Democratic Underground Monitoring Blog (DUMB)

2003-07-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

Let's see what the loons are saying about the death of Uday and Qusay. I am frequently amazed by the lengths some DUers will go to just to feul their hatred of GWB. As one seemingly rational poster in this thread (demdave) says, killing these two brutal thugs is a good thing. (I probably should praise demdave -- since he has less than 1000 posts and a similar name to mine, he'll probably get banned.)

study_war_no_more
we just murdered two bad guys without a trial or due process in their own country. We can show our national pride and pretend other people don't like us cause we claimed their natural resources which evryone knows are ours. Manifest destiny they just don't get it.

Generic Other
Murdering the families of heads of state is a great precedence to set
I'm sorry, if these guys are such criminals they should have been brought to justice, not just murdered by our military. Convenient isn't it?

aquart [this one is just sick]
Good thing the Bush twins don't like travel any more than Dad.

Someone overseas might think they're fair game

haymaker [aluminum foil hat time]
Just in the nick of time...........again.
How fortunate for George. He sure is lucky. I wonder when the killing of Saddam or Osama will happen. Hmmmm, let's see, around October '04? Yeah, that's the ticket.

Another seemingly rational DUer posts the following:

Nick879

I'll get flamed for this I'm sure, so I'm putting on the asbestos boxers, but reading a few of the posts here, it's no wonder the Freepers called some of the anti-war protestors Saddam lovers. Irregardless of the politics of the war, these two men were human rights criminals who, if captured, would have went to trial and almost certainly have been found guilty of crimes against humanity by ANY court in the world. The punishment for their crimes in Iraq would have been death. The facts were there for any to look up and read even before the Bush media blitz to demonize Saddam. These two men were simply monsters who have been brutalizing Iraqi civilians for over a decade, and even attempted to kill one another! To ignore the vast amounts of evidence gathered on these two before Bush was even in office would be unbelievable. I have no problem debating the methods used to capture these men or the illegality of the war we started on faulty information. However, I can't believe there would be any debate over whether or not these two men deserved to die. No, it wont stop the attacks. No, it won't give Bush any more credibility on the WMD flap. But I'm not going to shed a tear for these men who are responsible for the deaths of thousands of their own people.

Sadaam lovers? Nah, just simple-minded "everything Bush does is wrong!" partisan hacks.

2003-07-12T15:48:00.000-05:00

A reaction from a DUer to this blog.

a_random_joel
I'm sure you already know this.

Let us see if they have enough integrity to post the following:

DUMB criticizes DU for not allowing opinions from the Right to be posted, and for banning said posters.

Is DUMB willing to play fair and criticize FreeRepublic for this practice as well? They do the same thing. In fact they do it on a harsher scale, because at least here at DU, we are allowed to post links to conservative commentary(it's fun to rip them apart). At FR, threads which link to Left leaning commentary are frequently pulled.

So DUMB, fairness and integrity? Or bias and hypocrisy?

I just do this for entertainment. I find the Left extremely funny sometimes, particularly the raving extreme leftwing present at the DU. I have no pretentions of balance or "fairness". This is an opinion blog; I have no illusions about this being balanced journalism.

Frankly, "they do it too!!" is hardly a defense for the general behavior of the administrators at DU.

2003-07-11T16:02:00.000-05:00

Once more into the booby-hatch of the 9/11 forum. Here is a "poll" (survey really) of the conspiracy inhabitants on their "HOP" level: Did Bush:
1. Made It Happen on Purpose
2. Let It Happen on Purpose
3. Let it happen because of stupidity
4. Other.

MIHOP and LIHOP are running neck-and-neck.

Further down, one of my favorite anti-konspiracy posters, LARED, gets into it with an appologist/denier for Radical Islam:

2003-07-11T15:41:00.000-05:00

Talk about a weighty endorsement. Willie Nelson endorses Kucinich. Nothing left to do but count the votes (on one set of fingers and toes probably). Some other endorsements listed in this thread.

2003-07-11T15:08:00.000-05:00

Hello to any visitors from the DU, particularly SoCalDem! [If I wew graphics savvy I'd put the little waving-hand smiley guy here]

This is the first evidence I've seen that anyone at the DU bothers reading this blog.

2003-07-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

Thread wondering about whether they should have a forum debating the Right. Here are two posts from unclefuzzzy

[post 1, emphasis added]

I am sure that there are people from both forums that can have a friendly but spirited debate.

I realize that there are some here @ DU, and some from FreeRepublic.com that just cannot have an debate as mentioned above, but there are many from both forums that can.

Now to let you know right from the start with this reply being my first post here on the DU forum that I am a Freeper. I will not try to hide my political views from anyone, make people think I am somebody I am not (as I know some Freepers have done in the past), I will always be honest with you my political leanings..

You probably will almost never change my mind about most things politics, and I probably won't change yours either, but I think I can have a friendly and spirited debate with many here in these forums.

Another reason I joined this evening is that there are many threads here, some political, some not, that every once in a while I have wanted to add my two cents to...

Well whether this idea goes anywhere or not, see you in the forums.

Jon

[second post]

I will be the first to admit that there are persons on FreeRepublic.com that would not be able to have a friendly and spirited debate here on DU, just as I'm sure that there are some here on DU that couldn't do the same at the FreeRepublic.com forum...

But I am sure there are many from both that can have that friendly and spirited debate.

Jon

And as I stated in my previous post to this thread, I openly admit to being a Freeper, and I don't think I fit your description, "Freepers are the nastiest, least civilzed, ill-informed, anti-democracy nutsacks in the country. Thes fascists wouldn't (and couldn't) engage in a polite discourse of political opinion if their lives depended on it.", of Freepers..

Tombstoned.

Oh, and I noticed this bit of unintended honesty:

SoCalDem
ANYONE who wants to "debate" the "virtues" of rabid rightwing vitriol vs the common sense and truth of the progressives, can find about 1 MILLION chatrooms and forums ..

DU is the ONE place where we do NOT need their "oh so generous" input..

Millions of chatrooms and forums for the Right, only the DU for the left... gee, might that be because it's not the RIGHT that is full of "rabid vitriol"?

2003-07-07T23:49:00.000-05:00

I don't like California Governor Davis. Among other things, I think he is largely responsible for exacerbating the energy crisis in 2000. However, I'm ambivalent on the recall effort -- if anyone deserves it, it's Mr. Davis, but I don't like the procedure. I think California needs to look at revamping this particular law. However, it is the current law, so they need to follow it.

Anyway, the point of this little rant is this thread: The California Solution.

know many think this recall effort will fail to make the ballot. I sure hope it does. But in case it makes the ballot here is our solution. The Lt Gov runs on the replacment ballot with no other left wing candidate. If Davis wins then cool. If not the Lt Gov takes over and appoints Davis the new Lt Gov. Then he resigns and appoints Davis Governor and Davis appoints him Lt Gov. Let the Republican rat bastards stew on that.

Talk about subverting the will of the voters.

2003-07-07T23:42:00.000-05:00

The DU switched to a new version of their software over the weekend, and it seems to have gone surprisingly smoothly. Unfortunately, all the previous threads were transformed to Read Only.

2003-07-04T17:23:00.001-05:00

Happy 4th!

2003-07-04T17:23:00.000-05:00

Close Call for Sandra Day O'Connor (almost hit by falling beam) A BFEE conspiracy naturally.

corarose
The works of Bush Sr & Jr
They want to get rid of her so that they can appoint another right winger to the Supreme Court.

MrBenchley
Guess she wouldn't get in the small plane

2003-07-02T15:42:00.000-05:00

This comment speaks for itselfwakfs:

At this point....
...I would even accept blatant lies from my candidate if it meant overturning the Bush junta.

