Right Wing Nut House

Yours truly received a singular honor today. I was nominated over at Polipundit as a Jack Bauer of the Blogosphere!

I can’t tell you what this means to me. I am weeping with joy. I am bursting with pride. I am glowing with satisfaction.

Why do I feel like going out and kicking somebody’s ass?

Actually, the criteria for nomination was quite strict:

1. He’s male. Sorry ladies, but this gun-toting, do-what-a-patriot’s-gotta-do guy is focused testosterone. This ain’t Siegfried and Roy, this ain’t Dr. Phil, and any woman pulling the kind of stuff we see Bauer doing in “24″ would look more like “Xena” than a counter-terrorism agent.

2. He’s decisive. No one who can be connected to a focus group or committee need apply.

3. He’s not PC. Bauer does what is required, and is not subtle about it.

4. Despite being violent a lot, Bauer is not crazy or bloodthirsty. He does what is necessary, but holds his fire, and is willing to let even terrorists live if they surrender. That rules out DU or Daily Kos, even if they could accept being on the same side as Bauer.

And there are six more that are just as tough.

In the end, I lost out to some other guy. Imagine giving the award to that Michael Yon fellow? After all what did he do? Pay his own way to go over to Iraq just to blog? Hell, I can do that from my study…in my pajamas and bathrobe.

Come to think of it…going to Iraq just to blog does sound like something Jack would do.
Seriously, thanks to the guys at Polipundit. Maybe I should hold a “Chloe O’Brien of the Blogosphere” contest. What do you think?

As I write this, my Sitemeter is about ready to register the 500,000 visitor to this site since February 14, 2005. That’s the day I officially switched over from blogger to this hosted site.

I have also passed another milestone as I have reached 1500 subscribers on my Bloglines feed just yesterday. I still don’t know how that happened and if one of my subscribers could fill me in, I’d appreciate it.

As I recall, my average daily visitor total last February was around 125. A couple of weeks ago, that number passed the 2,000 mark and is continuing to climb. I have a host of people to thank for this milestone beginning with Michelle Malkin who has been a source of encouragement as well as frequent linker. Ditto for Captain Ed Morrissey. And blogbud Jay at Stop the ACLU who started blogging about the same time as I did and has become one of the true movers and shakers in conservative circles. And Hugh Hewitt who has helped promote this site with several links and been a source of encouragement behind the scenes.

Thomas Lifson of The American Thinker has been incredibly generous in offering space on his excellent E-Zine to showcase my writing while being a font of encouragement and support not to mention a great friend. Two other AT regulars Clarice Feldman and Herb Meyer have also been very supportive and frequent emailers offering their keen insights that have helped sharpen my thinking on a number of issues.

The number of bloggers who have helped me along the way is staggering. No list could be complete without mentioning my blogmama Cao of Cao’s Blog who urged me to initially start blogging and then convinced me to get this site hosted with the redesign. Cao, myself, and the group blog we started The Wideawakes have all pretty much grown together. And even though I haven’t had the time lately to put into that group as I would wish, I hope they know I’m still a regular visitor to many of their sites as well as a supporter of the concept of TWA which is that there is strength in numbers and supporting one another against the relentless attacks of our political foes is a satisfying and necessary goal.

Others who have been more than a little helpful include the curmudgeon of the blogosphere John Cole. Here’s hoping the Republican party comes back to where Mr. Cole is rather than taking John to task for not going where the national party is leading at the moment.

I can’t forget the Watcher and The Watcher’s Council. After almost a year I still enjoy participating in the Council’s activities. And the Commissar, And Jeff Goldstein. And on and on.

I know I have many loyal readers who try and keep my feet firmly planted on the ground by whacking me upside the head when I get it wrong. To them also, I say thanks for coming by and I hope you continue to visit.

All of these are people I thank way too infrequently. The half million mark in readership on this site is a good excuse to remember all of you who have helped and to thank you for all you’ve done.

Notice anything new on this site?

Look to the left. Do you see that button? That is a magic button. If you press it, it will take you to a magic world. It will be a world populated by heroes and villains, damsels in distress and knights in shining armor, evil sorcerers and good wizards.

Well…not really. But it sure made you want to click that button, didn’t it?

In short, by clicking on that button and making a small contribution, you will make it possible to keep this website hosted as well as supplying me with enough coffee to stay awake while getting up at 2:30 AM so that you have something to read with your coffee in the morning.

I might add that it will also allow me to save up so that I can get a redesign of the site and fix the numerous problems with comments, trackbacks, borders, sidebars, color, and links that have cropped up in the less than one year this site has been hosted.

