Friday - April 20, 2007

Recon Patrol Status Report

What are our reconnaissance scouts coming up with at the BMEWS Recon Patrol blog? Let’s find out ....



“Hillary, Qaddafi, and Cho Connected?  Check it out!” -by- Radioactive Chief

“Not My Yob” -by- mythusmage

“More Weather, Less Propaganda—please” -by- Grumpy Old Ham

“Keeping Busy in Retirement” -by- Grumpy Old Ham

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/20/2007 at 04:38 PM   
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   Tuesday - April 17, 2007

Recon Patrol Status Report

What are our reconnaissance scouts coming up with at the BMEWS Recon Patrol blog? Let’s find out ....



“The Indestructo Tank” -by- Elliott

“Playing With Blog Bling” -by- mythusmage

“There Are Always Consequences” -by- mythusmage

“Guten Tag Mi Amigos” -by- WarWagon

“Missing In Action Report” -by- Sergei

“New School Prayer” -by- chip

“Gun-Free Zones” -by- tuffbeing right

“Teach Your Children Well” -by- mythusmage

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/17/2007 at 04:40 PM   
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   Monday - April 16, 2007

SURPRISE!

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/16/2007 at 06:00 PM   
Filed Under: • Cyberspace-Internet •  
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   Saturday - April 14, 2007

SURPRISE!

Posted by The Skipper     on 04/14/2007 at 06:34 PM   
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   Thursday - March 22, 2007

God, Guns & Glory

I stumbled upon a new (to me) blog today and found this great photo.

Go visit JJ at God, Guns, Glory

Posted by Mr. Christian     on 03/22/2007 at 03:27 PM   
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   Thursday - February 15, 2007

Help Wanted

Do you want a chance to harass Congress-critters and help make sure they’re doing what we pay them to do? Now’s your chance and all it will take is a few minutes of your time on the web.

I registered this blog with the Sunlight Foundation last year, shortly after they went live. It seemed like an idea whose time had come, namely let’s shine a little daylight on Congress and and expose the crooks and slackers. They’re doing such a good job that they were recently featured and interviewed on FOX NEWS.

I still think it’s a good idea and I urge you to trot on over there (see links below) and sign up. They’ll provide you with a flashlight - all you have to do is go shine it on a Congress-critter’s website and evaluate whether the wankers in DC are actually doing anything or just blowing smoke (at our expense). Now git on over there ...

The Sunlight Foundation Wants You To Research Congressional Web Sites!

The Sunlight Foundation is launching a new citizen journalism project. This distributed research project asks you to dig through the official, taxpayer-funded Web site of a member of Congress, and help determine those that act as genuine tools for transparency.

We’re asking questions in three broad areas: do they provide access to basic information on what they do in Congress (the bills they sponsor, the committees they serve on); do they provide information from or access to any of the legally-required disclosures they have to file (on personal finances or junkets they take), and do they provide any additional information that furthers transparency (their daily schedule, lists of earmarks they’ve asked for or gotten).

We’re asking you to help us determine whether a member’s Web site, by furthering transparency, serves the interests of the citizens who pay for it. The findings will be used to highlight the best practices and to develop a set of transparency standards for sites of members to meet.

The project may take you ten minutes or longer, depending on the size and complexity of the Web site you’re looking at.

To get started, click here: http://www.sunlightlabs.com/research/sites/

Thanks so much for your interest in Sunlight, and good hunting!

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/15/2007 at 02:53 PM   
Filed Under: • Cyberspace-Internet • Politics •  
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   Friday - February 09, 2007

Happy Birthday

Stop The ACLU

It seems like it was only yesterday (actually it was June of 2005) that I got an e-mail from some young whipper-snapper named John (Jay) Stephenson, wanting to know if I would link to some of the posts on his new blog to help him build up readership for a worth cause ... namely, getting a grip around the neck of the evil ACLU. I offered him a few tips, posted links back to a few of his early posts and have been harassed mercilessly with e-mails from him ever since. (Just kidding, Jay)

Actually, I look forward to Jay’s e-mails as they let me keep up to date on the Commies at the ACLU. I still post links back to him on the best ones. Jay is currently on deployment overseas and can’t even read his blog, which is being kept alive by Gribbit and a few other of Jay’s friends. Go give ‘em a visit, wish Jay and the anti-ACLU troops a Happy Birthday and maybe help them reach the one million hit mark. Now, go on! Get on over to Stop The ACLU right now ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/09/2007 at 11:47 AM   
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   Saturday - February 03, 2007

Guidebook For Liberal Trolls

1. Make things up about the person you are attacking: It’s important to make your lies sound true. Preface your argument with the word “clearly.” “Clearly, The Skipper is a liar, an asshole and a neo-con to boot.”

