OK. Enough already.
Let me try and explain myself. First of all, it was not llpoh’s fault. It is nobody’s fault. I’m just mentally burnt out. I seem to have a problem with balancing my life. The daily rage required to keep this blog interesting affects my health. For a couple weeks I’ve sat in front of the computer trying to write part three of my last article. I keep drawing a blank. I don’t know why. I can’t seem to focus or think properly.
I concluded, rightly or wrongly, that trying to write five to ten commentaries per day and live my real life has mentally drained me. It happened back in December and seems to be happening more frequently.
I haven’t left the planet. My goal is to not leave the planet sooner than I want to. Keeping up the daily rage required to keep this blog growing will probably put me in an early grave. So, I’m just going to step back from the daily commentary.
I’ll post articles I find interesting from other people, but I’m going to try and not get worked up on a daily basis. I hope that my mental faculties return and I can write an occasional article.
I appreciate all of the nice things you’ve said, but I’ve learned far more from you than you will ever know. I won’t pull the plug on this blog because it wouldn’t be fair to all the brilliant, funny, intelligent people who have become like a family to me. A dysfunctional family, but a family none the less.
Thank you for the donations, but this has nothing to do with money or TBP being a business venture. I don’t care about making money. I care about the truth and my kids’ future.
So this isn’t about the end of TBP. I just need to find some sort of balance that doesn’t make me crazier than I already am.
P.S. This is really me. I have not been carted away to a mental institution by the authorities.
No one has threatened me or my family. I just need to step back and get some balance.
Keep throwing the shit.
Thanks for posting that Jim. It’s too bad the journalists are supposed to do that do this for a living didn’t put the effort into writing that you do. Instead we have Anderson Cooper getting blown by Issac which is supposed to pass for news.
“Keep throwing the shit.”
The Admin hath spoken, LOAD THE CATAPULTS!
I feel like I’ve been thrown a lifeline.
Admin,
Your health, sanity and family must come first.
The same goes for the rest of us.
Rest and peace to you.
And thank you for keeping TPB up and running.
P.S. The words will come.
When it’s time.
🙂
Jim,
Taking some time to recharge your batteries is a smart idea. Your motley crew of Cynical Basterds ™ will be here for you if/when you decide to start writing again. Thanks for doing what you do.
I love you, man. I feel your pain. It will be OK. That is all.
Jim, I have some ideas that might help:
1. Create an “Open Thread” each morning for people to talk about whatever they want to. I know some bloggers have the Open Thread automatically created each day.
2. Don’t feel that you need to put up so many posts here. The Open Thread will take of some of that and then some of us will help too by submitting articles. A few articles per day at most are all that are needed here. Some posted articles here get pushed down so fast and rolled off that they don’t get the attention they deserve.
3. Just chill and realize you already made a big difference, so you really don’t need to do much more. Write when you feel like it. You don’t need to do things here every single day.
4. Articles we submit still have to be released by you. Unless you decide to “trust” some of us to not post idiotic rantings, maybe you should give a few of us the right to post immediate without it being “pending” and waiting for your approval.
I just had a Eureka! moment.
I think Admin is taking a break because he knows he is going to lose the bet — (when the debt clock hits $16T)
Thanks Jim. Best to you and yours. All you Monkeys – ready…. aim……
FBD, Jim never loses, remember? 😉
Well I sent you some $$ anyway cuz I believe in paying for what I value and I value what I pay for and if I can shame some of these lazy wretches into supporting the blog it’s all to the good.
You are almost at the right point, Jim. You are almost at the point of separating the PASSION from the RAGE.
(It took me about 3 years to do this, with the help of this blog, lol, you should read your own stuff.)
With PASSION, you can divorce yourself from the emotion of the issues, be more objective, have some balance, laugh a bit, and most importantly, be able to TURN IT OFF. You are trying to educate people, not trying to control them. PASSION is a frontal lobe, critical thinking property. You actually feel physically great when you engage in this – energized, jazzed, liberated.
With RAGE, the most primitive part of your brain takes over. You feel afraid, your BP soars, your heart pounds, your sweat, you get a headache. Rage is really fear projected outwards. A huge part of it is is trying to CONTROL everything around you, which is impossible and adds to the anxiety. Your brain is full of a swirling cesspool of conflicting ideas that are impossible to sort out. When you spend your time in rage, you feel exhausted, wrung out, in despair. You need a drink or to eat some junk food or just crawl into bed with the covers over your head.
