Coming up at GOTR:

Tomorrow is Brass Balls Radio. Have you subscribed in iTunes yet?

Tuesday night is the next presidential debate. You can catch me over on Twitter, fighting with the moonbats who populate the place. Gag.

October 17th I will be launching my first work of fiction here at GOTR. Details to follow.

Are you a mouth-breather? Are you idiocratic? Do you believe in democracy in its truest sense? Think Gutenberg did a good thing bringing books to the people?

Well, the National Editor of the Ottawa Citizen hates you.

The Players: AP - Andrew Potter, National Editor; KO’M - Kady O’Malley; SR - Scott Reid (beer & popcorn guy)

AP: What worries me, though, is that we’re seeing the “democratization” of politics, in the most literal sense of the word: The people — the great idiocratic mass of mouth-breathers out there frantically swiping the drool off their keyboards as they Google around for “dirt” — are running the campaigns now. There aren’t war rooms anymore, directed by parties with smart, educated, responsible adults in charge — it’s Hobbes’ state of nature as imagined by Mike Judge.

And Scott Reid thinks all bloggers are hard-up virgins. I think we’d be kinda hard pressed to convince anyone of my virginity, after selling tail in my 20’s. Can I be a born again?

Every Monday we release Brass Balls Radio for your downloading pleasure. Tomorrow’s guest will be John Hawkins of Right Wing News.

Have you subscribed in iTunes yet? It’s free! What are you waiting for?

In other news, be sure to check out Right Pundits and LadyBlog - both places I make regular appearances throughout the week. Yes yes, that’s what’s causing the low content level here at GOTR. But if you still want your Wendy Bloggy-Goodness, come see where I’ve been hanging out.

About a month ago, I was approached to take part in a post-feminist blog for women who love their lives. Women who don’t hate men, nor do they spend all their time ridiculing them. Women who have tiny bicycles in their fish tanks, just to be ironic!

LadyBlog is part of Culture11, a brand new web community that wants to

build a community around irresistibly interesting perspectives on life in America. From pop culture to politics, from faith to family, you’ll find original and entertaining stories here from some of the country’s most dynamic voices.

Today is the go-live date, and a lot of effort went into the background of the site (I know, because my inbox is full of last-minute notes and instructions). I encourage you to join the community. Culture11 is for everyone - men and women alike. But I think my female readers will get a kick out of LadyBlog.

No? Cause I’ve been writing for them!

And beginning on the 27th, I will be writing elsewhere, too. Pay attention!

Good God. The Cynic is actually part of a thriving counter-culture. Who knew? I thought he was just an angry adolescent boy with mommy-love issues… Oh wait.

“Lulz” is how trolls keep score. A corruption of “LOL” or “laugh out loud,” “lulz” means the joy of disrupting another’s emotional equilibrium. “Lulz is watching someone lose their mind at their computer 2,000 miles away while you chat with friends and laugh,” said one ex-troll who, like many people I contacted, refused to disclose his legal identity…

Jason Fortuny might be the closest thing this movement of anonymous provocateurs has to a spokesman. Thirty-two years old, he works “typical Clark Kent I.T.” freelance jobs — Web design, programming — but his passion is trolling, “pushing peoples’ buttons.” Fortuny frames his acts of trolling as “experiments,” sociological inquiries into human behavior. In the fall of 2006, he posted a hoax ad on Craigslist, posing as a woman seeking a “str8 brutal dom muscular male.” More than 100 men responded. Fortuny posted their names, pictures, e-mail and phone numbers to his blog, dubbing the exposé “the Craigslist Experiment.” This made Fortuny the most prominent Internet villain in America until November 2007, when his fame was eclipsed by the Megan Meier MySpace suicide. ..

Sherrod DeGrippo, a 28-year-old Atlanta native who goes by the name Girlvinyl, runs Encyclopedia Dramatica, the online troll archive. In 2006, DeGrippo received an e-mail message from a well-known band of trolls, demanding that she edit the entry about them on the Encyclopedia Dramatica site. She refused. Within hours, the aggrieved trolls hit the phones, bombarding her apartment with taxis, pizzas, escorts and threats of rape and violent death. DeGrippo, alone and terrified, sought counsel from a powerful friend. She called Weev.

