What was it Alice to tweedle dumb? Oh yeah, "first boy!"

She doesn't seem very intelligent.

a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

(love the way that even in a paeon to free speech, she reflexively invokes the government to censor those who disagree with her - the Dixie Chicks are free to speak, but a private radio station that refuses to play the Dixie Chicks music should have its FCC license revoked. free speech for me, not for thee!)

The radio station abusing the first amendment? What planet is this person on, exactly?

Oh yeah, lets put the radio station and listeners on notice. Radio stations- you have to play music and programming no one wants to listen to, and hey people - you better listen to it if you like it or not. And lets get the

Government to pay for it

WOW SHE'S AN IDIOT!

SHE'S SO STUPID SHE CANT EVEB WRYTE RIGHT!

MAYBE SHE SHULD GO BAK TO SKOOL AND LERN HOW TO SPELL THINGS FEEDOM OF SPEACH IS GREAT AND EVEN BETTER WHEN YU CAN RITE WITH PUNCTUATION AND BETTER SPELLING AND THINGS. BUSH SHOULD SEND HER TO IRAQ AND WHACK HER ASS TOO, THAT SILLY LEFTIST PINKO COMMIE LIBRAL SCUM.

SHI SHULD GO FUK HERSLF THAT NAZI BICH WHO CANT WRITE OR PUNCTUATE CORRECTLY AND TYPES IN IDIOTIC CLICHES.

Aye, freedom of expression (not just speech) is American, and all those former fans are perfectly within their rights to express their displeasure at the Dixie Chicks' actions, by such deeds as refusing to buy their records and not playing their music on the radio.

If you are an entertainer who depends on your audience for your livelyhood, it is not a good idea to alienate that audience. They can and will vote with their voices and dollars.

Ignorance of to whom the first amendment applies--our government and we, the people--is the first sign of the moonbat. If I had a dime for every time I've had to explain what censorship is, I would be a wealthy man indeed. Sigh.

"mary" writes suspiciously like some of the ranters of middle east persuasion. "Bush regime"? Sheesh!

Don't you love how the lazy, unskilled, and clueless left feel that not only should Mother Government ensure they're right to free sheech, but private entities should pay money out of their own pockets to give them a soap box to stand on.

Baby, I pay over $600 a week in taxes to a government that has promised to give you all the sidewalk you need to say what you want. I'll be goddamn if I'm paying another dime to invite your idiocy into my home. It's not that I haven't heard your idiotic ideas, it's that I don't agree with them, and you repeating them don't make them any less false.

I've paid for the road crews to pave you a fucking street; if want to march in it, go right ahead. Meanwhile, I'll be watching Fox news and surfing to LGF in the privacy of my little castle.

When are these bozos going to understand that the First Amendment applies to GOVERNMENT, not to private parties? And in addition, how many drinks (or tokes, or pills) did she have before she wrote that? She's borderline incoherent!

Let us use the Dixie Chicks one last time to describe what is in this woman's head:

"Wide open spaces..."
"Room to make a big mistake..."

"sheesh" = "shit" + "speech"

Typically well thought-out leftist position. "I want my freedom of speech, you must submit and agree (and abandon your rights for mine)."

Sadly, although it is interesting, it is not news. We have all seen this a hundred times before.

I've got just three words for marysc@aol.com:

pa-the-tic!

Loser.

Amendment X strikes again. And sure, that's not news, but who doesn't love reading crazy hate mail?

And frankly, if she really loved freedom of speech, she might question why the FCC exists in the first place. And she certainly wouldn't request that they pull the radio station's license for advocating non-violent protest.

caps lock key on STUN

LOL at that Charles! It's always reassuring to see that the haters are a couple of bananas short of a bunch.

Obviously a product of the public school system.

Oh, I believe she believes in free speech.

She just doesn't believe in a free pocketbook.

By the way, marysc@aol, just a little hint for you....invest in a spell checker.

You go girl...

cause we gotta support the sisters...

especially when they're really stupid...

as defined by "the man"...

and our mindless hatred of the "bush regime" is based on... well... it's based on that whole men run the world thing ya know...

and that's why we have to pull the FCC licenses of people who don't think like we do cause you know... not buying a woman's CD is like... abusing the first amendment you know... so they should have their first amendment take away... so...

oh shit I'm outta crack...

Did I miss something? Were the Chicks arrested for their comments, and hauled off to a Gulag? Were those protesters that remained non-violent and non-trespassing arrested for their free speech, and hauled off to a Gulag? What a pathetic lack of understanding these people have.

I watched the interview last night, and was not impressed. Actually, the Chicks came off more stupid in the interview than I could have imagined. "All I was asking, is couldnt we wait just one more day to start the war?" (paraphrase) I dont like that they received death threats as a result of their comments, but I guess that most *stars* these days receive them, and they probably are able to afford security.

Did anyone see Dennis Miller on HBO the other night? Brilliant!

Stupid, your free speech hasen't been taken away yet.

You are still bitchin' still moanin' still as nonsencical, and yelling, expressing their F E E L I N G S as ever, and telling everyone else that we have no right to free speech cause we hurt peoples F E E L I N G S

"Yeah, but are first amendment rights 'ill be taken away soon! BY BUUUUSSHHH! You'll see!"

This person either needs a healthy dose of ESL classes or a LOBOTOMY. This is not a native speech pattern....nice run-on sentences, though!

What's this "New America" crap, anyhow? No thanks.

Has anyone dared to e-mail Ms. Mary? This is a joke right, Charles? A little weekend humour? I had a hard time reading it so it made little sense to me.

A blithering, blustering idiot, our Miss Mary?

OT

Did we ever hear back from our little buddy in Egypt?

People who use caps lock never know how to spell or write a coherent sentence. She's also from Corrie country.

Why do these loons think that the First Amendment means that no one has the right to criticize their idiotic comments? After a remedial English class, this moonbat should take a class on Civics.

hmm, i don't think she dumbed it down enough. and those caps! truely spectral in their majesty.

#18

The main thing wrong with our public schools is lack of parental involvement.

It aint dun be da skools dem selfs

Kylaer (#7) - Exactly. It's called "consequences" and these come with free speech. It's a package deal.

Pretty severe. But how does the rest of Mrs. Grundy's Remedial English class feel?

The idea that the FCC* should shut down a radio station for criticizing the Dixie Chicks, and do so in the name of free speech and the First Amendment, is almost the defining symptom of Idiotarianism.

This supports my theory that Idiotarianism is a psychological disorder characterized by sociopathic inversions of reality, and a compulsion to not only get everything wrong, but to get everything exactly backwards.

* For visitors from the Seattle school system, the FCC is a federal government agency. Learn about the Constitution here!

#6 WOWBAGGER

ROTFLMAO! That was a beaut. I was having a lousy day, thanx for CHEERIN ME UP!

:^)

#30 RisR

On all levels, not just the classroom.

Say this for marysc, she bravely displays her limited capacities. No fear.

With no gift for processional thought, she fearlessly jumps in and just starts making some noise.

Unfortunately, unlike the broken clock that has two instances of correspondence a day, marysc's strategy of stringing words picked from the placards of the peace mob doesn't yield the comprehensive argument she is obviously struggling to give form to.

Is she for freedom of speech? Is she for censorship? Is she for the Dixie Chicks? Is she for Neil Sedaka?

It's just impossible to tell.

Or perhaps she is advocating for marysc's special world. An incomprehensible world to marysc's liking. Perhaps it's that simple.

The bad news is that it looks like she has uninvited everyone in this thread. Move on. Get the hell out.

She's perhaps a little less articulate but not much more STARK RAVING BATS than your average Seattle resident. She'd fit right in at the Greenlake PCC.

From a legalistic viewpoint, "Amendment X alert" is wrong. However, is punishing someone for what they said in keeping with the ideals of free speech?

I emailed her a nice little insult.

I'll post any replies on my site and here as well.

#33 Norman,

Thanks. :)

#33, Norman,

I always look forward to Model4's commentary. He's awesome. :) I actually memorized one of his lines from several weeks ago when he commented on the mural of a burning skyscraper found in Iraq. He wrote in poetic form a la "Rev." Jackson and sent me into gales of laughter. I actually wrote it down and memorized it. :)

Why is it that IDIOTARIANS can't seem to distinguish between censorship (government action to suppress free speech) and the right of normal, thinking people to dissent from the moronic platitudes spouted by certain celebrities?

To me, it's the ultimate justice when a celebrity who, after all, makes his/her living from being famous, suffers blowback from the public when s/he makes an asinine remark.

I love how her rant becomes more incomprehensible as she goes along. I can just picture her sputtering and flailing her arms as little springs and wires pop out of her head.

freedom of speech- (right, human) The ability to say what you want, or write what you want, short of slander, liable, or public endangerment, or, the write to not say or write what you want. DUH.

the funniest thing is that it's un-American to try stop a private radio station from not playing the Dixie Chix, and that this subtle little detail is completely missed by so many morons.

A fun experiment:

Make an email auto-responder for people like this that will parse and swap the words BUSH / CLINTON, IRAQ / AMERICA, RICH / POOR, DEMOCRAT / REPUBLICAN, etc. Then send the resulting text back to them.

The goal: To allow one of these numbskulls to hold a flamewar against themselves.

err, that should say "right" not "write" toward the end. proofread...proofread...proofread...

She should be flogged for abusing...or should I say murdering the english language.

What is it with these people with their ALL CAPS, spelling, sentence construction and did I say ALL CAPS? It's not just the loony left, either, as anyone who has gotten a CONFIDENTIAL ENQUIRY FOR IMPORTANT BUSINESS ARRANGEMENT from Nigeria knows.

Thanks, Charles, you, Wowbagger, and marysc have brightened my day.

#47

You got one of those CONFIDENTIAL ENQUIRY FOR IMPORTANT BUSINESS ARRANGEMENT from Nigeria also?

Have you gotten the $10,000 you forwarded to the custodial account back yet? I am wondering where mine is... They said I would have 10,000,000 by now :(

When Pacifica radio host the Rush Limbaugh show in order to promote freedom of speech I'll pay attention to dopes like her.