2. Be an armchair psychologist: You’re a smart person. You’ve heard of Freud. You took a psychology course in college. Clearly, you’re qualified to psychoanalyze your opponent. “Wardmama, by using the word ‘zucchini’ in her posting, shows she has a bad case of penis envy.”

3. Cross-post your flames everywhere: Every conservative blogger on the net is just waiting for the next literary masterpiece to leave your terminal! From the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller Empire to VodkaPundit, they’re all holding their breath until your next flame. Therefore, post everywhere.

4. Conspiracies abound: If everyone’s against you, the reason can’t *possibly* be that you’re a shithead. There’s obviously a conspiracy against you, and you will be doing the entire net a favor by exposing it.

5. Lawsuit threats: This is the reverse of Rule #4 (sort of like the Yin & Yang of Flaming). Threatening a lawsuit is always considered to be in good form. “By saying that I’ve posted to the wrong group, Bertha has libeled me, slandered me, and sodomized me. See you in court, Bertha.”

6. Force them to document their claims: Even if George Bush states outright that he likes tomato sauce on his pasta, you should demand documentation. If Newsweek hasn’t written an article on Bush’s pasta preferences, then Bush is obviously lying.

7. Use foreign phrases: French is good, but Latin is the lingua franca of flaming. You should use the words “ad hominem” at least three times per article. Other favorite Latin phrases are “ad nauseum,” “veni, vidi, vici,” and “fettuccini alfredo.”

8. Tell ‘em how smart you are: Why use intelligent arguments to convince them you’re smart when all you have to do is tell them? State that you’re a member of Mensa, or Mega, or Dorks of America. Tell them the scores you received on every exam since high school. “I got an 800 on my SATs, LSATs, GREs, MCATs, and I can also spell the word ‘neanderthal’ .”

9. Accuse your opponent of censorship: It is your right as an American citizen to post whatever the hell you want to the net (as guaranteed by the 37th Amendment, I think). Anyone who tries to limit your cross-posting or move a flame war to email is either a communist, a fascist, or even worse ... a “neo-con”.

10. Doubt their existence: You’ve never actually seen your opponent, have you? And since you’re the center of the universe, you should have seen them by now, shouldn’t you? Therefore, THEY DON’T EXIST! This is the beauty of Liberals’ logic.

11. Don’t hold back: Lie, cheat, steal, leave the toilet seat up. Leave no stone unturned. Hate everything. Attack them all. As a last resort you may even quote heavy metal rock lyrics to justify your argument. Nine Inch Nails is good. Twisted Sister is better.

12. When in doubt, insult: If you forget the other 11 rules, remember this one. At some point during your wonderful career as a Liberal troll you will undoubtedly end up in a flame war with someone who is better than you. This person will expose your lies, tear apart your arguments, make you look generally like a freaking retard. At this point, there’s only one thing to do: INSULT THE DIRTBAG!!! “Oh yeah? Well, your mother does strange things with vegetables.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/03/2007 at 12:27 PM   
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   Friday - February 02, 2007

An Inconvenient Breakdown

If any of you were trying to get to this blog last night you are probably aware that we disappeared from the internet for several hours, starting about 9:00pm ET. In fact we weren’t the only ones MIA. Emperor Misha at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottie Empire, Frank J. at IMAO and the evil Puppy Blender at Instapundit, among many others, also disappeared from cyberspace.

Yes, there is a very good explanation and no, it had absolutely nothing to do with Muslim terrorists or Turner Broadcasting’s “mooninites” ... we think. Quite simply, what happened is some doofus in Atlanta, GA somehow managed to plow through the main fiber line going South to Florida and since our blog is hosted by Hosting Matters in Jacksonville (along with all the other REALLY COOL bloggers), we all went away.

I got notification from Hosting Matters about 9:30 ET and then all we could do was wait while the fiber splicers in Hot-lanta went to work to repair the connection. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning they finally got it all back together. So far Al-Qaeda has not claimed responsibility but we’re keeping an eye on the bastards just in case.