Weev, the troll who thought hacking the epilepsy site was immoral, is legendary among trolls. He is said to have jammed the cellphones of daughters of C.E.O.’s and demanded ransom from their fathers; he is also said to have trashed his enemies’ credit ratings. Better documented are his repeated assaults on LiveJournal, an online diary site where he himself maintains a personal blog. Working with a group of fellow hackers and trolls, he once obtained access to thousands of user accounts.

I first met Weev in an online chat room that I visited while staying at Fortuny’s house. “I hack, I ruin, I make piles of money,” he boasted. “I make people afraid for their lives.” On the phone that night, Weev displayed a misanthropy far harsher than Fortuny’s. “Trolling is basically Internet eugenics,” he said, his voice pitching up like a jet engine on the runway. “I want everyone off the Internet. Bloggers are filth. They need to be destroyed. Blogging gives the illusion of participation to a bunch of retards. . . . We need to put these people in the oven!”

I listened for a few more minutes as Weev held forth on the Federal Reserve and about Jews. Unlike Fortuny, he made no attempt to reconcile his trolling with conventional social norms.

These wanna-be Tyler Durdin’s are the scourge of many a blogger and forum user, and it occurs to me that Cynic is far from being the worst. Just like in the political realm where he is a tiny tadpole in a big political pond, he is much the same to the hardcore trolls.

Doesn’t mean he isn’t a parasite, though, sucking his “material” as it were from the works of others and trying to get a rise from them. Only now I think I understand a little better: He’s a nihilist doing it for the LULZ.

What I don’t understand though is someone like Dawg, who is a more rational lefty, and certainly not so vitriolic, frequenting such a blog. Is he able to get out his violent sexually aggressive and misogynist fantasies by reading the exploits of Cynic? Perhaps. It certainly accounts for much of the traffic (and even profit) that the trolls in Malwebolence receive. Otherwise well-adjusted people live out their hate through trolls’ online exploits. Men and women who would never refer to their ideological opponents as “cunts” or “douchebags” get to live vicariously through the troll who does. Cynic fills a niche for them.

But this just sucks. I’ve been getting emails and hearing rumors about dozens of blogs - on the right - that were locked down by Blogger last night, accused of being spammers.

And when I read that it happened to Dr. Dawg - one of the least obnoxious of my daily lefty reads - I realized that it was a pan-partisan trick. For obvious reasons Dawg thinks he’s a target of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy. Let me put his mind at ease - there was a sweep at Blogger yesterday. You were caught in it.

I wonder… if an internet poster were to call someone a Nazi without any factual basis, or accuse them of being part of the Klan, or repeatedly use profane language to describe women he didn’t agree with… could this case be used as precedent?

Something to keep in mind, I suppose.

Somehow, the UK courts are ok with a British blogger being sued by an internationally recognized terror organization.

In fact, we did no more than translate a phrase which appeared in an Al Jazeera report of Mr Sawalha’s speech. When Al Jazeera changed that phrase from “Evil Jew” to “Jewish Lobby”, we reported that fact, along with the statement that it had been a typographical error.

Mr Sawalha says that the attribution of the phrase “Evil Jew” to him implies that he is “anti-semitic and hateful”. Notably, he does not take issue with our reporting of the revelation, made in a Panorama documentary in 2006, that he is a senior activist in the clerical fascist terrorist organisation, Hamas. The BBC report disclosed that Mr Sawalha “master minded much of Hamas’ political and military strategy” and in London “is alleged to have directed funds, both for Hamas’ armed wing, and for spreading its missionary dawah”.

British firm Dean and Dean decided that this terrorist leader had a case against Harry the blogger, and they intend to bring him down under their Sharia-loving heel.

Mr Sawalha’s British Muslim Initiative put out a press release on 2 July 2008, describing us as “racist”, “underhand”, “plainly lying” and “pure evil”. We are none of these things. Yet, instead of seeking to sue Mr Sawalha and his organisations for the serious defamation of our characters which he has circulated, or demanding an apology, we took his arguments on.

Mr Sawalha operates by invective and legal threat, because he has no other answer to the case which we have advanced. [Sounds like Warren Kinsella! - RG] This is the context within which he expects people to attend IslamExpo and other British Muslim Initiative organised events. How can there be genuine debate in these circumstances?

If you can, give Harry some help.

Lots going on this coming week, folks.

