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Leslie Blanchard

6 Signs That the American Empire Is Coming to an Early End | World - http://www.alternet.org/world...

October 27 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

Really Gay Room: amygeek

The 20 Best Signs At The National Equality March - http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538...

October 18 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell and Derrick liked this

These are great! - amygeek from Bookmarklet

Mike to Mike's feed, Really Gay Room

New Orlean Saints Linebacker Scott Fujita Speaks Up for Gay Rights - http://www.towleroad.com/2009...

October 8 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Derrick, Rick Powell, Dennis Jernberg and 7 other people liked this

""By and large in this country the issue of gay rights and equality should be past the point of debate. Really, there should be no debate anymore. For me, in my small platform as a professional football player, I understand that my time in the spotlight is probably limited. The more times you have to lend your name to a cause you believe in, you should do that...A year ago or two years ago, I remember reading about an initiative that was proposed in the state of Arkansas. It was some kind of measure that was aimed at preventing adoptions by single parents. Now, the way I read that and the way that I translated that language was that only heterosexual, married couples could adopt children. As an adopted child that really bothered me. I asked myself, what that is really saying is that the concern with one's sexual orientation or one's sexual preference outweighs what's really important, and that's finding safe homes for children, for our children. It's also saying that we'd rather have... more... - Mike from Bookmarklet

About time someone in sports spoke up! - Dennis Jernberg

Really Gay Room: Derrick

Shorts

October 17 - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

this is just wrong! :) - See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

Really Gay Room: Derrick

Two-tone dad

October 17 - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell, See-ming Lee 李思明 SML and Sparky liked this

I'm still trying to figure out that body hair conundrum. - Derrick

2 more comments

HOT! Is this your friend? - See-ming Lee 李思明 SML

It starts turning white at the top and goes down with time? :) - Carmen

No, I don't know him. Just a random pic I found. - Derrick

Richard Mondello

Yglesias Award Nominee - http://www.pheedcontent.com/click...

September 27 from Google Reader - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

Read this. - Richard Mondello

Anthony Citrano to Anthony's feed, Polysexuality

Asexuals leave the closet, find community | SFGate - http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin...

August 25 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

“The movement is a testament to how vital sexual identity is to self-worth. But the public emergence of asexuals also raises questions for sexuality researchers - mysteries involving the fluidity of sexual identity and the link between romance, which many asexuals enjoy, and sexual attraction.” - Anthony Citrano from Bookmarklet

Their Point? I mean WTF - Nothing changes for them, ?????? - ThatDBD

DBD: who's “them?” - Anthony Citrano

William Harryman

Dogs As Smart As 2-Year-Old Kids: Study - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009...

August 8 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Lars Clausen, Mycaptain, Alex Scoble and 4 other people liked this

"The canine IQ test results are in: Even the average dog has the mental abilities of a 2-year-old child. The finding is based on a language development test, revealing average dogs can learn 165 words (similar to a 2-year-old child), including signals and gestures, and dogs in the top 20 percent in intelligence can learn 250 words." - William Harryman from Bookmarklet

4 more comments

My golden retriever could consistently "outsmart" me in hide and seek strategies! Many is the time I would be hiding behind a bush in the yard, to the delight of my neighbors, only to discover that the dog had gone inside to enjoy a nice nap. Doh! - Mark Jepsen

I wonder where our Great Dane fits into the hierarchy - she seems like a 3 yr old to me - William Harryman

I've never seen a 2-year old herd sheep. - Spidra Webster

good point, Spidra :) - William Harryman

I've seen 2y/o's herding people just fine. - mjc

Steven Perez to Steven's feed, US Politics

Jindal Cites Katrina, FEMA as Argument Against "Government-Run Health Care" - http://blip.tv/file/2384270

July 21 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Ladybug Heather, rowlikeagirl, Jessie and 8 other people liked this

*psst* Hey, Bobby. That whole FEMA mess? Yeah, your party's fault. Just saying. - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

56 more comments

*psst* Hey, Sean. "Brownie, you're doin a heckuva job." - Steven Perez

oi - Geoff Schultz

BTW thanks Steven for bringing so much news on this important topic to friendfeed. - Geoff Schultz

Psst: The state Governor has to call FEMA to come, by law. Also, it's not widely known that it is against the law for FEMA to erect housing in a flood plain. Psst: Hey, Ray... your buses are over there, right where they have been parked for a month. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

Why is everybody whispering? - Jason Wehmhoener

Because these little nuggets of fact seem to be secrets. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

Mark: Yeah, I heard that before - the year prior in Florida. Election year, four hurricanes, president's brother - immediate aid. This time? Nope, it's the state's business. Not our call. Nope nope nope. That's why it's called FEMA: FEDERAL Emergency Management Agency. That's their job - to show up when trouble like Katrina hits. - Steven Perez

I am pretty sure the FEMA was a conservative setup. the conservative worldview doesn't believe government should provide anything beyond an army and maybe some police. so I suspect very strongly that Cheney--I mean bush--deliberately appointed someone unqualified so hey could say "SEE, I told you government agencies don't work. let's get rid of FEMA." - tiffany from iPod

And the reason why residents along the Gulf Coast got irate? Because, compared to previous hurricanes, the people who were supposed to show up ... didn't. You can blame the governor, you can blame the mayor, but at the end of the day, when an entire American city ends up under water, you can't say that the president and his horse-show appointee WASN'T somehow to blame. - Steven Perez

You know, what passes for conservatism these days is merely corporate anarchy. May the best borg win, and everybody else can hang. The people that say that mismanagement of FEMA under Michael Brown is proof of the impossibility of government agencies ever doing anything useful are the same people who will call for demolishing the department of education and the park service in the next breath. Jerks. - Jason Wehmhoener

It boils down to federal vs state, SP. If FEMA, a federal agency, can respond without the state requesting, can other federal agencies? Can the president send the Marines to break up a riot? And I agree the time seemed long, but, when was the call made? Do you have a phone record? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

The same thing would not have happened on Clinton's watch. http://thehill.com/josh-ma... - Jason Wehmhoener

I'm pretty sure the national guard has been used for riot control before http://www.time.com/time... Best I recall the state has to request them but the fed has to dispatch them, no? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

There are a great many things that are more appropriately handled at the federal level than at the state level. - Jason Wehmhoener

Mark: this wasn't a run-of-the-mill hurricane. This was one of the three worst case disaster scenarios happening. Whatever local or state preparation for such an emergency was inadequate merely based on the scope involved. And the one guy who could have stepped in - the same guy who broke his vacation in the middle of the night, in his pjs, no less, to sign legislation to keep one brain... more... - Steven Perez

we have learned a great many things, but a shortcut through the labyrinth is not among them. - Joe Silence is not dead

Oh, and the National Guard, the folks with the equipment and training for this kind of thing? They were in Iraq. Along with their equipment. - Steven Perez

Absolutely correct Tina. They won't come unless their presence is specifically requested. As with any federal agency including FEMA. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

SP so it' okay with you to violate federal laws when it's convenient? Got it. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

As I said, Iraq: "BAGHDAD, Sept. 1 -- The 3,700 Louisiana National Guard members in Iraq will begin heading home within about a week as part of normal troop rotations, but there are no mass Guard movements back to the United States planned to aid hurricane relief, U.S. military officials in Baghdad said Thursday. "Everyone we have here, and every piece of equipment we have here, is... more... - Steven Perez

