A SWTD Celebration: 200 Posts And Counting

If I need a cause for celebration, or a comfort I can use to ease my mind, I rely on my imagination, And I dream of an imaginary time ~ Lyrics from the Billy Joel tune "Everybody Has A Dream" from the 9/29/1977 album "The Stranger. The Stranger was Joel's critical and commercial breakthrough, spending 6 weeks at #2 on the US album charts. It remains his best-selling non-compilation album to date, and was ranked number 70 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Welcome to the 200th Sleeping With The Devil post. As of today my blog has been in existence for exactly 7 years and 7 months. During much of this time my blog has received little traffic and even less comments. However, as of late that seems to have changed a little. But many of these new commenters are people who disagree with me politically and only comment to either insult me or post screeds they composed for, or stole from other blogs (screeds that are anti-Obama and/or racist). Not a development I am overly enthused about.

In addition it appears as though I've attracted a troll who is fixated on harassing me via name-calling, insults, and game playing... both here and on other blogs (the troll is following me around and keeping track of my comments on other blogs). This is an a$$hole who originally fixated on the Libertarian/Objectivist blogger rAtional nAtion and came to my blog to inform me of comments from RN he found objectionable (after he was kicked off the blogs of both RN and Shaw Kenawe). At first I engaged this fellow and discussed the issue with him. Turns out this was a mistake (although he may have fixated on me regardless of how I initially responded to him).

Here (on SWTD), he commented using a Blogger account with the name "Steve" attached to it. Elsewhere he comments anonymously (he can't comment on SWTD anonymously because I removed that option). The trouble with Steve was recently amplified thanks to a post by a former Progressive who has now gone Republican (or so he says). A blogger who calls himself Joe "Truth 101" Kelly (although he previously went by the name "Joe Hagstrom") recently tried to turn the blogging community against me by labeling me a shithead, an action that attracted Steve's attention. Steve was furious after I disabled anonymous commenting and he let me have it on Joe Kelly-Hagstrom's blog. I engaged him and he proceeded to lie, swear, laugh manically... and agree with Joe Kelly-Hagstrom (JKH) about me being a shithead.

Back on my blog Steve denied the person commenting on JKH's blog was him. In fact he was so enraged by the accusation that he threatened me, saying "I will have to make life bad for you in blog land" (and indicated that he would keep it up for a long period of time). Gee, Steve, I thought you were already doing that. And JKH (an individual with whom I was previously friendly) helped him out. And, in addition to JKH and Steve teaming up to bash me, rAtional nAtion stopped by to gloat.

However, in spite of the possibility that it is true that "poor Dervy has had a shitty Labor Day weekend" due to these attacks against him by a former Progressive blogging associate and some unknown a$$hole, I am resolute. Go away Steve and stop lying Joe "Truth". 200 posts is just the beginning. In fact, to commemorate this milestone I have changed my blog's tagline to (drum roll)... "Would you like a side order of Word Salad with your Non Sequitur?".

As I am a blogger who gives credit where credit is due, I must acknowledge that the source of this new tagline is the blogger known as Willis "Take No Prisoners" Hart. Although he intended it as an insult, I take it as a badge of honor, along with the "shithead" designation from the former truth-teller Joe Kelly (or Hagstrom) of the blog Truth 101.

Instead of exposing the truth he is now (according to his new tagline) "dedicated to finding and exposing shitheads the world over". As his first order of business JKH "exposed" me. He has yet to expose himself, however. In addition Willis Hart has exposed me as a moron who (a la Sarah Palin) is prone to word salads and non sequiturs, as well as using "any excuse in the book to make false accusations and trouble". For that reason Willis agrees with JKH about my shitheadedness; in fact he says it is "monstrous"... presumably because I tell many "bald faced" lies about him and his political positions.

rAtional nAtion agreed with much of the sentiment expressed by these detractors, saying (on the blog of Willis) "Word salads are a strong suit of Derv's indeed". On his own blog he contradictorily said I was being shitheaded (with my comments) while also "occasionally a few dimes short of a dollar but never a shithead".

Perhaps I should thank RN, as being a "few dimes short of a dollar" is nowhere near as bad as being a shithead or a "monstrous shithead"? I say no, given the fact that he has taken to the blogs in order to direct everyone's attention to the blog post of JKH. RN feigns friendliness and denies obvious hostility. But he points others toward this "shithead" post by JKH and he repeats the baloney "word salad" accusation by the blogger Willis Hart. In his latest comment on Progressive Eruptions he says I am "a Tosser Extraordinaire". Now he calls me "Canardo", by which I assume he means that I'm a liar ("Canardo" being canard with an "O" added to it).

Yet, for reasons that genuinely perplex me, a number of Progressive bloggers are eager to jump to RN's defense. Former progressive JKH is friendly to RN, and current Progressives Shaw Kenawe and Octopus are very strong defenders of RN. However, while both of these Progressives commented on JKH's shithead post, neither said a word about me being labeled a "shithead". I'm not saying they should have said anything; I'm only making the observation that they did not, whereas with RN they did. Surely "shithead" is a pejorative none of them would care to have attached to their names?

Insults coming from someone who disagrees with you is one thing, but it's another when it's "one of your own", which is something JKH used to be. The conversion to Republicanism by the former Truthster was something I at first took as a joke (as he has made comments previously about catching flack from people he works with for being a Democrat), but now I'm thinking the conversion is genuine. Surely some kind of conversion took place. A conversion to Republicanism or a conversion to shitheadedness (or both). And how convenient that JKH authored this post at the (almost) exact time Steve grew upset with me and left my blog in a huff. Is it possible that JKH is the individual who set up the "Steve" account and he is the a$$hole who posted MANY comments in response to the shithead post?

Who can say except Steve? Or the person behind "Steve". Not me, but then I "don't even get the simple shit" (Steve said so in a comment from him that I deleted). In any case, the purpose of this "hate post" (naming the people I "hate") is not to elicit sympathy. I imagine I'm opening myself up to the OPPOSITE by publishing this. The purpose is to let the haters and game players know that nothing they've published on any blog (or on JKH's blog) means that they "own me" (another claim of Steve's in another deleted comment).

My changing of my blog's tag line is evidence of that. THEY can hate and throw nasty bogus insults my way, but I'm not letting it get me down (which is exactly what they want, I suspect). I'm not going away. Sorry Willis, Dennis, RN, JKH and Steve... but you failed. Now is the time for me, with this 200th post, to celebrate and be happy, even if I'm only relying on my imagination to get me there. Some comments from well wishers would be appreciated, but not necessary or expected. If commenters decide to wish me luck going forward and offer words of encouragement, those will be gratefully accepted. On the other hand, if I get more insults or absolute silence (no replies), that's fine too.

SWTD #200, lDel #6.