Steve used to say that all of the time too.
Can't donate, because my country does not do Paypal, and I spent a week being sick out of country so the bills are a bit high.
But you guys do great work here.
Name-stealing troll?
moonglun,
We'd never mistake you for the real moonglum. You spell too well.
Do your research and become a better impostor.
With all due respect - F**K Bollox, RC and any other dunderhead spewing this nonsense. When I offered up my donation Jesse tried everything but a threat of physical violence to convince me I didn't have to drop scrilla because I'm - well, I guess I'm family in a second cousin sort of way. Don't want to send these fine, hard working warriors in the army of the Progressive Peoples Of The United States Of America a few dollars to aid in their efforts to continue "fighting the good fight"?? Well then, keep your filthy lucre ya stingy, timid bastards and keep tossin' Rethug salad!!!
No, You must follow the blogger lifestyle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C...h?
v=CgQkKogqHDQ
But the iPhones are a good idea in that when you are occasionally let out of your darkened rooms you can still blog continuously, with a infinitely less readable screen and less ergonomic keyboard.
wow, i got popular enough too get a naem stea goign on...cool 
as a note. I think liberal blogers need to get paid. I am disguseted by the wealthy progresives that have the warewithall to fund this stuff and don't. I will try and kick in where I can (4 kids and all that make it hard)
I also think that adstreams are a great ideag assueming they apy you guys a fair share.
sell our data and I will be pissed, out side of that, I expect pro work, and i expect you guys to get paid for it.
Thank you.
Of course you should be funded, treated as professionals, earn a good living and buy the tools you need. And a bottle of liquid refreshment and a good meal. And some cool toys.
I'd say "duh" but so many lefties just don't get it. The idea that you should have to suffer in poverty to tell the truth and do your job is absurd and self defeating.
I'd point out that the site has no advertising and, thus, must raise funds somehow. I, for one, appreciate being able to read a page without having to scroll through flashing, annoying ads.
This reminds me of something else, Nowadays we ca look back on early labour leaders, Malcolm X, Wobblies, suffragists, peace activists, AIM, black panthers or other popular leftist movements. For immigrants like me we can see the people who started independence movements.
What makes so much of what they did so amazing is that they did these things while holding down a job and supporting a family. Many people got into these democratic movements because they needed to work more or get better conditions
Medgar Evers had to work, so did the Pullman porters
yuo want to know why the eleitis tmeme works on teh dems..its cause our eletite don't fund the movment...you need to be indipendently wealthy to make it as a progressive, cause we don't get funded. so in the end, tyhe leaders of the "progresive" groups are all trust fund babies with no groundign in reality.
I blame it on Thoreau..the only reason wladan ahppend is bacause he was filthy stinkign rich...he could walk away from life for a year with no adverse consicuences....most people can't
Imperium
blogwhoring, it's fun, it's easy,
it's an internet tradition worth keeping.
Saying "fuck you" to Bollox and RC is out of bounds according to the "don't attack the other posters" rule.
Bollox didn't make some wild accusation, he raised an issue. It was asked and answered in comments. Stop banging on him.
Jesse - Originally I had said "checks in the mail" on day one or two. I was waiting as I was enjoying your beefcake, baby animal posts. It went off the rails for me when gnb bought into the "let's promote hillary, but not" meme from those who are trying to undermine our nominee. Your blog, your choice; my pocketbook, my choice. I thought it fair that I tell you this. I'm glad I waited as that was a very unexpected turn.... and it made me sad. I won't support that.
And I'm sorry you choose to bang on Mother Teresa. You, and the other bloggers, are not doing the work she did. Blogging is not "public service" either.
It's just fine to have a fundraiser and you don't have to explain what is done with the money. There are several weeks before DNC so there's still time. I'm sure it will all work out.
Sheesh.
Spend two weeks sans Web on a mission of mercy in the North woods, donating blood to thousands of needy mosquitos and black flies, and this is what I come back to.
I'm very sad to hear about Melanie's death. She was one of the great news aggregators, and a woman with much heart. Sometimes I think our country's bass-ackwards health care policies were deliberately designed to rob us of independent voices.