Mark: "With the consent of state governors, members or units of state National Guard may be appointed or deployed as federally recognized armed force members in active or inactive service.[5][6][7] If so recognized, they become part of the National Guard of the United States.[1] The National Guard of the United States units or members may be called up for federal active duty in times of... more... - Steven Perez

States Push to Take Back National Guard http://www.truthout.org/021109J - Jason Wehmhoener

In other words, if the President deems a national emergency, he can activate the Guard. Which he didn't. - Steven Perez

Sean: people kept dying from exposure and dehydration for some time after the 1st. - Steven Perez

You can avoid the issue all you want. What was the time span between the hurricane damage occurring and the state Governor asking for FEMA to step in? What was the time span from the moment FEMA was requested to the moment they were on site? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

Mark, if memory serves it was upwards of 4 days for the first FEMA crews to arrive, longer for crews with actual assistive supplies. Dave got the call to go help and was there with a co-worker the next day. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

*sigh* 1957, Mark: "Faubus' name became internationally known during the Little Rock Crisis of 1957, when he used the National Guard to stop black Americans from attending Little Rock Central High School as part of federally ordered racial desegregation. His strong stand on this issue may seem surprising considering Faubus' 1954 run for governor as a progressive candidate promising to... more... - Steven Perez

Tina is that four days from when Katrina hit or four days from when the Governor asked for federal assistance? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

So, to answer your question: however long it might have been to make a call, Bush could have decided immediately to dispatch whatever forces were necessary to help out with rescue efforts in the name of national security. But he didn't. Until the screaming got too loud and the coverage on TV got too shrill. Only THEN did he move. For a president who prided himself on personal responsibility (you know, so unlike the last guy), Bush should could pass the buck when he needed to. - Steven Perez

Steve that is an excellent example of a state requesting help from a federal agency. What else ya got? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

I love how Mark can hang on to this one little tiny detail like a bulldog in spite of the piles of big massive issues sitting all around it. Here's some debunking: http://www.snopes.com/katrina... - Jason Wehmhoener

Ugh. The vitriol on both sides needs to stop. Seems to me politicians are politicians first, party members second and US citizens dead last. Two sides, same coin, etc etc etc. - Jered Hofker

In any other country, you'd probably be right, Jered. - Steven Perez

While everyone is arguing about Katrina, I will have to say that FEMA appears to have learned from that disaster. I went through Ike last year and a tornado ripped down my street, we were blocked in by trees, down power lines and debris everywhere. FEMA was here waiting until it was safe to set up after the hurricane, the National Guard was here 3 or 4 hours after the hurricane blew... more... - Trish R

Thanks Trish, that's really the only point that matters. - Jason Wehmhoener

Mark: please see here for details http://www.sourcewatch.org/index... My favorite part "Brown also urged local fire and rescue departments outside Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi not to send trucks or emergency workers into disaster areas without an explicit request for help from state or local governments. Brown said it... more... - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Perhaps the DMV would be a better example of what we could look forward to? - Alex Scrivener

Doubtful. That's a state agency. - Steven Perez

Again, Steve... You would support the violation of federal laws? Because that's what you seem to think should have happened. Or are you going to continue to ignore the fact that your arguement advocates illegal activities? - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

So you're saying that Eisenhower was wrong, Mark? - Steven Perez

Right and wrong have no place in a legal discussion, Steve :) - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

whaaa??? - Jason Wehmhoener

And while we're on the subject, let's be perfectly blunt about one thing: hurricanes along the Gulf Coast have been hitting with regularity for longer than this country has been here. It's commonly seen for a long time as the one thing that the federal government does well - disaster relief. And they dropped the ball badly, and because of that, a lot of people died who may not have had... more... - Steven Perez

And from where do laws come, except from a sense of right or wrong, Sean? - Steven Perez

Cuz I'll tell you who didn't think Eisenhower was wrong, Mark: the Supreme Court of the United States. - Steven Perez

Now... we can continue tomorrow: my battery is dying, my salad has arrived and Liz is looking exceptional. Have a wonderful evening! - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF) from fftogo

That's fine. Have fun. But Jindal is still an idiot. - Steven Perez

REALITY: Bumbling by top disaster-management officials fueled a perception of general inaction, one that was compounded by impassioned news anchors. In fact, the response to Hurricane Katrina was by far the largest--and fastest-rescue effort in U.S. history, with nearly 100,000 emergency personnel arriving on the scene within three days of the storm's landfall. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science... - Brian Newman from iPhone

And yet, it took FEMA five days to get water to the Superdome. - Steven Perez

Dozens of National Guard and Coast Guard helicopters flew rescue operations that first day--some just 2 hours after Katrina hit the coast. Hoistless Army helicopters improvised rescues, carefully hovering on rooftops to pick up survivors. On the ground, "guardsmen had to chop their way through, moving trees and recreating roadways," says Jack Harrison of the National Guard. By the end... more... - Brian Newman from iPhone

While the press focused on FEMA's shortcomings, this broad array of local, state and national responders pulled off an extraordinary success--especially given the huge area devastated by the storm. Computer simulations of a Katrina-strength hurricane had estimated a worst-case-scenario death toll of more than 60,000 people in Louisiana. The actual number was 1077 in that state. - Brian Newman from iPhone

14 April 2006: "WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After being roundly criticized in a slew of media, congressional and government reports, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's internal watchdog Friday returned its own verdict on the handling of Hurricane Katrina: The criticism against FEMA is largely deserved. In a hefty 218-page report, the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general... more... - Steven Perez

7 September 2005: "Katrina would have been devastating regardless, but those actions turned FEMA into something akin to New Orleans' famous levees — a structure sure to fail when a big disaster struck. Since Katrina, blame for FEMA's blundering has zeroed in on the agency's director, Michael Brown. His failure should not have been a surprise. He had almost no experience in disaster work... more... - Steven Perez

""Pursuant to a September 7 request by Representative John Conyers, Jr. to review the law and legal accountability relating to Federal action in response to Hurricane Katrina, the Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report [September 13, 2005] about whether the Governor of Louisiana took the necessary and timely steps needed to secure disaster relief from the federal... more... - Steven Perez

"WASHINGTON - In the months before Hurricane Katrina, President George W. Bush sought to cut a key program to help local governments raise their preparedness, and state officials warned of a "total lack of focus" on natural disasters by his homeland-security chief, documents show. The disclosures add to questions over the administration's emergency-response planning, Homeland Security... more... - Steven Perez

To get back to the main point, though, when people who fundamentally don't believe government can do any good run the government, surprise, the government can't, but this is more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than evidence that they were right. - Andrew C

Bobby, why wasn't New Orleans and your state better prepared for a major hurricane? You're responsible for your state's infrastructure. How about the prisoners who were evacuated without their records and thrown into "safer" prisons, without regards for their offenses or personal security? - Bill Sodeman

Really Gay Room: amygeek

Kissing In Salt Lake | Slog | The Stranger - http://slog.thestranger.com/slog...

July 21 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Anna Haro, Amber, Random Time Lord, Cardeen Martinez and 6 other people liked this

We've got some sweet pictures of happy couples kissing in Salt Lake City to protest the Mormon Church's heavy-handed, intolerant, and comically ineffectual ban on same-sex kissing on a quasi-public plaza. - amygeek from Bookmarklet

protest with love...i like it :-) - Cardeen Martinez

David Badash is organizing The Great Nationwide Kiss-In - jbrotherlove

Brad Williamson to Brad's feed, Media News and Analysis, Arts and Culture, US Politics, Social Media

Social Networks Help Republican Racism Go Viral - http://nymag.com/daily...

