Thoughts from the Middle of Nowhere

Wulfgar has taken it on himself to run the Montana Weblog Awards again this year. Right off the bat I wish to praise him for taking on this effort with all the work that's involved with it. Thanks Wulfgar.

Nominations were taken for a week and now the ballot is up. I urge everybody to look the ballot over and vote if you wish. I will quote Wulfgar here.

Again, all votes must be registered as comments to this website, or to the email address wulfgar.pillages@gmail.com. ... 'Nobody gotta register for nuthin', and all votes will remain anonymous at the will of the voter. If you wish to proclaim your voting publicly, you are welcome to do that too. I likely will. You are once again invited and encouraged to vote for yourself, with the proviso that I will not. If you wish to self-promote ... then be my guest. This is, as it was last year, all about the promotion of Montana, and Montana websites.

The voting will remain open until Wednesday, December 27th. The results will be announced before the new year. You do not need to be a blogger to vote. You do not need to be a Montanan to vote. So, just vote.

So, you do not have to be a blogger or a Montanan to vote so there is no reason not to. I also believe that you can vote only in the categories you wish and don't have to vote in all of them if that's what you want. Hell, you can even vote in private or in public the choice is yours, so just email Wulfgar or comment on the appropriate post. What could be easier.

I will point out I was nominated in a number of categories and I wish to thank those that nominated me. I am humbled by your consideration that I deserve an award. My nominations are:

Montana Blog that best represents popular culture: Never thought of myself as being "popular culture" but obviously some people do. Thanks.

Blog That Best Represents a Montana Lifestyle: This one is kind of funny. In my opinion a Montana lifestyle would include hunting and fishing which I am not a fan of. It's not something that interests me. I am a rancher thought which fits in to the popular stereotype of Montana so i guess that explains it. Thanks.

Best Photography: I admit, I'm proud of this one. Last years Montana weblog awards showed me how much people enjoyed my pictures and that pushed me to take and post more pictures. I have enjoyed the creativity it has offered me and am proud of my photos. Thanks.

Best Series of Posts: This one was a true surprise to me. The nomination is for my companion site No Mandatory Animal ID which I used to post exclusively about the NAIS program and my opposition to it, making it a series of posts. I truly believe I had an effect on the national issue since exactly what I have campaigned for, no mandatory animal id, has come to pass. The USDA has made the program voluntary because of the outcry against it. Much Thanks for this nomination, it really makes the effort I made be appreciated.

I am not saying you have to vote for me. Go make your decisions and have fun looking at Montana Blogs. There is a lot out there to enjoy, just like there is a lot in Montana to enjoy. I will post my votes here and on Wulfgar's site, like the rules say, in a few days.

This post will remain sticky until the voting is final on Dec. 27th.

I think it's important to vote. Vivienne Westwood

UPDATE: Here is my ballot that I emailed to Wulfgar.

Best Left Leaning Blog: Left In The West- I've always liked Matt's intellectual honesty and for the most part high road he takes. Now that he's changes his site around to a community site I'm not so sure I like it but this year he still gets my vote.

Best Right Leaning Blog: The Hammond Report- I find this new site of interest and it always appears well written. Being a genuine right winger and living in Missoula has to be a challenge for him so he gets an extra vote in my mind for that.

Best Independent or Libertarian Blog: Dave Budge- Of those that are listed the only way to go is Dave. He doesn't do much political blogging anymore so I don't know if he would get my nod in another year but for now he gets it.

Best Political Blog: None- There is more to life than politics so I won't look for the "Best Political Blog."

Blog That Had The Most Impact on the Elections of 2006: Electric City Weblog- In a way I almost didn't vote in this category either since I don't feel blogs have that big of impact on elections but his reporting caused a Judge to resign who was up for election. Quite an effect.

Montana Blog that best represents popular culture: Better Living Through Blogging- I can't in good conscience vote for myself so BLTB gets my nod. Better candidate than me for popular culture any way. Hell, they are all better at popular culture than me.

