"Another Year Over"
QuestionItNow - Voices is now one year old. Over the course of this year, we have covered many issues that affect or will affect the lives liberty and pursuit of happiness of everyday Americans.
As we found our voice, we ventured into other blogging communities. Early on we ventured into Conyers Blog and Harry Reid's blog and found an interesting cross-section of ideas and opinions, often spiced with insult laden partisan banter.
Recently I found something different, a community of Bloggers called Bring It On! I found this site just before th4thth of July while conducting a Google search of "we the people". I highly recommend all bloggers visit and/or contribute to this site.
During this year, we have heard voices of reason, voices of passion, voices of respect, voices of hostility, voices in agreement, and voices in opposition. Throughout this year we have expressed our opinions firmly, while attempting to keep an open mind. On ocassion, we have found areas of agreement with those whom we typically disagree. Unlike many blogs, no one has been banned from this blog. In addition, no human comments have been censored or deleted.
In reviewing the past year's posts, I selected a few to highlight. Of course I have some personal favorites. Therefore, I felt the best way to determine which posts to feature was to rank them by the number of comments they generated.
OhioDem1's posts have stimulated the most discussions. It has been very interesting to witness and join in this mostly respectful dialogue between Americans who passionately disagree about many things. In my humble opinion, our elected officials and talk-show hosts could learn a few things from these conversations. OD1's posts include:
Conservatism = Radicalism originally posted on 7/13/06 received thirty-eight comments, plus four at BringItOn! . These forty-two comments were by far the most of any QuestionItNow post this past year. This post demonstrated how definitions are often distorted and manipulated as a propaganda technique.
The President Has Failed America posted on 5/7/06 generated twenty-four comments, with nine more at Bring It On! for thirty-three total comments. This post got people talking.
Seperation of Church and State? appeared on 8/9/06. Twenty-five comments followed.
Entitlement Mentality is an interesting play on perceptions and pre-conceived notions that was posted on 5/17/06. OhioDem1 argues effectively that American/multinational corporations suffer from an "entitlement mentality." This dialogue included twenty-five comments.
Propaganda vs. Rights of Man was a 4th of July post that appeared on 7/7/06, stimulating ten comments, plus seven more at Bring It On!
Lying with Statistics is a rather cerebral piece from 7/31/06 that garnered sixteen responses. Both of these posts dealt with various techniciques those in power use to strengthen their positions.
In my opinion, the white paper HOW TO SELL A WAR was OhioDem1's crowning achievement and one of the high points of the year. It is an historical perspective of how propaganda has been used to sell wars from WWI up to the present day. This document will get even more widespread viewing in the year to come, based upon recent developments between Iran and the USA and the renewed saber-rattling directed towards Syria. This analysis is something all Americans should read, regardless of their political persuasion.
Recently, Steve from IL was invited to share his own unique perspectives in a Point-Counter-Point format. He has accepted and his first post The Thing That Should Not Be on 9/9/06 stimulated nine comments here and sixteen at Bring It On! for an impressive debut total of twenty-five responses. I am very interested to see what he has in store over the coming months.
My posts have been more varied, and take a somewhat unique perspective on events, observations, and personal philosophies. Its my version of "All Things Considered".
Learn to Question posted on 6/30/06 generated sixteen comments plus eight under the title Sheeple for a total of twenty-four.
Obscenity in Ann Arbor was based upon something I witnessed at the Ann Arbor Art Fair while walking with my family. It posted on 7/23/06. This often heated discussion included fifteens comments, plus five at Bring It On!
Remembering Katrina's Victims appeared on 12/8/05. It is one of several Katrina posts that appeared here and at QuestionItNow – Will America Lead? It provoked fifteen comments.
Can You Live On $5.15/hr? was posted on 1/19/06, generating fifteen comments here. However, Jazzer reposted this on her two-post blog america is heading where? This little blog has haunted me since I first read it. I wonder what has happened to this woman who describes herself as "... just a mom that has a lot of compassion for the world and how we are treating it. I love life but i really want to cry when i see all the hate and greed that consumes so much of our daily life and it is starting to become a natural state of being in our everyday lives."
On behalf of the QuestionItNow team, I thank all who have visited and all who have posted comments at Voices. We look forward to continuing to share our perspectives and conducting respectful dialogue with those who have thoughts and ideas about issues that affect or will affect the lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of everyday Americans.
QuestionItNow Blogs
As we found our voice, we ventured into other blogging communities. Early on we ventured into Conyers Blog and Harry Reid's blog and found an interesting cross-section of ideas and opinions, often spiced with insult laden partisan banter.
Recently I found something different, a community of Bloggers called Bring It On! I found this site just before th4thth of July while conducting a Google search of "we the people". I highly recommend all bloggers visit and/or contribute to this site.
During this year, we have heard voices of reason, voices of passion, voices of respect, voices of hostility, voices in agreement, and voices in opposition. Throughout this year we have expressed our opinions firmly, while attempting to keep an open mind. On ocassion, we have found areas of agreement with those whom we typically disagree. Unlike many blogs, no one has been banned from this blog. In addition, no human comments have been censored or deleted.
In reviewing the past year's posts, I selected a few to highlight. Of course I have some personal favorites. Therefore, I felt the best way to determine which posts to feature was to rank them by the number of comments they generated.