July 7 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

MVB (Curmudgeon of FF), Hisham هشام, Tsega Dinka and 15 other people liked this

"When is it appropriate to compare President Obama to a monkey, or make a quip about his presumed love of watermelons, for example? The quandary is only heightened by our new age of social media, in which private jokes can easily become public. As they continue to navigate this moral gray area, most Republican Party members are erring on the side of ... erring — making or endorsing racially tinged or outright offensive jokes via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook, and old-fashioned paper, then awkwardly apologizing once they've made an ass of themselves." - Brad Williamson from Bookmarklet

68 more comments

Good pull, Brad. The race to the bottom continues at a frightening pace. - Bill Sodeman

The Republican Party has degenerated into a reincarnation of the Confederacy. One gets the impression that many key Republicans are still stewing over losing the the US Civil War. This is where the Southern strategy has brought the GOP. - Sean McBride

As someone who lives in the south (Dallas), you can imagine how much of this type of talk I have to endure. Ugh. Granted, not ALL Repubs are like this, but there sure are a lot of them. - Brad Williamson

Interesting article. - Kevin J Hatton

Brad -- most Southerners are great people, hospitable and enlightened, but see this Wikipedia entry on the Republican "Southern strategy": "In American politics, the Southern strategy refers to a Republican method of winning Southern states in the latter decades of the 20th century and first decade of the 21st century by exploiting racism among white voters." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... Parts of the South are also hotbeds of religious fundamentalism. - Sean McBride

I know a lot of "great people" who also happen to be bigots in one way or another. Human beings tend to be complex and three dimensional like that. - Eric P

@Sean You're TOTALLY right. Most southerners are great people (I'm one of them ;-) But it's hard to not notice how certain groups around here are very free and open with their thoughts that could potentially offend someone who might not embrace the same beliefs as they do. There have been many times when I have been speaking to someone about something completely unrelated to politics,... more... - Brad Williamson

Brad -- to encounter a truly high level of abrasive verbal aggression, hang out in Manhattan or Cambridge for awhile. :) And one could argue that there is an element of racism in Northern stereotypes of rednecks. The dynamics in this Kulturkampf are quite complex. - Sean McBride

The same could be said for liberal Democrats, or any other group, for that matter. Here's one for you; "Social Networks Help Democrats Sexism Go Viral" - The minute Sarah Palin announced her resignation I went to twitter to ascertain some intelligent analysis, all I got was an overwhelmingly lopsided barrage of simple-minded chatter - all mostly hatred ... very sad. Why aren't any... more... - Nick France

Most of the hostility towards Sarah Palin is not motivated by sexism -- it is a response to Sarah Palin the individual, who in the eyes of many is not qualified to be a candidate for president. - Sean McBride

+1 Sean - Brad Williamson

And most hostility towards Obama is not motivated by racism, it's motivated by liberalism and ones disdain for it, I suppose. I would say I agree with your sexism statement, but you can fill in the blank with whatever you like, it's still mindless criticism ... on both sides I might add. - Nick France

True. It does come from both sides. - Brad Williamson

Nick -- when some of Obama's attackers use racist stereotypes to make their points, they are clearly motivated by racism. It is possible to strongly disagree with Obama's policies without being a racist. But some very ugly racism seems to keep percolating inside the Republican Party, with the not so covert encouragement of some Republican leaders. Some of this racism dates back to the days of slavery, an institution which the South fought to protect. - Sean McBride

Sean, I am in no way condoning the racist remarks, I think it's juvenile and wrongheaded, for sure. But let's not pretend the bigotry is one-sided. You can disagree without being racist or mean spirited, for that matter. But then, no one ever afforded Bush or Palin that courtesy, did they? To say that, "ugly racism seems to keep percolating inside the Republican Party" is a bit of a... more... - Nick France

Racism, sexism, all these "ism's" I feel both the Republican and Democratic parties have lost touch. They have all become elitists, all trying to prove one party is better than the other. Because I believe in both the "Bill of Rights" & the Constitution, that seems to color me an extremist. When in the end all I want is for the Government to keep it's meddling out of my home and my... more... - The Catz Meow

If only the Republican and Democratic parties *were* full of elitists. Unfortunately they're dominated by the mediocre, with one party in particular that positively celebrates their lack of intellectual mettle. - Eric P

Well said, Catz Meow! Hurtful words and the overall mean spirited nature of this country needs to end. We are not a nice nation any more. BTW; better to be the Catz Meow than the Catz Pajamas, I always say. - Nick France

@Nick Why thank you sir. - The Catz Meow

"And most hostility towards Obama is not motivated by racism," but yet so much of it manifests that way, far more than anti-Palin attacks are *sexist*. Why is that? - Andrew C

Virtually none of the criticism of Sarah Palin coming from the Democratic Party is motivated by sexism. Much of the criticism of Barack Obama from the Republican Party is motivated by racism. (For instance, an exceptionally nasty racism keeps oozing around the edges of Rush Limbaugh's attacks on Obama.) Ridicule of Sarah Palin is motivated primarily by the perception that she is dumb as a rock and mentally unstable. - Sean McBride

Andrew -- Most people can't articulate their opposition to an issue or policy, in fact, most don't even know why they oppose a politician or policy, (media brainwashing is my guess) so any slur will do. Honestly, most Americans are ignorant of the issues facing this country and they just follow the media to shape their views. They're mostly apathetic but love to slam someone ... very sad. - Nick France

I personally feel the "race" card is pulled too easily these days... what about the "gay" or "lesbian" card?... what about the "bisexual" card?... what about the "slut" card? There are only so many cards in a deck... it is like playing that old game "52 pick up" Calling each other names or degrading each other will NEVER solve problems. Why can't either side stop with the name calling,... more... - The Catz Meow

I'ld like to point out that it was the Democrats that were pro-slavery during the Civil War and Lincoln was a Republician. Abolition of salvery was the main issue of the early Republician Party. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

Indeed, Robert, and black Americans were solidly Republican up until another incident where the two parties again took different sides on an issue... In fact, *it's in living memory*. - Andrew C

Sean, that is patently false to say that much of the criticism of Barack Obama from the Republican Party is motivated by racism. Most Republicans couldn't care less that Obama is black, they oppose his policies -- stop fueling the fires of racism. You don't become the Governor of a state in this country by being dumb as a box of rocks. Again, the media intentionally created that... more... - Nick France

The media created the perception that Palin is dumb? You don't think incidents like how she thinks the DOJ ("Department of Law, [sic]") will save her from ethics violation allegations contribute to that?? - Andrew C

Nick -- I came to the conclusion that Sarah Palin is dumb as a box of rocks by carefully attending to her confused thoughts and words. I didn't need the MSM media to come to that conclusion. And I question the intelligence of anyone who would defend Sarah Palin. - Sean McBride

However, Nick, a depressingly high number of Republicans - not just voters who identify as GOP, but party workers, elected pols, longtime GOP consultants, are getting busted in the media for passing along patently racist jokes, such as the 15 examples noted in the NY Mag story. - Andrew C

They (the media) did the same thing to Hillary when she was beating Obama in the primaries... it is almost as if as soon as someone disagrees with Obama's policies... they will cry it is racism... Happened to Hillary, and will happen to anyone that opposes his views. - The Catz Meow

And it was a Republician Congress that made the Civil Rights Act possible. 'Republicans are Racist' is just another stereotype pushed for political advantage. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