PASSION will sustain you, RAGE will kill you.
(Which is why societies based on PASSION survive and thrive and societies based on RAGE degenerate into savagery and barbarism.)
So take a break, get the RAGE out of your system and show us your PASSION.
Diabetes, eh? Me too. Diagnosed Type II about 3 years ago. Got depressed for a couple of weeks as I thought that all I could eat from then on was dirt. Had to stop fast food. Cookies. Donuts. Mountain Dew. All gone. Fuck me.
Three years on, no more metformin. No more Lisinopril. Normal blood sugar readings everyday.
And I went from 305 lbs. down to 220. The last time I weighed 220 was in the eleventh grade.
So my fellow fat bastard friend from Philly, not all hope is lost. Keep fighting on all fronts and eventually you will win the war.
Peace brother.
HZK’s Photo Album “My fun trip to Iran”
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Thanks for everything, Jim. I have totally enjoyed and marveled at what you have produced. Frankly, I didn’t see how you could produce all you did.
I understand about the angry attitude you have to have to make this stuff “interesting”. It is corrosive to the soul. We all really appreciate you and wish you the best. Peace be unto you.
FBD – Jim will lose the bet and have to cheat to win – He will stop the clock at exactly at 10:35.000000000000PM EDT on Aug 30, 2012 thinking that he will beat out Colma & Lloph. But because back in Jan 1, 2012 it was calculated that The Gross National Debt would increase by $1.17T during the year. Divide that by 365 days, 24 hrs, 60 min = $36,149.15 per second. The time referenced to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) atomic clock will put the actual $16T rollover at exactly 11:25:45 PM EDT +/- 15 sec on Aug 30, 2012.
Thanks for this post, Jim. Since you said “Don’t send me email” I was in the process of writing a letter, thinking the absolute worst that perhaps someone threatened you or your family. That initial post (I’m Done) was written in a “voice” I had never seen and it really concerned me.
So now, the letter goes in the trash and I feel on more of even keel..
Can’t thank you enough for providing a forum for some real smart “out of the box” thinkers to post and discuss anything under the sun.
We’ll see what it migrates to now!
Best with everything and I suspect the shit throwing monkeys will kick in to make TBP still – though not as much – a fun read. Perhaps, now and then we can piss you off sufficiently to make a comment, maybe not.. Either way, I love TBP and the resident monkeys enough not to abandon it.
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Admin taking advantage of all the newfound relaxation and extra time with Avalon!
MA
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@Insanian:
Heh, imitation IS the greatest form of flattery.
I direct you here, to my last post on that thread.
I will not sully this thread with that Death Cult crap.
Who needs to pay a shrink 100 bucks an hour when TBPers will psychoanalyze you for free.
JQ, glad to hear your not standing on a ledge looking into the abyss…there creatures in there that stare back , you know.
The TBP Bubble has popped! Welcome to the down-slope of Peak Admin!
Just messin with ya buddy, get some rest, you’ve earned it as well as the respect of your readers. For what it’s worth, you’ve played a major part in waking my ass up, and for that I thank you.
You fuckers better leave my wife alone or I will kick your asses … right after I nuke the Insanians.
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Sincerely,
Mr. HZK
Jim: Maybe you are suffering from male menopause. Try some Androgel 1.65%. Just don’t put it on your chest or you won’t be able to go to the beach next year.
@Mr. HZK:
That is hilarious. The real Mr. HZK doesn’t need to kick anybody’s ass on my behalf as I am more than capable of kicking some serious ass all by my little self.
At the ass kicking, the real Mr. HZK would be going around selling popcorn, momentoes and personally signed photos of me posing victorious over my last defeated opponent.
Plus, the real Mr. HZK would never NUKE the Insanians because that might wipe out some of the outstanding wildlife that Iran used to be known for. A few MOABs dropped from a B52 when the Insanian government is in session might cause regime change and open up some of the awesome hunting oppotunities that Iran used to have before the Insanians came to power.
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PMS – Petite Man Syndrome
Not here. Not Jim. Not ever.
