And it’s my blog, so I can bitch all I want.

Every day I come across blogs that have so much potential to expand on their subject matter, but all they do it copy and paste their entries from other sources. Be it press releases, email updates or other people’s content, these sites just copy, paste and post.

That’s not blogging. It’s laziness and a lack of creativity. Do a little of your own research, clip and paste relevant paragraphs to expand on, or delete your blog. Seriously. Because at this point, even with links to give credit, you are really just stealing other people’s content. You make us all look bad.

Most people start blogs because they have something to say. And yes, there will be times when someone else can say it better than you, and you make the exception to post their full content (I hope with permission). But that shouldn’t be the norm. That shouldn’t be what I see 2 out of 3 days when I go to your site. You’re just wasting my time, and you’re wasting your own, too, because clearly you are not a blogger.

We now return you to regularly scheduled (and predominately original) content.

There’s been a lot of talk lately in the ’sphere about how anonymous you really are just because you use a nom de plume, an alias or “anon” when writing and commenting on the Internet.

I mentioned here that lefty blogger “Publius” had been outed by NRO columnist Ed Whelan. Dr. Dawg (who everyone knows is John in real life, but nobody really bothers him about it) and I had a little conversation about it here, where he felt that outing Arnie as Blazing Cat Fur was ok, but that Whelan outing Publius was not. I’m still not entirely clear on where Dawg stands. After all, there was absolutely no hue or cry from the Canadian lefty-sphere when Kinsella outed Arnie, but plenty when this Publius fellow became a real person.

Another recurring rant from the left in Canada is over National Post contributor and blogger Raphael Alexander. His real name, but not his full name. The fact that he publishes as Raphael Alexander as opposed to whatever his full name is proves…. absolutely nothing, actually, but Kinsella and all the other cynics on the left seem to think it’s part of a vast right wing conspiracy of lies. Not that Kinsella is giving up the real name of his so-called Grit Girl. Just sayin’.

As for me, I was “outed” in January 2006, entirely by accident and with no malice intended. It was an email from CPAC organizers in the US who were listing bloggers who had spots on “Bloggers’ Alley” at the convention that February. Oops. I never thought to ask them for anonymity, and therefore I didn’t get any. Honest mistake. Since then, it has been pretty much common knowledge that I am Wendy Sullivan. In fact, it’s on the About page. If I’m not willing to back up my words with my name, maybe I ought to shut up.

The fact is though, every Tom, Rob or John can comment or blog under an alias, and feel perfectly safe that they are immune from having to take responsibility for their words, however hateful. Except… that’s not really true anymore.

Connie and Mark Fournier are currently fighting to protect the anonymity of the commenters on Free Dominion. Richard Warman is pleading his case that the Fourniers’ commenters are “hateful” and “libelous” and therefore their ISP information should be turned over toute de suite and we can’t wait one more day!

Except who is the arbiter of hate? Who decides what is offensive? If you repeatedly refer to a 78 year old grandmother as a “cunt” on the Internet, isn’t that hateful? If you repeatedly malign and demean women who disagree with you, à la Sarah Palin, you need a crash course in decency, my friend.

Richard Warman will probably win - he always wins. And when he does, some of his cheerleaders may want to take a very hard look at some of what they’ve written so anonymously. They may want to spend some quality time with their hand over the “delete” key. Not to erase the past, of course - Google is all-knowing, and all-remembering - but to mitigate some of the fallout.

You just never know…

Sometimes you think being anonymous carries no risk. Sometimes you’re wrong.

Just sayin’.

Ok, looks like I’m able to post regularly again. Thanks to 1and1 for getting that sorted for me last night.

Anyway, over at my writing blog, the aptly named Girl on the Write, I’m talking about a little experiment I tried.

Check out my ROI on the Staff Blogging Course. I’m pretty damn pleased, if I do say so myself. If I keep going that way, I might be able to sleep without money nightmares.

When I’m not blogging Stupid Muslim Tricks or what have you over here, I spend my time on my writing site. Well, that’s a lie. I spend it on Twitter, but dabble on my writing site.

Some of my latest wordy-goodness:

• Interviewing
• Starting a blog
• Whoring my producer

So now you know what I’m up to when I’m not Steyn-swooning or lunching with Kathy (as I did today). Or not on Twitter.