According to her AOL profile , marysc is indeed from WA.

Her personal quote is:

"i will get my children!"

Which suggests that they were taken away from her.

Which doesn't surprise me.

WITH . OUT PROSECUTION

Wow.

STAND STRONG GIRLS YOUR NOT ALONE AND COME TO SEATTLE WA, WE'LL BUY YOU RECORDS AND GO TO YOUR CONCERT.

Does she believe writing you, Charles, will somehow transmit this message of support to the Dixie Chicks?

Well Mary, you got your very own thread. Hopefully you won't summon the Inventor of the Internet to pull the plug on LGF in the interest of free speech now that your letter is proudly displayed.

You know, there's something about that nekkid Chicks magazine cover that bothered me even more than you'd think it would. Kept looking at it trying to figure out why, and think it's dawned on me. Didn't Natalie Maines used to be the Feral Kid from that Mad Max movie? You know, the one that grunted and howled and had that stainless steel boomerang? Maybe it's just me.

This flap is great though, in that it's going to force liberals to listen to three musicians they would have spit upon just last year. Be sure and ask them what they think of the banjo lines on a particular track, how the fiddle in a certain passage spoke to them, and how vibrant and noble those ethnic sounds are. Trust me, they'd rather gargle with battery acid, but will be forced to sing the praises of a country act. Make 'em harmonize "Goodbye Earl" with you until they start sawing into their throats with a butter knife.

In all fairness, I did send her an E-Mail inviting her to join our discussion group and perhaps she would have the opportunity to make a better case for her position.

:)

Wowbagger: Loved the rant! I sent it and your URL to John AshKKKroft for further scrutiny.

Thanks for the kind words. Being amused by one's own humor is probably the sign of a weak mind, but that poem still cracks me up! Even had me working on my Jesse impression, which sounds a lot like Cosell's voice in Shatner's cadance. Which, fortunately, gets you pretty close!

Speaking of celebrities, anyone see Ron Silver (whom I loathed in his previous gun-grabbing incarnation) on Hannity & Colmes tonight? He sounds like he's a regular LGF reader.

#41 Brant

I sometimes think that the reason some people scream "censorship" whenever a private radio station decides not to play something is because of a distorted world view.

It's basically the leftover sixties view of the "establishment" running everything. Remember, in this view, big business (usually a bunch of stupid white men) runs the government, radio, TV, newspapers, grocery stores, Toys 'R' Us, the UN, with an iron fist and consistent view toward oppressing the poor, innocent, peepul striving to be FREE and to do their own thing, dude. They MUST be sending orders down from on high to control every detail of your life.

These folks honestly can't believe that a conspiracy is not actually harshing their mellow--after all, holding hands and singing kum-bay-yah would fix everything, as long as we all agree that no one is wrong and anyone on TV is evil except for the reely kewl Robbins-Sarandon crowd.

Remember--Sticking it to the Man (ala Homer Simpson) is the greatest goal in life and rebels are always right because they're cool (except if backed by the establishment).

It's scary that I have met enough of these people in the SF bay area (and consider some friends) that I can parrot this without any effort.

What is getting a bit scary is a new meme out of the left. It goes something like this: The FCC controls the airwaves, therefore radio stations are in some sense a governmental agency. Since radio is a governmental agency they should be required to air all idioticies (not how the left puts it) -- (so long as it is politically correct) regadless of how it impacts their listenership (word?).

i think i speak for most people when i say huh ?

What is the difference between a radio station having to play music its owners and listeners don't want to hear and another business having to serve a customer that its owners and other customers don't want to serve.

... and thank God for the right to speak freely without knowing how to do it!
Really, these days with spell check and all...
what the heck was that all about?

She should visit/post more often.
LGF is a great source of sharp and accurate feedback!

Hey, if the Islamics of the world just TONED IT DOWN A LITTLE... wouldn't this whole problem just go away?
It's a lot easier to live and let live when you're not dealing with a population who chants "death to(whomever)" in freaking preschool!

Wise words again from the leader of the "Bush Regime" ...

In an interview with Tom Brokaw, Bush was asked about the "backlash" against the Dixie Chicks ...

Bush responds -

"They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt just because some people don’t want to buy their records when they speak out. You know, freedom is a two-way street."

A man with common sense resides at 1600 Penn Ave.

Well, to Mary whats-er-name and all the Lefties out there:

We didn't get to march in all those parades and shout and carry on all those months and months while you all held your placards and megaphones, hobnobbing and gladhanding with the A.N.S.W.E.R. crowd, the Mullahs shouting "Allah Akbar" and "Down with the USA"; we didn't get to be like Susan Sarandon playing "Bernadette on the Barricades at the Gates of Paris", all the while damning the War that was going to kill millions of innocents; we had to sit silently by and wait it out while you all shouted at anyone who would listen, especially if they had a camera.

Well, the war is over; none of that happened; we won and the troops are coming home; Iraq is free and Iran wants to follow on its own.

So if you're feeling the heat or the pinch in your wallet, or your career has gone in the toilet because of the stand you took and the 'silent majority' is paying you back and you don't like it....well, like the President said: "Freedom's a two-way street."

Suck it up!

#57 Rabidfox

We already have that. It's called National Public Radio.

OT, but in the same interview, Bush was asked about our relationship with France ...

Bush responds - "Well, Jacque won't be visiting the ranch anytime soon."

Regrettably, when asked whether he planed to invite Palestinian Prime Minister-designate Mahmoud Abbas to the White House - Bush replied “one of these days. ... I look forward to working with him.” Bush indicated longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would not be invited.

Wow. I'm impressed by her grammer and spelling. She must be a product of one of our institutes of higher learning.

Dear Mary

Our first amendment guarantees two things, and two things only:

1.) You can say just about anything without fearing government censorship.
2.) I can say anything I want about what you said with the same protections.

Your right of free speech no more cancels my right, than mine cancels yours.

Oh, and using all capital letters is the internet equivalent of drooling.

Your humble servant,

Joe.

Was that the author of the Vagina Monologues?

Whoever it was, she was all for "free speech" but not too big on "free iraq". Hmm....

#22 "...I dont like that they received death threats as a result of their comments, but I guess that most *stars* these days receive them, and they probably are able to afford security."

Aw c'mon... Is "Hey, lets strap Natalie's fat a** to a bomb and drop her on IRAQ" really a death threat"?

>>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Yeah, this tells her that it's ok to take on the program directors at Clear Channel....

Wow. It's not every day you read an email so dumb that it serves as its own satire. I mean, Charles didn't even have to fisk it. All he had to was reprint it in its entirety, and it fisked itself.

Between the all-caps, the misspellings, the bad grammar (she doesn't know how to create plural nouns?), the invocation of Godwin's Law (in the first sentence, no less!) and of course the perfect application of Amendment X - I wonder if this *is* for real?

If it's a hoax/satire, it's damn perfect. If it's not a hoax, well, it's still damn perfect (as an example of Left Coast Moonbatism, that is).

As much as this woman is a moron, isn't boycotting the Dixie Chicks and barring them from radio stations because of their opinions (however moronic) against the spirit of free speech?

Legal protection of your right to criticise the government is only part of what is required to ensure a society where people feel free to express their opinions. The other necessary conditon it is having a society that is generally tolerant of opposing points of view without people getting all boycotty and trying to financially ruin someone because they don't like their opinions.

Yes, you do have the legal right to boycott, and it doesn't legally infringe anyone's freedom of speech, but how does that help the cause of creating a more open, vocal democracy? It stifles debate.

Think of the flip side of the coin. What if a musician made a pro-Bush political statement and was ostracised from the liberal-dominated entertainment industry by the liberal powers-that-be? (e.g. politically liberal rock bands refused to perform at musical festivals alongside them etc etc)

Boycotting just sucks.

I hate it when people use "Nazi" inappropriately. I know, I know, this woman has greater problems, but however crazy this screed is, it does encapsulate some favorite themes from the left.

D'you think there's a boiler-plate sheet of terms and stock phrases somewhere out there, which loons like this can use for cut and paste? Or is this really a hint of what her real consciousness is like?

#57

because the FCC regulates the use of the airwaves, you think that radio stations are governmental agencies?

OK the because the highways are regulated by the federal and state governments then your car is somehow owned by the government?

Who pays your car payment? You or the government?

71 Chris

Don't the owners of the radio station have a right to free speech? In their case, refusing to play the Dixie Chicks is, itself, an eloquent statement. If you're an entertainer, it's a good idea not to anger the paying clients.

What is the "spirit of free speech," anyways? If it means, "I get to say whatever I want, and you must listen to me," no thank you. Life is too short to try to pay attention to every person who wants to be heard.

Ya know that Dixie Shits, er I mean Chicks nekkid pic with all the slogans? Did ya notice there was No Bush?
hehe

OT:

Ted Turner is up to drunken blathering again

Ted Turner said on Thursday too few people owned too many media organisations and called rival media baron Rupert Murdoch a warmonger for what he said was Murdoch's promotion of the US war in Iraq.

Drunken idiot Pot, meet Kettle

Can anyone determine whether marysc@aol.com is Puce?

#71

Ostracizing of conservative artists happens all the time. in Hollywood too. Remember the incident on the Rosie O'Fat show when she invited Tom Selleck on the program and then blindsided him for his support of the 2nd Amendment? I remember ABC cutting a country singer out of it's 9/11 memorial show last year because he wanted to play a very pro American song.

No, I didn't like it at the time, but the difference is that this man did not make a personal attack on the President, I didn't support the personal attacks on Clinton with all the impeachment stuff either. I personally didn't want to see Gore get to be President by default. I also didn't think that lying was on the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Do the Chicks get what they deserve? Yeah, they do. They need to learn the lesson that all young people need to learn before they lose their liberal idealism. That lesson is that there are consequences to everything you do, and if you can't handle the criticism that comes with celebrity, then don't become one.

What is the "spirit of free speech," anyways? If it means, "I get to say whatever I want, and you must listen to me," no thank you. Life is too short to try to pay attention to every person who wants to be heard.