As long as the money I send goes to legitimate GNB ends, I could care less how you guys spend the money you earn in your day jobs.
Myrtle -
I didn't bang on Mother Teresa at all and I'm sorry you took it that way.
I think she was an amazing woman and a saint. She practice holy orders.
I also said that MODEL doesn't work as applied to Public Service, specifically because of... and listed ways in which it doesn't work. If people want to take a vow of poverty, great, they should. However this is not that.
I said what we are doing is NOT that.
I disagree with you when it comes to journalism being public service. It is public service -- that is why it is given it's own callout in the First Amendment. Not the Fifth, Tenth or Twenty-fifth. The FIRST.
Done properly, the PRESS is as important as any of the three branches of government. And until the rise of modern television (and to a limited extent, radio) there was damn all money in the Press.
Anyway... GNB has always been here for you, including for you to take positions and stands which frankly, I strongly disagree with as long as we're being candid. None the less, donate, don't donate. What we're saying is, we need people's help right now. If you are holding back because you think we suck or don't match your standards in some way, well... that's your call and whatever. If you simply can't afford to donate right now, our heart goes out to you and we wish you well.
Someone whom I forget who said it --
Yes, sorry about that.
I made the point clearly in my post that this was an attack the idea, not the person moment.
He should NOT have been told to fuck off, and I do NOT agree with it.
PLEASE everyone. NO PERSONAL ATTACKS.
People are free to disagree with us. It's okay. I have no problem with it.
And especially here, over money.
Money makes people NUTS. Almost as much as does SEX.
And the only thing that makes people more crazy, is telling a GUY he DRIVES BAD.
Got to run... dentist apt in 8 minutes.
Love you all.
I'm not really concerned about the comments. Armed threats are usually all that I notice. I left an apology {yes, a limited one} to Evan and Jesse at the iphone post since my problem wasn't really about the money but about the cult of the cool. I'm sending my meager donation in since I derive so much enjoyment and entertainment from this blog that it would be difficult for me to resist. It's meager because, well, my neighborhood has been officially in a depression for two years now {official government statistics, more than 25% unemployment for 8 quarters}and the fallout is spreading. I have learned from this experience to hereafter ignore the cult of the cool at GNB.
Sorry sorry sorry.
Pariah here,
Well, there's an attempt at misspelt irony for you.
Look, point being, you can spend your money however you want...................... and you can ask for contributions if needed, but when you read about picky acquisitions of the latest thingummy along with past tales of Prada ownership, etc., etc............... well, you really have to wonder.
Just caught me the wrong way.
Hmm. Let's sort this out.
A. We have a problem on the left: there's nobody around with enough money to fund the things we really need to do.
B. We also really, really resent people with money. They're trust fund babies, out of touch with reality, mindless devotees of the cult of cool, and we don't like how they spend their money. (And that's just this thread: I could go on for hours.)
Let's add this up. Ten years ago, when we were just another struggling family, we were OK. Now, because there's some money there (half inherited, half self-made), we're spoiled, stupid, brainwashed, and irresponsible. It's astonishing that mere money can do all that, but apparently it does.
We've long since gotten used to people projecting their own money and class issues onto us. It comes with the territory. But it's also why, if you're rich and progressive, the choice is pretty stark: You can either hang around and take the abuse, or hang it up and go join the GOP, where nobody will give you shit about how you got it or how you spend it.
Which, I'd like to gently suggest, may be precisely how we got to A in the first place. In this case, you can either have have your prejudices and make them my problem...or you can be grateful that there's one more blogger on the ground in Denver that GNB didn't have to pay for. You cannot have it both ways. You do not need to kiss any part of my anatomy, but a little respect for the investment would be nice.
Yeah, Bollox, I own Prada. A pair of amazing boots I bought on eBay for a quarter of the original list price; and a small, simple handbag I bought in a liquidation warehouse, ditto. (There's a Hermes scarf in the drawer, too. Wanna take a whack at that?)
None of it came full price. I was a poor girl too long not to love the thrill of the hunt -- the "you got it for how much???" stories are a big part of the joy of ownership. I use designer stuff the way it was intended: buy it once (usually when it's six months past season and being closed out at something way less than half its original retail), then love it and use it for years. (Remember my post on The Real Deal?)
