Crabby Blogging Lady

It took me a sec…

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heehee Bad I know. But funny.

Thanks to all who have wished me a speedy recovery. It ain’t working. Oh, maybe a LITTLE… my sinuses are no longer screaming 500 decibels all night… but I’m still hacking, sneezing, sniffling… still posting LOL Cats cuz I’m just not feeling the creativity here…

I’ll SURVIVE. I suppose. I hate sickness, HATE IT. So unfair.

I’m STILL sick as all get out. I haven’t been this sick in, what, 16 years! That was back when I had three young children (all under the age of three– yeah, it’s no wonder I’m so crabby now, eh?) and we got the flu FOUR TIMES that year, all in a row.

I wish people would keep their sicky sneezes and coughs AT HOME and not bring them to the grocery store and to work! Then, I wouldn’t be contaminated and become so sick!

If only I had a Sickness Geiger Counter or something. I could point it at people, their sickness index would display like some kind of Symbol LS2208, and I could avoid them. And never get sick!

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*sigh*

And to top it all off, I discovered that the virus my computer got was never killed! I scanned my blasted computer with every spyware killer in the book… but OpenDNS says there’s still some botnet trying to phone home. GAHHH!!! I don’t have the wits about me to reformat the computer again!!

So I’m spending all day in bed, changing all my passwords and etc. Oh, and my new (used) Mac computer is in the mail, too. Can’t wait til that comes in.

“Judge not, lest you be judged.” Matthew 7:1

Yep! That’s what it is!

If I wasn’t feeling so darn lousy from this miserable cold I have, I’d be ranting about this issue. But I’m just not my wonderfully crabby old self when I’m sick. And boy, am I SICK.

I hate being sick, HATE IT. And I’m too tired to think. My sinuses are about to burst out through my corneas. So instead, I’ll let Greg Laurie do the ranting this time. He does a pretty good job, too!

This is usually said about the time you say something they consider “judgmental.” And what constitutes a “judgmental” statement? It’s basically anything about which you have an absolute opinion, and they happen to disagree with it. It’s a situation where you would dare to say something as controversial and unkind as, “No, that’s wrong!”

The response is usually pretty heated. “Who are YOU to judge ME? Doesn’t the Bible say ‘Judge not lest you be judged’?”

By the way, that verse isn’t saying we shouldn’t judge; it is saying we shouldn’t condemn. And no true believer in Jesus should do that. The fact is, I think Christians are the most loving, the most open and the most accepting of others. You can usually find the most narrow-minded people among the ranks of those who claim to be broad-minded. It’s true, isn’t it? Personally, I have found that those who often claim to be the most accepting are in reality the most unaccepting.

A true Christian bases his or her ideas and opinions on a biblical worldview. Non-believers will also have their opinions, based on a secular worldview. Ironically, they will say that they have no worldview, but they really do. They will say they are open to everything, but in reality they are quite closed.

It boils down to this: Everyone has a right to their opinion today EXCEPT the one holding a biblical worldview. Those with a secular viewpoint would rather we just went away quietly, and didn’t express our opinion at all.

So settle down in some cushy contemporary furniture and read the whole thing. The guy makes SENSE, I tell ya!

I’ll be back when this cold is gone. If I survive that long! Gah!

Well, at the insistence of Don E. Chute (he used CAPS AND EVERYTHING!), I took the Nolan Chart Quiz. I think I had taken this a year ago, maybe. I see that my views haven’t changed one bit, thank you very much.

I am NOT a Libertarian, however. I hate it when quizzes marginalize you into a colorful section on a graph.  I do not believe that we should legalize (or encourage) pornography, pot-smoking, “escort” services, polygamy, and blaspheming activities. I think society has every right to ban these activities as unwholesome to a nation and society. (By the way, I am an American history scholar who has read and studied the Constitution and the writings of the Founding Fathers, and they believed the same thing!).

ANYWAY. So the Nolan Chart says I’m a Libertarian. When I’m not.

What I am is a Federalist, for lack of a better word. Read The Federalist Papers: that’s what I believe. I believe in a federal government for the purpose of unification, and defense, and world trade. AND THAT’S IT.

Everything else– all powers not given to the federal government by the Constitution nor prohibited by the States, are GIVEN TO WE THE PEOPLE.

Oh gee, that has a familiar ring to it. *gasp* Could this possibly be the Tenth Amendment?! Why, yes, boys and girls, it IS!

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Well, the next question to be asked is: Do we still retain the original form of representative government given to use by the founders?

And boys and girls– we do not. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the Patriot Act. Sorry, we no longer have a Constitutional republic. What a shell game. We can’t do anything anymore without the federal government breathing down our necks: get a job, cash a check, use our transportation, make a phone call, have a baby.

But even before that blasted “Act,” something else radically altered our form of government 100 years previously; it was when the Progressive idjits in government CHANGED state representation to have senators elected by popular vote instead of state legislatures. This occurred in 1913 (gee, the same year as the Federal Reserve Act and Income Tax– those Progressives SURE were busy, weren’t they?). Hello, there was a REASON that the Founders included the state legislatures the way they did– to make sure that the larger states (which had higher population and more urban centers which are the renowned bastions of wicked sinners) did not control the entire federation. It was called the New Jersey Plan, written by William Paterson. You see, back THEN, the states cared about equal representation.