To me, it means "I have the right to say whatever I want, and even though you may strongly disagree and think I am an idiot, you don't try to ruin my career or attempt to co-erce me to shut up. It means that we both value the idea of open debate and you think that my opinions should be defeated on merit through argument, not because commercial imperatives make me keep my mouth shut".

Or something like that.

I don't think the government can or should enforce this idea. It's voluntary.

An Evergreen College alumnus, no doubt.

#57 Rabidfox

I was going to say the same.
I heard the publisher of the local (free) left wing rag here in Atlanta say something along those lines. Since they can't compete in the free market, it's all about "public airwaves", and therefore, all views are due "X" amount of time, or some such.
In short, Rush, and Sean, and Neal, and all of those other horrible right-wing-nuts are "stealing" air time from all of the profitible left-wing hosts who we all know would be filling the airwaves right now.

Ostracizing of conservative artists happens all the time.

Yes and I hate it. That's why I don't support the converse.

WoW!!! What school did she attend? She must be one of those students that was passed upwards after reaching maxium age, illerate and uneducated. How sad. *sigh

err.. alumna.

Chris #71

As much as this woman is a moron, isn't boycotting the Dixie Chicks and barring them from radio stations because of their opinions (however moronic) against the spirit of free speech?

1. No, it isn't.

2. No one is barring them from anywhere. A radio station may choose not to play their records. No one is telling that station what to do (no one is barring them from that station).

3. Members of the Left™ should really grab a copy of the Constitution and read it sometime. If they are going to refer to it, they should learn it.

4. Leftist™ rights to spout idiocies in no way limits my right to respond. That is the essence of vigorous public debate. If my response means that I don't buy an album (or a bottle of Cognac), then they must live with it. There is no reason for me to tolerate the sort of mindless, unthinking crap that passes for leftist™ thought. That is the "marketplace of ideas". If I don't think you have a valid thought in your head, I have no need to support you. If you wish support, come up with a valid idea.

ok Charles - obviously a troll. As a public school teacher (yes, even economic/social conservatives can teach in public schools, you would be surprised!) my ten year old students have better grammar/spelling skills-they would never "your" for "you're" or "there" for "their"....of course, I'm strict! On the wall at recess, marysc! Redo your homework! (Damn, her parents called the schoolboard and complained....I expect too much from poor mary!) Too bad, I'm tenured and there's not a damn thing anyone can do!
/sarcasm

Palidan. I know that. The problem is that these lefty loonies seem to think that all radio should be PBS.

And if the listening public (the radio station's customers) want the Dixie Chicks back on the radio, they can let the station know. Radio stations respond to market forces.

For a private enterprise to opt NOT to play a song does not rise to the level of censorship, especially if their listeners don't want to hear it anyway.

As a former newspaper editor ... I can say that I frequently chose NOT to run some letters to the editor for various reasons, and that it was not censorship to make that decision. It's only censorship if the government makes the decision for me.

#71

Think of the flip side of the coin. What if a musician made a pro-Bush political statement and was ostracised from the liberal-dominated entertainment industry by the liberal powers-that-be? (e.g. politically liberal rock bands refused to perform at musical festivals alongside them etc etc)

You mean... what if conservative members of the entertainment industry would be afraid to speak on important social and political issues for fear of being blacklisted? It seems that's precisely what has been happening for the past two decades and the industry doesn't even bother to deny it.

As for me these celebrity dolts now carry the same taint as Woody Allen or Michael Jackson -- I may have enjoyed their work in the past but they crossed a line that I can't and won't separate from their talent. And I don't need to be hectored into boycotting them either -- it's personal and I say screw 'em.

#79 chris

Insulting the president, in a time of war, from a foreign stage, is not an argument. I don't think anyone here denies the Dixie Chicks' right to free speech. Most of the damage to their career is self-inflicted, in that they offended their fans. There are many wonderful musicians whose music is not played on the radio; no-one has a right to airtime. If the public doesn't want to hear your music, or the station's management don't want to play you, that's it. I haven't heard a Michael Jackson song on the radio lately, for example.

imo, boycotting does not violate the spirit of the First Amendment. it is a classic form of political speech.

the boycott was virtually political weapon of choice in the colonial struggle against Britain. a few of those boycotters went on to draft, support, and ratify the First Amendment.

The remedy for speech is more speech, but the end is not to become a debating society, talking in circles. The point of speech is to persuade and to influence the actions and beliefs of other people.

boycotts don't "stifle" speech. they test the speakers' conviction. I have a different view of the Dixie Chicks fiasco than most. The thing most offensive to me about the whole episode is that Natalie Maines apologized for her comment. (I don't think she's truly sorry - I think her words reflected what she truly believes.) I think she didnt have the courage of her own convictions. She capitulated at the first sign of resistance.

I respect your opinion, but to my ears, its an Orwellian inversion to describe a boycott as violating the spirit of the First Amendment or stifling speech. it is speech.

#71 Chris

OK, I know that this is complicated, and you might think mean and counterproductive. Dixie Chicks, and all others are free to speak their alleged minds. I swear, it's true. God bless them. It's a wonderful country. Debate is not, nor should it be, stifled.

On the other hand, I am free to be perturbed by these freespeakers, indeed argue against them. Also, I am free to not spend my money purchasing their entertainment products.

Over the years, I've boycotted many items. I boycotted California grapes when Cesar Chavez asked me to. I boycott Chinese slave labor. I boycott the KKK.

Boycotting is an American tradition, and gives the "little guy" a voice, to go along with his vote.

#77 OscarJr -

Nah, Puce is Treacher.

#71

Nice try. Here's a 'hug' to keep you feeling like expressing yourself. Refer to entry #69. Go to Edit then Ctrl+F (if you're in a windows environment) to invoke the search function. Enter 'Feeling'.

Did the search stop in item #69. Nope. Do it or not. How ya 'feel' about it is irrelevant. Speak or remain silent. Your choice. Their choice. Our choice.

Ahhhhhh.

That is the "marketplace of ideas".

The Dixie Chicks aren't in the marketplace of political ideas. They're in the marketplace of Country Music.

If country music consumers make their purchasing decisions based on the political opinions of the musician then the marketplace will favour politically-correct musicians. If the consumers purchase based on musical talent, the marketplace will favour talented musicians (a better outcome IMHO).

I never challenged anyone's right to boycott the Dixie Chicks. I just said that I think it's a bad idea because it stifles debate. As a consumer I am free to opine to other consumers (such as yourself) on what makes a good criteria on which to judge your potential purchases of music, just as I am free to opine to you on what makes a good off-road sports utility vehicle, or what makes a good Cognac.

You are of course free to ignore the opinion, just Charles would be free to supress it by banning me/deleting my comments if he choose to do so.

73 John. No I DON"T think that. What I am saying is that this seems to be the latest theory coming out of the far left. I first heard it either last night or the night before on Hannity and Colms. Surprisingly, this idea was not seriously challenged. The approach seemed to be more along the line of Chris -- we shouldn't boycott because that stifles free speech.

I personally feel that, absent the same kind of media attention, that my most effective method of self expression is to boycott. I personally feel that a private radio station can, and should, boycott performers who will cause their ratings to drop.

I hope I've been clear enough. I do not equate private radio stations with PBS. I have heard the arguments out there that do, because of the FCC oversight. (God only knows what they would do with Government money and highways.)

This meme is really a bad idea simply because of the pernicious nature lof the Government's fingers in our lives.

Point #1: With every right comes a responsibility, with every privilege a duty. The Dixie Chicks have a right to say whatever foolish thing they want, even on foreign soil, but they have the responsibility for owning their words. The 80% or so of their former fans who vehemently disagree with their politics have the freedom to not support them financially.

Point #2: I am disturbed intellectually by their naked photos on Entertainment Weekly's cover exactly because of this. They are beating their bare breasts for their right to speak, but again fail to acknowledge their responsibility for the words written on their skins. That said, they really ARE hot chicks. Yowza.

Point #3: Marysc@aol.com's head. Go soak it, sister. How much do you want to bet ol' Proud Mary won't ever be naked on the cover of any magazine save for Armpit Hair Grrls Monthly?

95 Rabidfox

This meme is really a bad idea simply because of the pernicious nature lof the Government's fingers in our lives.

But just think of all the really terrible radio programs we'd receive! Mario Cuomo--your agent's calling!

#18

The public school system is capable of turning out some perfectly good students, at least if it isn't PCed and abused into nothingness... at my school, it was still more important to learn how to do calculus than to learn the history of the Inuit (a worthwhile topic, I'm sure, but not for most people).

That said:

Look on the bright side, folks. The loudmouths on the left and the right? At least we know where to aim the rifle if needed. It's the quiet ones we need to worry about. These guys, we can pretty much just laugh at.

when you've stoked up controversy, radio stations refuse to play your music, your record sales are falling, and you desperately want your public back, what do you do? If you are attractive females, its obvious. Take off your clothes! ;^)

The minute it's considered wrong to express disgust and contempt for vile opinions, we're in big trouble. That's the beginning of amoralism. Imagine telling your kid, "No, Johnny, stop! You aren't to show disgust towards the man who says all gays should be killed. He deserves as much respect as anyone else." Erosion of moral fabric. To confuse immunity from contempt with freedom of speech is to begin to erode that fabric.

#79 Chris

I love a good boycott. Its a good way to express my disaproval of a companies business practices.
I deleted ABC from my television. Should I watch ABC just because some ideal says I should ?
The Dixie Chicks are a business, nothing else. I dont hate them or want to kill them. I also dont want to hear their music. Do I care if they go out of business? no.
With freedom of speach comes a lot of responsibility. And if youre in the music business and you use that platform to make political statements, be prepared to be treated with a like ignorance that you display.
I'm ignorant. I'm not going to reference my pamphlet of higher ideals everytime I respond to something. I have the freedom to be as ignorant as I want to be.
Sure ideally I would be a perfect citizen at peace and balance with all my fellow citizens, but I'm not.
Theres nothing to prevent me from using whatever legal means I can find to display my response to the 'debate' Fatalie began.
Am I trying to whip them into submitting to my view? hell no. But if I had been in that audience to hear their music and was subjected to fatalie ridiculing my president, I would have got up and gotten a refund for my ticket. And then in the event that I wasnt allowed to recieve a refund I sure would have started whipping someone into to refunding my money.
The ideals are what we should all strive for all the time I know. But sometimes there are practical matters that just cant be dealt with within those confines.

