Maybe that commenter months ago was right. Maybe there is a blogstream click clique. Maybe there are quite a few of them. To help figure that out I went to the home page and looked through the “most popular blogs” list. I’ve been to most of them and commented on them as well. But there were two that were new; to me.

Cool Stuff I’ve Found is a blog I went to only once. I thought it was going to be about rare finds or antiques. It wasn’t, so I never returned. So I went over. The last post was on February 25, 2006. There were 21 comments. The author had not responded to any of the 21. The blogs I like was about as limited as mine and there were 22,412 visitors. The author hasn’t posted in 6 months and is at 22,412! No evidence of a click clique there, maybe it’s the catchy title. After all that’s why I visited the first time. Maybe “The Oh Really Factor” needs to be changed.

Second on the most popular, but new to me, list was Ann of Hearts. So much for the catchy title idea. Nothing catchy there. She was a complete stranger to me so off I went. Ann is active, both literally and figuratively. She posted today. She has 96 comments spread out over 46 posts. She has not responded to any of the commenters, publicly. But she may have privately because her posts are poorly written, all about sex and sings the praises of adultery.

Her first post was April 9th so she’s been at it four months. I made a note that I was visitor number 17,301 at 0830PST. I went back exactly 24 hours later and the counter was 17,586. 17,586 in four months! 285 in one day!(Two of them were me so actually 283) No click clique here and no catchy title either. It must be the subject matter. Maybe “The Oh Really Factor” needs to be changed.

**********I know it’s possible to click, click, click and increase the counter one at a time, but in the second place who has that kind of time and in the first place what meaning would that have?**********

I decided to look deeper. I clicked on ...more, in the popular blogs area. Knit Happens, now there’s a catchy title and surely it won’t be smutty. One post, February 21, 2006. Two comments. 7,905 on the counter. Wow! With numbers like that Knit Happens could be a sure bet dark horse to win the race. Perhaps big numbers rule in the How To category. Maybe “The Oh Really Factor” needs to change.

Scrolling down I noticed Donuts and think I need to make a footnote here. There is a huge difference between the likes of Ann of Hearts and Donut. Donut is a writer. Donut can spin a yarn. For me it isn’t so much what Donut writes about but the way it is written. A little further down is another that catches my eye, pissing it away. 2 posts, 5793 visitors. Even more, one of the two posts was removed. But did you know that removing the posts does not remove the comments?

The comments suggest a personal attack levied at a blogger I have come to know through her blog posts. I can’t say I love her because I don’t know her but I can say that I love her heart. I am glad the post was removed as I am certain it was something I would not wanted to have read. Scrolling down I came to myself so I guessed it was time to quit.

In the end there seems to be a lot of evidence to support the click clique suggested to me those many months ago. But there’s a lot of evidence indicating that certain topics, especially smutty and obscene, have vast appeal. Doing nothing seems to work for some. I received a message from Grandma baba the other day and perhaps she hit the nail on the head. She said to me that she had seen my blog for quite sometime but never came over because she thought it said “The O’Reilly Factor” and she didn’t want any part of him! Maybe a name change is in order. Any suggestions?

Thirty days ago the trouble started in Lebanon. It came over the news outlets that Hezbollah possessed 12,000 katyusha rockets. Within 24 hours Fox News had blanketed the area with all the familiar faces and it seemed as though they were determined to count each and every one that entered Israel, or the ocean adjacent. It was as if there would come a time when Shepard Smith, replete with helmet and flack jacket, would say something like:

“This is a Fox News Alert and by our accounts katyusha number 12,000 has just landed in a barren field northwest of our position, which we cannot reveal because of security reasons but we’ll cover the lense of the camera, pan over and show you the smoke. Fox News can now report that Hezbollah is fresh out of katyushas and the war in Lebanon is officially over”.

Damn! 12,000 katyushas and not one Pulitzer among them. My feeble mind began to wonder how things would have went in this skirmish with Hezbollah if there had been no cameras, no politically correct referees. Suppose it had been simply a war and the ‘war is hell’ adage had prevailed?

Which, of course, begs my dim wit to an even larger question. How would things have gone in Iraq if there were no politically correct overseers, no embedded reporters, no Ollie North, no Geraldo. How would it have played out if the international watchdogs weren’t around. Suppose the approach to Iraq had been ‘war is hell’?

I suppose you could say that we wouldn’t have seen Saddams’ statue pulled down, although that was more comical than uplifting, eh Ms. Colo? Even then the politically correct bunch had the soldier immediately take down the American flag he had draped over the tin man and replace it with an Iraqi flag. We should have known then that this was going to be a politically correct war. ‘War is hell” had been replaced with ‘war is hello’.

You could also say we wouldn’t have known much, if any, about Abu Ghraib but I would ask; did we really need to know? What good came out of our knowing that some American soldiers are retarded and some Americans higher up the chain of command are faultless. Haven’t we known that for 200 years? Anything really newsworthy there?

So what do you think, dear reader? Share your opinion about this wall-to-wall coverage of military conflicts.

