Wednesday, March 07, 2007

When ignorance is bliss, innocence is butchered by arrogance and ego fueled by ignorance itself… a tale not to be forgotten!


First of all, for my regular readers and friends: please forgive my absence. I really appreciate those of you who were worried. And of course I owe you an explanation of my last post that I think was misunderstood. My most sincere apologies.

My offline activities have taken over my regular schedule, a friend visiting from Madrid, a lot of work – which is always good - , editorial meetings, etc. That forced me to stay away from the blog and posting. Just as Courtney and Jade (¡BESITOS!), sometimes you have to set your priorities, and we blogged for fun, it was never intended to become our life reason nor our life validation forum and real life does get complicated.

As for me, I like to blog mostly to practice my English (I know it sucks! But I bet your Spanish is not that better ;) ) and be silly – some say sadistically cynic - . I deal with enough serious matters on a daily basis at work to take blogging and the blogosphere THAT serious. Oh the blogosphere! A place that behaves more like a school yard sand box than a gathering place. But it is worth the exercise, both in the sociological and creative ways, and we had had our great moments and I hope there will be more to come!

I also have to thank this weird space for some great people I have met on and offline. Starting with the former moderators Courtney and Jade, both extraordinary brilliant women, both with very busy and committed paths in life, the staple of Freaks: Ivy and Marie, such different forces of their own! And all of our regular unique visitors (commenter, readers, lurkers and even trolls – with your own (the trolls) brand of stupidity that just cracks me up! -).

Going back to my last post, March 1:

“.... and I'm still trying to recover. It was a very sad epiphany. Suddenly many things were crystal clear. I'm trying to regain hope within a hopeless equation. Looking back in time, makes me wonder if a career of almost 20 years was just garbage in a recycle bin. It really broke my heart, and not even the cynic in me can see a funny or positive side... I chatted about it with some colleagues and their jaw dropped further down than the stock market...

where are we headed to?

... more to come. I hope.”

It is not a state secret that I am related to the media. Some might believe it, some might not. I honestly think it is better if you don’t believe it; I like the privacy that online nicks provide. That post was a gut reaction of one account about Anderson Cooper’s interview with Walter Cronkite at the Judaism University in Los Angeles, California. It was such a heat breaking reading: ( I really am not interested in Walter, so I just stared at Anderson and watched how he reacted to him and stuff.”), the images just flew over my head. Not interested in Walter Cronkite ? A living legend, journalism pioneer, historical figure and the person for whom the word Anchor (as in journalism) was coined? All the world turning events this man has witnessed first hand, and not be interested? MY HEART SHRUNK. And as I said: it was a sad epiphany. If someone like Cronkite won’t get the deserved recognition after 50 years of a spectacular career, what can someone like me expect? The reality of the industry is that the 300K+ daily copies my newspaper prints will end in a garbage can or a recycle bin and the 1.8 million daily hits the online version gets, will get lost within the ocean of bits of ceros and ones that comprises the internet. I try to put myself at Anderson Cooper’s position and no wonder he is a pessimistic as he said at in the Po Bronson interview .

A journalist job is to inform. We are the medium (hence the name media) through issues, information are presented to the masses (public). A journalist is NOT the story. Which brings me to the eternal critic we have had at this blog and shared by CNN’s founder Ted Turner of how they are marketing the network and the transition from information business to the cult of personality .

How can serious issues be address and decided upon if the information provided is sugar coated? Tailored just for aesthetics. That in itself is the tragedy that the USA media is facing. People don’t care of the life threatening situations journalists go through just to gather information, and all people care is about how cute they look? Recently Jeff Koinange was mobbed while in company of his family just after his Nigerian report. Bob Woodroff cheated death covering Iraq, and just think of all the journalists recently killed for bringing YOU the news. Fuck the ties!

Are we Anti Anderson?

There is the second point I want to share with you. A reader recently sent me an email with a copy of some comments made in a forum that claimed this blog was Anti Anderson Cooper. I can’t recall a single post at this blog that would be offensive towards Mr. Cooper. One thing is Mr. Anderson Cooper, other the show that bears his name, other Time Warner and CNN. If people can’t understand the difference it’s really THEIR problem, not ours. Are we entitled to criticize Anderson Cooper 360 and CNN? Of course. We pay for it. Or you will be happy if a restaurant serves you rotten meat?