Thanking you in advance for your generosity and support, I remain:

Rick Moran
Proprietor

This marks my last post for 2005.

In some ways, 2005 was an unforgettable year what with Iraq, Katrina, the Supreme Court, and in many ways, a wasted start to the President’s second term. The blame for the last can not be solely laid at the President’s feet as Republicans in the House but especially in the Senate were found wanting in both the brains and intestinal fortitude department.

Thankfully, the Democrats were even worse. Led by brainless twits who exhibited the political sense of a bunch of marmosets, the Democrats refused to take advantage of the many political openings offered to them by spineless Republicans. Instead of policy options, the Democrats couldn’t resist a steady diet of Bush-bashing which succeeded in driving the President’s poll numbers down but little else. And since Bush isn’t running for anything in 2006 - or ever again for that matter - one can only conclude that their strategy had more to do with satisfying the ravenous appetites of their far left captors for spouting conspiracy theories and undermining the American efforts in Iraq than trying to gain political advantage that Republican’s missteps offered them.

Since 2006 will be a political year, I’m glad that I’ll never lack for something to write about. What should be interesting to watch from my perspective is the impact that blogs will have on primaries in both parties. I plan to write on some local (Illinois) races and try to place the issues framed into some kind of national context. That way, I hope not to bore my non-Illinois readers any more than usual while trying my hand at local politicking. It should prove to be an interesting experiment.

On a personal note, 2006 has great potential for me personally as I am starting to write a book and plan on trying to get published in a wider variety of on-line publications. Maybe some one will even, like, you know, pay me money to write stuff. In that vein, drop me an email or send me a check, whichever is easier.

To all of you, please have a happy and safe New Year. Come back and visit often in 2006.

Michelle Malkin has a post up recommending several writers for Blogger of the Year - an award that Time Magazine gave out last year to Powerline but, for some reason, failed to follow up with an award this year.

Here are some of Michelle’s nominees:

* Michael Yon. Iraq war coverage without peer in either Blogland or the MSM.

* Ed Morrissey. His coverage of the Canadian scandal “Adscam” was both courageous and had real political impact.

* NZ Bear. While controversy has followed the Bear’s efforts lately in his ecosystem rankings, he is an undeniable force in Blogland.

* Brendon Loy. The Notre Damer’s Katrina coverage deserves some kind of award for its prescience as well as its clarity.

Here are a couple more of my own nominees:

* Michelle Malkin. Is there anyone who writes with such fearlessness in the face of the most obnoxious, obscene, and nauseating criticism imaginable? A writer who bridges Blogland and the MSM. A true blogger in the sense that her roundups of the “Big Stories” as well as her original reporting are always a link-rich reading experience, a smorgasbord of thoughts and attitudes that give context to any story.

* John Cole. Some can’t take Mr. Cole’s acerbic wit and acid pen. A bane to both wingnuts and moonbats, Cole’s reasoned defense of the Iraq war as well as his strong criticism of America’s detention policies brings thoughtful people of all political stripes to his site. A rationalist with a romantic streak, his fearlessness in taking on both the religious right and the unhinged left always makes him an interesting read.

* Jeff Goldstein. Featuring a caustic, Pythonesque sense of humor as well as a sharp and penetrating writing style, Mr. Goldstein can dismantle an opponent’s argument piece by piece, and with an intellectual cruelty bordering on the sadistic, hand the poor unfortunate’s brains back to him on a silver platter with a smile. Much more than a humor blog.

* Gregory Djerejian. An independent minded conservative who has an astonishing depth of knowledge of foreign affairs. Simply a must read if you would like to understand the War on Terror. His policy critiques of the Bush Administration are both devastating and well reasoned. Great insight that can be found no where else in Blogland.

* Jon Henke. While Q & O is a group blog, I always enjoy Mr. Henke’s take on issues because he mixes passion with reason - something very hard to combine successfully when writing about politics (Witness my site!) A true lover of liberty, there has never been an occasion where I have seen him inconsistent with his core libertarian beliefs. A conservative critic almost as much as he is a liberal one, Henke has a smooth, clear writing style that crystallizes issues in an intellectually pleasing manner. A joy to read.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of you who took the time to vote for The House in the recently completed Weblog Awards. The best I can say is that I didn’t finish last. But the real value to me is that my participation sent a good number of new readers my way. To those of you who stopped by and liked what you saw, I hope you visit often and feel free to comment or drop me an email to share your thoughts on matters large and small.

