Prelude for Saturdays post: Different and Unique not Deficient and Abnormal!

The controversy surrounding Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright blew up again because of his address to the National Press Club and the NAACP Detroit Branch Annual Dinner. I am frankly tired of this pastor's comments being taken out of context and have had enough of this political pandering both by conservatives and liberals, Democratic candidates and some sponsored delegates.

What really pissed me off was when Barack dissed his own pastor without actually watching what was said or done. For that matter, Barack's actual statement was these ideas "should be denounced" without actually denouncing the statements and then most of the press didn't call Barack out on it.

This the worst excuse of a politician in my opinion and Hillary's campaign staff and cohorts are not far behind the conservative press junkets in earning my displeasure either. But this isn't about politics this is about listening to the speeches in question, without reservation or presumption, in their full context.

I challenge each of you to hear the speeches fully:
NPC: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Q&A: Part 4; Part 5; Part 6
NAACP: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4

Photo of St. Sebastian's Martyrdom by (cant remember artist at this time will correct shortly)

EDITOR'S PROGRAMMING NOTES:

Part of the problem I see with the blogosphere is that everyone, and I will admit that I have gone there myself a few times, is so quick to jump on reporting or commenting on news and current events that they don't take the time to research the issue and provide the full story.

At least with a traditional medium, there is a perceived requirement of counter pointe balance even if not provided via a source then at least mentioned with a blanket disclaimer of an attempt. Then as the many readers of this and other blogs consume the information provided across the blogosphere we authors and editors sometimes forget to go back and update our articles within either the original post or in a future post.

This announcement and one of my posts on Saturday will begin this type of review process in order to provide a full service to the continued and dedicated as well as the newer readers of F6.

We are averaging 350 readers a week and for the last week have been 17 th on the BNN Indiana Influence Index rating system and about a month ago we hit 5th as well for like three days. Thank you all for putting up with the transitions as we adjust to the new format and please note that F6's Links Page will be updated around the 25th of every month.

There are a lot of new blogs out recently in the local blogosphere. Some blogs deal with politics, others on news or current events, and a few just provide another personal reflection on this life. F6 wants to provide a shout out to them and welcome them all to the chaos and adventure that is the local blogosphere.

[PHOTO SOURCE: FLIP FLOPS BOY]

One of the downsides to New Media: Old Rules

In true old fashion reminder that riddles with every person especially the minute they begin a new venture or start a new job within government or major corporations and small alike: scrutiny rears its ugly orifices. The person either has to sift their history or obliterate their previous or future independence of expression on views and events from the public view. One of the things that NEW MEDIA NEW RULES promoted, wrongfully so in my opinion, was "no anonymous blogging/comments"; unfortunately that lack of pseudonymous status, has now claimed part of the historical record of Fort Wayne politics and life events in its wake.

Rachel Blakeman, formerly the Editor of BE PART OF THE SOLUTION has, according to Jeff Pruitt @ Fort Wayne Left, accepted a position within the Mayoral administration of Tom Henry as the Public Information Officer; as a precursor to that event, BPOTS went dead about three days ago and is now completely wiped from existence. This is the ultimate reason why traditional print media will never go completely away as a primary source, because it provides an historical record and is independent from what your current and future boss or company might consider within the preview of your eligibility for or sustainability with employment. If we are going to embrace the New Media over the Old or Traditional, then the Old Rules need thrown out as well or at least revised to accommodate if not the independent thought then at least the historical recall; which due to these actions, whether undertaken by Rachel as a personal decision or directed to her as a condition of employment, has greatly diminished for our posterity part of the dialogs of our City's history.

I used Rachel's analysis to balance my own on certain thoughts and issues and the give and take across the blogosphere of Fort Wayne has lost a great contributer to the conversation. I hope and pray that at some pointe she will make an archive available. I also wish her the best as she explores these new opportunities to keep the citizen informed and government as transparent as possible. BTW, Jeff, thank you again for the information.

One score and twelve years ago....What an adventure it has been!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD BEAR

Thirty two years ago this morning I was shoved out of my mother's womb three months and a day early. I was a two pound, nine ounce bundle of flesh that was seventeen inches long. I couldn't figure out what God was thinking when He came down and commissioned me from my mothers womb and then said "Now get out into the world." instead of letting me stay in this nice warm sack of fluid for another ninety three days. This is my five minutes of paying tribute annually to my mother and father.