The editorial position of The Freakspeakers have always been to be respectful towards Mr. Cooper and his private life. If you think talking about Mr. Cooper’s ass as if he were a piece of meat is respectful, or emasculating him, that is your problem. People lose perspective that CNN, agents and even family members constantly lurk around blogs and forums – and those of you with blogs with site meters have to agree -. And it is downright offensive for Cooper and his family. That, for me, is being Anti Anderson.

Due to past experiences at other boards and blogs, we decided to allow commentators to be free. People are held responsible of their comments and images. Personally I am guilty of not even checking them on a daily basis and really can’t spend my entire day checking who is trolling, who is being naughty or who is being nice. The best I could do was to have them forwarded to an email account. And only few times we have decided to delete a comment.

That been said, for those of you pointing fingers at us, at least read the posts before you make your claims. And if you decide that you still hate us, at least credit us for the image of your Avatar, we appreciate the free promotion. Wink, Wink.

Offline, but not under a rock… the interngate!

When I thought things couldn’t get worse, along came the interngate. A lot of people have their opinion on this issue, it even made it to mainstream online zines like Huffington Post and Radar, and obviously back to CNN. Some comments were so outrageous that they even blame me of the incident. Truth is, I don’t even know who she is. I am not a member of “the private, password protected community for which you have be referred and take a test in order to be admitted”, I understand that in such a close environment the paranoia must be reigning free. And they always have to blame someone. But it wasn’t me.

I’m a true believer of internships, particularly within the media industry. I got my professionalfirst break thanks to an internship as a freshman on a local TV station. I was asked to stay and never looked back. A lot of doors opened for me. When I graduated, I had a hefty résumé. My then professor always drilled us about how in this industry there is not much space for mistakes, you close a door once and it is virtually impossible to open it again. When I became a professor, I was a maniac trying to place my students in different media outlets. And I “burst with pride” whenever I see them over the airwaves – some even from Atlanta and NY -.

I feel so bad for this girl Rachel, and even that I don’t know her, I feel embarrassed of how this situation was handled and the repercussions it will have in her real life. And it is something people don’t even seem to care. There are two kinds of spinning, Trump like or Hill and Knowlton like. She chose to fight like Trump. Bad call.

Internships, are above all, a privilege. It is very competitive to access places like CNN, and for those who are accepted in the program, the future looks golden, just as it looking for Emily Rotberg When you are asked to leave an internship within a corporation it automatically shuts all its doors towards you. It’s Time Warner for heaven sake! One of the largest contents conglomerates in the world. When you messes things up at that level, there is a saying, calladita te ves más bonita! or you look cuter with your mouth shut in English. You try to keep your name clean. In this circumstances silence is the best counselor and the ego your worst enemy.

But as I stated earlier, she pulled a Trump. I bet Eliza and her blog had the best of intentions – although I’m sure Eliza’s self righteous ego got the best of her – and decided to take on the giant. Jumped in to accuse – something I have to admit she has a flair for - a company of violating an individual’s constitutional rights, what she stated as the “ethical behavior” the intern had as for not going public, she single handily crushed. Some outlets picked on the story, and obviously so did CNN. But unfortunately for this woman, not all attention is positive. Something that was meant to be a good bye for the CNN crew (couldn’t she just sent them an email, a registered letter or a phone call to say thanks?) brought scavengers over her. Thanks to Eliza’s post, her privacy was violated all over the internet and her possible real name disclosed. Was there any real need to bring this attention to this girl? No. Not only Time Warner has red flagged her, but probably other media outlets and corporations.

And I bet that exchanging information with Rachel Sklar, won’t help her either. Sklar was the mediabistro blogger that entered CNN during the night shift and took photos inside the premises without their consent and against the company’s policies, for which the employee that gave her access was fired.

Security breach is and will always be a big concern for networks and corporations. In Anderson Cooper’s case, the man is hounded. It was really sad to see the paparazzi photos of him leaving a supermarket at Time Warner Center. Being under siege affects your private life, and it seems that his only refuge is his work, and for those who has worked on TV news knows it is a cut throat environment and inside teams know were their loyalty have to stand if they want to keep their jobs. Information leaks are intolerable, and I believe that he deserves to at least be able to trust those around him at CNN.

At the comments section of my March 1, a controversy raised regarding Eliza’s charges against this blog. To be completely honest with my readers, this is something I was willing to keep away from public exposure, (remember the saying calladita te ves más bonita?), but she brought it up in the worse way possible forcing me to address the issue.