Thanks also to Kevin Alyward whose yeoman work on the contest too often is criticized and misunderstood. I am fully appreciative of the the effort put into making the contest as fair and as fun as possible. I just wish people would not ascribe motives to Mr. Alyward that they themselves would never have. It bespeaks a special kind of ignorance - and arrogance - that those who accuse Kevin of all sorts of selfish reasons for developing and putting on the Weblog Awards place themselves and their own motives for criticizing on the pedestal of self-righteousness while revealing a breathtaking pettiness of mind and heart.

For myself, I was honored and humbled to be nominated. And for purely personal and selfish reasons, it made me feel good. If that is a bad thing, I plead guilty.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all who voted for me.

Regular readers of The House have probably noticed that I have absolutely no paid ads of any kind on the sidebars of this site. Part of the reason is that I detest clutter of any kind, anywhere including my blog. And while I don’t avoid sites that plaster ads, buttons, logos, polls, and other colorful accoutrement’s, that look just wasn’t for me. I even had my blog designer remove a calendar I had at one time in the upper left hand corner of the site. I wanted nothing to distract from my writing.

Another reason that I don’t have any ads is that I’m notoriously lazy and ignorant when it comes to that techie kind of stuff. I tried putting my Paypal “Donate” button in the blog template and it appeared 5 times bigger than normal, overlapping the margins of the sidebar and looking ridiculous. I don’t have a clue on how to do it correctly so I simply went without one, telling myself I’ll get around to fixing it sooner or later.

Well, I guess “later” has finally arrived because I just signed a contract with Pajamas Media to have ads appear on this site. So as long as I’m going to be fiddling around with the template, I may as well go ahead and try and figure out how to put the Paypal button on the site too.

I may be the last blogger in Christendom to do a post on Pajamas Media. I haven’t seen too much positive on the company. In fact, I’ve seen some pretty viscous stuff as well as some hilarious takes on their well publicized foibles. But there is very little out there in the way of support - something that I shall try and remedy here.

What hath Charles and Roger wrought? An advertising facilitator for blogs? A multi-faceted E-Zine? Is it a bridge between legacy media and new media? Is it any of these things or all of them?

What is actually kind of exciting to me is that we’re all going to find out together. I daresay that whatever we think the company is today will be invalid within a couple of years - if they last that long. The reason is the changing nature of both the technology and the medium itself. Jeff Jarvis, God bless him, has been thrashing about for as long as I’ve read him trying to define this very thing. Whither the internet? Whither blogs? Jeff has started to crystallize his thoughts toward the idea that content is not very important at all. When you have so many bloggers spewing out content, its value as a commodity quite rightly drops:

Distribution is not king.

Content is not king.

Conversation is the kingdom.

The war is over and the army that wasn’t even fighting — the army of all of us, the ones who weren’t in charge, the ones without the arms — won. The big guys who owned the big guns still don’t know it. But they lost.

In our media 2.0, web 2.0, post-media, post-scarcity, small-is-the-new-big, open-source, gift-economy world of the empowered and connected individual, the value is no longer in maintaining an exclusive hold on things. The value is no longer in owning content or distribution.

The value is in relationships. The value is in trust.

Mr. Jarvis has been tough on PJM. In my opinion, he has had cause. But it is a kind of “tough love” given by someone who I believe genuinely wants PJM to succeed. The question is as what?

6. Consider hiring a manager who’d distant and disaffected, who’ll look at this business coldly to try to find a business. Yeah, I know I just told you not to spend money. But sometimes, managers are worth it. Sometimes.

I don’ t know whether you’ll have a product or a business as the end of the day. But right now, you have the little engine that could crash. So I’d slam on the breaks. Just my advice.

And this is what has me scratching my head about the rabid opposition of some well known bloggers to this enterprise. How can you criticize a business that no one has any idea of what it’s about? It would be like some passing Florentine looking at the gigantic block of marble that Michelangelo was going to sculpt his Davidfrom and saying “That sucks!”

I can understand the investors having such an attitude. After all, in Michelangelo’s case, no other artist would touch the massive stone block. Its size was an obstacle that even the best sculptors at the time couldn’t see themselves overcoming. If the Medici had told the artist “You’re nuts for taking this project on” that would have made sense. It was the Duke’s coin after all.

So here we have this massive stone block of an internet and PJM wants to chip away and carve out a niche that heretofore has not been seen. Ambitious? Certainly. Crazy? Not hardly. Is it any crazier than believing that a computer should be in everyone’s home like a household appliance? Steve Jobs certainly didn’t think so. But who would have guessed that Apple would have gone from a garage to the IPod in less than half a century?