You're not paying for it anyway -- we've already made it clear that I am NOT one of the beneficiaries of this fundraiser. Given that, it's really none of your business. I'm guessing you'd react badly if I came over to your house and made disapproving noises about your financial choices, so why is it OK for you to make these judgments about me?
Mrs. R.
AMEN. I hear the same shit all the time sung to a slightly different tune because, you know, I work for THE MAN.
meh.
To: Everyone still struggling with this issue.
This one's for YOU.
Sara's comment above to Bollox was tough.
Let's make it tougher, not just for Bollox -- because this is NOT personal, even though it damn well feels that way.
Let's make it tougher for EVERYONE still struggling.
The first point to grapple with is this:
This is about a persistent way of being and thinking which pervades progressive and liberal thinking, which as Sara so correctly points out, is precisely why MANY rich and close to rich people end up Republicans... Republicans always get paid. Everyone expects Republicans to get paid. And they never, ever, EVER have to apologize for getting paid, having money, having the latest toys, hanging out with other rich people, or doing whatever the FRACK they want with their own goddamn money.
Which was one of the major points of my post.
It was NOT aimed at Bollox and to the extent he/she feels ostracized, that is not my intent.
Money and sex are the two main American issues (other than race and gender) which fuck people up FAST.
(Class is another one. It cuts through ALL of the above. Maggie Jochild writes brilliantly on the Class.)
[To be continued...]
[Continued from above -- Jesse Wendel]
Seriously though, let's make it tougher, not just for Bollox but for everyone thinking along those lines...and there are a number of you.
Even though Sara has made it clear Evan and she are paying her ride (and we appreciate that; these funds are tightly budgeted) what if I decide to start spending them on Sara's behalf?
Tell me... and I mean this in all seriousness. How does it change anything for you, or for anyone? (Other than for myself, Sara and Evan of course, or anyone else inside GNB. The inside GNB conversation matters to us inside GNB of course, but it's irrelevant to what we're talking about here.)
Why does Sara and Evan having purchased iPhones change anything if I decide to spend some of GNBs' funds on Sara's expenses at the convention in Denver?
Just to shake up some people's thoughts here, I don't believe anyone has any idea about MY personal wealth or income and cash flow, or my personal financial difficulties, debt and negative cash issues. I've never blogged about my own money, real estate them (that I can remember.
If you read the ABOUT US at the bottom of the page, it tells you:
Jesse Wendel, a retired flight & field paramedic has almost thirty years experience in Information Technology. A writer/director, he is producing "What's Your Pattern?", a documentary asking "why do people date the same types over and over again?" Father of four, he lives near Seattle and road bicycles with his kids.
Hmmmm.
Almost thirty years in IT...
...Near Seattle...
...free time with his kids...
...serious road bicyclist.
Shiiieeettt.
Take a wild fracking guess, hot shot.
Even the use of the word fracking tells you something. Hee.
You want to talk about the possibility of me having SERIOUS loot stashed away. Almost THIRTY YEARS.
I could have LOTS more money than Evan and Sara. You think I'm going to talk about it with y'all?
Not a fucking chance.
On the other hand... I could be broke, dry, bankrupt, wiped the fuck out, running on empty, clean as a whistle and melted down to boot.
Heh.
Either way, I ain't talking. Because I don't think it is any of your damn business.
[To be continued...]
[Continued from above -- Jesse Wendel]
1. I'm Group News Blog's Publisher. I or someone on staff (quite possible Sara, or the writer with the conflict) will let you know if we write something or take on an article with which we have a known conflict.
Otherwise, what in essence you seem to be asking for is my tax returns, GNBs' financial, or those of our staff. Ain't gonna happen. They simply aren't your business.
2. We will write good articles. We will provide (as we have been) a safe space for people to talk about our articles, subject to rules designed to keep the space safe and relatively troll-free. My blog, my rules. These Terms of Service (including our Privacy Policy) will be put-up later this summer via links from Home Page.