Last year I received an email of a friend that is very active within the Anderson Cooper Communities giving me a heads up about Eliza’s intentions and mean spirited comments about the blog. I barely knew Eliza, and truly gave her the benefit of the doubt. I have always though she went through great lengths basically blogging over AC360’s run down and I visit the blog once in while, although I am not an active participant, then again, I barely participate IN MY BLOG!

Then at the beginning of this year, a friend contacted me and stated that Eliza had concrete plans to threat the blog. I waited, with disbelief, until I received the email. It made me laugh! It was a threat veiled with concern. Since when anyone has to excuse their blogging. Blogger.com is clear in its rules, they only interfere with Child Porn and Hate Speech and they don’t attend issues regarding “blog wars”. And if something I have learn is that you don’t react to that kind of threat. It is worthless. Its only intention is to intimidate (call it cyber mobbing or harassment ) and usually people already have their mind set, so there is no actual use to get into a controversy.

Things started to unfold. While I didn’t answer the email, we started receiving trolls (one of them recently appointed a mod at AC360review) . People who never participated nor visited (upon the sitecounter’s registered data) started to state the same charges than Eliza, and funny enough most had a similar traffic pattern. Eliza endorsed a friend to be a member of the “the private, password protected community for which you have be referred and take a test in order to be admitted” and she was turned down because she participates in this blog and is considered close to me… WTF?!, then, while I was recuperating of the Cronkite shock, she emailed a frequent reader luring her to join her in trashing the blog. If I hadn’t read the emails, I wouldn’t have believed it.

I understand the circle the “ander communities” have. And trashing, trolling and blaming comes with the territory. But at least no one can say I go around posing as a white sheep, when in reality its a wolf…

So there you have it. My moment of Zen.

64 comentarios:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Courtney! Christaine has a boo boo in her lovely post.

Anonymous said...

right on Christiane! Stop the nonsense!

Happy you are back and keeping them honest! I just knew something fishy was going on.

Anonymous said...

somebody opened the rattlesnake cage

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lee said...

Chris. Thanks for the explanation. I knew it had to be something more than the thing with the intern to make you so depressed. I know I've said this before but I really appreciate what you're doing on this blog. I have no idea why some people feel so threatened by you.

Anonymous said...

Me alegro que ponhas em perspectiva toda a malícia e estupidez de muitas pessoas que se obsecionan com Anderson Cooper.

Ciara, Portugal

Anonymous said...

love your crack
and welcome back!

Lee said...

Anon 6:55. Eu penso que é porque são assim que vire.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

@Christiane I couldn't agree more with your observations on the person who got bored at the Anderson/ Cronkite program and just watched Anderson. And what killed me even more were the comments from people that Cronkite was hard of hearing. For goodness sake the man is 90, but he has see and done more than any of us can imagine. Not listen to Walter how rude. What's wrong with these people. Anderson may be a good journalist, but he's still an infant compared to Cronkite. Glad to see you back.

Lee said...

@Sharla
I think it says:

"I am glad that you put in perspective all the malice and dullness of many people who are obssessed with Anderson Cooper."

And I said:
"I think that's why they are so upset."

At least I hope that's what I said. I've never studied Portuguese

Anonymous said...

I thik it's horrible not just that somebody would not care what Cronkite has to say (and pay for the event, btw), but that they're not ashamed to share the ignorance with the world, and their friend blog moderator would not be ashamed to give a green light to that account of the intervew. Most commentors cound't say enough how great the report was -when it mentioned questions Anderson asked but not the answers Cronkite gave. I agree with Mi blogger -Anderson has a long way to go to get to the level of Cronkite, but this kind of attiute is also disrespectful to Anderson, who interviewed a legend and questions he raised were serious ones. It's just embarassing.

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back Christiane. You know the story...those that can't compete due to lack of intellect, endurance, drive and ambition often resort to ignorant measures to stay afloat.
You have positive motivations we are comfortable with, other blogs have theirs. There's no reason for the salivating set to troll around here as it is for us to wait for an invitation to AnderLOADS.
Seriously, that name (anderloads)is all we need to know.

Anonymous said...

Has Anderson,CNN, or his family members contacted this blog and asked the Freaks to protect Anderson from his horrible fans?


If not, what makes you better? It seems that this blog is now obssessed with the obssessed. If anyone on here is Worldnewsjunkie, than they hurt Anderson more than helped him.

