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Real Freedom is economic security. That's why the 1% have been relentlessly attacking your economic security for 30 years. Declining wages, relentless attacks on Unions, starve the beast politics and boom/busts where they buy up property on the cheap because they're the only ones with any money left after the bust. They're all tools to make you poor so you'll do what they say.

Here, let This guy explain it. He's much better than I am.

The war on the poor is obvious from the recent attack on food stamps. Your glib dismissal of those in need is a simple demonstration of the sort of mean spirit that pervades the Republicans these days. Regarding the war on women, look here, which gives a better list than I can amass on short notice.

If you go to moveon.org you won't find a peep about the nsa surveillance

Did you even look? Or did you just assume you know that for a fact?

Why should they get them again as part of a corporation?

No, the proper form of that question is: "why should they lose those rights as part of a corporation?" Or as a part of a union, or religious organization, or civic organization, or minority organization, or political party?

Unless you are advocating for a complete ban on all "collective" political speech - including collective organizations like unions, religious groups, civic groups, minority groups, and any other form of grouping you care to name, then your position is logically incoherent, and amounts to wishing away the rights of some people whose views you disagree with and wish to silence. It really is that simple. And even if your position were logically coherent and you wished to ban all collective speech, it would be a fundamental violation of the rights of individuals.

The Constitution specifically affirms that the people have the right to engage in these activities - individually, or collectively. For someone who claims to be "very careful of rights," you seem to be missing that very clear point. Rather than seeking to silence your opponents (curious undemocratic, that!), you should be seeking to propose better opposing ideas, better arguments, and better solutions - and you're free to do so by grouping together with like-minded friends and neighbors and engaging in collective political speech.

And that's WHY I point out the damage that corporations lobbying politicians does to democracy.

Ah yes, lobbying is evil! Well, as long as we disagree with the goals of the lobbyist organization, amirite?

The NRA? Oh they're evil, they lobby the government!
The EFF? They're saints! They fight for our freedoms!

Campaign for Liberty? LOL LIBERTARDIANS! They're stupid and lobby the government with their backwards ideas!
MoveOn.org? They're brave soldiers fighting the good fight for democracy!

It's not hard to find examples of Fox News dishonesty - for example, take this graph that's been carefully distorted to make it look like unemployment increased when it actually decreased as a way of attacking Obama - but the individual examples are beside the point. The problem is the pattern of behaviour they show.

When it comes to election time, generalizations are all that actually all that count; outliers are insignificant.

And its the progressives who are standing up against SOPA.

This week, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) will start a historic filibuster of the Internet Censorship Act where he'll read the names of every person who signs a petition against Internet censorship.

The Heritage Foundation claim that the poor aren't really poor because you can buy a TV on Craigslist for 20 dollars has been thoroughly debunked:

http://front.moveon.org/the-craigslist-welfare-program-will-it-work/

http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/07/19/272511/poverty-is-mostly-about-housing-health-care-and-education/

The availability of cheap household durables aside, being poor in the US sucks a lot. Which is why we outstrip the rest of the first world in homelessness, school drop-outs, incarceration of the poor, and people dying of treatable illnesses.

Bingo! I bet if you figure up how much gas is wasted running back and forth compared to online shopping the amount of Co2 generated MORE than makes up for any 'dirty power" as they put it.

I know in my own case it was an almost daily running to town as well as at LEAST two trips to the state capital a week to keep the shop supplied (state capital is 120 miles round trip) so if we figure in 20 miles times say three if I was able to plan ahead along with 2 120 mile trips that is 300 miles a week in gas that isn't being blown anymore, and when my Ranger gets around 19 miles to the gallon that is a whole lot of gas!

