Thank you for the kind words. Perhaps I shouldn’t have taken Hard Right’s comments to heart. After all he is clearly one of those types who has extreme tunnel vision and probably has a difficult time admitting when he is wrong….or even having the capacity to see another person’s point of view. He’s actually quite comical. He sounds like Rush Limbaugh on Steroids. Anyway perhaps I will refrain from commenting but don’t worry you won’t lose me as a reader.

Thanks again

Ron

To Wordsmith, Mata Harley, Curt, Mike, etc.:

I have always been polite, open minded and treated others with respect when posting. I realize you are not responsible for what others post but people like Hard Right and Craig lower the standards of not only true conservatism but this site as well. It’s a shame too because I enjoy reading this site and interacting with other posters during a debate..having said that it is truly despicable the way Hard Right and Craig spew such hateful and destructive rhetoric at fellow conservatives.

Ron,

I just happened to stumble in here, and haven’t read the subsequent 33 comments before yours, yet.

I think you bring up an issue worth mulling over by the authors.

Should FA (which is a rightwing blog whose purpose isn’t to claim a role of non-partisanship nor wear the pretense mantle of objectivity) slap the hand of those commenters who add little and only engage in ad hominems when it’s directed at conservative readers, while turning a “blind eye” to those commenters from the right, who attack those on the left?

I’d say there should be a little bit of regulating, but not get draconian about it. Only if it gets out of hand. Where the line is drawn, I don’t know.

I don’t think the authors themselves always agree on who’s crossing a line, and who isn’t.

I’ve broken lances with Hard Right and Craig, myself as well. Two readers who I’m politically aligned with, (more or less). Hard Right thinks I should leave the party; Craig has projected Scott’s admission to being a registered Democrat onto me, since Craig sees me too much to the center and not enough to the right. Whatever. They’re entitled to their opinions and to challenging my positions every bit as much as those politically to the left of me disagree with me.

But when it comes to “insults”…..I’m not sure if there can be a distinct line drawn on that one. I just chalk it up to personal posting style and temperament. If someone “insults” me, I tend to shrug it off. It’s my problem to deal with, not theirs, if I feel personally attacked. I think it says more about the person who makes the ad hominem.

I engage in it myself, from time to time, as do the FA authors.

In general, so long as no one is personally threatened to come to harm, I think readers should have the freedom to express themselves in whatever language and tone they wish to set for themselves.

I certainly don’t want to lose you as a reader of FA, Ron, and appreciate your visits here. If this warrants further discussion, you can always contact us by mail, too. Or, let’s just hijack this 2-day old thread and discuss it in the open, too.

Craig, what you see is extreme guilt over having it so good while others do not. From studying the left there are many reasons why they hate America so much. I won’t go into a lot of detail, but will say you should Google Dr. Sanity and read the articles on the left side to better understand the left.

Guy Millière once said about them: “Their real motivation is the hater they have for their own Civilization and what this Civilization has best produced: capitalism, rights and freedom. Knowing themselves incapable of the least fecondity and capable only to envy the other’s fecondity, a destruction spirit animates them”. I’m sorry for the poor translation that I have made of this French author, but I guess you still see his point.

Perhaps some americans want to fight a war without killing and hurting people?????

Do remember that you dropped 2 nuclear weapons on japanese civilians in WW2. that’s how you win a war……by killing lotsa people. Do remember that you killed 2-3 million vietnamese civilians too.

And you want to complain about a few dozen terrorists getting roughed up in Abu Graib???? This is just hypocrisy and playing politics to bring down the Bush admin to gain power for its opponents.

Nobody in the rest of the world gives a DAMN about the little bit of rough treatment in Abu Graib. In fact we are more surprised at the bleating, hypocritical reaction of some americans who pretend to be horrified by Abu Graib, but are fine with killing 2-3 million vietnamese and 100,000s of japanese civilians with nuclear weapons.

If I were Bush, I would consider opening a few more Abu Graibs.

In every war there is crime committed by a very small percentage of those that fight, it’s unfortunate, but to put something out there as if it’s condoned is an insult against the vast majority that serve this country honorably with the threat of great risk to their own lives and loss to their families.

Now you want me to believe you are a Conservative after you post one sided stories accusing our armed forces of widespread torture as a matter of policy, and even post something like this:

And God only knows what really goes on at Guantanamo…with regard to “enhanced interrogation”

Brian Ross and Richard Esposito Report:

“For all the debate over waterboarding, it has been used on only three al Qaeda figures, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials.