Anonymous said...

7:5o
with chris you never know. Maybe they did contact her.

Anonymous said...

If Anderson,CNN or Anderson's family members did contact Chris than she needs to let these horrible fans know that Anderson hates what they are doing and they should find someone else to obssess over. I think that would be more effective than vaguely hinting at it.

courtney01 said...

Awww, where'd everyone go?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I don't think any bloggers have any inside connections. If so, I don't think they'd be blogging out of respect for their "insider" relationship with Anderson. At least I hope not.

It's been apparent ever since I've been in this fan community that there will always be fights and put downs of the "other" kind of fan. Everyone needs to feel superior in some way, I guess. I just wish it didn't have to be this way. That's not a bad comment directed at this blog or any other but it's a general atmosphere that's been around for years

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thank you Purple Tie! I knew that someone from one of the other blogs would answer my question, honestly.

So it's Christiane's opinion that Anderson's family members lurk. I'm sure if she did have that comformation she'd post it to protect Anderson and I would for one would honor his wishes and move on to another news channel.

Anonymous said...

I don't know Sharla you seem pretty B to me but I'll take your word for it. I wonder if most admires ponder if the scramble eggs that Anderson eats makes him fart? hmmmm.... I don't think that's intimate at all.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
courtney01 said...

@anon9:04

She never said the family members lurk at this blog in particular.

Anonymous said...

Like Purple Tie I have been around for a long time

"That's not a bad comment directed at this blog or any other but it's a general atmosphere that's been around for years"

It happened with GMG, Ander Daily, Anderholics and the likes. I'm not that involved anymore. But I lurk a lot and it is sad how US as a community allow this behavior. I have read this blog since it first appeared. It has always been under attack. We would be lying if we deny it. We attack anything that is new, anyone that does not conform our rules or our definition of "adoring fan".
This post hits hard. Is it a mirror of us? Is it uncomfortable? sure.
I think we all have to grow up.

Anonymous said...

The same blog that posted Cronkite interview, and mostly raves about how good Anderson looks and what he wears, recently appealed to their readers.

I'm going to add another restriction (I'm feeling like the Gestapo) to what we'll post in comments, primarily because I think enough is enough. I won't be posting comments that deal with undressing, dressing, and (I can't believe I have to say this) what we want to do to you-know-who. We pride ourselves on being respectful and I think I've been a little lax in my moderation of comments. This isn't aimed at any one person, frankly I think most of us are guilty to some extent.


They decided to show more respcet then always. Oh, wait. This happened a day after the intern was fired --what a co-incidence. They must be a very respectful blog if the moderator admitted she was ok with people sharing sexual fantasies there.

Unknown said...

Anon- I don't want to take a side. That's not why I commented. I'm not critizing this blog. I just wish the community as a whole wasn't so judgemental.

Anonymous said...

Christiane - if you get yourself so upset by what someone else says or does (Cronkite shock), you're going to have a nervous breakdown. That's why I don't watch Fox News.

To Sharla Dawn - when your mother gave you that name was she hoping you would be a country and western singer? (lol)

MediaDoc said...

Purple, welcome back... and thanks for your comments, they have always been respectful and balanced. I really appreciate that.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
courtney01 said...

@anon9:17

Thank you.

Anonymous said...

@purple tie

I'm not asking you to choose sides, it's your blog I'm talking about. If mods thought the comments on the blog are respectful to a reporter who risked his life more then once for a story, there wouldn't be a need to change anything now, right? Everybody there seems to be scared after the intern was fired

MediaDoc said...

TO ALL:
No personal attacks!

Unknown said...

We did think some of the comments were disrespectful that's why we put that up. It has gone back a few weeks now.

But I don't think it's fair to this blog to talk about another blog here. Feel free to contact one of us over there if you have an issue we'd be happy to talk to you about it. I don't want to take up anymore of her space with that. :)

MediaDoc said...

Purple is totally right. ATA wasn't characterized by disrespectful comments. It used to have a very strict policy.

And please, I don't want anyone attacking blogs over here. Because most of the attacks eventually are credited upon me or as an official Freak statement. Which is not the truth.

Lori Archibald said...

Christiane - I'm glad you are back.

I wish we could all get off this topic and move on to something else.

One of the things I really liked about this blog and Eliza's was having a place to go and actually discuss the content of Anderson's show as well as other newsworthy subjects.

