Hello, everybody Dr. Menlo here. Just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you incredible bloggers for doing such a great job here. I mean, I moved a week ago and have not had dsl since then--won't have it until this Thursday--so tonight I see the Samizdat for the first time and it totally kicks ass. Nice to know. Really. If I had nothing to do with this site whatsoever, I would still be a big fan. You all do great work, both here and on your own individual blogs, and I'm honored to have a small part in your sharing some of your great work here.
Ok, long overdue, I want to give a big welcome to our newest contributors: Patton Price of Postmodern Potlatch and Metafilter (can we give out your pseudonym there, Patton?); Eli Stephens of Left I on the News--which was mentioned on FAIR's Counterspin show a couple weeks back--good job, Eli!; and Estimated Prophet--thank you, all! (You know I never thanked every new blogger individually but I should have and will from now on--this is a learning experience, natch.) And before that, thanks to: Hanan Cohen of Death does not justify Death; Julia of Sisyphus Shrugged ; MadamJuJuJive of Everlasting Blort and Warfilter and Ashley Benigno of Notes From Somewhere Bizarre. Those are all the most recent generous contributors. Now, please remember all you have to do is recommend someone and I will most probably send them an invitation if you know anyone who would be good for and/or is interested in being a part of the Samizdat.
Ok, am at a cybercafe now here on Capitol Hill, Seattle, so have to finish soon and walk back home. Thanks again everybody! Viva la Samizdat!
"America was never innocent. We popped our cherry on the boat over and looked back with no regrets. You can't ascribe our fall from grace to any single event or set of circumstances. You can't lose what you lacked at conception.
"Mass-market nostalgia gets you hopped up for a past that never existed. Hagiography sanctifies shuck-and-jive politicians and reinvents their expedient gestures as moments of great moral weight. Our continuing narrative line is blurred past truth and hindsight. Only a reckless verisimilitude can set that line straight."
--James Ellroy, American Tabloid
Ensure a Free and Fair Election (Ban Paperless Voting Machines
"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."