Robert: in contemporary parlance, blue states of the mid-19th century opposed slavery and red states supported slavery. This seems to be largely a regional/cultural issue: mostly urban vs. rural. Urban cultures tend to be more modern, more multicultural, more tolerant, better educated and more technologically advanced than rural cultures. Rural cultures, always struggling to catch up with history, tend to be trapped in an endless loop of cultural resentment. They are often driven by anger and xenophobia. - Sean McBride

Sean -- you just opened up a can of worms. You must be one of those urban, modern, multicultural, tolerant, Einsteins. Your killing me! And don't go thinking I'm a southerner, I'm a 3rd generation Brooklynite, bro! Funny, you seem like you're dumb as a box of rocks, right about now. How could you say such an elitist thing? - Nick France

Sean: I think you are stretching your reasoning pretty thin to try to cover Democrat actions of the past. Rember also that it was a Democrat Senator that filbusteted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ans Republicians that broke that filibuster. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

Then why is it that Republicans act like "civil rights" is a dirty word these days? - Andrew C

Your perception, Andrew -- not mine. - Nick France

Robert: the policy content underlying the labels "Republican" and Democrat" have shifted significantly over the years. See the Wikipedia entry on the Republican Southern strategy referenced above. During the reign of Karl Rove and his associates, Republicans have been mining the gutter, scraping the bottom of the cultural barrel. Most real conservatives no longer recognize the party as being remotely conservative, enlightened or even sane. - Sean McBride

See also http://crooksandliars.com/2008... : "The inescapable fact is, the Republican Party of the 19th century bears no resemblance to, and has no bearing on, the modern-day Republican Party. The problem isn't that Bartlett's history is wrong; it's that his history is irrelevant and badly misses the point." - Andrew C

Some factors that damaged the Republican brand name: AEI, Ann Coulter, anti-science, attacks on U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, Blackwater, Christian Armageddonists, Christian Zionists, creationism, Dick Cheney, Douglas Feith, Financial Crash of 2008, Fox News, George W. Bush, Halliburton, hate radio, Iraq War, James Inhofe, John Hagee, Lewis Libby, Likud, Michael Savage,... more... - Sean McBride

Sean -- I thought I was talking to an American that cared about our nation, someone that was capable of debating in a rational manner. But now I see you're nothing but a partisan hack ... sorry I wasted my time. There's no talking to you ... you've got all the answers. Andrew, you're the same, apparently -- Robert, don't waste your time. - Nick France

Yet another "conservative" instant meltdown. :) It's a well-established pattern by now. - Sean McBride

This has been *highly* enjoyable to watch. Kudos to Sean for keeping the history squared up - because when we're looking at "R" versus "D" - we must stay in the past quarter-to-half century in order to look at current events with any sense whatsoever. There is NO comparison between the Republican party of old to the travesty that calls itself the GOP today. The principles that split the two parties in the first place are ancient history. - ProsePetals (aka Denise)

I can understand why Democrats don't want anyone to look to the past. - Robert Hafer

What, like how Trent Lott wanted to look back to 1948 - Strom Thurmond's run for the Presidency? Oh wait no, I suppose you mean the past that makes the GOP look good. - Andrew C

I've been called a racist because I oppose Obama's policies and philosophy. I know that I'm not a racist. Therefore, I know that at least a portion of the rhetoric is false. - Robert Hafer

Andrew, of course, Heaven forbid anyone say something nice about an old man when he's retiring. - Robert Hafer

Robert - saying nice things is different from wishing the segregationist party's leader had won the presidency. - Andrew C

Andrew, at 100, I don't think Strom Thurmond counts a likely candidate. - Robert Hafer

"These days", Andrew? I'd venture to guess that perception has been around for a long time. Conservatives, by definition, like to conserve the status quo, because that status quo benefits them more than anyone else. And also? "civil rights" = "teh gayz" now. It's OK to say you hate them because the Bible backs that up, and you can't get away with saying you hate minorities, cause they'll sue. - cecily

Robert -- no reasonable person has claimed that all Republican opposition to Obama is motivated by racism. But some of it clearly is -- the rhetoric and language are sometimes crudely and openly racist, and sometimes thinly veiled. You, for instance, are obviously not a racist. Republican appeals to and exploitation of racism date back to at least the infamous Willie Horton ads of 1988... more... - Sean McBride

Sean, couldn't you argue that it goes back even farther than Willie Horton? I'm thinking of Nixon and his Southern Strategy. - cecily

And I'll say this about Southern racism as opposed to the less direct sort that is found in other places. At least in the South people have no qualms about letting you know you're not wanted and why. I'd rather have that than someone who pretends to shake my hand with their right while stabbing me in the heart with their left. - cecily

"at 100, I don't think Strom Thurmond counts a likely candidate" Wait, I thought you wanted us to look back in the past. Make up your mind! - Andrew C

Or is it not sporting to bring up the racist parts of the past when discussing the history of racism? - Andrew C

Y'all do know Ol' Strom kicked the bucket a while back, don't you? :-D - cecily

The histories of both parties are fair game. A few kind words to an old man don't equate to policy. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

Why are we wasting our time looking into the past? History has become distorted for political views and it doesn't matter if you are Left or Right... Dem or Con. Nobody seems to want to move forward. Everyone wants to blame someone else. When will people learn to take responsibility for their own rights as a human and as an American? - The Catz Meow

Cecily -- yes: the Nixon Southern strategy predated Willie Horton by more than a decade. - Sean McBride

Personal Rights/Responibilities is a major point of contention between the parties. If you don't look back into their pasts, how will know what they will do in the future? The truck is, both parties have factions, you need to look at the faction in control of the party. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

How about we just get back to sticking with our Constitutional rights? Afford all the freedoms and civil liberties as an American citizen. All the hate mongering, mud slinging from BOTH sides need to go away. - The Catz Meow

Here's racism for you; "Planned Parenthood" supported by Dems, and as racist as the day is long. Lots of history her boys and girls. Margaret Sanger just loved them blacks, didn't she? Why any black person would support a Party that supports an organization dedicated to eradicating the black race is beyond me. Defend that Sean and Andrew. I bet your Liberalism won't let you denounce it, you're both too partisan to see the truth. - Nick France

Just look at the first 2 articles of the Bill of Rights and how both sides have "interpreted" in the past. However, hate, lies and scandals are just tools of the political machines that they use because they have been proven to be effective at swaying the masses. - Robert Hafer from iPhone

Hahaha! The old Margaret Sanger trick! - Victor Ganata

No trick, Victor. -- Sanger was a proponent of negative eugenics, a social philosophy which claims that human hereditary traits can be improved through social intervention. In 1939 Margaret Sanger started “The Negro Project”. She enlisted black preachers to support sterilization. Margaret's words: "We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members." - Nick France

I love how all these history lessons about "who's really racist" also implicitly teach that history stopped at about 1963 or so. - Andrew C

You mean it didn't? - cecily

I swear, bringing up Margaret Sanger is like the new Godwin's Law these days. How funny is that. We just got done talking about how the Republican party changed from the party of emancipation to the party of the Southern Strategy, and how the Democratic party changed from the party of Jim Crow to the party of the Civil Rights Movement, and you're bringing up Margaret Sanger like it's current events, and that Planned Parenthood still practices eugenics to this day?!?! Come on. - Victor Ganata

Nick: can you point to any racist remarks made by Planned Parenthood leaders over the last few decades? Aren't there sound reasons for supporting Planned Parenthood which have nothing to do with a racist or eugenics agenda? - Sean McBride

Racism. Will it ever end. - Abad A. Perez

fleshseeker: Thaddaeus

Tropical Desires: Fantasy Of Fernando - http://tropical-desires.blogspot.com/2009...

