Ni Hao,
To our Mandarin brethren and sistren (?) and all other members out there in litmock world. Hope the holidays treated you well, or, at least, that you survived them. Playing Santa Clause (AKA Kris Kringle, the G-Mac $ pimp) has put me in deeper debt than the American Congress. And if I have to eat even one more cookie, so help me, I`ll explode quicker than Newt Gingrich on a debate host.
Anywho, now that all the eXessmass cripe is out the way, we can get onto more serious business, like dealing with the fricking cold that dominates the dead of winter and continuing to make changes to try and improve this here place.
But first, a few notices from the conscience police. I`d like to touch on some issues that affect all writers, anyone who uses the Internet, anyone in search of truth, and anyone forced to pay taxes. Let`s start with SOPA, PIPA, and some other legislation aimed at taking away even more freedom, specifically freedom of speech. My agent forwarded me an excellent piece by a fellow writer, Michael Connelly. I have pasted it below.
`I have posted an new Legislative Alert on my blog. It deals with five important pieces of legislation pending in Congress… the board of the Constitutional Law Alliance (CLA) feels that it is imperative that copies of the booklet, “Our Constitution” be immediately distributed as widely as possible. A single copy is only $6.00 and we are
encouraging people to order at least three copies so they can keep one, give out two others to friends or relatives, and then encourage them to order at least three more copies to distribute. If everyone who reads my blog and/or listens to my radio
show does this, we can have thousands of copies distributed in just a matter of weeks. Go to the CLA website to read a review of the booklet by renowned radio talk show host Kevin Lehmann and to get ordering information.`
These links provide excellent information on the underhanded, fascist nature of this proposed legislation, which, thanks to grassroots efforts by many people and organizations like Wikipedia, have been shot down for now. FOR NOW, I repeat, for those who are hearing impaired (What??? I can`t hear you, it`s too dark in here). Suffice it to say, this legislation has only been slowed. We must be vigilant and proactive if we are truly to defeat this evil nemesis, the thieves of freedom. I`m sure more legislation is underway as you read this, so stay alert.
Also, here at Litmocracy, we are trying to do our best to improve the world and restore freedom, not just to improve this site. To that end, we have designed Form CO69, a proposed amendment to the tax code that would allow conscientious objectors to abstain from paying taxes that go towards killing people, dominating other countries, and general looting. Shortly, we wish to adopt a contest here that will pay $100 to the winner. That contest will revolve around whomever best gets this proposed document in front of elected officials and reports their reactions. We expect them to be worthy. Currently, I`d like ideas on how to best run this contest because I want it to be fair, easy, and I want someone to win big! So answer away below, we`ll all kick it around and then commence a very lucrative contest!
In the next few days, I`ll post the actual mock up of the form here on the site so everyone can see it, make comments and so forth. We`ll be issuing some press releases and doing some other online stuff as well, so any suggestions will be helpful.
As for the site, we`d like to make some changes with Literal Translations. It looks like we want to do a once a year e-book with all winners instead of a quarterly. I am on the fence on the matter, and would appreciate ideas. What I want to do, though, is take 2 or 3 of those winners per quarter and make animations out of them, be they a poem, short story, or catching non-fiction piece. How cool will it be to see your work become an animation, eh? And you get paid for it to boot. So keep posting and let me know what you think.
Till next time,
Au Revoir