Facebook – self appointed arbiter of “free speech” – tells Tea Party no more organizing

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In what is an astonishing development, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media sensation, Facebook, has been slowly and quietly clamping down on the use of the site for political purposes. Kellen Giuda, an architect who started the NY Tea Party, has a column today in The Daily Caller to expose the Facebook hypocrisy, and to announce an alternative social medium to replace the FB void after a series of policy and site changes that are designed to limit the scope of use of Facebook related to political purposes.

What makes an American entrepreneur’s blood run cold is the quote from Facebook’s Adam Conner to the Wall Street Journal last month:

Meanwhile, Facebook is talking with potential Chinese partners about entering the huge China market, where the government has been cracking down on dissidents. That crackdown has come in response to the uprisings shaking authoritarian Middle Eastern regimes, movements that have used U.S.-based social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter as organizing tools.

“Maybe we will block content in some countries, but not others,” Adam Conner, a Facebook lobbyist, told the Journal. “We are occasionally held in uncomfortable positions because now we’re allowing too much, maybe, free speech in countries that haven’t experienced it before,” he said.

“Right now we’re studying and learning about China but have made no decisions about if, or how, we will approach it,” said Debbie Frost, Facebook’s director of international communications.

It’s chilling enough that a social medium that has played such a high profile role in political interaction decides that one country is “experienced” enough to be allowed free speech, and another isn’t. But considering Facebook’s attitude towards the Tea Party and other groups that are not being offered the privileged “upgrade” that allows them to keep their contacts intact, this begs the question of Mr. Conner… just what part of America, and our founding based on free speech, requires nanny censorship by a self appointed arbiter? Is this country not “experienced” enough in the eyes of the Facebook authorities.

Facebook isn’t foolish enough to outright lay on political censorship. As Guida points out, it’s been a series of steps that unmistakenly is aimed at political use of the medium. And he further suggests that the overt ties to liberal political beliefs may play a large part in thwarting Tea Party organization.

The company has changed the way Facebook’s group, newsfeed and event features work, and it has restricted the ability of users to communicate with people (via messages and wall posts) who are outside of their real-life social networks.

What’s more, it’s become clear that Facebook itself is dominated by liberals:

•98% of political donations from Facebook employees went to Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

•Chris Hughes, one of Facebook’s co-founders, headed up Barack Obama’s successful website during the 2008 campaign. In 2009, he was featured on the cover of Fast Company magazine as “The kid who made Obama president: how Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes unleashed Barack’s base — and changed politics and marketing forever.”

•Facebook’s former attorney for privacy issues, Chris Kelly, ran for attorney general of California in 2010 on a far-left platform.

Many Americans and Tea Party organizers are waking up to this liberal culture at Facebook, which was on display at the recent Facebook townhall where Barack Obama and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg fawned over each other.

And speaking of this new a’political philosphy, if Facebook is so all fired dedicated to free speech and staying away from politics, why the heck are they interviewing the POTUS on political issues, and livestreaming it on Facebook anyway?

And what happens to all those Congressional owned Facebook accounts? Aren’t they entirely political in nature? Or is it only “organizing” they seem to oppose?

UPDATE: To hedge off any additional misreadings and misconceptions that have been repeatedly addressed in the vast comments below, yes… I know that FB doesn’t “guarantee” anyone “free speech” as a private company. Nor is political ideology a protected class under federal or state civil rights. I suggest none of this. This post is about Facebook’s hypocrisy – their supposed “pro freedom” beliefs that runs counter to their idea that some are capable of handling “free speech” and others are not in the US. If Facebook wishes to advertise itself as a liberal political organizing platform, that’s fine. But the overt disconnect of saying they are “pro freedom” (but may be giving some “too much free speech”), while picking and choosing who may or may not keep their organizing contacts with the privileged upgrades, is not representative of who they claim to be. Now… returning you to the program, already in progress….END UPDATE

What becomes more ironic about FB’s attempted control and tiptoe away from politics is the very political nature of both the company, and of Conner himself… who is one of Facebook’s lobbyists on staff. It was only last week that Facebook hired on two more lobbyists, both Republicans, to complement their two Democrat lobbyists, for more influence in Washington. Perhaps they see the writing on the wall for 2012, and an era that is likely to usher in even more conservatives to what has been an unhealthy Democrat balance for too many years.