2003-07-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

The DU forum call The Meeting Room is inhabited (or infested) with astrologers. An anti-astrology type posted this list of 10 embarassing questions for astrologers. I've edited out the discussion of each point and only included the questions, which are pretty good.

jsw_81

1. What is the likelihood that one-twelfth of the world's population is having the same kind of day?
2. Why is the moment of birth, rather than conception, crucial for astrology?
3. If the mother's womb can keep out astrological influences until birth, can we do the same with a cubicle of steak?
4. If astrologers are as good as they claim, why aren't they richer?
5. Are all horoscopes done before the discovery of the three outermost planets incorrect?
6. Shouldn't we condemn astrology as a form of bigotry?
7. Why do different schools of astrology disagree so strongly with each other?
8. If the astrological influence is carried by a known force, why do the planets dominate?
9. If astrological influence is carried by an unknown force, why is it independent of distance?
10. If astrological influences don't depend on distance, why is there no astrology of stars, galaxies, and quasars?

So other skeptics have piped in too. The pro-astrology group seems to be resonding with ad hominem attacks

LiberalLibra
Do you have a hobby other than ranking on astrologers and astrology believers?????

trotsky:
Realize, LiberalLibra, that the Meeting Room is virtually overwhelmed with astrology posts. Astrology skeptics have to wonder, do YOU have a hobby other than trying to pin cosmological significance to everything short of mouse farts?

I'm actually quite impressed with a poster named lazarus

FWIW, studies have been done. None have ever shown astrology to have much more success than random chance, but of course those studies don't count because they didn't use real astrologers. Apparently, the only real astrologers are the ones that will get everything right.

BTW, the "strident demand" for evidence isn't. It's simply an acknowledgement of reality.

As it stands, astrology has as much evidence to support it as I have evidence to support the Invisible Pink Unicorn hypothesis. None.

Asking for evidence isn't outrageous unless no evidence exists.

Notice that your comments about "facts" and scientists includes evidence, of which we have none for astrology.

It's become trendy to call science a religion, or skepticism a religion, or atheism. It makes people feel better, because that puts their mystical beliefs in sky fairies or Invisible Pink Unicorns or astrology or magnet therapy or any other of host of bunk on a par with science. It's a cute trick, but redefining things doesn't change what they are.

Oh, and if you're worried about evidence being manipulated, don't be. Despite repeated requests (not demands), no evidence has ever been forthcoming, and I seriously doubt any ever will be. If you go back a few months, to the early days of the Meeting Room, you'll see that the skeptics, led by Stuckinthebush, did indeed try to work with the astrologers. We were told they weren't interested.

So much for "the true spirit of inquiry, and the real process."

2003-07-01T15:09:00.000-05:00

Democrats need Clinton.

Robroy
Bill Clinton said..
that he felt Wesley Clark would make a good president. Without actually endorsing him Clinton noted that Clark had the experience, knowledge, intelligence and integrity to serve our country as president. Interesting.

blm
He said the same about Kerry and Edwards, too...
He'll be gracious to all of them, and work behind the scenes to angle for his favs.

Bill Clinton "gracious" and "work behind the scenes"? You've got to be kidding, one of the most narcissistic self-aggrandizing individuals in recent history would stay behind the scenes?

2003-06-30T15:46:00.000-05:00

Oh get a grip. The Senate is working on a measure to move the Dept. of Homeland Security up the list of presidential succession to number 8 (right after Attorney General). The DU overreacts:

LiberalLibra

Anyone else besides me find the timing curious????
Could it be there is something in the works that may come to fruition just before Nove 2004????? Why would there be need for change in the line of succession at all????

w4rma

They are trying to make the Homeland/Fatherland/Motherland Security Dept.
more important and more powerful. With this move, they can point at the line of succession to "prove" to folks how important this department is.
Just one more step towards Fascist/Communist America.

How about the simple explanation: the Secretary of Homeland Security is probably in a better position, national-security-wise, than the current 8th in line, the Secretary of the Interior?

2003-06-30T15:11:00.000-05:00

Hey, what do you know, my predicition on Sunday came true. Thread about Ronald Reagan's future death. I predicted someone would link it to the 2004 elections.

CanuckAmok

just want to be the first to say...
That Rotten Ronnie's death is coming soon, and you can bet it will be curiously coincidental and well-timed for one event or another.
Hell, he could be dead right now, a la Stalin, and they're just waiting to announce his death at a 'convenient' time...

SoCalDem

They're waiting to thaw the Ronsicle
until just the right moment..Like if * is behind in the polls .

And for a truly warped comment, we get this:

loudsue

Does Nancy know Poppy was involved in assassination
attempt against Ronnie??
Is that why she hates junior??

GHWB was involved with Hinkley? What the f*** planet is loudsue living on?

2003-06-29T14:50:00.000-05:00

Looks like Blogger has made some changes. Here's hoping that the archives don't keep disappearing.

2003-06-29T14:43:00.000-05:00

Preemptive dancing on Republican graves. Ronald Reagan this time.

bluestateguy

After the Wellstone memorial we were all lectured by conservatives that there is a "correct" way to mourn (though I doubt any of these people were sorry Wellstone died). Very well then. When their hero, Ronald Reagan dies it will be incumbent on all of us to hold these folks to exactly the same standards of decorum. If some Young Republican takes to the rostrum and gives an impassioned speech about the need to elect George W. Bush in 2004 as a tribute to Ronald Reagan people on our side should be ready to pounce, hard, on the Right's politicization of the former President's death. The Wellstone memorial was used to mobilize the Right for the 2002 election. I am simply suggesting that if the Right makes the same mistake with the Reagan memorial,whenever that may be, our side should use their errors to rally Democratic constituencies.

[later post]

I am also concerned that if Reagan dies in October of 2004 the Right will be increasingly mobilized. I know for a fact that FOXNEWS, and to a lesser extent the other networks too, have prepared many hours of mostly favorable and puff piece documentaries on Ronald Reagan which will air in the 72 hours after he kicks off.

I have a prediction, assuming this thread gets any more action (it's Sunday, and the DU denizens have extremely short attention spans, so the thread might bubble off the bottom of the list). Anyway, I predict that someone will state something to the effect that Republicans will time Reagan's passing to help with the 2004 election.

Afterall, some DUers accused Jim Talent (R-MO) of staging his father's death to help with his election.

2003-06-29T14:20:00.000-05:00

Time to start smearing Arnold. Guardian UK Arnold Schwarzenegger father has Nazi connection The veracity of the story is questionable (I mean, it is the Guardian afterall), but the DU reaction is predictable. Some point out that it isn't really relevant, but others respond with:

BEFOREATHOUGHT
I agree It might not be relevant, but since the Bushies have
Nazi connection's (prescott bush)I thought how fitting.

rooboy
This makes him clearly unqualified to be governor...
but don't rule out a presidential run.

2003-06-29T14:09:00.000-05:00

Dancing on Republican graves, part 15 or 16 (I've lost count). This time it's Strom Thurmond.

buff2 :
And they also have to pay their respects.........
To another one of their repuke bigoted haters! [puking icon]

Buzzz:
Then this will be a white sheet affair after all?

lebkuchen
He finally died, as in, quit breathing?
Or will the Senate embalm him and call it "life support?"

I love this one:

koopie57:
I wonder why this memorial
is so much different then Wellstone's? What was it about Mr. Wellstone that made everyone want to be there, to be seen; and why does not one want their faces seen at this old knarly racist's memorial, besides the stench that is? Could it be that Senator Wellstone did positive things and Knarled and Grissly did negative things?

Gee, it might have something to do with it being organized as a respectful memorial instead of a blatent political rally.

2003-06-23T21:36:00.000-05:00

Time for a trip into the DU's equivalent of the loony bin, the 911 forum. Everyone, what do you consider the Top Ten 9-11 Smoking Guns Here's a hoot:

clarence :
10. Jet fuel cannot melt steel.
9. The last tower hit fell first. Explosives?
8. Ashcroft stopped flying commercial in July.
7. 5 Trillion dollar derivitives bubble was set to explode.
6. 100 million dollars in UAL and AMR short selling still unclaimed. What, brokers don't know whose name they're in?
5. Bush Sr in league with Osama, Saddam, Noriega, S&L, Iran-Contra, Moon, rogue CIA, Carlyle.
4. Prophecy: see Bzrezinski, Pipes, Goebbels.
3. Warnings from ISI, Mossad, spies everywhere.
2. Anti-freedom and anti-civil liberties legislation sorely needed to ramrod fear-based, fundamentalist, Christian-right, Zionist, world domination, Orwellian, BFEE agenda.
1. When Andy Card told him the second tower was hit, he listened for twenty minutes to story about a girl's pet goat, with a somber look on his face, like he never had a problem in this world that wasn't supposed to happen, or that Daddy couldn't buy him clear of.