Since the Progressive tyrants have eliminated that check and balance, our nation is basically controlled by the big (liberal) states: Florida, New York, California, and Texas. Even though all the states still retain two senators per state, the state legislatures themselves have lost their representation in the federation, therefore allowing the federal government to usurp power more readily (in such things as education, eminent domain, mandated and/or unfunded social programs, government-funded home insurance quotes, blah blah, etc).

So that was really the beginning of the end, 1913.

Back to the Nolan Chart. Those quizzes are meaningless. I think they have good intentions, but they are meaningless because the people who REALLY know what American government is all about are going to be marginalized, as I was. These quizzes don’t truly represent the original intent of our form of government. Why are we tut-tutting about health care and Social Security?! The larger issue is that the federal government has totally usurped power. Why isn’t that part of the discussion? Why aren’t we spending our time defending the Constitution and Bill of Rights, instead of bickering over government HMOs and Granny’s pension and whether the government can allow teenagers to kill off their unborn babies?

Politics always gets me worked up. Good gravy. I feel so much better. I haven’t had a rant like this in, gee, three or four days! Thanks, Don.

That was the question posed by the brilliant journalists at MSNBC the other day: Big Quake Question: Is Nature Out of Control?

Uh.

Well, yes. YES, you dunderheads! When was nature ever IN control?! That’s why they call it nature, hello?!

When I went back to the “news” “story” online today, the title had been changed: Big Quake Question: Are they getting worse?

Uh.

Well, no. NO, you knuckleheads! Earthquakes are earthquakes!!! There have been both BIG ones and SMALL ones, all throughout history.

I wish some people would get out of their stuffy offices a TAD more frequently. Go outside, take in the leaves, the trees, the history of the world. It’s ALL OUTTA YOUR CONTROL, you control freaks!!!

Patricia of Communication Exchange brought up an extremely interesting issue; it concerns a psychology study– “cyberpsychology” to be exact– that performed a content analysis on MySpace blogs (which, according to the authors of the study, are no different than other blogs and bloggers on the Internet (I’m not sure I agree with that, however).

CyberPsychology & Behavior
Blog Function Revisited: A Content Analysis of MySpace Blogs

Abstract

The present study concerns the content of MySpace blogs and whether it differs from the blog style found on sites specifically designed for blogging. A content analysis of MySpace blogs was conducted to investigate trends in purpose, format, and style and to compare these across sex and age categories. Most blogs were written in a positive tone, and the main motivations for blogging appeared to be writing a diary and as an emotional outlet. Findings also indicate that while there were no significant sex differences, blog purpose and style differed across age groups; for example, bloggers over 50 were more likely to use the blog as an emotional outlet with a negative tone. Bloggers between 18 and 29 predominantly used a semiformal language style, whereas bloggers over 30 were equally as likely to use a semiformal or formal style. Results suggest that MySpace blogs are not dissimilar from other forms of blogging because they provide an important outlet for emotion and self-expression.

The study is brief, only five pages long (with one page of references). I did not read it thoroughly, but I did skim over it. The general consensus among the study group is that blogging is, by far, an emotional outlet. Patricia, in her usual perceptive manner, brought up some good points and food for thought:

One of the most fascinating findings was that older bloggers (those over 50) tended to have a negative tone to their blogs.

This finding runs contrary to everything I experience each day in the blogging community. As an over-50 blogger myself (and I think one with a fairly positive tone), I try to visit many other older bloggers. On the whole, I find us a remarkably positive group. Of course, there are a few exceptions (e. g., Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars, Crabby Blogging Lady). These exceptions, I think, occur because these senior bloggers use a negative style in a humorous way to foster an image of a curmudgeon. In real life, they are nothing like their on-screen personae.

Patricia asked for input from her readers. So here’s mine.

Firstly, I am not in the “over 50″ group. I am in my early 40s. I appear older perhaps because I have more traditional values (and a heck of a lot more common sense) than my younger peers.

Secondly, I have several other blogs besides this one, and I can say that perhaps two out of the dozen I manage are emotional outlets. This blog is where I rant, and I have another where I share my personal life (to a degree)… the other 10+ blogs are informational or political blogs. I did not see these types of blogs addressed in the study.

Thirdly, I wonder of the study is accurate when they opine that MySpace blogs are much like all the other blogs out there. I have found this to be exactly the opposite.
I have seen my share of “emotional outlet” blogs, but I don’t see a great deal of them. I’ve seen a few MySpace blogs, and I seriously doubt MySpace blogs are a great deal like other blogs.

I’ve been blogging, on and off, for almost ten years now. Blogs that are emotional outlets are in the majority, but my experience has shown that they are not THE majority. I have seen a large share of informative blogs, political blogs, blogs as a creative outlet (such as, showcasing Etsy wares), and for activist causes (tree-huggers, etc). I believe of all the blogs, most are political or informative. Mine are more entertainment/informative. Just as Patricia said, “senior bloggers use a negative style in a humorous way to foster an image of a curmudgeon.” True. It’s all about having fun. :D

Finally, I think older people have more to complain about. They’ve been around longer, and the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Sure, sure, you can say that about ANY generation, but this age in which we live is going downhill fast. Not only do we have the eternal forces of slavery, tyranny, propaganda, and apathy, but it’s broadcast around the world in “real time” over and over and over again. And technology, while convenient, exacerbates the angst with the means to control the masses by Big Brother. No wonder we’re negative, perhaps more negative than any other era in time, ever. ?? All the while, the younger populace is consumed with the latest gadget, promo keychains, iPhone app, or whatever, not caring about anything except their own microscopic personal world!

That’s my two cents, from the non-senior Crabby Blogging Lady.