The Spittle Flecked Badge of Courage

Evocative of someone or another's "Red Badge", The Spittle Flecked Badge of Courage will come to you if you dare to post comments on the Internet, or actually are so bold as to blog your thoughts yourself.
I myself, have received the SFBC many times on more than one forum. A couple of people go so far as to claim that "You get the most flak* when you're over the target". In some cases, this might be true, or it might just indicate that your comment was so mind numbingly stupid or wrong that everyone chooses to point it out, so it is not an infallible indicator of anything.

Still, having someone disparage your intelligence or your honesty or your parentage (or sometimes, all three simultaneously) by someone, simply because they disagree with you is a wonder to behold! For example, I do not believe that everyone who disagrees with me is automatically stupid or dishonest. As a seeker of truth, I welcome any constructive criticism that might point out any fact I mistakenly hold in error. (In fact, the very novelty of the situation is quite refreshing!)

For any honest commenter to come and bring a differing point of view along with the reasons they came to that conclusion can be a starting point for better understanding of any given event or situation. However, for the small minority of you who do comment, (and there are far more readers than commenters on most blogs), I want you to take heart if the first time you express your opinion on something or bring forth facts that contradict someone else's argument, someone completely misconstrues your motives and accuses you of all sorts of vile things. I believe it is part of a concerted effort (not a conspiracy) to quell dissent among conservative (that is to say "right thinking") individuals on the 'Net.

In other words, Damn the torpedoers, full steam ahead! Make your voice heard and your opinions known. It's still a free country, last time I looked! And when you receive your own Spittle Flecked Badge of Courage, wear it with honor and with pride in the fact that your opponents could not defeat your arguments, but had to resort to smearing you instead!



* WWII military term, German: Fliegerabwehrkanone, aircraft defense cannon.

Obama's Followers Value Freedom of Speech

...just not for anyone who has the temerity to actually disagree with them! Wow! Folks are getting thrown under more than one bus!!

Over at the Nobama blog spot, there's a tale of dirty tricks (what Christians would call "bearing false witness") for a number of blogs that are less than flattering to Barack H. "Bob" Obama.

Last night I received an email from Blogger:

Your blog, at http://nobamablog.blogspot.com/, has been identified as a potential spam blog. For an explanation of what spam blogs are, please see Blogger Help: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?answer=42577
You will not be able to publish posts to your blog until we review your site and confirm that it is not a spam blog. To request a review, please fill out the form found here: (removed)
We will take a look at your blog and unlock it within four business days.

So, if the thugs, er, zealous campaign workers for Obama don't like your point of view, they attempt to silence you? Nice! Remind me again...is this "Hope" or "Change"?
(...or Blogstallnacht?)*

Hat tip LGF
Cross Posted at Say Anything
*updated

AP Wants to Charge Bloggers By the Word

In a move prompting a number of bloggers to simply boycott AP stories, The Associated Press has a set fee structure for the use of quotes from their stories.

Tim Conneally at BetaNews has this:

The AP's disharmony with bloggers may have only just begun, as the alternative it's now offering to being served with takedown notices involves paying an up-front sum for excerpting online articles -- as few as five words.

A meeting between the Associated Press' Vice President for Strategic Planning Jim Kennedy and Robert Cox, who heads the Media Bloggers Association, is now planned for Thursday of this week. The subject at hand is the AP's attempt to find a new way of sharing AP content, which now involves a fee per excerpt based on its word length.

On the heels of a blogosphere revolt last week because of its harsh actions against social news site The Drudge Retort, the AP regrouped over the weekend to take a less litigative -- but more bureaucratic -- approach to dealing with those who wish to quote its material.

The above excerpt, had it been an AP story, at their current rate per this sheet , would be $50.00.

Fifty bucks??? Dear Reader, are you familiar with the term "Pass the hat" ? As for me, I'll join the blogcott. If it happens on AP, it simply doesn't exist!

Hat tip LGF
Cross Posted at Say Anything

Just for "grins". I clicked on their "use non-profit pricing". I got the following caveat:

To qualify for non-profit pricing you must represent a government-qualified non-profit organization and certify that you will use this article solely for non-profit purposes.