Facebook now has four registered lobbyists. The new Republican hires join Democrats Tim Sparapani and Adam Conner. Facebook has 12 staffers in its Washington office, including administrative support.

“At Facebook, we’re committed to explaining how our service works; the important actions we take to protect the more than 500 million people who use our service; and the value of innovation to our economy,” spokesman Andrew Noyes said in a statement. “This work occurs daily in Washington, at the state level, and with policymakers around the world.”

The company spent $230,000 lobbying in the first quarter, according to a recent filing with the House clerk’s office.

Apparently the company is allowed to be political for their benefit, but they do not wish to offer that same freedom of content use to their subscribers…

 Conner himself has anything but an a’political career.

Prior to Facebook, Adam was the Director of Online Communications for Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, Chairwoman of the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He previously served as the Deputy Director of Online Communications for Forward Together, the presidential exploratory committee for former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. Adam holds a bachelor’s degree in political communication from the George Washington University.

Additionally, it was Egypt’s Wael Ghonim, Google’s ME marketing guru and anonymous Facebook administrator, who is credited with driving the Egyptian “Arab Spring”.

Ghonim thought Facebook could be the ideal revolutionary tool in Egypt’s suffocating police state. “Once you are a fan, whatever we publish gets on your wall,” he wrote. “So the government has NO way to block it later. Unless they block Facebook completely.”

I wonder if Ghonim ever envisioned that it would not be a government that blocks content, but the Facebook execs themselves.

The hypocrisy of such back door censorship flies in the face of the Facebook executives actions themselves during that event, where it was reported they “..took unusual steps to protect the identity of protest leaders during the Egypt uprising.” Apparently, it is their policy to monitor, meddle and control with the content sniffs of politics. Or is this their idea of a self-imposed “fairness doctrine”?

Granted, Giuda’s own Daily Caller column is a blatant advertisement for his attempt at a political “Facebook” alternative, Freedom Torch. But considering how firmly entrenched FB is in today culture, and it’s now famous association with what many consider a political success for organizing both the US Tea Party movement and rebellions overseas, it’s going to have a serious uphill climb in replacing the vast audience Facebook has already captured.

Paraphrasing Dr. Johnny Fever’s infamous line in the old WKRP sitcom, “when you move the mission, you need to remember to tell the drunks”. There’s the potential that a lot of communication with political activists could be lost. It’s difficult to drive traffic for a political organizing cause to another social medium when the originating medium is making it difficult to convey that message to begin with by stripping them with the majority of their contact database.

Or is that Facebook’s intention?

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has anyone in the tea party considered a live event 50 state town hall? event speakers as well as online discussion across all 50 states simultaneously. along with this there should be ongoing online discussion on non live event off days. invite (in fact encourage) non tea party, non conservative libertarian speakers to attend so both sides views can be heard in their own words, and debated on the merits.

thanks, jeff, for pointing out what ought to be the obvious. there is far too much confusion on what constitutes a violation of free speech. frightening.

@Jeff Williams: I hate to “Rain On Your Parade,” but Facebook maybe a Privately Owned Company, but if it’s becomes a “Publically Traded Company, ” Mark Zuckerberg will have to change His Policy toward Conservatives I guess that You haven’t heard about the IPO! Now, they will have to answer about their Policies! Discrimination on the base of Race, Gender, Sex, Age, Discrimination of Political, Religious, Beliefs, etc. is NOW NOT Allowed! Maybe Facebook could get away with “Censoring Political Beliefs” when they were PRIVATELY HELD, but Not When they’re PUBLICALLY TRADED!!!! Mark Zuckerberg just put a Noose around His Own Neck, but didn’t realize it! Damn Shame, Isn’t It???? Remember, Jeff, It’s The Law!!!! And, Mark Zuckerberg will have to Answer To Shareholders!!!! 🙂

Raymond, , yrd SR, that is what we need to learn, the law for those who try to pass it by,
they will be caught by this attitude,
thank you

@ilovebeeswarzone: Thank You, ilovebeeswarzone!