Dear JimQ,
I am an Indian reader of your fantastic site and let me tell you I have learned a lot of things from this wonderful place. I think most of the other members are from the Western world. I know for an Indian the politics and economics of America need not make a lot of sense (but again for the thinking person it does because of the interconnected economies that we have). I have not been a regular contributor because I do not understand US politics and economics to contribute anything of value.
I was pretty discouraged thinking the site will come down. Now that you have given the assurance that it won’t there is some hope. I am still sad that you will be contributing significantly less than what you are used to do, but then cutting out all distractions for the sake of you God given health and family is the noblest decision.
God Bless you and your family.
I am so used to this site that it will take a lot of effort for anyone to wean me away from this. Anyway enjoy your sabbatical from TBP… I sincerely hope it will be just that – a sabbatical – and you will be back.
“I don’t dream often, but when I do, I dream of Collateral Damage.” — an HZK wet dream
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PS Dead muslim baby picture posted in honor of Administrator. RIP.
“Enough Already”
HA!
Might as well tell this group to quit breathing.
I don’t dream of HZK often, but when I do, I dream she looks like what AWD posted.
Actual picture (sadly) of Mrs. HZK getting rid of rabbits in our garden.
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Good for Admin! I struggle for balance constantly, and often have to forcibly shut off my iPhone to do my workouts, tend my garden, and get practical things done. I’ve only been on this site for 2 months, the negative thinking can be addictive. I can ony imagine how draining it has been on Admin to run this site.
As excellent and informative as his articles are, they mean NOTHING if he and the rest of us don’t take the time to actually DO something about it. In the words of Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence therefore is not an act, but a habit”.
If all Admin repeatedly does is inform and incite the shit-throwing monkeys here, his life will be full of shit. Leave the poor man alone. Take what you’ve learned and go DO something positive and constructive about it, to whatever degree you can, in your own life.
And for godsakes people, take AWD’s advice – EXERCISE. If you don’t believe AWD because you are a liberal commie, then for godsakes listen to Karl Marx “The only antidote for mental anguish is physical pain”. The mental anguish we share on TBP is absolutely meaningless if it fails to inspire each of us to get out of our mental hamster wheels and go DO something. Your own bodies are the best defense against the 4th turning – maintain and fuel them better than your cars, people.
Take time and take care Admin, I’m sure the shit will keep flying.
I cannot believe the effort donated to all of us thus far, THANK YOU!!!
HZK
“A few MOABs dropped from a B52 when the Insanian government is in session might cause regime change”
Nature abhors a vacuum. Changing the current regime for the sake of change is folly. If a change is to come to Iran it must come at the hands of the people. We can provide guidance. We can set an example. But ultimately, its their country.
The US has caused many regime changes over the course of the last century, and its a laundry list of catastrophes. The most recent examples being Iraq and Afghanistan. All dropping a few MOBAs will do is give defense contractors more money, pile more debt on the American people, and sow even more seeds of hatred throughout the world.
P.S. This is really me. I have not been carted away to a mental institution by the authorities.
I see four people in the picture. Which one is you.
The Truth
No one wants to hear it because upon personal reflection you might find yourself flawed.
It takes some thinking and brain power and that is tiring.
It upset the status quo and most people do not like change
The Truth is hard.
Thank You Admin for telling the TRUTH.
Ok, this post clears a lot of things up. I can get a good night’s sleep tonight, but not before taking a 2-hour warm up nap.
I thought for sure that the recent battle Admin and I had over Skechers and New Balance sneakers pushed him over the edge.
I owe Admin a tremendous amount. However, most of all I owe him for saying “it is not llpoh’s fault” above. I have been cowering in fear under my bed awaiting 14,000 shit-throwing monkeys carrying pitchforks and torches.
Seriously, Jim, thanks for those words. I have been quite despondent over what happened. I became accustomed to this wonderful world of almost no holds barred, and lost sight of the word “almost”. I really am sorry about that.
As always, I will try in some meager way to support this magnificent endeavor.
I for one would prefer to see fewer posts on this site. The only reason I say that is because I can never keep up with the volume of posts or comments. I always have to skip a few and inevitably feel like I’m probably missing something important.
