In January of 1941, slightly less than a year before Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt took to the airwaves to talk to a worried nation. As war clouds gathered, several factions within the US were fighting for control. Some wanted immediate war; others wanted us to stay apart and isolated from Europe for as long as possible.

Ever the politician, Mr. Roosevelt was able to frame the debate by using some concepts from the constitution, and others suggested to him by Eleanor, who was a champion of international human rights. In any case, we should all be familiar with them by now.

Freedom of Speech.
Freedom of Religion.
Freedom from Want.
Freedom from Fear.

World War II was fought for many reasons, but by this speech, President Roosevelt was able to put the coming conflict into the simplest, yet most grand terms that everyman could understand.

Ever since then, the "Four Freedoms" meme has been used by many. Norman Rockwell painted a famous series based on the freedoms that was used during the war for fundraising. These paintings can now be seen at his home and museum here in Stockbridge, MA.

One of my musical heroes, Duke Ellington, eulogized his friend and confidant Billy Strahorn in 1969 by referring to the "four freedoms" that guided Billy's life. In many ways, I find these even more compelling than FDR's.

Freedom from hate.
Freedom from self pity.
Freedom from fear of doing something that would benefit someone else more than it would himself.
Freedom from the pride that could make him feel that he was better than others.



So that brings me to today. In the spring and early summer of 2007, your moderating staff engaged in a protracted battle with the leadership of 'another website' over the political direction said website was going. We didn't agree with the hardline stance that was being offered, and sought something else. In August of 2007, we launched a forum with much fanfare, and based it on FDR's Four Freedoms. It was my dream to have the
Four Freedoms of the Internet originate with us.




I know many of you started over on the forum and migrated over here to the blog. (Big thanks to Bob....without whom most of this would have never happened)

But ever since the election, and particularly the inauguration, traffic has fallen way down over on our original home. I'm re-inviting everyone today to come and visit the forums. Look up at the top of the page; see that fourth button marked "Forum"? Go ahead and click it.

While I have no doubts that we'll remain safe and sound in our little corner of the internets for quite some time yet, we are a fuller picture than just the blog. There are many of us now that don't have access during the day to the blog, but curiously can reach the forums. There's still many great things to discuss and ponder, and the fast pace of the blog doesn't allow us to do that.

Plus, there's people in the forums that don't cross over to the blog, (and vice-versa), so why not give it a try?

Sorry to tootle our own horns today, but every now and then it's good to pause and take a look back. The road ahead of us is still frightful and dangerous, but look back just a minute and see how far we've come.


I'm off to the store in a few; I'm not working the merchandise floor this summer, I get to do a cool thing called the Outdoor Discovery School. If you've got an LL Bean store near you, check out the "walk-on adventures". That's what I'm doing all season!