April 23 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

hicetnuncxx, Fleshseeker.com, Xavier Mathews and 2 other people liked this

(OMFG) He Is So Damn Sexyyyyyyyyyyyy - Xavier Mathews

Who Is This??? - Xavier Mathews

Anthony Citrano

Flickr Founder Calls Nuked User 'A Dick' | Gawker - http://gawker.com/5288759...

June 12 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

TheHenry, Davis Freeberg, Michael Hart and 64 other people liked this

Look, I think flickR should be able to control their network and its content however they wish. But this policy is ridiculous and evil (wiping out all user data and not letting them get it back) and they deserve all the negative press that comes with it, especially when they act like dismissive assholes. - Anthony Citrano from Bookmarklet

104 more comments

Is he the guy that wrote that hilarious exit letter re: silver mining? - anna sauce

Same dude anna. - vijay

god, I love Stuart (finally read post) nice way to stand behind your colleague. - anna sauce

exactly. : ) Title is misleading. - vijay

I'm not a fan of Flickr but it's hard for me to summon any outrage on behalf of that dick. - Chester

Check this out.. last line from Johnson- "Ask Heather to fill you in". lol! Credit to Stewart for showing the level of restraint he did. - vijay

flickr is a great service but their terms of use and the ways they enforce them makes them much bigger dicks than any justifiably irate user. And I am not trying to compliment them. But it's typical corporate internet arrogance. - Rick Powell

What a great chance to respond to a CR issue without having to represent the company admirably... given a chance to say what he actually felt, I think Stewart's response was maybe not totally called for, but totally funny and he has the right. Way to back up your former peeps too. - SAM

Well, whatever. I think Stewart is a dick, but far fewer people will read that than have read and will read his e-mail and will make their own minds up. - Rick Powell

So, if somebody emailed me to ask me to mediate a problem they were having with my former employer, I suspect that my response would both be ruder and shorter. - Wirehead

I completely agree Anthony, it is unbelievable and I have a Pro account :-| - Luca Conti

@Wirehead Well, in that case, you, just like Stewart, would be going out of your way to be a dick yourself. All he really needed to write was the first sentence, or not respond at all. But flickr's policy of deleting a user's photos without warning and without appeal, pretty much sums up corporate assholism for me. - Rick Powell

My capital rules of staying on the internet: 1. be nice. 2. if you can't be nice, be civil. 3. if you can't be civil, be offline. They served me well in the last 15 years. (and - honestly - I trust Heather's judgement in managing communities a wee bit more than a random guy trolling comment threads, being nuked from existence and throwing a tantrum about it) - dario

There is usually little difference between a nice person enforcing bad corporate policy and a bad person doing it, except for the style in which it's done. Apologies to "Heather," I'm sure, since I don't know her personally. [insert eye rolls here.] - Rick Powell

this is why i stopped using flikr. They dont CARE. - Jim Hague

As somebody who manages online communities for a living, I'm going to have to say that the response here was probably the right one (granted I haven't seen the original threads, and he could have afforded to be a little more civil with his language). Trolls live for this shit. And most of them are dicks. - mike fabio

Troll is a dismissive word, used ubiquitously and uncritically. It's been MY experience that while there are genuine trolls, the word is not infrequently used to dismiss someone who brings up an uncomfortable political issue. No excuse for being a dick, of course. - Rick Powell

What concerns me in this issue is that if someone at Yahoo decides that they disagree with something I said or the way I said it, they are willing to completely remove my account. It makes me distrustful of the cloud as a place to store my data. With that said, Yahoo was perfectly within their rights to make this move. It just seems like they don't care to engender confidence in the integrity of the data on their servers. - Scott Ohlemacher

I have wondered if flickr so easily deletes paying customers photos because they have never provided an easy way for anyone to download all of their collection once it's in the cloud. I guess they think, why would anyone want to do that? - Rick Powell

@Rick Powell: You're right that there is no excuse for being a dick, but dickery is subjective. - Scott Ohlemacher

And I think deleting a paying customer's photos, even if he violated terms of service, and not the law, for instance, is simply bad corporate policy. That is really being a dick, in my opinion. - Rick Powell

Amen, Rick, Amen. Perhaps the real issue was that flickr was afraid of losing the White House photostream? - Scott Ohlemacher

Wow, just wow. Just goes to show you that money (or talent for that matter) and class don't always go hand in hand. - Alex Scoble

Finally Flickr's actions as Judge, Jury and Executioner in deleting unwanted members is getting some mainstream coverage due to the political angle. Even if some disagree whether it was the correct forum to air his grievances on the WH's detainee photo policy, it appears to have been measured and civil. Certainly not grounds for a non-appealable deletion. So exactly how does Flickr safeguard our photos (i.e. backups), if deleted members cannot be retrieved? Cloud-computing, or merely dust? - Nils Sandin

Yeah- seems like a draconian move by Yahoo. - anna sauce

another Community Manager from a different site chiming in... Flickr was totally within their rights to toast this guy *and* his account. The TOS on any site is not just an agreement between a single user and the company with regard to their own content, but also between the community at large and the company that OTHER users will be subjected to the TOS. This guy was spamming and... more... - Edubya

Spam? What exactly was he selling? If I read the accounts right, every American needs to have those pictures shoved under their noses until they wake the frak up. Really, the vagueness in rhetoric that everyone just accepts here is amazing. They were pictures of torture. It was a political protest. Yahoo was certainly within their "rights," although the idea of assigning rights to a corporation makes me queasy, but that doesn't mean I think the world is better off because Yahoo gets to do what it wants. - Rick Powell

@Edubya They have a right and obligation to uphold their TOS. However, asymmetrical responses like this are not a good way to keep up a good image. - Scott Ohlemacher

Yeah, this definitely falls under the definition of protected speech in my opinion. Yahoo isn't looking good over this. - Alex Scoble

"protected speech"? I don't think the constitution said you were guaranteed the right be able to post on flickr. The constitution doesn't mean everyone has to put up with your shit. A political protest in flickr comments is a pretty lazy freedom fighter anyway. That said, wiping out a paying customers stored images without a warning is really messed up, and it seems like they do that quite frequently. - Richard Lawler

It may not be constitutionally protected speech in this context, but in another it would be. That should at least make Yahoo pause and handle the situation carefully and diplomatically just to avoid the backlash. - Scott Ohlemacher

The constitution says that political speech is protected. It doesn't specify forum. - Alex Scoble

I think that Anthony's first comment here sums up the situation admirably. Flickr did something legal that was morally ambiguous. - Scott Ohlemacher

Just because speech is protect by the constitution doesn't mean that a private service has to allow unfettered expression of it. - Kevin Pedraja

No, it's not protected speech but it just points out why we can't trust corporations with our data, with anything. They don't give a shit and they don't have to. - Rick Powell

Ah, I love it when people speak up to defend the rights of corporations! Give them exemptions to all moral obligations! So encouraging for our democracy. Whether or not they have the legal right is irrelevant if we are talking about ethics. This is, however, the kind of culture we have. - Rick Powell

A rule against spamming comments != a law prohibiting free speech. How is a corporation morally obligated to put up with spammers, no matter what the content is they're spamming? - Richard Lawler

This may not hold up to scrutiny, but as a publicly traded company reliant on their image to maintain a user base and therefore profits, don't they have an obligation to shareholders to handle situations like this in the most diplomatic way possible? - Scott Ohlemacher