@Jeff Williams: Also, As I pointed out to Linda Snodgrass in an earlier Posting: “If You Don’t Safeguard The Freedom FOR ALL, There Will Be FREEDOM FOR NONE! That’s the trouble that You & Your Friends Have Forgotten Not Only In The “Debate Of Arena Of Free Ideas,””

Deception is a terrible thing wether used by the right or left. I am 100% conservative, but there is no way on God’s green earth I would ever consider registering with Freedom Torch. When I was reading this post the first thing I thought about was how this seems more like smear campaign than actual complaint. And then as I finished reading the article it turns out my hunch was right as Kellen Giuda who wrote the column for The Daily Caller is blatantly advertising for Freedom Torch.

If Freedom Torch was everything it is suppose to be they should be able to get there with out smearing the leader and anyone else they feel like they don’t like. besides the idea of a social networking site that only wants like minded participants doesn’t sound like fun to me at all.

Mike

I believe the article should have read “Facebook has been slowly and quietly clamping down on the use of the site for Conservative political purposes.”

@MataHarley:

Are you two in the habit of jumping into group conversations, cold, without having a clue what has been said or what the subject matter is?

I suspect this is the habit when you have first-timers to FA coming in 100 comments too late. And so I also suspect this will not be the last time you will be repeating yourself. Perhaps you should append a update note at the end of the post in the (hopefully) likely event that newcomers to the post and FA will bother to actually read-comprehend and not jump to conclusions about your position on private ownership and free speech rights.

It might save ya some time! 😉

And if anyone still touts the same ol’ meme, then they truly are knuckleheads and reading comprehension deficient.

There’s no such thing as the “left” and the “right” it’s a brainwashing technique used to divide and conquer us! COME TOGETHER

@Ash: So someone who espouses socialism or Marxism is the same as someone who yearns for a smaller, limited federal government and more personal freedoms?

Wow, I never knew that…

@Deb:

Just wondering why nobody had mentioned other sites that have been around for a few years, such as AmericaC2C & PatriotActionNetwork (formerly ResistNet) & I’m SURE there are others I can’t remember. I’ve stayed @ FB, figuring that, while other sites are used by conservatives & give the support, encouragement & info-sharing we need, FB is a place where liberals/progressives may see our posts & we’ll be able to give someone info they’ll NEVER get via regular media that’s been controlled by libs for a LONG time. I guess that’s wishful thinking, because most libs aren’t interested in learning the truth but parrot the same talking points, mostly complete lies, that we could prove to them were lies if they truly want to know. I’ve researched Obama for a yr. before he took office so I KNOW what’s true & false. Everyone else could do the same, IF they wanted to! I’m now considering using Twitter, where I belong but rarely visit, using up so much time at FB! I don’t believe it’s worth it, anymore. I wish I were sure about it….

I suspect their a-political stance will be only be towards conservatives as the article suggests about the live streaming of Pres. Obama’s speech. Of course it will most likely be cloaked in rhetoric that declares it will now be a-political. And didn’t I hear that Robert Gibbs was going to be hired at Facebook? Sounds political to me!

I’ve had to reset my password several times this week and if I include a link to http://www.freedomtorch.com it is deleted. I wonder if it is because of my concept for tax reform???
http://www.NoTaxUntilDeath.com

I disagree that there should be a new conservative social medium to compete with Facebook. That would further balkanize the social discourse. We need some common spaces in America where there is a cross-section of ideas and energies and Facebook is one of those places. Liberty activists are using Facebook very well, and reaching younger Americans and middle class suburban moms especially. Let’s continue to do that respectfully and demand access or use other media to point out hypocrisy as this article does.
One thing that I believe we could do differently is to be less bombastic and more academic in our advocacy. Rants don’t do us any good.

