Beyond Our Expectations

The Baron and I had no idea what to expect when we first put out a request for donations to help cover the shortfall Pajamas Media caused when they precipitously dropped GoV from their rolls. We felt confident that some people who donate regularly and on their own would answer the call (you know who you are), but other than that, we weren’t sure. We simply decided to accept whatever the outcome was, knowing that in the end, “all will be well, all manner of thing will be well.“

As it turns out, “all manner of thing” is excellent indeed. It is one state of affairs to be paid by a company; it is quite something else to be given sustenance through the voluntary sharing of our individual readers’ time and resources. The latter creates a bond between our readers and our work that is strong, resilient, and freeing: no more ads!

The connection with PJM, on the other hand, came with the price of slow-loading advertisements, which added significantly to the time it took our page to open. We received a number of complaints about that “feature” but felt we were stuck with the situation…
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However, we discovered to our naïve surprise that PJM is much like the MSM; for both entities, only politically correct speech is permitted. I had no idea this was the case until the afternoon of The Phone Call informing us of our banishment. That the cutting of our connection due to our content — which was not uncivil, seditious or harmful — was a great surprise. Yet when we were thrust into the outer darkness, behind that surprise was the sound of a shoe dropping. At some level I had known that media — of any sort — is tied hand and foot by the P.C. Police, working in the background to shut down uncomfortable discussions. Call it a moment of awakening… again.

So far, it is not a criminal offense in the US to discuss issues that make people uncomfortable, or make them think beyond the limited box into which speech has been stuffed. However, it can be a powerful financial disincentive to step out of the box — and it is meant to be so.

Now, instead of answering to a Board of Directors in California (does anyone know who occupies this board?) we answer to our readers. Actually, we should have listened to them in the first place, when they asked us to step out on our own. Silly me, I thought that doing so would be disloyal to PJM’s efforts to aggregate the blogosphere. Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed that except for the largest blogs, PJM was mostly devoted to MSM writers. Things changed somewhere between their dream and the current reality.

Here is the current list of countries which donated to Gates of Vienna:

• Argentina
  
• Australia
  
• Austria
  
• Canada
  
• The Czech Republic
  
• Denmark
  
• Finland
  
• France
  
• Ireland
  
• Italy
  
• The Netherlands
  
• Norway
  
• Spain
  
• Sweden
  
• The UK
  
• The USA
  
• Venezuela

I was pleased with the variety of places from which our gifts originated. Denmark, of course, gives the same way Texas does — with remarkable numbers of donors. It makes me wonder if they share any DNA. But to hear from donors in places we hadn’t seen before? That was most heartening.

This is the breakdown for the United States:

• Arizona
  
• Arkansas
  
• California
  
• Colorado
  
• Connecticut
  
• Florida
  
• Georgia
  
• Hawaii
  
• Illinois
  
• Maryland
  
• Massachusetts
  
• Michigan
  
• Minnesota
  
• Missouri
  
• New Mexico
  
• New York City
  
• New York State
  
• North Carolina
  
• Ohio
  
• Oregon
  
• Pennsylvania
  
• South Carolina
  
• Texas squared
  
• Virginia
  
• Washington (state)

And last, but certainly not least, “The Sandbox” — our military currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I hope I remembered all the countries and states. If not, please let me know and I’ll update our listings. I willingly took on the assignment of writing our acknowledgments; believe it or not, I actually like doing them. I also like polishing silver — proving once more that there is no accounting for taste.

If your donation has not been personally acknowledged, email me. The oversight will be rectified immediately.

Needless to say, we tithe whatever comes our way. This time, it should be other blogs. One in particular, Bill Roggio’s Long War Journal, was in singular need of repayment. When Bill first sent out his request for help a few years ago, I replied with regret that we could not afford to give at the time. Back then, the Baron wasn’t working and the fB was in college, so there wasn’t much give in our budget.

Nonetheless, it bothered me to turn Bill down because I knew he had to collect a very large amount of money to cover his life insurance for his children should anything happen to him while he was embedded in Iraq. Wouldn’t you know, on receiving my “regrets”, Mr. Roggio turned right around and sent us a donation! That was one karmic debt I was glad to put in order.

Another blogger — if he can be so designated — who merits support is Paul Belien. He has been interrogated for home schooling his children, for his belief in free speech, and for his support of Flanders’ sovereignty. There are people in the U.S. who have helped in his persecution, duped as they are by the “progressive” Belgian authorities. As Mr. Belien has pointed out, the artificial state of Belgium is simply the EU writ small. The corruption in both entities, however, has a remarkable breadth and depth.

And, of course, The Belmont Club. Wretchard is an amazing person. He is modest, a man of impeccable integrity, and he is always helpful when we ask for information or his opinion on a given matter. He has aided us in practical ways, too. In addition, it was The Belmont Club, blogger and commenters, that most influenced our decision to step out on our own. No doubt, he has influenced others. Many of us owe Wretchard far more than we can say.

Your gifts have also allowed me to continue a pledge I made to Lionheart to help him until June, when he would more probably be on his feet and his legal hassles would be over. I was upset to think I might have to renege on my promise with the sudden loss of PJM income. Now I don’t have to. [By the way, Lionheart did very well in the initial hearing; his lawyer thought he bested the police in his arguments. Now he has to wait until the end of May for the final hearing. I feel hopeful about his future. Due to his strong desire to stand before his accusers — and due also to what seems to be a rapidly changing political climate in Britain — he has a good chance of prevailing against this injustice. I thought him foolhardy to return to what might be a lethal outcome, but now I applaud his decision. In addition, those generous people who helped him with a place to stay made all the difference in his return. His homesickness became a thing of the past.]

So the good news is that Gates of Vienna goes forward sans advertisements until next year. We received enough money to carry us a bit past December, but how far past I’m not yet certain.

Thanks to all of you for your generosity. You’ve made our year! I will think of you every single time I open the Gates of Vienna page... and see it load so quickly.