So for now we’re back in business monitoring Moonbats. Our thanks go out to the fine folks at Hosting Matters who were kind enough to stay up all night to get this resolved. They’re the greatest. We now resume our regularly scheduled programming, already in progress ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/02/2007 at 09:33 AM   
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   Sunday - January 21, 2007

Days Of Our (Cyber) Lives

Before I begin talking about this grotesque love triangle described below I want you to take a look at the picture at the right here. What you see there is a 58-year-old technology professional with too much free time on his hands. Yes, that is the author of this blog. C’est moi!

There are a lot of rough miles carved into the wrinkles on that face and every one of those wrinkles was honestly earned and paid for dearly. Look closely and examine the steely gaze of those piercing blue-green eyes behind the spectacles that keep him from being legally blind.

The hair is turning gray at the sideburns and creeping up over the ears. In another year or two he will probably look like Paulie Walnuts on The Sopranos. Let’s hope that’s where the comparison ends.

The mustache turned gray (actually white) years ago. He still has all his teeth and cleans up nicely when forced. The mind behind those eyes is always on but never seems to be able to take itself completely serious in spite of three college degrees and enough life experience to fill three novels ... and a couple of R-rated movies. He believes in America and that all people have something good about them - albeit hard to find in some.

He has been married and divorced four times and has two grown sons. He currently is single, unattached, overworked and underfed. He has very few vices and has never been arrested or in jail - although not for lack of trying in his wilder, younger years.

That is the man you are listening to here. Why am I telling you this, you ask? Because every once in a while I need to come out from behind the curtain and remind all of you that the internet is a strange place and you never know who you are talking to. You can get into a lot of trouble in no time flat by simply trusting someone you met in a chat room - kinda like the young man in the story below.

You just never know, so act accordingly and teach your children to do the same - except with even more caution by them. Some of the faceless people in cyberspace are not the kind of people you want your kids talking to. “Mostly harmless” does not describe the internet.

With that said, I have to confess that all of the above is a complete fabrication. I am actually a 16-year-old hottie in high school and I’m sitting here in a see-through nightgown rubbing myself and feeling oh so horny. Wanna play?

22-Year-Old New York Man Murdered
After Being Drawn Into Internet Love Triangle
_{BUFFALO, N.Y. (FOX NEWS) - Sunday, January 21, 2007}

He was an 18-year-old Marine headed to war. She was an attractive young woman sending him off from afar with pictures and lingerie.

Or so each one thought.

In reality, they were two middle-aged people carrying on an Internet fantasy based on seemingly harmless lies. When a truthful 22-year-old was drawn in, their cyber escape turned deadly.

“When you’re on the Internet talking, you haven’t got a clue who that is on the other end,” Erie County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Kenyon said. “You don’t have a clue.” When Brian Barrett was shot to death Sept. 15 outside the factory where he worked to help pay for college, investigators and his family were stumped.

Barrett, 22, was an aspiring industrial arts teacher, an accomplished high school athlete who’d coached Little League all summer and helped his father coach soccer. Quiet and unassuming is how those who knew him described the Buffalo State College student.

But he had clearly been targeted. Barrett was shot three times at close range, in the neck and left arm, after climbing into his truck about 10 p.m. at the end of a shift at Dynabrade Corp. in suburban Clarence. His body was found two days later when a co-worker spotted his pickup in a company parking lot.

“He was just a nice kid, a gentleman,” said Starpoint High School Athletic Director Tom Sarkovics, who coached Barrett for two years. “I don’t think anybody could say a bad thing about him.”

On Nov. 27, Barrett’s 47-year-old co-worker and friend, Thomas Montgomery, was charged with Barrett’s murder. The motive, said investigators, was jealousy over Barrett’s budding Internet relationship with the same 18-year-old woman Montgomery had been wooing since the previous year.

What neither man knew was that the woman was really a 40-something West Virginia mother who was using her daughter’s identity to attract Internet suitors. Cyberspace, it appears, was enough for her and it was a near certainty she would never have met either man. “The game would have been over at that point and time for sure,” Kenyon said.