And that really says something.

So I’m out for a jog earlier today, and I enter the cool down stretch. Whip out my BlackBerry to see what I’ve missed, and there’s an email from Blazing Cat Fur, AKA Kathy’s husband.

Do you want to go to the Palestine House event with me? Kathy doesn’t want to.

Uh huh. So weird point #1 is my friend’s husband asking me to be her proxy at an event.

Weird point #2, I’m going to go to an antisemitic pro-jihad fundraiser? WTF?

Oh man. So we go to this thing, for which Arnie forks out waaaay too much jizya at the door to get in. We are under-dressed, not having realized it’s a dinner event and not just speakers in an auditorium. Clearly, I left my hijab at home.

Anyway, it took forever to get underway. Dinner wasn’t served until after 8, and the speeches didn’t start until almost 9.

Weird point #3 was the totally pedestrian food. I figured since we were there, we would be treated to taboule, hummus, kibbe… something resembling anything remotely Middle Eastern. It was not to be. Hospital-style beef & chicken with steamed veggies. Iceberg salad. Blah. If we’re going to be all multi-culti, I at least want that kickass garlic sauce they put on shish taouk, dammit.

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh AKrama Sabri, was a small unassuming man. He spoke Arabic, and from the little I understand I deduced that his English translator was leaving a lot of the juicy stuff out. All the Allah/Mohammad/Ummah/Kuffar stuff was left out, and a lot of peace/political intervention/cooperation stuff was highlighted. Hmmm. I guess that was Weird Point # 4. I am sending the recording off for a full translation. It may take a couple of weeks, but I’ll let you know what I find out.

Weird Point #5 & 5a (a tie) was the head of Palestine House telling us to vote Liberal, and Carolyn Parrish being in the audience. Arnie advises me she’s also on the donor roll for Mohammed El Masry’s new community paper, the Charger. I guess hating America isn’t enough for Parrish - she has to align herself with its enemies, too.

Then Mr. Fire and Brimstone, Bishop Atallah Hanna (Bishop of Sebastia of the Church of Jerusalem) hit the stage. A very imposing figure in his Orthodox black garb, he was also an extremely awe-inspiring speaker. If that man turned to me and told me I was going to Hell, I would simply nod meekly and accept my fate. Wow. I was informed by our table mate that his Arabic was “beautiful” and “flawless”.

This Orthodox Christian went on and on (and on) for a very long time - over an hour, I think. I understood him well enough, plus had the assistance of our table mate, to not need to know the full translation. He spoke of Israel being racist/apartheid/the usual. That those who criticize Israel are not antsemites, but are called such by people who are themselves racist antisemites. Wow, way to turn the tables, buddy. Joe Lieberman is a racist. Israelis are racist. Holland is racist. Jason Kenney is racist… you get the idea, right?

Weird point #6 was the enforcer goons at the table next to ours. I believe they were the Palestinian equivalent of Luca Brasi. Scarred faces, scarred knuckles, not a brain cell in the bunch. These guys were the, ahem, security force for the evening. Um, you have two eminent religious leaders visiting, and you’re putting these assholes in charge of their lives? Oh my.

As we got back in the car, I summed it all up by telling Arnie “Next time I pick the restaurant!”

More tomorrow, with pictures and any salvageable video. For now I’m tired. And I want a ham sandwich.

Bonus Weird Point: The banquet opened with the Canadian National Anthem and the Palestinian National Anthem (can you have a national anthem if you don’t have a nation?). A few people half-heartedly mumbled Oh Canada. Yet NO ONE even hummed Biladi. Hmmm. Which, by the way, sounds very, very German/Nazi/Soviet in it’s triumphalism.

Arnie has more at Blazing Cat Fur.

Andrea Harris writes of a very nervous Maryland mayor who is suffering from bad blog press.

In her final State of the City address, Salisbury Mayor Barrie Parsons Tilghman warned residents of what she sees as a great danger to the city: malicious bloggers.

Tilghman said in her address Thursday that over the last five years, the presence of a small group of suspicious, mean-spirited people focused on the negative has grown, endangering the city’s vitality.