PJM could fold in 6 months. Or it could succeed. The point is, I for one am willing to be patient and see where this idea is going. Will it spawn imitators? Will it morph into something totally different than what is envisioned today? Will it be able to adapt to the rapid changes inherent in Blogland and the internet itself?

As long as I’m treated honestly and fairly, I will have no complaints. The company hasn’t said a word about content. And if they ever did, I can assure you I would ignore it. So as long as they deliver what they promise, I will continue my association - one that I hope will prove to be on the cusp of something new and dramatic in the way we get our information.

UPDATE

Well I’ll be jiggered.

Some unbalanced blogger has “de-linked” me because of my affiliation with Pajamas Media. I can’t quite figure the reason. Or, more accurately, I can’t deduce what the fellow is so hot under the collar about. He accuses PJM of “killing” me I think because now that I’m affiliated, my content will change:

Many bloggers of recent past, made the speculative argument how the commerce of PJM might change/influence content. Serious respectable bloggers of unimpeachable integrity. It wasn’t an argument that interested me. I’m not much into emotionless abstract thinking. Well true to form, right on cue, their words spring to life. A living example of clear reasoned thought.

I took Rightwing Nuthouse off my blogroll yesterday. Man I liked those cats, a whole bunch. But reading them give an empty, lame defense of Pajamas Media. Because they are now a recipient of their advertising dollars, was more than I could bear. The change in writing quality was instantaneous and complete.

If anyone is curious, the reason I did that post yesterday was because I was bereft of ideas of what to write about. That, and the concept intrigues and interests me as it should anyone with even a passing interest in the future of blogs. Anybody who thinks I would write what someone else tells me is a loon. I’d give up blogging first.

The amount of money I’m receiving over the next 15 months from PJM is less than the amount I could make by putting Blogads on this site. Is the loonbat who delinked me thinking that Blogads tells bloggers what to write? If not, then why PJM?

I don’t get it. I just don’t get it.

UPDATE II

Dan at Riehl World View must think that my ultra-left alter ego Marvin Moonbat is a real person. He used some of Marvin’s more outrageous statements as examples of why corporate advertisers would object to content on my site:

The issue some have with PJM is its putting advertising and content in the same box. You can’t do that without censorship. Below are just a few items from RWNH with which I doubt a corporate sponsor would be comfortable.

He then lists some of the more un-pc things I’ve said when either being satiricle as with Marvin or caustic as I am generally.

Again, the point I’ll make is this - someone that wants to tell me what to write or how to write or what I can write about and what I can’t is more than welcome to do so.

But the idea that anyone would think that it would influence me is puzzling. Why ascribe less independence to me for taking PJM ads as someone who takes Blogads? The “content” PJM is looking for is on its website - a place I could care less about.

Sheesh…the things you can get in trouble for on the internets…

Wishing only to avoid the ignominy of finishing last, I would ask that you take pity on me and throw a vote my way for Best Conservative Blog in Wizbang’s Weblog Awards.

Can you find it in your heart this holiday season to feel sorry for a fat old man and vote for The House? I mean, I only have so many family members and they’re all liberals anyway.

Can you find it in your heart this Christmas to “Click for Rick?”

Pity a poor man whose dreams fade as the setting sun and ragged head bows against the ravages of time and circumstance…

Make a miracle. Just think of me as Tiny Tim.

With apologies to the Kingston Trio:

Come a lands man, a pins man, a tinker or a tailor;
doctor, a lawyer, soldier, or sailor.
A rich man, a poor man, a fool or a witty,
don’t let me finish last so vote for me out of pity.

UPDATE

The Anchoress also tries the pity approach as she too wishes to avoid last place (sh*t - she’s beating me by 100 votes and worried about finishing last? Crimminy!):

I have a picture of my paternal grandmother; she has a mustache, thick ankles and she’s wearing men’s shoes. She sits on a parkbench and somehow manages to have her hands on her hips, as she sits. This is not a happy-looking woman…

My mother wore army boots and chewed tobacco but I don’t advertise it very often.

I have a picture of my maternal grandmother, holding a cigarette and a martini. She’s leaning forward and looking at something that is highly amusing. Or she’s just in her cups.

Both of them sport boobs down to their kneecaps! Genetics strikes again!

No fair bringing one’s sex into blegging for votes.

I have a picture of one of my brothers sporting a black eye, where I’d kicked him as he’d bent down to do something. I believe he had pissed me off. This was just days before my sister’s wedding, and yes, the kid has a shiner in all the pics. I was the flower girl, and very sweet.