When Montgomery began chatting with the woman in 2005, the former Marine portrayed himself as perhaps a previous version of himself — a young Marine preparing for deployment to Iraq, Assistant District Attorney Ken Case said. For a time, they communicated strictly through chat rooms and e-mail.

Then the woman began sending gifts to Montgomery’s home, Case said. Pictures of the woman’s daughter, lingerie and a set of custom-made dog tags arrived at the pale yellow house in the suburbs that Montgomery shared with his wife and two teenage children.

Montgomery’s wife intercepted one of the packages, Case said. She wrote back to the woman at the return address, and included a family portrait to make her point.

“As you can see, Tom’s not 18,” Case said she wrote. “He’s married and he’s a father of two. He’s 47 and I’m his wife.” And, believing she was writing to an 18-year-old: “You’ve obviously been fooled.”

The West Virginia woman — whom authorities will not publicly identify — remembered a friend named Brian that Montgomery had mentioned. She recalled enough of his computer screen name to contact Barrett to ask him about what Montgomery’s wife had told her.

Soon Barrett was in regular contact with the woman — the only one in the triangle to portray himself honestly. Despite knowing the truth about Montgomery, the woman remained in contact with him as well, Case said.

The woman made no secret of the fact she was chatting with Barrett, Case said, and Barrett talked about the relationship at work. Montgomery, authorities say, became jealous. Sheriff’s investigators believe Barrett’s killer wore camouflage and a ski mask when he approached with a .30-caliber rifle and fired at close range.

Montgomery, who has not confessed, is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to second-degree murder. At a recent court appearance, he wore glasses and handcuffs and walked with a limp. He stood silently as a judge set a preliminary trial date for June.

His wife has begun divorce proceedings, Case said. Mrs. Montgomery did not respond to a telephone message or answer a reporter’s knock at her home in suburban Cheektowaga, where a minivan sat parked in the driveway.

Montgomery’s alleged actions “have impacted everyone else’s lives around him for the rest of their lives,” observed Internet crime expert J.A. Hitchcock, author of Net Crimes & Misdemeanors."I’m hoping that this case will make people think twice about what they do online and what their actions can cause in the long run,” she said.

The high school Barrett attended recently had a seminar to teach parents how to avoid Internet predators, Sarkovics said. “When you think about it, you almost have to do it for adults as well,” he said. “It could be anybody.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/21/2007 at 05:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Cyberspace-Internet •  
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   Monday - January 15, 2007

Down But Not Out

Posted by Ronald Reagan's Ghost     on 01/15/2007 at 11:25 AM   
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   Saturday - January 06, 2007

Choices

Everybody likes having choices because no one wants to be forced to do something without an alternative. In accordance with that universal truth (and the fact that some of the Grumpy Old Farts here have been whining), I have setup the comment editing feature to allow you to choose which editor you want to use.

If you click on the word ”Comments” below each post, you can enter your comment using the old, plain-text editor (with all the good Smileys) that most of you are used to. If you wish to be creative with fonts and all the happy crap of a full-featured WYSIWIG editor, just click on the icon right after the word “Comments”.

Either way, you have a choice. Pick the one you feel comfortable with. Don’t worry ... be happy! 

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/06/2007 at 06:03 PM   
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   Friday - January 05, 2007

New Blog Feature

SURPRISE! After a great deal of pondering and research, I have decided to answer the request of a large number of members here with a new feature. I have added a WYSIWIG (What You See Is What You Get) editor to the comments page. The comment entry form will now look like what you see below. This is a full-featured editor with all the goodies you’d see in Word or any other high-end text editor.

Now you can format the text any way your little heart desires. You can insert URL links easily and even link to external pictures if you so desire with just a few clicks of your mouse. You can shout in big, bold, red letters and even add a yellow highlighter if the need arises. You can cut-and-paste and even print your comment if the mood strikes you.

For those of you who are intimidated by all this, never fear. If you just want to enter a comment the old-fashioned way, with no formatting or fancy sutff, all you have to do is type in your comment just like before. Easy as π (3.1415926535897932384626433 ... ∞).

There are a couple of things you need to be aware of though: (1) I haven’t moved all the smileys over into the new editor templates yet so there are only a few rinky-dink ones for now - I’ll add the good ones over the next few days; and (2) you are now required to enter a “captcha” before you click “submit.

