The last few weeks have seen an exciting increase in those who choose to climb up and grab a branch here in the Tree. We would like to take this opportunity to welcome you all, to thank you for enriching the conversations, discussions, and the culture we have here on our site. Sometimes when you choose to join in and meet new cyber friends, things can be a little confusing because you feel like you just missed a part of the conversation, or that there is an unknown language you just can’t quite pick up. Perhaps you are wondering if there may be some unwritten rules you don’t know about, or some vague protocol that you should observe. You may have found hints about our history in some of the comments. We would like to try to help you with all that, as much as is possible in a single post written by a menopausal admin with early onset Alzheimers.   

Most of us were regulars at another site several years ago, and either chose to leave that site when things deteriorated there, or were banned from commenting. Another site was created by most of the current admins of this site and a few other people. Tidbits and crumbs were left across the internet paths to lead our friends to the new site. Sometimes someone knew where to leave a comment, or had an email address, and the friends finding their way to the new site in turn left their clues. When that site was shut down, it was not nearly as hard to toss that rope out again and wrangle our crew. Hmm. Our Texans will have to tell me if I messed that metaphor up. Within hours of the shutdown catastrophe, quite a few of us had found each other again on a couple of other sites. Very quickly Sundance set this site up, and we were off and running. Excuse me, climbing. Fortunately for all of us, he wisely chose a very large tree, with deep strong roots. So here we are, a rag tag bunch.
Many of us kind of grew up together in this journey through the internet, so we just know things without talking about it, and now we find the need to try to explain things we have never verbalized or set down in words. We are after all truly a rag tag bunch, and that doesn’t usually mean rules.
We may not be big on rules, but we are big on standards… so we will start there. We are very respectful of each other and other’s opinions. We encourage vibrant discussions, we love debate, and we get quite passionate in our presentation of ideas and beliefs. However, we discourage name calling and personal insults. We are more than willing to listen to new ideas, consider new evidence, but we have very high standards of proof. If you cannot back up your statements, if the strawman is your friend, if you find yourself spinning like a top because of your circular arguments, then you can expect to be called out, and not just by one of our doddering old timers. We notice you new kids do quite the job of dissecting weak arguments as well. We want everyone to be offered a voice, but we have no intention of allowing someone with an agenda an unlimited opportunity to hijack the conversation. We don’t go around in circles, so we will not keep entertaining the same argument over and over. The admins will step in.
We have gone to the trouble of categorizing our posts, so before you make assumptions, or if you have questions, you may want to check the topics and do a little back reading to get the whole picture. Many of our current posts have a tremendous amount of research attached, and they are part of an ongoing and developing theme.
With the increase in attention to our blog over the past month, we have been blessed with a great deal of reader involvement in ways other than just lively discussion and comments. Each day we receive a number of links and tips, pictures and ideas for posts, most directed at Sundance. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your research, your involvement, your Wolverine attitude. We are all, every one of us, made better by this determination to take action, to do what we can do to band together and take a stand. We therefore offer you the opportunity to take the next step. We unfortunately are unable to use every tip, picture or link and create a post. Each admin is a volunteer with many other responsibilities, and Sundance can only be so prolific!
Due to the heavy response to the investigative writing being done at the Treehouse, many links, leads and bundles of information are being e-mailed to The Last Refuge by concerned readers, writers and commenters. We would encourage you to prepare your material in article form with footnotes, citations and links such as you see in the Trayvon Updates and submit it for consideration.

Finally, let’s address that unspoken language and culture we referenced earlier, and try to give you some idea of how we function. WeeWeed has a bacon addiction. She is the Treehouse pusher, and we have all become addicted. She and Tilda usually open the cooler on Friday nights after work and drag out the tunes. She puts together some evil good posts, and she is behind your daily Bumper Stickers. Puddy (that would be Ad rem) bakes cakes. Lovely cakes. She also throws a heck of a birthday party. She is the Mossad Puddy, she does our undercover work for us, and she is the undisputed master of all things computer. Her posts are lively, and you never know what she will find for our enjoyment or entertainment. StellaP is probably the last person you want to have to win a debate with. If you don’t have the facts to back you up, you will go down in the first round, guaranteed. She also has the skills we rely and depend upon to keep things running smoothly without you ever hearing a hum. Her contributions to the site are many and require talent and knowledge, but often they are behind the scene. When she writes, you should take notice, as she is a gifted writer with a rare ability to put ideas together skillfully. Yatz (YTX4me) brings our passion and drive. She is a soldier and a fighter, and always does her research. Tilda, ah what can I say? She represents our heart, our humor, and she can be mean as a striped snake if she needs to be. She, like StellaP, knows how to push those buttons and pull those levers. Wee and I do not like those things. They are scary and make us nervous. Sharon is greatly a behind the scene person as well. She is the calm in the center of the storm, her wisdom is legendary and respected. She has a gift for seeing through all the ca-ca to the buried pearl. (Sorry, Sharon. You deserve a more poetic description, but my talents lie elsewhere.)  That leaves Sundance, our leader in every sense of the word. He might try to edit that line out, and I’ll smack him and put it right back in if he does. He is a leader for a cause, a man with principle, and the talent to give it voice. He has the tenacity and the instinct to be the great researcher and writer behind most of our posts. If you pay attention to his comments, you’ll wonder if he ever sleeps. We think he lives on coffee and bacon alone. Fortunately, Wee has truckloads of bacon, and boatloads of coffee.

I guess in the end, the rules are we have no rules. We have respect, we have knowledge, we have ideas, we have beliefs, we have passion. We have lots of fun. We have more than a site where you come to read the posts and argue your point. We have a home here in the Tree, an internet home where we have built solid relationships, and even some friendships. Perhaps, if you want to experience who and what we are, you might spend a little time on the Prayer threads. There are two of them now, because the first one got so long it took forever to load. There you will find our heart. We come to each other with our needs, our heartbreak and our hope. With our thanksgivings. It’s a big part of who we are here. Please don’t feel that we only welcome believers. You are welcome here, Christian or Jew, believer or non-believer. We have no color or creed, no party or particular ideology other than a belief in the Constitution, and that  government is not your daddy.  There is much we have in common, and we will be respectful of you, as we expect you to respect us. Yet more can be found in the Chapel, in Our Mission Statement. Our Tree House is where you should start.
We welcome you, we embrace your contributions, and we look forward to the bright future we intend to build for our families, our country. Make yourselves at home on your branches, and have a lot of fun as we work together.
We are very good at fun.