Annual Fund-Raising Drive Time!

Erik Kain

Erik writes about video games atĀ Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.

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64 Responses

  1. Mike Schilling says:

    Last tiem I donted, I was prmoed an editopry for corroitng typos, no t tha t i nrrd own.Report

  2. Dan Miller says:

    Happy to chip in. Thanks for all you do!Report

  3. North says:

    I’ll be doing so as per usual.Report

  4. greginak says:

    Donation has been donated. Now where is my damn totebag?

    On a different note Puerto Ricp just voted to become state. Potentially interesting blogging topic, don’t you think. The other side note, for me, is that i’ve visited all 50 states. If PR becomes a state then i’ll have to go there. And i’m not all that inclined to visit PR although i do have a sister in law who is from there. Of course she lives in Boston now.Report

  5. carr1on says:

    I’ve donated more than two cents to be able to give mine. Thanks Erik & Co for a great reading experience every day. It’s much appreciated.Report

  6. wardsmith says:

    If you give me a snail mail address I’ll donate but don’t trust my paper thin veneer of anonymity to Paypal et al.Report

  7. Mary G says:

    Donated what I had, sorry it’s not much since I am one of those moochers on Social Security disability. Really enjoy the site.Report

  8. Rufus F. says:

    Hey, this is one of those “sticky” posts, right? If I post something tonight, aside from everyone having a heart attack, it won’t screw up this one being at the top?Report

  9. Jaybird says:

    I am, as always, delighted to be able to be a part of this.Report

  10. Murali says:

    Donated!!!!

    Instead of a tote bag, we should get bowler hatsReport

  11. James K says:

    Thanks for keeping the lights on Erik.Report

  12. Randy Harris says:

    Donated.Report

  13. North says:

    Man, I’m having an awful time with the League. Every time I come here instead of loading the page my antiquated IE at work tries to download files from it instead and I can’t get into the blog or the sub blog at all. Massively frustrating and I have no clue why it’s happening. Any comp geeks have any suggestions?Report

    • Jaybird in reply to North says:

      Um… if I said “have you tried Firefox”, would that be condescending rather than helpful?Report

      • North in reply to Jaybird says:

        Somehow I suspect that the corporate drones that command the work machines software image wouldn’t look kindly on such attempts.Report

        • Jaybird in reply to North says:

          Now *THAT* is something that can be worked around with a simple bribe. Is your IT department nearby? Take a cheese tray, leftover halloween candy bucket, or 12-pack of (whatevs) and stop by, put the item on the desk, then say “I have a question about installing Firefox”.

          You’ll find an amazing amount of goodwill for the low-low price of calories.Report

    • Erik Kain in reply to North says:

      That’s strange. IE works for me and I haven’t heard any similar complaints. Maybe try clearing your browser cache. If that doesn’t work, you can always try smacking the side of your computer really hard. Or…Firefox/Chrome/Opera, etc….Report

      • North in reply to Erik Kain says:

        Yeah, work computer. Control over the software on it somewhere a little above setting the desktop wallpaper and below controlling the screen saver. I’m just gonna hope whatever it is goes away.Report

        • James Hanley in reply to North says:

          Complaining that you can’t slack off on company time the way you want? Gotta love it. šŸ˜‰Report

          • You smile, so I assume jokiness, but there are some pretty strong arguments against what North’s employer is evidently doing.Report

            • North in reply to Will Truman says:

              James: Believe me, no sense of entitlement here. Indeed, were I to suspect in -any- way that the corporate powers that be were concerned with my visits to the League* I’d cut it out of my daily routine without hesitation and visit on my evenings as I’m doing now.

              Will, there’s no reason for concern. The error I’m hitting is blatantly not the result of the Corporate blocking the League. Rather it’s an institutional inertia thing. The IE we use on our corporate machines is quite outdated. The League’s coding routinely clashes with it. I am highly confident this is one of those instances.

              Obviously, of course, I can’t call up IT and say “Dammit, update explorer. The old versions are impeding my ability to slack at work!

              *At peril of hubris I assert that I’m one of the better producers in my group so the League is an indulgence I that feel little guilt in partaking in.Report

  14. tarylcabot says:

    happy to contribute. you’re one of my 6 or so daily reads.Report

  15. Jason Kuznicki says:

    I will never give a donation. As this blog has so helpfully informed me, libertarians oppose charity.Report

    • Jaybird in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

      See it as paying protection.Report

    • Stillwater in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

      Maybe it’s time for a post on the basic, rough and ready, outlines of libertarianism so that we can all link back to it when the crazy erupts. I mean, there are some real disagreements about real issues, and then there’s the silly stuff.