#98 sub_version

I'm glad that you parenthesied that Inuit history was a worthwhile topic for some people. I've lived in Alaska for 30 years, and yea, it's very important up here. As is calculus.

Oh Mary dear, did you catch Leno lat night?

Did you see this religious ceremony in Iraq, the Iraqis were hitting themselves? Beating themselves, on their knees, begging for forgiveness? No, wait, that was the Dixie Chicks

Actually tonight on ABC, Natalie Maines told Diane Sawyer she made a poor "choice of words." What happened is her choice of words is making her poor.

now that how freedom of speech works, Dixie chicks make stupid comments, using their freedom of speech the rest of the world laughs at them using their freedom of speech

speaking of freedom of speech did you all see the award that Michael Moore got?

scroll down to "News of the weird" OMG that is tooooooo funny

[Link: washingtontimes.com...]

Does liberalism officially constitute a religion yet? As far as I can tell, Muhammad the Democrat has these primary tenants, which this gasping for air blond has encapsulated beautifully in her rank piece of shit comment.

1. BUSH == HITLER
2. BUSH == HITLER
3. and oh yes, AmeriKKKa.

by the way, the Dixie slits (in response to their newly released photos) don't need YOU to buy them records, they need you to buy their records, a big difference, but given the lack of economic coherence rapid in the left, It probably all seems the same to you.

And besides, I'm more interested in buying them dinner as a prelude to a hot night full of grunting pasionate sex, then buying their music. Despite their incoherent lack of anything purposeful to say, they are fairly decent looking. I would just love to add the middle one to my mantle of trophy dumb blond bitches whom I've screwed. BUWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

A clone of Michael Moore. OMG

I cant wait to hear his acceptance speech for this new honor. OK, I can wait.

jim:

imo, boycotting does not violate the spirit of the First Amendment. it is a classic form of political speech.

Absolutely. It is also a legimate tool of democratic power. As the celebrity uses his/her/its social prominence in an attempt to impose his/her/its social agenda on the public, the public resists with its own form of influence.

This makes the celebrity go utterly bugshit, which is entertaining and enhances the quality of life. My life, at least.

And no, Chris, boycotts don't suck. Anti-slavery activists in the 19th century boycotted tea to attack the profits from West Indian slave plantations. Explain to me why that sucks.

Besides, complaining about boycotts is pointless. Unless I woke up in Cuba this morning, I'm free to boycott anything and everything I want to.

Until the day that the government raises my taxes to support the Dixie Chicks, making them boycott-proof. Which is pretty much the theory behind the National Endowment for the Arts. Maybe they should apply for a grant - Karen Finley got one, just for being naked.

Tonight on the Houston NBC affiliate, a local Country station was interviewed about the Dixie Chicks. This station, 93Q Country, said the Chicks will be back when people want them back. People who listen to Country don't want them back; they had an early morning call-in show, and the call-ins were not very forgiving.

The "AOL" connection in marysc's name reminded me about what happened earlier today...
My daughter and I went to her riding lesson today down near Lake Jackson, and I was listening to two girls discuss this while they were washing off a horse.
One girl asked the other is she had seen it, and the other said she had seen the magazine. Both agreed it was a horrible picture and the band needed clothes to look good. Then one said to the other...

Girl one, "AOL has that picture on the front page."

Girl two, "AOL must not like them either."

(Then being typical early teens in horrible afternoon heat, they sprayed each other with the hoses. The horse just looked bored.)

Goodness, I have reread Marysc's rant and it is almost painful. Spelling errors, wrong use of homonyms (THERE instead of THEIR, ITS instead of IT'S), incoherent sentences, etc. I understand shooting off passionate e-mails without proofreading, but this is ridiculous.

And the Left accuses US of being unintelligent knuckle draggers.

PS: Yes, I KNOW I wrote two sentence fragments above. So sue me, you pedantic wags....

Another great example of the LLL (Loony Left Logic).
Suddenly they've discovered country music.
So what other country artists have the IDIOTARIANS discovered?

#71
A radio station is a business. It makes money by selling advertising. It's charges are based on it's listening market. The more people who listen, the more money they can charge. If the station persists in playing music that it's audience doesn't want to hear, the audience will go elsewhere. Businesses don't want to waste their advertising dollars on a station with few listeners. The money follows the listeners, therefore a station is going to play what it's audience wants to hear.
That's not censorship, that's business.

Chris #94
When they made a judgement about the President of the US from foreign soil during wartime, they entered the marketplace of ideas. I have the right to withhold my support. To suggest that I do not have that right means that I must now have a politically correct reason not to buy their albums. I can no long say (if you get your way) that I boycott them because of their idiotic leftist views. That opinion (of mine) would not be politically authorized. I must think of another reason.

THAT is NOT the way we do things in America, however much the Left™ would like it to be. I am free to have whatever reason I wish to not buy their product.

Liberals often accuse conservatives of trying to revoke peoples rights. I think that the opposite is true.

#87 Rabidfox

If/when that day comes, I'm moving to another planet.

my dad's favorite group was the dixie chicks to my knowledge, in his entire life he has never boycotted anything or anybody - till now

The girls have him mad as hell - I have never seen him as pizzed off as he is with the Chicks - they will never see one red penny from him again.

me neiher

#87 Rabidfox wouldn't it be far easier just to move them instead? lot less of them to move than there is of us -

Wow Mary. Great rant!

Now, if you could just figure out where the caps lock key is (it's right next to the "any" key). Then correct some of the spelling errors, and the punctuation errors, and the tense errors, and maybe take a course in grammer (concentrate on contractions :) I might be able to take you a little more seriously. Remember:

See that there goat.
That goat's not theirs.
Run goat run.
If they catch that goat they're going to eat it.
Oops! I think that there's a boy goat.

Either Seattle wa is on some other planet, or this is a non-native english speaker, or the Seattle school system really sucks. I'm sort'a glad I missed the opportunity to move there back in '89.

Like Jimmy said, "If you ever get the chance to go to Dallas, pass it up".

GTC (actually likes Dallas a little bit)

#102 Midnight Creeper

Exactly. Inuit history would have been exactly as important to me as, say, the history of the French-Indian interactions around Detroit would have been to you. Well, probably more; there aren't too many of either French or Indians left in SE Michigan these days.

But calculus we can agree on.

Long ago, the use of ALL CAPS was the hallmark of an AOL user. Some things never seem to change.

I wonder why this is so hard for some to understand. The Dixie Chicks speak as a trade. The way the public "speaks" back is by purchasing (or not) the Chicks' copyrighted speech.

If the public begins to have a problem with the Chicks, they stop purchasing their material. It's quite simple. Anyway, I read that the Chicks' song is currently #1, so it looks like they're doing okay--for the moment.

In South Carolina, there is a barbeque sauce and chain of stores owned by a segregationist named Maurice (see his website and you'll immediately get the gist of what he is). He flies confederate flags over all his stores and essentially tells anyone who has a problem with that to go and...well, you know. The sales of his BBQ sauce (sold commercially and in his stores) plummeted as the public exercised their right to not patronize his product. That was their way of "speaking" and showing their distaste for his views. He's lost millions of dollars for his views but I have not heard one person come to his aid and say, "Why, oh why are you violating his First Amendment right?" There is no moral comparison between the Chicks and Maurice, but it still stands one was punished for espousing repugnant (to many) beliefs and no one rushed to his aid while the other was punished and people are screaming that they are the victims of a fascist conspiracy to silence them.

It's a person's right to be an idiot. It's also my right (and everyone else's here) to choose to spend their money somewhere else.

Chris --

The first amendment gives the Dixie Chicks the right to say anything they want. That pudgy lead "singer" (can't believe she went to a music conservatory with that caterwauling she calls vocals), can say any stupid thing she wants about the government. The government can't keep her from saying it, and in fact, hasn't kept her from saying anything.

However, there is nothing at all in the first amendment that states you are shielded from the consequences of using that right to free speech.

Classic example: I have the right to tell my boss that he is repulsive, has no taste in clothes, and even with the help of Viagra he couldn't possibly satisfy a woman. He would have the right to fire me. Violation of free speech? No. Violation of common sense that's gonna cost me financially? YUP.

Boycotts only suck if you are the target of one. It's a damned effective way to communicate an idea to a business entity, and entertainers ARE businesses, that something about the way they conduct themselves needs to change.

I am under no obligation to support anyone financially by buying their products. There is also generally no obligation by another business entity (for example, a radio station) to carry products from another business entity (that's why they have playlists and formats). If, for whatever reason the Dixie Chicks don't fit their format or the audience doesn't like them, that station doesn't have to play them.

It's the free market, baby.....and that bloated bag of wind is learning an economics lesson the hard way. Simply put, it can take a lifetime to build a business, but it can all get hammered with one stupid incident where you passed on the opportunity to STFU.

Ok, slight correction to previous post:

Unless a business entity has a contract with another business entity, there is no obligation to carry or handle their products.

Hey, if I'm wrong, I'll admit it......no shame in that!

Somewhat on topic: Does anyone have doubts that the body of the woman in the middle on the Dixie Chicks semi-nude picture is not actually that Chicks' body? I was certain she was particularly rotund and nowhere near that lean.

#94 Chris 4/25/2003 09:15PM PST

If country music consumers make their purchasing decisions based on the political opinions of the musician then the marketplace will favour politically-correct musicians. If the consumers purchase based on musical talent, the marketplace will favour talented musicians (a better outcome IMHO).

I never challenged anyone's right to boycott the Dixie Chicks. I just said that I think it's a bad idea because it stifles debate.

Chris,

You pose a real world scenario, and I grant you we want good music. But we don't typically look to musicians (or actors) for debate.

And look at every has-been musician that's ever been. Ignoring simple lack of talent you'll see bad politics, bad life style or bad finances. It's Darwinian selection pure and simple.

