Am I getting this thing right?
By Billy Cox
Uncertain as to whether or not I'm getting this Web log thing right, I called Ron Barbour in Orlando. Ron used to work in FLORIDA TODAY's dispatch office in the late 1980s, and was a frequent letter writer thereafter from the right wing.
Ron has a blog called "The Freedom Fighter's Journal," where he rips "raving moonbats" for believing in things like global warming, advocates "mass arrests of Leftist journalists, academics, politicians and any others who threaten the security of the United States," and he runs the "Department of Intellectual Ammunition" message board on another site called "The Happy Extremist."
Ron has also posted a copy of an article I wrote in 2000 which described his five-year ordeal in a federal pen for threatening to kill President Clinton. Parts of the article remain intact, but other portions are interspersed with his own expositions, making it impossible to distinguish the original piece from his add-ons, which support his contention that he got railroaded by Big Brother.
But who cares, it's just a Web log. Anyhow, Ron works as a church-based drug rehab counselor in Orlando, and he's ticked about how the Secret Service still keeps dropping in on him four years after his probation ended. He'd hoped the feds would lighten up when Bush came to power, but no such luck.
So he started his blog six months ago, where he compares his plight to French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, whose bogus court martial wound up putting him behind bars on Devil's Island. And Ron actually likes to bait the Secret Service, whom he calls "Praetorian Guards." Here's the title of a rant describing how two agents interrogated him at his church: "A Meeting With Caesar in the Palace of Christ." "I guess my destination is to get noticed, and to be in a position where my writing could actually pay me a salary," he said. "Maybe there's a possibility of blowing it up someday into national news, because there's some constitutional issues that need to be addressed. And the only way to do that is to strike a more provocative profile. Maybe they'll move on me so I can get 'em back in court."
Fair enough. It's a wonderful equalizer, this blogosphere phenomenon. A hundred million blogs, a hundred million megaphones.
Corrected Article:
I did get it right!
by Ron Barbour
Uncertain as to whether or not I'm getting this Web log thing right, I called Ron Barbour in Orlando for advice. Ron is the publisher and author of THE FREEDOM FIGHTER's JOURNAL .
Ron used to work in FLORIDA TODAY's Advertising office for a short time back in 1989. Ron was and is a prolific right wing free lance writer and produced a number of high quality articles for my newspaper in the late 1980s including a 1,500 word essay on Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand which received many letters of approval from the community.
Ron describes his Blog as part of the New Media where he daily rips raving leftist moonbats for believing in childish nonsense like global warming and womb to the tomb socialism. In the current War on Terrorism, Ron advocates mass arrests of Leftist journalists, academics, politicians and any others who threaten the security of the United States as a dangerous 5th Column that gives aid and comfort to the Islamofascists. Ron lays out the academic case for such radical actions as these in the "Department of Intellectual Ammunition" message board that he edits on another website called "The Happy Extremist" or T.H.E. which has as focus satire directed at the enemies of America.
http://thehappyextremist.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=22 Ron has also posted a copy on his Blog of an article I wrote in 2000; a two month collaboration in which co-wrote the finished product that described his five-year ordeal in a federal pen for an alleged attempted assassination of President Clinton.
Anyhow, Ron is now a Christian who works as a church-based drug rehab counselor in Orlando, and he's ticked about how the Secret Service still keeps dropping in on him four years after his probation ended. He'd hoped the feds would lighten up when Bush came to power, but no such luck.
So he started his blog six months ago, where he compares his plight to French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, whose bogus court martial wound up putting him behind bars on Devil's Island.
And Ron actually likes to bait the Secret Service, whom he calls "Praetorian Guards." Here's the title of a polemic describing how two agents interrogated him at his church: "A Meeting With Caesar in the Palace of Christ."
"My goal is to get noticed, and to be in a position where my writing could actually pay me a salary," he said. "In regards to my case: Maybe there's a possibility of blowing it up someday into a national news story, because there's some important constitutional issues like violation of my Writ of Habeas Corpus that need to be addressed by a federal court. The only way to make that happen is to strike a more provocative profile. Maybe the Secret Service will move in on me so I can get 'em back in court."
Fair enough.
It's a wonderful equalizer, this blogosphere phenomenon. The power of the New Media to right wrongs that would have been ignored in an earlier era. The power to give Everyman his own newspaper without regards to government censorship, deadlines, owners, editors, reporters and the public.
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