But of course with our lovely politicians blowing cash like drunken sailors while giving free money and tax breaks to those who are sending jobs overseas (read what the head of GE says, he says "We are sending the high paying jobs to India because that's where the customers are now" really? Maybe if you wouldn't have sent all the jobs overseas Americans might have money to buy your stuff now. huh.) I wouldn't doubt if Internet sales end up taxed MORE than just going to Wally World, so we can flush any energy savings right down the toilet. Never seen a good idea a politician can't fuck up, doubt Internet commerce will be ANY different.

>>>Oh how I miss Gopher, Archie, and Veronica and gang. The modern-day World Wide Web is basically commerce-oriented with actual information content on a steady decline. Sad.

(50 years ago). Oh how I miss Radio. The modern-day television is basically commerce-oriented, while radio has devolved into a bunch of pop music.
(80 years ago). Oh how I miss Books. The modern-day radio is basically commerce-oriented, while books provided ad-free entertainment.
(100 years ago). Oh how I miss Live pianos/bands. The modern-day grammophone is basically commerce-oriented with actual talent on a steady decline - replaced with pop stars.
.

>>>Let's move to Web 3.0 and a return to the original purpose of the Internet and World Wide Web, namely information-sharing and collaboration for the enrichment (betterment) of society through knowldge and its applications to solving problems.

It still exists if you're willing to look. Like here: http://www.theblaze.com/ or here: http://www.drudgereport.com/ or here: http://moveon.org/ or here (one of the first websites): www.amazon.com. The original intent of the web did not go away..... it just was built-upon with new audio/video sites.

...Unfortunately there will be a next time.

There's a "next time" happening continuously. It just doesn't make the news because (A) it's not politically correct to vilify African regimes, and (B) sad pictures of oil-soaked birds in the Gulf of Mexico sell western guilt better than pictures of oil-slicked water in Nigeria where there aren't any more birds left to pull at bleeding heart strings.

the kind of radio where you can listen to ideas too far off in the ideological fringes to make it onto the Internet

Alas, it looks like the fringes have already arrived.

Not the OP but here:

http://pol.moveon.org/emails/palin_announcement.html?rc=homepage

Why would you bother writing such an inane and senseless post? Why does the fact that Bush will be gone in six months mean we have to stop talking about the crimes he and his administration committed? There is a reason we hate him, and it isn't just because he's a stupid, self obsessed, spoiled frat boy who somehow fooled the nation into voting for him twice. We hate him because he has tried to take away our rights.

For eight years, most that dared to criticize Bill Clinton (the person, his policies, or his actions) were summarily dismissed as "Clinton haters". It shouldn't be a surprise that after the roles are reversed, anyone doing the same to Bush is diagnosed with "Bush Derangement Syndrome". It's the nature of partisan politics -- get used to it.

You know, defending the man at this point is pretty much an admission that not only did you vote for him, twice, but you are too proud to admit you screwed up.

You are projecting someone else onto the grandparent. He correctly pointed out that Bush will be gone soon. "Get over it" isn't a defense of anyone or anything -- it's simply a suggestion to move on.

But, don't delude yourself into thinking that any prior or future administration didn't or won't do the same thing. They will just be less blatant about it, or at least not stupid enough to not leave evidence of it lying around.

Not Clinton.

I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.

How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?

I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).

Oh, here's a fun comparison Nixon to Bush

I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.

How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?

I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).

Oh, here's a fun comparison Nixon to Bush

I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.

How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?

I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).

Oh, here's a fun comparison Nixon to Bush

I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.

How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?

I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).

I don't get it. Slashdot seems like great group of thinkers, a strong percentage of whom share a pro-science, pro freedom of speech and habeas corpus, and "global warming is real and we should start doing something" agenda (all anti-bush). But over the last 7 years, as a group, you seem to rant and make jokes, but very few say they're doing anything about it. Cmon, here's some simple petitions that take a freakin minute to fill out with google auto-form.

How many Slashdotters are there anyway? You really think we couldn't make a difference if everyone contributed 5 min to call their reps?

