It's been a while since my last post. Let me explain why:
1) The spam, oh God, the spam. At first, I'd come to the site, trim the spam, make a post, and then sit back, enjoying a job well done. Then I'd get as far as trimming spam, and run out of time or be sick of dealing with the site altogether, so I'd quit. At some point, I just gave up entirely.
2) The Baracktober fest line of posts, while entertaining, is proving basically impossible to finish. If it's not clear, let me sum up the candidates once more (quickly, I promise!), and I think you'll see why:
John McCain (R, Arizona Senator). Platform: Perpetual war, total economic collapse. Scandals: taking money, treating wife like crap. Chance of victory: High.
Mike Huckabee (R, Arkansas Governor). Platform: Theocracy, Fairtax. Scandals: His son mistreated a dog once. Chance of Victory: Zero.
Ron Paul (R, Texas Representative). Platform: Freedom, Krugerrands. Scandals: A friend of his might be a racist. Chance of Victory: Zero.
Mike Gravel (D(L) Alaska Representative). Platform: Fairtax, Some freedom, some socialism. Scandals: Who the heck is Mike Gravel? Chance of Victory: Zero.
Hillary Clinton (D Harridan). Platform: Socialism, war. Or not. What day is it? Scandals: See "the 90s". Chance of Victory: Low-Moderate.
Barack Obama (D Illinois Senator). Platform: Socialism, income tax manipulation, open government. Scandals: Friend and pastor is angry. Believes that bitter people to whom politicians have broken promises might no longer trust politicians. Chance of Victory: High.
It's hard to keep posting, when Barack is the best one of the lot, and he's still unacceptably bad. It's just depressing, and I'll have plenty of time for depression after Baracktober is over.
In other news, I had a great idea recently, after reading a story over at Operation Clambake. I remember my Dad's method for dealing with Jehova's witnesses, and I wonder if it couldn't be applied to scientologists. Come up with a simple, 2 minute explanation of why scientology is bad (this is the hard part). Something that will work even on scientologists. Include facts and ideas that the person will want to research - even if it gets them labeled PTS or SP within the org. Getting the org to bully them will work to further your cause.
Then, if you ever run into a scientologist selling books, offer to buy one in exchange for 2 minutes of their time. Be honest with them. Let them know that the church considers you an SP, but that you want to help them get their stats up. After all, you might say, surely 2 minutes is a small price to pay to get their stats up. Offer to repeat this transaction on a regular basis, if they like. Yes, it will cost you 6 bucks and you'll have to soil your hands with cult propaganda, but you might just save someone. Wouldn't that be worth 6 bucks?
Posted by naginata at April 18, 2008 02:51 PM