Tomorrow is the blogger brunch. If you are one of the cool kids, email me and ask me where it will be. Otherwise tune in later in the day for pics and a rundown of the conversation.

Monday’s Brass Balls Radio has an interview with a contractor in Iraq at Camp Victory. For those of you who subscribe on iTunes, I believe it’s already available. For the rest of you, tune on on Monday for our interview with E.L. Frederick from 762Justice.

Tuesday I’m moving house, so go read someone else while I’m busy. For those of you who assisted in my little money problem last month, I decided that paying full rent in Toronto was a waste of all our money, so I’m shacking up with a mate to cut costs. Thanks for your help!

Wednesday I will be on the Michael Coren Show. It will be my first appearance on the show, and I’m a little nervous. Should be fun, though. Check your local listings to see if/when it’s avaiable in your area. For my Yanks - I’ll post the YouTube.

Thursday she rests. And blogs.

Friday we will (hopefully) be interviewing a member of the Heritage Foundation for Brass Balls Radio. Stay tuned for more info.

Many of my favorite people on the intertoobs are atheists, Rachel included. But the vast majority of atheists are basically whackjobs with an axe to grind (axetogrind??).

The update I posted about Rupert’s dad was titled “There are no atheists in a foxhole.” Which anyone who reads here regularly would understand is my way of poking fun at myself, seeing as how publicly, on this blog, I’ve repeatedly identified myself as feeling like either an atheist or an agnostic, depending on my mood. I’ve regularly criticized Christians and their beliefs and have asked them to defend themselves, which they did, some nicely and some not. I’ve been very open about the fact that I simply don’t know the truth even though I’d like to, and that I find debates about religion interesting because they give you such a window into how other people think and view the world.

…

Well. That post title really, really, really pissed off some atheists. An atheist forum linked to it and its members began peppering my comment thread - which remember, was for a post that was about a loved one being in a coma and that I wrote and titled while in an understandably emotional state - with things like this:

I am sorry to hear that you find the contribution of so many members of our military, such as Master Sergeant Gid L. White (retired), to be of no value.
- Foxhole Atheist

Your opening post is a lie. There ARE atheists in foxholes… even if you don’t “believe” there are. Pat Tilman was just such an atheist. Educate yourself and quit deleting posts who try to lessen the bigotry you spread. http://www.atheistfoxholes.org/

Lying for Jesus is still lying. I hope your friend gets better. I hope he never is the bigot you are.

Just because your faith makes you feel all humble and honest… doesn’t make it true, you know.
- A Third Atheist (articulett)

Uh huh. Not a word about the state of Rupert’s dad, or any best wishes. Just nattering on about their (lack of) ideology. Why? Can’t you just say “hey, I don’t like you’re post title, but I hope that guy’s ok”? Are you so unsure of your un-faith, that you have to hijack a person’s blog post about an injured family member like that?

Connie has had just about enough of Michael Murphy’s bullshit.

Kathy once wrote that “You can always get another job, but you only have one conscience.” If Murphy stands by everything he has ever written, then I’m sure there will be no loss of sleep.

Some of you (the ones that hate me) will gleefully remark that I am unemployed. I assure you, it had less than nothing to do with my writing. But if it ever came down to the choice between my words or my work, I would choose my words.

About.com has an interesting bit about children blogging, and the safety issues involved.

A vast number of blogs written by children can be found through MySpace whose terms of service clearly state that anyone over 14 may start a blog through the service. LiveJournal is another popular blogging option for kids and teens. The policy for LiveJournal states that anyone over the age of 13 can start a blog through the service. Unfortunately, there is also a large number of blogs written by children younger than 14 on MySpace, LiveJournal and through other blogging services and software programs. These kids simply lie about their age in the registration process.

Blazing Cat Fur today? Why the hell not? Everyone else does, if they want to know the ins-and-outs of the corrupt “Human Rights” Commissions.

Go now. Respect mah authoritay!

Very Big Things™ are going to be coming to GOTR over the weekend. Now, in the People’s Republic of Canada, this is a long weekend. And weekends - especially long weekends - are naturally slow blogging times. There is virtually no traffic. Which means it will be my American readership who will see the Very Big Things™ before everyone else. The Canucks will all be getting over their hangovers.

But you, my Americans, my We the people, will be here with me on Monday, won’t you?