Thank heavens the plot to blow up those planes was foiled. Who were those terrorists? Thank heavens the plot, centered in Miami, to blow up the Sears tower was foiled? Who were those terrorists? Let’s see now, how much more terror can we stand before we simply usher in another crowd of republicans? The GOP (global organized powerbrokers) has little else upon which to hang it’s hat.

A while back there was a threat that virtually shut down the NY subway system and resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime...fear...fizzle. Then there was the fellow driving across the country hell bent on blowing up the Brooklyn Bridge...fear...fizzle. How about the plot to fly a plane into Los Angeles’ largest building...fear...fizzle. Or the plot to hijack some planes to plow into Las Vegas...fear...fizzle.

Dear Republican friends, why all these fearful scenarios? Was FDR correct when he said that all we had to fear was fear itself?

Following the foiled liquid plot, I tuned into the Republican flagship, Fox News. I was looking for some of that fair & balanced reporting. Neil Cavuto’s idea of fair & balanced was the opinions of Ann Coulter and Tom Delay. Not fair & balanced to me but just when I was beginning to think there wasn’t a God, the audio feed from Ann Coulter failed! Yes, there is a God and, although I hate to burst the Republican bubble, God isn’t the dollar.

So, keeping an open mind, I turned to the patriarch of Fox News, Billy. He was spectacular. He has decided that the First Amendment was written by insightful and forward looking men while the Fourth Amendment was written by short sighted morons. Billy wants to unleash the police and allow them unlimited search based on nothing more than a hunch. Billy is all in favor of racial profiling even going so far as to characterize Muslims as either Mohammed or Abdul.

Well, my Republican friends, that offended me. That sort of characterization is nothing short of racism and bigotry. How would it sound if I were to refer to blacks as Aunt Jemima and Little Black Sambo? Anything cute about that? Anything even close to socially acceptable? If you laughed when he referred to all Muslims as Mohammed and Abdul...chances are you are a redneck, er, make that Republican.

Billy did have a counterpoint guest, Nita Lowey, a NY Congresswoman. He had earlier drawn the conclusion that Democrats are “dovish” on terror because they, along with 63% of the American people, are against our continued involvement in Iraq. He pointed his finger at Ms. Lowey and said she had voted against the Patriot Act. She acknowledged that and said it was because it gave the police too much unrestrained authority, sorta like those morons and the Fourth Amendment.

She asked why the Republicans had voted down two major anti-terror issues. One was that all workers at an airport must pass through a metal detector every time they enter a restricted area. The second was that all cargo loaded into the belly of a plane must be scanned and inspected. Billy poo-pooed both those questions so I will ask you, my Republican friends. Why were those two measures voted down. That attitude seems a little ‘dovish” on terror doesn’t it? Clear this up for me, set my mind straight because I am currently confused.

Morris the Chat, a natural emetic, showed up. He and Billy agreed that Mr. Leiberman would have won the election in Connecticut if the liquid terrorist plot had unfolded before the election. So the voters in Connecticut are stupid? Do the voters in Connecticut connect the Iraqi dots to the terrorism dots? Not too likely. There is no connection.

Yesterday, in Green Bay, Mr. Bush said we should make no mistake about it (he says that a lot) America is always under attack by terrorists. But he has also said, many times, we are fighting the war in Iraq vis-a-vie terrorism so we don’t have to fight it here, on our soil.

I beseech you, Republicans, help me out. We aren’t in a war with Palestine; but I see terrorism there. We aren’t in a war with Lebanon; but I see terrorism there. We aren’t in a war with Pakistan; but I see terrorism there. We aren’t in a war with Israel; but I see terrorism there. We aren’t in a war with Afghanistan; but I see terrorism there. We aren’t in a war with Turkey; but I see terrorism there.

We ARE in a war in Iraq and the only terrorism I see is their willingness to kill each other! The war on terror and the war in Iraq doesn’t seem to fit, but that’s probably just me.

Billy finished his show talking with an ex-Scotland Yard detective. He must have been pre-screened because he was the personification of a yes man. He and Billy decided that they would feel much safer living in England because England gives the police unlimited power (we fought a revolution over that, remember?) and there are surveillance cameras everywhere. Billy would feel safer!

Let’s see, hmmm. In spite of the Big Brother attitude those subway bombers managed to slip by. Then there was the innocent bystander shot dead two days later because he looked suspicious. Then they cordoned off an area of Manchester to search for explosives amongst the Muslims. That turned out to be nothing but more police hunches. Looks as if anybody would feel safer in England, if they looked like an Anglo-Saxon.

Republicans and premium members alike, lead me to the light. Show me the fair and balanced path. But before you jump on the NSA bandwagon remember that in this episode of the liquid bombers, the Administration obtained warrants FIRST. Looks like somebody learned that they are not above the law. Gotta love that Fourth Amendment.

Have any? Me too. When I started this post I tried my best to separate my pet peeves from things that irritate me. Old codgers like me get irritated by many things but a pet peeve; now that’s a different matter. I only have three. One has been with me most of my life. The second started about 10 years ago while the third might still be in the irritant stage.

