Patterico's Pontifications

2/17/2013

Patterico.com Turns Ten Years Old Today

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 2:30 am



This blog began ten years ago today, on February 17, 2003, with this rather uninspiring post:

WELCOME MESSAGE: Welcome to Patterico’s Pontifications. This is destined to be the hottest blog since that one put out by that guy. You know who I mean.

Since then, I have had a run of luck beyond my wildest dreams. This blog has broken national stories, which have been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times, among other Big Media rags. Stories published here have been featured on national TV news networks and discussed by late-night comedians. I have published op-eds in the Los Angeles Times. The blog has broken a story that contributed to the downfall of a Congressman, published another national story that got a Big Media journalist reassigned, defended a federal judge against misleading accusations, and appeared on radio programs all across the country.

Most of these stories, I hasten to add, were based on tips from readers. Meaning it wasn’t really me who was responsible. It was you guys.

I’ve gotten to meet wonderful people through the blog — including guest bloggers, readers and commenters, other bloggers, and writers and other personalities I never thought I would be lucky enough to meet. Thanks to the blog, I met and became acquainted with Andrew Breitbart and many of his friends. I have gotten to hang out with people who have written or starred in some of my favorite movies; learned the identity of (and hung out with) talented undercover cop writers; met fearless journalists and talented novelists; and just had a fabulous time.

Over the years, I have amassed 723,852 comments, made on 16,566 posts, and 33,267,955 page views.

I’ve also experienced harassment of my wife and children; publication of my home address and pictures of my home; threats of violence and death; State Bar complaints; Google bombing of my name and job title coupled with scurrilous accusations; numerous lawsuit threats; one lawsuit filing, numerous workplace complaints . . . and I have been SWATted — all for expressing my views.

Hey, nobody said life was all peaches and cream. (Which is fine, because I don’t particularly care for peaches and cream.)

But on this 10th anniversary of the blog, I wanted to highlight some favorite posts of mine from the last ten years. I’m hoping that many of these posts are going to be new to recent readers. My favorite posts tend to give the reader something unique, whether it’s original journalism breaking national stories, exposing of tendentious media bias, or just some personal observations about my family and life in general.

This post can’t possibly be comprehensive, or it would be too long. This is just a collection of a few of my favorite posts from the last ten years.

I hope you enjoy them.

THE DOG TRAINER YEAR IN REVIEW

I probably became best known for my scathing year-end reviews of the Los Angeles Times, which I used to call the “Los Angeles Dog Trainer” — a term stolen from Harry Shearer. I stopped doing this review after 2009, in part because the paper seemed less relevant, and in part because in 2009 I was transferred to a new and very demanding unit in my office, and I soon found that I could no longer muster the time and energy to do a Year in Review.

Nevertheless, I have toyed with the idea of doing a 2010-2013 roundup, and possibly a round-up of the top stories from ten years of L.A. Times bashing.

Here are the links to past Years in Review:

(By the way, if you have trouble getting links in older posts to work, go here for tips on how to deal with that problem.)

THE GINSBURG CONTROVERSY (MARCH 2004)

I believe the first national story I broke on this blog was about Justice Ginsburg giving a speech to the National Organization for Women’s Legal Defense and Education Fund, days after ruling on a case in which that organization had filed an amicus brief. Justice Scalia had come under fire for supposedly speaking to a group that had a case pending before the Supreme Court, and I believed that the news media should give equal time to a liberal Justice doing the same thing.

I broke the story in this March 7, 2004 post, telling readers that I had informed the L.A. Times about it. They ran this front-page story on March 11, 2004. I registered my shock in this post. The episode ended up being discussed in a book by Dan Gillmor,

MICHAEL HILTZIK SOCK PUPPETRY (APRIL 2006)

In 2006 I learned that an L.A. Times business columnist was sock puppeting on my blog and on his blog at the L.A. Times. I revealed the evidence in a post titled Three in One: Michael Hiltzik, Mikekoshi, and Nofanofcablecos. Hiltzik confessed, his blog was suspended — and the story went national.

GLENN GREENWALD’S SOCK PUPPETRY (JULY 2006)

In some ways arguably the most epic post I have ever written, my post exposing Glenn Greenwald’s sock puppetry relied heavily on the Wuzzadem sock puppets to carry the narrative. It is still cited constantly and I’m often told it is among my readers’ favorite posts.