I was finishing my EE degree in 2000, and noticed in EETimes that Gore's responses to their questions sounded OK, but Bush's were non-existent! The biggest engineering periodical in the country, while EE/CS people were leading the nation's longest period of economic prosperity since just after WWII (even minus the bubble, we were leading the world in increasing productivity, which does make America more successful relative the world). Easy no-brainer right? Yeah, I voted Gore, but to my surprise, none of my nerd friends did! Why? "Oh, my vote wont mean anything anyway" Cmon. I bet Floridians thought the same way. If every slashdotter spent 5min a day bothering our congressman, or spreading a little word, or donating a few dollars, I'm sure we could have impeached the ahole after he lied to us to start Vietnam II. I dont care if he wins the war this year - he could have avoided it, raised CAFE and just stop buying gas from impotent Saddam. Would have saved (hundreds of?) thousands of lives, global goodwill, and trillions of dollars of debt (which coincidentally is part of the reason Bush I's economy was shaky when handing it off to Clinton, and now coincidentally our economy is shaky again, hmmmm).

I know this is slightly OT, but I'd like to see some sort of reasoned debate over it here...

What exactly was so offensive about MoveOn.org's ad campaign in the first place?

Petraeus has handled the Iraq war poorly, and in several cases lied outright to the American people. MoveOn.org called him out on it. Isn't that how democratic politics and free speech are supposed to work?

It's no secret that many Americans feel that the government misled the general public in order to bolster support for their war, and the ad was a simple reflection of this reality. It wasn't even a baseless personal attack -- they provide quotations, and even cite their sources.

Perhaps the most troubling part of the whole saga is that the house passed a resolution condemning the advert 341-79, and the senate 71-29 (With all 49 republicans, and 22 democrats voting in favor). The president even got in on the action.

This Time editorial seems to have the best summation of the whole situation.

Is this all the legislative branch is good for these days? Sternly wagging their fingers at political action groups, and listening to baseball testimony?

Hmm, could you possibly list these checks and balances, for other people who may feel the need to take action?

I take your drift, of course, because we've seen remarkably little of "checks and balances" in action of late. To take one example, the election fraud in Ohio was pretty scandalous, but the Republican congress got out their rubberstamp and accepted the result anyway: party loyalty seems to have paralyzed the US system of "checks and balances".

But then, that suggests to me that in the near term the fix is simple: we need split government, we can't put one party in charge of all branches of the government.

So here's some things a citizen might do about it:

• Tommorow (Tuesday, Nov 7) you go to the polls and vote, and hope that the vote rigging in your area is just a finger on the scale and not a two-ton weight. You should almost certainly vote Democrat: they're more likely to try to replace the system that raped them twice.
  • Note: if you've got a video camera, bring it with you. You never know.
• You write your congressional reps, and tell them you really think they should push through the "Paper Ballot Act of 2006".
• You keep an eye on sites like this, looking for ideas:
  • Election Integrity
  • Black Box Voting
  • Move On
• You get ready to do some serious protesting in the streets if things don't improve. You might have to ask someone from Mexico how this is done, Americans seem to have lost their backbone.

Seconded -- don't fuck with my Internet. Me and many other people here on Slashdot, we built the fucking Internet. We build it with our hands, sweat, and time -- and to some of us it is what we will dedicate our lives working on and building out. I'll be damned if I see my hard work go down in flames at the hands of Verizon. Call up your senator and tell them: "Don't fuck with my Internet!" Moveon.org has a list of your officials to call.

First off, stop making shit up. Where exactly have people been saying "I hate Clinton, but what Lay did was A-OK!"? Right, noplace. You're just making unfounded assumptions. Bringing a 10-year-old political debate into this one won't illuminate anything. All you're trying to do is start a flame war. So again, go away troll.

If you think the Ken Lay discussion isn't a political one, who is being naive now??

This Ken Lay discussion isn't. It's a moral and ethical one. If you want debates where everything has to be drug through the political shitter, try http://www.moveon.org/.