Mataharley I read your fine article and there have been many constructive comments! Just know that one of the big hiring sprees several years ago of the FBI was for several divisions within them to monitor Internet communications. I am more than sure (even though I have no written proof ) that this action was dripped down from the top.
Then name facebook is appropriate for liberals, because they always want to show some other face than the real one! Besides the best part of an liberal to see is his hinder part while he is running away to find some place to hide his sorry butt!
Maybe conservatives should make a communications site called “real book” and only restrict the posting of propaganda by communist and liberals or the mix there of! And even have a propaganda list attached to the site for posting those who try to make false claims…..as liberals do! The problem with sites like facebook is that if you group a hundred liberals together they will convince each other that they are right and that all who oppose them are either stupid or uneducated, however when one Conservative shows up and begins to quote facts and evidences the party just goes to hell! They have the right to say what they wish, but you do not have the right to justly repute it! Maybe that way we can begin to turn the table around!

@Wordsmith: I kinda understand what you are trying to say, however you cannot always cover all of the issues in one writing! I personally think Mataharley does a good job writing. But when you start to get a hundred writings from different viewpoints even if you wrote a book here on such varied issues it can require more work, and it is even sometimes better to post a response as she does. Maybe I misunderstood you, but I personally think it depends on the nature of the issue being covered.
The only comment I have on Mataharley is that she must be hell on motorcycles! because her name as a writer would be understood in Spanish as ” Harley killer” … Mata = Kill …Harleys! Just a little Joke Mataharley!

J V Hoffman, hi, you gave me the thought to mention that MATA HARLEY, HAS NEVER BEEN AFRAID TO OPEN THE CAN OF WORMS AND DISCARD THEM INTO THE PIT OF FIRE,
THANK YOU FOR THAT COMMENT

Facebook has been engaging in brazen censorship for some time now. http://www.facebookcensorship.com

Facebook has been destroying groups and thereby wasting the years of work of many who have put their trust and labor into building on Facebook. If Facebook is not seriously sued before the next election the islamosocialists could win.

Bro. Winter

@J V Hoffman:

Maybe I misunderstood you,

Maybe…. 😉

Since there are a number of visitors to the site (most of them new and fly-by drive-bys) who are repeating the same line of thinking/assumption and/or displaying a deficiency in reading comprehension, a clarification addendum update at the end might help minimize some of the same misconstrue that still keeps popping in here. Very unlikely they are even interested in reading a single comment that’s followed the post. Mata likes to answer her critics whenever possible; but when the number of readers gets to be of this magnitude, it’d be more economical on her time if she invests going that little extra mile to head them off at the pass instead of having to repeat herself in a comment, then have that comment buried by a succession of other comments.

If they still choose to go off that cliff, well then, they truly are boneheads for being reading comprehension deficient.

I’m just trying to help her save some time, since Mata is choosing to respond to them, one by one.

Mata gets props for staying involved in interacting with the readers of her posts when she really shouldn’t feel obliged. When the number of comments gets to be this large, no one can blame the writer for just letting the post stand alone without further comment. I bet months from now, she’ll still get some drifter johnny-come-lately who stumbled and tripped in here through a Google search, repeating the “private enterprise/free speech” meme without a bit of curiosity if his point’s already been covered and addressed.

@Wordsmith: Yes Wordsmith….This is a condition of this era! When a child goes to kindergarten they have attention span of 5 minutes, when they graduate from High School it is reduced to 3 minutes, and by the time they are married for more than three years to the average American woman it is reduced to 2 minutes! When I hear Obamination or Jihadist Hillary it is zero seconds! The next to last last statement is just a joke! But thanks to the Cellular phones and iPods, cables, DVDs and movie channels, not only do people not read anymore but they do not have the ability to comprehend without hearing! Maybe we should go audible!!!!! just a joke!

There is a conservative social site. Maybe we all ought to go there and quit FB.
http://www.freedomtorch.com/

Freedomtorch is a falsely advertised, highly censored “false-christian only” site run by a blatant liar. Don’t waste your time. Even among Facebook wannabies, Freedomtorch is a sewer.