MY INTERVIEW WITH STASHIU (OCTOBER 2006)

One of my favorite sets of blog posts was an interview I did with Stashiu, a Gitmo psych nurse who regularly spoke with some of the worst terrorists in the world. Stashiu talked to me for hours about Guantanamo, and the piece has held up over the years — and Stashiu has been a reliable friend of the blog ever since. My interview with Stashiu was published in five parts:

Part One: Introduction. Stashiu tells us about a terrorist who threatened to a) have Zarqawi (who was then still alive) cut off the heads of Stashiu’s family while he watched — and then b) cut off Stashiu’s head.

Part Two: Stashiu arrives at GTMO, and tells us what the terrorists are like.

Part Three: Hunger strikes, suicides and suicide attempts, and mental illness. Stashiu opines that the suicides were a political act.

Part Four: Treatment of the detainees, and the detainees’ treatment of guards. Also, desecration of the Koran — but by whom?

Part Five: Stashiu reacts to Big Media pieces about GTMO.

THE KOZINSKI MATERIALS (JUNE 2008)

In June 2008 the L.A. Times revealed that Judge Alex Kozinski had placed bawdy material on a web server accessible by the public. I obtained the material and published it in multiple posts. I revealed that it was generally humorous material, and that one of the most inflammatory accusations, that he had a video of “bestiality,” was nothing of the sort. I also published a letter from his wife which was cited in the Associated Press and other publications, and was widely credited for helping reverse the tide of opinion against him.

An admission that Cyrus Sanai made to me that his complaint against Kozinski was part of a “litigation strategy” was cited by the Ninth Circuit — with a citation to the URL of my post and everything! (Incidentally, that decision represented the second time that this blog affected the contents of a Ninth Circuit opinion. The first occurred in May 2004, and was described here.)

FAKE DOCTOR ROXANA MAYER (AUGUST 2009)

Thanks to a tip from a reader, this blog uncovered evidence that there was a phony pro-Obama operative at a 2009 town hall meeting on health care reform. A “Dr. Roxana Mayer” in a white physician’s coat claimed to be a pediatrician, and spoke up in favor of health care reform — but this blog revealed evidence that she was a fake. I wrote her and confronted her with the evidence and she admitted it.

As a result of this story, which received over 100,000 page views in a single day, this blog was mentioned on Hannity. Unfortunately, the clip appears to be lost to posterity.

SOCK PUPPET ELLIE LIGHT (JANUARY 2010)

In 2010, a campaign of blatant Astroturfing appeared in publications around the country, with the same pro-Obama letters appearing in countless publications under different names. I added to the evidence here, here, here, and here.

Michelle Malkin, one of my favorite people in the world whom I have never met, mentioned this blog on Hannity (fast forward to 4:25):

WEINERGATE (JUNE 2011)

I blogged quite a bit on Weinergate, but the posts of mine that advanced the ball the most were posts about his communications with a real-life underage girl, here, here, and here. I later learned that these posts played a key role in his decision to resign.

SWATTING AND BRETT KIMBERLIN CONTROVERSY (MAY 2012)

One of the oddest things that has happened to me is undergoing a pattern of harassment from a set of crazed trolls surrounding Brett Kimberlin. As I was experiencing this harassment, I was SWATted — something I can’t prove is connected, but which seemed to be. Enjoy the short version of the story — and then bookmark the long version, which is very dense and truly repays repeated readings.

MISCELLANEOUS POSTS

I am proud of work I did on the Roman Polanski extradition, the U.S. Attorney firings, exposing government overreaching in the prosecution of James O’Keefe, my posts on Chuck Philips (especially the ones dealing with Anita Busch), my Deport the Criminals First series, the SWIFT terrorist financing program, and my campaign against Proposition 66, the initiative to weaken the Three Strikes law.

BIG MEDIA CITATIONS AND APPEARANCES

In February 2005, less than two years after I started the blog, I published an op-ed in the L.A. Times that savaged the L.A. Times for the way they bury corrections of significant errors. The piece was called The Correct Way to Fix Mistakes. I wrote another op-ed in August 2005, about the way the paper had lionized Cindy Sheehan while papering over her omissions, contradictions, and disturbing radicalism.

In 2007 I was invited to participate in an online debate with liberal Marc Cooper about the future of the paper, at the L.A. Times web site. The feature was called a “Dust-Up” and the five entries are collected here.

This blog has been cited in the pages of the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other outlets. (I don’t think it has been read by Russ Feingold on the floor of the Senate, so sock-puppetin’ Glenn Greenwald still has that on me. Good day, sir!)

I have been on the radio more than I deserve.

My radio appearances started with Clint Taylor, who was doing a show at a student-run station out of Stanford.

Once, in February 2008, my father-in-law was driving to work in Kentucky, and was taken aback to hear me on NPR, talking about how I was likely to vote for John McCain even though I thought he was a horrible candidate. (When you listen to that clip and hear that I was pulling for Romney, please remember that he was running against McCain, whom I have always, always hated.)