      I’m getting tired of the silly stuff, myself. And if I’ve contributed to it, I’m gonna stop!Report

      • Jason Kuznicki in reply to Stillwater says:

        I’m tired of the silly stuff too. It indicates that I have failed as an advocate, because the people with whom I disagree don’t simply disagree with me. That would be okay and even understandable; we all in a sense play to the audience, not each other. But generally speaking, my interlocutors find me a worthless, useless, contemptible, malevolent idiot.

        It’s fairly clear to me, in other words, that my time here has been a complete failure, and I really need to think about different blogging and possibly career options.Report

        • Jaybird in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

          Don’t let them dump mercury in your stream, dude.

          The silent readers out there surely notice who writes essays and who smugly asks about Libertopia a fifteenth time. They surely notice who answers questions and who says “I don’t have to answer those questions.” They surely notice who is saying “let’s try something else” and who is saying “let’s double down on the things that didn’t work the first time because we didn’t care enough.”

          Some of your seeds will fall on the path, and some in the weedy soil, and some on the rocky soil, but some will land in the good soil and someone out there will use an analogy that you gave in a comment in a discussion they have at work… and the other folks they talk to will never have thought about it that way before.

          Keep it up.Report

        • But generally speaking, my interlocutors find me a worthless, useless, contemptible, malevolent idiot.

          Hm.Report

    • greginak in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

      Please Jason…we know libertarians believe in charity, so do liberals. I both support uni HC and donated to the LOOG. Does that make me a left-libertarian or liberal or a traitor to any and all causes. L’s and L’s are never going to agree on everything. We would be better off if everybody toned down the heat in the threads but i don’t see that happening sadly.Report

    • Mike Schilling in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

      But supporting a blog that publicizes the Kuznicki brand is in your self-interest. So you can give, and not even Rand herself can accuse you of apostasy.Report

      • Jason Kuznicki in reply to Mike Schilling says:

        My next blogging project, if I have one, will be pseudonymous.Report

        • Jesse Ewiak in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

          Oh, please cut the ‘woe is me’ stuff. So some people on the Internet have said less than wonderful things about you or the policies you support. Welcome to the Internet.Report

          • Jason Kuznicki in reply to Jesse Ewiak says:

            Things did used to be different here. I warned Erik that I can be a polarizing figure, and I don’t blame the others for finding me polarizing. It’s not them, it’s me.

            I’m also not looking for sympathy. I would gladly take suggestions as to how I might communicate more effectively, if you have any. But that’s all.Report

            • Jesse Ewiak in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

              Well, I picked a random month and year (06/2009) and went to the archives and picked some articles that seemed to be “controversial.” Something on the CRA, cap ‘n’ trade, and so on. One story got 40 comments, another got 20-odd, and another got I believe 35. It’s easy to be nice to each other when it’s maybe six or seven people trading comments and even the CRA post got a little testy.

              This is a bigger site now with a more ‘diverse’ audience, both of temperate and political leanings. That’s going to lead to things getting a little more grimy.Report

              • Jesse Ewiak in reply to Jesse Ewiak says:

                Update – I found a post where ED put forth his idea of a “free market” health care plan. This was as Obama was releasing his HC plan. So, surely a big time issue. This weighty important topic got…80 comments, of which, about 25 were Michael Cain and some guy from England arguing about the idea of ‘free’ health care.

                So in short, mo hits mo problems.Report

              • Jason Kuznicki in reply to Jesse Ewiak says:

                This is more helpful than you realize.Report

        • Mike Schilling in reply to Jason Kuznicki says:

          Then you’d better donate to it anonymously, unless you want to be called up in front of the Committee.Report

          • Jaybird in reply to Mike Schilling says:

            You know, I actually argued with myself over the whole “should I post a comment about how I donated” thing.

            I was torn between not commenting because of the whole “when you pray, do not pray like the hypocrites” thing. I donated, I know I donated, that should be enough.

            Then I thought about how my just saying “I donated” would communicate group membership, group solidarity, and all that crap. The point wasn’t whether I did, but communicating to the group that I did. Hey, maybe it’d inspire someone else to do it. (What if it inspires someone else to say “I don’t need to, Jaybird did?” Well, I’d hope that the fact that the post is still locked at the top would dissuade them from that particular argument being sound.)

            Then I thought about one of those Curb Your Enthusiasm clips that someone in the ‘sphere posted talking about how “anonymous” donated a wing but how everyone was talking about who “anonymous” really was and how he’s getting the benefits of everyone knowing he donated and everyone knowing that he did so anonymously.

            And then some stuff happened.

            And then I saw your comment.

            And then I posted this.Report

            • Mike Schilling in reply to Jaybird says:

              Did you think I was serious? As is (or should be) well known, the notion that the nanny state crowds out private charity is one of the standard libertarian criticisms of the former.

              But I do like the idea of a Libertarian Committee that disciplines the members for not being individual enough.Report