What is a “captcha”, you ask? It is a little image with some letters and numbers in it that a human has to translate into keystrokes (example: look at the little image box with squiggly lines and “call93” imposed on top of the lines. The captcha text changes for every new comment entry. I have added this to keep spammers out. With the addition of several new features in the editor it becomes a security problem if weener-butt spammers try to load up the comments with their crap. Captchas keep everyone honest and insures it is a human entering the comment and not some stupid spam-bot.

I have also removed the “Preview” button because there is no need for it anymore. What you type and format is what gets displayed. Simply use this editor exactly the same way you use Word or whatever your favorite editor is. Type, highlight, click, done.

Go ahead and use the new comment editor and let me know what you think. I have tested it with FireFox, Internet Explorer and Opera. It should also work just fine with Macintosh users who use Safari. It is not built with any complicated web junk. The editor is written in simple Javascript and therefore should work for everyone. If you do encounter any problems though, send me an e-mail (allan ‘at’ barking-moonbat.com).

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/05/2007 at 06:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Cyberspace-Internet •  
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   Tuesday - January 02, 2007

Starting A New Year

It’s only fitting that we start the New Year off with a little humor and a little advice. Before you get to Tom Purcell’s hilarious (depending on whose side you’re on) column below, I’m going to ask you to indulge me for a few minutes while I go over a few blog-related and web-related subjects. Pay attention ....

Registration At This Blog: Most of you know that you have to register and become a member here before you can post comments. Registration takes only a few minutes and then you’re done. If you have cookies enabled in your browser you never need to login again. Just check “Log me in automatically in the future” the first time you login.

There is one simple step that a lot of people just don’t understand though. After you register, the server sends out an automated e-mail to the address you provided. You registration is not complete until you reply to this e-mail. If you enter a bogus e-mail address you’ll never get registered so for those who have been trying this .... GET A CLUE, ASSHOLES.

The reason we do this is twofold: (1) it enables you to receive e-mail notifications when someone responds to a comment thread you are subscribed to and (2) it insures that you are a real person with a real e-mail address and not some dipshit spammer or spambot.

I can assure you that your e-mail address will NEVER be sold or given away to anyone. Period. All member information is stored in the server’s databases and are not accessible to the outside world. You may reveal as much or as little about yourself in your member profile as you wish. Your e-mail address is not made public, even to other members.

Submissions To This Blog: I receive literally hundreds of e-mails daily and quite a few of them have links to articles and/or goofy pictures. I usually post these under the name of the submitter or at least give credit to the person who submitted it.

If you submit something be sure to include valid links to the news articles referenced and if possible to the original creator of any pictures or text you quote. It’s not that I don’t trust you in particular, it’s just that I don’t trust anyone at all out here in the blogosphere. There are way too many mischief makers and just general asshats trying to “put one over” on me.

Plus, if you wish to have an entire editorial or article (that you have written) posted, try to format it in HTML like you want it displayed, OK. I don’t have time to do ALL the work for you. And most importantly, don’t get all uppity with me if I don’t post your submission. There may not be space or time.

Etiquette: For the most part, I generally leave the readers here to themselves when commenting. As long as civility is maintained, you can pretty much say whatever is on your mind no matter how ridiculous it is.

If you start verbally attacking me or another commenter on this blog, you will most assuredly find your comments deleted and you will be banned. Period. Deal with it. If you can’t discuss the issues without launching ad hominem attacks against others here, you’re in the wrong place. Try some of the Lefty, bullshit sites if that’s what you want.

Sense Of Humor: Ask any one of my (four) ex-wives what pissed them off the most about me and they will all tell you that the one thing that most chapped their ass was the fact that about 50% of the time I am just full of shit and they never could tell when I was serious. I prefer to think of it as just having a wicked sense of humor.

For that reason, you will find a lot of satire and parody in my writing here. Before you get all deranged and upset over something I said, make sure I’m not just “pulling your leg.” With that said, I can assure you that I am well aware that no matter what I say, someone, somewhere out there is going to get pissed off about it. You can’t please everyone and I’m not about to start trying.

Blogging: This blog is a hobby for me ... nothing else. I have a full-time “day job” that puts food on the table and keeps me warm and dry. There are some issues that mean a lot to me and I post about those issues in the hope of somehow making a difference. This has never been and never will be a popularity contest for me.

I have been accused of being “egotistical and arrogant” - usually by those who possess those traits in abundance themselves. I have also been called a saint. Neither one is accurate. Neither a saint or a sinner - just something in between.