Please welcome The Girl in Blue to the Canadian conservative scene. We need more female voices. And more importantly, we need more voices that are affiliated with a movement, as opposed to a party. What so many bloggers seem to forget is that the politicians work for us. We do not work for them.

The Girl in Blue just began this week, so go have a read. You can tell people you read her way back when, once she’s famous. She’s a university student in Halifax, Jewish, and conservative. The stars must have been aligned funny that night!

So I get this email from Kathy the other day:

Sorry sweetie, but you really have to get up early this Wednesday. Show starts at 5:30.

Uh, Kathy, I’m unemployed right now. Early to me is anything before noon. But 5:30 am is actually late Tuesday night.

And speaking of unemployed, notice I have popped a “Top Spots” into my sidebar. Feel free to promote your blog or business site for a full week by getting into my top spots. It’s cheap and works hard - like moi.

Kisses and thanks in advance…

We all know how well this went over the last time. I mentioned that women bloggers tend to get insulted on the basis of their looks and gender, and a bunch of mysogynists called me a fat c*nt, thereby proving my point.

Regardless of the taunts and general hate-on we’re often faced with, five more women speak out as to why they blog, what they face, and why they’re not giving it up anytime soon.

Emily, Do you think women are subjects of more vitriol in the blogosphere than men?

I think the old Marine war handbook says when you are attacking an enemy, you have to look for their point of weakness. For women, when you attack us personally, on our looks, how we dress, what we look like, it’s an automatic bullet to the heart.

What we end up getting is more of that because people know women are sensitive to it. When I get hate mail after I’ve been on television, it’s always like “You don’t know how to dress,” “You talk like a Valley Girl,” “Your earrings are horrible.” It’s never, “Your arguments are really ineffective!” (Laughs).

…I mean, I remember when I was on CNN and I basically (debated) this idiot from the HuffPo….When I got home, I had a box full of hate mail…none of it addressing my points or my argument. I got tons of emails about my earrings –how ugly they were, how cheap they looked, about how I should “go back to the mall” where I came from.

John Hawkins has an excellent piece today about some of the issues that women bloggers face - from men, and from other women. Truth be told, most of Pamela Gellar’s (Atlas Shrugs) detractors are other women (I know even I’ve gotten my hits in from time to time).

And Malkin… whoa. She hears about death threats to other female bloggers and can’t help but shrug. She gets them almost daily. She’s had to move ferkrissakes!

(We had) people posting photos of our past house…people urging their minions to come and stake out my house. ….I had tons of people email me and tell me they were going to come to my home. They posted my private phone number and I had dozens of people calling and leaving crude messages.

Although she’s not interviewed for this piece, my pal Kathy Shaidle is often subjected to rape threats… “If you just got properly laid… I’ll take one for the team…” that sort of rubbush.

As much as I am loath to admit that there has to be a difference between men and women bloggers posting about the very same subjects (in this case politics), sadly there is. Take liberal Canadian blogger Canadian Cynic. He used to have a whole category labeled “Cunt”, where he viciously maligned females in the news, and female bloggers. He has since removed categories from his blog, probably because of the flack he was taking, though really, he never seemed to mind. Believe me, it hasn’t stopped him from using the word, or maligning females. Former blogger Ian Scott of Ianisms (now defunct) had been banned from more than one blog for being downright creepy in a way that he certainly wouldn’t behave toward other men. Chances are he wouldn’t send a male blogger a pornographic description of what he would like to do to him!!

Does it bug me, personally? No, not really. I find it sad, but I have a “that’s just the way it is” attitude about it. When a male blogger/reader threatens a female blogger, he does it in a personal - often vulgar - way. When he threatens a male (if he has the balls to do so at all), he will usually do it by threatening his family, specifically his children. People who make internet threats are cowardly. They hide behind pseudonyms, don’t disclose email address or use fake ones, have cloaked IPs… they are pussies. Believe me, if they show up at your door and are greeted by your handgun, you’ll be scrubbing urine stains out of your Welcome mat.

Basically, we can’t let it get to us. Women have been silenced by men before, and we’ve ceased to allow it. We shouldn’t pay it any mind on the internet. There’s room for everyone here.

Update: Instead of adding anything worthwhile to the above subject, like a word from his female co-bloggers about any flack or threats or even support they may receive, Canadian Cynic instead chose to call me a cunt. Hmm…