Jeez, I feel like I need a shower now. This makes alt.conspiracy look tame sometimes.

2003-06-23T21:14:00.000-05:00

The Disruptor who wouldn't go away.

As you may know, I have been banned alot in the past for reasons unknown to me and the admin. I am a Democrat and always have been. They said I am a disruptor. The people here said email the admin. Well I did 6 months ago and this month and have gotten no response. Their policy is if you are banned, you cant ever come back. That is a good rule, except if they ban you for a reason that is unknown. The mods dont even know what I did. I dont even know what I did. I have presented my democratic websites I have created and they still say I am a disruptor. It's bad when a person comes over here, who is part of the party and wants to join the community and is turned away everytime and accussed of being a troll/disruptor when that person has never done anything to get banned.
My point is, what did I do to start out with? No one knows! I dont know. I am a Democrat! That rule is crazy not to let people back in! I did nothing to start out with. So why keep banning me?

Please help!

Gee, what a shock, someone was banned and doesn't get an answer when he asks why. This person is just being silly, he should get a new account (with a completely different name) and stop drawing attention to himself. Unless, of course, that is his intent in the first place, and he derives some sort of pleasure from that.

2003-06-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

At the Democratic Underground, we do not tolerate any form or religious bigotry, well, err, that is, except bigotry against fundamentalist Christians. Note, some of these quotes are from Skinner, the administrator.

Skinner:
This post is obviously about conservative fundamentalist types.
IT is not a slam against all Christians. Nor is it a slam against all born-again Christians. It is a slam against a small group of conservative fundamentalists who dislike Harry Potter.

Sorry, but if a small group of conservative fundamentalists believes that Harry Potter teaches satanism or whatever, then they deserve our ridicule.

Cheswick:
what you seem to be saying is that it is okay to riducule people not because of their actions which might impinge on your rights, but because of what they believe. You are saying that it is right to ridicule people because their beliefs are different than yours.

<<>>

Skinner
I did.
I stand by my post.

Cheswick:
okay , I just want to clarify
If I think keeping Kosher (for instance) is worthy of ridicule that is okay?

Skinner
No.
Keeping Kosher is a normal religious observance.
Being afraid of Harry Potter is, well, ridiculous.

He gets crucified for this by several posters. This is the best:

DoubleDigitIQ
So what are "normal" religious observances?
Is there a list somewhere?
Because it'd be interesting to know which ones are worthy of protection and which can be safely ridiculed.

Catholic Eucharist?

Muslim prayers 5 times a day?

Jews who respect the Sabbath?

Hindus who regard cows as sacred?

I know people who regard these as nonsensical as the Harry Potter issue. Can these beliefs be ridiculed here?

How's this for a radical thought -- make fun of the individuals holding the silly opinion that Harry Potter is satanic, without smearing all Christians?

2003-06-16T17:53:00.000-05:00

In another living-in-the-past thread, DUers hope Bill Clinton will run for NYC mayor..grytpype
This is great, great news.
It's going to give him a platform and increase his visibility. We need him around, he's one of the few popular Democrats we have.

caledesi
I say "you go Big Dog"....a great mayor of NY
Can't wait to hear the freepers freaking out about this. Bill Clinton...the greatest president of the 20th century. Take that, freepers. I did like this comment:

belle
At this point, Bloomberg would lose to Sharpton. Hell...
Bloomberg would lose to Elmo. We hatessss him, yesss we doessss.

2003-06-15T21:46:00.000-05:00

So what're the DUers saying about the protests in Iran? It's propoganda.

DeathvadeR
I'd bet money the Cia is working behind the protests.

Supporting them while they beat us, round us up like cattle and send us to jail for protesting here in the States.

Emillereid
I'm sure much of the anti-mullah sentiment on the part of the students is real -- but the timing is suspicious. The last few weeks the Bushits have been ramping up the pressure and rhetoric regarding Iran -- I'm sure there's been some agitating by 'special forces.'
I'm sure they're going to go on and on about Iran -- making Americans more and more anxious, until some incident makes it imperitive that we march on Tehran. And since our military is already over there -- why not kill two Muslim countries with one build-up. Of course, Rove wants it all just in time for the election.

A poster slaps them around for it. I'm sure the post will disappear, so I'll preserve it here:

DU sides with an extreme theoracy now
over reformist student demonstrators ? The Iranian reformist movement has been building momentum for several years now, long before war in Iraq was on the radar screens. Elections have clearly shown the desire of the people but the ayetollahs have used their authority and militias to block and blunt meaningful reform.

Myself I wish the demonstrators all the luck in the world in reclaiming their nation from the mullahs. Certainly they will need it, especially if their cause is sneered at by their natural allies simply because Bush said a word in their favor.

He gets pasted for it, repeatedly.

It's funny to see someone accuse them of hypocricy, since I don't see anything hypocritcal in their position. They support monolithic totalitarian governments, plain and simple. They're remarkably consistent in that aspect.

2003-06-13T23:16:00.000-05:00

Oh,mice. What should we do about Jonah Goldberg?

Hang Him Up By His Penis. The Rest Is Up To You.

2003-06-13T02:26:00.000-05:00

Q&C thread about an incredibly bigoted thread.

Cheswick
why hasn't this clearly bigoted thread been locked?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=11939&forum=DCForumID70&omm=21
This thread breaks the rules about religious bigotry.

What Cheswick doesn't realize is that religious bigorty is acceptable, nay, encouraged, at the DU as long as it is against Christians. I've alerted several posts that were anti-Christian, to no avail.

2003-06-11T17:01:00.000-05:00

More Bush = Nazi crapola

greatauntoftriplets :
Wonder if Presidents Cheney and Rove and their puppetboy
plan to use Xyklon B gas at the Gitmo death camp.... There would be a certain irony in that.

Cronus
Getting rid of the inheritance tax, for Bush, is basically more nazi money laundering since his inheritance derives mostly from nazi cash.

2003-06-11T16:36:00.000-05:00

An update on the Cuba thread. A poster named Mika claims that Cuba is already a democracy and provides several links "proving" it. Read the links for some serious amusement.

2003-06-10T16:30:00.000-05:00

A discussion of gun-rights leads to this comment from someone calling himself an anarcho-communist (which another poster calls and oxymoron):

mind_cemetary
Communism is merely an economic system, not a political one. It is characterized by two things:
1) the distribution of goods based upon need; and,
2) the absence of wage labour

The idea that communism is inherently totalitarian is based upon the false assumption that a central government is the only political mechanism by which it can be implemented.

Uhh, okay. One of the other posters provides a perfect reply.

MrBenchley:
"the false assumption that a central government is the only political mechanism by which it can be implemented. "
What's the other mechanism? Magick?

2003-06-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

Discussing a speech by Colin Powell to the OAS regarding Cuba. Some of the more over-the-top comments:

annagull :
OAS. please help us to dismantle your democratic gov'ts?

ze_dscherman
Germany, June 9 -- DU participator ze_dscherman today challenged Western Hemisphere nations to work toward the goal of ending several years of PNAC and BFEE control in the U.S, which has become a threat to world peace and democracy.
"I look forward to working with my partners in the DU to find ways to hasten the inevitable democratic transition in the United States," ze_dscherman told members of the DU at their daily discussion forum.

aebenson307
OAS must veto all American terrorism qgainst Cuba and the WORLD
Powell is the kiss of death in any peaceful attempt at democracy anywhere . He is a footman for the Bush terrorists and is totally discredited for his fraudulent speeches to the United Nations. Cuba is not a threat to the WAR making terror by the USA and in fact, Cuba is a victim of the USA, It is forced to have a criminal concentration camp on its soil that is reeking with human rights violations.
The USA has set up terrorist camps in Florida and in Central America to maintain its dictatorships and harassment of countries that refuse to bow down to American terrorism and its WAR against countries self determination.

