A Crap Sandwich By Any Other Name...

I received a militaria catalog in the mail today called Military, apparently by some group called "The Press of Freedom." It's a right wing production. It contains an article by Oliver North. It has articles that denigrate Barack Obama. And it has little snippets that are quite anti-liberal in content. One of them in particular pissed me off. Under the heading "Liberalism/Socialism" it says,

"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." - Thomas Jefferson

I couldn't agree more. The problem is, they're co-opting Jefferson to make him appear the enemy of liberalism when in fact, Thomas Jefferson was rooted in the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment. He was as far from the conservatives of that time as can be. Obviously, at the time, he was something of a radical, as were all the Founding Fathers, when you remember conservatism at the time was deeply rooted in monarchy and state religions.

The thing is, conservatives are perfectly happy spending our money on their causes, for example, Faith Based Initiatives - then its not tyranny at all. They're not denouncing the use of tax dollars to fund various programs because somebody finds them immoral or objectionable. They're demanding that their own views be privileged. By all means, they say, spend our tax dollars. Spend them on churches, on proselytizing, and on other programs that further the cause of Christianity.

And so, of course, they are hypocrites, and of the worst kind. I'll give this particular crap sandwich its due consideration and dispose of it appropriately.

Busy Bee

Been a busy couple of days. Besides trying to dig out from the snow (I still have to widen the driveway) I've been working on MosMaiorum.org. I got the entire site expanded to the new 1000px layout. It's a big improvement. I posted another article (using the new footnote CSS - that makes 2). And I'm using css to highlight important items in a bright but compatible color. There is a lot more to do, obviously, but there are only so many hours in the day, as the old lament goes.

We're going to be heading down to Indianapolis again tomorrow (second time in a week) to take a friend to the airport so she can visit her sister in Florida. Hopefully the weather will be like today. Originally the forecast was snow; this is much better (especially since I have to finish the driveway - did I say that already?). We're going to catch Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, blasted by the critics and for that reason undoubtedly a very good movie. It's generally safe to do the opposite of what they recommend. I'm not looking for high culture; I'm looking to be entertained.

I've kept up on Restitutor Orbis meantime, keeping with my post per day. Tomorrow ill be a little difficult to put something together with the shortened day but I'll get something up there. I have been hoping to fiddle with this site a bit more but it's been on he back-burner given all the other things going on - including keeping up with Digg, which is almost a full-time job in itself! But the networking is great and I've met some good liberal friends (I don't know that they're all using that term but that's what it amounts too, discredited term or not). I've also learned quite a bit and seen a lot more news than I've ever seen.

Keeping up with blogging is, of course, difficult, but I managed to put up a couple of decent posts on Heathen's Day this past week and I dugg an older article, "Of Tree Huggers and Woodland Sprites" because there is so much ecology news there. Good way to draw some attention to MosMaiorum.org as well. I've tried to get Heathen's Day more connected too over the past few days, joining both EntreCard and SezWho - not to mention Facebook, which I've ignored as a resource until now.

So all in all a very good, very busy week, and I found time to play with Devin twice today, for about 3 hours, which was nice, since we won't get the chance tomorrow with the running around. I think I'm learning to manage my time a little better. I should probably try to parcel it out ahead of time but I'm falling into a sort of pattern:

• Get up


• Get OJ/Banana to eat.


• Check email. Attend to forum/blog comments first


• Plow through Digg shouts

I can usually do the above before Devin gets up, though there are always more Digg shouts to read through.

• Eat breakfast


• Continue with Digg


• Work on mosmaiorum.org/other sites as time permits


• Lunch

That's the first part of my day and it seems to be working pretty well. I also try to get back to the forums before bed to check on new comments there, and check digg and my email throughout the day. I generally don't have a lot of time for the web development activities in the evenings.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

There was a whole lotta digging going on today. The snow was up to 8" deep towards the foot of the driveway, and the thinnest patch was on the steps, at 3". I never did finish shoveling so I'm hoping more snow is not on the way (as predicted). Had to go out tonight to widen what I had done earlier so that the nurse can get in tomorrow to treat Devin. She has an SUV but it's not easy to drive in that much snow. It's about 9 degrees now so not much likelihood of it melting for me, which means more shoveling tomorrow. With any luck it will hold off long enough for me to get caught up!

Long Day

We spent the day in Indianapolis. Devin had a C/T scan scheduled and a visit with his doctor at the genetics office for his Gaucher Disease. We won't find out the results of the C/T scan for a day or two but the doctor was pleased at how Devin looked. He's in the 90th percentile in height and weight. He's up to a couple inches short of 4 feet (beyond Hobbit height at this point!) and 44 pounds. It's been a long, long day and I'm eager to hit the hay.

A final note: When I left this morning my article on Palin had about 380 hits. By the time I got home 10 hours later, it had doubled. Right now, it's just 10 hits short of 800. You just never know what people are going to like. Obviously, it struck a chord. I think I've posted better pieces but sometimes it is not so much how something is written but what it's written about.

First Page on Digg

I thought I'd have a little self-approbation party by linking a piece I did for Sarah Palin's GOP. Just a brief rant about Sarah Palin inspired the most recent news of ethics violations in her administration. It's not high journalism, but it seems to have struck a chord.

Sarah Palin’s general attitude seems to be that their shit don’t stink up there in Alaska.

read more | digg story

Blogging from the Bog

I have been blogging for going on four years now, off and on. I started haltingly, not really sure if I wanted to get into this new venture. But as time went on, I became more comfortable with the idea and began blogging in earnest. This will be my third blog, a sort of "master" or "coordinating" blog to keep track of all my online ventures, including websites. I like to think of it as my "tactical operations center."

This blog will be used to update people on what I'm up to, mostly online. A little bit of my personal life creeps through my other posts, and feel no real need to focus an entire blog on me personally. I really don't find myself all that exciting.

I'm more interested in education and in sharing, in making people stop and think. And that works both ways. I want to be educated; I want to be shared with; and I want people to make ME stop and think. I agree with the old adage that the day we stop learning is the day we stop living.

Here I will include links to all my endeavors online, including the Mos Maiorum Foundation and its associated forums. Also my Ezine, Ancestral Traditions. I have provided links to my other blogs, and to other places I can be found on the Net, including CenterLeft.info and Sarah Palin's GOP, as well as Associated Content, a new venture for which I am developing a couple of ideas.