Endangering the city? Really? Wow - Toronto is infested with bloggers of all political persuasions. Should we call in the exterminator? Perhaps if this Maryland mayor (and Toronto’s mayor, too) did a better job, they wouldn’t have the “malicious” bloggers to contend with.

I say she needs to put on her big girl panties and deal with it.

Wow. I can’t believe my “little hobby” has been chugging along for five great years. It wasn’t easy picking a winner in the anniversary contest. Right up till late last night I was alternating between my front runner and a late submission. In the end, though, there could only be one winner.

Congratulations to Al from Big Al’s Dismal Swamp:

I was once just a eager young man with time on his hands and opinions on his heart. Ready to share his soul that young man found himself writing letters. Letters to people. Letters to the Editor. Letters just to no one, only to get the thoughts from head to paper and relieve that itch to express ones self. Then I found this world of cyberspression, the blogosphere. Meekly, I found myself a new, yet small voice which I could put those thoughts that roamed my mind out to the world. Yes, once I was a faint cry, weak and small, in a huge world of reasoned thought and expression. Now…, I’m still a faint, weak, crying voice in a huge world of reasoned thought and expression.
When I started my blog I searched high and low for other blogs to read and gain insight from. Kind of like mining the net for info and content, people and places. Places I could go to read. Places to be read. I can’t really remember for sure, but I think I was watching some political video or something or other and came across several women, Conservatives, expressing themselves, online. I copied down their names and websites from the credits. It could be that’s where I found you, Wendy Sullivan, Girl on the Right. Maybe not… I really don’t remember, lol.
Find you I did, however, and I’m glad I did.
The God’s honest truth is I don’t know why I come back to your blog day after day, I just do. There is something special that I can’t put my finger on. There is something special within you that somehow shows through your keyboard and out of my monitor. It’s compelling. Why? F if I know, but it does.
Wit, sarcasm, humor, intelligence, and something feminine and alluring, maybe even erotic in a way, there is something about you. You’re scary like a mom can be, mean like a sister… and can do a pretty dang good job of writing stuff worth reading… so you are, dare I say, inspiring.
And there is something comfortable about Girl on the Right. Sort of meant to be, old friendish, fits right, comfortable. I kinda know what I’m getting into, yet don’t really know what’s coming when I click on that link that brings me there day after day. Anticipatory (damn, spellchecker says that’s a real word). Compellilisous (darn, that one wasn’t). Maybe not the stuff dreams are made of, but it can surely give you a kick in the old imagination.
I may be mad as heck one minute and busting a gut laughing the next, but Wendy is always right. Right on time. Right in content. And right there, just a click away. One of my favorite places.
-Al

Al will receive a gift pack with an autographed copy of Mark Steyn’s America Alone, a copy of The Tyranny of Nice signed by Kathy Shaidle, a Larry Curly & Mohamed t-shirt and a box of Valentine chocolates.

Congratulations Al, and many thanks for being a loyal RightGirl reader.

I’m running a little behind today due to yesterday’s Hope-and-Change-a-thon. So while I’m working out something substantial for y’all to read here on GOTR, go check out my latest on New Media and the GOP at Today.com.

I have started blogging at Today.com about the rebuilding of the Republican Party from the bottom up, instead of the old-fashioned top-down way that gave us John McCain.

Click on over and have a look.

Welcome to 2009! It feels great to be back and blogging after the month off I had. Of course, I couldn’t have managed a vacation had it not been for James of Right or Wrong Radio; many thanks to James. I know he enjoyed being here, and God knows he had lots to say! So I’m planning to have him post an article every week or so in 2009.

I just talked to Mike Williams of Brass Balls Radio, who informs me that we are still averaging half a million downloads a week! He now has the show spread over two servers to avoid what he calls “another Steynian meltdown”, referring to our million download week when we interviewed Mark Steyn. That was a rather expensive week, trying to beg/borrow/buy/steal more bandwidth!! Mind if I ask why you’re not sponsoring Brass Balls by running ads for your company?

I seem to have a somewhat steady roof over my head these days in Toronto, so I’m staying put for a while. You will see me on the Michael Coren Show again on January 12th. Before my appearance, expect me to do something drastic with my hair!

FYI, I continue to blog over at LadyBlog and at my freelance site, aptly named Girl on the Write. I didn’t give these up over December - I just needed a break from the content of GOTR.