I talked SWATting on local station KABC with my pal John Phillips in November 2012. I was on KFI during drive time in June 2006, talking about the SWIFT terror financing program, on a day when Michelle Malkin filled in for John and Ken.

I appeared on the local public radio show “Which Way, L.A.?” with Warren Olney twice. The second time was in July 2008, to discuss my L.A. Times “Dust-Ups” with Marc Cooper. The first was in June 2008, when Eugene Volokh and I tore L.A. Times reporter Scott Glover to shreds for his misleading coverage of the contents of Judge Alex Kozinski’s web server.

I had the honor of appearing on the Stage Right Show with Larry O’Connor, including this March 2010 show where I mocked Brett Kimberlin’s business partner Brad Friedman, and got to talk to my commenter and pal daleyrocks. Larry O’Connor pretended to be Friedman on that show, which was a riot. I was on the Stage Right Show a month earlier, in February 2010, also on the same show as Friedman. That one was great because Andrew Breitbart called in to help me yell at Brad.

I have made several appearances on Pundit Review Radio, which was broadcast on WRKO in Boston. In a July 2006 appearance I discussed the SWIFT program targeting terrorist financing. In a November 2006 appearance I discussed a story where I proved that the L.A. Times had misreported details about an alleged airstrike in Ramadi. And in an October 2005 appearance I discussed my opposition to the Harriet Miers nomination, in which I played a fairly active role.

I appeared on CQ Radio with Captain Ed Morrissey on several occasions, including a March 2007 appearance discussing the U.S. Attorney firings, an April 2007 appearance discussing Alberto Gonzales, a November 2007 appearance discussing election politics and Tim Rutten, and a December 2007 appearance discussing my year-end review of the L.A. Times.

In March 2009 I was on the Northern Alliance Radio Network with Captain Ed and Mitch Berg.

I even went on a show called “Hoist the Black Flag” with Ace and Jeff Goldstein — in April 2006 and July 2006, to discuss the Hiltzik story.

I have also had radio personalities read my stuff on the air. Before he got into an insane feud with me for calling him out on some misstatements he had made, Mark Levin read my stuff. Rush Limbaugh read from my Cindy Sheehan L.A. Times op-ed in October 2005, and from a DRJ post on Obama’s tax plan in October 2008.

ENDORSEMENTS

I have some favorite quotes about me from people over the years, but the one I will never forget is from Tony Snow, who once commented:

Thanks for the wonderful write-up. It’s always fun visiting the belly of the beast. Meanwhile, keep up the great work. Love the blog.

“Love the blog.” Tony Snow said he loved the blog! Awesome. Of course, the post about his appearance on Bill Maher is probably the only entry he ever read, but still. Pretty cool. (He actually left a second comment about an hour later, responding to a Bill Maher sock puppet. But the Tony Snow comments were for real.)

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

My dad died in 2005. He used to read my blog every day. I remembered him here. After he left, I dreamed about him, and this post about one particularly vivid dream remains one of my favorites. I have wished him a happy birthday every March 17 since the blog started. It’s hard to imagine that he was reading the blog for fewer than three of the last ten years.

But possibly my favorite post from this blog is one about not taking things for granted. It’s a post I wrote as the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death was coming up, and I guess it made me reflect. Anyway, that post is the only one I’ll quote at length here.

In the post, I talked about a night that we took our infant daughter to an acoustic concert, hoping she would sleep through it. If she cried, the plan was for me to take her to the car, where I would watch her for half the concert, and then call my wife out to sit for the second half. I never called her, but spent the whole concert in the car watching my daughter sleep. I wrote:

The night it happened, I didn’t mind being in the car with my daughter. But if I could go back now, there’s no question that I would want to be there.

Not only would I stay in the car with her — I would make the most of the experience, realizing that I had a precious chance to see her at that age again. I would try to commit every moment to memory.

And then I realized: some day, years in the future, I might be asking the same question about my life today — this very minute. If you could have this moment back to live over again, what would you do?

The rest of that evening, I pictured myself as having been sent into my body from the future, to relive the moments I was experiencing. And I saw everything differently. I sat on the couch and watched television with my arm around my wife — all the while imagining myself as an old man, transported back in time to relive that moment. And all of a sudden, what otherwise might have seemed like a mundane moment seemed like a privilege. I felt like the luckiest guy in the world, just sitting there with my wife.

I’ve tried the trick all weekend, and it really changes your outlook. Just sitting around with a sleepy child in your arms is great any way you look at it. But if you picture yourself as someone whose child has grown up — if you imagine yourself as an older man, who would give the world to be back in that chair with that child in his arms — it makes you realize how important the moment is. And you appreciate it more.

