Day: December 18, 2006

Folks, I’ve been extremely lenient in my comment/trackback policy. I can see from recent developments that I’m going to have to crack down just a wee tad, though.

Trackbacks will henceforth be accepted within two strictly enforced categories–the way it’s supposed to have been all along:

1. Trackbacks which reference a post within a post that is in some way related or comments on the content of the post tracked back to. Folks, this is what trackbacks were initially designed for, their reason for being. If you simply put a link in your post, saying, “Here are some interesting posts,” I’ll delete the trackback. SAY SOMETHING, quote from the post, refer to it in a post that has similar content or in which you use my post as a reference or whatever, or do not try the trackback.
2. Open trackbacks: ONLY posts designated as Open Trackback posts or linkfests will accept unrelated trackbacks on any subject, requiring only a link to the OPEN TRACKBACK/LINKFEST post to qualify.

It’s pretty simple: UNLESS the post you intend to track back to is an open post/linkfest don’t expect your trackback to show any more if you do not make some meaningful reference to the post. Heck, even roundup posts have a brief comment mentioning the content of the post linked to! And no, slapping a “BTW” mini-roundup with no contextual content at the end of a completely unrelated post doesn’t qualify.

Be real. Make your links and trackbacks genuine, OK? Trackback unrelated posts ONLY to linkfests/open posts. It’s what they are for. Linking to NON open trackback/linkfest posts that are unrelated to your post material is a bush league tactic that wins you no friends. Or readers. Play fair or play somewhere else.

(No, I’m still not going to be a real hardcase about this. A simple reference that even peripherally ties the link into your post–even in a nonsensical way, but does attempt the tie-in nonetheless–will pass muster in most cases. Just make some sort of good faith effort to be legit, OK?)

N.B. Yes, I do understand that when doing manual trackbacks to multiple sites for open trackback postings that it is pretty easy to get things screwed up and trackback to the wrong post accidentally. Even though I may delete those trackbacks when they’re caught in moderation or wherever, I’ll not block trackbacks–except for obvious SPAM–from open trackback/linkfest posts, even if after this notice any blogger seems to continue with a practice that violates this notice. At twc, open trackback/linkfest posts are just that: open.

[N.B. A bit of a time crunch today, so I’m re-posting, with minor edits, a post from last December (12-10-05) from another of my blogs. Semi-sincere apologies for the reprint, but time presses. 🙂 ]

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OK, R’Cat’s got my crank turnin’ with her Daily Advent Meditations over at Cathouse Chat. Another good’un today riffing off the Mark Lowry song, “Mary Did You Know?” (A song that, by now, has been recorded by nearly everyone and his dog, but well worth a listen, IMO. I happen to like the Kenny Rogers/Wynonna Judd version.)

I recieved a rather lengthy email yesterday (12-09-05), one of those multi-forwarded things with an article supposedly (probably true, just haven’t bothered to check) reproduced from a newspaper article going slightly “mad dog” all over the hyper-secularization of Christmas. This comment set me back on my heels:

“We’ve allowed the Baby Jesus to be kicked out of His lowly manger, and those offended by Christmas are still not happy.”

Well, d’oh. What did The Man Himself have to say about such things?

18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father. 25 But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.'(_a_) John 15:18-27 NJKV

And some of the foundational teachings of the Christian church include multiple reminders of Christ’s humility and of Christians’ call to emulate it.

For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake… Phil. 1:29 NKJV

And

5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Phil. 2:5-8 NKJV

So, an ACLU mentality wants to “kick the baby Jesus out of his lowly manger”? If Philippians 2:5-8 is a true witness, then He’d just sleep on the floor.

Continue reading “Kicked Outa the Manger”

Today’s Blogburst is also available as a Podcast.

The Price of Lettuce

By Nancy Matthis at American Daughter

Federal subsidies do not reduce the COST of food to the taxpayer. They increase it. Likewise, illegal immigration does not reduce the cost of food, or of any other goods and services, to the taxpayer. Illegal immigration also increases those costs.

In fact, illegal immigration increases the citizen’s financial burden in exactly the same ways and using the same types of governmental mechanisms as the inefficient and ill-conceived government subsidy programs. Let’s just look at the numbers. The available data points come from different years, so our results will not be specific for any single year, but will be representative of the general problem.

Continue reading “Guard the Borders”

Time crunch this week. Gonna rely on regular x-posts, as many Christmas-related posts as I can fit in and… y’all providing plenty of link-ins and trackbacks to fill these pages.

If you have a linkfest/open trackback post to promote OR if you simply want to promote a post via the linkfests/open trackback posts others are offering, GO TO LINFEST HAVEN DELUXE! Just CLICK the link above or the graphic immediately below.

All-new, thanks to The Conservative Cat.

If you want to host your own linkfests, check out the Open Trackbacks Alliance.