JasonEverettMiller's Blog | Talking Points Memo

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Week of June 29, 2008 - July 5, 2008

General Quarters, General Quarters - All Hands On Deck

July 2, 2008, 8:01AM

When a Navy vessel is under attack or suffers a catastrophic emergency the ship's captain declares general quarters. Without a second thought, thousands of individuals (conservatives and liberals) drop everything they are doing and come together as one cohesive unit to save the ship.

America is in General Quarters.

We have an All Hands On Deck evolution that is being impeded by people telling half the ship to fuck off. Our ship is taking on water at a rate that will sink us and half the damage control team is busy telling the other half to get away from the hole in the ship, they have it covered.

Is this metaphor to esoteric or am I getting through here?

If it isn't clear enough, let me slow it down: The American Left is not enough to save the ship on their own. We also need moderate republicans and right-leaning independents who understand the severity of our plight to jump in and help. They may have different methods, but most are trying to save the ship, not sink it faster.

So what if they think the emergency was an accident and not deliberate sabotage?

Your Comment has been Deleted by the "Bad Word" Filter - The Huffington Post Clamps Down on Spicy Commentary

June 30, 2008, 8:30AM

I officially take back every bad thing I have said about TPM, though I still think it would be a no-brainer to tailor their Internet development strategy to be more responsive to requests by their members. They should be turning out new functionality continually, not just answering questions about why things don't work right or haven't changed despite numerous posts on the subject.

Having said all that, I have never had a comment not post because I used some "bad words" in expressing myself like just happened at Huffington Post. I most certainly never had it kick a comment out even when no such words were present. What are those words? Is there a list of the words? Are they same as the seven Carlin pointed out? Can such censorship ever apply to a medium such as the Internet? How many people leaving your website does it take to realize this is a crappy policy?

At worst, I lost comments because I put too many links in it in making my often overly-long responses. OK. I get it. If a comment needs a bunch of links just write a blog about it and quit clogging up threads with treatises. I can actually see where that policy stimulates better content.

But "Your Comment has been Deleted by the 'Bad Word' Filer" is going beyond reasonable standards for adult-focused websites that focus mostly on politics and pop culture. Face it. Many Americans have dirty fucking mouths when they are pissed. We have plenty to be pissed about. Get over it.

It also reminded me why I left Huffington Post in the first place. As much as I get fed up with certain TPM members, this place is heads and shoulders above what I see on HuffPost. Even our dumbest trolls are Rhodes Scholars in comparison to most erudite comments and blogs on HuffPost.

My next blog will be in response to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/29/a-reminder-for-senator-ob_n_109846.html">the lame Jason Linkins post that set me off in the first place.</A> If that is what passes for astute political analysis by HuffPost's paid staff these days, I'll take our unpaid bloggers any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

« June 22, 2008 - June 28, 2008 | Home | July 6, 2008 - July 12, 2008 »

jason everett miller

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Website: www.jasoneverettmiller.com
Location Washington DC
Party Republican (Bull Moose 2.0)
Politics Progressive conservative. I believe we need governing policies that are based in common sense and not dogma. An evolution of society and not a revolution that seeks to tear everything down and start from scratch. We don't have enough time for that nonsense.

Favorites

Favorite Blogs TPM. Much easier to get everything in one place than visiting a million blogs every day. Who has time for that?
Favorite Books Too many to list. Reading The Years of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson. Just finished the Squandering of America by Robert Kuttner. Probably the best explanations of our issues and some possible solutions for them.
Favorite Quotes "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom." - Thomas Paine, Common Sense
"It behooves every man to remember that the work of the critic is of altogether secondary importance, and that, in the end, progress is accomplished by the man who does things." - Teddy Roosevelt

Bio

I started my professional life as a union carpenter in Reno before joining the United States Navy in 1991 as an assistant ship's journalist and a deck seaman. I covered high-profile events around the globe, from Hurricane Andrew disaster in 1992 to the discovery of USS Yorktown off of Midway Island with Bob Ballard in 1998. My final tour of duty at Combat Camera Group Pacific was as a field producer in support of a worldwide mission of military documentary production.

I left the Navy in 2001 and moved across the country to start my first business with my long-time best friend Mikah Sellers. We started a specialized communications firm in Washington DC called Hancuff Miller. After a short but successful partnership, we both decided to pursue other opportunities following the Dot.com Bomb. I spent the next several years as a freelance multimedia designer, web developer and screenwriter. I also wrote five feature-length scripts during this time, earning a bachelors degree in graphics and multimedia design from Capella University and a Masters in Producing for Film & Video at American University.

In 2006, I gathered together my educational background, technical tools and business acumen to start my second company, Metamorphosis Media, with Marcus Scott. The company completed a number of projects for non-profit clients such as Academy of Hope, Mosaica and the Conservation Fund. It was at Metamorphosis that I discovered the enormous benefit that technology and story-telling could provide to the non-profit, charity and NGO communities. I maintain a relationship with Metamorphosis as a senior consultant with the firm, but no longer support their day-to-day operations.

I live with my wife and two dogs in Washington DC. My extracurricular activities include filmmaking, screenwriting and blogging.

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