I'm a musician, but I'm not a stupid musician (I hope). When I play a gig I leave my politics at the door. If you play country you don't talk about your touchy-feely side or your dope habit. You wave the flag and sing about your truck and how you're going to kill the SOB that stole your girlfriend (or is it the other way around?). Otherwise you better pick another genre.

For reference study John Lenon's "more popular than Jesus" incident. Doesn't matter that it might have been true. It was a dumb thing to say. Besides, if you've hit the top 40 and you're not Frank Zappa then you're just pandering to the fans. Believe me, there's better stuff "out there" (ain't it the truth :).

GTC

Often Robert Heinlein's idea that one must be able to solve a quadratic equation before one is allowed to vote seems like a good idea. Anyone want to set the odds of Mary having that skill?

What is the purpose of LGF?

I see it as a place to get information on Israel, on radical Islam and on the war on terror. Posters generally tend to be people who support Israel and who are worried by the rise in Islamism worldwide.

However, there is a small group of posters who seem to believe that just because a person supports Israel and the war on terror that person is automatically "right" and NOT a "liberal", "lefty", "commie", "pinko" or (G-d Forbid) a "socialist". Can I make the following points:

1) You can support Israel and still think George Bush is a dangerous moron.

2) You can fight radical Islam and still think Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard idiot who should be gagged and thrown in the Mississippi.

3) You can despise apologists for Palestinian terrorism while supporting gun control, the right to choose and public funding for the arts.

4) You can come to LGF, agree with what is said and NOT BE A REPUBLICAN.

5) You can admire the Dixie Chicks for what they said and still support the war.

Wow, she sounds like a catch. Maybe her and me could have a little America hating and smooch session. SEIG HEIL!

#122 addison, A fat ugly mean nerd (but rich) can dream can't he? Look, unless I am detached from reality, most guys I know would fuck the hell out of those three in an instant (maybe not the black haired one), with or without their new set of tattoos. When you’re getting shellacked by a half-decent looking bitch, you really don’t give a big deal about her fucked up political ideas. Besides, if she had coherent politic ideas, she would not be boffing your stupid ass, now would she.

And by the way, can anyone think up some classic ways the left is going to go around enforcing people's requirement to listen to others free speech (aka the first amendment). Can you see the local college profs turned 24-hour news 'expert' try to shame the evil right into listening, hahaha this is going to be funny as hell.

Look left, you are a bunch of crackpots and loonies, whatever coherency you once had as a party, and it is gone now. Whatever quasi-intellectual basis for your crack-pottery you once had, is now gone. You stink, your stupid, your devoid of the slightest bit of rationalism, and you all sound like a gaggle of rich little daddies valley girls clamoring about what "I want" what "I want". You've opiated your masses into a stupid indoctrination with a couple of cache phrases holding the whole devil spawn of it all together, and the few of your leaders who actually understand your movement (Mark's transition from capitalism to socialism) have given up on you swine and joined the establishment to get rich as hell BUWAHAHAHHAHAHAAH.

Hell even the Jews have given up on your dumb asses after you turned Palestinian on them.

Your only chance for a comeback is Lenin and his theory of revolution, but guess what, we conservatives already know it and know what to look for, not that there is any of you left that could even understand it (big evil grin). Look, give up, find your local conservative, do whatever it takes to get on his or her good side and try to learn. If you cannot do that, have the decency to lemmin off a cliff because you are worthless, stupid, evil, and above all, the bad taste you leave in my mouth as I gobble up your weak and meager is really getting to my girlfriend.

GOOD GOD I CAN RANT, give it up for the infidels, say “hey”… “ho”

The nice thing about a boycott is that for the most part, it's personal. No one need know of my displeasure specifically, or even care that I dislike something. If I'm taking a unpopular stand, it'll have a trivial impact. Boycotts only are effective if they are popular.

In short, boycotts are a popularity contest.

#122 addison -

Apparently she was on the somewhat, err, portly side for a couple years but recently appears to have lost a significant amount of weight. Check out the following pics:

From October 2000 ...

From February 2002 ...

And from spring 2003 ....

Still, that doesn't mean they didn't airbrush a few more pounds away. But if the weight loss is actual, then the EW cover is probably more true to her present size than not.

#125, Paul of ICan’tThinkbia,
No, you can’t and oh yes, you’re a confused and raving dolt.
If you support Israel and still think George Bush is a dangerous moron, then Bush and his pro Israel stance contradicts your first premise, thus invalidating your puny first argument.
If you can fight radical Islam and still think Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard idiot who should be gagged and thrown in the Mississippi, then you have become no better then the people you are fighting as you go around killing off those who do not agree and sentencing them to a cruel death by drowning. Especially since that blowhard who “needs to die” is one of the strongest supporters of your fight against radical Islam. Besides, your whiney ass never fought anything, now did it?
If you can despise apologists for Palestinian terrorism while supporting gun control, the right to choose and public funding for the arts, then you’re on a moral and fundamental equivalency with the Palestinians in that they have no respect for the basis of the society in which they live. Gun control, funding for the arts (pooping over your art buddy on stage as you ass boff a blowup mockup of GW and throwing dog shit at religious idols), and murdering innocent is all technically against the constitution. Just as the Palestinians have no respect for life, personal freedom, and the right to worship the god of their choice as the surrounding Israel society has.
1. If you oppose gun ownership, then you doom your society to a perpetual target for any wacko with a false prophet for a god and an evil dictator giving them 20K to oft themselves (sound like any people you were describing???)
2. If you support funding for the arts, you support defilement kind of like the Palestinians who draw wonderful 3D art scenes with human Israel blood.
3. If you support the right to murder of unborn babies because “they are in their body” your no different then the Palestians who support murdering innocent Jew babies and children because “they are on their land”
If you can come to LGF, agree with what is said and are NOT A REPUBLICAN, your either a libertarian, objectivistic, some other lesser right leaning party, or just confused as hell about what a liberal is. If this still doesn’t make sense, buy a Koran and hit yourself with it until you pass out or Allah explains it to you. We stand for free markets, personal freedom, against government oppression, for safety both home and abroad, all of which contradict the stances of your party.
If you can admire the Dixie Chicks for what they said and still support the war, you admire the people who libeled the very person who is running the war, you freaking dolt. Get a mind or start taking your meds again because you’re a raving lunatic who makes less sense then the fatwa I just issued in my toilet.

You can fight radical Islam and still think Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard idiot who should be gagged and thrown in the Mississippi.

Well, it would seem someone has a violent streak.

OT - "It's All Israel's Fault!"
Interesting editorial from today's Arab News - Seems like recent events might have had some effect on the Arab media, like a healthy swipe of the "clue-by-four".

For decades it has been difficult to find anything in the opinion pages of the Arabic language press that did not concern Israel. Every problem faced by Arab societies was blamed, in however obscure or far-fetched a way, on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land. The issue served as a sort of lowest common denominator, satisfying many journalists who were not equipped to write about anything else as well as many of those who rule the Arab world and who would prefer Israel — rather than their own shortcomings — to be the subject of heated discussion in the “Arab street.” The days when the Arab world could just scream “Israel”, as if that one word were sufficient answer to every question about every problem that came its way — as though saying that one word could deflect all further inquiry — are over. The time for peaceful coexistence, internal reflection and healthy, progressive thinking has come.

I'm not holding my breath, but it's a start.

Concerning #130,

It should be #122 not #125 and sorry about the formatting, I should have proof read the format before I took it from MS word into here.

#130 Infidel

makes less sense then the fatwa I just issued in my toilet.

Bwah ha ha ha ha! Oh my God, I think I just laughed my balls off. That was the jewel in your briliant fisking of that paint-chip eating moron. Good job.

BTW, from now on I will no longer be 'droping the kids off at the pool', I will now be 'issuing a fatwa'. I'll give you any roylaties I make from it.

#130 WarMongeringInfidel

3. If you support the right to murder of unborn babies because “they are in their body” your no different then the Palestians who support murdering innocent Jew babies and children because “they are on their land”

You'd better take that back and avoid the whole abortion issue. This is a shitstorm waiting to happen. You don't want that. Trust me.

#130 - WarMongeringInfidel
Thank you for that. Your clear, rational, polite explaination of why my original post was so wrong has made everything clear for me. Only by true Bush-worship can all evil be defeated. The Dixie-Chicks "libeled the very person who is running the war, you freaking dolt." and by that libel they could have undermined the war effort and led to defeat!!! Oh my golly-gosh!! The horror!!! They were rude about the President. What has the world come to when you can't make fun of Texans anymore?

#124 mark

Careful, Heinlein has been labeld a fascist, almost as much as Ayn Rand, for have the audacity to suggest people ought to earn the vote, or at least give it more thought than they do to what dessert to choose from the dessert tray.

Remember the first of the idiotarian anti-war protests that took place with high schoolers ditching class? In California it was particularly excrutiating to hear such classics as "No War, hit the Bong" or "We didn't vote for no war"... now some cheeky 15 y/o in Florida is promoting vote at 16!

And some in Florida are taking her seriously!

#86 Lemonade

Are you ECB??

#135 - Caton
That was the purpose of my original post. I come to LGF because I appreciate the stories that Charles links to and I agree with a lot of people and their opinions on the Middle East. What I do not agree with, and what I resent, is Republicans like WMI who assume that just because you agree with them on one issue then you MUST agree with them on everything and join their cozy little right-wing club. If you don't, then you are assumed to be "a mindless dolt / a raving lunatic / a paint-chip eating moron (my favorite)" and doubtless more abuse to come. What was I thinking - it's the start of the week here in Arabia, but you guys are just heading into the weekend.

#125 Paul of Arabia

1) You can support Israel and still think George Bush is a dangerous moron.

5) You can admire the Dixie Chicks for what they said and still support the war.

Until you posted this, I generally agreed with your posts. Now, I rate you barely above creedence. I'm too lazy to search above for the poster with the three L's. But I will add my slant to theirs, L-cubed.

