Balloon-Juice is an online community created by John Cole in January, 2002. In typical Cole manner, his first post was

“Since nothing in my life is easy, I doubt this will work the first time I try it. If it does work, I will be moderately elated.”

24 minutes later, his second post was

“My, my my… I thought this would be much more difficult. Take that Glenn. Actually, Glenn, Mr. Sullivan, and a variety of other people who I have been following daily are the reason I am starting this little project. I am not sure what I intend to accomplish with this, but I have covered any possible failure by refusing to set any goals. “Aim High,” I always say.

I think this might be a healthy place for me to air my pet grievances and bizarre political viewpoints- at least it will be healthier than the local pub, where I am in striking distance of the people I am offending. At any rate, I read a good deal of news sites, and I get irritated with all of the stupid and irrational things that get stated in our media without ANYONE challenging them. Fortunately, there are a lot of good folks out there debunking the garbage (I will get links I like up once I figger this all out), and I intend to help them. In fact, I think this stream of consciousness description has helped me to come up with the full title for the the corner. “The Curmudgeon’s Corner—Helping People Make fools of Themselves.”

With an attitude like that, success might be hard to define, much less meet.

But succeed he did, and Balloon Juice has been here through the trials and travails of John and his collection of loving dogs and cats, family, Fraternity Brothers, friends, Brothers in Arms, and the occasional new or old friend. Through his dogged determinedness, John created and sustained a quirky community of somewhat-similar-minded commenters and Front Page contributors.

All proceeds of Balloon-Juice are given to appropriate animal and people charities.

While you are here, and to better understand some of the commentary, please consult the Balloon-Juice Lexicon. It is updated periodically. Finally, Balloon Juice respects your privacy, although we do sell ads on the site. Please consult the Privacy Policy for more information.