tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post1239334507310216060..comments2024-03-14T04:07:39.792-07:00Comments on Earl Pomerantz: Just Thinking...: "Just Wondering...'"Earl Pomerantzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963705121297866334noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7823625636675642409.post-386172648642237552013-04-11T07:22:02.443-07:002013-04-11T07:22:02.443-07:00Ah, a perfect time to "break cover". As ...Ah, a perfect time to "break cover". As William Frawley said in "Miracle on 34th Street": <a href="http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/m/miracle-on-34th-street-script.html" rel="nofollow">"I'm no legal brain trust. I don't know a habeas from a corpus. But I do know politics. That's my racket."</a>. In the 80s and 90s I was a known (some would say notorious) local conservative. I had to move left to join the Republican party. These days I don't fit in any neat category so I'm generally ignored (which is fine for now - I've just started a family).<br /><br />The answer to "why are you getting those e-mails" - you are on an anti-gun-control list. Did you sign into any anti-gun control site? Perhaps you were doing some research of the "other side" and gave them your e-mail during registering for the website? The list of names you've posted give it away. There are a similar bunch for anti-immigration and anti-abortion. This is not a "right-wing thing" though. If you gave your e-mail to NARAL or La Raza you'd be pelted with similarly dyspeptic messages from the other side of the political spectrum (in fact you might want to do so to make your junk mail fashionably balanced).<br /><br />"Polemic" is the word you are seeking but as for their purpose I have no idea. I can't see them "energizing the base" - I find them annoying and I agree with most of them. I can only imagine how they come across to someone who might disagree. But anyone with a computer and a grievance can create a website so perhaps it shouldn't surprise that those with the strongest feelings, rather than the strongest arguments, are the ones who should be most prominent in your in-box. It doesn't help that the majority of more temperate right-wing types (i.e. the ones without the foil hats) tend to have the technical abilities of…you (no offense). This means that, on the technology front, the tin-hat-brigade is disproportionately represented.<br /><br />If you are looking for more thoughtful discourse (you know, for research purposes) there are a few sites available and they will send you e-mail if you ask nicely. <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com" rel="nofollow">National Review Online</a> and <a href="http://spectator.org" rel="nofollow">American Spectator</a> are two which leap immediately to mind. <a href="http://ricochet.com" rel="nofollow">Ricochet</a> is an excellent one but there's a slight fee for access so you may wish to give it a pass. If you're interested in Canadian right-wingery I can recommend the <a href="http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/category/full-comment/" rel="nofollow">National Post comment site</a>. I read it frequently and, yes, I'm the only person on my block who can speak at length about <a href="http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/362616/Preston-Manning" rel="nofollow">Preston Manning</a>.<br /><br />And as for anyone who has something snide or mean about these messages I'll ask: do you want a punch in the nose?Lord Lillishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16596824580817142823noreply@blogger.com