Since I am my mother's first born she sucked down on the anesthetics and ended up passing out half way through delivery. My father, in regards to the minor miracle in front of him, responding to the intensive neo-natal conflicts of my premature birth did two things that have the highest honor in my life. They will forever reign in my life no matter what happens or what people say about me personally and professionally. Thirty minutes after I was born I was baptized and given my father's name, the highest glory he could give me, and then handing me back over to God in prayer and the doctors for health and safety. My mom woke up three days later.

ABORTION AND THE SOLEMN FEAST OF HOLY INNOCENTS AND MARTYRS

Today is the feast of the Holy Innocents (citations from my homily: Jeremiah 31:15, Matthew 2:16-18, Assumption of Moses 6:2-6) within the Octave of the Incarnation (Catholics take 8 days to celebrate Christmas Day and Easter Day, similar to Chanukah) . Therefore the issues of premature termination of any life has a very special place in my own history. I am for life from conception to natural death. Technically I was born at the very end of my second trimester. And yes if you do the math I was suppose to born on April Fools Day. Evil is not the opposite of Good it is any thing that takes away from our lives and living them for good will towards our fellow members of creation.

I am not going to make this too political; however I must address this, especially on my birth feast. I am against abortion however I am also pro choice, only in one regard. That is, the fact that if abortion were not legal, I as a member of the clergy, would be celebrating double the amount of funerals (both mother and child). I do believe though that abortion needs to be pulled out of the private clinics and needs to be a ethically guided and medically sound procedure. That just is not guaranteed in a private clinic setting. By requiring continued after procedure medical care and ethical guidance we can greater limit the ramifications of a termination on both the body and mind and soul of the individual whom has made the most tragic decision of their and someone else's life and the biological father's honor. We need to restore the father's right of choice in the decision as well. He contributed half of the byproducts (23 chromosomes and 30 minutes of hard labor) to form this new life, he should have some say in its future, 'possession should not be nine tenths of the law'.

ADMINISTRATION OF THE BLOG

If you take time to notice by actually viewing my blog directly (not through an RSS feed, or whatever else people use to scan this from a distance) I found out (totally on accident mind you) how to put certain things over on the main column above and below the blog entries. I hope you like some of these changes just remember to scroll down a little bit off of the main page to view everything. It is not quite done and completely updated or shuffled from one category to another but I will be finishing it up over the weekend.

Why did the sidebar link categories change?

This was done in an effort to clarify better what people are looking for. Before all the personal, political and news, commentary blogs were for the most part in one of two groups of link lists "what all d fagz r talkn bout!" and "3 rivers blogged down". One of the major complaints I received is people were getting dizzy trying to figure out which blogs they wanted to view because they couldn't always tell what type of blog it was. The new blog link list have new titles and a description underneath to better explain each category. Certain blogs have been reassigned to other categories completely that more appropriately align to the content of the blog. For instance Scott and Brian's or Blake's blogs are completely related to local sports and therefore are under all the links to "support 3 rivers athletics" while Undies Drawer has been placed under "don we now our gay apparel" I hope that these changes will help people use the resources that I am trying to provide to our greater local and queer community members.

The Fort Wayne blogs have been broken down into three main categories:
+ bare it all along 3 rivers (news & politics blog roll)*new*
+ 3 rivers blogged down (personal blog roll)*revised*
+ coming together on 3 rivers (community organizations, public interest blogs)*new*

(GLBTIQAS) blogs have been broken down into three main categories as well:
+ what all d fagz r talkn bout! (gay and lesbians, etc. personal blog roll)*revised*
+ is 1 penis and 2 testicles worth 1,000 thoughts? (pictorial and graphic blog roll)*new*
+ queer community and culture (national perspectives blog roll)*new*

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: Please see the post from 05 March 08 for further updates on formating]

What are some of the other things that you have toyed with on F6?

One is adding a third colour to the blog for subtitles and emphasis in actual posts, but the jury is still out on that one. Trying to find colours that coordinate well with the existing scheme is a bitch and a half sice I am working with two opposites initially. The background has been grayed out a little bit so as to give the appearance of recycled paper.

The three quotes and the Jay Brannan video player have been moved to the main column of the profile for people to have an easier time viewing them or picking which video to watch.

Tracking oneself across the blogosphere or letting your readers see where you've been.

