Wednesday, July 24, 2013

I'm not hard to find, but Facebook questions whether I am even real

I am reviving this blog, after a long absence. You may find the reason as peculiar as I do. It's because my existence is suddenly in doubt. For several months, I have been using my Facebook page to blog, posting snippets from the best anti-liberal publications on the internet. Townhall was my most popular resource. I was, and remain, a fierce critic of the Obama administration, which seems determined to snuff out the grand scheme of America's founders and replace it with a very different scheme that would allow Obama and his henchmen to regulate every facet of American life. The Obamacare disaster is an example. "Medicine," observed Vladimir Lenin, "is the keystone of the socialist arch." Lenin went on to inspire the creation of the Soviet Union, which seems to be an exemplar of what Obama has in mind for America. While blogging at Facebook, I became more and more impressed by the many online publications that are practicing journalism impressively. I had more than enough material to reprint dozens of snippets daily. My goal was to alert readers to what I considered the best material each day. Every entry included a link to the original story. To my astonishment, my blog vanished from Facebook a couple of weeks ago. When I asked why, a Facebook spokesman said, "We're not sure you're real." My family history is online. Some of my writings from a 36-year career in journalism are online. I was a student at St. Olaf College, and graduated from the University of Minnesota and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which could easily be checked. They weren't checked. Instead, Facebook told me that I would receive a text message on my telephone, and that my reply would determine whether or not I am real. But my telephone, so far as I know, is not equipped to receive text messages. In any case, no text message arrived. So, I quietly accepted my lack of reality and said goodby to Facebook. The irony is that, despite Facebook's obvious love of Obama, it's admiration doesn't seem to be doing him much good. Obama's approval rating has dropped to 41 percent, making it more and more likely that Obamacare will be repealed and the rest of Obama's government takeover of American life blocked. When that happens, Facebook may have to look for a different beacon to follow.