Hi! I'm Carmen (Waving to everybody!)! I am stranded in the middle of Michele Bachmann territory and I'm about the only Democrat here (Whoops! I lie. My hubby is one too!). I somehow found this site a few months ago and started getting the daily e-mails. I've been reading them most every day. I'd be dying to answer the posts, but found I couldn't, because you have to join the site. Talk about frustrating!! I thought about joining, but here's the thing. I didn't know if I really wanted to join a site where you're expected to blog and stuff like that ('cause I'm not the worlds greatest writer! Can ya tell?! ). But alas, I could stand it no longer and I finally caved. I joined so I could alienate people, probably make a GYNORMOUS fool of myself and stick my foot in my mouth, all on a global scale (you all are global, right?)!
Anyhoo, that's enough about me. The reason I'm writing this, my very first diary BTW (YAY!), is because I'm kind of flummoxed about something here and it involves the ADS. You know, those pesky little bastards that keep coming back to haunt you after you've left their site. You know, for that site you don't want your husband to know you were on (No honey, I am not buying more stuff for my truck!! Geez!), so you quick slam the laptop shut so he doesn't see?! Yeah, those things. Well, I'm not a paying member (sorry, I can't afford it right now. I know, BOO!), so I still get all the ads popping up on my screen. Now, correct me if I'm wrong (which I am a lot, surprisingly), but I was under the impression that this is a progressive, Dem. oriented site and that's why this was kind of a big shocker to me.
Please follow me below the orange thingy-mac-doo-hickee and I'll tell you more about the what, why and everything else, ok?
Ok, there I was, sitting here reading someone's blog a few weeks ago, when up pops an ad for Al Franken. This ad says he's against free speech and "You should sign our petition to stop him" and yeah, whatever. Well, that made me do a double take. I mean, I live in Minnesota, I voted for Al and I know he is not against free speech. As a matter of fact, I get his newsletter and e-mails regularly and he's a strong supporter of free speech! So, I went to the website for "American Encore", the um, "Company" who put out this petition and who are running a companion ad on TV with the same message. Of course, when I check out their website, it's basically filled with nothing. Ok then, off to Google I go to get some more info. on these shady buggers. And what do you suppose I found, hmmm?! I find a story from the Wall Street Journal telling me all about the new attack ads against Al Franken and about how "American Encore" is just a sham company for those two bastards, the Koch Bros.! Shocking I know, right? NOT!!
So my point is this; If this a progressive, Dem. site, why is the Daily Kos taking ads from companys (and I use THAT term loosely) sponsored by the Koch dork Bros? That's kind of counter to what the site is all about, right? Also, I know that the Keystone XL pipeline is a big topic here and that most people are against it. But yet not 5 minutes ago, there was an ad, right here in my face (I need ads-be-gone!), telling me how great it is and how WONDERFUL the stupid thing would be. And that we need it here now, blah, blah, blah. How is this possible? Am I just dumb? Does the site check the ads before they run them or are they just random and the site has no say as to what appears here? I truly would like to know, 'cause I really don't know! It's really been bugging the heck out of me these last few days and I just gotta know! So if anyone knows, please spill the beans so I can rest easier!
Alright. I guess I've spouted off enough for my first foray into the blogosphere. Like I said; 1) I have no clue what the hell I'm doing, 2) I can't write to save my life and 3) I've probably bored you all to tears. If someone ACTUALLY reads this, I want to say you: ARE YOU CRAZY?? I'm kidding of course. I'd really like to say, if someone does read this, thanks for making it to the bottom without falling asleep, tossing your computer out the nearest window, zapping me with the permanent ban button thing or whatever else people do here to get rid of people like me.
Well Daily Kos people, I gotta say, I'm very glad to make your acquaintances and hopefully, no one lost their lives because of me. :D