Monday, October 22, 2007

Notarized

My lovelies, I wish to bring to your attention that we now have... Official Policy! Since some misunderstand why I moderate comments, and new The Readers are often unaware of the MB Happy Place Rules, today I added the following to the commenting function:

Welcome to the Champagne Tasting Room! Please drink responsibly. Comments are moderated so as to ensure your own protection from splog and trolls.

MB's Happy Place Rules are in full effect here, which means that discussion, disagreements, polite smackdowns, and icing recipes are welcome, but political grandstanding and arguing are not. If you wish to spew some solid red/blue love/hatred, you are more than welcome to hold forth over on that other website. You know, every single other website on the face of the earth.
Politics have been discussed within these... I can't say pages, so-- bits? RAMS? Whatever. I type in this here white rectangle and somehow it comes out on your end. Anyway, I've written about politics myself in the early days of BlondeChampagne, and quite shrilly, from what I remember. Longtime The Readers know exactly where I stand. But I pretty much stopped after the '04 election. I was just exhausted. I went and blew all my vitriol on... whatever that election was all about, yachts or something, and since then, with rare exception, I have laid down the Beltway-inked pen. I was discovering that most of what I think on politics can be found in far more widely read outlets, and that I have other, far more important room-temperature horses to beat, such as which method of pencil sharpening is the best, and my utter hatred of collared shirts. I then did the perfectly logical thing and moved about four inches outside of DC, a good five or so years after I became a registered Independent.

This doesn't mean that the American political process no longer interests me-- I still follow much more closely than most--but at a furrowed distance, rather than standing, as I once did as a fifteen-year-old, before C-SPAN with my arms crossed tight over my stomach, in agonies over some Senatorial vote or other. Clearly, I've got enough problems.

What bothers me the most is that in recent years, nearly every aspect of American discourse manages to shade itself politically. It's screeching at us from every outlet; last week I saw a poster on a Star Wars-related thread somehow relate Return of the Jedi to the Nobel Peace Prize committee. Please, I come to my small dork pleasures to escape all that. I speak as a history minor: We're tearing ourselves apart here, it's not boding well, and I don't want to perpetuate it.

The Presidential election, by the way, is still more than a year off. Enjoy, everybody.

So this is one place where you'll find no screechy-screechy, left or right. I'll continue to hold forth on certain broad issues, and you may not always agree with me, but that is okay. There will be no Outrage O' The Day here, unless Dion Sanders begins appearing on my television screen each daybreak.

In its place, let us have a drink together.

buying at: mbe@drinktothelasses.com

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well and freakin' TRULY "Hear, Hear!" to you, MB!

Life's a Laugh said...

Props to you! I would much rather read about your stance on Gary Stevens, Classic Star Wars vs. the version with He Who Must Not Be Named..., and Chad Johnson. While I care about the political climate of our great country, political grandstanding and campaigning are not as fun as the pastry experiments. Maybe it's just me. So as the purveyor of all that is great about Blonde Champagne, you go girl! Yeah, I actually wrote that. :)

Jules said...

The fact that you don't wax politically is exactly the reason why I follow along with you every day. Or at least one of the major reasons.... the others being directly related to the fact that you are awesome.

Btw, I haven't thanked you yet for the thank-you card you sent. So thanks! ;-)

Carry on!

The Spencers said...

Well said, and well appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Opheliaitis? Pleeese! The lady doth protest too much methinks.

Anonymous said...

Politics does seem to be infiltrating every place I look, even my food boards. Many thanks for providing a place of calm!

Anonymous said...

Inflammation of the Ophelia, eh, Anonymous?

Ouchie.

Anonymous said...

I just wanna say I think it's interesting that Stephen Colbert (of "the Colbert Report" on Comedy Central) has announced he's running. I don't think he's got a chance in H-E-double-hockey-sticks of even making it past either primary (yes, he says he's going to run in both the Democratic and Republican primaries), but it's still kinda funny.

Jenib said...

What about "virtual pages"?

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