This could be considered a veiled threat of some kind - that is, if I were a Democrat and saw Karl Rove behind every tree. But dearest readers I ask you - would you vote for someone who kicked their brother in the face? Even though I’m sure he deserved it?

Okay…okay…I’ll admit it. I voted for The Anchoress too. She’s a hell of a writer.

UPDATE II

You want pictures? I’ve got your pictures right here.

Here I am as a wee lad. Pay no attention to the bonnet. For the first 5 years of my life, I was raised as a girl.

BUT DON’T LET THAT SAD, TRAGIC FACT INFLUENCE YOUR VOTE.

How can you not vote for that face?

Don’t ask me how it happened but apparently The House is a finalist in this year’s Weblog Awards for “Best Conservative Blog.” This is quite an honor and I would like to thank all of you who voted for me.

It occurred to me while picking up my jaw from off the floor that there are dozens of sites much more worthy of recognition - many of whom may not have even been nominated. Moonbattery, TMH Bacon Bits, Cao’s Blog, Kender’s Musings, and Stop the ACLU are a few that come to mind. These are serious thinkers and excellent writers who are dedicated to the conservative cause. They have also been blog buds and consistent in their support and encouragement of me during the entire time this site has been on line.

For that, I thank them. And for all of my readers old and new, I hope you continue to visit and offer me your wit and wisdom.

Courtesy of Beth at My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, (Beautiful, brilliant, bitchy - but in a Maureen “O’Hara vs. John Wayne in The Quiet Man sort of way), we have the ultimate contrarian antidote to the madness that has become the Weblog Awards. Beth calls her anti-blog prize the 2005 BadBlog Awards.

First, let me say that Paul at Wizbang, who puts an extraordinary amount of effort into the Weblog Awards, is doing a great service to blogs by putting on this contest. My beef is not with him but rather the attitude of some bloggers (and they know who they are) who hit their readers every damn day during the voting with a post pleading for you to vote for them. It gets to the point I stop visiting those sites just because I get sick of having to scroll past that twaddle.

But leave it to our Beth to give us the perfect antidote for such self absorption. Here are a few of the award categories:

Most self-worshiping blogger

Worst Blog Design/Template

Come to think of it, yours truly fits perfectly into three or four of those categories. Good thing no one reads this site. Otherwise, I may end up being nominated for “Worst Blog Fight,” or perhaps “Worst Blog Post,” or perhaps even “Blogger who takes himself much too seriously” (see left sidebar for every single post ever written on this site).

Be that as it may, I thought I’d take a crack at a few of these categories. You know, run a few names up the flag pole and see if any start waving…or de-linking as the case may be.

MOST SELF WORSHIPING BLOGGER

And the winner is, hands down, James Wolcott. A few bloggers have a caricature of themselves at the top of their blog. But no one has the temerity to actually post a caricature that is so wildly different from what they actually look like. Obviously, Mr. Wolcott slipped the artist an extra $10 (or something much smaller and much more personal) just so that he would ignore the short, stubby, balding, fat faced, jowly person sitting in front of him.

BLOGGER WHO TAKES THEMSELVES MUCH TOO SERIOUSLY

Wolcott would be a finalist there also but I’d have to give the nod to Oliver Willis. “Like Kryptonite to Stupid” doesn’t begin to reveal how banal, how ponderous, and how utterly devoid of humor Oliver is. Not to mention his steadfast belief that people anywhere care what he has to say about anything.

WORST POST OF THE YEAR

Oh my! So many to choose from (including my own that I linked to above). However, this post from Jeff Harrell at Shape of Days qualifies as the worst simply because it is so over the top. The title of the post says it all: “Anyone who uses drugs should be dragged out into the street and beaten slowly to death before a warmly applauding audience.”

WORST RIGHT WING BLOG

This is a toughie. Worst written? Looniest ideas? Most sanctimonious? I’ve got nominees for each. However, for making it two out of three, I have to go with LaShawn Barber. I actually think that she’s got a fine evangelical blog there, but for political commentary (out there) and sanctimony, she can’t be beat.

WORST LEFT WING BLOG

Another toughie. Most ill informed? Least connected to reality? Most anti-American? Oh, let’s just go with Kos and be done with it.

MOST OVERRATED BLOG

This is an easy one. By far and away the most overrated blog on the internet is Duncan Black’s Eschaton. The guy has so many open posts he should probably just hand the keys of his site over to his army of degenerate commenters. He doesn’t blog, he burps.

For a spot-on takedown of his site, goto Ace of Spades and read this post and then goto “November 22″ on Ace’s blog and start scrolling. Hysterically funny.

Why not pay Beth a visit and leave your nominees in the comments?