Now please remove your paw from my cheeseburger. ;-)
Posted on 08/27/2002 4:40:53 AM PDT by BADJOE
It is time we take a new tack and see if we can heal our wounds. I hear by the grapevine that from this past weekend's discussions that JimRob has two black eyes and a broken arm. I have my head bandaged. I am missing one ear, and I have body bruises from top to bottom.
It was damn near like the old days wasn't it?
I am happy to report that while Willa never considered divorce, homicide did cross her mind a couple of times. The fact that I am writing this is hard evidence that she did not act on those impulses.
As I see it, there is a very simple easy way for all of FR's problems to go away. I have a comment to all parties involved and I will specifically address each of them.
The Free Republic is much bigger than any one man or woman. And it is too important for any dispute, regardless of what it is about to pull it down.
First let me clear one thing up. The next Freepathon would have been my last one regardless. It is too big a job for even me. Freepathons are the only time Willa and I exchange cross words with each other. I love all you guys, but she rubs my back, kisses me on my bald head and on occasion even cooks me dinner. (Except during a Freepathon. I damn near starved to death during the last one.)
In order of importance from least to most .
Badjoe: You are one cantankerous feisty old son of a gun. Usually mild mannered, reasonable, and all the good things, BUT when you think something needs to change you would run over your own grandmother to make it happen.
Other forums like Liberty Post, etc.: Guys you can't build yourself up by tearing the other guy down. Tout your own virtues. It is the only way you will reach the heights FR has. And believe me, I'd like to see 100 successful FR's. If there were a hundred of us none of our problems would exist. Competition cleans up the weak spots.
The DC Chapter: Thank you guys for calling me on the phone yesterday. It was very nice and very moving to speak with each of you personally. Please tear all the old pages out of your book in regard to the Free Republic Network. Neither you nor they will survive if you don't quit nursing old wounds. I have noticed that even when the Network folks say or do good things you react in ways I think are inappropriate. We really are all in this together. Let's please work to survive together. Thank you.
To the Network Board.: You are my friends. The wounds are deep between you and the DC chapter. Please don't say anything about them. At the moment even if you gave them a million dollars each they would think you have an ulterior motive. So please say nothing either way. A year from now you might be able to to have some communication.
To the Moderators: Oh my! I sincerely hope this whole post could make your jobs superfluous, as the Freepers take to heart what I will say to them, so that moderation is rarely if ever needed. I am sure you'd appreciate and like the vacation too. Would not it be nice if you could just Freep and when you occasionally came across an infraction, warn first, went back to Freeping, and checked in later to see if warning was heeded and then if necessary take the minimally possible action. Please let's try to keep our troops intact.
To the monthly donors who have cancelled: I sincerely hope you will consider reinstating your help. I know withdrawing your support is a very effective way of registering your disapproval.
To the monthly donors who have stayed on board: God bless you. FR needs you and can't survive without you.
To JimRob: You are just as damn cantankerous as I am. I sincerely hope you will post the new directions involved in our Saturday night August tenth agreement without the references to me. Apologize to the Freepers for any real or perceived injustices and ask them to hold your feet to the fire on the new directions from that agreement
To the Freepers: You are the most important of all. Without you there is no FR. I would like to see you all prick your finger and write in blood that you will argue all you want to without calling another Freeper a dumb Mofo, etc. If you find yourself in the position of not being able to carry the day in your discussion, or if another Freeper gets close to anger, just go away for a little while and come back to fight later. If you do this moderating will become unnecessary. We all will be free from fear. In the interest of healing these wounds please lay off the mods I singled out. Lay the blame on Jim and I for our failure to effectively communicate with each other. Jim and I have broad shoulders and are willing to carry the load.
I am going to post this first to the moderators through the abuse button to give them time to digest what I have written. This is to be a positive thread. I am requesting that they give an automatic one hour timeout to every Freeper, including JimRob for any inappropriate comment. You are capable criticizing with being abrasive.
I hope all the above folks I have directed my comments specifically to, post a general agreement to try to do what I have suggested. If you say you will, I will participate in the next fundraiser by just running the numbers and getting the necessary funds in. JR gets a copy of what I get without the credit card numbers. He can forward that info to a trusted Freeper volunteer to write thank you's, and to another trusted Freeper volunteer to post recognition of the donation on the fundraising thread or maybe one will do both. This will get FR past its current crisis, reduce the harsh words at Willa's and my house, and make everyone's job easier.
Now please remove your paw from my cheeseburger. ;-)
(How ya been, sis? LTNS!)
Glad to hear you two survived
I'm not privileged either and doubt I ever will be......lol. I used to donate, but that's a whole other story. :(
How about starting from today and moving forward? Let the past go. Jim Robinson already said he was going to make changes, so it does no good to keep going over the past over and over and over. Just give him a chance to see if the changes suit you or not.
I'll second that ..
Thanks K. They also know it is impossible to convert the incontrovertible and therefore stick to maintaining and expanding their base, no matter what the consequences.
We here on the right however, are faced with an ongoing dilemma: how to maintain party unity in national elections while remaining true to what seems to be (at least here at FR) a truly divergent platform.
It seems to me that if we can identify the things that most all here agree on (constitution, smaller government, tax reform, et.al.) we can work to push those issues at the local and national levels. And yes, that must unfortunately mean sometimes electing RINOs.
I said what I meant, meant what I said, and really have a problem with the discretion and judgment of BADJOE in throwing his little tantrum, and of watching an effective vehicle for activists who really want to do something regress to being a bulletin board for endless rants by keyboard bound, politically irrelevant fringe voters (with an occasional tinfoil bent).
Sorry to wreck the lovefest.
I applaud BADJOE standing up for most of the Freepers who have not been drinking the Kool Aid and refused to become cult members. There would be no improvement in anything if it were left to bootlickers like you OPH. But then you would do anything to get a seat at the top table and like the scum who killed Becket you would be there first to rid your liege lord of this meddlesome Freeper.
But do not worry you will be rewarded, you are Jim's obvious pick to be an observer along with a few other randomly picked sycophants. Perhaps, I do you an injustice, with such dog like devotion to you master you could even be a moderator and have some real power you sniveling twit.
. I must admit that it requires exceptional talent for anyone to become such a pathetic disgrace to your profession but you sir have succeeded .
That's okay.....you're on mine. :)
Shoot, OPH, you're not even on MY Christmas card list and I LIKE you. LOL
We stopped sending out Christmas cards a few years back when our cards hit the recipient's mailboxes around Valentine's Day. I figured they'd think that we sent them out EXTRA early.
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