Friday, July 07, 2006

Heh.

This is very funny. Like I believe he's really laughing inside.

Cocksucker.

What sounds like "Prick" and starts out with the same sound as the word, "Prick?"

Tom DeLay. Prick.

Go Home!


President Bush,

Go home to Connecticut. Chicago does not like you.

Your pal,
HRC

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Just How Far?

Just how far can a group of political neophytes go when given a little power? History (at least what I've seen during my tenure, at any rate) says pretty far.

The difference here, of course, is bandwidth. Give them a "management" spot, and it's all over.

All of a sudden, you have totalitarianism. Unbridled power. Shit!

This was the result of my posts at SBC last week before I hurriedly packed and ran off for a long weekend.

Interesting bit of paranoia buried somewhere in the middle: one of the instigators of this nonsense accuses my friend Karie of LiberILView, of "tipping me off" to the discussion. Actually, that is not at all true. The example (my post in the recent John Laesch cumfest over at SBC) referred to a post in that diary.

Once again, these people show how clueless and paranoid they really are. Not all of them, mind you. Just enough to create a need for me to exercise my omniscience and omnipresence.

What they actually forgot was that I was also an admin of SoapBlox-Chicago, which I am happy to kiss off, along with Karie and Alison. All I had to do was curiously search for the word "policing" in the diaries after a disenfranchised recipient or two of the email (posted here, below) sent me a copy.

Footnote on Libel.

Even though it falls on deaf ears and cannot penetrate the skulls of those for which this is intended, here is a bit of information for the folks who have told me that leaking certain details of John Laesch's alleged drinking problem (which I've been told only seems to become apparent when in the vicinity of bare-chested young women) is potentially libelous.

The burden of proof is on the public official (or party nominee, in this case). The public official must prove malice aforethought.

Which. Is. Nearly. Impossible.

And quite impossible in this case. I simply don't want an asshole supplanted with another asshole. People need to know who and what they are voting for.

In case anyone is wondering, there's plenty more where this came from.

"User Standards."

Among the "found items" of late, lookie here what I got while I was out of town:

From: "Carolyn Shannon" (chicagoliberal@gmail.com)
To: "Steve Aldrich" (saldrich@gmail.com), (et al.)

Subject: user standards on SB/C
Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:27:52 -0500

In the past few months there have been a number of false accusations posted on SB/C, and a number of unsubstantiated rumors. Unfortunately for SB/C, these accusations and rumors have been allowed to stand. That needs to change.

- Jennifer Cifuentes falsely said John Laesch was fired from the Gill campaign. She was never sanctioned for this.

- Ms. Cifuentes suggested Laesch was dishonorably discharged from the military. No action was taken on this.

- Mrs.Kanhai-Zamora accused the Laesch campaign of racism without giving any specifics. No action was taken on this.

- HRC has been posting the anonymous, unsubstantiated "beat up a stripper" accusation since April on SB/C, and has been allowed to repeat this without sanction.

- HRC has 'cast aspersions' towards local and State level Dem Party officials and cast them in a negative light, allegingthat these individuals 'failed to fully investigate and discover' the facts and background of Laesch before and after he became a candidate.
(quotes are mine: ~H)

"This should have been taken care of by the party months ago in their vetting process of candidates. Problem is, the tasteless dislike of Ruben (which I feel in my Birkenstocks is race-related), helped carry these ninnies into their frenzy for a nice white boy with blonde hair."

We currently do not have any policy regarding banning users. That has to change.

A pretty large number of people have repeatedly asked SB/C to police itself. Why is this not happening?

You have invited us to be a administrators, and we take that responsibility seriously. Specifically HRC's behavior has been, and is disruptive to Soapblox/Chicago and affects our ability to engage in discussion. This adversely affects our ability to attract people to our site. We know several people, for example, who refuse to link to Soapblox/Chicago because SB/C will not police itself. This is not about disagreement, as has been repeatedly noted by many at SB/C. This is about honesty and smearing people intentionally because you do not agree with them. As for myself, I have indeed posted here less often than I would because there are no standards or policies regarding trolls who pass themselves off as progressives, or people who post untruths and are not removed.

This is not the Wild West anymore. If SB/C is to grow then policies concerning trolling, rumors and falsehoods must be put in place, and now.