As ABC News first reported in September, waterboarding has not been used since 2003 and has been specifically prohibited since Gen. Michael Hayden took over as CIA director…

The most effective use of waterboarding, according to current and former CIA officials, was in breaking Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, known as KSM, who subsequently confessed to a number of ongoing plots against the United States…”

Sure he sounds a lot like the “crotchety old men sitting on their porches” I recall from my youth. I remember many angry platitudes from them pissed off at how people were trying to send the America they loved “to hell in a handbasket”. Knowing English is not Craig’s native tongue, so he like Sigmund from China,” does get some forgiveness for not being particularly loquacious.

I do think Craig’s point in #32 is very valid and does not read as an attack on you at all. Craig questioned the moralities/sensibilities of those who get upset if someone whom has committed crimes, including multiple-murders, is treated in any manner more harsh than some stupid kid that’s in Juvenal Hall for shoplifting candy one too many times. Yet they have little concern for victim rights, or any qualms about the execution of the perfectly viable infants. Abortions committed at the bequest of mothers who could have just as easily prevented the pregnancy and the expense of the procedure when they or their lovers could have spent the damned fifty cents to purchase a condom or even perhaps got some free ones from planned parenthood.

You see, there are good historical arguments for any punishment less than an “eye for an eye” to be considered a travesty of justice and to “turn the other cheek” on people who would not hesitate a moment to kill you or those you love as naive folly. I see libs all the time taunting conservatives with, “What would Jesus do.” Well, that assumes ALL conservatives are Christians, which is certainly not true. However, if one recalls the Biblical legends, Jesus had the power to raise the dead, heal the injuries, and suffering of others. And in the non-canonized text describing his adolescence, he also had the power to take away life, punish and make to suffer evil-doers with a word or gesture.

“What would Jesus have done?” Possibly resurrected the fallen, perhaps damned those who committed such acts to suffer. Yet, there is not a one of us who could have gone behind those terrorists in Mumbai and changed the fates of those who were so callously slaughtered.

My regards to Sigmund for his countrywomen who met such a fate. My prayers of comfort to those who mourn the loss of others who have dies or suffered at the hands of such vicious subhumans and for the damnation of those who inflicted such harm in their selfish hopes of becoming martyrs.

I have always been polite, open minded and treated others with respect when posting. I realize you are not responsible for what others post but people like Hard Right and Craig lower the standards of not only true conservatism but this site as well. It’s a shame too because I enjoy reading this site and interacting with other posters during a debate..having said that it is truly despicable the way Hard Right and Craig spew such hateful and destructive rhetoric at fellow conservatives.

Just something for you to consider particularly if you are trying to bring in new readership. Trust when I tell you the more you allow people like Hard Right and Craig to post such garbage..the more you will alienate other intelligent and polite conservatives who don’t subscribe to their sort of gutter behavior.

I really thought this site was better than that.

Ron

You two should actually know what you are talking about before making such wild and INCORRECT statements. First of all I am a conservative…voted for McCain..but please don’t let facts stand in the way of the imaginary arguments you two have with those boogey men liberals living inside your heads. There was a excellent debate going on where each poster was polite and made valid points. You two jump in and the debate turns into a high school cafeteria food fight. How mature. I wasn’t going to respond to your immature drivel but since you made such ridiculous and patently false statements I felt compelled to respond. Do everyone a favor next time and stay out of debates…your input is neither welcome nor wanted.

It’s truly astounding to me how you two are even allowed to post on this sight at all. You give Conservatives a bad name. This is exactly why Conservatives are in trouble politically…because neanderthals such as yourself open your mouths and spew the sort of bile that turns people away from Conservatism. There are in fact varying opinions amongst conservatives with respect to various issues…not every conservative thinks and feels as you two do..Than God for that….it would be truly sad if they did.

Go back to your caves a leave intelligent and polite debate to the grownups.

Ron

You mention the Uigars, well guess why they haven’t been released? NO ONE WILL TAKE THEM. If we send them back to China they may be imprisoned, tortured, or executed. But you make US the bad guys. You are quite transparent. You haven’t fooled anyone.

The torture at Bagram? People were prosecuted and convicted. It’s also sickening the way you take isolated incidents and claim that it’s sytematic and widespread. It isn’t and wasn’t. You are a despicable SOS.