#135,

Canton, about 3 years ago Ayn Rand convinced me that life began when it was born and not when it was conceived. While I still struggle with this, I am actually pro-abortion rights, but I don't advertise the fact unless I'm trolling for dates. Anyway, the juicy parallel between the right to kill because it was in your belly and the right to kill because it is in your land was just too much for my beleaguered mind to ignore.

#136,

It was meant to be insulting, you raving lunatic.

"Only by true Bush-worship can all evil be defeated."
I never said that. You can not rationally like what a guy does then attack him for being a dolt and a bumbling idiot. It's like saying, the moron Einstein should be thrown overboard, but god I love the nuke.

In your original post, you claimed to admire the Bitches for what they said, which was against the war, that incidentally, you also claim to support. The logical fallacy of this has nothing to do with undermining war effort, nor did I ever claim it does. Take your Strawmen and Red Herring and have yourself a good ol fish-fry, because, believe me pal, debating ain’t for you.

If you can't make fun of Texas anymore, that means the liberals have taken over and all is probably lost, which is incidentally, a pretty shitty situation.

Furthermore, the Dixie-Clits (in leu of their recent photo op) can say whatever the hell they damn well please about the president, no one is trying to suppress free speech except for maybe McCain with campaign finance reform, but that’s besides the point.

Admit you’re wrong, read about 10,000 books then return when you can say something coherent. As for the fatwa, it finally flushed, which means I have closure so please don't harass us all with another pathetic attempt to debunk my superior and utterly malicious retorts.

Oh, concerning the flusing of the fawtwas, I stole this from another LGF post that I saw a week or two back. I didn't mean to steal your work, but it sounded so good. If you wan't to take credit for it, please go ahead.

Wow.....a complete lack of coherency in a rant. *sips chai*. Think I'll ignore it and go back to bed.

#78

Did you consider that Bill Clinton was Under Oath testifying before congress? Doesn't that seem a little more serious than lying before a run of the mill local court? Perhaps he should have checked with his lawyer beforehand to see if there were any exceptions for lies about who he was doing in the oval office. The left would have the world believe that those Eeevil RepublicansTM were persecuting him for being a perv. I personally don't care if he was blowing Algore in the Oval Orifice. (As disrespectful as that might be to an historic room, it was 'his' office at the time.) I was merely upset with him for being a gutless weasel. Oh, and last time I checked, Perjury is a Felony!

#85 & #91 Right On!! Bravo! You get it!!

If the Chix were in a 'Marketplace of Ideas' then all they have for sale is "how to look like an asshat in one easy lesson." Personally I'm rather absolutist about my right to freedom of speech. I consider flag-burning to be free speech. I also think it is a handy way of identifying flaming assholes - kind of like a big neon arrow pointing down at them blinking alternately 'Moron' and 'Loser'.

#141 WarMongeringInfidel

about 3 years ago Ayn Rand convinced me that life began when it was born and not when it was conceived.

I suggest you look into the definition under French (yeah, I know...) law. Life begins when brain activity begins, and that's sometime at the end of the second quarter -- don't remember exactly. I like this definition because it pissed off both the pro- and anti-abortion fanatics, which almost guarantees it's not far from the truth.

The funny thing is, everybody agrees life ends when brain activity ends. But using the same criteria to define the start of life was not readily accepted.

Please note that saying life starts with brain activity is simply a useful and handy definition. It does not mean I support nor oppose abortion rights before that. But I do oppose abortion after that.

#141 - WarMongeringInfidel

As for the fatwa, it finally flushed, which means I have closure so please don't harass us all with another pathetic attempt to debunk my superior and utterly malicious retorts.

I don't need to - you do the job quite adequately yourself.

#144 Darth Sidious

Did you consider that Bill Clinton was Under Oath testifying before congress?

The whole thing was spinned out of control by both camps. Today, it's not an issue any more. Let's get over this, please. Please don't say anything about Florida 2000 either -- it's over.

#146, Paul, the Bedouin Warrior Prince of Arabia,

What’s it like living in that deluded little head of yours?
Are there marshmallow men and candy slides where truth is what you want it to be? I ask, because I can never seem to get away from lying, infantile barbarians of intellectualism like yourself, you god damn, paint chip eating, moron. (a scientific term, really, I looked it up)

You first made 4 contradictory statements, which I corrected. Then you came back accusing me of saying several things that I did not. When I corrected you and suggested that since you don’t seem able to argue based upon fact and what I actually said, I suggested that for your own good, you shut the hell up, you claim that I do a good job of refuting my own arguments. So if I claim, zippers are green chi sipping pot smoking elephants who dance with Lilly livers around the living room during a pagan ritual of the Sundance kid film festival, would that make more sense to you?

Canton, that’s not bad, but it’s French, so naturally I am skeptical. On subjects that are not clear cut like abortion and when life begins, I like to “cop out” and suggest that we all do what we want to do and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing and maybe the whole freaking issue will go away and we can get on with life. So while I find abortion distasteful, I won’t go around imposing my morality on others. Fair enough?

It's way past my bedtime so I'm on the yeast infection coast so its off to Paul of Arabia land (lala land get it) to get my z's, so don't bitch that I'm ignoring you.

Does anyone know if Charles has a policy on being nice to one another. I'm a knuckle dragging babarian who likes to insult people I disagree with as I refute their arguments, which usually degrades the oposition to the point of submission faster then purely intelectual debate, but after being banned for a month a while back, I'm hesitant to do anything that threatens my daily LGF fix.

#148 WarMongeringInfidel

that’s not bad, but it’s French, so naturally I am skeptical.

Can't really blame you on that one... :-)

while I find abortion distasteful, I won’t go around imposing my morality on others. Fair enough?

Yep. A very sane point of view, too.

Canton, how do you imbed text like that?

Oh btw, have you looked into getting Norton Internet Security. In may keep the secret police out of your computer when conjoined with the latest OS and a fully patched macheine

#151 - WarMongeringInfidel

how do you imbed text like that?

Use the Quote button above the comments box, insert the text you want to indent then hit enter.

By the way, I have taken your advice and started reading the first of the 10,000 books:
This is a good one
So is this one
This one was a good read
This one is a MUST and ...
this one should be on all school reading lists.

Who knew reading could be so informative?

#151 WarMongeringInfidel

Canton, how do you imbed text like that?

I use the blockquote tag.

<blockquote>quoted text </blockquote>

becomes

quoted text

Oh btw, have you looked into getting Norton Internet Security. In may keep the secret police out of your computer when conjoined with the latest OS and a fully patched macheine

I'm running on a NAT network, with a firewall based on a Debian distribution. I'm fairly confident nobody can access my machines :-)

149 WarMongeringInfidel

I certainly wont attempt to answer your questions....

but I will say the tone and language of some of your posts, like 127, is ugly.

many of us dont want to know your 'rutting' standards.

.......and regarding,

I'm a knuckle dragging babarian who likes to insult people I disagree with as I refute their arguments, which usually degrades the oposition to the point of submission faster then purely intelectual debate

your style of argument, also degrades the thread.

Dont worry about 'purely intellectual debate', I dont think you are capable.

OT - The Seething continues
Here is a letter from today's Gulf News written by a Mr. V.S. Induchoodan of Dubai

Over the last few days I have been seething with so much anger about the ongoing Gulf War that I had to write about it...

In the same letters page we have the following horrific letter:

Are any laws either to protect cats, or punish humans who are cruel to animals? I am appalled to learn that my neighbour had a cat walk into his house and steal some food (the neighbour was holding a barbecue and all house doors were open), the neighbour and his friend trapped the cat in his house and beat it with a metal shovel and killed it.

I think a society that has no law to prevent you from killing an innocent kitty with a metal shovel is a society in deep, deep trouble. Still, WarMongeringInfidel above would probably bite the heads off kittens if he thought they were liberals.

erm.. coupla things.

Jeez, marysc... are you a cartoon?

um, talking shit about the US... well, ok, probably everyone's done it. it isn't so shocking anymore, is it? Really... What size balls does it take to use speech that's protected? I mean, what boundary, exactly, is that pushing? What kind of thrill does one get out of it? I know there's a certain smug satisfaction in it, a certain, "I'm smart enough to (fall for) know about all the conspiracy theories, and you're an idiot because you (don't give a shit) have no idea of what's REALLY going on." But even that's lame, because after a while, you think about the conspiracies, and the language used to disseminate them, and its all EXCLAMATORY! and hackneyed and emotions. Its like reading a demented version of Ed Anger.. as if Ed isn't already demented enough on his own..

but these people talk like soup, they act like cartoons and everything is DRAMA! Dramaqueens... nothing more. Completely unable to function in the world unless they are in the center of the chaos, hollering. It's like they think life is some kind of TV show and they're the stars, throwing off pithy one-liners for a laugh track or something.

And... I'm really, really, really, really (x a gazillion) tired of seeing Nazi tossed around like it has been. It's a word as powerful as the other N-word, and you surely never hear the left using it. *smirk*

in short, what a load of shit.

C'mon, Charles, fess up. You found this at Puce's website, right?

Maybe she was SHOUTING.

Not.

WMI: first, I didn't unblock you. I don't have a "policy about being nice," but I agree with ploome that your comments tonight have been extremely unpleasant and ugly. We have all kinds of people visiting LGF, and your disgusting comments about "dumb blond b*itches" are degrading and nasty.

Paul of Arabia has contributed a lot of value to the discussions at LGF. If you want to disagree with what he said, fine. But your tone is way over the top, and personally insulting, and I don't like it.

There are plenty of places you can go on the Internet to be a rude, knuckle-dragging barbarian, and everyone else will join you. But if you continue doing it here, you're going to get banned. At both of your accounts.

P.S. I don't appreciate having to waste my time being a hall monitor.

Freedom to say what you want, as long as it's what the left wants. This womans first move is to bring in the Fed's to block and punish freedom of choice for privately owned radio stations. Just too funny.

#72 Julesk : I hate it when people use "Nazi" inappropriately.

She can afford to do so without knowing that she made herself ridiculous in the eyes of anyone who has a clue about history. It indicates that she lives in a lucky situation which doesn't require her to deal with any Nazi threat. The inappropriate Nazi labeling wouldn't be possible if she had to see the Nazis out there. You really wouldn't consider these folks pro-Bush, would you?