High schools (and schools in general) do need an update. For an illustration, I will provide this advertisement:

Simon's Rock College of Bard exclusively admits younger students who have not completed their high school education. Many alumni go on to become scientists, activists, etc. Ever heard of MoveOn.org PAC? It was started by a Simon's Rock student. I personally have had great success at Simon's Rock. I have avoided wasting two years in a high school that did not offer advanced classes. Generally, I would describe Simon's Rock as a top quality liberal arts college. It is true, though, that early college is not for everyone.

The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has funded a program at Simon's Rock to teach teachers who will later work in new early college programs the foundation is setting up.

If you think about it, there are many features of our education system that date back to Plato, at least. I do not claim to know how to perfect education, but I do claim that it is time to try some changes.

Off topic: Usually pronouns that are not at the beginning of sentences are only capitalized when they refer to deities. And yes, I love Linux and hate Microsoft software.

See http://moveon.org/ and help the cause.

I just got this letter from our favorite, Rick Santorum:

Dear Mr. Zhrodague:

Thank[sic] for contacting me regarding a tiered Internet system. I appreciate hearing from you and having the benefit of your views.

As you may know, on March 2, 2006, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon introduced S. 2360, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006. This bill would prohibit the interfering with, blocking, degrading, altering, modifying or changing traffic on the Internet. S. 2360 would also prohibit the creating of a priority lane (tiered Internet system) where content providers can buy quicker access to customers, leaving those who do not pay the fee in the slow lane. The Internet Nondiscrimination Act of 2006 aims to ensure that network operators can continue to protect subscribers against unwanted spam, spyware, viruses, pornography and other programs. S. 2360 also provides provisions to help network operators respond to emergencies and court-ordered law enforcement needs.

S. 2360 has been referred to the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation. As I am not a member of this committee, I will not have the opportunity to vote on this bill in its current form. However, should this bill come before the full Senate for a vote, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.

Thank you again for contacting me. If I can be of further assistance on this or any other matter, please do not hesitate to call on me again.

Sincerely,
Rick Santorum
United States Senate

I got a mail from MoveON.org, and made a few phone calls to those here in PA. I made sure to leave them my name and address. I beg all slashdot readers to call their senators and congresspeople, and voice your opinion. If that still doesn't work, I'll be standing next to you as we storm the Capital en masse.

Ding, ding, mod parent up. The people of Nazi Germany thought they were free too:

http://www.thirdreich.net/Thought_They_Were_Free.h tml

the dirty secret of successful totalitarian control is rooting out the dissidents quietly while making sure the people who go along with it think "if I'm not doing anything "wrong" what do I have to worry about...?" Keep a constant watch on the watchers, some good resources to start:

Libertarian/Paleo right

http://antiwar.com/
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
http://www.amconmag.com/

Moderate:

http://buzzflash.com/
http://moveon.org/

Left:

http://counterpunch.org/
http://commondreams.org/
http://indymedia.org/

That should keep you busy for a while...

...but, with all due respect, when organizations as diverse as Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, moveon.org, the NRA, the Christian Coaliation and the EFF all actually agree on Net Neutrality, you must be barking up the wrong tree.

Sure, laws on this subject need to very carefully crafted to avoid unintended consequences. And the American Lawmakers have a long record of messing up in that respect. But I believe -- with all the above-mentioned organizations, that Net Neutrality has to be respected.

There are a number of sites online with information on this issue. You can take a look at the save the internet coalition at www.savetheinternet.com. One thing that I strongly suggest people look into is a cooperative effort between moveon.org and of all people, the Christian Coalition. They are teaming up to afford a $70,000 ad in the New York Times. That will really get people talking and see that there couldn't be a more Bipartisan issue out there. 2000 people donating $35 gets the ad. I've already given my money: https://civic.moveon.org/donatec4/save_the_interne t.html

This is just an optional feature no one will use, not a tax.

a) Free mail will still get through to AOL users.
b) AOL users can still whitelist and blacklist senders, even certified senders.