Even when times are tough — or seem tough — keeping this perspective in mind can help change the way you look at your life.

Thanks for spending part of the last ten years with me. I hope you keep reading.

UPDATE: A special thanks to all the guest bloggers who have helped me during the years, including DRJ, Karl, Jack Dunphy, JD, Aaron Walker, Morgen Richmond, WLS, Justin Levine, Dafydd ab Hugh, See Dubya, The Angry Clam, Xrlq, Teflon Don, Charlie (Colorado), and several others. You kept things going when I couldn’t, and contributed many worthwhile posts.

107 Responses to “Patterico.com Turns Ten Years Old Today”

  1. Ding!

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Congratulations on your tenth year.
    Toasting you with a fine cup of Sumatra

    mg (31009b)

  3. Thank you for taking the time to put this post together. I’ve been reading for about 5 years – this helped fill in some of the gaps. And thank you for your post about your daughter – it brings tears to my eyes when I think about my 14 year old son and all of this life I have missed even though he’s rarely more than 50 feet away. And thanks for the reflections on your dad – mine is still with me, but not likely for much longer and I will savor each moment I spend with him.

    Bob Neal (75da05)

  4. Congrats! Keep up the great work! :O)

    sarainitaly (ab1480)

  5. You’ve been busy Rico. Stunning to see all the bloggers that have been quietly taking in your work an note it in year-end reviews.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  6. Congrats. The 10th anniversary of what’s left of my blog came and went in December, I forgot it completely, and Alice H. didn’t even remember to cal me a poor schmuck (as she had for many prior blogiversaries, originally because she thought I had missed a different anniversary).

    Xrlq (effebe)

  7. Great work, Patterico. Thanks for all you do.

    Ipso Fatso (1e3278)

  8. Thanks for ten great years Pat. Here’s to many more.

    Craig Mc (66649c)

  9. Congratulations on the ten years, and on the terrific blog, Patterico.

    no one of consequence (ecc99a)

  10. Congratulations Patrick! You’ve always done some excellent writing here and I’ve enjoyed reading it. Looking forward to seeing you carry on the next 10 years. More importantly, you’ve become a good friend to me over the last few years. It’s unfortunate that it’s been the retaliation and harassment from a crew of soulless, warped individuals that brought us to become friends, but I am thankful to have forged that friendship with you out of the experience. Your blog has been a place for sunlight, don’t ever be afraid to stop shining it.

    Liberty Chick (77ea9c)

  11. Mandy,

    See there’s good in everything…

    Keep on keepin on, and thanks to all the Guest Bloggers who have helped Pat over the years JD, DRJ, Aaron, WLS, Lee, Karl and Stashiu

    EPWJ (1cedce)

  12. Congratulations! Ten years – it’s hard to believe it has been so long.

    You are one of the first bloggers I ever read, and I’m glad you’re still here 🙂

    Cassandra (f90cc9)

  13. Here’s a list of my favorite blogs:

    1) michellemalkin.com
    2) twitchy.com
    3) patterico.com

    Congratulations, and thank you for all that you do.

    Jesse Malkin (02e055)

  14. That’s high praise, Jesse Malkin.

    Seeing your name reminds me of the Jamil Hussein story — another of my favorites among Patterico’s posts — and a story that ultimately took the amazing Michelle Malkin to Iraq.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  15. Again, congrats. Aspiring bloggers would do well to look at that list — and what makes it stand out from the vast sea of blogdom. People tend to remember the times you bring new information, drive stories, or (at the very least) assemble a body of data (as in the Dog Trainer series).

    Karl (5f6b7a)

  16. Congratulations on your ten-year anniversary! Your blo is the second website I visit each day. The Glenn Greenwald sockpuppet post remains my favorite blog post of all time.

    aunursa (7014a8)

  17. Well done and congrats! Please don’t tell my employer how much time I spend every day reading your posts and the comments.

    Pious Agnostic (20c167)

  18. An amazing body of work.
    Well done you.

    MayBee (5d58db)

  19. Congrats, Patterico.

    JD (b63a52)

  20. Here is a link to the transcript from the 2009 Hannity show that credits Patterico’s Pontifications.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  21. Congratulations Patrick, here’s to another ten years of exposing media lies, fame and blog-driven fortune. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.