I admire what Anderson has done with his life and the way he approaches journalism. I am not a fangirl although I have no problem with those that are - it's just not my thing.

I think there is room for blogs that focus on his work and those that focus on him. People are admirers and fans for all different reasons. I don't really frequent the blogs that focus on him because like I said it's just not my thing. I know what I'm going to find when I go there so I just don't.

This blog focuses more on what he is reporting and that's why I like to come here. I don't really understand why people have such a problem with it. I've only been posting here for a short time but I've never seen anything written about him that was spiteful or out to ruin him.

Please people lets move on OK.

MediaDoc said...

thank you Maddy!
rest assure we will keep blogging.

Anonymous said...

@libbey -how you've been? I guess you didn't learn a lesson -)

@ purple tie
I always thought there's a place for different blogs and opinions, but it's kind of hard to talk about community as a whole when you have closed communities as anderloads, many of blog participants are members of it, and members of it concieved the latest attack on this blog. BTW I have no idea what anonymous12 was trying to say.

Anybody can express their opinion if they find blogs disrespectful and bordering on violating privacy or at least endorcing it. Blog mods should be careful not to step over that line if they are "pride themselves on being respectful", and when they do it I don't see what's wrong in pointing that out.

Anonymous said...

I apologize to Sharla Dawn about the small joke about your name. It was meant as a commiseration from someone who has taken a lot of ribbing about my own name. I'm sure you are very talented and as charming as your vocabulary indicates.

PS: What's that flower you have on?

Anonymous said...

Ivy: It's good to see you too and I guess you are the same ole same.

Thanks for asking about me though.

Unknown said...

One or two person's actions or opinions do not always reflect the opinions of the other hundreds of members. I don't know the story of who is doing what and it's not my place to judge anything I don't know all sides to.

My only point is that it seems sad to me that there is such a problem in this community to judge others and knock them down a peg. If people have problems with someone I just think it's better to take it private and not make things into a war where everyone is feels like they have to take sides. This is a problem in all of them.

Anonymous said...

@libbey I'm same old, same old -) I see so are you-)

Anonymous said...

Ivy I guess we both are the same ole same. You try to teach me a lesson and I won't learn.:-)

I guess i won't learn because I'm too busy carving pumpkins and not taking my medicine. I'll try to do better next time.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Thanks Sharla, I have to go take my medicine now.

Anonymous said...

@libbey -good for you. I didn't realise somebody gave you that advice. Maybe you you teach me how to carve? So I could be ready for the next Halloween. Or maybe Robin can teach me, she's famous for her gift. If you could pass me some pills tht would be good too, I have a headache from reading some of the comments.

I guess things don't change, do they, libbey? -)

Anonymous said...

Ivy: Things have changed. Robin no longer watches Anderson, so that part has changed. I guess she learned her lesson, who knows maybe I'll be next. If you keep teaching maybe I finally learn that I'm a fan that Anderson doesn't want and after me maybe you can close down all those tard blogs like All Things Anderson, Anderloads and Anderson Cooper Effects. After that maybe you can get the Anns to quit watching too.

Never mind, I think I've learned my lesson.

Anonymous said...

@Christiane: Thanks for coming back and sharing your thoughts! And if you started blogging to improve your English, pat yourself on the back girl...you've done it!

I totally agree with Maddy! She took the words right out of my mouth.

One of the things I, too, enjoyed about this blog was to have a place to discuss the content of Anderson's show as well as other newsworthy topics.

What disappoints me the most is how the blogosphere can turn into such a playground of little kids bashing each other in just a blink of an eye. Can't we just all get along?

Unfortunately, this has made me seriously think of giving up on the whole blog world. I'm relatively new to this world and am not aware of the apparent history between the AC-related blogs and all of the hate that has apparently developed over the years. I must say it is just simply SHOCKING to me. I also give kudos to Christiane for enduring all of the bashing because if it was me, I would have given up by now and called it quits.

As I have said in previous posts, it would be nice if we could we just state our case in a mature way and then move on. That's what makes these blogs so great, the diversity of opinions!

With that being said, I'd much rather spend my time reading comments on more newsworthy topics like Global Warming, treatment of our soldiers, Iraq/Iran intelligence, politics, etc. so if that is not possible, then, I'll be happy to shut up and move on....

Just know that I enjoyed participating on this blog and never at any time felt we were showing any disrespect to AC or his show.

courtney01 said...

