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                                           THE PHILOSOPHERS       

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD8ljNobUys

I was attempting to escape my life by practicing the art of a hermit.

I had shut off almost all communication with the 'outside' world for close to a decade.

I found out that I could use 25% of my disposable income to get 'on line'. I had an old computer given to me by my son; low number of gigs and slow on the up take.

But, what would be slow now, was faster than a speeding bullet to me during the remaining months of 2008. ha

I was attempting to comment at about 20 sites. There were limits to the number of 'characters' one could use which I did not understand. I would type something and press some 'submit' button and....the screen was blank or sent me to a warning facility.

I found this place by accident; the site with the picture of the 17th century guy with a pipe in his mouth. I played around and hit some buttons by accident and some sign came up:

You want your own blog?

Wow.

Okay, so I was in. Of course I would write some nonsense and submit and vwella!!! My own post went up!!! It was like being published.

Of course nobody commented. Hahahahaahah

Then, in late November I wrote something in the middle of the night and when I awoke I was embarrassed to see what I had written. It mattered not that I had not had a drink in weeks. I thought: maybe it would be better if no one saw this. But I took a peek anyway.

And there were like ten comments; some long and involved.

I connected with somebody; with several somebodies. Ha

Well, I started reading other posts and commenting and recommending.

I would write other posts, some would attract a few comments; some would attract a more comments.

It was the connection with other folks.

I did not know anything about these 'sites' when I started. But I had learned how to log onto all these newspapers and important sites like Salon and Huffpo and Beast and Mediamatters and regular TPM....

And I learned how to keep notes during the day on Word.

Then I found out how easy it was to add pictures. Videos could only be seen by about half the readers; so I stuck to pictures.

Then I would find old quotes I had vaguely recalled, from famous tomes and add them with links under the pictures.

I was having a ball.

I even wrote a book in 49 chapters or posts and my regular friends supported me in this endeavor.

One day I read some really fine line by Q or Miguel or TheraP and I went nuts. So I wrote:

I hereby render unto you the Dayly Line of the Day Award for this here TPMCafe Site, given to all of you from all of me.

I recall giving the award to Genghis once after Q told me to go to his blog. 

But Q had hidden purposes in his request. He wished me to go there to tell me how I was incorrect in seeing Rahm as a better man than Rove. Hahaha He pretended to serve me cocoa puffs while he explained real life and realpolitik to me.

Genghis dropped by and said he would really rather have the cocoa puffs than my award. Hahahaah

TheraP would call me over to some blog because she thought the writer should get one of my awards. 

So would my new friends in some chat room.  Lisb and Bwak had invited me over to this chat room. I did not even know what a chat room was!!!

This has been so much fun.

Like I was saying on one of these more recent Cafe  posts, there are professors, doctors, nurses, engineers, phd's, financial experts, government employees, artists, professional writers, and members of other professions writing here every week. 

And rarely do one of these pros talk down some self-taught blogger. There is a reason for this of course. We rarely know exactly whom we are talking to. I find out weeks later, after commenting on some post that I have been arguing with someone who has advanced degrees in a science or in history or in political science. (What the hell can be scientific about politics?)

Sure, people would drop by and tell me that I could not find my arse with both hands. But sometimes, depending upon my mood, I would have to exhale and agree with them.

I can see that there are only a couple hundred 'regulars' here. People will leave for as much as a year and drop on by, seemingly out of nowhere.

But these large blog sites need thousands, tens of thousands of hits every day to operate at a break even rate.

I have posted at Salon, but your post stays up on the 'boards' for less than fifteen minutes--they have some underground email system going to keep the regulars up I think.

Here, at Café, you are up 24 hours most of the time. Spam sneaks in, especially on weekends so you need a couple rec's to stay up sometimes.

I will miss this place, for sure.  A nobody, an outsider was able to find community here.

The real pain of this place is the lack of money of course. But the real beauty of this place really is its lack of money.

People do not write here for money. They do not have any hidden agenda.

SFCurt or I get really mad sometimes. But it has nothing to do with our bank accounts or our employment; nor is it an attempt to get a check from BP or even from George Soros for that matter.

Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and a host of others are paid big big money by big big corporations to send out their message. And these folks make a lot of money sending out those messages.

Sarah Palin is paid big money, so is Bachmann and even individuals like Bolton....

Heritage and AE and a number of other 'think tanks' are merely fronts for big money to send out its propaganda.

Oh but so is ACORN, a right winger might surmise. Hell, the salaries at ACORN or the ACLU or a hundred other left wing non-profits struggle to meet payroll every week.

But our little Café for heavens sake keeps us free from even the most minimal of salaries. We avoid even the appearance of impropriety.

We are cleaner yet.  No bribes here.

And I would guess a third of all posts involve politics only incidentally.  I mean I was just reading Wendy Davis and her subject of the day was gardening. I was just reading Moat and his subject involved philosophy as well as an homage to PCA.

I knew and I know I am lost in never never land. I know deep down this is a façade where I can pretend to editorialize. I am mostly powerless but not stupid.

I actually had Craig Crawford visit my posts three times last year. And he actually told me in a comment that he like to read my posts because he liked my writing. ha It took me 48 hours to get off of the ceiling.

American Dad was invited to appear on MSNBC.

Genghis is getting his book published.

And others will share their paid blogs with us and follow along with our comments; replying to all the readers.

But beneath the façade, at a level higher than the dream world of the never never, is a small community of people who live and work all over this continent and even on other continents.

Aaaaaaaaaah, the virtual.

Josh Marshall gave this to me.

Oh I am gonna miss this place for sure!!!