When I first started lurking here, I figured the regulars were either unemployed, retired, part of the 1% or part of the FSA. I still cannot figure out how you people have so much time to keep up with the content here. At the end of my day I’ve got nearly 12 hours invested in a ten hour work shift plus housekeeping, bill paying and all the other daily/weekly intrusions in life. After reading comments here yesterday and today, many TPB’ers are in the same boat.
Stick to just a few postings a day admin or even a few every other day. If you can’t or don’t feel like posting……don’t! Sometimes I just have to walk away from the internet to defrag & re-boot the old wet drive! Take time off from the blog and relax every week. When you are lying on your death bed, I doubt that you’ll wish you had blogged more!
Thanks again for the daily doses of reality. They go down like Ipecac! Now go put on the headphones and crank up the Floyd man!
I_S
If the picture from Apocalypse Now storming the beach to secure it for surfing wasn’t a big enough clue, I can’t help you.
This has been an exceedingly interesting rhetorical exercise.
No one has acknowledged the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of less-than-stable regimes, either the Insanians or the Pakistanis.
No one has offered a solution or any idea of how to deal with a nuclear Iran.
No one is apparently worried that a nation of 70 million people is ruled by 7th century savage barbarian religious lunatics.
No one apparently believes that Israel has a right to exist.
No one apparently understands the cold calculus of war.
No one apparently understands that the West is, in fact, at war with radical Islam and has been for centuries.
Everyone seems to believe that dead Arabs are somehow more dead or more worthy or horrifying than dead Jewish or American ones.
Okie dokie.
The most improtant thing you can do is to take care of yourself. Embrace the love of your family. Stop and smell the roses. Yep, it will fall apart before to long but enjoy life now. Thanks for your hard work rest, recharge and enjoy. No idea how you lAsted this long. We will see you back to your old form prety quick. Thanks again.
HZK – anything remotely seen as pro-Israeli or suggesting that Israel has the right to exist or would happily live in peace, or suggests that certain Arab regimes may in fact be loonier than a bunch of bedbugs is met with a torrent of thumbs down. I do not get it either. I for one would not trust Iran with nukes for a second. But I do not advocate US/Western involvement at all. Israel will make its own decisions, and should stand on its own feet.
IndenturedServant – agree with your post: “… I can never keep up with the volume of posts or comments. I always have to skip a few and inevitably feel like I’m probably missing something important.” I can’t keep up either, and that just means that Jim’s hard work (and others) are for not.
It’s probably better to have way fewer posts; that way you can reflect on each post longer, which inevitably would provide more “depth”. There is a great range of viewpoints on this site, and it might be beneficial to get into a deeper conversation in order to fine-tune opinion.
Hope
You worry too much. Here’s some answers to your concerns so you can get a good night’s sleep. Doctors especially need their sleep.
No one has acknowledged the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of less-than-stable regimes, either the Insanians or the Pakistanis. THERE IS A ONE-WORD ANSWER TO A LESS-THAN-STABLE, NUCLEAR-ARMED PAKISTAN. IT’S CALLED INDIA. SEE FOLLOWING FOR IRAN.
No one has offered a solution or any idea of how to deal with a nuclear Iran. ISRAEL HAS THE SOLUTION. WAIT FOR IT.
No one is apparently worried that a nation of 70 million people is ruled by 7th century savage barbarian religious lunatics. WELL, THOSE 70 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE A PROBLEM, DON’T THEY? SOONER OR LATER, THEY’LL HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT IF THEY SO CHOOSE.
No one apparently believes that Israel has a right to exist. I FOR ONE HAVE A FIRM BELIEF THAT ISRAEL HAS A RIGHT TO EXIST. AND I ALSO BELIEVE THAT THEY’RE WELL PREPARED TO DEAL WITH THOSE WHO WANT TO DENY THEM THAT RIGHT, AS THEY HAVE DONE SO SUCCESSFULLY MANY TIMES IN THE PAST HALF-CENTURY
No one apparently understands the cold calculus of war. I DO. IT WAS MY PROFESSION FOR A QUARTER OF A CENTURY. WAR IS TO BE AVOIDED IF AT ALL POSSIBLE (SEE HISTORY OF THE EISENHOWER PRESIDENCY OR POSSIBLY ADMIRAL ISORUKU YAMAMOTO’S WARNING TO JAPANESE LEADERS PRIOR TO PEARL HARBOR).