Bro. Steve Winter

Too good…and typical of an arrogant, pompous, elitist-leftist. They make a fortune on the back of free speech, then decide speech shouldn’t be so free, afterall. Democrat Media/Soros Media…it’s all the same…just as their reps in government are…full of themselves.

WisOLdMan, hi,
that is a well put punch, right on the nose,
bye

Bro. Steve Winter,
there is a good choice of places they can choose, by now
the names of a good ten of them was suggested,
bye

@Ivan: If one did place a site on line that offered what FB offers and then some…. who would use it? The heck with Big Money from a few.. how would one get the grass roots to donate to see it stay live and grow?

Tell me and I will put up a site, second to none in less than a day… the only item I would not add, until I saw support from the grass roots would be video_uploads o0r music uploads.. but would allow video’s linked from
youtube.. etc…

a tad of what could be…blogs, media sharing, customizable profiles, video chat, video messenger, video player, events, groups, ads, page builders, Facebook integration,Twitter, interactive profile walls(Like face book including poke), forums and “literally” hundreds of other features including an online integrated store ….and mobile community apps, social sharing, status updates, AJAX, tagging, page builders, geolocation features and whatever tomorrow brings all integrated

@CJ: I would be thrilled to have a conservative alternative to facebook or at least one that reports news accurately. there would need to be the stipulation that free speech will not be censored though. facebook has no business doing what they are doing. As long as we all log on, there is no incentive for them to stop. the best thing we could do would be to boycott Facebook so mark Zuckerwhateverhisnameis would get the message that no matter what obama says, Obama is not using his product and therefore paying his bills. We are, by virtue of our using his product. I wish I were technologically astute enough to create an alternative program. Sorry ya’ll, I am just not. I will however use one if it is created.

some one said: “There’s the potential that a lot of communication with political activists could be lost. It’s difficult to drive traffic for a political organizing cause to another social medium when the originating medium is making it difficult to convey that message to begin with by stripping them with the majority of their contact database.”

You CAN pull all of your contact info / user data out of the FB database..
There are Greasemonkey scripts and other hacks that can pull this information from Facebook through “web scraping” but if you do take that route as Zuckerberg’s army might ban your account forever.
Must download and use Google Chrome Browser to see it happen..

Facebook Friend Exporter: Most simple and Easiest way to import contracts. Facebook Friend Exporter is a neat extension for Google Chrome which allows you to extract your Facebook friends contact details and export them to a CSV file or directly to your Google Gmail Contacts. The extension can fetch contact details only if they are visible for you and not protected for friends. Not only it exports your friends emails, it exports your contacts phone numbers, emails, end IM screen names such as Google Talk, Yahoo, ICQ, Skype, QQ, and MSN.

Once you install the extension, log into Facebook and you can see a new button “Export Friends”, click on the button and the extension will list all the friends.

Here is the link to read —
http://generoustroopers.com/computer-tips/export-facebook-my-space-linkedin-friends-contract-to-gmail-csv-hotmail-yahoo-outlook-or-others/

@Mary Oele: Well — one user can help test the site if I decide to put one up.. and what would you call the site? FaceRight? (grin)

@retire05: They (meaning Facebook) can try to silence us…however, we will prevail. They can insult us, which they have done; called the inertia of the Tea Party non-sustainable; and the more the liberals and liberal media continued with their diatribe, the stronger we became. There is no silencing of what is right. Those that try are either stupid and/or afraid. Me thinks it’s both. We are, undoubtedly a power to be reckoned with.

no one says… STOP using FB.. use until your kicked.. the alt site would be a way to organize and have user info they could not delete. You can bet if they are working that close with the left – a list of “US of A Flag Waving, pro gun terrorists” have been given by FB to the Gestapo in power