Sometimes the truth hurts and hearing it from someone you hope will help you hurts even more. I've seen Johnson's trolling and he deserved this treatment, plain and simple. - Rene Wirtz

Corporations are not morally obligated to do anything. That's the point. That is why they cannot be trusted. Further, I didn't make that equivalency between spam and free speech. You did. Not to mention which the word "spam" is debatable in this case, not least because corporate policies disdain politics, by default, a position which, of course, always favors the powerful. - Rick Powell

debating whether this is a free speech issue or not is moot. Flickr (or pretty much anywhere else different from your own site) is private property, they have community guidelines which are designed for "the greater good" (which translates nicely to: having the largest number of satisfied users/customers possible). Flickr community guidelines basically boil down to "Behave. If you don't, it may very well be one strike, you're out". - dario

Rick, not to defend Flickr because I think they've handled this poorly (from a PR point of view if nothing else). But if you sign up to use a service and agree to the TOS, you are voluntarily agreeing to a certain code of conduct. If you violate the TOS, you are subject to the penalties of doing so. Johnson is free to take his protest to another venue. That said, Flickr could be a bit more accommodating and give the guy his images back. - Kevin Pedraja

and yes, losing your stuff sucks bad, and yes, they probably should implement some sort of "pre-ban" which lets you download your content back on - say - a two weeks notice before the termination of your account. - dario

Is it an appropriate solution for us to "vote with our eyeballs" and boycott the service until they change some of these policies in a public way? - Scott Ohlemacher

Peeps, the First Amendment protects you against government action. You have no constitutional right to a flickR account. There's a difference between saying "flickR sucks for doing this" and "flickR has no right to do this." They certainly do have a right to do it, and I have a right to think they're assholes because of it. But I guess that's what I said initially (sorry.) - Anthony Citrano

@Kevin Have you read the TOS lately? Do you know what NIPSA means? I certainly don't know, after reading it a dozen times. Their TOS is not as arcane, opaque and just plain retarded as ebay's, which must set some sort of record in the history of incomprehensible corporate jargon, but it's not exactly transparent. I think they can ban me if they want. But after accepting my money and... more... - Rick Powell

also, on the "morally reprehensible" issue: this has nothing to do with ethics. Turning over your users' personal data to the chinese government IS unethical, and still, as a publicly shared company, you have to answer to your shareholders first, which might -or might not- be interested in your moral high ground - dario

@dario What you described is why, in my youth, I believed in economic democracy, which, I think, only the Zapatistas actually advocate now. - Rick Powell

I think you people are confusing how the flickr software is presently implemented with an arbitrary policy decision. This is common with people who don't know what they are talking about but like to sound like they do. I twittered this on Tuesday... unless you've actually hacked big software that runs on large server farms, STFU about how you'd change how a large website that runs on large server farms would work. - Wirehead

Oh, I love that one! Technological barriers, the last refuge of the nihilist. Give me a frakin break. This thread has seen it all, right? First-name dropping, specious arguments about the rights of corporations, equating speech with spam, and now claiming the high ground for those who "have hacked big software." I believe I'll have another beer and thank the gods I have never been anywhere near large server farms. Big cow farms, yes. - Rick Powell

Anthony...I agree. Chalk it up to another Festivus miracle, my friend! lol - Carlton Hackett

@Wirehead That was needlessly vitriolic. Couldn't be civil and say something like "There are technological limitations related to policy implementation in communities of this size" rather than making assumptions about the skills and experiences of the people in the discussion and then disparaging them? You didn't contribute to this conversation at all, you detracted from it. @everyone else: sorry for feeding the troll. - Scott Ohlemacher

Dude, I'm just stating an unpleasant truth. But it's very popular amongst people with a little grain of knowledge to assume that they can apply this everywhere. Do I sit here and make suggestions for how cattle ranchers might improve production? No, because I recognize that I don't know a damn thing about cattle ranching and would probably suggest something really stupid. - Wirehead

On that note, I'm going to go have a beer and watch the hockey game. - Scott Ohlemacher

I'm a bit sad that Mr. Johnson lost all his pictures. (Rule 1: always make backups!) But the more I hear about his one-man crusade, the more I agree with Stewart Butterfield's assessment. There are right ways to get one's message out, and wrong ways. Mr. Johnson thought his cause was so noble, his message so urgent, that the normal rules didn't apply to him. Alas for his 1200 pictures, he was wrong. - Pat Rice

@Pat I would guess that a large percentage of the world's dissidents would say that the normal rules don't apply to them, and they would be right, else they would not be dissidents. As for your comment, your rhetoric is precious (alas? a bit sad?) and your argument, if I can call it that, empty. Anyone else? - Rick Powell

Alex: The constitution defines how government must act. The speech is protected from the government squelching it. No private company is obligated to allow anyone to speak in any way other than the way it wants. Period. The constitution does not give you the right to make the New York Times print anything and everything you want, nor does it give you the right to make flickr do it either. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Most law, and most particularly, the Constitution points back to principles that Dick Cheney, among others, refers to as "quaint," but that doesn't mean they're not valued or have no value, or don't constitute, get that word, the basis for understanding moral behavior. Most citizens understand this. Corporations, unique in history we will eventually realize, are somehow allowed to opt... more... - Rick Powell

Big, scary, god-like (it's a technology, Captain, but none like we've ever seen) server farm or not, I expect backups have to be available. Maybe only for a week (I think that's how long I was told Sprint's picture mail server kept backups), but for some period of time. - MiniMage TKDteacher of FF

See, you are just proving my point, BoringMage. There is a difference between backups and restoring deleted accounts. Given the expected failure rate of disk drives, if flickr didn't keep backups, you'd know. :) - Wirehead

Flickr could disable the account and prevent harmful activity without deletion of customer data, and that is what they should be doing in these cases. This is more about consumer rights than freedom of speech. - Mike Chelen

I'm afraid it cannot be "protected speech" if you spam the same comment 10, 20 more times on individual pictures. Then it becomes heckling. These are the flickr terms: "Don’t vent your frustrations, rant, or bore the brains out of other members. Flickr is not a venue for you to harass, abuse, impersonate, or intimidate others. If we receive a valid complaint about your conduct, we’ll... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

If they did warn him and he kept spamming, then he deserved what happened. If he didn't back up his own data after being warned and continued doing the same thing, who can he blame? - Richard Lawler

Jeez, I keep commenting, since so many people find so many creative or not-so-creative ways of avoiding the real points. There is no easy way to back up one's flickr collection, which in some cases involves clicking twice for each photo - which can run into thousands of clicks. If you knew what you were talking about, then you would already know this. flickr's API does not allow... more... - Rick Powell

Yes, we've heard your opinion Rick. That's great. It still doesn't justify the guy's behavior. It doesn't entirely pardon flickr, and I don't think anyone is, but he made his choice. - Richard Lawler

Well, Richard, if anyone had actually heard my opinion then they would comment as if they understood the contents of my opinion, which you clearly haven't. I have not made justifications about his behavior, mostly because I really don't fully know the extent and content of his behavior. Do you? Perhaps you can fill us all in? It seems clear he was obnoxious, as many people are who want... more... - Rick Powell