Powell has been sited as a WAR Criminal by the WAR CRimes Tribunal along with many other American Terrorist leaders. Cuba needs the OAS to warn the USA to cease and desist its 45 year WAr of terror against Cuba.

That last one is over the top for whacko-ism.

After several of these responses, robcon blasts the participants:

As far as I see, the responses to the post are just more sickening defenses of the Cuabn dictatorship and gulag by DU members. I know there are some people on DU who take the defense of democratic instutuions seriously, who are willing to criticize totalitarian dictators from the right or left. But there seem to be an awful lot of DUers who don't mind police states if they are leftist police states, like Cuba.

Well, duh, its a Socialist Workers Paradise, of course they like it.

2003-06-10T15:46:00.000-05:00

More dancing on graves. This time it's Donald Regan

Rick Myers
Hell is getting crowded!!!

Loonman
O happy day!

2003-06-10T15:18:00.000-05:00

An update on the frequently banned disruptor. Same thread.

why did I get banned in the first place? As another poster said in this thread you banned them for no reason and they had to pay to get back in. Well if you want to blackmail people thats fine, but im not going to pay to get in to something I was unfairly banished from. I know what the rules say, but you still havent said why I was banned, I have emailed you and asked you on here and you still havent answered me. I also dont know how I am a disruptor. I come, I post about Democratic things, I read others, I reply. How is that disruptive?
PLEASE GIVE ME SOME ANSWERS!

A couple of things:
1. No, I am not doing this.
2. I do wonder if the person who IS doing this reads this blog.

Heddi finally tells him why:

because you continue to re-register when it has been made MORE than clear that you are (currently) not welcome at DU. It has nothing to do with whether you donate or not.
We will not say on this public board why you were banned (originally), as that is a matter between admins, moderators, and yourself.

How long ago did you email Admin? Have you given them time to respond (i.e. more than 2 minutes)?

The fact of the matter is that you have been banned. Repeatedly. You have spammed the board with your Draft Gore stuff. Repeatedly. Both of these actions are against the rules, and both of these can result in a turning-off of your account, which has happened, repeatedly.

I can see why this poster continues to ask questions in public -- the Admins never responded to my email when HenryJones got axed. The page you get when you try to log on after being banned explicitly states that they won't reply if they don't want to. (I'd link it, but blogspot seems to have eaten the archive page that has it)

2003-06-09T17:41:00.000-05:00

C&Q discussion regarding a poster who has been frequently banned and keeps asking "why was I banned?" This caught my eye:

LeftPeopleFinishFirst:
I have been previously banned due to a large mistake on my part, and emailed the admins numerous times asking why. They never responsed so I finally had to give in and send a donation to clear everything up. It was a pain but it was worth it to be able to post again.

Emphasis added. Is it just me, or is this a little venal? All was forgiven because she ponied up a little cash?

2003-06-09T17:11:00.000-05:00

Several bloggers (Such as Steve Verdon, Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit) have been posting about the famine in North Korea, and the possible cannibalism reported in this Daily Telegraph article. See wat some DUers are saying about it in this thread. It's propoganda.

study_war_no_more :
A pattern of demonization towards any who oppose us is always the first step towards military action henceforth as american troops move seventy five miles back from frontline stories emerge on people eating their children. How many times have we seen this? Noriega voodoo and drugs-Saddams gassing of troops and the "Plastic shredder" Its classical Orwellian behavior sell the war. Native Americans were accused of the same thing by the way.

Jack The Tab :
This is such HORSESHIT! Human beings are human beings no matter what country they live in. To even think that North Koreans would eat their children is absolutely ridiculous and actually quite despicable. Human beings would eat anything, ANYTHING before resorting to canniblism, and frankly, I think a lot of people would rather die of starvation than eat another person. This is the most blatant piece of shithole propaganda.
There may have been one report of one instance of this, which gives this piece of shit paper the justification for making a blanket statement.

This is horrible, muckracking journalism. Expect to see it on FAUX news soon

2003-06-04T00:53:00.000-05:00

Put on your aluminum foil deflector beanies. We need an Evidence Room.

Please forgive me if I'm just being a dunce, and haven't noticed if we have one already, but we need a centralized evidence room for EVERYTHING that the BFEE has done in history. I'm talking everyting from the Nazi war crimes, to sabotaging the Iranian hostage rescue and delaying their release, to JFK, to the Bush/Hinkley thing, to the drug connection, to child slave thing, to Iran/Contra, to AWOL, to election 2000, to Iraq, ect......
I know that this would be well over a thousand pages of information. I'm not talking about conspiracy stuff either. Most of this is grounded in cold hard facts that has been buried so deep that nobody looks for it, but it's there. I've seen a lot of people post dependable stuff, but you have to look all over the place for it (including here). [emphasis added]

Woo, I say, woo.

12 replies so far, and none of the critical. I'll give the "normal" DUers the benefit of the doubt, and assume they're treating this thread like they'd treat someone on the street who was talking to himself. "Back away slowly, and don't make eye contact!"

2003-06-03T17:06:00.000-05:00

Color me confused. Indiana Green, a frequent pro-Palestinian combatant in the Foreign Affairs forum, complains in the Comments forum about some of the pro-Israel posters:

We have rightwingers that post there and get away with shit they couldn't elsewhere on this board by simply wrapping themselves on the "pro-Israel" flag.

Later on, another poster, Tinoire, identifies them because they use a code phrase:

These are the same posters who occasionally trip by referring to the occupied territories by the right-wing code words "Judea and Samaria", refer to the ISM Peace activists as terrorist supporters, and defend the settlements' right to exist as they are at all costs.

A resourseful poster searched for "Samaria" and found that its usage was legit. IndianaGreen replies with

Using "Judea and Samaria" in quotes as it is here:
The ultra-Zionists that want the entire "Judea and Samaria" area for their beloved biblical Israel (which was an historical myth).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=7773&forum=DCForumID30#10

Is quite different from referring to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, which are the ancient biblical names for the West Bank and also implies that it will never be given back in a peace settlement.

Another one is to refer to the Occupied Territories as the "disputed territories."

The only problem is, the person using "Judea and Samaria" in the linked thread is... IndianaGreen. Sheesh, build many strawmen, IndianaGreen?

2003-06-01T00:53:00.000-05:00

I haven't dropped into the muck of the Foreign Affairs forum for a while, so lets go take a look and see what absurdities I can find. Eye Witnesses: Israelis who witnessed Palestinians being shot by IDF .

Larkspur:
The IDF is the ideological descendent of the Capos
The Capos were Jews who served as barrack wardens for the Nazis in the concentration camps and according to Victor Frankl, psychologist and author of Man's Search for Meaning, the Capos most often were crueler to their fellow Jews than the SS guards. The IDF is displaying this same kind of behavior, except it is towards the Palestinians and foreigners, like Rachal Corrie and the ISM activists.

[same poster further down]
Comparing the IDF to Capos is not tripe. It is a valid comparison. Both are groups of Jews who use violence or threats of violence to terrorize their opponents. This behavior is not uniquely Jewish or Israeli, nor is it uniquely German. It is the dark side of human behavior, and last I recall Jews were human, so they suffer the same weaknesses as any other tribe of humans.

[same poster continues to beat this dead horse]
As far as the IDF and Capos, the IDF is the ideological heir to the Capos. The brutal mentality is the same, and the only major differences are that the IDF has more firepower than the Capos were allowed and the IDF are not subject to the Nazis. Only a rabid Zionist would instantly disclaim this connection.

Wow.

2003-06-01T00:10:00.000-05:00

An interesting study of DU rules

2003-05-28T23:33:00.000-05:00

Thread on DDT I want to see if the last post telling about the benefits of DDT stays or disappears.