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’m happy to be back with you here at Girl on the Right.

As usual most of the world shows such a blatant double standard with respect to Israel and frankly, everyone else that we tend not to even notice it and on occasion, like Hitler’s ‘big lie’ tend to think there must be something to it for so many to buy into it. In a way I suppose there is. Oil money and fear of terrorism by immigrants to western nations. But here are a few links which offer some clear as day thought on the matter. Of course, when the UN passed a resolution against Israel as the worlds worst actor in terms of women’s rights it was so laughable that most ignored it. But now we are down to the existential.

First, from www.thereligionofpeace.com 9 questions that should be answered before anyone can criticize the Israeli actions in Gaza. I could add quite a few myself but this is a nice list.

Next an op ed from the National Post on same subject. Pithy and spot on. It’s not that this is profound or hugely insightful. It’s that a Canadian national newspaper has the courage to make a clear moral stand. I wonder if we could find this in a British major paper or any other European one. It is worth reading even if most of us already know these facts.

As an aside,
there was an attack on an American Jewish center. I doubt this will be an isolated event. Look for more in Montreal.

Meanwhile the religion of peace advances it’s cause for world domination while nobody much notices.

The Swat Valley in Pakistan has been pretty much taken over by Taliban/Al Queda. A close look at a map and some thinking about US Canadian operations in Afghanistan plus rapidly rising tensions between nuclear neighbors Pakistan and India will show why this story deserves attention. Pakistan is losing a lot of territory to the Islamists. They are moving troops away from the allied areas and re enforcing borders with India. This creates opportunity for Islamist expansion on that front. I recently spent close to a hundred dollars I really do not have to buy a decent world map. It may have been the worlds first sub prime map loan actually. Who knew in high school physical geography would actually matter.

Also Stratfor reports more deadly mortar attacks by Islamist forces in Somalia killing ten people today alone. The amusingly named MILF continues to attack bomb and spread hatred and fear in the Philippines and the western media either ignores it or claims its a separatist group. It is not. It is a group of Islamic supremacy.

This article about Russia’s approach to Islam is quite good as well. It explains the little known use by Russia of Islamic proxy’s. The US likely did this as well during the cold war. Chechen’s where most likely funded by the US to annoy and distract resources of the Soviets during the cold war and we all know about Afghanistan and the Mujahadeen proxies for the US. However what should be evident by now to all of us is that this backfires. Not just sometimes but all the time to most of the world. Even Pakistan and Iran have used Islam as the tie that binds disparate tribes to try and create a national identity. We see how well that works in both places. Well, I suppose in a way you can say it does.

Here is an article albeit an older one from Jeff Jacoby at the Boston Globe on UN hypocrisy with respect to Israel. Lots of links as well and a good read. Perhaps the fact that this was written before even rumors of a retaliatory strike on Gaza makes it more meaningful.

This to paraphrase Dr. Wafa Sultan, is not a war of civilizations. Civilizations compete. This is a war of civilization against barbarism.

James Cohen for Girl on the right.

This is a more difficult post to write than the last one. This one means a wake up for me and many others who so far have managed to treat world events as academic. The realm of debate and moral and ethical games.

Israel has retaliated against Gaza by air strikes against military targets and limiting civilian damage to the best of its capabilities. Many posts will argue the rights and wrongs of it so no need for more of that here. I’m sure the vast vast majority have already made up their minds as to who is right and wrong and why.

I am writing on another aspect. Strategy and outcome.

So far, Islamist forces world wide (and Gaza is no exception) have overwhelmingly chosen to go after the softest targets possible and the ones which would garner the most outrage and horror. It is not at all unusual for example, for a Palestinian receiving free and excellent medical care in Israel to return to the hospital wrapped in explosives with hopes of murdering the very doctors nurses and destruction of the facilities which had treated her. We also have seen attacks going back decades in Argentina, France, and recently Bombay targeting Jews with no strategic value whatsoever but because they are Jews. More recently, The UK, Germany Scandinavia and frankly much of Europe where Muslims are moving in large numbers in the past year has seen anti semitic violent attacks grow.