    Jeff C (dd7d6a)

  22. Happy Blog Birthday!!!! I rarely comment, but I do enjoy reading your blog.

    freedomcosts (7c3015)

  23. Congatulations Patrick. Thanks for taking the time to gather your ten years together, and remind us of stories we all followed.
    I too especially loved the stories of your family and father. They are always a pleasant break from the main reasons I read you DAILY, for information that I cant’t get anywhere else. And they always provide a pleasant reminder of what really matters in life.
    Please hang around.

    builder (fb1ba3)

  24. Moving conclusion. Congrats on an impressive ten years. Here is to ten more as we work to push the rats back into the bilge where they belong.

    Bretbart is here.

    SPQR (f929ae)

  25. Congratulations, Patterico. This really is a great place that you’ve built.

    Leviticus (17b7a5)

  26. P, which came first, PP or Oh, That Liberal Media? I followed you hear from there.

    ropelight (a285c3)

  27. Congratulations on ten amazing and prolific years. It’s obvious you were born to do this!

    Patricia (be0117)

  28. One thing more. I think few understand how hard it is to blog at a high level for one or two years. Ten is truly an exceptional achievement worthy of great praise.

    SPQR (f929ae)

  29. Congrats!!! Don’t remember how I found you, but, this is one of my three stops every day. And, I truly hope I have not only been of support, but of participation. And, I thank all who welcomed me here….

    reff (4dcda2)

  30. Happy birthday!

    When I first dropped by patterico.com several years ago and saw the way the readers’ forum had been formatted, my eyes got crossed and I backed out. Then I returned awhile later and made the best of the situation. Now the forum is in perfectly fine shape.

    The one story that has always stood out to me is the one on the sock puppetry of Michael Hiltzik. The fact he eventually was moved over to being a feature columnist for the LA Times Business section — a devious, phony-baloney leftwinger musing on the ins and outs of capitalism, no less — always makes me gag and guffaw.

    Mark (5943ab)

  31. OMG, has it been ten years?
    It seems just like yesterday that a bunch of us met for lunch with Ed Morrissey (The Captain) on one of his trips to SoCal and met this energetic young DA named Patrick, who had just started a blog.
    Great things followed, with many more to come.

    Congratultions, and Well Done, Patrick!

    askeptic (2bb434)

  32. One thing more. I think few understand how hard it is to blog at a high level for one or two years. Ten is truly an exceptional achievement worthy of great praise.

    Comment by SPQR (f929ae) — 2/17/2013 @ 8:05 am

    This.

    And congratulations!

    SarahW (b0e533)

  33. Congratulations Patterico! The recap was very informative. I saw lots of things that I’d like to read. One question: I tried to follow the link to the “swift terrorist financing program” and the result was a return to the originating page. Could this be a typo in the search words?

    bobathome (c0c2b5)

  34. Congratulations Pat. I found your blog about 6 or 7 years ago from an Instapundit link. I wish you continued success.

    Mattsky (7c21d0)

  35. Congratulations Pat. I visit almost daily and enjoy your incisive
    discussions.

    RAB
    Asheville, NC

    rab (9b93e0)

  36. Thank you, Pat, and congratulations. I hope this is only the beginning.

    htom (412a17)

  37. No search problem … swift boat blog found beneath the 2/17/2013 result. Sorry about that!

    bobathome (c0c2b5)

  38. A major milestone, Patrick — congratulations and best regards.

    Tim McGarry (f4c290)

  39. Wasn’t about swift boats at all, but instead about terrorist financing program. Even better. We’ll be getting an ear full about the ketchup man in the State Dept. and the old 3 purple heart campaign will fade into oblivion compared with what we are about to experience. One thought to make the links a little less likely to confuse the confusable: if the header for the link contains a different word (or two) than the php query, then the search won’t find the blog that initiates the search.

    bobathome (c0c2b5)

  40. Thanks for the memories Patterico. I hope you create many more.

    Thanks also to the cobloggers, the always gracious DRJ, WLS, Stashiu, Karl, Lee, Aaron and JD.

    daleyrocks (bf33e9)

  41. Congratulations, Patrick! What an incredible journey.

    bridget (84c06f)

  42. Patterico, so many political and social bloggers along with their commenting communities (while often interesting and quite amusing to read) have morphed into nearly predictable groupthink. Yours is one blog which has not. While they are decidedly and unabashedly right leaning, your own posts and those of your excellent guest bloggers over the years, further enriched by many of your commenters, clearly demonstrate the variances and range and complexity of legit “Conservative” thought.

    One of the things I like most here is seeing first hand and therefore better understanding how certain factors such as one’s upbringing, age, experiences, and especially geographical location influence the different types of conservatives there are out in the world –and the politicans one likes/dislikes and chooses (or needs) to vote for.

    Thanks, and keep up the high standards. Please know your work both day job and blog-wise are appreciated, Mr. Frey.

    elissa (a9f93b)

  43. This is meant as a compliment. I go to Patterico after I open Drudge. But hey that still puts him ahead of the next in order: Instapundit, Ann Althouse, Powerineblog, Weekly Standard, Michelle Malkin, etc.