2003-05-28T23:10:00.000-05:00

Discussion of Maureen Dowd's....slip Of course, its a right-wing conspiracy

hackwriter:
Another Karl Rove Attack and Destroy tactic
Doesn't anyone else find it odd that it's ONLY the New York Times that's being subject to this scrutiny all of a sudden? This may be me putting on my tinfoil, but since the Washington Post was an unabashed supporter of Bush's war, that left ONLY the New York Times as the "liberal media." It sure looks like Karl Rove is trying to crush the Times. Remember, these people believe that dissenting views have no right to exist.

2003-05-23T15:42:00.000-05:00

This really hits a nerve with me. Thread about a Republican Congressman denouncing his opponents for spreading rumors that he's gay.

PartyPooper

As a gay Democrat, I find it repugnant that another gay
person would support the Republican party. It is even more offensive to me when a "gay" person is elected as a "closeted Republican". You can not be more hypocritical than that!
And, I loathe the "Log Cabin Republicans" who have sold their souls to the devil. To them $$$ is more important than a social agenda. They couldn't care less about gay or other minority rights. Period.

My dear grandmother used to say, "the Democrats are the ONLY ones who ever helped in social causes and with the working men and women of America." Amen to that.

And, a gay Republican is a sell-out in my book!

F*** them all!

That pretty much summarizes my problems with the gay-activist community. They expect gays to be single issue voters, loyal to the Democratic party no matter what. That's a formula for being taken for granted. I guess gays aren't supposed to be concerned about other issues, like national security, foreign policy, tax cuts, or Social Security reform.

2003-05-18T23:56:00.000-05:00

I consipary theory that I haven't run across. Evidently there were some eyewitness reports (another indictment of the reliability of eyewitnesses) that flight 93 was being followed by another jet. The originator of this thread thinks it was an A-10.

Devils Advocate NZ :

So I had an aircraft that may fit the description, but could there have been a grey A-10 Warthog close enough to have shot down Flight 93? The answer, I was very surprised to learn, is YES!

The 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard is based in Willow Grove, less than 100 miles from Shanksville where Flight 93 came down. The 111th just so happens to be equipped with A-10 Warthogs and they are painted in the light grey colour scheme! In fact here is a picture of one of the 111th's aircraft

[later post by the same poster]

By the way, considering that the 111th is a ANG unit, and (I believe) ANG units come under the authority of the state's Governor, is it any wonder that Tom Ridge, the Governor of Pennsylvania on Sept 11, was "promoted" to Secretary of Homeland Security?

Further down there are several posts from someone claiming to be an air traffic controller in PA who works with the crew that were on duty on 9/11. I guess he didn't realize that discussing facts with an AFDB wearer will get you labeled a psyops agent:

MercutioATC

This seems to be a real issue with you. If you want another conspiracy theory, there's supposedly a very high-powered laser at College Station, PA that could have been used to shoot down an aircraft.
I just happened upon the thread and thought I'd let everybody know that my co-workers related the same story as the "official" version. I didn't realize that this made me a co-conspirator.

[further down]

As for my alleged residence in Langley, why is it so hard for you to believe that I do, in fact, work for the FAA and WHY, if I was CIA, would I be here pretending to be an air traffic controller?

[and still further down]

When and if I choose to call you a blithering idiot or a self-important deluded conspiracy theorist, you'll know.

2003-05-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

Thread about Deanna Laney killing her children. This unhinged woman bludgeoned her kids to death, so the DU takes the opportunity to bash religion. I guess bigotry is okay as long as it's against Christians

BOSSHOG:
ricky the dog [editor deletes obscenity] santorum should rush to her defense because she is his kind of girl. KILL YOUR BABIES FOR CHRIST, REPUBLICAN FAMILY VALUES. No death penalty for this MISS GOP. And I'm sure rush and sean will blame clinton. LET US ALL DEVOTE OURSELVES TO RIDDING THE WHITE HOUSE OF REPUBLICANS.....

gsh999:
Indict Jesus?
For aiding and abetting?

chookie
think that symptoms of bi-polar illness, if not too extreme, could go unnoticed in a fervent religious community - so she may have had this condition for some time, but was able to function with it given the mindset and activities of a cult, and not perceived as abnormal or troubled.

MostlyBlackCat
Yep. Very Very easily. Think about it. She acts one way, they tell her is it the devil - and this is not just in churches that are extreme, folks. Your standard issue Baptist church will be happy to make you believe that anything you do that isn't what they dictate is Satan controlling you. She acts another way (submissive, calm, noncombative) and they reward this behavior and say she is walking with god. It's easy to label mental illness, especially mood swings and emotional disorders, as "struggles with the flesh vs the spirit". And depending on the church, even extreme mental illness can be explained in terms of a spiritual battle between good and evil. I've seen it first hand, and it's scary the things that people will justify as spiritual that are biochemical.

PassingFair
Her family should SUE the crap out of her brother-in-law preacher and the church involved. How long is this type of crime going to be created and abetted by religion? If "anyone" other than God had been talking to her, she'd have been cared for as the sick person she was. Instead, the crutch (er, church) just fanned the flames of mental illness. If she was my relative, I'd figure out a way to shut that place down. [note -- assuming facts not in evidence -- is there anyone who had prior knowledge that she was hearing voices?]

2003-05-14T00:29:00.000-05:00

Newer Smaller Nuclear Weapons development has the weenies in a tither.

2003-05-14T00:20:00.000-05:00

I've been on vacation. I would highly recommend the audio tour of Antietam National Battlefield.

2003-05-03T15:15:00.000-05:00

Economic cluelessness at the DU.

copithorne
The most logical way of stimulating the economy is a government jobs program, hands down.
That is the most direct way of getting money into the hands of people who will spend it. And it has the added benefit of accomplishing public good.

EconomicsDude's reply is surprisingly calm. My reaction was "what a dunderhead"

2003-04-28T22:05:00.000-05:00

I speculated earlier that Godwin's Law doesn't apply at the DU, and evidently I was right. Bush and Nazis

2003-04-28T02:28:00.000-05:00

North Korea Offered to Scrap Nuclear Program-. This is a discussion of North Korea's latest offer to stop making nuclear weapons if the US does...something. All DUers who think this is a good idea, raise your hands:

0007
.....and just what did North Korea indeed offer?
Sounds good to me whatever it was.

NNN0LHI
The N.Koreans offered what sounds like a reasonable proposal, and the Americans jumped up and said hell no! We can't have that. We are outta here.

fabius
The Administration wouldn't be all that upset if Kim nuked a major city on the West Coast. We never voted for him or his pop out here.
Then W can REALLY go on a rampage. Martial Law. Invade Everybody.

Nevermind the morality of appeasement or negeotiating with blackmailers, isn't this a bad precedent to set? If you want to get the US to the bargaining table, just develop nukes.

2003-04-26T16:08:00.000-05:00

Just an observation. It apeears that Godwin's law doesn't apply at the DU. On normal (and I use the term loosely) internet discussion boards, linking someone to Hitler / Nazis is usally a thread-killer. On the DU, just accuse a Republican of being a Nazi and you get a chorus of Me-Too's. Such as this thread about Ann Coulter.

And so much for their rule about posting sexist comments. I guess it's okay to make fun of a woman's looks as long as she's a conservative:

Phatfish:
If that is the best ass that the GOP can get...
then they are in trouble. Personally, I find her very unattractive. I'm sure her beligerant personallity adds to her ugliness but she is just not beautiful.

BushHATER1
Yes, she is thin and has no figure and blond hair. BUT what people cant get beyond is that "NAZI" attitude she has and that horrible smoker voice.

If she worked out, got a boob job and never spoke, she would still be a "GOPer NAZI propogandist

Reading some other comments from BushHATER1, I suspect he's trolling. But since he's spouting antiBush venom, I doubt he'll get banned. Link to BushHATER1's profile. We'll see if he gets tombstoned.

2003-04-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

Ummm, could you get worked up about something any more trivial?So you can Google someone's phonenumber and get an address from it. Whoopie.

revree:
Being watched by everyone, able to be tracked down by anyone...yikes. I feel like this is Nazi Germany!

Wow, Nazi Germany. Wow. Some posters further down point out that it's really no big deal.

