After 155 days, countless illegible captchas and innumerable emails to Google regarding their dumb-bot holding my blog hostage, they finally have allowed me to make a post without jumping naked through a ring of raging chainsaws.
Of course, the damage was done early on. I had to move my blog to Wordpress running on my own server. All in all, that has not been a bad experience. I will, however, be leery of depending on Google for anything that is vital. Their actions, and delayed reactions, have been heard loud and clear.
BLOG HELD HOSTAGE
DAY 155
"Progressive" readers gamed the Google system and blocked new posts for this blog on July 9. I needed to move the blog off Google in order to continue posting.
See this post for more details of this outrageous situation.
Google has allowed me to resume posts, but only with the most eye-crossing "captchas" possible.
They do not respond to their emails. But why should they? They're Google and they do not care.
Google's failure to correct its mistake make their blog system incompatible with free speech.
It also calls into question the suitability of using any other online applications where Google has custody of your personal information.
They can cut you off and simply fail to respond.
Standing for Civil, Fact-Based Discourse
This blog is about facts, civility and dialogue. It is not about polemics, rants, scoring "gotchas!"or preaching to the converted.
The Internet has enabled participatory democracy to an unprecedented degree. But the sad result consists of demagogues on the left and right hurling bombs at each other.
That's not dialogue; that's just being Shia and Sunni. And that's destructive. That endangers democracy, not enhances it.
Both extremes demonize dissent. "Evil" becomes whatever the blogger disagrees with. Reason, rational thought and the well-being of the country are mutilated in the process.
There is more at stake here than the personal catharsis of flipping someone off with the verbal equivalent of an Anglo-Saxon salute.
Opinions are most persuasively expressed when based on solid, factual irrefutable data. Only then do you have a chance at changing minds. Otherwise, you're just preaching to the converted.
I do not intend to preach to the converted. I intend to ask "WHY?"
I intend to challenge the demagogues to "PROVE IT." Give me facts, all the facts or go away and stop wasting my time.
I loathe party politics, the party line, and think both major parties are totally out of touch with the electorate.
Third-party candidates in today's political climate -- whether they be Ralph Nader or Bob Barr -- are just spoilers there to elect the other party's candidate.
I have worked as a top aide for a Democratic state governor and a Republican Congressman and U.S. Senator.
I vote as an independent. My favorite political book is Independent Nation which I have reviewed at this link.
![[Independant Nation]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YXXSJCFEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,32,-59_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg)
Like most Americans my political beliefs do not follow a party platform.
I believe that a connection to reality is vital and all-too-often missing from the political drones and droids that control the American political landscape.
And like most Americans, I am liberal on some issues and conservative on others.
As a former journalist and university journalism instructor, I am equally offended by the Keith Olbermanns on the left hand and Ann Coulters on the right.
They and their brothers and sisters rant and rouse rabble but rarely rise above the banal. They are demagogues of different stripes: equally annoying, equally flaky and equally useless for making an informed decision.
I am not interested in getting some "journalist's" opinion. I am interested in facts, context and a complete and unbiased picture -- an increasingly scarce commodity.
Like most Americans, I am in nobody's political bag and will never be put into one. That means I cannot be taken for granted.
This blog is about reality and facts. Stay tuned.
The Internet has enabled participatory democracy to an unprecedented degree. But the sad result consists of demagogues on the left and right hurling bombs at each other.
That's not dialogue; that's just being Shia and Sunni. And that's destructive. That endangers democracy, not enhances it.
Both extremes demonize dissent. "Evil" becomes whatever the blogger disagrees with. Reason, rational thought and the well-being of the country are mutilated in the process.
There is more at stake here than the personal catharsis of flipping someone off with the verbal equivalent of an Anglo-Saxon salute.
Opinions are most persuasively expressed when based on solid, factual irrefutable data. Only then do you have a chance at changing minds. Otherwise, you're just preaching to the converted.
I do not intend to preach to the converted. I intend to ask "WHY?"
I intend to challenge the demagogues to "PROVE IT." Give me facts, all the facts or go away and stop wasting my time.
I loathe party politics, the party line, and think both major parties are totally out of touch with the electorate.
Third-party candidates in today's political climate -- whether they be Ralph Nader or Bob Barr -- are just spoilers there to elect the other party's candidate.
I have worked as a top aide for a Democratic state governor and a Republican Congressman and U.S. Senator.
I vote as an independent. My favorite political book is Independent Nation which I have reviewed at this link.
Like most Americans my political beliefs do not follow a party platform.I believe that a connection to reality is vital and all-too-often missing from the political drones and droids that control the American political landscape.
And like most Americans, I am liberal on some issues and conservative on others.
As a former journalist and university journalism instructor, I am equally offended by the Keith Olbermanns on the left hand and Ann Coulters on the right.
They and their brothers and sisters rant and rouse rabble but rarely rise above the banal. They are demagogues of different stripes: equally annoying, equally flaky and equally useless for making an informed decision.
I am not interested in getting some "journalist's" opinion. I am interested in facts, context and a complete and unbiased picture -- an increasingly scarce commodity.
Like most Americans, I am in nobody's political bag and will never be put into one. That means I cannot be taken for granted.
This blog is about reality and facts. Stay tuned.
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