@Nan G: I don’t know about that…I just talked to a lady yesterday who lived through the Soviet Union and came to America after the wall came down and she was saying how she didn’t understand why Americans came to Russia to fight for Russian freedom but now refuse to fight for their own freedom. She now wishes, she said, that she had stayed in Russia as her relatives there are more free than Americans are here. She said with the TSA, the Propogand Czar, facebook/general media crackdowns, police brutality, the PLAN chip for cell phones, the new blackboxes in cars that police have remote access to for your speed and location and the Jan 2013 implementation of the National ID/GPS tracking device, secret prisons, loss of due process, etc. that we have a lot less freedom and a lot more tyranny than they EVER had in Soviet Russia. Scary but true…

@Megan: So true Megan and a lot more I am afraid to say!! There is so much more…I cannot stress how important it is we reverse matters, and it is not going to happen with the Republican party so stop dreaming people! Facebook is nothing compared to all that is happening! We need men who are not sold out to the system and will return America to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! the only ones I see that can do the job are Mr. Herman Cain and Lt.Col. Allen West. How ironic! Two real men of stature Black Americans to correct what one Kenyan and the “Ice Queen” did!

Eaglell, I think they all should go in the site you can put together,
no more searching now, this one is THE ONE. MY CHOICE FOR FACEBOOK CONSERVATIVES TO GO SECURE.

Perhaps if hateful conservatives didn’t have a page up praying for the death of our president ,thus turning “free speech” into hate speech,FaceBook won’t be forced to take such drastic measures.And no it does NOT favor liberals by allowing countless hate pages.

@anticsrocks: Well, there was PayPal.

@ann #145: You mean this? What makes you think conservatives in general support this anymore than liberals support this?

Conservatives want a free market. Here it is in action. Facebook is a privately owned entity. They are doing what they want as is protected by the Constitution. Freedom can be a double edged sword. To bad the Conservatives only want a single blade that tilts to the Right.

@ann: Well well Ann sweetheart! Besides the fact that world politics are far more important than the condition of the State to the Kenyan, and his little heart only aches for people in other countries other than the United States, and our State department has spent 10 times more than in any other administration to establish relations with terrorist and weaken our relations with the countries who were our proven allies!
Maybe …..just maybe if you were homeless because your house is ass deep in water or swept away by a tornado and not receiving hardly any aid other than charity organizations (operated by mostly conservatives.) Maybe you would understand that not everybody see’s the illusion you do! Maybe just maybe if you had worked all your life and never drawn anything from the social system, and now that you are old and disabled and no one will hire you and if you did what little you would earn also increases your taxes, and then you do not have enough for the medicines you need….maybe …maybe then you would understand the illusion you hold dear is not so real!
Tell it to the boys who have given their lives and who died because we have a misdirected military!
Tell it to the businessman who have lost the businesses because politicians like this Kenyan has form policies and regulations that promote companies to leave the United States.
Tell it to the Petroleum workers who have lost there jobs, while we become more and more dependent on foreign oil.
Tell it to the families who do not have a place to stay because their homes are flooded, when our government has spent all their money trying to protect Al Gore’s Green House Effect instead of preparing for the waters from a hard winter. (which could not be according the green house professors! )
Tell it to all of the professionals who can not get a job in their field and who are flipping hamburgers to pay back student loans!
Tell it to the people who have worked for years in the industries related with defense that this administration has cut.
Tell it to the retired people who federal judges have ruled to cut their pensions in the interest of big profitable corporations!
Do you realize how many people all of this involves? More than half of the United States is in distress economically and this administration is sending enough money over seas to fix the problem three times over, and you Ann sweetheart think we should all sit quietly and let it happen!
If you think we are rough? we are a bunch of pussy cats! If i could resurrect the fathers of this nation after they did all they did and gave all that they gave and heard someone like you say what you are saying they would no less than tar and feather you!!
Or maybe better yet we just drop you off in one these countries that we are giving away all of our wealth to and spending more energy to befriend American haters than solving the problem at home! Believe me they would tear your sweet little body into pieces and then lay a burning American flag over your dead corpse! No we should not be upset! No reason to be upset, after all as long as you have your cable, cellular phone and botax or what ever the hell else you enjoy why should you care? Your hatred is the worst kind in the world!!!!!! A passive self centered hatred!!! You care more for a dead dog than you do your own countryman! You deserve absolutely nothing of what you have!