Rick, I am not sure about your point - in order to upload to Flickr you need to have the image in the first place, so the assumption is you still have the originals and could re-upload to a new account (I certainly have my images on 2 drives here plus several places online). If you somehow lose the originals you should take copies back out of Flickr immediately, not rely on Flickr (or anything) as your sole copy. PS: have you tried http://www.ghacks.net/2009... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Congratulations, Joelle, your life is a lot more stable than mine was. I started uploading to flickr when I was homeless and had no computer of my own. Borrowed cameras, with personal images, and gift memberships from readers of my blog. This year will be the first time I have to decide whether to flip the bird to flickr or pay up. 4 years of connections, not to mention photos. Not an... more... - Rick Powell

Just for the purpose of backup perhaps you can switch the images from private to public (but w. adult warning to avoid people being offended) - run the backup, then change it back? Just circumvent the system temporarily so you have your images at least! I totally agree with you that the feeling that the plug can be pulled under you is an uneasy one, but the cases where flickr has done... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

You have totally disarmed me. ;-) I will think about trying that, and any indie, open, distributed options you have would be welcome. - Rick Powell

I have a lot of thoughts on this as some might expect. May have to break them down into a few posts. I saw this letter from Stewart well before it appeared in Valleywag. It first appeared in the DeleteMe Uncensored group that I admin on Flickr. My first problem with the letter is that I don't think Shepherd should have posted it there or anywhere at all. It was private correspondence... more... - Thomas Hawk

Had Shepherd asked Stewart for permission to post it and Stewart said yes I think that'd probably be ok then. But I don't think Shepherd did that and I don't think Stewart gave permission for it to be published. While I support Shepard's fight against Flickr, I did tell him that I didn't think it was right that he published this email. I know that I personally won't publish emails... more... - Thomas Hawk

Stewart and Heather are friends so I'd think it fair to assume that he'd stick up for Heather in this case without admittedly knowing many of the specific details. I think a lot of us might as our first reaction stick up for our friends. Unfortunately, I think Stewart's response turns this debate more into a personality thing than it should be. I think there are three problems with the way that Flickr handled the Shepherd Johnson case. - Thomas Hawk

1. Obama campaigned on a platform of transparency in Govt. Deleting critical comments is not transparency. Obama is using social media to enhance his transparency. Deleting critical comments doesn't add much to his credibility in that department. This is not an Obama campaign photostream. It's the official Whitehouse photostream produced by your and my tax dollars. The Obama... more... - Thomas Hawk

2. Shepherd Johnson should not have had his account deleted over the comments that he posted. He linked to a photo (not his but from another photostream as allowed by flickr that was also nuked) depicting detainee prison abuse with a message protesting Obama's support of a new law to suppress additional photos from being released. Of all speech political speech should be given the... more... - Thomas Hawk

3. Flickr should not be deleting *any* accounts permanently and irrevocably. To be so arrogant that they would assume that they will never make a mistake in an account deletion is mind numbing. The fact that they refuse to address this issue and simply dismiss anyone who suggests otherwise is an equally horrible position of arrogance. Instead Flickr should change their policy with... more... - Thomas Hawk

+++ @TH - Nils Sandin

Scott, this is not just about a Flickr account deletion. According to Shepherd, Heather was not aware of some of the comments that were deleted on the President's stream. The only way those comments could have been deleted (if not by flickr) would have been by Shepherd himself or someone who controls the President's stream. I've personally written to the White House on it and posted a... more... - Thomas Hawk

And there is no political bias on my part in this one. I voted for Obama and support him as my President even if I might not vote for him again. I'm a Democrat who believes strongly that censorship is wrong, even if it's done by a popular Democratic President. - Thomas Hawk

Political speech does not and should not deserve a wider berth if the guy was breaking the rules. That should be entirely content agnostic. - Richard Lawler

When are you going to realize that Obama and Bush policy wise are one and the same? - John Blanton from twhirl

Richard, the problem with that position is that the "rules" at flickr are very, very subjective. According to Shepherd, Heather told him his account was deleted because he posted a link to a detainee abuse photo and because he was "spamming" flickr, and yet Heather refused to define what "spamming" was and there is definitely no specific rule about not linking to detainee abuse photos.... more... - Thomas Hawk

so in Flickr's subjective implementation of their rules? Yes, I do think that political speech should be given a wider berth. Not directly relevant, but U.S. Courts have consistently given political speech a wider berth when dealing with First Amendment issues. - Thomas Hawk

If you think flickrs rules are bad then thats great, but its not censorship for them to have and enforce rules on their own website.This is not a first amendment issue and flickr shouldn't treat it as one, that amendment does not give you the rights being implied here. If your Dad sent a complaint to flickr about you posting his photo and you continued to repost it, then sure your stream should be deleted. - Richard Lawler

Richard it is actually censorship if Flickr deletes an account. It might not be Govt. censorship (which also may or may not have taken place in this case). Censorship doesn't have to be Govt sponsored to be considered censorship. It may be *justifiable* censorship to you but it is still censorship. - Thomas Hawk

No, it's censorship if they remove it because of the content, which is exactly why whether it is political speech or not should never come into play. - Richard Lawler

Moral of the story: Don't be a dick. - © b e e n s w a n k

Richard, Flickr did remove Shepherds account because of content. That's exactly why his account was deleted. Content of an image (detainee torture abuse) and content of his words (protesting the Obama administration) that they called spam but would not define. - Thomas Hawk

You've decided it was the content based on their lack of a hard definition for spam, but that doesn't make it so. What he was doing doesn't serve for justification for how he went about doing it. - Richard Lawler

Not sure anyone in this long thread has corrected the assumption that this is "censorship." Censorship is inherently a government act. If it's not an act of government, by definition, it isn't censorship. - Jon Lebkowsky

At least, if you folow the strict, original defnition of the term. There's a huge issue here, but I don't see it as an issue of censorship. - Jon Lebkowsky

Censorship by any definition is anyone preventing anyone else from fully using our right to free speech. .this is censorship of the worst kind. - John Blanton from twhirl

Jon: Censorship is not limited to government accts. Your confusing "censorship" with "government censorship," a common mistake that people make. Since you mention the definition of the term, check out the definition in the dictionary. Richard, according to Shepherd, his account was deleted in part for the photo and in part for what they call spamming (without any notice or warning I... more... - Thomas Hawk

Again, you have a right to free speech in /public/ - Flickr is a /private/ place. Just as you can dictate the speech that goes on in your own home, so can Flickr in their message boards. It may be censorship, but it is not infringing on your right to free speech We are all free to bitch about Flickr in public. So's the guy they dumped. Flickr is free to censor any damn thing they like... more... - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

It is censorship, but it's perfectly legal and "fine" for them to do, however offensive and inadvisable it may be - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Rob, I've never said his speech on Flickr is protected. I've never said that what Flickr did her was illegal. Flickr can censor me for wearing a green shirt if they want to. Nobody's disputing that. I'm saying it's bad policy and as one of the most active community members who has put thousands of hours into the site and thousands of pieces of content into the site, I think their... more... - Thomas Hawk

I do wish actually though that the White House would in fact address the question of whether or not they censor comments on their own Flickrstream. I think it's a fair question in light of Obama's oft promised new "transparency" in Govt. - Thomas Hawk

Thomas: no you never said any of those things. And i have to agree that it's bad policy. I think in general censorship sucks no matter who does it. And definitely I think you're correct that the Obama Administration should address that question. It's a fair question regardless of promised "transparency" - it's a fair question because it is OUR government. (of, for, and BY the people, right?)But, we've sen on several occasions already that the Obama White House cannot & will not live up to it's promises. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

If this is just a debate over corporate policy, then perhaps we ought to stop slinging around emotionally-charged & easily-misconstrued words like 'censorship'. Calling it censorship implies that it's a First Amendment, freedom-of-speech issue. It isn't. P.S. To Rick Powell: nice ad hominem there. - Pat Rice

