I *Told* You I Have The Best Commenters…

As a public service for those who read the posts, but don’t look at comments, I want to show off some of the songwriting abilities of commenters “badgersdaughter” and “zekehoskin”. I had invited readers to contribute their own verses to “What did you do in the war (against Christmas)?“…

From badgersdaughter:

I sent my love to the War Against Christmas,
I sent my love to the War!
It’s been cold, it’s been hard;
He maxed out our last card–
And we’ve never been maxed out before!
‘Next the half-set-up tree
I weep one bitter plea:
Will he come home to help with decor?
I sent my love to the War Against Christmas,
When will he return from the War?

and

Mother, I’m off to the War Against Christmas–
Mother, I’m off to the War!
Oh Mother, don’t cry–
With the angels I fly;
“God and country”, my duty I swore:
But I’m weary and sick,
For old General Nick
Left a coal in our esprit-de-corps.
Mother, I’m off to the War Against Christmas,
Mother, I’m off to the War!

And from zekehoskin:

Are you still fighting the War Against Christmas?
Are you still fighting the War?
Are you sticking your neck
Out for President Beck
And the faith that – by law – we adore?
The Earth is still young,
All the atheists hung*
And history’s really a bore –
Are you still fighting the War Against Christmas?
Are you still fighting the War?

* All right, hanged. I’m boasting.

See what wonderful stuff you miss when you don’t read the comments?

Be Prepared (To Buy Your Christmas Tree Elsewhere)

This post is part of a blogosphere protest against the discriminatory practices of the Boy Scouts. Remember, if you buy a Christmas tree this season, that there are plenty of places to get them that do not support institutional homophobia and prejudice.

Be prepared! That’s the Boy Scout’s marching song
Be prepared! Though your moral stance is wrong—
Be prepared to hide the fact that you are gay
Let our antiquated stands lead you astray… [Read more…]

In Sincere Appreciation Of My Readers

First, read this (rather lengthy but excellent) comic.

I agree with a great deal of what is said there about the creative process. Sadly, I’m a bit more obsessive than the artist is–I do try to have something up every day, or nearly so. (Which, when you see his example of “if I had to produce a new comic every single day, this is what would happen”, now explains quite a bit about the lack of quality control here at the Digital Cuttlefish.)

But that’s not what I’m talking about today.

Even further down the comic… the talk about comments.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a sincere thank you, to all my readers and commenters, for not being typical of commentary on the internet. Hey, part of what I do is read the comments at news and opinion sites, and then write about that commentary. Sure, part of the difference in comment quality might be due to the nature of the topics… but it isn’t. I don’t much like reading about the sorts of things I don’t write about. I don’t write about, say, celebrity pop culture, so I don’t get into those sorts of squabbles. I don’t write about sports, because I’m a Cleveland Browns fan. And of course, people who don’t like stuff written in verse have all the rest of Freethought Blogs to read from without clicking on my site, so I don’t even get a lot of style haters. I write about atheism, skepticism, nature, science, love, politics…. and I have seen what the comments look like on news sites (CNN, FOX, etc.) on these topics.

So, yes, thank you all, for being the best group of readers/commenters I could possibly hope for. And thanks, also, to The Oatmeal, for reminding me of what it’s like in the rest of the interwebs.

One Answer To Pascal

A man once told me that he believed
Because he was playing the odds.
“Blaise”, I replied, “Take a look over here
At a site called ‘A Million Gods’.
You may think, by believing, it’s great if you win,
And there isn’t much chance you could lose–
But faced with a million and quite a few more…
Pray tell me, which god(s) do you choose?”

If you haven’t yet, and even if you have, please welcome FtB’s newest blogger Avicenna, over at A Million Gods. His old site was a favorite of mine, and I know I will read it even more often now that it is only a click away here.

Warning: the writing is so good, and the subjects so interesting, that A Million Gods has a distinctive gravitational pull, and you may find it hard to leave.