Letters to the Editor
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Nita Martin - back atcha girlfriend
It's actually "Garry Owen" now. Not Owens.
"Garry Owen" is a place in Limerick, Ireland. It means the garden of Owen. Apparently a few hundred years ago the garden was surrounded by drinking establishments frequented by the town's roughnecks.
They had a song they'd sing when they got a snoot full and began to rampage through the town, breaking the peace, and a few noses as well.
And you can go to this website and hear the midi version of the song and sing along if you like. It's a catchy tune.
www.contemplator.com/ireland/gowen.html
We're the First Cavalry Division, Shout Garry Owen and Drive On!
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Domini... just don't respond
to every lob-- or any, for that matter. If you don't, then there's nothing to return.
Fwiw, I agree.
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Very well thought out !
I prefer using real name but can imagine times when anonymity would be "the" preferred choice. Thanks for
your thoughtfulness.
From: oldwiseone
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just finished watching "Cast Away" starring tom hanks
ok, it was 7 years out of date, but that's when it came around to TV. there were some similarities that i empathized with (and tom too, in the end). Wilson had some very good qualities. he didn't say tom talked to much. he didn't talk behind his back. and when he left, he at least nodded.
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Yup just like Atrios
Make people register and it becomes the personal playpen of the same 12 people. This is why blogs are so overrated.
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et tu
RealName?
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I pledge
Joan, everybody at Salon, readers:
Ever since my wife gave me a Salon subscription for my birthday two years ago I have been increasing the frequency of my posts. I now have over 1,100. On average, that's over two a day. That's too much.
While at first I used to read the article and try to post a well-reasoned and thoughtful opinion, I eventually drifted toward using this place as a scratching post for my own ego. I readily admit that sometimes I skipped reading the article and went right to the letters in order to either seek out someone I dislike and insult them, or to just blather what ever it was that was bugging me that day.
I got into the habit of sitting down with my first cup of coffee in the morning and going straight to Salon in order to get in the first shots at Salonians, both readers and writers.
In the beginning, my posts took a half hour to write, and I would let the first draft gestate for an hour or more before coming back to write and post the final, with corrected thought and grammar. In the end, I was just writing my stream-of-consciousness directly into the body text block and hitting "publish."
Well folks, I'm changing my ways. I want to go back to where I started, by posting only when I have a clear and thoughtful contribution to make. I liked the guy I was when I started. I don't like the guy I became recently, when I couldn't separate honest discussion from personal invective and belligerence toward other posters and writers. At my worst, I felt like I could not let any comment stand without a reply from me. I thought I was defending my ideas. I was just trying to dominate the discussion and acting like a jerk. I don't care if I only have a screen name and nobody really knows, (except Salon) what my real name is, I wouldn't act in public the way I act here and that bothers me.
When it comes to getting red stars, or "attaboys" from the editors, it wasn't my intent to care. But I went from averaging about 13 percent of my letters getting stars, down to about eight percent and falling. That told me that I was writing too much off-topic crap and not even being true to myself.
So I pledge that I'm going to clean up my act -- not because I'm forced to by Salon, but because I've just re-discovered something called self-respect.
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I, for one, perferred Locutus
(so sincerely, i capitalized). to me, Garry Owen is Locutus after a course of AA or under zoloft. Locutus had passion. Locutus had feeling. Locutus had the decency to say goodbye. Garry Owen shed david sugarman like he shed his skin. outgrow a friendship? it never existed! i hope locutus still exists in his soul, as it does in bytes.
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Pub1787 - publishing's constitutional convention
what an exciting time for the online publishing industry! 220 years after the original, it has its first constitutional convention. and all the questions of the first come up in the second. heretofore it's been a monarchy ("freedom of the press is for those who own one"), with appointed ambassadors, technicians, bureaucrats - public relations, webmasters, authors. now the question is, how much power should be given the people, constituency - customers. in this case, specifically, the problem of "excesses of democracy" - how to deal with the raucous (me) and the dullard (you). prove me wrong on the latter! come up with something to say!
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There is remarkably little going on here @ God Hating Salon
Over the white capitalist master race patriarchy that is Easter. Maybe there are a few 5th columnists 'round here?
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et tu
I didn't say it was bad.
BTW wasn't Gary Owen the announcer on Laugh In?
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RealName
"This is why blogs are so overrated." it made me feel overrated (rather than HORRIBLY UNDERrated) it's with two r's, garry. it was custer's favorite marching song(according to wiki). (see where it got him!)
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it's a nice little tune (that garryowen)
hear it from wiki. once you hear it you'll recognize it, the beginning is a going down scale, cbAgfEdcEee (caps are double weight and the second "c" is low)
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*shhh*, we'll wake baby mikey sullivan...
"Please, then, practice what you preach."
(geez, the polite reader said 'please', *how* can i be 'mean' to such a nice, fuzzy-soft babbitty bunny wabbit ? ? ?
*snicker* it's easy, kampers, watch...)
