Courtesy of Department of Defense

Overall it was a quiet week…..

You know it has to be when Nancy only posts 7 posts all week….Sunday am through Saturday pm.
In Delaware, most of the action happened within the comment sections. Those comment sections will be our primary focus within this edition.

For neophytes, the state’s primary comment-streams occur on three blogs. This is where those who do not have a blog of their own, can pretend they are master blog writers, and often can within their writings, surpass the eloquence of the original author. The three blogs are DelawarePolitics.Net, Down with Absolutes, and DelawareLiberal.net.

One reason explaining the popularity of these blogs is the ease with which commenting can be done upon these three blogs. Down with Absolutes has a widget which slows commenting down considerably, probably because those Federal Boys monitoring our sights are not fiber optic and the 2 second delay is the result. (It didn’t always act that way.) Perhaps if you are NOT currently being monitored under the broken FISA law, the display may actually keep up with your typing….. As for the the other two blogs mentioned, typing comments is a breeze. Unlike these three, other blogs using blogger.com tend to wear down the patience of the commentator with spam passwords and multiple clicks for approval….Sometimes after posting, the comment disappears completely……so naturally you type in a double, and the next day……both are posted…… Those commenting with haloscan are slightly better off, but still, having comments appear in a separate window, is disruptive after being spoiled by typing like one does at these three, at the bottom of the page.

A casual glance from Sunday evening,  looking back over this weeks comments, shows the big movers were:

I’d laugh if it wasn’t true… at 272.

Observation with 188.

lord forgive me for what I am about to do…. with 161.

Lee, Copeland Rebuke DSEA with 102.

I Was Wrong with 72.

Ruth Ann’s Legacy with 55.

Mike Protack Continues to Surprise holding at 53.

Put a Gold Star on his Helmet with 44.

MAC is Back at 42.

QOD (Would you let your 18 year old son have his 16 year old girlfriend sleep over your house?) with 42.

Of course the number of comments appearing on a blog do not ascribe to the value of the blog. Quite often it is exactly the opposite. The banter sometimes borders on the ridiculous,with the metaphorical equivalent of:

“You suck.”

o not”

“Do too.”

“Do Not”

etc…etc…

Whereas exchanges between two personalities such as these are at first entertaining, one soon grows tired of the same old routines. The great threads occur when learned people jump on and provide details and facts which were previously unavailable. Then suddenly right before your eyes, a deceit that had been previously held as truth, begins to crumble and in its place, reveals a truth that has been held hostage by those lies far too long……

The longest thread honors go to Delaware Liberal with this post which opens up with a picture of a “Hello Kitty” assault rifle.    Now the picture is worth logging on for itself, but the commentary gets off to a raucous start when Delaware Liberal is crashed by members of a gun blog….  The commentary ranges from sublime, to ridiculous…..  There are parts where it appears the primary purpose is to generate more comments by pissing off the other person.  Comment 114 sums up the reaction of those not defensive of either point of view. But some of the invective is notable. I point to this quote by Art Downs: A bereaved mother whose kid was killed by a pistol was protesting. She was a ‘new age’ mom with facial piercings and tattoos and I asked her if her lack of parenting skills may have contributed to the tragedy.” She was a ‘new age’ mom with facial piercings and tattoos and I asked her if her lack of parenting skills may have contributed to the tragedy. Of course it is unlikely that the happening occurred exactly the way it was portrayed, but anyone can pretend on the internet……

But the gun controversy took up a majority of the comments this past week. Spots 1, 2, and 3, were all conversations circulating among the same characters discussing guns. At one point Mike Matthews interjects, asking why Delaware Liberal attracted all the gun nuts. A worthy response is floated back, questioning whether those supporting guns, are truly the ones who are nuts……..

After guns which between three seperate posts generated a total of 621 comments on one topic…. the next topic with the most hits (comments) dealt with the relationship between DSEA and the Republican party. Posted on Delaware Politics.Net, the tone in this blog is completely alien to that of the previous 3. How to describe the difference…..perhaps one could say…..it was more serious in tone? Whereas the gun conversation was light on facts, and more of a battle between two unsubstantiated opinions, the post titled Lee, Copeland, Rebuke the DSEA. is more like a presidential debate, where substance is the real star. DElaware Politics has the reputation of being a right oriented blog, but the majority of those commenting, espouse rather progressive views. What is entertaining about this blog, spawned form Dave’s own loins, is that it is a battle ground of ideas. Conservatives and Progressives argued back and forth over charter schools, segregation, the failure rate, governor candidate’s ideas, and fortunately for us, it has very little mention of either Copeland, Lee, or the DSEA……

Jason330’s apology for his tone in the first three top commented posts, brings back the same crowd and garners 5th Place.

Sixth spot gets taken by RAM in Ruth Ann’s Legacy This thread quickly gets turned into whether her smoking ban was unconstitutional, or within her rights….. In a debate that was dead 5 years ago, the ghosts of smokers everywhere circulate the hope that someday it will be overturned. One astute commentator points out, that until a majority of Delawareans smoke……that won’t ever happen….Smokers are down to 8 percent of our population I think? Tokers make up 18%. So realistically, they have a greater chance of getting their product smoked in public, than do those boys in big Richmond, Virginia offices…..

Mike Protack is the subject of the seventh highest comment post of the week….. Our favorite “Liz” carries the water on this one. Coming across as Protack’s biggest fan, she has nothing but praise for how he has run his campaign so far….. Protack is lucky to have fans like her.
The debate rages over sharpshooter technology. (It didn’t seem to work in North Charlestion.….).

Spot 8 takes place on Down with Absolutes. Guns, Protack,and new technolaogy are the topic. Once again Liz comes to Mike’s defense.

A discussion about McCain earns ninth place. And the last blog with over forty comments, is a simple question about teen sex. Can someone help me? I forget which blogs either of those were on……..

It seems like guns dominated most of the discussion this week. Most of that discussion occurred on blogs upstate. In the larger world topics of discussion are often spawned by outside events. In this case the Washington DC ban on handgun was the news article that got this topic going….

But I want to take a brief moment to comment on a general trend. Some of the longest threads are often not the best. Often banality occurs within these threads, until someone injects wisdom into the conversation with his comment, forcing a flurry of activity in his wake….