Jack: I didn’t add trackback support (I don’t remember explicitly removing it), and don’t see why my weblog should automatically point to another weblog because someone chooses to comment on something here. I do allow comments (for now), and have only deleted ones that were obvious spam or offensive (as opposed to argumentative: If someone submits a comment calling me an a**le or jerk or idiot, I’ll approve it–but if they choose to use obscenities or offensive language in the process, I’ll reject it and probably blacklist them).

Yeah, well, that’s what the “trackback” feature is for. After a few weeks of angry leftists aping DNC chair Howard Dean’s approach to debate and discussion, I think you’d probably see why I’ve limited comments to those who’ve taken the trouble to create their own blog. And I hasten to add that ur-bloggress JW allows for neither comments nor trackbacks, so…

In fact, the reason I commented here at all was because I wasn’t able to find a trackback link for this post. I still don’t see it.

I moved to Alaska by taking the Alaska State ferry from Bellingham to Haines. It was small enough that it could get into passages ships such as yours can’t get close to. Most of the passengers got up in the middle of the night to watch the ferry navigate through “Christmas Tree Alley”, so called because the red and green navigation markers in a very narrow channel were close enough to look like decorations on a Christmas tree. We saw a mama whale heading south with her baby here–it was late October.

Myself, I don’t think of the parts of Alaska you see from cruise ships as the real Alaska…that’s the northern rainforest of Canada.

For that matter, “cruising” has been in the banner of the weblog all along, so the fact that I finally started writing about cruising didn’t necessarily mean that’s what I was doing. You get A- for leaping to conclusions, F for appropriateness.

Okay, I “falsely accused” you regarding WHICH post you linked to. I didn’t check that, since it was entirely irrelevant to my grumpiness about your comment. Guilty as charged. (Wow! “Falsely accused” for an innocent and irrelevant oversight.)

Commitment to pluralism of opinion? I have never told people not to read any of the right-wing library weblogs. I have never suggested that such weblogs should be shut down, criticized, or anything of the sort. I added a number of “conservative” library-related weblogs to Bloglines, and have kept a couple. And I approved this comment (without having any idea why it triggered the Moderation requirement–I certainly don’t have a blacklist).

But if “commitment to pluralism of opinion” means I need to explicitly point to or support a weblog that has included assertions that I don’t believe in copyright protection (apparently because I’m insufficiently absolutist on the issue, looking at the Constitution rather than Big Media’s wish list), then I guess I lack such commitment. So be it.

Addendum: On visiting this particular weblog, I was reminded of Jack’s “commitment to pluralism of opinion”: there’s no comment feature, assuring that no other opinions are voiced on his blog. Bwahahah…

Thanks for your commitment to pluralism of opinion in American libraries.

In the grump case, I used the term jerk advisedly, based on previous incidents. Which is also why I don’t mention the site. (Encountered via a typical PubSub ego feed.)

Literally blue skies? Not just not raining, but actually cloudless? I hope you’re not the superstitious sort who expects to have to pay for your good fortune, or you’ll be looking over your shoulder for months, expecting a meteor or at least a stray ballistic missile coming straight for you.