No one apparently understands that the West is, in fact, at war with radical Islam and has been for centuries. I DO. AND I CAN TELL YOU EXACTLY WHEN THE WAR STARTED. THE YEAR WAS 711 A.D. WHEN THE MOORS INVADED THE IBERIAN PENINSULA. THE MUSLIM HORDES WERE STOPPED AT THE GATES OF VIENNA AROUND 1683 (I GOTTA CHECK ON THAT DATE), BUT IT’S BEEN ON AGAIN, OFF AGAIN EVER SINCE.
Everyone seems to believe that dead Arabs are somehow more dead or more worthy or horrifying than dead Jewish or American ones. HUH?
Now try and get a good night’s rest.
I like Mike Whitney’s words:
“The world deserves a breather from the United States, just a pause in the action. It’s not that everyone hates us; they don’t. They don’t even think about us. They have their own problems to deal with. But the US has become a first class nuisance, like a wasp at the company picnic, constantly buzzing around the potato salad just when people want to sit down to eat. That’s America, one big honking wasp making everyone’s life miserable.
So, here’s a solution that will make everyone happy. Why doesn’t the US plan a short trip, like a 5 or 6 year sabbatical, and give everyone a break. Because–like I said–people don’t hate the US; they’re just weary. You’ve worn us out, America. You’re like the mother-in-law with the booming voice who comes for the weekend and stays for a month. You’ve worn out your welcome. So, just go. It’ll be better for everyone.”
I’m sure Gadhafi was far from a saint, but he provided his people with water (built a 1,500 mile pipeline to bring the water north from the largest reservoir discovered in southern Libya), provided free health care, free education (if you couldn’t get the education you wanted in Libya, he sent you, all expenses paid, to another country to get it), interest-free loans (which you had to pay back – duh). He was no doubt a dictator, but the country before he took over was a mob of tribes (which it is reverting back to now), as the ruling elite family liked it that way – so much easier to loot people who are fighting each other.
And we march in there (not for democracy – ha, America doesn’t even have that) and assassinate the leader of another country.
It was no surprise that Brandon Raub was detained. Why would we expect anything different?
@SSS:
Great answer, thank you.
This is me tonight:
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SSS
I always find it interesting, considering I lived in S. Korea for two years, and considering there are 28.000 American soldiers and airmen in S. Korea, and there are 1 million N. Korean soldiers in uniform, and N. Korea has nukes, and N. Korea has nothing to lose and S. Korea has everything to lose, that people are worried about a nuclear Iran, and, as you mentioned, not so worried about a nuclear Pakistan.
The magic magnifying glass of the MSM has done their work well. And thanks for the excellent comment, a breath of sanity.
FBD- PS Dead muslim baby picture posted in honor of Administrator. RIP.
Hmmm….haven’t seen many of those since the old Ragging Debate days.
How long did you say you’ve been lurking in the shadows?
I don’t believe Israel has a right to exist. That is just more zionist propaganda. No state has a right to exist. States are created and destoyed often in history. Just today it was proposed to slice off a piece of Iran and cede it to Azerbaijan. If Israel has a right to exist, why doesn’t Iran?
Wow, Jim … a writer’s block attack, the first one is always the worst. 🙂
Yes, the R word, rage, can fuel powerful writing, it takes a toll. Mark Twain used an R word, too:
“No god and no religion can survive ridicule. No church, no nobility, no royalty or other fraud, can face ridicule in a fair field and live.”
– Notebook, 1888
There’s a better and longer quote about _ridicule_but I only have the last fragment, probably read it in “A Pen Warmed up in Hell” …
“Power, money, persuasion, supplication, persecution — these can lift at a colossal humbug — push it a little — weaken it a little over the course of a century; but only laughter can blow it to rags and atoms at a blast. Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand.”
Remember to laugh. 🙂
HZK @ at 6:44 pm
Your “No one” stands right up there with Elizabeth Warren’s “the rest of us” and O’s “You didn’t build that.”
Conflate away.
and remember to laugh.
AWD – this is North Korea’s nuclear delivery system:
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The other problem the North Koreans have is that the fuse may burn at an irregular rate, and the bomb may go off in their hands before they can fling it.
Dirty rotten dopplelganger 3 posts above – I will hunt you down and kick you in the balls.
The above post was from moi. Don’t know how Llpoh crawled into my box