2003-04-21T18:59:00.000-05:00

Why do we tombstone posters whose opinios we don't like? The answer is simple -- you can't stomach having your odd world view challenged.

DarkPhenyx

I would also say this. By being so exclusive, w/o restricting access to the content to members only, we allow the truly silly contingent to run rampant on this forum w/o fear of being contradicted, and the opposition uses their words to make all of us look foolish.

I wonder if DarkPhenyx (interesting spelling) reads DUMB?

TahitiNut

IMHO, it's not the opinion per se (or its espression) that results in tombstoning; it's behavior that disrupts productive discourse on DU accompanied by blatant intellectual dishonesty.

Not true, or HenryJones wouldn't be "tombstoned".

meowmeow

Throw on the blinders
Look straight ahead, engage only your friends and pretend that there is no opposite voice to hear? Do you really believe that by blocking dissent you further the cause of the Democratic party? Do you really belive if you allowed dissent that conservatives would rush to DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND in droves? That they would simply aim to disrupt with unthoughtful, unprovoked witticisms, that they would not add an important voice to your debates (and I use the term loosely since there are no real debates here, just a loose consortium of conspiracy theory threads)? Do you really belive you are better than them when they would never block you except for the most egregious excesses?

I doubt they see the irony that meowmeow has been tombstoned.

2003-04-21T18:39:00.000-05:00

Conspiracy Wackos reliving the Wellstone crash. Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanies Recommended..

clarkbarr
Wellstone was murdered, just like Mel Carnahan was. The Nazi Republicans DO kill people to keep power. Period.

SudieJD
Norn Coleman Knows...
How it happened. He and his friend shrub who just happened to be visiting the cities at the time stumping for Coleman.
[...]
Paul Wellstone was murdered. We in MN know that and we know by whom.

preciousdove
I think that a pulse generator was used. They couldn't defeat him so they had to kill him. He was the conscience of the Senate.

seventhson
Having done hundreds of criminal and civil investigations as ...
an investigator (criminal defense), and ivestigative journalist, and as an attorney -
I Believe that the most likley scenario is still the ue of what is known as an electro-magnetic pulse device which knocks out electric fields and causes an engine to lose power (and a beacon to cease).

The evidence for this is pretty straightforward:

1. The plane crashed due to a sudden loss of speed (it was going so slow it literally "fell" after a "stall" - and while it glided into its crash....

2. There were no distress calls. No communications were recorded - not even a "Mayday"

3. The beacon also ceased operating or was "off"

[counterpoint to the above] karlschneider
You refuse to accept facts. An "emp weapon" can NOT affect the
flight controls of a King Air. You have been told this no less than a hundred times by people including myself who have flown them and know how they work. Give it a ******* rest.

2003-04-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

The DU's new rules for the 2004 election. Getting started on the mind control a little early.

Negative attacks are an unavoidable part of any political campaign, and therefore they are permitted against any Democratic presidential candidate. However, once the Democratic party officially nominates its candidate for president, then the time for fighting is over and the negative attacks against candidates must stop. The administrators of this website do not wish for our message board to be used as a platform to attack and tear down the only progressive on the planet with any hope of defeating George W. Bush. Constructive criticism and even outright disappointment with the candidate may be expressed, but partisan negative attacks will not be welcome

{snip}

Democratic Underground may not be used for political organizing activity by supporters of any political party other than the Democratic party. Supporters of certain other political parties may use Democratic Underground for limited partisan activities in political races where there is no Democratic party candidate.

Goodbye Green Party advocates. Evidently they had quite a problem with the Greens during 2000.

2003-04-09T16:13:00.000-05:00

Ok, so some more from that thread linked below. This has all the earmarkins of an agent provacateur:

chimpy_is_a_chumpy:
This has to be the worst day in history .... I would rather put up with ten Saddams than have that loser chimp boy and his ilk in charge

[and two posts below, the same poster says]

He was NOT that bad
I don't want anyone to die BUT,

I think that most if not all of the tales about Saddam were made up by Chimps' buddys so that they and their oil cohorts could have a reason to invade. No leader could have been as bad as they say without the populous rising up and throwing them out of power.
Also why do you think that there was so much resistance ???
If he was so hated and was so bad, no one would have fought for him

That's got to be a plant making fun of the DU. No way is someone who can use a computer actually that dim.

2003-04-09T16:00:00.000-05:00

THe Iraqi's in Baghdad are pulling down a statue of Hussein, so naturally some DU'er think the whole thing is staged:

potatohead
I believe that 90% of what we're going to see from Baghdad in the next few days will be staged propaganda charades.

As opposed to previous, purely spontaneous demonstrations in Sadaam's favor. A lot of "there's only about 70 people, and they were probably hired" kind of comments. The scene's I've been seeing look like considerably larger crowds.

And this bit of filth from clarence:

Jeez this is about to be a really ugly day!!
Our regular weekly morning long sales meeting has just been temporarily postphoned so that we all can go into our boss's office to watch "history being made"! Our boss just called from his car phone so that he could let us know it is happening and to tell her it was okay to postphone so we all could go watch. I am so incredibly sick of this shit!!!

I wonder if clarence thought that Berliner's pulling down the wall was a horrifying sight also.

One more, from NEONINK

When the hell did the Democratic party, of which I belong, become such hell-bent on seeing everything negative?

I swear, DU can't be happy for just a moment in that these people might actually enjoy a day a freedom.

He's been tombstoned of course.

Okay, one more (the last, honestly), from Menin_Aeide_Thea :

How do we know
that it was a statue of the real Saddam Hussein?
Did they just take down a body double?

Also tombstoned, but pretty funny.

2003-04-07T16:19:00.000-05:00

Let the spinning begin! Regarding the discovery of BM-21 rockets potentially loaded with cheical munitions, some DU'ers still don't think it's a problem:

ward919:
"medium range"--still not an imminent threat to US
I don't give a damn what they find...this invasion was not justified.

A few posts later, venting77 rewrites history.

It was a given before the invasion that Saddam was in violation
of the UN resolution...THAT IS NOT THE POINT! The point is whatever Saddam had in Iraq WAS NOT AN IMMINENT THREAT TO THE US OR HIS NEIGHBORS since he had no plans or means to deliver anything anywhere! We patrolled his skies and our eye-in-the-sky knew every move he made. This invasion was not necessary and the deaths of all our soldiers were in vain...like it or not!

Huh? Assuming that the initial reports of the BM-21's loaded with chemical weapons is true (which is debatable), having them loaded and ready to fire isn't an imminent threat to Iraq's neighbors?

2003-04-07T01:46:00.000-05:00

In the words of Steve Verdon, un-fucking-believable.genz23 :
I'm Apparently ...
Not the only one in DU who has wished that this war not succeed. Witness the comments about why the Iraqis didn't mine or fortify. Many of us keep our eye on the ball which is the eventual toppling of this unlawful regime, the fight to disarm the US and make it unable to threaten others with imperial wars and the establishment of Progressive governments all over the world. Smash the fascist insect! All power to the people!

2003-04-04T23:42:00.000-06:00

Which part(s) of the Constitution do you think should be changed? Not surprisingly, this is a very active thread.

redeye [initial post]
Those of you who partake in such discussions and know me a little will probably know my answer: all of it, while replacing it with a more modern Bill of Rights and a more democratic system of electing our representatives in Washington

This one gets a 10 on the yikes-meter:

ronnykmarshall
Term limits for Presidents... that way Bill Clinton would still be in office.

2003-04-04T23:32:00.000-06:00

Yes, the Democrats are truly the party opposed to sexism. Ann Coulter is Skin and Bones! I guess it's okay to make fun of her appearance because she's not a liberal.

2003-04-03T16:02:00.000-06:00

No reply from the DU Despots about why "Henry Jones" got axed. Chickenshits won't even answer an email.

2003-04-02T23:58:00.000-06:00

Hypocricy from the DU administrator.

