Readers Comments

No, not on this blog, though I've been tempted to write a bunch myself to make it look like someone is actually reading it. But then again I'm not looking for fame or fortune. My motivation for starting a blog is simply to have fun and express whatever comes to mind at the moment.

And at this moment it's some observations on online news. In particular, my favorite part of online news, reader comments on stories. In the past, the only way to express your reaction to a news article was to write a letter to the editor, then hope that editor would see fit to put your missive into print. Granted what was often published was complete nonsense, but you could then proudly point to your local newspaper and say, "See, I just made a complete fool of myself in print!"

With the advent of the Internet, most online newspapers now allow anyone to make a comment. The beauty of this is you don't have the agony of spending hours writing a letter to the editor then never seeing it because let's face it, a newspaper receives hundreds of these letters each day, and can only print a few because of space limitations.

A comment could also be made about the space limitations between the ears of many letter writers, but that's besides the point. Now, thanks to technology, it is possible for a single story to have hundreds of comments. Meaning every crackpot and cynic can now share his or her opinions with the world.

Which is why reader comments are usually the most entertaining part of reading the news.

Today the Houston Chronicle has a story on Russia possibly basing bombers in Venezuela and Cuba. Considering most of the bombers left in their inventory are old, slow and lumbering, but still impressively large, it looks like if this happens it will be for political and propaganda reasons. In other words, nothing to lose sleep over. However, a couple of readers had an interesting exchange:

America's day of reckoning is underway... it obvious to anyone whom has been in military intelligence that the Russians are restaging another invasion of America.

Am I missing something or did I sleep through the last Russian invasion of America? The next commenter set things straight:

Hey, take your Yankee butt back home no true Texan would be worried if Russia Invaded it would be an opportunity for target practice.

Only a real Texan can cut to the chase like that.