Remember during the G8 when Mr. Bush was blustering to Mr. Blair and let slip a phrase that none of us have ever used in our entire lives? While he was bloviating he was chewing his food as if he had no upbringing at all. I was embarrassed for him, and us.

I would like to imagine that one of his fathers’ 1000 points of light may have included teaching your children etiquette but, maybe not. Apparently not. On the other hand he was talking like a tough guy (why do people think that adding profanity makes them appear tough) so maybe he was acting tough as well by showing Mr. Blair that he (Bush) don’t need no stink-ing manners, esse.

I have a nephew, 3 years my younger, and he has chewed food with his mouth open all of his life. Back in the day when poverty forced the clans together for a few years I hated his doing that. Chomp, chomp, smack, smack. Oh yes. My number one pet peeve is people chewing with their mouth open. I haven’t seen my nephew in many years but Mr. Bush brought it all back for me. Thank you Mr. President.

Number two began as an irritant but quickly advanced to pet peeve status. How, dear reader, do you pronounce this word: E T C E T E R A ? And the abbreviation, ETC? Not too long ago I was reading the crawl on some channel and I noticed the abbreviation ECT. (Even this computer won’t let me type it! It keeps correcting me). So, people who use a word like E K C E T R A are what? Lazy? Uneducated? Sloppy? I have no idea but I do know that I hear Ekcetra a lot more than I hear Etcetera these days. I liken it to the beginning of a total collapse of linguistics as it applies to our language; grammar, vocabulary and syntax having long since rode off into the sunset.

Number three, for me, is right on the cusp of becoming a pet peeve and it is somewhat associated with my number two. I am certain that you have posted or edited one of your entries and when you do a screen comes up which has a light green rectangle in its’ center.

Next time you do that, read the words in that green rectangle. You may have to read it a couple of times (especially if you say ekcetra a lot). Does that sentence make sense to you? Is it really just me? I sent a couple of ‘contact us’ messages but it remains; so it must make sense to someone.

Ah! I feel much better having purged those pet peeves to you. So now perhaps you will share with me, and the occasional visitor, some of your pet peeves. I know you have at least one. Leave a comment and share it, or them, with us.

This past Wednesday Billy and Geraldo Rivera (you remember Geraldo: The man without a home) were lambasting the coverage by the media surrounding the Mel Gibson fiasco. On and on Bill went, ranting and raving; but not about the Olberman fellow over at MSNBC. They have had some sort of word play for years. No Bill and Geraldo demeaned those whom they called the ‘masters’.

Bill opined that mentioning Mr. Olberman, I guess, would only give them more exposure. Bill wanted to hunt down the fat cats (not his word) who were the real evil doers. Mr. Olberman was merely the slave. It’s the corporate masters that let their slaves go on and on about Mr. Gibson. Enough was enough! Bill was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore! Call them out, he concluded, call out these mogul masters.

On Thursday Mel Gibson was talked about on two separate occasions on FOX programs. Thursday evening Mel wasn’t on O’Reilly but neither was O’Reilly. More on that later. On Friday Mel was one of the topics on Neil Cavuto’s program. So there you have it, Mr. Ailes. There you have it, Mr. Murdoch. Bill has called you out. Why are you permitting your slaves to continue talking about Mr. Gibson? Bill O’Reilly has called out your type of evil mastering.

Mr. O’Reilly has laid the endless coverage of Mel Gibson directly at the feet of the masters behind NBC, CBS, CNN, ABC and, in a move I would perceive as biting the hand that feeds him, you. Two weeks ago Bill O’Reilly criticized ‘myspace.com’ even going so far as to say he wished it removed from the internet, calling it a shopping mall for predators.

Hello! Isn’t ‘myspace.com’ also a subsidiary of, uh, News Corp? Isn't FOX a subsidiary of, uh, News Corp? Good heavens, gentlemen, how much more evil can you direct? Bill has called you out with a fervor second only to Cicero calling out Cataline in his commentaries.

But there may be light at the end of the tunnel. When Mr. O’Reilly commented on ‘myspace.com’ he was absent from his program the next evening. Mr. O’Reilly called out the masters on Wednesday and was absent on Thursday. It’s 30 minutes until Friday’s edition and I have my fingers crossed, in a way.

How much more, I can but wonder, of the created being greater than the creator? When I started this blog I wrote about the contradictions and out right lies of Bill O’Reilly. I even gave him some slack when he went on about Jessica’s Law and the poor judging in Vermont, all the while fumbling with his own luffa sponges.

When I wrote Spin IX, or X, I was done with Billy. He had convinced me that he was way to big for his britches and needed more of the comeuppance he had earlier experienced in his career and tragically forgotten. I would miss Bill-O. His program has become rife with inane spin and is a plethora of topics about which can be written endless hours of sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek ridicule.

The Factor has just begun and...NO BILL. Could it be? Two evenings in a row? But guess who their going to talk about? Mel Gibson!!

BOO! Evil Broadcasting Magnates/HOORAY BILL!!!

Time now for the most ridiculous item of the day: slave ridicules masters and survives. Mr. Ailes, Mr. Murdoch, can you hear me now?