    AZ Bob (c11d35)

  44. I propose an Amendment to the Constitution enabling Patterico to be a blogger for life.
    No term limits !

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  45. “That awesome blog on the internet—you didn’t built that !”

    —Barry Obama

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  46. Once, in February 2012, my father-in-law was driving to work in Kentucky, and was taken aback to hear me on NPR, talking about how I was likely to vote for John McCain even though I thought he was a horrible candidate. (When you listen to that clip and hear that I was pulling for Romney, please remember that he was running against McCain, whom I have always, always hated.)

    You’re going to want to make a correction and change that date to 2008, the year that McCain won the nomination. I know what a stickler you are for detail.

    Congratulations on starting and maintaining such an excellent blog. It’s been a pleasure being a regular reader.

    JVW (4826a9)

  47. Thanks also to the cobloggers, the always gracious DRJ, WLS, Stashiu, Karl, Lee, Aaron and JD.

    Yes indeed. I join with daleyrocks in extending my heartiest thanks to the above-mentioned for keeping the trains moving on down the line when our host is sidetracked with other responsibilities.

    JVW (4826a9)

  48. Painted Jaguar – I am writing at the request of my mummy, ever so kind and patient, who has been quite put-out for several years now. Of course, not with me, nor with any of the locals down here in the dense jungle by the deep, dark, turbid waters of the Amazon.
    She is put-out with these people who come to our jungles to clear the land, plant something called “corn” and then don’t even eat it when they harvest it. I don’t understand it all, because it is at this point in the explanation that my mummy, usually ever so patient and kind, starts growling in such a fearsome way, and paws her head as if trying to get a leach off. (I haven’t seen her so upset for many years, since she scolded me- actually scolded me, I had tried her so- to leave those stupid armadillos alone.)
    She asked me to write to you fine folks in the style of someone that MD refers to as “the one”.

    The imagined commentary is as follows:
    I am very happy to commemorate the occasion of the 10th anniversary of this blog. Had I been president at the time, there would have been no need for it to have been started, as I have seen to it that the national and international media always cover appropriate stories in appropriate detail. In fact, I don’t really know why this blog still exists (let alone why I was asked to comment on it).
    But I guess some habits die hard. So, I thank you again for the opportunity to wish Paul (aside-that’s his name, right?) and all of his readers another happy (if unnecessary) 10 years. Perhaps by then, all will see what a great job I will still be doing and you all can find something better to do with your time.

    Painted Jaguar (a sockpuppet) (3d3f72)

  49. JVW,

    Correction made, and thanks.

    Patterico (22f0a7)

  50. Thank you for providing this forum, Patterico, specially in light of the circumstances that you and your family incurred for speaking truth to power,

    narciso (3fec35)

  51. “You’ll just have to read the Patterico’s blog to find out what’s in it !”

    —Nancy Pelosi

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  52. Comment by Elephant Stone (42ac31) — 2/17/2013 @ 11:21 am

    LOL!!! I think the world will end before we hear that!

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  53. “I can read Patterico’s blog from my front porch !”

    —Sarah Palin, as channeled by Tina Fey

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  54. “(Patterico’s blog) is insensitive, it is offensive, (and) it is provocative !”

    —former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  55. “So Patterico’s Pontifications is ten years old—what difference, at this point, does it make ?!”

    —former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  56. Please accept another congratulation — well done! We hope you can continue for many, many years.

    We wouldn’t know much of what we know without our fearless bloggers and true investigative journalists. No wonder the Lefties hate you all.

    Margaret (c2dfaf)

  57. “Everytime I read Patterico’s blog, I get a thrill up my leg !”

    —MSNBC host Chris Matthews

    Elephant Stone (42ac31)

  58. UPDATE: A special thanks to all the guest bloggers who have helped me during the years, including DRJ, Karl, Jack Dunphy, JD, Aaron Walker, Morgen Richmond, WLS, Justin Levine, Dafydd ab Hugh, See Dubya, The Angry Clam, Xrlq, Teflon Don, Charlie (Colorado), and several others. You kept things going when I couldn’t, and contributed many worthwhile posts.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  59. Congratulations on ten years, Patterico. 🙂

    aphrael (efbf91)

  60. Update and comment 58 both amended to add Dafydd ab Hugh.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  61. Congratulations, Pat!

    East Bay Jay (a5dac7)

  62. Great stuff, Patrick. If it wasn’t for you, Mickey Kaus, Kevin Roderick, and Nikki Finke, I’d have nothing to read except street signs and bills. So I send you my gratitude and congratulations, and wish you Godspeed. May you hold the torch high until Los Angeles finally gets a newspaper….and for many years beyond!

