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No Comments for You!

Okay, maybe I'm an acquired taste. I do know that I have some very loyal readers who don't comment often, but who do take time to send me email. So the commenting feature of this blog hasn't been a strong component of the moderated feedback options available to my readers. And I've also come around to the view expressed in John Gabriel's Greater Internet F**kwad Theory.

Moreover, I discovered that my commenting system, Haloscan.com, is actually run by spirits, as in "unseen, disembodied, ghost-like, and generally unresponsive." It seems that they have turned over their entire help-desk to their forum, where users are expected to provide solutions to other users' problems. So what happens when users (even the Premium Members) encounter problems that other users in the forum can't solve? Well, that's when you learn that the site is actually run by spirits, etc., and you have to watch helplessly as the users wander around like the unfortunates in George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Perhaps that's why there's halo in the name.

While I favor the wiki-style of user interaction, it just doesn't work when your users can't solve all of your problems, even if those problems are simple, elementary, and easily repaired by knowledgeable and not-disinterested site owners. Therefore, gone is the commenting system.

Project Censored 2008

A new list of the top 25 censored news stories appearing in 2006 and 2007 is now available at Project Censored.

Don't go to the hair salon for that special wave you've been looking for—these stories are guaranteed to curl your hair.

Go Independent

Dave Lindorff asks What are Progressives Waiting For? in a sprightly call to action in today's Atlantic Free Press. His idea is for all progressive Democrats to leave the party:

Lindorff had actually made this call to action a few weeks ago, but now he's getting impatient.

He's also right. I made the decision several years ago to go independent. Like Lindorff, I certainly encourage others to do the same.