OhioDem1's posts have stimulated the most discussions. It has been very interesting to witness and join in this mostly respectful dialogue between Americans who passionately disagree about many things. In my humble opinion, our elected officials and talk-show hosts could learn a few things from these conversations. OD1's posts include:
Conservatism = Radicalism originally posted on 7/13/06 received thirty-eight comments, plus four at BringItOn! . These forty-two comments were by far the most of any QuestionItNow post this past year. This post demonstrated how definitions are often distorted and manipulated as a propaganda technique.
The President Has Failed America posted on 5/7/06 generated twenty-four comments, with nine more at Bring It On! for thirty-three total comments. This post got people talking.
Seperation of Church and State? appeared on 8/9/06. Twenty-five comments followed.
Entitlement Mentality is an interesting play on perceptions and pre-conceived notions that was posted on 5/17/06. OhioDem1 argues effectively that American/multinational corporations suffer from an "entitlement mentality." This dialogue included twenty-five comments.
Propaganda vs. Rights of Man was a 4th of July post that appeared on 7/7/06, stimulating ten comments, plus seven more at Bring It On!
Lying with Statistics is a rather cerebral piece from 7/31/06 that garnered sixteen responses. Both of these posts dealt with various techniciques those in power use to strengthen their positions.
In my opinion, the white paper HOW TO SELL A WAR was OhioDem1's crowning achievement and one of the high points of the year. It is an historical perspective of how propaganda has been used to sell wars from WWI up to the present day. This document will get even more widespread viewing in the year to come, based upon recent developments between Iran and the USA and the renewed saber-rattling directed towards Syria. This analysis is something all Americans should read, regardless of their political persuasion.
Recently, Steve from IL was invited to share his own unique perspectives in a Point-Counter-Point format. He has accepted and his first post The Thing That Should Not Be on 9/9/06 stimulated nine comments here and sixteen at Bring It On! for an impressive debut total of twenty-five responses. I am very interested to see what he has in store over the coming months.
My posts have been more varied, and take a somewhat unique perspective on events, observations, and personal philosophies. Its my version of "All Things Considered".
Learn to Question posted on 6/30/06 generated sixteen comments plus eight under the title Sheeple for a total of twenty-four.
Obscenity in Ann Arbor was based upon something I witnessed at the Ann Arbor Art Fair while walking with my family. It posted on 7/23/06. This often heated discussion included fifteens comments, plus five at Bring It On!
Remembering Katrina's Victims appeared on 12/8/05. It is one of several Katrina posts that appeared here and at QuestionItNow – Will America Lead? It provoked fifteen comments.
Can You Live On $5.15/hr? was posted on 1/19/06, generating fifteen comments here. However, Jazzer reposted this on her two-post blog america is heading where? This little blog has haunted me since I first read it. I wonder what has happened to this woman who describes herself as "... just a mom that has a lot of compassion for the world and how we are treating it. I love life but i really want to cry when i see all the hate and greed that consumes so much of our daily life and it is starting to become a natural state of being in our everyday lives."
On behalf of the QuestionItNow team, I thank all who have visited and all who have posted comments at Voices. We look forward to continuing to share our perspectives and conducting respectful dialogue with those who have thoughts and ideas about issues that affect or will affect the lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of everyday Americans.
QuestionItNow Blogs
posted by REB 84 at
9/21/2006 12:16:00 AM
6 Comments:
Happy Birthday to QuestionItNow. And, if REB doesn't mind, I have a shameless plug to my blog (click on my name), as it is two years old today. Kismet.
By
Steve, at 8:45 AM, September 21, 2006
Congrats! Keep it up!
By
Cal Trask, at 9:09 PM, September 21, 2006
Congratulations on your two years Steve. That is a long time in Blog years:)
We thank you both for your contributions.
By
REB 84, at 6:45 AM, September 22, 2006
Happy Birthday to both Reb 84 and Steve. Reb, thank you for your kind comments.
I have been spending my time working for candidates in Central Ohio. From where I sit, Ohio is leaning strongly Democratic this year, and many Republicans are in trouble. My read is that enough D's will get elected to help R's get the message that a responsible middle ground must be found in Columbus, or the voters will force one to happen. A series of articles in our local paper have really laid out how bad things are in Ohio. Embarassing on virtually any statistical measure, 47th in job growth, 40th in income, highest portion of family income to pay for a year of college among all states of the Big 10. $100 M needing to be spent putting college freshmen through remedial math and English, which indicates a failure of our public schools to properly educate our children.
It is for this reason my blogging has virtually dropped to zero. I am working to help Ohio move up from the bottom.
Sorry to go on a rant on what should be purely congratulatory to Reb 84 and Steve, but it gets a little pent up when you have not been doing it.
Here's to more successful years!
OD1
By
Ohiodem1, at 9:58 PM, September 24, 2006
QuestionItNow - Still In Iraq is now over one year old. It is such a shame we could not change the title of this blog.
QuestionItNow – Still In Iraq – One Year Later
By
DTW 06, at 11:36 PM, September 25, 2006
Separation of Church and State was reposted at Bring It On! and received 15 more comments so far.
By
DTW 06, at 11:08 PM, September 26, 2006
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