A DECADE OF SCHMALTZ UND GRIEBEN: Hard to believe, but it was ten years ago today that we put up our first post.
What's the old saying? "Time flies when you're having fun."
Sam Muldia and I are still friends, although I've never met the man and he's moved back to Estonia (from Winnipeg, which isn't all that far from here). And I still thank Sam for getting me started blogging, even though he admits he's lost all interest in politics these days—and who can blame him?
It's a lonely world for bloggers now. A lot of my favorites have long since taken down their shingles and vanished into the ether. Blogging seems to have become the province of Tea Party neo-nazis (they were always a little behind the curve, but they've finally figured out how to use a computer) and angry high-school girls with an axe to grind. And that's a sad thing. We used to have a hell of a lot of fun out here in the "blogosphere."
I take 100% of the blame for the fact that we've lost our readership over the past couple years. I, like most Americans, always kind of assumed that we'd kind of blunder along as Americans no matter what. So my commentaries (and those of my erstwhile co-bloggers Klaus and Deb) were always directed outward, at the America we saw outside our windows. I never in a million years would have imagined the things that began to happen here in Wisconsin in 2011... the fascist takeover of an American state, complete with suppression of free speech, suppression of the right to vote, and every single election being bought by untold millions of dollars spent by shadowy right-wing lunatics.
These are not good times, folks. I sometimes have fleeting dreams of waking up in Canada and staying there. (Estonia doesn't sound so bad either, Sam.) I would only warn other Americans that your "dream" can be over before you know it; one day, without a shot being fired, you can wake up in a world a lot more similar to Nazi Germany than the America you once knew and loved. A world where you don't have a voice, and speaking up too loudly will land you in jail. That is the world we find ourselves in ten years after the inception of this (thankfully anonymous) blog.
I'm going to take the rest of this week to celebrate our survival. There might be a few whimsical turns, but I think we've earned them.
Posted by Alois on
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Someone who does not know the difference between good and evil is worth nothing.- Miecyslaw Kasprzyk, Polish rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust, New York Times, Jan. 30, 2005
Wichtiger Wortschwall:
The Rant auf Klaus*, Parts I II III
Free Tibet
Ménage-à-Trois
Mother Church
Shut Up and Make the#*&$ Widget
Perry County
Ahmed Shah Massoud
Bly, Oregon
The Day I Met The Man
Pope John Paul II, 1920-2005
The Suburbanites
Attention: This Is Not About Your Bicycle
Renn-aissance
This Is No Viet Nam
Words of Mass Deception
Governor Asshat's Private Zoo
Al Gore Can Kiss My Frozen Ass (frequently updated)
(Credit: Sgt. Grit
)
"
(Credit: Frank J.)
Our Original Blog Still Lives Here:
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
(moved to TypePad)
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Scott Walker can kiss my
Live from the Fascist Republic of Madison, Wisconsin,
where we're all having fun!
Posted by Alois on
Contratulations and Happy Anniversary!!!
Posted by: Joe | 02/27/2013 at 12:45 PM
Thank you, Joe. Enjoy!
Posted by: Pete (Alois) | 02/28/2013 at 01:18 PM