We should be grateful for what we have. Coveting is strictly prohibited in Exodus and Deuteronomy. You should not covet thy neighbor's goods or his wife.  I do not know whether or not you can covet someone else's husband.  I am not of that ilk, so to speak.  You would think that it is not a good idea to covet someone else's husband. Although it appears that was never really written in stone.  But I digress as Belle likes to say.

Thous shalt not covet thy neighbor's blog or blog site, even though that was never written in stone either.  As that great sage once wrote:

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good,
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.
(B. Dylan)

The moral seems to be that people who live in grass houses should not throw stones. But I seem to digress once again.  

We should not just throw stones at people when we can get stoned with them.  But always ask your friend if he or she is a narc first.  It seems to help in case you find yourself drawn into something that might lead to incarceration. At least that is what my lawyer says, and he should know because he is stoned pretty much all the time.

This leads us, believe it or not, to the next:

                       ETHICS OF THE NETWEBBLOGOSPHERE:
                                          CANON #9

                        TROLLING IN THE SHALLOW WATERS

 9. Do not feed the trolls. As in life, there are always those who somehow enjoy surfing the internet to inject pointless vindictiveness. Many are classic passive aggressives who deliberately provoke others into a counterattack followed by acts of martyrdom. Don't let the terrorists win. Do NOT acknowledge these people with refutations, disagreements or even a mention of their screen name -- even when you are directly attacked by name. Responding in kind on their level is exactly what they want you to do. Be assured that your host will take action against chat bullies as soon as possible.

Now let us look at an example, I am providing sort of a compendium of some bloggers inanities and pretending it represented one blog:

WHY I HATE PEOPLE

Our country is in a lot of trouble because our President is a negro and I really do not like jews that much either.

Our own Seashell in her own inimitable manner responded thus:

Basic Yeast Dog Treats

Mix together
3 1/2 cup unbleached flour,
2 cup whole wheat flour,
1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup skim milk powder
1 tablespoon (or 1 package) dry yeast
3 1/2 cups lukewarm chicken or meat broth

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm chicken or meat broth. The richer this broth is, the better your dog will like the biscuits. Let yeast broth mixture set 10 min. Then stir in flour mixture. Roll resulting dough out 1/4" thick. Cut dog biscuit shapes from dough. Brush biscuits with egg wash. Bake on greased cookie sheets at 300* for 45 min. Then turn off oven and leave in overnight to finish hardening. Makes 60 medium-sized biscuits.
    
My first response to this was that if you threw in some eggs and sugar and skipped the broth, it might be pretty good. But I think Seashell was being a little tongue in cheek. Because I found her wonderful recipe did not contribute to the discussion at hand.

And speaking of passive/aggressive, what the hell does that mean anyway.  It is like the term manic/depressive, or bad liquor. I mean, for me at my time in life and in my station in life, there is no such a thing as bad liquor.

Al Franken, in his book The Truth, recounts the beginning of karl rove's splendid career.  There was a man named Kennedy who was a judge in Alabama. Kennedy really enjoyed volunteering and one of his favorite charities involved working with poor children.  Rove simply spread a rumor that this Kennedy might be a child predator.

Of course, as rove moved up the ladder of success he saw a problem with a Vietnam vet by the name of Kerry who was a real life hero while his candidate pretended to be in the National Guard so that he would not have to serve in that war.  Solution?  Get some liars to spread rumors and even write a book of lies concerning Kerry's heroism.*

My primary point here is that trolls walk the earth. Everywhere and at all times. Not just on the net. I see them on cable, I read them in newspapers and magazines. They even write books.

Trolls do not wish to discuss issues. They wish to discredit the speaker/writer. They might just come and call you a poopy pants. They might wish to call your candidate/pundit/writer a poopy pants.

I believe that we need universal/one payer health insurance.  But as Grouch notes, 48 million of us have no coverage at all.  If some plan comes along and it is not totally one payer, if these 48 million are afforded coverage and those with less than perfect plans receive more coverage, let us take it and work on a one payer system later on. Hell the next day after passage.

Others say this is the time and the place to get what we want right now. Let us act like bulls in china shops( ever wonder about that? Why would bulls be in shops owned by Asians as opposed to Irish people or Eskimos?)

To come to a blog and respond to a comment saying:

You are nothing but a goddamn lackey for the rich and a hypocrite and your feet smell. Well that does not add anything to the discussion.

Now we all get fired up. We get angry and we make ad hominem attacks. Later we may regret this behavior. 

Trolls just seem to show up and attempt to get people off of the subject.

Craig Crawford at trail mix is attempting to advise us that it is better if we ignore these people. And when I say these people, sometimes even people like me.  When I get out of line.

TheraP might say: Go in peace.

Once she said it in one of my blogs.  But I think she really meant, go in peace. Hahahahahahaha.

Here are some of my favorite responses to trolls:

Grouch:

Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside.

--Mark Twain or

Opinions founded on prejudice are always sustained with the greatest of violence.

--Francis Jeffrey

Justice Putnam:

What am I doing? Plenty, Bub! ... and Hey! Get off my lawn!!

Astral66

But XXX, we are all getting PAID to yell at you on this blog. It's part of the vast left-wing conspiracy. Don't your overlords pay you to be here doing the same? You think we do this for free?

Bwakfat:

wot is the deal with boiling, baking, and frying chicken?

Larry H.

And he often intimates that he is of a certain age, perhaps this one:

The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.


And finally Quinn the Eskimo
       

Well, Dick's already told us he is:

A) A commie symp.
B) Wears pajamas all the time.
c) Had to leave places in a hurry.

I don't want to jump the gun here, but the pieces are falling into place pretty fast.

Che? Back at last?

Either that... or Jim Morrison.

Was it something I said?       

In conclusion I can come to no conclusion. Do I respond or do I ignore. Do I lambast or hold fast.

Or as that great sage once said:

SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO?



*THE TRUTH, by Al Franken, Penguin Group, NY, NY, 2005 (pp81-84)