1. ? how stupid are you ? if i 'practiced what i preached', i would USE profane language unfettered; NOT eschew it... sweet geezus, HOW can i have a debate or argue with someone who is an apparent functional illiterate ? ?
2. to all the virgin ears like delicate mikey's: what planet do you fucking live on ? ? ? do you exlusively hang out with nuns and mutes ? do you have any friends who *don't* have a number 5 rebar shoved up their cloaca ? do you go to any movies other than the sound of music ? do you watch teh teevee ? ...daily show? ...lewis black ? ...chris rock? ...sports ? do you lipread ? do you write letters to these people excoriating them for their profane, 'immature' language ?
are you *really* that sheltered, are you *really* that 'offended' (*snicker*), are you *really* that big a scolding asshole ? ? ?
3. 'poseur' is the word you were struggling for wordsmith; your reach is exceeding your grasp, chicken little... i suggest you stick to the cock-free end of the yard, where you can scratch, and cluck, and peck with the sour old biddies...
4. so, 'growing up' means not saying 'dirty words', does it ? okay, maybe in ozzie-and-harriet world it does, but not on Real World (tm)... geezus, how simplistic can you be, how petty are your priorities ?
5. again, the issue of 'profanity' and 'civility' is simply a diversion by those who are discomfitted by truths they don't wish to address; it is ALWAYS the 'profane' words they attack, they NEVER address the issues... fuckin' pussies, talk about needing to grow up... (for interested open-minded kampers, sam smith at the progressive review has a pretty good piece on how civility IS used as a cudgel against the great unwashed...)
6. further, the expectation that 'this place' is either 'joan's living room', a convocation to communally write The Penultimate White Paper Which Will Solve The World's Ills, or some other 'serious' institution to satisfy the lack of meaty discussions throughout the mainstream, is seriously misplaced...
this ain't no disco, this ain't no party, this ain't no foolin around...(is too)
'thisy here' is a virtual water cooler, an online bar, a streetcorner gathering, a bullshit session with your buds, smoking illegal substances which are good for you, and drinking legal substances which are bad for you, all the while cussin' and snarkin' and gossipin' and blueskyin' and bitchin' and wonderin' and crackin' wise...
(and mikey sullivan is upstairs making his bed, flossing, and saying his prayers to some invisible-cloud-being of his (parents) choosing...)
6. the weird thing is, my meta-posts discussing free speech, so-called profanity, and other 'objectionable' language, were *MOSTLY* free of gratuitous 'swear' words (whatever),
HOWEVER,
NONE.
OF.
THE.
(self-identified)
TRULY.
SUPERIOR.
MATURE.
AND.
SMART.
SET.
have addressed ONE serious issue regarding:
A. just *WHAT IS* 'profanity', 'swear' words, 'unacceptable' language, etc... (and the reason is, NO ONE wants to touch that tarbaby, they KNOW it leads to being a CENSOR, and how can a squishy-soft pinko liberal (*ptui*) be a CENSOR ?!!! )
B. just *WHAT IS* the 'appropriate time and place' (ie never, nowhere) for 'dirty' language and strong words ? ? ?
C. just *WHAT IS* the role of these quasi-public commons which increasingly dominate 'our' (sic) society; such that about the only place a dissident citizen has to TRULY AND FREELY express themselves is the privacy of their own home, anonymously scribbling online...
D. just *WHAT IS* the reasonable expectation of a (supposedly) mature, adult reader in being exposed to 'objectionable' words, ideas, concepts, writers, or other 'controversial' situations in a no-holds-barred environment...
E. just *WHAT IS* the REAL agenda of 'nice', 'polite', non-threatening sheeple who WANT TO CENSOR you (REPEAT, they WANT TO CENSOR you; i don't give a shit what they 'say', what they want to DO, is CENSOR)...
F. if 'free speech' is all to be so nice and prettified and non-offensive and harmless, THEN IT DOESN'T NEED 'protection', 'cause NO ONE is going to get upset by inconsequential writing...
i'm likely older than you are, baby mike, (not that it has any particular bearing on this issue); but that you either mistake me for someone younger (with passion and beliefs, however misguided), *or* that it is supposed to be some sort of insult, simply makes me howl with delight... immaturity has little to do with age, and has a LOT to do with how a person reacts to mere 'dirty' words...
further, i hardly give a flying fuck what you think in regards to the affectation of substituting 'k' for 'c' in some situations... (not only does it have a time-honored his story (oh shit! yet another unnecessary neoligism, this bastard must be stopped ! ! !), but that humble little meme makes a not-too-subtle point (oops, probably too subtle for some) about the direction of 'our' (sic) society...
(most ESPECIALLY including faux-pwogwessives like sully, pretend free-speechers, and the rest of the dinosaurs marching in lockstep who have 'everything is allright' thought bubbles above their heads...)
finally, what pathetic writing; you might pay attention to writing with some modicum of clarity before you critique the style of others you are unable to sufficiently understand ...
yours, forever childlike, i remain,
art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof