The most hilarious aspect of them getting their panties in a bunch is lefty bloggers constant laser like speed comment deleting. If they even smell a polite, but alien point view? Gone in seconds flat.
They’re afraid it might disrupt the hate and it tweaks the crap out of their comment threads because a few respond and then no one knows what they heck anyones talking about. It goes to hell in a hand bag until someone new comes along with some fresh hate.
I mean, I thought we conservative blue noses were teh PRUDZ1!!
Besides. Dogs deserve that funny feel too. But what I object to is taking advantage of other people’s dogs simply because, as a frequent guest, you’ve become comfortable walking around their house in your latex gloves and those boxer shorts with the oversized fly.
Actually, I think we’re supposed to be hypocrites, lynching people by day for the same stuff we get up to at night. Or something. I’m not so up on my Tony Kushner as perhaps I should be.
Also, the irony of fretting over a single commenter ban while they dredge up every word and crayon drawing of Domenech in order to force WAPO to what? Fire him? thereby asserting FOP is a “Liberal American” privilege and a whole bunch of other warped aspects is more mind boggling, than amusing.
At what point do we cut out the dog’s tongue, skewer it on our collective bodkins, dip it in oil, ignite it and do a jaunty dance while singing the text of Year 501 to the tune of Radiohead’s Karma Police?
L.A. is trying to google bomb me. Evidently, he wants protein wisdom tethered to “manshake.”
Me, I don’t play such childish games. Which is why I don’t want to link “sybian squatting” to his site, (the URL for which you can find by doing a google search).
Incidentally, if you do a technorati search of my name, you’ll find that Atrios, Tbogg, Digby, Poorman and his pals are spending an awful lot of time on how stupid I am.
You’d think noting my idiocy once would be enough, but given the intelligence of the readers of those sites, I can hardly blame them for repeating themselves so often. People used to reading “Open Thread!” and looking at pictures of kitties with captions aren’t accustomed to having to absorb such complex arguments as those offered by Duncan Black and friends.
Anyway, don’t forget to buy your tickets in advance for “EschaCon II: Attack of the Clones.” I hear there’ll be $1.50 wine coolers!
Gah… you know, back before I got better from being a liberal, I was similarly… self-absorbed, childish, and… what’s the word… ooh… uh… liable to dump the opposing party with all the bad faith motives a liberal learns from their youth, including the childish need to not just ignore but stifle Righty input. Thankfully, I not only GOT better, but I never did act on such impulses.
As much as I hate to say it, for a time, Bill O’Reilly set me on the right path, but… you know, anyone who grows more and more mature realizes the man is a bozo at some point.
Anyway, Mr. Goldstein, I still appreciate your writings. You’re intelligent, perceptive, and witty beyond just about anyone else out there. Don’t let the nimrods get ya down.
University professor Duncan Black also wants you to pass around the “Jeff Goldstein drinking game. How very droll! And I must say that I’m flattered he has so much time to devote to me, what with all the time it takes setting up those OPEN COMMENT threads.
So. ONWARD, SOLDIERS OF HATE! BRING DOWN THE EVIL STUPID RETHUGLICANS, PARTICULARLY THE ONES WHO WRITE LONG SENTENCES. FOR THEY CARRY THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!
Mr. Goldstein… could I just ask one question of you? Why do you do this to yourself? The only folks who read Duncan’s site, or the number of other sites you have been made a wingnut boogeyman on, are… let’s say lacking in mental deftness.
I mean, good gravy, I get enough heartburn reading the outrageous stuff that you write about and occasional trips to Ms. Malkin’s site… Occasionally the Rott provides down home gun-nut camaraderie… but I ramble… why would you descend into the gutter, as it were? It has to be only asking for trouble.
Note, of course, I only ask this because I don’t want you going insane.
Common decency is what you have. They don’t. Don’t piss it away. It’s your advantage.
As to your twin questions regarding lack of support from the right and strange attention from the left, the answer is the same. You’re not right-wing, you’re the real left. The reactionary poseurs attacking you see you for the threat you are.
I have always admired your willingness to engage the “progressives†in reasoned debate but enough is enough. They simply aren’t reasonable anymore. The post-911 world has thrown them for an emotional loop and it has turned there twisted, partisan minds into irrational, reactionary hate machines. They have no ideas on how to form policy in this new paradigm because they refuse to process the reality of the present. And instead of thinking about the genuine threats we all face they choose to direct there anger and fear at the people who are willing to do so. They simply want it all to stop so they can return to a world of certainty and safety. But most of us seem to know that that won’t happen without forceful action.