Hamas will ‘retaliate’ (I put retaliate of course in quotes as the Israeli action was in fact retaliation for over 800 rockets fired at Israeli civilians over the past few years most of which was during an agreed ‘cease fire’) as will Hizbolah, Al Queda/Taliban and any number of Islamic groups which as usual will create a new name for themselves for each attack by targeting easy to access unsuspecting targets of Jews. It could as easily be Ottawa as Bombay or Pembrook Ontario as London England or Ipswich Mass. as easily as Madrid Spain. The only thing these attacks will have in common, will be that it is against Jewish people.

If you live as a Jew in most western nations, it is against the law to arm yourself. not just for jews of course but for all. The police or more likely politicians would prefer you get killed cleanly and quickly then get the police and ambulance to the scene so City councils can show how efficient they are. Outside of small pockets of the USA where there is still some sense of individual right to life and self defense this is the norm. However given the history of Islamic terrorist movements and the ascendancy of same, the moral relativism of the modern left who dominate the civil service of most western nations and the consequent ethical ambiguousness which has made terrorists the victims and victims the aggressors, Jewish people may want to start thinking about their own security. Predicting the future at some levels is imposable. At others is as easy as looking at the past.

Let’s have a look at what the official reaction has been from various bodies in order to better understand how officialdom may react to the deaths of Jews by Muslim attackers in their own cities and nations.

Here I borrow heavily from the excellent site, The Gates of Vienna…

Spokesman For Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General

“The secretary general is deeply alarmed by today’s heavy violence and bloodshed in Gaza, and the continuation of violence in southern Israel.

“[He] appeals for an immediate halt to all violence [and reiterates] previous calls for humanitarian supplies to be allowed into Gaza to aid the distressed civilian population.”

Gordon Johndroe, White House Spokesman

“Hamas’ continued rocket attacks into Israel must cease if the violence is to stop. Hamas must end its terrorist activities if it wishes to play a role in the future of the Palestinian people.

“The United States urges Israel to avoid civilian casualties as it targets Hamas in Gaza.”

Spokesman For Javier Solana, EU Foreign Policy Chief

“We are very concerned at the events in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire and urge everybody to exert maximum restraint.”

British Foreign Office Statement

“The only way to achieve lasting peace in Gaza is through peaceful means. Whilst we understand the Israeli government’s obligation to protect its population we urge maximum restraint to avoid further civilian casualties.

“We also call on militants in the Gaza Strip to immediately cease all rocket attacks on Israel.”

Russian Foreign Ministry Statement

“Moscow considers it necessary to stop large-scale military action against Gaza, which has already led to major casualties and suffering among the civilian Palestinian population.

“At the same time, we call on the Hamas leadership to stop shelling Israeli territory.”

Amr Moussa, Arab League Secretary General

“We are facing a continuing spectacle which has been carefully planned. So we have to expect that there will be many casualties. We face a major humanitarian catastrophe.”

Syrian Foreign Ministry Statement

“Syria is following with great anxiety the barbaric Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza… a horrific crime and terrorist act.

[…]

“Syria as president of the Arab League calls on Arab leaders to hold an emergency summit to assess the dangerous situation in Gaza.”

Hasan Qashqavi, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman

“Iran strongly condemns the Zionist regime’s wide-ranging attacks against the civilians in Gaza.

“The raids against innocent people are unforgivable and unacceptable.”

And the most useless and mealy-mouthed reaction of all comes from — surprise! — the Vatican:

Rev Federico Lombardi, Vatican Spokesman

“Hamas is a prisoner to a logic of hate, Israel to a logic of faith in force as the best response to hate.

“One must continue to search for a different way out, even if that may seem impossible.”

So from this we get a fairly clear idea how our leaders will react to terrorist attacks against Jewish targets. A few words careful not to offend Islamic terrorists. Hence the responsibility ends where it should begin. In the hands of each individual Jewish person to decide how exactly they should protect themselves. The state will not be able to do it nor has the will.

Perhaps the radical sounding words of the founder of the JDL, Rabbi Meir David Kahane don’t sound so radical now. “Every Jew a .22″.

Frankly, I think a .45 would make a lot more sense.