So certified mail allows senders to pay for what privilege, again?

There's nothing to buy, there's no added value, this program will be DOA.

But it's just a stupid business idea, AOL doesn't have any authority to challenge the sanctity of email, no matter what some critics would have you believe.

You can sign it here: http://www.dearaol.com/. MoveOn.org (political action group) is renouncing this absurb proposal by AOL as well. So it's not just strictly tech companies that are opposed to this.

Finally, a website that succeeded in influencing US politics!

The excess the Republicans' proposed cuts is almost unbelievable. You can read the full proposal here. Here are just some of the most egregious cuts:
$225 billion cut from Medicaid, the last-resort health insurance program for the very poor.
$200 billion cut from Medicare, the health care safety net for the elderly and the disabled.
$25 billion cut from the Centers for Disease Control
$6.7 billion cut from school lunches for poor children
$7.5 cut from programs to fight global AIDS
$5.5 billion to eliminate all funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
$3.6 billion cut to eliminate the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities
$8.5 billion cut to eliminate all subsidized loans to graduate students.
$2.5 bullion cut from Amtrak
$2.5 billion to eliminate the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative
$417 million cut to eliminate the Minority Business Development Agency
$4.8 billion cut to eliminate all funding for the Safe and Drug-Free schools program And the list goes on and on.

Unfortunately, you can't enclose campaign contributions in emails, so they won't have any effect.

• MoveOn.org - most famous for their anti-Bush efforts.
• Defenders of Wildlife - bringing pressure on Exxon and others who would destroy our ecosphere for profit.

Personally, I find it ironic that we are almost totally a bread-and-circuses society already, and yet Congress wants to cut funding for NPR/PBS.

Too much education and too little 'circus' there, I guess.

http://www.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting/?t=1

You can help.

MoveOn.org donation page

MediaMatters donation page

Center for American Progress donation page

American Civil Liberties Union donation page

the study shows that it is probable that between 130K and 260K votes were swung to Bush because of e-voting alone.

"For years, the party has been led by elite Washington insiders who are closer to corporate lobbyists than they are to the Democratic base," said the e-mail from MoveOn PAC's Eli Pariser. "But we can't afford four more years of leadership by a consulting class of professional election losers [emphasis mine -mi]."

This sub-thread exploded because of the stupid parallels to Ukrainian elections, so let me remind you, that ample evidence of fraud exists in Ukraine, not some flimsy "studies" showing something as "probable".

I will support voting machine reform when those same advocates support registration reform. This election was a mess not because of evil Republican voting machines but because people were paid (some in crack) to register voters which brought in fraudulent voter registrations. From illegal aliens to cartoon characters, the number of bogus registrations was staggering. Lets make sure all votes are counted, as long as those votes are from citizens of United States. I need a drivers license to rent a movie or fly to Vegas, its not too much to ask a voter for a state drivers license to vote in that state and for a drivers license that states if a person is a citizen. Its not intimidation or voter suppression. If showing your ID to a little old lady at the polling place is intimidation, then what is showing it to a pimply teenager at Blockbuster?

Here. Or, here if that's the way you swing.

"Oh... I should warn you - if you're determined to vote for Kerry in spite of everything, do NOT go to the any of the above sites. It'll destroy any opportunity for ignorance you might have." I suggest you don't destroy your own partasanship by going to http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/ http://www.moveon.org/ http://www.yellowtimes.org/ See, even an ignorant liberal like me can post links. Seriously, no one in this country is even willing to consider the otther side for a nanosecond. What you think when you click on the above links, that's what I think about drudgereport, for example. See one headline and your mind snaps closed. I just wish people would try to convince those who disagree, instead of being so inflammatory.

In retrospect, this letter should be of no surprise to you. For years now I have stood by you despite the terrible things you have said about Microsoft. We have always managed to work through our serious problems but too many things have been swept under the table. I do not think I can stand (idly) by you any longer.