3. It costs money to run a business. I and the rest of the GNB staff have sunk a year of our lives and substantial start-up costs -- all donated with no promise of return -- into the first year.
Now we are asking our customers -- that is you, you, you, you, and that person over there reading Firedoglake, the one reading DailyKos, and the one reading Orcinus and pretending not to notice while we're asking for money.
You people are our customers.
4. If you go to a movie, you pay money for your tickets. If you go to Starbucks, you pay for your latte. If you go to the car dealership, you pay money for your car or for car repairs.
When you come to the blog you call HOME on the Internet, you pay. Call is a subscription, call it advertising all over the place, call it... I don't know but I know that business' need money to run like human bodies need blood and oxygen and food to break down into sugars to feed the brain and body. If a business/body doesn't pay off its oxygen/financial debt/needs, IT.SHUTS.DOWN.
I will not pay for Group News Blog out of my own pocket indefinitely. Or allow my co-bloggers to do so either.
Why?
Because to do so
a) means our product isn't good enough to draw an audience big enough to sustain itself.
Which tells us we need to change how/what we're writing.
b) robs y'all of giving and sustaining talented people working near the peak of their talent.
At the heart of GNBs mission is providing a Safe Space. It goes both ways. The Safe Space we provide includes the space we provide for our TALENT, for our STAFF to produce pieces of artistic merit which you, are audience, then have the privilege of engaging in conversation with them about their piece and what was provoked for you in reading, listening, or viewing their work.
Being a patron of the arts is an ACTIVE role, and requires your engagement...including your financial engagement.
So.....
With all that said, let's cut to it.
Again, this isn't to ANY ONE PERSON. It is not personal. It is directed at a point of view.
Here is what I want to know, and I'm not kidding.
What does my personal finances have to do with ANY thing about my writing?
This is the same as purchasing a subscription to Vanity Fair, or contributing to NPR.
[To be continued...]
[Continued from above -- Jesse Wendel]
When Susan Sarandon comes up to the microphone in a $15,000 red designer gown and asks people to deal with the world with integrity to support peace... how does the fact that as an Academy Award winner, Ms. Sarandon no doubt owns many designer red gowns...how does that fact have JACK to do with the heart o her request?
Is this simply bad optics? Bad visuals? Does it just "look bad?"
If so, where do you suggest we draw the line? Or is there something genuinely wrong?
Where do we start?
Pets? Can we keep pets? Or are they a luxury we must give up to pay for blogging for people ungrateful to donate $100 or $50 (or hell, even $25 bucks if that's all they have) to keep the damn servers runnings, shit registered, threads responsive, as they complain about how we fail to live up to their political opinions or are running posts which don't fit their world-view.
How about fresh fruit for my children? Can I get fresh fruit when it's the off-season (even though it costs more and comes from far away) or must I take that extra money and chuck it over to GNB to save someone who routinely gives me shit from pitching in $20 they were saving for a "happy ending" to a massage?
Oh. Oh!!! Here's one which is really important, and I especially need YOUR guidance 'cause you use this a LOT... Cable television. I don't mean premium channels such as HBO or anything. Obviously that would be out of the question. I mean just ordinary, normal, cable television. You know, ABC, CBS and NBC. And FOX... Because I KNOW you watch FOX. For the lost blond teenagers of course.
Or must we all go back to rabbit ears on top of our roof tops and over-the-air reception? I've got four children you know. One of them could learn to stand on the roof adjusting the BIG antenna while another shouts "to the left; the left; no, no; to the right; no! CENTER. GO TO THE CENTER. Obama that mother-fucker it for GODS sake..."
"Can we do all that?"
Yes We Can.
*sighs*
If people subscribe to Vanity Fair -- and I do -- they can donate to us... if we're any good.
Ed Note: I won't have time to respond to this thread again. Pick me up in my fundraising is complete post, going up shortly. I'm not abandoning the conversation; just moving where I'll be. Also, I have almost zero time to comment from now till at least Thursday.
Ed Note #2: I don't know how many times to say this. This comment is NOT directed at any one person. If you think I am writing about YOU PERSONALLY... FAIL.
Out of here. Catch me in today's Fundrasing completion post. Bye...
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