Best Montana History Blog: A History of Montana By Kodak- I might have a lot of issues with Courtney but this site has a lot of potential and I hope to see more progress on it. OOps, wrong Courtney. I humbly apalogize to Courtney for my mistake. Good blog with a lot of potential. Keep up the good work Courtney.

Blog That Best Represents a Montana Lifestyle: Karbon Kounty Moos- Again, in good conscience I can't vote for myself so my nod goes to Karen. Hell, what more represents a Montana lifestyle than a New York girl that now runs her own ranch.

Most Creative Montana Blog: Watermark- No contest here. I've always enjoyed the creativity I see on this site so this was easy.

Best Photography: Karbon Kounty Moos- Again, in good conscience I can't vote for myself so my nod goes to Karen. She takes really nice photos that I can really relate to.

Best Written Montana Blog: City Lights- Hell, as a professional journalist I would Ed to be well written and it definitely is.

Most Humorous Montana Blog: A Secular Franciscan Life- Randy has a very nice sense of humor that I enjoy. Just wish he would post a little more often.

Best Post: In My Kitchen, Great Falls Firefly- Tough choice here. After looking all the posts over Firefly gets the nod though.

Best Series of Posts: None. I can't in good conscience vote for my own site so I will vote for none. Can't let the competition get any extra votes.

These are by no means an endorsement. Just an open admission of how I voted.

UPDATE: 12/27/2006 Today is the last day to vote. If you wish to vote, hurry over to Wulfgar's palce and submit your vote for it to count.

Damn, my comments have been down all day and nobody told me. Next time if there is a problem with my comments drop me an e-mail, let me know. My Darling Wife will have me look at it as soon as I can. They are now fixed. Comment away.

UPDATE: I am making some changes in site security. If you are unable to comment please get a hold of me at sarpysam [at] nowherethoughts.net and let me know. It would really help me figure out the problems.

I am a victim of Identity theft. Of all things someone has stolen my identity. I find it mostly humorous/sad if the truth were to be known. I know, humorous and identity theft normally don't go hand in hand but this time and circumstance it does. You see, my blog identity has been stolen. Yes, my life, through my blog, has been stolen.

Some person by the name of Tony, hereafter known as THE LOSER, has started a blog in Yahoo 360 blogs called The Hired Hand. His tag line of all things is "TONY'S MY NAME, RIDIN' PONIES MY GAME!" Pretty hokey isn't it. His Yahoo IM identity is arealcowboy. Maybe, but I really doubt it. Real cowboys don't act like THE LOSER has. Of the 22 posts he has up at the time I write this, fourteen of them are either directly my posts, including my famous quotes, or recognizable as my posts. There are some other quotes and jokes that I feel are from my site but I cannot say definitely so I won't accuse him of stealing them.

I am going to break down the posts here that THE LOSER stole and my original post for all the world to see. Maybe he will die of shame, I doubt it though, THE LOSER appears to be to low of life form for that. Maybe there is more remedies for this and I will explain at the end. I have posted screen shots of his site after each entry to show what THE LOSER has done in case THE LOSER removes them. Be warned they are fairly large screen shots so only view on broadband if possible.

I posted Tears on Jan 6 2006 4:38am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing on Jan 6 2006 8:36am PST. (screen shot)

I posted This Explains Things on Jan 10 2006 4:08am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing on Jan 10 20066:58am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Conflict on Jan 12 2006 4:17am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing on Jan 12 6:17am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Omens on Jan 16 4:36am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing on Jan 16 6:16am PST. (screen shot)

I posted I Really Doubt It on Sep 25 2005 4:26am MST and THE LOSER posted almost the same thing, he sanitized the Gazette link out, on Jan 17 6:55am PST and then on his post added my post Stress posted on Jan 30 2005 5:34am MST. He did leave the last item out since it indicates I'm married and I assume THE LOSER isn't. (screen shot)