Steve and I think HRC should be banned, and we are asking for a formal decision on this.

On SB/C, if you make a criminal or personal accusation you have to be able to prove it *at the time you make the accusation*. If you don't, that should be grounds for account suspension. One of the primary purposes of this blog is to be a source of news, to "influence the media narrative." But an unsubstantiated rumor isn't the source of news, it's political manipulation. An anonymous, unsubstantiated accusation of criminal activity by a national candidate must be taken very seriously – it would not meet even the loosest journalistic standard. And frankly, why in the world would the Democratic party or its candidates want to participate in a blog, or link to it, when such activity regarding an elected candidate is allowed to stand? Why would even a Democratic candidate for County Clerk, for example, want to post here when unsubstantiated rumors and even outright lies are allowed? We know at least one State Senate candidate has stated he refuses to be associated with SB-Chicago because of this lack of policing by the administrators. SB/C is hurting itself by doing nothing. And that's the danger of these type of trolls. They masquerade as people like us, and then they use that trust to manipulate us.

Because of this and previously unpoliced comments, this blog is gaining a reputation as a site where people can make false or unsubstantiated claims and they get play. Is that going to be allowed to stand? Is that the image you want for SB/C?

When bloggers blog on a site, they are supporting that site. If that site allows people to post unsubstantiated attacks on candidates, they may come to attack candidates that these bloggers support. This could force the blogger to support unsubstantiated attacks on their own candidate through their support of the blog. Serious bloggers are going to avoid sites that do this. If a blogger posts a news or information diary on a blog and that blog also supports undocumented and unsubstantiated slander, those slanders discount the veracity of the actual news pieces.

Would the Sunlight Foundation, which has high standards of truth and verification, continue to link to a blog that has no such standards itself? Doing so would negatively affect their credibility.

We don't care what bloggers do on their own sites, but on this site, which is a community site with specific goals, there absolutely must be some standards, and some consequences.

Thanks for your consideration.

Carolyn Shannon (CarolynS)*

Steve Aldrich (SAldrich)**

This is (was) a confidential email to the administrators of SoapBlox Chicago by two publicly elected precinct committeemen who have no stake whatsoever in the SoapBlox Chicago blog, save for that fact that they are also "admins" of the site.

... and the fact that they both are working for the Laesch campaign. Golly! I almost forgot that part.

* (D) St. Charles 9th Precinct.
** (D) Aurora Ward 5, 6th Precinct.

I guess that would be the little detail that keeps getting left out of things.


Shocking. Just shocking revelations by two more little pishers who "admin" a website that is now actively discussing an "elect and impeach" strategy, and alternately, a "Dump Blagojevich" campaign.

What the fuck is next with these "Progressives," anyway?

I love when this happens: Proof, once again that stupidity, gall, and tyranny know no political boundaries.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Oh, My Goodness.

It seems "folks" over at SBC (link is now missing from my blog) are cumming (sic) up with their own definitions of libel again. My, oh, my.

Even mental masturbation has its limits, though.

I should also mention that the other software I use to track usage shows that the Hastert office has hit 50MO several times today (lookie here). Guess they know I know a couple things...

Hi!!

Well, before launching into something that may potentially harm a couple of hard-working members of the Kane County political organization (they're elected Democratic precinct committeemen) let me just say that they stepped into the limelight together, and that they are, in fact, elected officials of their (and my) political party.

And they're very, very conniving individuals who ought to have their names known.

Goodness! Don't know if I can stay up long enough to get it all down. It's all kind of alarming to me, still!

Tonight, tomorrow. Whatever.

Back in Black.

What a wonderful Independence Day vacation.

Just got back, and after checking mail already see that there are at least a couple of asses that need a good kicking.

More later.

Going Nuclear.

Will North Korea actually drive the U.S. back to the U.N.?

Great question. But you have to wonder if the Bushies are serious when they use the argument that the "whole world" spoke out today against N. Korea.

That's actually the purpose of the United Nations, which is why I have no problem with that response.

But knowing this pack of unique assholes is another thing; I have a bigger problem with our reaction to the missile tests -- which we saw coming for at least a week -- and not that of the United Nations.

We should defer this sort of thing to them. And if that's what Rice and Company did today, incompetent as they are, that's OK. But to the Bushies, this is all just another political game. So stay tuned.