    Scott Kaufer (1d1b9e)

  63. I can, and do, offer my congratulations on ten years worth of blogging…but I have had the opportunity to interact with Patterico as a person, instead of a pundit. And he is a truly fine human being. He genuinely stands up for what he believes, and looks out for others (rare in our society). So my thanks, sir, for being the kind of person you are…and congratulations on your blogging (of course).

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  64. P, which came first, PP or Oh, That Liberal Media? I followed you hear from there.

    This blog came first. I helped form OTLM with Stefan Sharkansky and others not too long after my blog began — certainly within the first year or two. I always had hopes that would turn into something big, and was a little surprised it didn’t.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  65. Happy Blogoversary Patterico! Looking forward to the next ten years.

    Marooned in Marin (59600d)

  66. Congratulations on 10 great years, Patrick. Best wishes for the next 10.

    Kenny (9662f6)

  67. harangue makes sense most on pie I think but it’s good on blogs too

    happy anniversidy Mr. P

    happyfeet (acd614)

  68. Congratulations. Keep up the great work!

    Mike Haltman
    The Political Commentator

    Michael Haltman (26651c)

  69. Well deserved congratulations, my friend.

    Beldar (de838d)

  70. Let me be clear: Patterico is California’s sodium pentothal.

    Bradley J. Fikes (2c3aa5)

  71. I notice there is something of a theme to many of the posts cited here: they are about revealing frauds and phonies. Sock puppets, fake doctors, people who try to lie about their past, and the like.

    Interesting.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  72. back in nam we called them bogies

    happyfeet (acd614)

  73. Patterico-
    Truth is hard to come by. There are ample opportunities to be treated like a mushroom out there. That’s why we come here instead.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  74. Happy blogoversary! You have certainly turned out some thought-provoking bloggage in your time. Your success has been inspiring, especially after the wild-west days of the blogosphere ended and most readers coalesced around a few dozen big blogs. Many happy bloggy returns for the next decade!

    The Sanity Inspector (97014d)

  75. Patterico,

    That’s interesting. Sometimes it seems like we have too much information. It’s nice to find the truth or at least a little transparency that helps us make better, more informed decisions.

    Overall, I think I have to give your Stashiu series my vote for the best-of-the-best. GTMO was one of the biggest issues of Bush 43’s term, as well as raising many legal and Constitutional questions. Stashiu’s insights gave us a way to cut through the partisanship and see GTMO through his eyes. To my knowledge, there was nothing else like it in the media or online.

    DRJ (a83b8b)

  76. The spirited debate around GWB’s Harriet Miers SCOTUS nomination was a heady time here.

    ropelight (a285c3)

  77. No mention yet of Rathergate? Of the Swiftvets? I recall many of your posts on both of those topics from 2004.

    Beldar (de838d)

  78. Doing a great job consistently for 10 years is something to be proud of. Thanks for all you do.

    Ag80 (b2c81f)

  79. Well, I’ll put in my 2c worth (=NZD 10c).

    This is about the only US blog that has consistendly been on my reading list for the past several years. I don’t agree with the author all the time, but he sticks to the truth and pushes interesting (usually) stories, *and* takes the time to understand his opponents and what they actually believe. And he keeps it reasonable – no flying off on consipracy theories.

    Congrats.

    scrubone (e7e0ea)

  80. It seems like a long, long, long time, since I clicked “Oh, That Liberal Media?” and found this place. Congratulations, Patrick. Yours is the only right-leaning site I ever read.

    carlitos (49ef9f)

  81. Yours is the only right-leaning site I ever read.

    That is one of the highest compliments I could receive — given that my goal is not to preach to the choir, but to persuade reasonable people.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  82. Congratulations on 10 years of using blogging to actually make a difference!I thoroughly enjoy reading this site.

    Keith (95296e)

  83. Comment by scrubone (e7e0ea) — 2/17/2013 @ 5:44 pm

    If only going to NZ was as easy as communicating with a NZ’er on a blog site. I guess they do have these fancy 3D printers that can manufacture about anything. “Scan and attach me, Scotty!”

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  84. Congratulations Patrick! It is to my chagrin that I only found you 5 years ago. But I feel safe in saying that I think Andrew would honor you for kicking some ass over the years.
    Cheers to many more!

    sybilll (e1ceb9)

  85. I’m a big fan, and look forward to the next ten years of blogging. Pat knows how to expose some of the nastiest pieces of work out there.

