g2 Johnson’s Teabag Obsession

I must admit to being at a loss because I've never heard of Steve Johnson, his website "g2", but it would appear he knows of the Canada Free Press and Black & Right.

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There are several web sites that the Teabaggers and assorted right wing nut job’s use to back up their claims and I want to just mention a couple of them here. The first is this one, something that calls itself canadafreepress.com.

Mr. Johnson's thinking is exactly what I expect of progressives. They claim to be champions of minorities, yet their policies always seem to perpetuate and/or exacerbate the problems they cite. Let's not even ask them to explain their persistence in keeping abortion clinics in urban areas with high minority populations. They claim to be the tolerant, but this obsession with the gay slur "teabagger" or "teabagging" gives a glimpse into their intolerant, sexually warped minds. Mr. Johnson continues...

A quick look at the Canada Free Press site illustrates this – it operates at the scummiest end of the pay per click business with lots of deliberately misleading links, e.g. where click on her picture and name and you are presented with a full page of the scammiest web advertising. As you can see I have nothing against advertising but rule number one is that you don’t trick you visitors.

True, when you click on Judi's picture, an ad in another window opens up, but that's something that happens on many mainstream websites. What Mr. Johnson failed to mention is that a click on her picture primarily takes you to a page with the Canada Free Press Contributors. As you can see, I have nothing against criticism, but rule number one is that your don't deceive your readers. Also, Mr. Johnson may wish to proofread his pieces before going after fellow writers.

Yesterday I was researching another site that the baggers have started quoting lately: http://www.black-and-right.com/ the reason being that the site content and the name didn’t match up. The title suggested that there would be a writing about, say, the relationship between the GOP and black voters but there was very little, just the boilerplate teabag/GOP hate type stuff.

"The title suggested that there would be a writing about, say, the relationship between the GOP and black voters"...? I guess Mr. Johnson believes the only place to find black opinion is on Sunday morning local television. I must admit the name of my site is narcissistic as "Black & Right" refers to myself. Obviously, Mr. Johnson also believes there is a place for black people and the way people like him would authorize us to think. I am a conservative and if that makes B&R "boilerplate teabag/GOP hate type stuff", so be it. But I've never referred to liberals with an ethnic or gender-based slur. Yet Johnson calls me a hater. He did some digging and found the addresses of the Canada Free Press and its owner. However when you're writing a hit piece, it becomes difficult to contact people and get accurate information. This has a nasty way of making one look the fool when they talk about things with conviction from a position of ignorance...

No conflicts of interest but look who’s name is all over this one, it is our friend Judi Mcleod, busy little bee that she is. Also, and this is important, the servers are shared, lots of different companies rent space on them such as Godaddy (in this case) but also Tucows, Netfirms and Network Solutions among others. This would indicate that McLeod is not doing Parks a favor i.e. providing some of here own shared space but is the real owner of the web site.

Just before B&R hit the two million hit mark since 2008, I wrote a piece thanking Judi (and others) for reaching out to me when times were tough and helped transition from that "Outside The Wire" dark place. Canada Free Press gave a home to B&R when times were tough, however since it's also what's called a "content rich" site, I quickly used up my share of server space. So in July 2009, I bought my own server space. I'm sorry I didn't inform Mr. Johnson at the time, but I am the "real owner of the web site" Black & Right and always have been.

A look at the site gives no hint about Black and Right’s ownership or management other than a mysterious graphic that says “Email Bob”. Turns out that Bob is Bob Parks who is a Navy Vet with an education in journalism and graphic design and some political ambition. Beyond those basics it is hard to find sources of information let alone those that are authoritative.

Had he taken the time to explore my archives, he could have read an interview conducted by a college student and maybe gotten a better idea of my positions, and if he'd have spent any time on my site (or my close to 100 videos on YouTube and NMATV), he'd know I'm not always on the same page as the GOP. But why let facts derail a good insult. As far as my background goes if Steve Johnson wants specifics, he can offer me a job and I'll send him a resume. As he's an abstract artist (and a so-so one: g2 is lame), I doubt he'll be in the position to make me any offers, so my bio will have to suffice. If he needs any more sources of information, let alone those that are authoratative, he can watch and/or listen to the intros before my appearances as a guest on talk radio shows around the country (and BBC) or C-SPAN, CNN, BET, and Fox News. And as for my credibility as an art critic? Long before my graphics years with the Fox Broadcasting Company in Hollywood, I received a year's extra credit for excellence as a design major at the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston. There, I was surrounded by no-talent rich kids who decided to be abstract artists to avoid real college. I admit to knowing little about Steve Johnson's background, but if he's going to criticize other people's art, he needs to come up with better stuff than this. I wonder if I also need to place a graphic on my banner that says, "I be free" so people like Johnson can be assured that neither I nor my website am owned by anyone except me? I also resent his assertion that I couldn't have made B&R on my own. As many of you know, with the exception of the original template, I've customized the site to my own personal standard and I create my own graphic elements.

The site is also crawling with advertising, way beyond the amount that most sites use, not quite to the same extent as McLeod’s flagship site but I suspect that is more a limitation of the very basic template used than intent.

Mr. Johnson, the fact B&R is "crawling with advertising, way beyond the amount that most sites use" may just mean there are people who value the reach my site has, and are thus willing to contact me and request whatever kind of ad they want? It's not Nike money, but it helps pay bills. Aside from Google ads that anyone can apply for, no one seems to be knocking much on his door. I am proud of the fact that B&R has been accepted by a sizable readership and for that reason is a place people want to advertise. Should g2 get where B&R is and more people actually want to advertise on g2, I'd never begrudge him for that. Speaking for myself, I can take criticism as well as anyone as long as it's informed and constructive. If Steve Johnson at g2 wants to make himself look like a sex-obsessed ignoramus, I'll be more than happy to rub it in his face (and will do so without referring to perverted sex fantasies).