2003-04-02T23:51:00.000-06:00

Henry Jones, rest in peace. My nom de internet has been "tombstoned" Funny, "Henry" never posted anything abusive, or obviously conservative. "He" did frequently tease the loonier fringe when they saw black helicopters. "His" biggest beef with the DU in general was during the 2002 election cycle when they proposed all sorts of trickery to get around Minnesota and New Jersey election laws, but that was always couched in the terms of taking the moral high ground. I can only assume that someone at the DU saw my 3/23 post on blogspot and put 2 and 2 together.

Some highlights from the late Henry:

Henry takes the DU to task for treating New Jersy like a Banana Republic
Henry mocks some DU'ers who could use heavy medication.
Henry schools a marxist on how a real economy works.

He was a good sockpuppet, a charming sockpuppet. He will be sorely missed (until I get a new account.)

UPDATE -- here is the text from the "you were banned" page.

Your posting privileges have been revoked. If you do not know why this has happened, please take a moment to read our Message Board Rules.

If, after reading our rules, you still cannot figure out why your post privileges were revoked, then it may have been an error. If so, you may appeal by sending an email to xxx@xxx.com
Please include your forum username.

We do occasionally reinstate posting privileges for members who have been banned, after a cooling-off period has passed. If you would like to have your privileges reinstated you may state your case by sending an email to xxx@xxx.com. Please include your forum username.

We read all correspondence sent to us. If you do not get a response to your appeal, it is because your request was denied.

I'll let you know if I get a reply

2003-03-27T20:40:00.000-06:00

UN To Be Asked To Impose Sanctions On US And Britain . Of course, some DUers are happy.

ribofunk :
Hope this gets legs. I can't wait. What an unexpected humiliation that would be. And sanctions would immediately turn the business community against Bush.

HappySquirrel :
I wonder if they could remove the US and Britain off the Security Council??? There is no Arab representation on the Security Council...Maybe they could make some room, you think??? One seat given to cover the Americas (inclusive) one seat for the Arabs (since France would represent Europe) and a new seat for the Africans...Six permanent members all represented...

2003-03-25T17:25:00.000-06:00

Paranoia, DU style. Do the Adm.'s have plans if the Feds try to shut the site down? The administrators aren't taking it seriously, but good ol' Indiana Green is

If it comes to pass that they shutdown everything using a red alert as a pretext, you should DESTROY everything you have about DU's user base.

Welcome to the Underground phase of the democratic underground.

2003-03-25T16:54:00.000-06:00

Did Sadaam really gas his own people? A discussion on an editorial in the New York Times alledging that the Kurds were actually killed by Iranian chemical weapons, not Iraqi.

zizzer writes:
Kurds...aren't realy HIS people are they? I mean they hate him and her seems to hate them...right?,

So what, since they aren't really his people, it's okay to gas them then? Sheesh.

2003-03-25T16:23:00.000-06:00

Muddled-headed Liberal Lady thinks the Iraqi's will treat the POWs with kindness.

I noticed that the interviewers spoke in calm, comforting voices, and I saw how one of them put a gentle hand on the shoulder of the young African-American female. Her eyes seemed to express a terrible fear, and that is likely because she was trained/brainwashed by the US miltary to believe all Iraqis are blood-thirsty murderers.

I have faith that the experience of these POWs will leave them non-plussed and very confused. I expect that they will be given good treatment, decent food and clean quarters during their confinement, and that they will be released, unharmed when the time comes.

She gets pasted pretty well by other DU'er for being clueless.

2003-03-24T16:05:00.000-06:00

Hey, I'm willing to give some of the DUers credit when it's due. Some of their comments during the Hussein "speech" last night. are pretty good:

SoCalProgressive:.
looks better than last time -- must be a tape

texasleo:
well, he dyed his moustache for the event

liberal_veteran :
Maybe that's why they are calling it Historic.... It was pulled out of the historical archives???

kskiska
God has ordered we cut our enemies' throats -- Looks like Saddam has been hearing voices, too.

VolcanoJen
This is so bad.that it draws comparison to the old Soviet days when they'd prop up a 3-days-dead Yuri Andropov on a parade route

2003-03-23T23:25:00.000-06:00

Sadaam sets oil wells on fire, so naturally, who is to blame? Bush.

bowens43:
Put the blame where it belongs
this is bushes war EVERYTHING that happens a result of bushes unprovoked terrorist attack on the people of Iraq is bushes fault.
BTW in gulf war 1 US special forces started the oil fires.......maybe these too.

I couldn't resist replying to this one.

2003-03-23T23:13:00.000-06:00

Chemical Weapons find reports premature. A little bit of anti-Semitism from IndianaGreen:

Blame the Jerusalem Post, they started this lie! For reasons that should be obvious to everyone here!

2003-03-23T23:03:00.000-06:00

The soldier in custody for attacking his own command post. Check out the number of posters who think this is, of course, a setup.

2003-03-23T22:58:00.000-06:00

Some at the DU think the captured POWs should be shown by the media.

demnan :
Our unjust treatment of prisions in Guatamano Bay comes back home to bite us in the ass.

prolesunited:
He said showing photos of prisoners in humiliating positions violates the Geneva Convention. I distinctly remember seeing a number of photos of the people at Gitmo. Oh, I forgot, we never declared them prisoners of war so it doesn't count.

Another poster takes him to task for that comment, stating that the Gitmo pictures were taken by journalists using a telephoto lens, not staged by the military. Surprisingly, he hasn't been "tombstoned" yet.

And this outrage from HawkeyeX:

If the US POW's are being executed then I'm sorry, but the Iraqis does have legal right to do that, after all, it is THEIR country we are invading.

2003-03-23T22:40:00.000-06:00

And now for a little light kookiness, Was Paul Wellstone Murdered?

Not only is the subject goofy (alleging that the plane was brought down by a directed energy weapon), and the tolerance for an opinion contrary to the conspiracy completely lacking, they're now speculating on who will be next??

BisbeeO spews:
I dare to say that the next "liberal" senator the GOP may go after is Russ Fiengold of Wisconsin. His voting record and support for the common man is close to that of Sen. Wellstone's. Be safe Russ. Watch your backside and always wear a parachute when flying or visiting tall buildings.

[snip useless antiBush diatribe]

This man was NOT elected. Perhaps some of these so called "terrorists" were only trying to help honorable US citizens get the country back.

2003-03-23T22:18:00.000-06:00

From the front page of the DU, an open letter expressing their opposition to the war in Iraq. A little dissection:

We are told that we must invade Iraq to prevent further terrorist attacks, when top intelligence officials agree that an invasion will likely increase the possibility of such attacks.

You mean, like the increase in terrorism that happened after Reagan bombed Libya?

We are told that we must invade Iraq to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction, when evidence of Iraq's possession of such weapons is unclear.

The possible chemical weapons plant that was discovered today notwithstanding.

We are told that Saddam Hussein is a brutal dictator and we must liberate his people, when there are many brutal dictators around the globe who are are guilty of the same crimes — the Bush administration even considers some of them our allies.

Oh, so it's okay to depose a dictator who is slaughtering his own people in Yugoslavia, but not in Iraq

The United States stands virtually alone in the world right now.

Coalition of the willing at 40+ nations now.

The United States sets a dangerous precedent when we attack first — a precedent which, sadly, our enemies will likely be only too happy to exploit.

This makes me so angry I can't think of anything sarcastic. We were attacked first you nitwits.

2003-03-23T22:06:00.000-06:00

My apologies. Family health problems have kept me away from this for the last few months.

2003-01-02T22:16:00.000-06:00

Water is Becoming a Dangerous Drug. It's a "report" about the USGS finding traces of evil chemicals in rivers and streams.

They've evidently never heard the phrase "the dose makes the poison".

2003-01-02T21:56:00.000-06:00

This is why the media hated Al Gore. Naturally, it's corruption.

In 2000, when Karl Rove called General Electric Chairman Jack Welch to guarantee that a Bush Administration would be extremely generous to media conglomerates that were sympathetic to the Texas governor’s presidential campaign, it was a notable moment in history. If only this once, Rove wasn’t lying.