Please don't go anywhere, JR. Your comments and insights are more than welcome.

Anonymous said...

@jr -don't dissapear! I'm sure it's a temporary distraction. I also came to the blog world because of my interest in stories and news, and topics 360 covered.

The whole story with an intern is very frustrating to me, besides blogs posting pictures taken by paparazzi, endorsing invasion of AC's privacy, stalking, a lot of his fans talking only about his looks, ties, their fantasies
and so on. And in this context AC (a prime-time news anchor and a reporter) saying in the interview that he doesn't think he actuialy influences anything. Plus recent attacks of his competitors. It's a sad picture. Becasue what's going on around Anderson -stalking and speculations about his private life, leaks of personal information -might be affecting his work as a journalist, and the show, not only life outside work. I don't think it's fair a news journalist is subjected to this kind of unhealthy attention. It all raises a question about the state of the media, which we rely on to get out news.

You're right, there is some history between the blogs or bloggers, this blog was attacked from the very start. Some of us were attacked on blogs that don't exist anymore for the critisism of them doing what I mentioned in the previous paragraph. And some of those people are here today -)

Reading about a fan-intern basicly stalking or harassing AC at work -probably the the only place left where he feels secure, and that intern's termination made public on one of the AC related blogs was kind of a boiling point. But I'm sure very soon everything will be back to "regular programming", and discussing topics important for the world. So, don't go anywhere!

Anonymous said...

@ Christiane

WELCOME BACK! I am really impressed with your endurance. Thanks for providing a balanced perspective...

Y No te preocupes por los comentarios tontos. Como decía mi abuela "Santo que no te quiere, con no rezarle basta!" Es maravillosa la acogida que ha tenido este blog. No te desanimes. (Desde hace un tiempo he estado por escribirte, y felicitarte, pero al igual que tu, estoy un poco atareada en estos momentos. Muchas bendiciones!

@ Sharla Dawn

You nailed it girl! If I may say, you have an innate ability to read people! It is always refreshing reading your comments.

Cocolísa

Anonymous said...

I bet you wish Some People wouldn't come to your defense.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Ivy,
After news broke of the intern (I know, a worn out subject), there were impromptu questions asked of employees at a Fortune 500 company encompassing that very subject. It is the name of the "secret" blog that ignited much of the distaste and references to the community consisting of tawdry individuals of the inappropriate kind. The word "loads" is assumed to be tied into the word "shoot" - which, of course, is a disgusting reference to a brilliant, talented man.
My husband, btw, thought the same thing. It's an inappropriate name for a blog.

Anonymous said...

Why does everyone hate Libbey? And why does Robin no longer watch 360? Does she feel he disrespected the pumpkin? Just trying to catch up.

Anonymous said...

because Libby hates herself? It's not like she is spreading the looove...

Anonymous said...

I agree with most of the points you are presenting here. Many people lost perspective of the damage that was done to the intern. Why didn't she just send an email? why all the drama?

Like many here I admire your endurance. And I can't understand Eliza's backstabbing tactics towards this blog. Maybe she got scared that her regulars (and I was one of them)started commenting here. But you have always said nice things about her blog. And she and Arachnea were completely out of line in their comments. I'm glad you put this out in the open.

Anonymous said...

Libbey has vaginal yeast infection? ouch! or maybe it is syphilis, that could explain the brain damage.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this post.

Anonymous said...

Chris...I'm glad to see you back :)

Thanks for all of your kind words and I appreciate that you and FreakSpeakers are still around.

And who is this Anderson Cooper that everyone seems obsessed with?!@!

*backing out of room with smile on face*

Ciao mi amigos!

Anonymous said...

Hey, anonymous 3:33 watch your language!!!!!!!!

MANIFESTO

Don't think for me. Don't assume what I want to hear or read. Give me facts. Give me reasons. But not yours. Bring me debate. Enlighten me. Today, accountability is masked behind anonymity; bylines are hidden by zeros and ones. Everyone publishes; everyone is "in the know." Ethics are non-existent. Speculation is king. The truth is masked and a hostage. Empowered by our minds, WE ARE THE FREAKSPEAKERS!

FAIR USE NOTICE

This site contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of issues of environmental, political, news and humanitarian significance. We believe this constitutes a "fair use" of any such material as provided in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with the title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this blog is distributed and available without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

If your obsession against us and our content endures, you might find more information at: Law.

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond "fair use", you must obtain permission from the blog owner.