In addition, I have added as a new idea in response to "New Media New Rules" and the "Civility Code" from a few months back is a link list entitled "what I did say!" which is a list of the fifteen latest comments of mine on other people's and/or organization's blogs. This is an effort to challenge especially the local authors and everyone to be more accountable for their activity across the blogosphere as well. One last benefit to this decision is that now when I leave a comment I can go back and check directly on a response from others or the author/editor of the original blog.

The links to my comments on other's blogs are listed in the following format:
1. international date (yyyymmdd)
2. the first two initials of the origional blog's authors name (Eric White=EW:)
3. followed by the acronym for the origional blog (Kody's blog is KT:TV for Tinnel Vision)
4. next is a synopsis (three words max) of the title of the original blog
5. lastly in parenthesis is the order in number of the comment that you posted eg:(6)
As a note of courteousness if you do set one of these up make sure to set the link list to "Reverse Sort Alphabetically" in order to view the list in the proper order.

The only slight downside to this link list of my comments elsewhere is everyone else can read them as well. Sometimes people don't realize they are dealing with two different persona's when reviewing the crassness of my blog (and the historical series that was F6's original old media venue) versus my personal or pastoral commentary on other blogs and sites. I challenge everyone to take time to think about the possibilities and provisions for improving your surrounding community and the communication between neighbors. Whether friends or enemies, specify or at least declare your biases and predispositions when writing; remember also, facial features aren't usually illustrated well in written commentary.

[EDITOR'S UPDATE: This feature was discontinued after 2 months. It didn't work as intended, became cumbersome to keep track of , and some blogs don't allow links to a single post.]

CLARIFICATION AND APOLOGY

And that leads me to my clarification and apology then the closing of this post. In my review and follow up of the New Media New Rules forum held on the twentieth of this month, I referred to Rachel Blakeman and Nathan Gotsch in what some would assume is a demeaning manner.

What you are not all aware of is my internal mental animation. I have a cartoon that plays in the back of my head (hence my warped humor or views on certain things) and I see people and events in cartoon format as well as how they appear in reality. This skill comes from teaching preschool for several years. There are only so many ways to illustrate "pigs flying off a cliff" to three, four, and five year olds.

The first time I met Rachel was after the general election this year at the Thirsty Camel. She came in, sat down in a slump, and strained her neck veins to raise her head after a very hard fought election cycle; therefore my mind recorded an image of her in both reality and in animation format and it stuck, hence the mule reference. My apologies for not having clarified the terms of endearment. Now that I have somewhat explained the process with Rachel let me just say that certain actions or illustrations done by Nathan reminded me of a combination of a kangaroo and a jackrabbit (picture provided) with a cute little cotton tail bouncing into the vegetable garden and tearing it all to shreds. I wont even go into the notion of my wanting to see him in clip on rabbit ears and fur lined bikini except to mention them briefly (all puns were intended) in this forum.




I hope you all have enjoyed the thoughts and perspectives I've shared thus far. I look forward to the adventures over the coming few months and enjoy the continued Cross Blog Debate and conversation with each of you.

Blessings Along The Journey!

MRev. Kenneth White, Jnr., Editor,
F6 ~ Fun Fag FAQs From Father Fozy
http://frfozybearftwin.blogspot.com/

New Media New Rules: Summary Follow Up From Fr. Fozy

In an effort to show fair and balanced views since noone else has commented on this post I am going to post an cyclical update now that all the 'verdicts are in' across the greater Fort Wayne blogosphere. If I missed someone, let me know and I will throw you into the bone pile.

In the meantime taking the words directly from the mule rather than the rabbit I can refer you to Rachel Blakeman 's commentary and her direct account of events and final analysis. Nathan and Rachel did a wonderful job setting up everything and I have to give props where they are due. Now as for speaking for the rabbit, I will let Nathan chew his own carrot on this one and refer you as well to some comments over on Mitch Harper's Fort Wayne Observed.

Additionally, Kevin Leininger along with some other old and new media had their own perspectives to chime in across the electronic super highway, which were quickly resisted on several fronts for many different reasons. Of course Dan Turkette in true AWB fashion had a few comments of his own to throw into the frey on Fort Wayne News/More Than Corn. Neigh do I blame him for his perception of the events that transpired. I would encourage anyone to read the comments to all of these posts for a full perspective and the consensus of the Fort Wayne blogosphere.