Often Robert Heinlein's idea that one must be able to solve a quadratic equation before one is allowed to vote seems like a good idea. Anyone want to set the odds of Mary having that skill?

How about column addition with carrying?

Yas'm Massa, uh, Missy, I go out and buy de latest Disxie Chunks cd.

You fucking fascist.

Here is her profile on AOL. It sounds to me like her understanding of the first amendment and the English language is nonexistent. I think from the sound of things she may not know much about family law either, lunatics are not supposed to raise kids, unless she means they will get what they have coming to them. Either way, it has got to make you wonder. Take care, love your site.

Name: Mary
Location: wa
Personal Quote: i will get my children!

God save her children.

God save us from her children...

I don't know which is more tiresome: seeing the Dixie Whores being used as a barometer of free speech; or wondering if some guys feeling the sting of hot jizz on the back of their throats or up their cloaca is really a liberty that merits constitutional protection. Aren't there enough real issues to keep the world occupied?

The Dicksies bring to mind the English kamikazi pilot, Gerald Ratner (a once successful peddler of downmarket jewellery to the not overly bright young girls of England).

"But Mr Ratner effectively killed the company in 1991 with a speech to the Institute of Directors, when he joked that one of his firm's products was "total crap", and boasted that some of its ear rings were "cheaper than a prawn sandwich".

The speech, instantly seized upon by the media, wiped an estimated £500m from the value of the company.

Mr Ratner left the firm the following year, and his name was expunged from the company in 1994."

[Link: news.bbc.co.uk...]

Treat the punter like a moron and the punter will take his business elsewhere. Even if the punter is a moron.

But I did like the prawn (shrimp) sandwich line.

Does anyone but me find it funny that the LLL hates the rest of america appropriating one of their favorite tactics? Hell, I don't know how many times one of my liberal friends has told me that I should boycot product Z for X reason. Hell, sometimes its even a good one. Yet, now that someone who made noises pleasing to the left and has suffered the loss of many of their fans, there be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth that free speech is being violated.

Conveniently ignored by the left in their crusade to protect the right to free speech is the leftist tactic of crashing a speech by standing up, unfurling the banners, and making so much noise chanting that you can't hear the speaker being protested...

"Help! Help! I'm being oppressed"

Freedom of speech does not entitle you to freedom of consequences.

In the marketplace of ideas if your idea is not popular there will be repurcussions from those whom disagree that is the risk you take.

The winers on the loony left always complain that they are marginalized from the majority for their speech.

What they fail to grasp is that their speech is a minority view point and therefore is already marginalized.

In a represenative Democracy, as in the Republic of the United States of America, the majority view rises to the top since it represents the larger portion of agreement amongst the populace.

In a room of ten the number of views that are similar and form the largest numbered group gets to decide.

You can state your view but if the majority decision makers do not like it they too have the right to express their dislike of your views in any number of various legal forms.

That is known as consequences and freedom of speech is not free from that.

As most adults realize; Freedom is not free.

Poor Mary chairs the English laguange department at Evergreen U. You get what you pay for.

She should excercise more caution though when using a tin foil hat. Recent developments have required the hat to be stapled to the head of the user. Tests have determined that it takes at least 39 staples to reduce the effects of the enhanced mind control rays.

GT Charlie (#116)

See that there goat.
That goat's not theirs.
Run goat run.
If they catch that goat they're going to eat it.
Oops! I think that there's a boy goat.

Priceless!

Chris -

The gist of your argument seems to be that people should "feel comfortable" in dissent. While no one should fear legal reprisals (and, I think, no one should fear physical harm) for expressing themselves, the comfort level one feels is necessarily inversely proportional to the offensiveness of one's opinions.

No one has a right to "feel comfortable". That's Amendment X at work again.

Put it this way, if I were to suggest that it's okay to rape children, my comfort level would (and should) go waaaay down in the presence of irate parents. The suggestion that I should "feel comfortable" in expressing an idea like that is simply ludicrous. The idea that a parent should give me a pass in the name of the "spirit" of free speech is equally ludicrous.

If Natalie Mains had expressed an antiwar opinion in a well reasoned statement delivered in a proper forum, my guess is that the Dixie Chicks wouldn't be in too much hot water. That fact that she attempted to publicly embarass the president personally in a time of war in front of a British audience to get a cheap pop from the crowd is what's gotten her in trouble. The reaction that she's getting is entirely reasonable, and a direct and predictable result of her actions. There is no "spirit" of free speech that should shield her from this reaction.

Make sense?

Ploome (#154),

Couldn’t agree more. And why do I get the feeling that his “trophy” case is as empty as his style of argument is lacking in grace. You get fleas from the kind of bitches he’s talking about, not herpes.

Why am I not surprised that she is from Seattle? Why do we seem to get more than our fair share of idiots out here?? It might be helpful if she actually READ the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

I saw some discussion about the Dixie Chicks on Fox yesterday. One of the commentators pointed out that the Chicks seem to have gone out of their way to alienate their core audience. How well is a vegetarian, pro-PETA, anti-war performer going to go over with an audience that likely has relatives fighting? Entertainers used to understand who paid their bills. I guess we now just owe it to them.

Did anyone else notice that their cover picture used the same technique as many other anti-war groups have used lately? Isn't this a cute way to show which side they are really on?

Dis Mary chick be over-indulgin' in da ganja, mon!!

email sent to Mary:

I haven't seen so many spelling and punctuation errors since 4th grade. You will find that people take you more seriously if you learn how to write correctly and coherently. Your beliefs are your own, but standard English spelling and grammar are not subject to the vagaries of your opinion.

You are most likely a victim of the public schools corrupted beyond saving by the NEA and other teachers' union. Start educating yourself and you may yet amount to something.

WMI said:

It's way past my bedtime so I'm on the yeast infection coast

Did that make anyone else just a little queasy?

Jebus, no wonder he got banned.

You can support Israel and still think George Bush is a dangerous moron.

GWB’s administration is very supportive of Israel as much as or more so than previous Dem admins. So I don’t get your personal beef with him. BTW, you may also want to extend the same respect to GWB that you expect from WMI, or supply evidence that he is in fact a “moron.” He’s well educated and appears to have a very competent admin.

You can fight radical Islam and still think Rush Limbaugh is a blowhard idiot who should be gagged and thrown in the Mississippi.

Limbaugh is one of the few and maybe the biggest public voices that actually call radical Islam what it is and rail against it. I think you’d have a hard time finding a prominent lefty that confronts radical Islam as forthrightly. Usually the left’s attitude is to blame Israel and the good ol’ US of A.

You can despise apologists for Palestinian terrorism while supporting gun control, the right to choose and public funding for the arts.

Here it seems you support Israel’s right to self-defense but deny that right to US citizens, but You’d probably say that it’s OK for govts. But not private citizens, which is just going to be fundamental difference between Cons & libs.

You can admire the Dixie Chicks for what they said and still support the war.

If you’re for or against the war I don’t see what would be admirable about what the Blixie Chix said. It struck me as the vapid, spiteful, and pandering blathering of someone that wasn’t qualified to give an informed opinion on the issue. Also if you “support the war” why would you endorse what the Blixie Chix said? The non-moronic Al Gore is already on record as against the war.

Marysc@aol.com,

So the Dixie Chix are losing airplay on radio stations for their inane comments. So they are losing money because of boycotts on their music and concerts....ohh, boo hoo hoo...poor girls....boo hoo hoo...sniffle

Here's what happens where freedom of speech doesn't exist. Get a grip on reality and count your blessings.

Perhaps she shouldn't use her computer when she's got PMS!

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be an American female!!!

The thing is, this incoherent piece od drivel is only less polished, but fairly similar in content to Madonna quote on Famous Idiot. Freedom for me but not for thee indeed.

*18

Remember, Paladin, American public schools have to take all comers. As a result, the "products" will cross the entire spectrum of educational "success".

An afterthought: I wish I were a product of the public schools my wife attended. Double masters before her 22nd birthday (paleogeology and EDUCATION *STUN*).

She fought the public school from the trenches until retirement. I watched both helplessly and hopelessly as she spent many years dealing with uninvolved parents, legislators, administrators, and school boards with conflicting agendas, and the daunting task of teaching kids ranging from special ed to true genius in the same classroom because of our legal "right" to public education in America.

Before you explode, I believe that private schools are an excellent alternative and should be used whenever possible. Yup. Vouchers, too.

But then, we wouldn't have the arguments about public education (or at least we'd have fewer of them) if the Federal government hadn't overstepped it's authority long ago and gotten involved in public education.

OT. This belongs on the Galloway thread, but it doesn't look very active anymore.

Did we mention John Malkovich as an anti-idiotarian celebrity? He, despises not only Galloway, but also Bobby Fisk. Check this out:

[Link: news.bbc.co.uk...]

#184 Steve

More power to your wonderful wife! My Dad always said the Public School System went to Hell with Roosevelt. Real problem is we have to get the socialists who seems to be able to set the agenda for our children out. Out of the (so-called) Department of Education, out of school boards, out of teacher unions and out of the classroom.

Couldn't agree with you more. I was merely musing about one of the "products." At least she believes in God.

#185 nikki: I especially liked Galloway's comment: Mr Galloway asked: "Who can get inside the head of John Malkovich, a very strange man offering a dangerous liaison - indeed, offering a killing field?" Oh wow! Galloway used the names of Malkovich's movies against him! How insightful!
/sarcasm

Doesn't sound like a native speaker of English. I had an Iranian friend once, who never made much sense, but he usually sounded kinda like that.

#71 Chris: A DJ at a radio station, deciding what to play, is in the same position as an editor at the local newspaper, deciding what to publish and what not to publish. Same protections apply to both. Too bad.

And you obviously didn't get my point. Freedom of speech is good, but so is freedom of the the pocketbook. Or are you saying that: "It's okay to SAY what you want, but to IMPLEMENT what you want, by what you spend and won't spend, will not be permitted in a country I'D run."

