It has come to this. We are facing a 50 vote deficit with ten days left in the battle for the blogoshere. It is time to pull out the video that most captures the moment (as supplied by Mespo). You are not the first to face an overwhelming army with many assuming certain defeat.
Do you want the orcs to win? Do you want Frodo Baggins stuffed and used as a plaything for Uruk-hai children? Who among us will return to the safety of our virtual homes rather than hold the line?
We need 50 bloggers to step forward and join us at the Black Gate of the ABA competition.
Have you guys seen http://www.marcrandazza.com ? It’s PARODY 🙂
However, I just do not trust lawyers—especially not the ABA—with secret balloting.
Perhaps it is Santa preforming ninjitsu or perhaps, the ghost of Christmas present is helping Marc understand the true meaning of karma. I just don’t know.
Never mind … I see they’ve hidden the vote totals.
It is a mystery. We certainly have the most competitive of the races this year. The ABA tries to weed out ghost voters, so it may be starting that process early but the voting is continuing. Indeed, with the cookies the kids have laid out for him tonight, we have set out a laptop so he can register and vote for our blog. (We got the reindeer weeks ago, but Santa has been watching for you is naughty and who is nice in the competition).
Is it just me? On the ABA site, I’m getting question marks where vote totals used to be. I’m on a different network, but I don’t think the ABA web site can detect that.
I wonder if the ABA is aware of all the brouhaha that has come from TLS.
L-katz,
“it’s just lazy to do so IMO”
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That is the complete point in 6 words “it’s just lazy to do so”.
One learns nothing constructive from such vulgar verbiage.
We all know that some jokes are just not funny without certain cussin’ up a blue streak words and I usually laugh as much as others do if the joke is actually funny.
However, when an educated person replies to comments with foul-mouthed meaningless phrases instead of rebuttal—as Dazza did—those blue phrases we all learned by junior high school demonstrate several aspects of the person’s character to me, among others.
He/she might be having personal problems—to which I would *never* want to contribute further by entering a heated exchange—and using such language in the context of debate is rude and “it’s just lazy to do so.”
FFLEO: “When I am asking a question and especially when I am debating–as I did in high school, college, and while giving scientific presentations, I consider off-color verbiage/language completely inappropriate. I think the same here if it is *excessive*. When I access this blawg, I do so first as a learning tool and then for the good company and humor.”
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I agree, I can have a totally foul mouth but in business and public settings it’s just lazy to do so IMO. I read recently that English just hit the 1 million word mark. If you can’t hold a public conversation without having a lot of them be blue then you need to learn more words 🙂
Your posting ordeal was amazing on a couple of levels, to wit: I went to the top of the thread and and went through it again. It goes from the humorous to research on tracking down what appears to have sparked an anomalous spike in voting;
activism- Jill and you just marched right up to the lair of the beast!; and everywhere in between including poetry (very poignant, pardon me?); dancing minor Ghods; always interesting and oddly related comments about everything (Theremin music and ninja lessons!); a short tutorial on Html code and Nal actually corrected the title of the offending posting :-). Sweet. This has been a pretty amazing thread and all in about 36 hours. WoW.
Quick-witted lateral thinkers have more fun.
That should have been hypocritical–not hypocrtical.
mespo–
“Can’t we just let loose once in a while and let them know, we think them daft or unevolved or both!”
Add evil and amoral and unprincipled and greedy and hypocrtical to daft and unevolved.
I prefer to let loose in verse. Verse helps me to channel my verbal outrage.
Here’s my latest clerihew about Joe Lieberman aka Aetna Joe:
Healthcare Joe
As for Lieberman, Joe?
That guy’s GOTTA go!
I need health insurance quick
Cuz Joe is making ME sick.
CEJ,
I did not realize that Marco went to all of that trouble. You had his ‘number’ too.
The guy is intelligent but he sure knows how to make a fool out of himself sometimes. I still agree with many of his posts that I have seen over 3 or 4 days—sans some of the words.
I regret posting there because I do not dislike the guy although he sure makes it easy to lean that way when he makes false statements that are easily rebutted and then he deletes the rebutters valid refutations that exposed his falsifications.
rafflaw:
“I am a little late, but I loved that West Wing video! That was one of my favorite shows and the “President’s” remarks to the right wing talk show host were brilliant and timely.”
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Glad you and Elaine liked the video. Isn’t it incredibly tiring to be gentlemanly to fools and brigands as they spout their nonsense or invective? Can’t we just let loose once in a while and let them know, we think them daft or unevolved or both! That’s why I like that clip.
Mike S:
“Part of the reason I spend so much time here is because JT has a wicked sense of humor, stands by his principles and is not overly impressed with himself. That’s just about the man personally and doesn’t begin to express my admiration for him professionally.”
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What I like about “our” blog is that I could easily substitute your name and that of all of our regulars for the letters “JT” in your sentence. Votes may get you awards or titles but with, all due humility, they do not earn my respect. That takes more time and effort to bestow. Marco — after his censorship in the name of free speech — not so much. Happy Holidays to us all!
L-katz,
I have heard every word in the ‘blue’ book from law enforcement, sports, the military, the oil fields–ask Byron–and even a rowdy girlfriend or two. I do not mind most humor and I frequently make comments that Jill regards as sexist, which is okay with me, because I have a great deal of respect from women, although I sometimes might tease and imply sexual overtones. I have mentioned before that ‘blue’ words occur sometimes from the regulars and that does not really bother me. What does bother me is when a poster—usually a troll—says every vulgar word in the book in one thread and his decent words are completely irrelevant.
When I am asking a question and especially when I am debating–as I did in high school, college, and while giving scientific presentations, I consider off-color verbiage/language completely inappropriate. I think the same here if it is *excessive*. When I access this blawg, I do so first as a learning tool and then for the good company and humor.
Because I am such a First Amendment advocate, I went to Marco’s website to learn a different perspective. However, a good 1/4 of his verbiage is riddled with 9th grade gutter talk and I just do not expect that from a self-professed constitutional lawyer and instructor. In the deleted section of our commentary, he mentioned that he did not talk that way in court, but did so while teaching and in the boardroom. There is no way I would stay in a class with an instructor using every base word possible, especially with females in the class. In federal law enforcement school, the instructors throw every word at you because they know you are likely going to be called those names, and more. However, that training is quite different from a civilized college classroom and a blawg of the caliber of Turley’s.
What is most disingenuous about Mr. Randazza is he stated that my posts—as I presented above—were uncivil. Coming from such a foul-mouthed liar, his comments regarding my incivility give the false impression that I used as bad or worse words than he did, which I never could or would, and therefore he deleted my comments because even I exceeded his vulgarity. I have *never* heard worse words on any blog than on Legal Satyricon—he uses them all, all the time. Given his education, I simply do not understand why.
Therefore, within this blawg, please do not mind me regarding words of any kind, because I will never broach the subject again. I will try to remember what Vince T. has said about The Turley Blawg Rules. Paraphrastically,
Rule 1: Professor Jonathan Turley makes the rules herein.
Rule 2 : See Rule 1.
Thanks for your comments Lottakatz.