to be pretty far behind.  It appears that the conservatives prefer to stand alone to this point in time.

And finally, here is a program to help keep the various site clearly identified, should you start seeing odd references to supposedly sound sources.  Good luck.

More End of Year Loonies - 2011

Most of these pictures have been published along with an AP story. The volume of nuttiness building to the end of the year is swelling to a large crescendo. I think the goal is to crush our good natures and spirit. I'm still happy, hope you are, too. One of the great things about attaining some substantial age and experience is that we've seen this stuff before, haven't we?

Adios

Protest !!

Went to town to pick up mail this morning. It’s a little town…quiet this time of year. Old gal walking down the sidewalk with a protest sign under her arm. On her way to protest something. End the war, probably.

We have a gaggle of about a half-dozen scraggly old farts in town that gather some weekends on the corner outside the post office to protest the war. It’s not much of a war, but then they aren’t much of a protest mob either. They were a lot more active when GW was in office but seem more comfortable with Barak as CIC. Funny how that works with these folks, isn’t it?

Her sign read, “WWJB? – Who Would Jesus Bomb?” First thought that came to my mind was that Jesus didn’t have any bombs back then…not that he couldn’t have had some if he had wanted them. However, I’ve heard that the last time God got irked with us, he just flooded the earth, drowned everyone, and started over again. Maybe she hadn’t thought her question through thoroughly enough.

Anyway, it got me to thinking about protests. Those back in the late sixties were pretty numerous and large. I didn’t participate in any of them myself, although they were going on in the neighborhood. Had a war to deal with and after that, I had to work to eat, pay the rent, buy food, gas the car, and romance some ladies. There was a lot of protesting going on in my old neighborhood, but since I was done with the war by then, I turned more toward my own account and let the others deal with their own problems.

However, it did seem to me that those old protests had a certain character to them that latter day protestors can’t quite replicate. Where is their Abby Hoffman and Wavy Gravy? They tried a Woodstock redux in 1994, but it fell short, didn’t it? The old one was filled with some real grime where the redux had a kind of tofu feel to it. Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re going to get caked in mud and really get f**ked up, shouldn’t the folks in the background and all around you be caked in mud also? The weather was nice in 1994 and the folks in the background appear to have been nicely dressed for an afternoon outing.

One of the iconic sixties pictures is shown below…there is no doubt they are f**ked up…heck, I would reckon that they may have been in another dimension. One thing is certain, they were authentic to their time.

Adios

Random Thoughts - 112511

A Heartbeat Away !

Bear with me a bit, my friends...experimenting with a way to alert you in the main blog that something new has been published here. The canned software doesn't allow me just to blink the button.

As for this bit of nonsense...well, not many words necessary, is there?

Suspend Democracy – Vote Democratic

The stream of outrages and stupidity flowing from the Democratics is approaching ridiculous limits. I can’t keep up with all of them and putting up links to proofs—published videos, articles, and pictures is time consuming.

If you came here from the EH blog, I’m trusting that you respected the Link button’s warning, “CONSERVATIVES ONLY”…you did respect that caution, didn’t you?

I trust that regular readers will have developed their own methods of finding information. Further, I have reached the point in life that I no longer relish an opportunity for persuasive argument. It’s my opinion that the left has become so radicalized that any attempt at having a rational discussion is wasted time.

The listing that follows will be an ongoing log of outrages that caught my attention. They are listed together with enough factual information that you can find the details on your own, should you want to do so. It is in no way comprehensive but does highlight some of the more important and/or subtle occurrences that I believe worth keeping in mind.

26 Sept. 2011. NC Governor Beverly Perdue (D-NC), at a Raleigh, NC Rotary Club luncheon meeting – “Suspend Congressional elections for 2-years”.

14 Sept. 2011. Peter Orszag (D), former Obama administration Director of the Office of Management and Budget, in the “The New Republic” – “Why We Need Less Democracy”.