Come Back, Shane! ... Come Back! - The Sequel

Good Afternoon Garlic Fans;

Thought we'd pop in today to explain our AWOL status the past few weeks, or more.

We've been going through a lot for almost a year, first diagnosed with a Herniated Disc, the failed Injection Program, the drugs that didn't work, and now, being in the hands of a Neurologist, we have embarked on a Steroid Treatment Program. as said Neurologist believing that the re-diagnosed "Bulging Disc" is not the culprit, but rather inflamed nerves, a General Nueropathy, that is in play here.

The last week of February was our first, and that was followed by six-nights of no sleep... Zero sleep .. Zip ... Nada ...

While there were a whole host of side-effects that could have hit, Insomnia rolled out, like a 2x4 over the head (actually, as things played out, a 2x4 over the head would have been welcomed)

It took three days additional, squeezing out a few hours sleep per day, while waiting for the new script of Ativan to kick in, now tipping me in the other direction, of marathon sleeps, minimum of 8-10-hours, and those can easily slide into 12+hours, followed by leaving me with a feeling of tiredness the rest of the time while upright and awake.

We had to postpone the second Steroid Treatment last week, due to the sleep situation, and are slated for it tomorrow, and, will be going with only one-half gram, as opposed to the full gram previously dripped into my vein, so, hopefully, we can get back into the writing groove.

We'll know that soon enough.

So, in the case we stay on the sidelines, there's plenty of Archived Posts to read, or revisit, over along the left sidebar.

As well as bevy of links to other great blogs - go check some out.

Firedoglake Announces Membership Program

If you are a regular reader of 'The Garlic', you know that in our link-laden posts, we often highlight the voices of those on Firedoglake.com, people like Jane Hamsher, Marcy Wheeler (Emptywheel), David Dayen, Blue Texan, TBogg, Lisa Derrick, Attaturk and others.

This morning, founder Jane Hamsher announced an ambitious project - Firedoglake Membership Program;

The Washington Post is supported by Kaplan. The Huffington Post was supported by venture capital, and had to sell out to AOL in order to expand their reporting capabilities. Think Progress is supported by CAP. And there are many entities that are subsidized by the political parties, and the money that tries to influence them. But the fact is that online advertising revenues provide only a small fraction of what their dead tree counterparts did, and will not sustain the same kind of staffing and resources necessary to pay people for their efforts.

[snip]

At FDL, 75% of all our expenses go to paying the salaries of our staff, and the rest is devoted to technical and other costs that help them do what they do. Some of that revenue comes from advertising, but most comes in the form of donations. But those donations are usually tied to individual issues, and don’t provide a steady stream of predictable revenue that allows us to plan and grow.

Last year, Craig Newmark of Craigslist said he thinks that by the year 2020, NPR will be a “dominant force” in media because of their membership model.

“I have a feeling that membership models and philanthropy models will be stronger than advertising-supported organizations, because people are willing to pay for trustworthy news,” he said.

We agree. If you trust and value the reporting at FDL, from Hillman Award Winner Marcy Wheeler’s work from Scooter Libby to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, to Dave Dayen’s work on mortgage foreclosure and Jon Walker’s reporting on health care, from Wikileaks and Bradley Manning to Audit the Fed and the BP oil spill, consider becoming a Founding Member of the Firedoglake membership program. Your annually renewing membership will help us do a lot more of the things we want to do, like sending Dave Dayen to report on the Wisconsin labor protests, or Michael Whitney to the Gulf to cover the BP oil spill, or the three-person team that covered the Prop 8 trial in San Francisco.

Blue Texan echoed the call;

But the hard truth is, FDL doesn’t have a Sugar Daddy like the Brothers Koch. We don’t have a Fortune 500 media company behind us. And we’re not running interference for Democratic politicians just because they’re calling themselves Democrats — we’re holding them accountable. What a concept.

Maybe your tax return is dropping in the mail this week ... Or you got a bonus for your hard work ...

For as little as $45 dollars (what's that, about a weeks' worth of coffee?), you can become a 'Founding Member" of Firedoglake.com and get a good feeling of supporting a well-worthy cause.

Go to the Membership Page and sign up, be on the ground floor of this great project.

Get a glove, get in the game ...