All of this means, of course, that they downplay the threats that confront us, argue that any real action will only make things worse, form bitter and ridiculous caricatures of people who dare to acknowledge that we even have enemies, and search, no beg, for persecution from anyone as long as they aren’t the actual people who would do them harm.
Fuck them.
Ban anyone who fits this mold. I don’t come here to do battle with rabid reactionary boobs (I have enough of that in my department). I come here to read and chime in on (occasionally beyond silly remarks) serious issues that demand serious conversation.
Treat them like the petulant children they’re acting like and send them to their room.
To tag onto what Bezuhov said, I think the problem is that you are a heretic, Jeff, and that is what earns you their special hatred. (Well, that and occasionally dashing from the dark into their cozy camp circle and peeing on the fire.) “Conservatives” don’t make arguments laced with allusions to drugs and dog-sex. Only hip anti-establishment “Progressives” are allowed to do that. But here you are, someone who camped for a while in the academic village, found not the “air around Tom Paine,” but the stench of conformity and intellectual tyranny, and you’re challenging them at a very basic level. You’re telling secrets. It’s very threatening.
Just be glad they don’t have any faggots, Mr. Heretic.
As much as I hate to say it, for a time, Bill O’Reilly set me on the right path, but… you know, anyone who grows more and more mature realizes the man is a bozo at some point.
heh. Andrew Sullivan helped lead me down the road of reconstruction from college liberal to…post-college non-liberal.
I don’t know who’d be more displeased they could be put into the same proverbial boat.
A couple of thoughts. Those on the uber Left (crazy Sheehan excepted) that posit such outlandish tales such as 9/11 was a joint US Govt/Israeli operation, US policy is torture of detainees, US troops target journalists, US troops rape & kill civilians, etc. do not actually believe those things. They just use them as “gotcha” moments. They are no danger to us as they are such a small minority of the voting public, sorta like the Communist Party is.
The real danger is the creeping Socialism that is evident in the Liberal Republican Wing and the Moderate Democrat and Independent Wing. With the GWOT taking up all the air these Socialist views are getting little or no attention. I’m just flabbergasted when I think of JFK being more of a “conservative” than GWB.
Eh, JG. You is bait. The bleating of the lamb excites the tiger, and all. Be still, bait. This is no small science at work. Someone here might finally trap a left-winged flapper, pin the bug down, study its cogitation habits…
My progressive friend and I simply no longer engage in talk of politics. She just sent me a copy of “The Pro-Growth Progressive” by Gene Sperling, who was Clinton’s National Economic Advisor.
The thing about this sort of relationship, is that if I were to send her a copy of say, “Vision of the Anointed” by Thomas Sowell she’d likely not read it.
One thing I’ve noticed already in comparing the notes sections of both books is that Sowell cites sources from all over the ideological terrain whereas Sperling sticks to liberal-progressive sources.
I hadn’t commented on this whole blogwar because I had missed the original post. But in reading it, clearly the “finger in the dog’s ass” line was meant to be metaphorical, and funny. It was also to illustrate a point, which was that if you let bad conduct—not civil, rational discourse, but true bad conduct—persist in the comments, then it would detract from the site. Anyone with any reading comprehension skills whatsoever could grasp the point, unless one was going into the argument looking to be insulted—reading, from, the get go, in bad faith. I don’t know about you, but I get insulted enough, in my day to day life, that I don’t need to go out there looking for sharp objects—such as Jeff’s prose—to go impale myself on.
It’s your site, Jeff. Your dime, your bandwidth. Your rules. They can take all the offense they want, and answer from their own soapbox at their leisure, but it is silly for them to expect you to provide them a forum with which to attack you personally.
Exactly what runninrebel said. And alex gets to the heart of it too:
And I was highly amused by hilzoy’s drawing her petticoats up at your crudeness.
The hard Left is simply pathological. Personal dysfunction bespeaks lying, hypocrisy, humorlessness, intolerance, and denial. It can’t be any other way and dammit but it isn’t.
Jeff, please do not relent. I am too damned tired to do the kind of work you are doing for all of us. Ok, that and I cannot write as well. And I am not as humorous. And..hey, that’s enough.
I am dead serious when I say that you are doing a service every bit as valuable (if not more – as there seem to be so few doing what you are taking on your shoulders) as any I have done.
If I were you, I would be secretly reveling in your ability to stir these folks up so badly with a few well written posts. By your enemies shall you be known.
Well, Bush’s inability to articumalate his thoughts with aplomb gets in the way of public support as much as the framing/
Here’s an example from Kennedy’s November 62 press conference, right after the Cuban Missile crisis.
QUESTION: Mr. President, your Administration, like others, is being criticized for its handling of information.
The point is being made that reporters are being hampered in carrying out their role as the link between the government and the American people, that we are not keeping the American people well informed, as a result of government policies.
Leroy Collins, former Governor of Florida, now head of the National Association of Broadcasters, has accused both the Defense Department and the State Department of news suppression in the Cuban crisis. Would you care to comment on your general feeling about that, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, it is true that when we learned the matter on Tuesday morning, until we made the announcement on the quarantine on Monday afternoon, that this matter was kept in the highest levels of government. We did not make any public statement about it.
I returned to Washington that Saturday morning because I had a campaign trip that was going to take until Sunday evening and I had to come back, and we did not want to indicate to the Soviet Union or to Cuba or anyone else who might be our adversaries, the extent of our information until we had determined what our policy would be, and until we had consulted with our allies and members of OAS and NATO. So for those very good reasons, I believe, this matter was kept by the government until Monday night.
There is at least one newspaper which learned about some of the details on Sunday evening and did not print it for reasons of public interest.
I have no apologies for that.
I don’t think that there is any doubt it would have been a great mistake and possibly a disaster if this news had been dribbled out when we were unsure of the extent of the Soviet buildup in Cuba, and when we were unsure of our response, and when we had not consulted with any of our allies, who might themselves have been involved in great difficulties as a result of our action.
During the week, then, from Monday until Sunday, when we received Mr. Khrushchev’s first message about the withdrawal, we attempted to have the government speak with one voice. There were obvious restraints on newspaperman. They were not permitted, for example, to go to Guantanamo, because obviously that might be an area which might be under attack.
Since that Sunday, we have tried, or at least intend to attempt to lift any restraints in the news, and I am really as a reader of a good many newspapers, it seems to me that the papers more or less reflected quite accurately the state of our negotiations with the Soviet Union.
They have, in a sense, been suspended because we have been arguing about this question of IL-28’s, so there hasn’t been any real progress we could point to or any hard information we could put out until today, which we are now doing.
Now, if the procedures which have been set up, which are really to protect the interest and security of the United States, are being used in a way inimical to the free flow of news, then we would change those procedures.
{emphases added}
Rumor has it that David Gregory nearly burst from his mother’s womb at the President’s unapologetic declaration that the Administration would determine whether or not the information was free-flowing.
Also, I think that were Bush capable of saying ‘inimical’ without spraining his larynx the press would be more receptive to Bush’s message.
Like the SNL sketch said about Dukakis, they can’t believe this moron is President.
I’m guessing there are very few sites where you could read a sentence about a guest sticking their finger up a homeowners dog’s ass and *not* immediately think ‘okay, that’s an over-the-top comment about a guest’s rude, boorish behavior, but point taken’.
Duncan, Digby, Tristero, and Hilzoy seem to know all about those literal ‘finger in a dog’s ass’ sites.
You are being attacked by people who actually believe that this country is under attack by an evil fascist regime that wishes to impose a theocracy. That believes, in some cases, that 9/11 was an inside job meant to rile up us little minds. That the Constitution is under attack now more than any other time in history. That the threat of terrorism is not real and that we live in a country that started wars to obtain treasure, or perhaps just to oppress people, and most importantly, that everyone who doesn’t fall in line with the ‘truth’ that they preach is an evil racist redneck who is too dumb to know any better and is probably evil in any case.
Evil, or those that unwittingly would do it’s bidding, always comes after virtue. It’s just the way it is. No sense sweating it.
As to why the right doesn’t stick up for you, I have no idea. Perhaps most see that you don’t need it, as your attackers are fly’s to your Godzilla.
Does Atrios or Eschaton ban anyone? I’m asking because I really don’t know. If they do ban them, what are the general reasons?
Jeff, you are by far the most completely resourced, referenced, and back-sourced blogger I have ever read. I wonder if it is simply too much to ask our idealogical opponents to sift through well-researched and extemporaneous posts that are designed to provide proof to the errors of thier logic?
Duncan banned me in the run-up to the ‘04 elections for posting a quote from John Kerry under the name John Kerry.
I know. Juvenile. I don’t do that anymore. Duncan did rescind the ban at some point. I also don’t bother with attempts at discourse in his comment sections anymore either.
The funny thing is that the ban was for a real quote with no other commentary.
You are being attacked by people who actually believe that this country is under attack by an evil fascist regime that wishes to impose a theocracy.
Case in point. After the 2004 elections, a member of our department e-mailed everyone the URL of a site which contained a summary of a book in which a professor of political science “proved” Bush’s policies were leading us to a fascist state. I Googled the “professor” and found out he was not an academic, but a fraud, perhaps even a mythological being. My mild response to my colleague and everyone on his list was, “You may want to check this. It appears to be an internet hoax of sorts,” got me a screeching reply which basically said, “FAKE BUT ACCURATE!!!! WAKE UP!!!! CAN’T YOU SEE THE DANGER!!!! HITLER, HITLER, HITLER!!!”
Now, this is someone who has a Phd, who supposedly uses the scientific method. Yet he’s existing in a kind of pre-Enlightenment Middle Ages in which myth and superstition trump fact, where a duck is heavier than a witch. A failed-academic, I would say.
So a bunch of folks are over here, complaining about (what seems to me) reasonable banning, many sent from sites that ban folks? Am I being somewhat simplistic here?
Jimmy’s political advice: ” The only real opportunity [to stem the evil tide that is the Republican agenda to do evil], therefore, is to join in a concerted effort to win seats that are actually up for grabs” flies in the face of all that is Kossian.
JG and his commenters, for the most part, absolutely slay me. I try to keep up, but its just not possible. So I sit back, read and the wife wonders what the hell I am chuckling at in the corner…
So JG, when the knuckleheads are getting you down, and since you live in or around Denver, fire up a fat spliff and put on Jimmy Cliff:
As much as I hate to say it, for a time, Bill O’Reilly set me on the right path, but… you know, anyone who grows more and more mature realizes the man is a bozo at some point.
I think BOR’s bozosity has gotten significantly worse over the years, too.
In fairness to the Kossacks, even a non-moonbat might well ignore advice from Jimmy Carter about winning. It’s sort of like taking a hot stock tip from a guy wearing a barrel.
Does Atrios or Eschaton ban anyone? I’m asking because I really don’t know. If they do ban them, what are the general reasons?
Yes, I have been banned by Duncan Black probably eight to ten times in the past two years.
On account of my hobby being OCD (with an admixture of narcissism), I happen to know the proximate cause of most of these bannings: mentioning that Joe Wilson or his wife are lying sacks of partisan shit is the big one; insulting Ted Kennedy; being very obviously right —either morally or factually; showing up his sickly klavern of degenerate groupies in too deft or thorough a manner; and making him look like an idiot —however briefly before the plug is pulled— on the few occasions where he has deigned to address me directly.
The reason why I keep going back —besides the hobby— is that I love arguing with people. I feed on these idiots’ anger at me because it enlivens me and sharpens my tongue. And because it matters that people who think as they do be challenged.
Think of it as walking into an orchard full of swinging pinatas —fat on commie nonsense, self-loathing, and fear of their own country. I just love to take my bat to them. And will again once Black forgets to re-up my ban.
Toby, I have to admit that I don’t enjoy that kind of thing at all. And I’m the guy who blew up an e-mail discussion list by responding to a militant pro-legalization guy (who claimed he needed to self-medicate, and damn well didn’t want The Man trying to stop him) with, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about—Ritalin is already legal.”
It wasn’t so much what he was arguing as the way he was arguing, that set me off. And I’ll admit that in retrospect the explosion that followed was funny as hell.
I just don’t like to waste bon mots like that on the demented, is all. I want to be appreciated, dammit.
Jeff has pissed off the children again. They will surely shit the bed now.
And then blame Halliburton, Cheney’s shotgun, Ohio voting machines, and/or JOOOOOS.
Maybe I should try to restart the Psychic Friends network. I’m getting very good at the prediction stuff and God knows Dionne Warwick could use the work.
That’s true, Tom. I don’t call Duncan Black a crusher of dissent for nothing. After his groupies threaten me with bodily harm and insult me and my mother for hours on end, Black will cut me off when I take the upper hand and leave me unable to defend myself.
Robin is on vacation in Europe or he would note that this haiku lacks the usual seasonal reference. The dog’s ass should be delicately compared to the summer wind.
Hey, *I* wasn’t shocked at all.
.
And I was highly amused by hilzoy’s drawing her petticoats up at your crudeness.
But, then, this probably just means that I’m an immoral pervert and a whore–so pay me no mind
The most hilarious aspect of them getting their panties in a bunch is lefty bloggers constant laser like speed comment deleting. If they even smell a polite, but alien point view? Gone in seconds flat.
They’re afraid it might disrupt the hate and it tweaks the crap out of their comment threads because a few respond and then no one knows what they heck anyones talking about. It goes to hell in a hand bag until someone new comes along with some fresh hate.
I mean, I thought we conservative blue noses were teh PRUDZ1!!
Besides. Dogs deserve that funny feel too. But what I object to is taking advantage of other people’s dogs simply because, as a frequent guest, you’ve become comfortable walking around their house in your latex gloves and those boxer shorts with the oversized fly.
Actually, I think we’re supposed to be hypocrites, lynching people by day for the same stuff we get up to at night. Or something. I’m not so up on my Tony Kushner as perhaps I should be.
Also, the irony of fretting over a single commenter ban while they dredge up every word and crayon drawing of Domenech in order to force WAPO to what? Fire him? thereby asserting FOP is a “Liberal American” privilege and a whole bunch of other warped aspects is more mind boggling, than amusing.
At what point do we cut out the dog’s tongue, skewer it on our collective bodkins, dip it in oil, ignite it and do a jaunty dance while singing the text of Year 501 to the tune of Radiohead’s Karma Police?
L.A. is trying to google bomb me. Evidently, he wants protein wisdom tethered to “manshake.”
Me, I don’t play such childish games. Which is why I don’t want to link “sybian squatting” to his site, (the URL for which you can find by doing a google search).
Rats…L.A.? Out of the loop here.
TW: services
Uh, I don’t really have anything to add to that.
Ah, got it. How grownup of them, sure they weren’t part of that whiny study?
I suppose this is how La Avenger is planning to take back the House.
Incidentally, if you do a technorati search of my name, you’ll find that Atrios, Tbogg, Digby, Poorman and his pals are spending an awful lot of time on how stupid I am.
You’d think noting my idiocy once would be enough, but given the intelligence of the readers of those sites, I can hardly blame them for repeating themselves so often. People used to reading “Open Thread!” and looking at pictures of kitties with captions aren’t accustomed to having to absorb such complex arguments as those offered by Duncan Black and friends.
Anyway, don’t forget to buy your tickets in advance for “EschaCon II: Attack of the Clones.” I hear there’ll be $1.50 wine coolers!
Do you think they would be happy if you just said, ‘ok, ok…go ahead and finger my dog.’?
I really think it’s your selfishness they object to.
Gah… you know, back before I got better from being a liberal, I was similarly… self-absorbed, childish, and… what’s the word… ooh… uh… liable to dump the opposing party with all the bad faith motives a liberal learns from their youth, including the childish need to not just ignore but stifle Righty input. Thankfully, I not only GOT better, but I never did act on such impulses.
As much as I hate to say it, for a time, Bill O’Reilly set me on the right path, but… you know, anyone who grows more and more mature realizes the man is a bozo at some point.
Anyway, Mr. Goldstein, I still appreciate your writings. You’re intelligent, perceptive, and witty beyond just about anyone else out there. Don’t let the nimrods get ya down.
University professor Duncan Black also wants you to pass around the “Jeff Goldstein drinking game. How very droll! And I must say that I’m flattered he has so much time to devote to me, what with all the time it takes setting up those OPEN COMMENT threads.
So. ONWARD, SOLDIERS OF HATE! BRING DOWN THE EVIL STUPID RETHUGLICANS, PARTICULARLY THE ONES WHO WRITE LONG SENTENCES. FOR THEY CARRY THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST!
Mr. Goldstein… could I just ask one question of you? Why do you do this to yourself? The only folks who read Duncan’s site, or the number of other sites you have been made a wingnut boogeyman on, are… let’s say lacking in mental deftness.
I mean, good gravy, I get enough heartburn reading the outrageous stuff that you write about and occasional trips to Ms. Malkin’s site… Occasionally the Rott provides down home gun-nut camaraderie… but I ramble… why would you descend into the gutter, as it were? It has to be only asking for trouble.
Note, of course, I only ask this because I don’t want you going insane.
Hey, this haiku doesn’t have a seasonal ref–aw, fuckit. Life’s too short.
Jeff,
Common decency is what you have. They don’t. Don’t piss it away. It’s your advantage.
As to your twin questions regarding lack of support from the right and strange attention from the left, the answer is the same. You’re not right-wing, you’re the real left. The reactionary poseurs attacking you see you for the threat you are.
Jeff,
I have always admired your willingness to engage the “progressives†in reasoned debate but enough is enough. They simply aren’t reasonable anymore. The post-911 world has thrown them for an emotional loop and it has turned there twisted, partisan minds into irrational, reactionary hate machines. They have no ideas on how to form policy in this new paradigm because they refuse to process the reality of the present. And instead of thinking about the genuine threats we all face they choose to direct there anger and fear at the people who are willing to do so. They simply want it all to stop so they can return to a world of certainty and safety. But most of us seem to know that that won’t happen without forceful action.
All of this means, of course, that they downplay the threats that confront us, argue that any real action will only make things worse, form bitter and ridiculous caricatures of people who dare to acknowledge that we even have enemies, and search, no beg, for persecution from anyone as long as they aren’t the actual people who would do them harm.
Fuck them.
Ban anyone who fits this mold. I don’t come here to do battle with rabid reactionary boobs (I have enough of that in my department). I come here to read and chime in on (occasionally beyond silly remarks) serious issues that demand serious conversation.
Treat them like the petulant children they’re acting like and send them to their room.
And give me some fucking pie!!!!!
To tag onto what Bezuhov said, I think the problem is that you are a heretic, Jeff, and that is what earns you their special hatred. (Well, that and occasionally dashing from the dark into their cozy camp circle and peeing on the fire.) “Conservatives” don’t make arguments laced with allusions to drugs and dog-sex. Only hip anti-establishment “Progressives” are allowed to do that. But here you are, someone who camped for a while in the academic village, found not the “air around Tom Paine,” but the stench of conformity and intellectual tyranny, and you’re challenging them at a very basic level. You’re telling secrets. It’s very threatening.
Just be glad they don’t have any faggots, Mr. Heretic.
Mmmm…. boooobs….
heh. Andrew Sullivan helped lead me down the road of reconstruction from college liberal to…post-college non-liberal.
I don’t know who’d be more displeased they could be put into the same proverbial boat.
Pooch-fingering is year-round fun, Sean. Though I find that all that panting they do in the summertime adds a certain special something.
TW: zipper. All right, who’s the sicko?
Jeff,
A couple of thoughts. Those on the uber Left (crazy Sheehan excepted) that posit such outlandish tales such as 9/11 was a joint US Govt/Israeli operation, US policy is torture of detainees, US troops target journalists, US troops rape & kill civilians, etc. do not actually believe those things. They just use them as “gotcha” moments. They are no danger to us as they are such a small minority of the voting public, sorta like the Communist Party is.
The real danger is the creeping Socialism that is evident in the Liberal Republican Wing and the Moderate Democrat and Independent Wing. With the GWOT taking up all the air these Socialist views are getting little or no attention. I’m just flabbergasted when I think of JFK being more of a “conservative” than GWB.
Eh, JG. You is bait. The bleating of the lamb excites the tiger, and all. Be still, bait. This is no small science at work. Someone here might finally trap a left-winged flapper, pin the bug down, study its cogitation habits…
My progressive friend and I simply no longer engage in talk of politics. She just sent me a copy of “The Pro-Growth Progressive” by Gene Sperling, who was Clinton’s National Economic Advisor.
The thing about this sort of relationship, is that if I were to send her a copy of say, “Vision of the Anointed” by Thomas Sowell she’d likely not read it.
One thing I’ve noticed already in comparing the notes sections of both books is that Sowell cites sources from all over the ideological terrain whereas Sperling sticks to liberal-progressive sources.
CUZ GOLDSTEIN’S TEH RADCON!!!!!!!!
I hadn’t commented on this whole blogwar because I had missed the original post. But in reading it, clearly the “finger in the dog’s ass” line was meant to be metaphorical, and funny. It was also to illustrate a point, which was that if you let bad conduct—not civil, rational discourse, but true bad conduct—persist in the comments, then it would detract from the site. Anyone with any reading comprehension skills whatsoever could grasp the point, unless one was going into the argument looking to be insulted—reading, from, the get go, in bad faith. I don’t know about you, but I get insulted enough, in my day to day life, that I don’t need to go out there looking for sharp objects—such as Jeff’s prose—to go impale myself on.
It’s your site, Jeff. Your dime, your bandwidth. Your rules. They can take all the offense they want, and answer from their own soapbox at their leisure, but it is silly for them to expect you to provide them a forum with which to attack you personally.
I have an F-N-F-A-L
It’s chambered 308
I keep it clean and shiny
and trained upon the gate
With which repellant attributes
to keep my foes at bay
That they may not abuse my dog
or try to turn him gay
Yet you with pen and rapier wit
dissect your manxome foes
or ban their ass and banish them
to Eschatons foul shit
We will not mourn them nor lament
to us they are as dead
But it’s OK, they’re just away
on Duncans open thread
Exactly what runninrebel said. And alex gets to the heart of it too:
The hard Left is simply pathological. Personal dysfunction bespeaks lying, hypocrisy, humorlessness, intolerance, and denial. It can’t be any other way and dammit but it isn’t.
Oh, and, make mine rhubarb!
Jeff, please do not relent. I am too damned tired to do the kind of work you are doing for all of us. Ok, that and I cannot write as well. And I am not as humorous. And..hey, that’s enough.
I am dead serious when I say that you are doing a service every bit as valuable (if not more – as there seem to be so few doing what you are taking on your shoulders) as any I have done.
If I were you, I would be secretly reveling in your ability to stir these folks up so badly with a few well written posts. By your enemies shall you be known.
Case in point: Balloon Juice.
Well, Bush’s inability to articumalate his thoughts with aplomb gets in the way of public support as much as the framing/
Here’s an example from Kennedy’s November 62 press conference, right after the Cuban Missile crisis.
{emphases added}
Rumor has it that David Gregory nearly burst from his mother’s womb at the President’s unapologetic declaration that the Administration would determine whether or not the information was free-flowing.
Also, I think that were Bush capable of saying ‘inimical’ without spraining his larynx the press would be more receptive to Bush’s message.
Like the SNL sketch said about Dukakis, they can’t believe this moron is President.
I’m guessing there are very few sites where you could read a sentence about a guest sticking their finger up a homeowners dog’s ass and *not* immediately think ‘okay, that’s an over-the-top comment about a guest’s rude, boorish behavior, but point taken’.
Duncan, Digby, Tristero, and Hilzoy seem to know all about those literal ‘finger in a dog’s ass’ sites.
The Beastie Boys never had this problem, huh?
Illegitamus Non Carborundum.
You are being attacked by people who actually believe that this country is under attack by an evil fascist regime that wishes to impose a theocracy. That believes, in some cases, that 9/11 was an inside job meant to rile up us little minds. That the Constitution is under attack now more than any other time in history. That the threat of terrorism is not real and that we live in a country that started wars to obtain treasure, or perhaps just to oppress people, and most importantly, that everyone who doesn’t fall in line with the ‘truth’ that they preach is an evil racist redneck who is too dumb to know any better and is probably evil in any case.
Evil, or those that unwittingly would do it’s bidding, always comes after virtue. It’s just the way it is. No sense sweating it.
As to why the right doesn’t stick up for you, I have no idea. Perhaps most see that you don’t need it, as your attackers are fly’s to your Godzilla.
University professor Duncan Black also wants you to pass around the “Jeff Goldstein drinking game.”
I’m sure the parents of his students would be impressed.
Since you seem to be 85% of their content, maybe they’re pimping your brand a bit for traffic.
That’s a shame. I like to listen to the other side and thoughtfully stroke my chin. The finger up the dog’s ass is a little distracting, though.
University Professor Duncan Black:
Duncan B. Black
University of California Irvine
City: Irvine, CA
Department: Economics
# Ratings: 9
Average Easiness: 2.9
Average Helpfulness: 3.3
Average Clarity: 3.1
Hotness Total: 0
Overall Quality: 3.2
Ratings are based on a
maximum score of 5.0
Heh.
Sorry, couldn’t resist. Thanks be I quit lecturing before they put the ratings online…
Oops, no, there they are.
TW: black. OK Jeff, SkyNet has become self-aware.
Does Atrios or Eschaton ban anyone? I’m asking because I really don’t know. If they do ban them, what are the general reasons?
Jeff, you are by far the most completely resourced, referenced, and back-sourced blogger I have ever read. I wonder if it is simply too much to ask our idealogical opponents to sift through well-researched and extemporaneous posts that are designed to provide proof to the errors of thier logic?
Tom M
Duncan banned me in the run-up to the ‘04 elections for posting a quote from John Kerry under the name John Kerry.
I know. Juvenile. I don’t do that anymore. Duncan did rescind the ban at some point. I also don’t bother with attempts at discourse in his comment sections anymore either.
The funny thing is that the ban was for a real quote with no other commentary.
Someday I will conquer my fear of proper grammer and spelling, G-d willing.
I stuck a greasy Q-tip up my cat’s ass one time.
But she was askin’ for it.
You are being attacked by people who actually believe that this country is under attack by an evil fascist regime that wishes to impose a theocracy.
Case in point. After the 2004 elections, a member of our department e-mailed everyone the URL of a site which contained a summary of a book in which a professor of political science “proved” Bush’s policies were leading us to a fascist state. I Googled the “professor” and found out he was not an academic, but a fraud, perhaps even a mythological being. My mild response to my colleague and everyone on his list was, “You may want to check this. It appears to be an internet hoax of sorts,” got me a screeching reply which basically said, “FAKE BUT ACCURATE!!!! WAKE UP!!!! CAN’T YOU SEE THE DANGER!!!! HITLER, HITLER, HITLER!!!”