What's that? No, another DOOM3 review will not help, not this time.

I remember when we met, a warm April day, in 1999. For years I had been hearing about you, about your terrible green HTML of death, Open Source advocation, poor social skills, web server obliteration, and problems raising money... I had seen you here and there, but it was not until that fateful day, April 6, that our relationship became serious. I was almost knocked off my feet when I first saw you. Right then I knew it, you had to be mine. Who else could offer me what you could? I wanted, no, I needed, your Cowboy Neal polls, your Insightful comments, your great techno music...

As time progressed so did my needs. Our affair took its next serious step on August 24, 2001. At the time I thought our happiness would never end. You brought me places I never thought possible. How could I refuse your IOCCC results or your Napster articles? I mean, you gave up your best friend, financial independence, so our relationship could progress unhindered with OSDN. It hurts me to look back at us, two starry-eyed lovers wanting nothing more than each other's first posts.

Well, like I wrote, I have reached my limit. Its going to take more than mod points to fix our relationship. I just don't feel like I know you anymore. For example, do you know what I found on the site a few days ago? A dupe! I wonder who let that in...

Slashdot, I know you will try to change, but I have been hurt too many times. You should know that I have been seeing someone else for a few months now. She is fun, easy going, and will do something for me that you never even considered, oust the president.

I don't know what else to say- we had a good run, but now its over. Pack up your Beowulf cluster, your SCO stories, hell, take slashcode if you have to. I am sure we'll see each other from time to time but I know one thing, I'll never again have to depend on you.

Yours no longer,
N I

Moveon.org

This web site claims that Bush is worse than Hitler. This web site also claims that Bush deliberately lied about the presence of WMDs in Iraq. This web site also claims that Bush allowed Arab bigots to board an airplane within days after 9/11.

Reputable newspapers like the "Washington Post" have indicated that all these claims are lies. Soros is a lunatic. Only a lunatic would claim that Bush is worse than Hitler. Furthermore, the CIA gave flawed intelligence data to both Bush and Clinton, and both men concluded that Iraq had WMDs. Finally, no airplanes were allowed to fly to Saudia Arabia in the days after 9/11.

Soros is a certifiable freak -- just like some of the nuts who moderate articles in this forum.

If you hate what is happening to our nation, the USA, then write the following on the November ballot.

president: Bill O'Reilly
vice-president: Tammy Bruce

# Begin soapbox

The "lesser of the two evils" arguement and the anti-"lesser of the two evils" arguement are both holding less and less value.

Though "W" and Kerry may seem pretty much the same, it's the administrations that need changing more than anything else.

We've all seen what the current regime is capable of. They are pure evil. I do not think George W. Bush is pure evil. I don't think he's smart enough for that. But when you have advisors who lead you into evil, then the fun starts. It is worsened by the fact that Bush won't listen to anyone else. Not the "American People" (buzzword!), not the government, and certainly not the rest of the world.

This is where the difference between the two lie. I think Kerry would be more open to suggestion from watchdog groups like Moveon.org, as well as our allies.

Those that hate Bush but say they're going to vote for him because he's the lesser of two evils are either retarted or insane. One definition for insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting a different result. I am a Green, and this year, Nader is not getting my vote. Nor will the Green Party candidate. Nor will Michael Badnarik. John Kerry is a douchebag but I'm voting for him anyway.

# End of soapbox

Top 10 Reasons to Vote for John Kerry:

10. John Kerry would handle the war in Iraq differently. I think.
9. He's got better hair.
8. John Kerry will personally create thousands of jobs in America.
7. He has a plan for America's future. I think.
6. George Bush stole the last election.
5. I think John Kerry may have served in Vietnam.
4. George Bush didn't go to Vietnam, AND he skipped a physical!
3. The french people and the rest of the world all like him best.
2. Didn't he get some medals in Vietnam?
1. He's Not George Bush! (TM)


Top 10 Reasons to Vote for George Bush:

10. George Bush is Tough on Terrorism.(TM)
9. He supports educating children.
8. George Bush freed all those Afgan and Iraqi people. Personally.
7. He will lower your taxes.
6. George Bush was President on September 11th, 2001.
5. John Kerry's medals are fakes.
4. Those CBS memos were forged, duh.
3. The french people and the rest of the world all hate him most.
2. He's not as rich as John Kerry.
1. George Bush will keep America safe.