{snip}

In 2000, the “liberal” media saw an opportunity to earn huge financial rewards by advancing the career of George W. Bush. The corporate news organizations that dominate the flow of information in this country rejected the principles of objectivity and honorable journalism in favor of ingratiating themselves to a corrupt politician who had pledged to reward them once he was in office.

The...kookiness of this isn't all that surprising. However, it's a featured thread on the DU frontpage. I assume this means the management of DU approves of it wholeheartedly.

2003-01-02T21:51:00.000-06:00

Senator Frist rendered first air to some accident victims, and of course the DU complains. Longhorn Liberal says:

Black op must be suspected
This is far too convenient and timely to be coincidence.
Check the brake lines and steering linkage of the accident vehicle.
And shove that freaking tin hat bull, I'm not a sheeple any more.

Frist is a sociopath that needs to be exposed.

2003-01-02T21:42:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

2002-12-29T20:41:00.000-06:00

Big Brother Is Watching you post. A poster asks if he should hit the alert button any time there is a "suspicious" post by a newbie, rather than only alerting blatant rules violations. All of the responding moderators said "YES!". Chilling the dialog much?

2002-12-29T20:26:00.000-06:00

Here's a little test. In a thread entitled Clinton Lies, Name Them, a poster asked for a list of Clinton's lies. It's sort of a "nyah-nyah, Bush lies more than Clinton!" juvenile thread. A low-post-count poster named freefallm4 has the temerity to actually list a couple of them. Anyone want to bet the post will be gone tomorrow and / or the poster will be "tombstoned"? Here's what he wrote, preserved here because the DU admin's will probably delete it.

I did not have sex with monica?? please
I never had relations with monica???

You have to be kidding, if he would have told the truth in the first place, apologized to the nation, there would have been no problems, and what about the senator, govener that mysteriously died in arkansas??? thaier is no way to trust Clinton, and if Al Gore had not been associated with him, he would have had enough votes to win the elction without the florida votes/scam.
FREE

2002-12-26T23:23:00.000-06:00

Thread on NATO suppor for the potential war in Iraq IndianaGreen, dolt that she (I think it's a she) is, evidently yearns for the days of the Cold War:

NATO was a mutual defense organization created to protect the West from "evil" Soviet Union. What has NATO done since the sad demise of the USSR? NATO bombed Yugoslavia. Did Yugoslavia attack any of the members of NATO? No!

Without a Warsaw Pact to serve as a constraint, all of the old alliances from the Cold War are being turned into agents of aggression and genocide for the glory of its American masters.

The wrong side "won" the Cold War!

2002-12-26T23:16:00.000-06:00

Fidel Castro gets bit on the leg by an insect, so the DU'ers take the opportunity to extol the virtues of an oppressive society with a tin-pot dictator. IndianaGreen says

There are 11 million Cubans that will not trade their free universal health care for an American-style HMO. That's what makes a revolution!

2002-12-26T23:10:00.000-06:00

Making someone stand or kneel for hours is considered a war-crime at the DU.

2002-12-26T22:57:00.000-06:00

My apologies. I honestly tried to read a thread in the 9/11 / Terrorism forum, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. The place is populated with rejects from alt.conspiracy. Take a look for yourself, but be sure to add another layer of aluminum foil to your hat before entering.

2002-12-26T22:49:00.000-06:00

A poster named Psychoblues suggests swarming Free Republic. To the moderator's credit, the thread was locked.

2002-12-26T11:16:00.000-06:00

Lord of the Rings is Racist. To their credit, most DU'ers are replying with, basically, "what a load".

2002-12-26T11:02:00.000-06:00

I guess being part of a group is more important than being treated as an individual, as this link shows. A ittle veiled racism:

BUT, weather [sic] or not you want to believe it, groups do act in very similar ways on issues, so you look at groups and you see how they vote and you know what kind of mail to send to them, what kind of phone call , what kind of person you send to canvas their door ....

You dont send a black person to talk to hispanics...etc etc.

2002-12-24T21:56:00.000-06:00

Redo From Beginning seemed the easiest way to fix the formatting problem. I also added some links to some of my favorite blogs.

2002-12-24T21:17:00.000-06:00

Evidently my formatting was hideous. I guess that's what I get for using the standard templates here. I'll probably be making some tweaks over the next week. Please bear with me.

2002-12-24T08:52:00.000-06:00

Another conspiracy theory. If there is an outbreak of smallpox in the US, a poster named stickdog thinks the source will be, of course, GWB:

No smallpox will be released domestically unless it is necessary to cement the police state.

And from repeater138 His last sentence is certainly accurate.

I wouldn't put it past them to try to make a controlled disbursement on a small town and use that to declare martial law. Or even to pretend as if smallpox has been released and manipulate the media into telling the public that it has been released, when it hasn't, in order to have cause for declaring martial law.

But then again I'm paranoid.

2002-12-24T08:26:00.000-06:00

Government conspiracies get a lot of play at the DU. Here is a thread about the Wellstone crash and LIHOP.

FYI, "LIHOP" = Let It Happen On Purpose," the theory that GWB and his cohorts knew about the 9/11 terrorist attacks ahead of time, and allowed them to happen so as to make a grab for more power. This is from a poster named mopaul:

if wellstone, 9-11, and jfk are still considered unsolved, they will remain so forever. sad but true. really professional assasins don't leave evidence leading to them, but to nowhere.

He left the Lindbergh baby, Jimmy Hoffa, Judge Crater, D.B. Cooper, and the Loch Ness Monster off his list of unsolved mysteries..

2002-12-24T08:16:00.000-06:00

"I'll take 'Beating a Dead Horse' for $400, Alex."

I pity any fool who disagrees with their argument that the 2000 election was stolen -- screams of "Freeper!" are the likely reward.

2002-12-23T20:08:00.000-06:00

A thread on tax reform.

I find the content of this thread interesting, but what I really want is to use this as an example of the DU Administrators' stifling of dissent. Several posters who consider lower taxes, or tax reform in general, a good thing have been banned. Look at this link to see the rather infantile "tombstone" the DU gives to "disrupters". Their definition of "disrupter" is rather broad. So far, the best I can figure is "post something not in keeping with orthodox DU dogma and you're outta here." This thread has become a virtual Gettysburg with the number of posters banned.

2002-12-23T19:53:00.000-06:00

I love the Economics Forum, and will probably post a lot of links from there. The DUers in general have a very, umm, (what's a polite way of saying "ignorant"?) Clintonian view of all issues economic.

Here is a thread started by Economics Dude, a poster that actually knows what he's talking about, in which he tries to provide some basic information to help with their woeful ignorance.

Alas, Economics Dude, I fear your information will fall on deaf ears (so to speak). papau's response is typical:

He even mentions the Laffner curve - a CURVE THAT DOES NOT EXIST! it is a mess of dots and a wished for trend line. Most Supply siders have dropped that nonsense.

That the Laffer curve exists is, IMHO, pretty much a given. The difficulty is determining it's shape for any given set of taxes, etc.

2002-12-23T19:42:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite forums at the DU is Environment/Energy. Typically, anything alternative is embraced uncritically, regardless of whether it's practical, or violates the laws of physics. In this thread discussing Belgium's decision to drop nuclear power, one poster suggests replacing it with biomass fueled power plants. Never mind how much acreage would have to be plowed under, or that it would probably be a net energy consumer (more energy to process the fuel than it produces) -- it's alternative, so it must be good.

2002-12-23T19:14:00.000-06:00

Silliness newyawker99 has almost 25,000 posts, and I'd swear most of them are either congratulatory threads like this one, or "welcome to DU!" salutations to any new posters. You'll also note that (s)he is one of the worst offenders regarding a huge signature line. On my antiquated computer (at 800 x 600) the sig-line takes up a full screen, even with the Show Imbedded Images option turned off.

2002-12-23T19:07:00.000-06:00

My opening salvo. Where to start? How about with this one, an ode to chemtrailers no less

Fuzzy Strands Fill Skies Over Texas City

A few posters are disagreeing, but several are jumping on the government conspiracy bandwagon. What a shock, something as goofy as chemtrails goes over at the DU.