Even if your career depended on my pocketbook, that doesn't give you thr right to reach into it or tell me what to spend. Otherwise, I'll cut your damn hand off...

Seattle, eh... Why am I sure there's an Evergreen State / Rachel Corrie connection here somewhere?

hehheh...I like the "WITH . OUT" HAHAHA....dammit...compound that word--don't pound a period in the middle!

*sigh*

Charles: but I agree with ploome that your comments tonight have been extremely unpleasant and ugly.

Fair enough, I'll save it for the emails I send Rendell.

Charles: Paul of Arabia has contributed a lot of value to the discussions at LGF.

Fair enough, you know but when reaganite says:

Until you posted this, I generally agreed with your posts. Now, I rate you barely above creedence. I'm too lazy to search above for the poster with the three L's. But I will add my slant to theirs, L-cubed.

and The Saud Prince replies,

By the way, I have taken your advice and started reading the first of the 10,000 books:
This is a good one
So is this one
This one was a good read
This one is a MUST and ...
this one should be on all school reading lists.

Who knew reading could be so informative?

which leads to amazon's worst seller list of "Rush is a big fat idiot", "Compassionite Conservatism for Dummies", "Bushisms", and "Blinded by the right", (no, stupid white men wasn't posted) I reserve my right to have some doubts, but alas, I will drink a few less lime twisted seagrems sevens before posting in the future as well as try to post nicer things in the future.

Speaking of Evergreen State, iwonder if an I-20, ESL scam is going on there. Anyone have an insight?

I'd like to take a moment to thank Charles Johnson for providing this site, at his own expense, the opportunity and platform for me to exercise my freedom of speach.

He doesn't have to do so, he is under no obligation to do so, he gets more grief for doing so than thanks, and yet he continues to do so.

As for the issue of radio stations renting the airwaves, I was under the impression that spectrum license was free (to a select few) with limited application and processing fees, tied to bribes to local officials for getting your new high-power Doppler radar approved for a regio-

Um... never mind. Nothing to see here. Play the next record, please.

Kirk wrote:

Poor Mary chairs the English laguange department at Evergreen U.

You're kidding, right? I wouldn't put it past Rachel Corrie U. I can see Mary giving a student who hands in a well-written, thoughtful paper with perfect spelling and grammar a D. "YOURE PAPAR SHOWS THAT YOU R A REAKTIONARY WRIGHT-WING NAZI HOO SEEKS TO PRE-SERVE WHITE MAIL HEGEMOGY BYE SLAVISHLY FOLLOWING SEXIST RULES OF GRAMMER AND SPELING. AND, U DO NOT USE YOURE CAPS LOCK KEY ENUF."

re: 32 Glen Wishard
Brilliant post. I just love your diagnosis:

... that Idiotarianism is a psychological disorder characterized by sociopathic inversions of reality, and a compulsion to not only get everything wrong, but to get everything exactly backwards.

Perhaps we could refer to this phenomenon as "moral dyslexia"?

Laurence: I really appreciate the words of support. Thank you.

re: 54 Model4

... Cosell's voice in Shatner's cadance..."

Sh*t, that's too funny. I can't get that image out of my head now.

ANYONE WHO RUNS A RADIO STATION AND RENTS THE AIRWAVE AND TREATEN TO BOYCOTTS THESE AMERICAN FOR SPEAKING OUT ON THERE BELIEVES, DESERVES TO HAVE THERE FCC LICENSE PULLED. MAYBE DIXIE CHICKS YOU SHOULD GO AFTER THE RADIO STATION ABUSING THE FIRST AMEMDMENT.

Spoken like a true immigrant from the middle east.

Glen Wishard hit the nail on the head with -

Pretty severe. But how does the rest of Mrs. Grundy's Remedial English class feel?

Which is why it's so dangerous to let so many vote who have no idea about the system, society and laws of the land they have made their new home. It's easy to get people like this to go along with a whole host of philosophies geared toward undermining the Constitution-

Sort of reminds me of that scene in "Gone with the wind" where the nothern carpet baggers are talking to a group of recently freed slaves:

"That's right, were gonna give you a mule and forty acres, and all you gotta do is vote for your friend, right here- you do want to vote for your friend, now don't you?"

ANd no, I'm not advocating disenfranchinsing people, I'm arguing for educating them in the Laws of this country.

You can't explain to ignorant and poorly educated individuals like this that the First Amendment is not armor against criticism or the consequences of your own stupidity.

It's obvious from this person's linguistic skills, glaring misunderstanding of The Bill of Rights and what, exactly, the First Amendment entails, that he/she is either a)struggling with English as a second language or b)a university professor trying out it's "Help, Help!, I'm being oppressed" arguments on the "neo-Nazis" of the evil VRWC.

I'm choosing "b".

According to her AOL profile , marysc is indeed from WA.
Her personal quote is:

"i will get my children!"

"And their little dog, too! Bwuhahahahahhahahahah!"

re: 119 Addison

There is no moral comparison between the Chicks and Maurice...

Why do you say that? There are always comparisons to be made between two things. In this case, actually, there are lots of them. You addressed one of them: morally, it is wrong to accept a boycott of Maurice for expressing his beliefs while decrying a boycott of the Blixie Chix for the same thing. In addition, morally, it is okay to agree with one belief and not the other, and to express your opinion of the comparative acceptibility of the two. Morally, prejudice is wrong, so the Chix start out ahead of Maurice if they actually, honestly dislike President Bush. OTOH, morally, Maurice is right and the Chix are wrong in the sense that he has actually accepted responsibility for exercising his freedom of expression (he's right, we can go somewhere else), while the Blixie Chix and their supporters have not. And morally, one has to admire Maurice for his courage, if nothing else - he's in South Carolina, not Maine. By way of comparision, consider that the Chix were in France, not a USO show at Ft Hood.

Sounds like something Oliver Willis or another lefty would write.

Gymnast-

I dislike the whole idea of "english as a second language" - the terminology implies that you will continue to use your native, non-english language. I know, much ado about nothing, however, the thing about the left is their willingness to co-opt and abuse terminology in order to disarm the average person and deflect critisism.

Take the new PC term for an illegal alien- "undocumented laborer" which is a deliberate attempt to change the focus of a) the fact that they're here illegally and b) that over 25% of them are receiving government aid and c) all of them are receiving government paid medical care. It tries to give the impression that "they're just here to work..."

In Minnesota, children of immigrants spend as long as 6 years in ESL classes- which is rediculous, I only got 1 year in college to master French.

Looks like someone went to public school...

#53 MODEL4

Lots of us use the ROTFLMAO when things are mderatley amusing. However, this piece really had me ROTFLMAO.

I can just see the lefty wacos doing these repugnant-to-them things you say.

if your a liberal you can say ANYTHING you want and you better not question it or second guess it.

if your not then you can't say anything without getting the liberal wrath.

Liberals are allowed to do or say whatever they want.

What happened to Dixie chicks is very similar to what happened to Easy-E of NWA in the early 90’s. After he came out as a Republican and showed support for one of the cops involved in the Rodney King incident he was was boycotted by the Hip-Hop stations and his musical career after NWA never took off.

While Dr Dre and Ice Cube moved on to bigger things Easy-E never made it as a musician anymore, he did well as a producer but not as a performing act. MC Ren is another story

There was a young maiden called Mary
Whose ranting was realy contrary
She used only caps
To muddle the facts
And her grammar was truly quite scary

In the Nazi venacular Mary you can kiss my -ss

Late to the party, as usual. Mary's rant is a good argument for privatizing the airwaves, that is long over do. If she is so upset, why doesn't she lobby NPR to play the Ditzy Chicks? The lefties could go to an all Ditzy Chicks format. It would be an improvement over "no things considered."

#144

I probably know more about the Clinton impeachment than most. The difference was that I could look past the removal of Clinton from office. I didn't want Gore to become President because Bill Clinton lied about a blowjob. And no, it doesn't rise to the level of "high crimes and misdemeanors. A traffic ticket is a "misdemeanor" according to the law, but can you imagine impeaching a president for driving too fast?

I think boycotts are wonderful things. The spontaneous, private boycott of French products has certainly gotten the attention of the white flag wavers. The rejection of the views of the likes of Sarandon, Robbins and the Dixie Chicks has also gotten their attention. The constriction of the flow of money concentrates the mind wonderfully.

I agree with those here who have said that while people are free to say whatever they like on any subject, those who disagree with them are also free to vote with their pocketbooks. Speech, like any other choice in life, has consequences.

Furthermore, when celebrities, in the knowledge that their status guarantees that their views will be disseminated more broadly than those of non-celebrities, broadcast their views to the world, then they cannot be heard to complain when those subjected to the celebrities' views make their displeasure known. They can't exploit their celebrity status to get their views into the public forum and then turn around and complain when their statements lead to negative consequences for their celebrity and/or income.

Also, why should a boycott of the Dixie Chicks be interpreted as intimidation, unless the DC's consider it their God-given right to rake in the money and are ready to abandon their alleged principles the moment they affect their income.

RE: "I hate it when people use 'Nazi' inappropriately."

People who often use the term "nazi" against righties rarely disclose that the reich was one of the most successful socialist athiestic christian-hating super state in history.

RE:"or wondering if some guys feeling the sting of hot jizz on the back of their throats or up their cloaca is really a liberty that merits constitutional protection."

When it comes to personal freedom, the world should be your culminating hole.

Amy (#213)

I think boycotts are wonderful things

Please forgive me, I'm just way too tired to respond in full to that statement. But...boycotts are not always wonderful. The boycotts (and sanctions) imposed on South Africa had devastating consequences on the Black population. I understand that they ultimately produced the necessary results, and I'm aware that the intention behind those boycotts was for good, but the reality of it is that the people those boycotts were supposed to help, harmed those people the most. They continue to suffer because of those boycotts. Further, I can go mad when I hear about companies boycotting Israeli-made products. At best, I'm ambivalent about boycotts.

Having said that, I'm altogether pleased that the Dixie Twits have been boycotted. I definitely get a kick out of the boycott of French products too, but I do wonder about who is truly bearing the brunt of those boycotts.