Some current and former members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, privately, have viewed Kerry as a ruthlessly ambitious pol light on personal conviction ? a bit of a phony, in other words.
Kerry has always been an elusive figure, a complex man who rarely opens up to anyone outside a small circle of close advisers, family and friends.
One senior adviser once told me he loved working for Kerry because he would do anything ? whatever it took ? to win.

Too much is at stake to play by Dukakis' rules and lose again. That is the conclusion Democrats have reached. So watch out. Millions of dollars will be on the table. And there are plenty of choices for what to spend it on.

Will it be the three, or is it four or five, drunken driving arrests that Bush and Cheney, the two most powerful men in the world, managed to rack up?

After Vietnam, nothing is ancient history, and Cheney is still drinking. What their records suggest is not only a serious problem with alcoholism, which Bush but not Cheney has acknowledged, but also an even more serious problem of judgment.

What if Bush were to fall off the wagon? Then what? Has America really faced the fact that we have an alcoholic as our president?

Or how about Dead Texans for Truth, highlighting those who served in Vietnam instead of the privileged draft-dodging president, and ended up as names on the wall instead of members of the Air National Guard.

Or maybe it will be Texas National Guardsmen for Truth, who can explain exactly what George W. Bush was doing while John Kerry was putting his life on the line. Perhaps with money on the table, or investigators on their trail, we will learn just what kind of wild and crazy things the president was doing while Kerry was saving a man's life, facing enemy fire and serving his country.

But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the people at that convention, for all their flag-waving, hate America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they fear and loathe our nation's freedom, diversity and complexity.

There is a link at the bottom of this comment that I think many would be interested in reading. At least it is a more objective source of "fact checking" than Michael Moore and his own website..

I'll agree that some of the movie has less spin than other parts of it. However, I would submit that since he enjoys twisting the truth in his movie, there is absolutely no reason to believe that he won't twist the truth again on his website.

You're not using additional sources to validate his claims. That's not corroborating evidence.

His movie is all about spin, and it's completely about influencing the election. He made back what it took to create the thing opening weekend. After that, he said he was cool with people posting it and sharing a copy on kazaa and bittorrent. Now he wants to air it on national TV the night before the election.

I have no problem with him having an agenda, nor do I expect him NOT to be biased. I'd like him not to be, but I don't expect it. He doesn't like Bush, and he wants him gone. He's using his position as a filmmaker to help with that goal. However, I just wish he'd be MORE up-front about his bias. But if he did that, then he wouldn't have as many sheep..

I don't like being lied to by our current administration. I don't like the whole "we never said there were definately WMD" game. I don't think the President is above a little stinging sarcasm or humor. Just don't pass off your propaganda as "the full truth" when it's really just an interesting movie with lots of creative editing and half truths. Michael Moore knows that the great majority of his viewers will NOT seek out additional information, nor validate his claims. He hopes they will presume that since he is not (currently) being sued out of his pants, what he says must be true.

He is very crafty at perfectly phrasing a response to any question. Read the site linked below, then watch him sometime on one of the many media shows he is currently whoring himself (and his viewpoint on). Watch how exquisitely careful he is to avoid direct and complete answers for many of the questions he is asked. I will give him some credit: He is a master of semantics.

Here's a more objective analysis of Farenheit. [ pdf]

Not that you're going to get a balanced view (in the other direction) from these guys, but check this out:
http://moveon.org/front/

(scroll down to "Taking on Fox")

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.