SHAWN, YOU HAVEN’T UNDERSTOOD YET THE CONSERVATIVES want what is best for AMERICA,
FROM SEA TO SEA AND NORTH TO SOUTH, WHAT IS BEST IS WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT NOT THE GOVERNMENT WANT FOR THEIR OWN POCKETS. AND THOSE POCKETS OF THE FOREIGN HATERS OF THIS COUNTRY, YOUR COUNTRY, THE AMERICANS’S COUNTRY PROTECTED BY THE MILTARYS OF THIS COUNTRY, THAT IS THE CONSERVATIVES GOAL.
BYE

@Wordsmith: They are the masters of hate! And they love to label anyone who takes action to correct them are haters, fanatics, extremist ect. Authorities on people and issues they have never dealt with! How many of them have ever been in the countries they are trying to protect and this idiot Kenyan is trying to build relations with? Maybe one out of a million, if that! How many of them have ever had to deal with a terrorist face to face? None I am sure of it! How many of them have had to grab your children under your arm and put them in a bunker, and you have to return to get to your military position because terrorist are raining Rockets and Missiles all around you? None none none! How can you value something you never have known the price for? You can not!

JV Hoffman, they should listen very carefully, because if they continiue to support this, will get them in the conditions you had to live in in the other WAR, where they won’t know how to fight it,
and hope that those who died in the warzone would still be alive to help them.

@ilovebeeswarzone: I like your sting Bee! But if the truth be known if the ones who gave there lives could be here they would probably turn their weapons on the liberals first so they wouldn’t have to worry about being shot in the back as we are now!

@Shawn #148: Welcome Shawn!

A word of advice: You really should take the time to actually read the post if you want to weigh in without looking like a knucklehead. If you want to understand the position of the author of this post, you might want to read this part of the post rather than gloss through to pontificate your peeve:

UPDATE: To hedge off any additional misreadings and misconceptions that have been repeatedly addressed in the vast comments below, yes… I know that FB doesn’t “guarantee” anyone “free speech” as a private company. Nor is political ideology a protected class under federal or state civil rights. I suggest none of this. This post is about Facebook’s hypocrisy – their supposed “pro freedom” beliefs that runs counter to their idea that some are capable of handling “free speech” and others are not in the US. If Facebook wishes to advertise itself as a liberal political organizing platform, that’s fine. But the overt disconnect of saying they are “pro freedom” (but may be giving some “too much free speech”), while picking and choosing who may or may not keep their organizing contacts with the privileged upgrades, is not representative of who they claim to be. Now… returning you to the program, already in progress….END UPDATE

Or read through the comments to know where FA conservatives stand on the issue before opening your cyber cakehole.

Sometimes, you go to war with the conservatives you have, not the strawman caricaturized conservatives you wish us to be.

@Ivan:
Trust me my friend it has already started!!!
I am a teacher in a public school and my students learn the hypocrisy`s of both left and right. My students don`t blame others for their own mistakes and they rarely if ever whine….but they will stand up and understand how the liberals have enslaved the people with government handouts.

EARL hard work you must have with the propaganda,
that’s why the right is working so hard also.
thank you for that so important future you are teaching to them
so they can carry the TORCH OF FREEDOM FROM THE TOP POSITIONS

Considering that the far left has been “networking” together for decades to ‘Fundamentally Change America” behind the scenes and with the turning of the MSM into a propaganda ministry. I see no reason why Conservatives or the Tea Party can’t have a social network specifically (or exclusively) for like minded individuals to get together to organize, inform each other and work together to fundamentally restore America and the American way. Incidentally, there is no reason whatsoever why they would have to be “fair and balanced” and invite or put up with far-left sock puppets. Putting them all together, we have the following current networking sites:

Freedomworks.org
Thumbtack.com
FreedomTorch.com
http://rtr.org/socialdna/auth/login

There is also a Network creation group called Ning.com Where a Flopping Aces flopnet network could be created and controlled.

Might I suggest that those who are using the above networks provide an impartial review of them for all FA readers.