Now, this is someone who has a Phd, who supposedly uses the scientific method. Yet he’s existing in a kind of pre-Enlightenment Middle Ages in which myth and superstition trump fact, where a duck is heavier than a witch. A failed-academic, I would say.
So a bunch of folks are over here, complaining about (what seems to me) reasonable banning, many sent from sites that ban folks? Am I being somewhat simplistic here?
tw: “congress” – in so many ways, this works.
In other news, Jimmy Carter – yes, that Jimmy Carter – has a diary on Kos.
I’m not making that up.
Here is the Official Diary of a Former President:
Jimmy! Blogs!!
Jimmy’s political advice: ” The only real opportunity [to stem the evil tide that is the Republican agenda to do evil], therefore, is to join in a concerted effort to win seats that are actually up for grabs” flies in the face of all that is Kossian.
Which means it’s actually sound advice.
That won’t be heeded.
.
Speaking of Jimmy, a quote I saw over at SondraK’s place comes to mind:
JG and his commenters, for the most part, absolutely slay me. I try to keep up, but its just not possible. So I sit back, read and the wife wonders what the hell I am chuckling at in the corner…
So JG, when the knuckleheads are getting you down, and since you live in or around Denver, fire up a fat spliff and put on Jimmy Cliff:
The harder they come
The harder they fall
One and all
Oh the harder they come
The harder they fall
BoZ / First Last —
I need to know what email address and name you used for your joke comment. Please email it to me. Meantime, you can try again to comment.
I think BOR’s bozosity has gotten significantly worse over the years, too.
Jeff… embrace the manshake…
Manshake… it tastes so goooood washing down pie….
Ewww… The armadillo’s manshake got in my eye!
Protein Wisdom… now with 50% more man in its manshake!
You guys think that Tristero “Fingerboy” is in PETA?
No wonder the Left is all mad n’stuff…you ruined the guy’s friday night.
In fairness to the Kossacks, even a non-moonbat might well ignore advice from Jimmy Carter about winning. It’s sort of like taking a hot stock tip from a guy wearing a barrel.
Would you happen to have any video of this?
Ah, er, it’s for scientific research.
I’ll pay cash.
T/W He always had a special bond with animals.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
SB: resulta
pass/fail
Tom M:
Yes, I have been banned by Duncan Black probably eight to ten times in the past two years.
On account of my hobby being OCD (with an admixture of narcissism), I happen to know the proximate cause of most of these bannings: mentioning that Joe Wilson or his wife are lying sacks of partisan shit is the big one; insulting Ted Kennedy; being very obviously right —either morally or factually; showing up his sickly klavern of degenerate groupies in too deft or thorough a manner; and making him look like an idiot —however briefly before the plug is pulled— on the few occasions where he has deigned to address me directly.
The reason why I keep going back —besides the hobby— is that I love arguing with people. I feed on these idiots’ anger at me because it enlivens me and sharpens my tongue. And because it matters that people who think as they do be challenged.
Think of it as walking into an orchard full of swinging pinatas —fat on commie nonsense, self-loathing, and fear of their own country. I just love to take my bat to them. And will again once Black forgets to re-up my ban.
Toby, I have to admit that I don’t enjoy that kind of thing at all. And I’m the guy who blew up an e-mail discussion list by responding to a militant pro-legalization guy (who claimed he needed to self-medicate, and damn well didn’t want The Man trying to stop him) with, “I don’t know what you’re complaining about—Ritalin is already legal.”
It wasn’t so much what he was arguing as the way he was arguing, that set me off. And I’ll admit that in retrospect the explosion that followed was funny as hell.
I just don’t like to waste bon mots like that on the demented, is all. I want to be appreciated, dammit.
For those just tuning in…
Jeff has pissed off the children again. They will surely shit the bed now.
And then blame Halliburton, Cheney’s shotgun, Ohio voting machines, and/or JOOOOOS.
Maybe I should try to restart the Psychic Friends network. I’m getting very good at the prediction stuff and God knows Dionne Warwick could use the work.
Toby, thanks for the reply. So, it seems there is a bit of hypocracy going on here, then.
That’s true, Tom. I don’t call Duncan Black a crusher of dissent for nothing. After his groupies threaten me with bodily harm and insult me and my mother for hours on end, Black will cut me off when I take the upper hand and leave me unable to defend myself.
It teh sux.
Robin is on vacation in Europe or he would note that this haiku lacks the usual seasonal reference. The dog’s ass should be delicately compared to the summer wind.
Since obviously its past the beginning of Spring.