No, this isn’t a rant on the evils of Prop 8, but on the synergies available in the blawgosphere for those who have a keen eye and an open mind. Mark Draughn, renown the world over as WindyPundit, has put out the welcome mat for a new addition to the family, or expanded the Empire as Windy puts it. His new co-blogger is none other than Joel Rosenberg, a/k/a J-dog.
I’m pleased to announce the expansion of the blogging team here at Windypundit with the addition of Joel Rosenberg (yes, that Joel Rosenberg). Joel is a firearms instructor from Minnesota, where runs the Twin Cities Carry Course. Online, he posts to his Open Sites LiveJournal page and operates the Twin Cities Carry Forum.
Regular readers here will be very familiar with J-dog, whose thoughtful and provocative comments have raised everyone’s consciousness, especially mine. And, I hesitate to note, has changed the face of fashion for those of us fortunate enough to be worthy of the description “pear shaped.”
Windy’s take on Joel’s commentary really nails what I most admire about him as well.
I first noticed Joel in the comments over at Simple Justice where I was struck by the fact that even though he clearly had an emotional investment in the issues, he was willing to accept the possibility that he could be wrong, willing to consider alternative explanations, and willing to believe that despite their errors, his opponents were sometimes acting with good intentions.
While Joel left no doubt when he disagreed about something, his manner was such that it was impossible to be miffed by it. Indeed, if you didn’t chuckle when you read Joel’s comments smacking you in the face, you likely missed the point. Ever witty and self-deprecating, J-dog always brought some ideas to the table that made you reconsider. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The Daring Duo have hit the ground running, with Windy busily documenting Obama Derangement Syndrome while Joel has a two-part diatribe about the joys of Evil Black Rifles and why criminal background checks are the anti-gun crowd equivalent of thinking highly of Sarah Palin.
Since it’s been good for Joel’s business, training upstanding Americans how to shoot straight, one might think J-dog would be a little kinder to his benefactor, but Joel has never allowed shameful self-interest to stand in the way of his defense of the Constitution. But the man knows his weapons.
If there’s anyone left who hasn’t put Windy on his RSS feed, do so today so you don’t miss anything these two have to post. As soon as J-dog realizes that Windy voted for Obama (twice), all hell is going to break lose over there and I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And I have no doubt that Joel won’t be able to restrain himself from letting his devotion to the Second Amendment spill over to some of the others. I hear he’s pretty fond of the Ninth as well, and lord knows we can never get enough discussion about the Ninth.
Congratulations to Mark and Joel, and I wish your joint venture great success.
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Thanks for the kind words, and the recommendation, Scott — even the part in the past tense that made it sound like a eulogy.
Some years ago, I wrote a fantasy murder mystery called D’Shai. The lead character* was kind of a smartass who had a far more intelligent and talented younger sister, who ended up being one of the murder victims.
My sister Dale — who is younger, more intelligent and talented than I am — sent me a nice note about it that said, roughly, “I really liked the book. Even the part where I died.”
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* The only detective in fiction I’m aware of whose first thought, upon encountering a dead body is, roughly, “Who the hell do I blame this on, since I’m not going to be able to figure out who did it.”
Aren’t we Mr. The-Glass-is-97%-Empty today. Sorry to hear about your sister Dale.
Yeah, thanks for the kind words.
I’m hoping to get a conversation going on the blog, presumably about guns. I don’t think it will be much of a debate, though, because I suspect we’re pretty closely in agreement on most RKBA issues…except maybe when it comes to Evil Black Rifles…I think I like them more than Joel does.
Most people who like them at all do. When somebody proudly shows me his or her new EBR, my first thought is always but you could have bought an H&K P7 for that, and still had money for boxes and boxes of ammo.
I was going to send this privately, but there’s this rule about apologies being given in the same venue as the offense . . . if I came across as ungrateful for the kind words, I’m sorry for my clumsiness; it’s a flaw in how I expressed myself, not in my gratitude.
Chill brother J-dog. You know how I play.
Mazol tov.
If I had a nickel for every time that thought ran through my mind…
So which one of you is going to be Hannity and which one Colmes?
I’ve heard those names before, but I can’t picture the people. Sorry.
Dibs on Hannity. Better hair, better pay, and better lines. (I’m not a fan, mind you — he infuriates me for short periods of time*, even when we’re on the same side of a policy. But Colmes has always impressed me as a total lightweight — and as that photo showed, whatever I am, it’s not that.)
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* I don’t have the remote glued to my hand, you know.
Oh, a P7 would be fun too. The squeeze-cocking features is way cool (although it feels dirty writing about it), and I’ve wanted one for years but, you know, Chicago.
(Besides, the P7 is all black and scary too.)
Shooting for me is all about fun, mostly just plinking, and the military-style guns are a lot of fun. I don’t get shooting much, but the few times I shot an AR-15 were a blast.
A few years ago I got to put about 800 rounds through a full-auto H&K MP5. It was awesome. I’d love to have one. You know, for home defense.
Okay, okay. I asked for it, but let’s move all this gun talk elsewhere, WindyPundit perhaps.