    Dustin (73fead)

  86. I even went on a show called “Hoist the Black Flag” with Ace and Jeff Goldstein — in April 2006 and July 2006, to discuss the Hiltzik story.

    ‘Da Link, tis broke. 🙁

    Patrick in Michigan (7b58f8)

  87. Oh, and Happy Happy — ya old fogie. 😀

    …and I mean that in a blogger sort of a way.

    Patrick in Michigan (7b58f8)

  88. I’m not sure if the tenth anniversary is tin or aluminum, but in any case happy Blogiversary, Patterico! One day soon the NYT and LAT will be boasting about being mentioned by your blog. And advertisers will be paying millions of dollars per year just for a little piece of space way down at the end of the comments. And Instapundit will be begging and pleading for a link. 🙂

    Andrew (41f27e)

  89. Chuckles Adkins, folks. Chuckles. Take a bow.

    JD (0bd94b)

  90. I’m not Chuckles. Why did you think so?

    Andrew (41f27e)

  91. Andrew,

    Why would the LA Times boast about being mentioned in this blog ? Are you attempting to be ironic, or whatever ?
    Patterico exposes the LA Times’ lies and hypocrisy, so why would they embrace that ?
    You sound like one of those cheesy lefties who wants free health care from the government, and free Big Gulps from 7-11.

    Then again, maybe you’re just one of the entourage belonging to that hateful little midget Queen of Bombs, Brett Kimberlin.

    Elephant Stone (62f4e4)

  92. Jesus Christ. Pat said he has “been cited in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times…. I have published op-eds in the Los Angeles Times.” So I just meant that if this blog continues it’s upward trajectory then those rags will be boasting about being mentioned here. Let’s not be quite so paranoid, shall we not? Jeez.

    Andrew (015ce7)

  93. Patrick – Thank you for 10 years of your fine blog. Much continued success and good luck!

    MikeHs (1a2353)

  94. Andrew,

    Take a deep breath. Exhale. Relax.

    Elephant Stone (62f4e4)

  95. Andrew – I was referring to Chuckles Adkins, not you. Sorry for the confusion. Pat in MI is fond of hiding his identity and calling people racists, and wishing death upon them.

    JD (ad801e)

  96. Elephant Stone:

    Andrew is one of the good guys and was paying a sincere compliment.

    Please re- read the comments with that in mind.

    Andrew:

    Patrick in Michigan is the one JD was saying is Chuck Adkins.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  97. I started reading your blog when I was in Iraq in 2007/08. Have always been impressed, not only with the writing, but with the integrity. Then again, that is probably the common element in the blogs whch I frequent and, surprise, they all just seem to have a conservative bent to them. Have trouble finding that quality on those occasions when I go looking at left-leaning blogs. At any rate, congrats on a great (first-!) ten year run.

    NeoCon_1 (9dccdd)

  98. Ah, the memories. (belated) Happy Birthday, “Patterico”.

    creeper (534e7e)

  99. Thanks Patttrico, for all of your hard work on our behalf.

    Tyree

    tyree (84087f)

  100. Sorry to be late. My respects and compliments. You have always been a shining example of journalistic integrity to me and I thank you for all you have given and especially for the high price you have paid to give it.

    I became a regular reader when I followed Stashiu over here to read his series and it has been high on my list ever since. Thank you, Sir.

    Machinist (b6f7da)

  101. Don’t always agree with you, but your easily the most meticulous and honest blog around. Congratulations!

    Northeast Elizabeth (b98940)

  102. Ah, the folks from the National Constitution Center, are at it, again:

    http://www.jammiewf.com/2013/fresh-off-another-vacation-news-story-asks-the-important-question-should-obama-get-a-raise/

    narciso (3fec35)

  103. Sorry I am late, too. Your blog always gives me the most honest posts to read, and some of the most reasoned comments on them. Truly, this is a community worth my time.

    felipe (70ff7e)

  104. Hey! why am I (70ff7e)?

    felipe (70ff7e)

  105. Happy Ten Year Bloggiversary Pat!

    peedoffamerican (ee1de0)

  106. First, congratulations!

    I wasn’t around during the Greenwald sockery so I clicked over to that phenomenal piece populated with puppets and noticed something that made me think “noooo…”
    —–
    “The name “Rick Ellensburg” is, of course, similar to “Thomas Ellers” and “Ellison.” And the writing style and content is remarkably similar to that of Greenwald.”
    ——
    The next name that popped into mind was Ellie Light. Came back here and saw that he/she/it was mentioned a few items down. Far as I know, no one was ever truly confirmed to be EL, anyone ever make the connection? I remember people seemed to think she was being coached during a radio interview by someone else in the room.

    Ben (a5650f)


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