I enjoy keeping up on world events and writing about them. Developing my writing skills is probably the only reason I keep on “keepin’ on” here. I am working on two books at the present time, one fiction and one non-fiction. I have not been able to concentrate on them as I should have, mostly due to the strain and problems of maintaining this blog. I sometimes wonder if it’s worth it.

Resolutions: That’s pretty much it for this New Years “day-after” bull session, folks. My only resolution this year is to finish at least one of my books and get it in print. Other than that, I intend to just go with the flow and see what happens. My advice to you is to keep your New Years resolutions short, sweet and simple. Nothing fancy but something that stands a slight chance of success.

Oh ... and one other thing .... be careful what you say in e-mails, as Mr. Purcell finds out below. And for God’s sake never, NEVER, NEVER click on that “Reply All” button. You never know where that e-mail may wind up ....

_{Daryl Cagle - Slate.com}

Another New Year’s Resolution – Tech Etiquette
-- By Tom Purcell

Here’s something many of us need to do better in the New Year: Be more civil toward one another, particularly where technology is concerned. I remember reading a Wall Street Journal story last year about a couple of Boston lawyers. One, a 24-year-old woman, sent an e-mail to an older, established lawyer declining his job offer.

The older lawyer, miffed the woman would e-mail her rejection after she’d already accepted the job orally, fired off a reply. He said she wasn’t very professional.

She replied that if he were a real lawyer he would have had her sign a contract. So he replied, suggesting, in so many words, that she was a snot. She sent one last reply that read: “blah, blah, blah.”

Well, the older lawyer e-mailed the exchange to a colleague, who forwarded it to another colleague and soon the entire Boston legal community read it. It was featured on “Nightline” and in the papers, and now you’re reading about it here.

This latest example of technology-enhanced rudeness reminded me of a similar situation that happened to me seven years ago. Just after moving to Washington, D.C., I’d joined a large writers’ organization. Since I was new to town, I decided to start an informal monthly happy hour to meet other writers – or, to be more precise, WOMEN writers.

I got permission from the writers’ organization to send an e-mail out to all 4,000 members. Several folks e-mailed me back, and we soon established a time and place to meet. Nearly 40 folks attended the first event – one that would be the LAST event.

As it went, one particularly attractive attendee caught my attention. I found myself in stiff competition with another fellow in trying to win the woman’s affection. She soon made it clear to us that had no interest in either of us knuckleheads and that she came only to discuss the writing craft.

After she landed her blow, the other fellow and I quickly realized the pickings were otherwise slim. The other women were either much older than we or otherwise didn’t strike our fancy. It never occurred to us that they might have come to meet men.

One woman, a woman of overpowering verbosity, soon had us pinned up against the bar. For the rest of the evening she shoved a dozen opinions at us on every subject under the sun. It was the first time in my life I was happy to hear the words “last call.”

The next morning, I got an e-mail from the other fellow. He thanked me for organizing the event, then said, “and for goodness sakes, for the next happy hour event, do NOT invite any more loud, obnoxious (expletive)!”

I was surprised at the rudeness of the fellow’s e-mail. That should have been the end of it. But it was just the beginning.

You see, instead of e-mailing his response only to me, the fellow unwittingly sent his reply to all 4,000 members of the writers’ organization, some of whom, much to his poor luck, were also women of overpowering verbosity.

I don’t know how many e-mail responses came that day, but they surely topped 100. A story-line quickly established itself. Our heroine, who was so viciously attacked, did nothing to deserve her fate and, incidentally, it’s typical of misogynistic men to be threatened by intelligent women.

As for our villain, he was dubbed an idiotic male rogue. He should not only apologize, the e-mails demanded, but he should resign from the writers’ organization, give up writing altogether, and move to another city, where, hopefully, something bad would happen to him.

In any event, as civility continues breaking down across America, technology is helping us get more efficient at being rude. In the New Year, we ought to be more cautious when we use it.

Here’s one solution: If you wish to say something nasty about somebody, use the phone. You can only offend one person at a time that way.

---

_{Tom Purcell is a humor columnist syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons. For comments to Tom, please email him at TomPurcell@aol.com.}

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/02/2007 at 01:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Computers • Cyberspace-Internet •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks (1) • Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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