I posted Examples on Oct 12 2004 6:40am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing, with a picture added, on Jan 18 7:09am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Prejudice on Oct 21 2004 5:45am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing, minus the gazette link and he cut and pasted part of the article in, on Jan 19 2006 7:14am PST. THE LOSER also changed where I had "my daughters school" to "my friends sons school" since I am assuming THE LOSER is not married. (screen shot)

I posted Images on Mar 3 2005 5:13am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing, minus a picture and added the lines "The second post for today On a much lighter side," on Jan 19 7:40am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Idaho and Brucellosis on Jan 20 2006 6:20am MST and THE LOSER posted the exact same thing on Jan 20 8:23am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Confused on Jan 26 2005 6:27am MST and THE LOSER posted the same thing on Jan 23 2006 6:41am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Melting on Jan 25 2006 5:23am MST and THE LOSER posted something called Melting 10 Chickens and a Cock in which he took my melting post, including quote, and added a picture and some other garbage on Jan 25 2006 6:21am PST. (screen shot)

I posted Question on on Sep 30 2005 4:39am MST and THE LOSER posted the exact same thing on Jan 29 8:29pm PST. (screen shot)

I posted Testing the Hired Hand om Jan 31 2006 4:48am MST and THE LOSER posted the exact same thing on Feb 4 2:38pm PST. (screen shot)

I posted Barely in Time on Feb 5 2004 10:07pm MST and THE LOSER posted the exact same thing on Feb 4 2006 8:23pm PST. (screen shot)

That be the dirty list of posts that he stole from me and is pawning off as his own. I will point out there are two other posts there from other blogs that THE LOSER stole and I will be contacting the owners of those blogs with the information for them to do with as they want. Here is the Information on them.

Woodlief posted Christmas Armaments on Dec 23 2004 and THE LOSER posted Armaments, which is the exact same post, on Jan 24 2006.

Over at Cowgirl Funk was posted Damn Your Eyes! on Oct 6 2003 and THE LOSER posted the exact same thing on Jan 26 2006.

That is the full list of the transgressions that THE LOSER has committed, to my knowledge, by stealing entries to make himself something he isn't. I will let the world out there make a decision on what they think of this kind of behavior.

I will note that you can leave THE LOSER a message on the blog by hitting the reply button next to his tag line. If anybody wants to leave a message they can. I have been unable to figure out how to leave comments on the entries so I can't comment on the entries and let everyone know they aren't his. If anybody knows how to comment on a Yahoo 360 blog please let me know. Also there is a link on the left to report for abuse. I am assuming you have to use the link from THE LOSER's site for it to work right. I have put together a complaint that you can download here (it is a txt file, windows notepad should be able to handle it) and paste into the feedback box on the abuse form that gives all the URLs that he stole from me and where the originals can be found. I don't know if the complaint will do any good but it doesn't hurt to try to see if Yahoo will do something about the situation. I have all ready done this and maybe the more people that do it the better. I don't know.

Like I said, this in a way strikes me as real funny. THE LOSER's life is so pathetic he has to imitate me of all people. If he knew me better he wouldn't want to do that. My Darling Wife thinks he is pretending to be a cowboy to get girls. How sad. Hopefully Yahoo 360 will take his blog down so he can quit scamming the women. He will probably start another one some where else if that happens. Nothing I can do about that, I will just have to keep my eyes open.

Imitation is the sincerest flattery. Mohandas Gandhi

UPDATE: I was drilling around THE LOSER's photo gallery listed on the right of the what is called top page and picture number 5 of 18 is mine and you can see it here.

I also note that picture number 17 of 18 belongs to Justin and can be seen originally posted here.

I think this guy steals everything.

I would like to point out a new Blog I started up.

No Mandatory Animal ID

You've heard me ranting and raving about USDA and NAIS so I decided to dedicate a little effort that way. Take a look see and tell me what you think.

A civilization that only looks inward will stagnate. We have to keep looking outward; we have to keep finding new avenues for human endeavor and human expression. John L. Phillips