The More Reasonable Germans
How about this, a leading German politician, the vice-president of the German parliament has her own theory of
how the US Government was behind the Catholic Church's priest pedophilia and cover-up scandal of recent years.
Now [Antje] Vollmer comes along, implying that the US government chose to draw attention to the Catholic pedophilia scandal not because of the crimes in and of themselves, but because Washington wanted to weaken the pope. (...)
Her theory? It seems the U.S. had to do something to weaken the influence of the pope, who was an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq. Vollmer finds it all very suspicious that after the war, "Poland was made a top occupying power in Iraq, naturally to weaken the pope's hinterland. Or how then, of all times, the campaign against the Catholic Church and the pedophilia was started, which was, of course, totally justified, but at this point in time was definitely a tit-for-tat response." Vollmer found it somehow strange that the US presidents traveled to the Vatican despite the "tough power struggles."
Like a good conspiracy theorist, she doesn't point fingers directly, but lets her comments hang in the air so that others can piece together the message. In essence, with her bizarre ramblings she was saying that the US tried to undercut John Paul II's political influence in Poland by giving his countrymen an important role in occupying Iraq and instigating a pedophile scandal against the church as a sort of smear campaign against the Catholic leader.
Unbelievable. If the US Government could pull off even half of the things conspiracy loons think, don't you think they would be offed before spouting them?
Of course, that's the real brilliance. They don't do anything about the theories, because the people spouting them are almost self-discrediting. So the plots continue...
Backstory to Selling Out
Or Navel-Gazing and Rationalizing...
Yes, I am now writing a
blog for Cleveland.com. For those keeping score at home, that makes 3 blogs for me.
At the
blogger meet-up in March, I had been in the group talking about Cleveland.com and bloggers. Denise Polverine, the editor-in-chief wanted to work closer with the local bloggers (I'm still not exactly sure what that means). During the talk, I had pointed out that it wasn't enough to simply have a page
linking to the bloggers in Northeast Ohio. There needed to be something more active. Something linking to what they were actually saying. That's why there are permalinks to posts. It was something I had discussed and heard from other bloggers at past meet-ups. It made sense.
A couple days later, I was contacted by Denise from Cleveland.com about doing a blog for them. I was at least curious to listen.
I've been doing this blog for nearly 3 years. Things haven't gone in the direction I expected with it. At the time I started, I was expecting to write my opinions about a lot more business/political/legal issues and campaign finance matters. Things related to what I had been doing in my job. And of course a lot more about things on a national and international level. I left my job, however, and things changed.
It became much more interesting to me, to write about things a little closer to home. Within the first year of blogging, I found myself following very closely the attempts to build a new convention center in Cleveland in 2003. It actually got me
involved in following the process, writing about it and starting to pay more attention to the local politics.
Spending a lot of time writing about a shake-up in the Big East got me wanting to write more about my alma mater's teams and with some friends I started a new
blog devoted to Pitt.
In the last several months, I haven't been too pleased with my activity on this blog. The effort had been spotty, and I just wasn't feeling particularly motivated. I needed to do something to shake things up a bit.
In the initial conversation with Denise, she was actually interested in me doing a sports blog. It made sense since the sports blogs on Cleveland.com are far more popular and I was already doing a blog totally devoted to sports -- even if it was unrelated to the area teams.
I considered it, but turned down the idea. I'm not from Cleveland and not a real fan of the area teams. I like them well enough and follow them, but
a blog about a team or teams requires something more. It requires the passion and emotion of a fan. You can have the analysis and the logic, but you also have to convey the caring about them. Sharing in the joys and disappointments. It would have been me playing sportswriter in a blog. And while I might enjoy it, it would have been the wrong place and format. (You know, I'm starting to feel stupid about that. I never even thought to ask whether I'd be able to go to the games before saying no.)
Instead, I countered with the idea of writing more about the area politics. Something I did like doing, and would be a chance to go in a new direction. Beyond just writing about what was happening, I wanted to link to what others were saying about things. This would be an opportunity to have and expand the conversation.
Denise bought it.
I didn't want to announce anything, since there was still a contract to be signed, and things happen. Still, I felt I should tell
George, since without him this wouldn't have occurred.
Hindsight being what it is, I screwed up. My e-mail mentioned what I had said to Denise at the meet-up and I made it come off that I would be doing a BFD for Cleveland.com. George was
pissed.
NEO Babble is not a corporate version of BFD. George is responsible for making the bloggers in NEO more of a community than just an assorted group linked by location. Through his efforts and personal networking, many of the local bloggers have put faces on one another. BFD is the portal everyone uses for finding North East Ohio blogs.
I can't do that. I don't want to do that. I want to write and talk about local politics and issues as I have done, but with more attention paid to what other blogs are saying about things.
As for George's other thoughts and criticisms about doing this. I expected that from a lot of people. I believe this can work. Obviously, the proof will be in the blogging.
This arrangement already frees me to talk about a subject that I have avoided. The Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court. My wife is a magistrate with the court. I've not spoken about it for fear of getting her in trouble for what I think. Now, I can disclose it and speak more openly.
I'm hoping I will be judged by my track record and my posts.