I’m cleaning out my Google Reader in time for the new year, and this means taking out some wonderful bloggers. You see, I rarely click over to domains anymore - everything feeds in through my reader. And if you don’t publish your full feed, I just don’t read the important words you have to say. So here’s who’s going:

Angela Booth’s Fab Freelance - headline and one sentence is rarely enough to grab me, though she does write catchy headlines
Conservative Examiner - Lord knows I love Kathy, but short feeds irritate me. I shall continue to read her best stuff over at Five Feet
Small Dead Animals - If someone outright recommends one of Kate’s articles, I will click over.
Dr. Dawg - I’m sure he’ll weep over losing me!
Little Miss Attila - There is no good reason she should be using a short feed
Argghhh! - My beloved Kansas host. His short feed doesn’t even indicate who the writer of the post is!
and last but not least:
Michelle Malkin - Michelle even has her feed monetized for ad revenue, but still insists we click to the main site. This is a redundant process.

Call it bitchiness, or call it Web 2.5, but if you won’t accommodate people who use readers regularly, why should we accommodate you?

UPDATE: Thanks to my readers for letting me know that Little Miss Attila and Kate at SDA both have full feeds available!

I had no idea we were in the running!

Yup, it’s time for the Canadian Blog Awards again. First round voting is open now.

It wasn’t so very long ago that I was asking medium and large bloggers for tips and advice on how to make this most of this moment in history. How to get my name known and get invited to the cool kids’ parties. It came to be that the cool kids eventually celebrated holidays at my dinner table - how awesome is that?

And now over the past few days I’ve come to realize that it’s my turn to be the giver. It’s kinda surreal. I’m getting emails asking for advice, phone calls from readers and listeners wanting to hear my suggestions, and plenty of new opportunities.

So for those just starting out, I wrote a post for you last night, here. I’ve been “used and abused” on these cyber streets in the past, and I want to make sure you don’t get exploited, too.

There will be other bloggy-goodness there from time to time, so I’ll keep you posted. And yes, I’ll keep answering your emails - no worries there!

This post has proven very popular this week, and I’m glad I could be of some use to the Brits who have been kept in the dark by their courts.

However, I cannot approve comments calling for the murder to Tracey Connolly, no matter how much the bitch deserves it. The United Kingdom is not a capital punishment state, and Tracey cannot be put to death for the brutal neglect and beating death of her son, Peter.

British law is already being broken by having Tracey Connolly’s name known. That said, do you really want me put in a position to have to hand over your IP address if I get subpoenaed? Then we’d both be screwed.

Here’s a little bit of info for you: Tracey stands a great chance of surviving women’s prison, because women kill their babies all the time. Without even getting into the societal degradation caused by that pesky “right to choose”, there is little stigma attached to felony murderers who are women and kill their children. Mostly we just shrug it off as post-partum or some other made-up disease. So the women she will be shacking up with will be unlikely to off her for her heinous crime.

Tracey will come out of prison alive. And yeah, that sucks. But you have to just suck it up and live with it, or work to get your laws changed in Britain to stop protecting criminals.

Trust to karma regarding Tracey, and work to make sure that something stronger than karma deals with the next horrible person that does this. Don’t just bitch - get involved. Change the laws that protect her.

…it’s probably good enough for me.

I hear ads for this every day on the radio, so I did some browsing to see what it was all about. Now that my computer is my source of income, I really can’t afford to call up a new-ish client and say “Oops, everything got deleted - can I have another two weeks to get that done for you?” I’m figuring $50 a year to recover everything really isn’t so bad, right? I mean, I’m on a PC running Vista - god only knows what could happen!

It’s kinda like insurance - you hope you never need it, but you pay for it because when the day comes, you don’t want to be without it. I’m signing up for my 30 day free trial. I hope I never need to use it!

Ken welcomes baby Ella Rose to the family. At 7lbs, 7 oz, Ella sounds like a healthy little girl. Mrs. Ken is recovering well after bringing her daughter into the world.

All the best, Ken. Call us for assistance when the boys start beating down your door.

As most of you know, I lost my job back in April and have been freelancing ever since. Things are finally starting to happen in that regard, and I am loving it. No, I’m not making enough yet to sustain myself (PayPal button is to your right, ahem), but I am building a nice base.

If you want to laugh and cry along with me, catch me over at Girl on the Write. Naturally. Like, what else would I have called it??