I also feel that since my original post was a copy of a comment on one of these many posts, and therefore bloated by my natural sarcasm, I need to highlight the actual points I was trying to make so no one misunderstands my thought process and criticisms of the event as it happened.

+ While the initial premises that established the idea for a local Blogger Network are noble, they can also become elitist fairly quickly. Anytime you have organizations within a community try to umbrella themselves there is always going to be a shift in the atmosphere.

+ Sometimes anonymity is the best recourse to the truth because there is no perceived bias.... Certain people have to use pseudonyms in order to preserve there independence. Traditional or old media gives credit and status to anonymous or pseudonymous authors or sources.

+ Allowing comments is neighborly and shows humility in the ongoing conversation of the blogosphere. The Cross-Blog-Debate is refreshing to say the least and a vital part of getting a consensus of the blogosphere.

In True F6 Style: My 100th Post: Breaking "The New Media Rules" One Right After The Other

[EDITOR'S NOTE:] This is a copy of my comment on Eric White's The Centerline regarding the New Media New Rules event and panel forum hosted last night by the new Fort Wayne Blogger Network and the three main political parties in Allen County.

This is why I avoided the event like the plague that I new it could potentially become. It would have been nice to know that almost everyone was going out afterwards to chat around at a bar or local diner, that is my type of forum or roundtable discussion. While the initial premises that established the idea for a local Blogger Network are noble, they can also become elitist fairly quickly.

eg: "If you don't meet these standards you aren't one of us and you should just shut your blog down now.", etc.

Anytime you have organizations within a community try to umbrella themselves there is always going to be a shift in the atmosphere. That is why, this particular forum shouldn't have happened in my honest opinion untill after the holidays and untill all current local bloggers were brought into the discussion as to the ideals of the group let alone invited to the event.

Regarding the three "DO KNOTS" introduced at the meeting: I have certain expletives to express, and two to illustrate, which involves proving that the sun doesn't shine from that vantage pointe, that I will not do in your forum for you might have to edit my comments since they were not posted under a pseudonym, lol!

I am a classically trained journalist and commentator. I think I know what's proper and improper decorum are when it comes to dealing with any subject and I will be d****?D if I am going to have some *edited*.....*still editing*...done..., telling me what to allow or not allow on MY forum!

1. No annonymous bloggers

- Sometimes anonymity is the best recourse to the truth because there is no perceived bias or rush to judgment of the authors intent or own bias, just the facts and the expressed opinion. You cant tell if they are on record liberals, moderates, or conservatives.

- Certain people have to use pseudonyms in order to preserve there independence. I respect that and so does any other classically trained journalist or editor. If the traditional or old media gives credit and status to anonymous or pseudonymous authors or sources than who are a bunch of new elitists to say that it is no longer valid, poppycock!

Q: What do people think I am: liberal, moderate, or conservative?
A: None of the above. I am a Modern Traditionalist.

2. No Comments

- You have pretty much covered everything I was going to say, except for one last thing which ties in with number three; in that if I missed a point on an issue or item, some one can come up from behind, wrack me up side the other head, and say, "let go of yourself for a minute and take a look at this over here!".

- (I am about ready to violate number three) Thankfully, Charles Langley over @ AD FONTES, has done that for me several times recently, not the wracking just the redirecting.

+ I personally feel that allowing comments is neighborly and shows humility in the ongoing conversation of the blogosphere.

3. No Blogs should talk about other Blogs

Oh just give me a pile of cow manure to throw at this one.

- Agreeing or disagreeing with a colleague (which is what we all are) is part of the Academic process and good Editorializing and Commentating. To allude otherwise flashes in the face of historic journalism in a multi forum old media town like ours.

- If editors from opposing view pointes couldn't dialog with each other in print Win Moses might not have been reelected Mayor back in the mid eighties after his little campaign finance scandal with the Sheriff, nor would we have known that Kevin Knuth once asked for Tom Henry to resign from public office back in the mid nineties. The Cross-Blog-Debate is refreshing to say the least and a vital part of getting a consensus of the blogosphere.

BTW- I will be copying this comment over to my blog now since it is so long and you can delete it if you choose since I "have nothing new to add to the post" wtfwts.

Thank you Eric! May you have an awesome Octave of the Incarnation also!

Blessings Along The Journey,
Fr. Fozy Bear

Photos are From Matt's Dick Junkie.
To find more JUSTUS BOYZ clothing under your holiday bush next year visit their website.