Thursday, January 22, 2009

Another Sign Of Success: When The Government Spies On You


Last night on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, a former employee with the National Security Administration blew the whistle that the US government has been spying on journalists for years. This included tapping their phones, reading their emails - anything.

Which got me to wondering -- do I count as being worrisome enough as a journalist to warrant spying on? God, I hope so! Granted, I mostly blog and do web content, but I also have had an article bought by Springfield, Illinois' oldest newspaper, The State Journal-Register entitled "The Obama Cult: Is The Second Coming Nigh?" (Short answer: Are you kidding me?) Granted, I don't know when it'll be published, but the point is they already paid for it.

So, if I am getting spied on, I'd like to say hello to the person spying on me. I'd also like to do my patriotic duty and suggest another person who should be spied on -- the idiot woman who keeps emailing me about an article I did entitled The Temperament of the Hackney Pony. (EDIT 2107: This article is no longer online unless it's on a scraper site.) I won't print the name here, but the spy reading my email will remember the name by this gem:


This is in regards to your article on: The temperament of the Hackney pony
I think you need to rethink your "article" about the Hackney Horse and Pony.
First of all, the temperaments of the two are nothing similar at all, and
secondly, your article is not at all representative of either. You are basing
your opinion on an outsider's view of a horse show where the ponies were revved
and ready to work. My ten year old daughter rides and shows a Hackney pony and
he couldn't be kinder or gentler. Yes, he requires a sensitive hand and a good
rider to handle his energy, but he is not mean, he is not hard to saddle,
bridle, or mount. He isn't even hard to ride. He just won't allow jerking or
yanking. But what intelligent breed will? In addition, I personally own six
purebred Hackney Horses and my horses in no way resemble your article. Our two
stallions adore attention and stand quietly to be brushed and petted. Our
daughter also rides a Hackney/Arabian mare who couldn't be more kind or gentle
and is a true schoolmaster in the ring, even at her young age of seven. Your
article does an extreme disservice to the breed and to any who know them, it is
filled with misinformation and assumptions. Not only that, but it paints the
breed (horse and pony) in a very unfair and negative light to those who are not
privileged enough to know them. I am very disappointed that you would choose to
put this out in a public forum without better research and facts. You have done
harm to an endangered breed and you should be ashamed of yourself as a "writer."



Wow. Definitely sounds like a fanatic about to blow something up -- figuratively and literally.