Thanks Pat :) Well said. - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

Pat, calling it *government* censorship (which in fact may or may not have taken place here) implies that it's a First Amendment freedom-of-speech issue. Calling it censorship is simply stating what it is. If FriendFeed decided to delete a user's account for posting images of prison detainee abuse that would also be censorship. Fortunately for all of us, Friendfeed doesn't seem to be... more... - Thomas Hawk

It does suck, but we do have to remember that this type of censorship is also an exercise of freedom as well. No matter how much it sucks, it is Flickr's right to do it. (no matter how bad it is for their users, or their own company it's still their right -we are all free to engage in our own stupidity) "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -Voltaire - guruvan (Rob Nelson)

If I paint my message on the side of the Washington Monument, and the National Park Service sends somebody to wash it off, is that censorship? - Pat Rice

"I will defend your right to say it" indeed - but I won't defend your right to yell it, say it over and over right in someone's face, or heckle in a public space. And I wont defend your right to say it by force to people who dont want to hear it. None of these are free speech - As soon as your speech infringes on the free speech or freedom of others, it's no longer free speech. If... more... - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Sorry, Joelle, I can only say you've never encountered an issue where your passion and your politics overrode your sense of propriety, (I have) because that is what you are talking about now. Unless you have suddenly become a public figure at the level of the President of the United States. Free speech as a right protects us against the government, not against corporate assholes, which... more... - Rick Powell

Really Gay Room: jbrotherlove

Dave Navarro

June 9 - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell and Cardeen Martinez liked this

because I've always had a crush on Navarro and jmortonscott mentioned him - jbrotherlove

4 more comments

omg he was so hot at the NIN/JA concert i went to this man is my future husband lol - Cardeen Martinez

Kinda scrawny, but damn - those eyes! - Sparky

not a fan... maybe seeing him and carmen electra on that damn MTV show ruined it. Seriously... NEVER WEARS A SHIRT! - Jason

I don't think men should ever wear a shirt. Would be law in my kingdom. - Rick Powell

Scrawny? Well, the bush is certainly profuse. - Rick Powell

Mike to Mike's feed, Really Gay Room

No One Could Have Predicted | Slog | The Stranger - http://slog.thestranger.com/slog...

June 12 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Sparky, Rick Powell and veo liked this

"Folks who read the DOMA brief the Obama administration filed in California this morning—the one that compared gay marriage to incest and child rape and rehearsed numerous anti-gay arguments favored by the religious right—said that it read like it was written by the Bush administration. It went way beyond the half-hearted perforce defense of DOMA that folks were braced for. It was breathtakingly bigoted, like something written by a graduate of Jerry Falwell's madrassa, Liberty University. Well guess what? It was written by the Bush administration." - Mike from Bookmarklet

(jeff)isageek

ThinkGeek :: You Don't Know Me Anonymous Twitter Shirt - http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts...

June 12 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Eric @ CSTechcast.com, Iván Abrego, Jeff P. Henderson and 27 other people liked this

want! - (jeff)isageek from Bookmarklet

3 more comments

Added to my ThinkGeek wishlist! - CAJ, somewhere else

want as well - Brandon Mendelson

want that, :) - yagami

I want to have one of this style... - Lee☂

Kol Tregaskes to Kol's feed, Wow!

Teen diagnoses her own disease in science class - CNN.com - http://www.cnn.com/2009...

June 12 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Ken Morley, Jannifer @wordsforliving, Micah Wittman and 19 other people liked this

"For eight years, Jessica Terry suffered from stomach pain so horrible, it brought her to her knees. The pain, along with diarrhea, vomiting and fever, made her so sick, she lost weight and often had to miss school. Her doctors, no matter how hard they tried, couldn't figure out the cause of Jessica's abdominal distress. Then one day in January, Terry, 18, figured it out on her own." - Kol Tregaskes from Bookmarklet

5 more comments

That is awesome. - Sally Church

Bright youngster. ..."As for Terry's future, she'll start nursing school in the fall..." She might want to set her goals at MD, instead. - Christopher A Carr

It's like when friends would ask me "Why would a scientist ever experiment on himself?". You know yourself better than anyone. - Robert Hafer

@christopher carr, nursing and medicine are equally demanding intellectually but require two very different skill sets. if she's chosen to apply for nursing school, it's possible she also looked into what other healthcare professions offer and has already decided that wasn't for her. ;-) - Jessie

Jessie, I'm not disparaging nursing at all. It's extremely important, difficult -- and no doubt very satisfying -- work. To say they are equivalent in terms of intellectual demands is something of a stretch, though. - Christopher A Carr

She's got a researcher's mind. I (who has two sisters who are kickass nurses) agree that she should go higher on the years in education scale than nursing. - Michael W. May

Live4Emma (L4S)

for real? o_O - http://lickystickypickyme.tumblr.com/post...

June 11 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Mitchell Tsai, vicster, Jim Hearts FF and 68 other people liked this

THEN I'LL BE TYPING 100WPM IN HELL, BITCHES - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

40 more comments

Masturbation FTW ! - Faraz Mullick

I musta written quite a few great novels then! - Chris, Taskerrific Guy

hello "War and Peace" ..... o_O - Live4Emma (L4S)

I - Matt Ruiz

Then I guess pounding little boys in the butt must be like using a ball point pen... - Johnny Worthington

I thought it was Satan's tractor. - Christopher Harley

I thought Satan did things longhand... - Kevin Fox

WPM = Wanks Per Minute? - Mo Kargas

We would have also accepted: "THEN SATAN'S DOING IT WRONG." - Kevin Fox

But what's the genre? - CAJ, somewhere else

o_O - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

How does that work again? Typewriter? - martha

Pulp fiction? - Ayşe E.

More like Pulp FRICTION. Bahahahaha.. I crack myself up - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

+++Haggis. - Admiral Anika

I thought I was roughing up Satan's suspect, trying to make him talk..... - Matthew DeVries

ha! whu??? - docrivs

this is hilarious - DO ANYBODY NO MONIQUE

I guess the road to Hell is paved with something else too - jamar78

I'd think Satan would be more of a netbook guy. I just don't see him kicking around with his old Smith Corona. Furthermore, typewriters are terrible for looking up porn. - The Letter M

'typewriters are terrible for looking up porn' -- classic! - docrivs

...getting Dvorak layout on it: freaky. - Christopher A Carr

asdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdfasdf - teh Dork Knight aka Kenny

Guilty. ----> - Derrick

I thought it was healthy... apparently it helps to stave off prostate cancer and it ensures the freshest batch of swimmers is at your disposal! Also, the story christians base their hate on mans favourite hobby has been totally misread and doesn't condemn those that participate in a little solo olympics. - alphaxion

Well, if you're a liturgy geek, I recommend the Divine Liturgy of St. Onan: http://rosemaniple.blogspot.com/2009... (Who is Onan? He's the Father of Masturbation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... . ) - Ladybug Heather

Strange I always thought masturbation was created as a joint venture between Alyssa Milano and Stacey Keenan. - Matthew DeVries

But is it a manual or an electric? - Kevin Shaum

LOL - really! Who knew! - Tyson Williams

Wanna see more from the Trinity Church, they are really good! - Jacob

Also, if Satan is involved, then it isn't really masturbation. - Kevin Fox

thing is, Onan wasn't punished for masturbating, he was punished for not impregnating the woman with it as he promised to, breaking his promise to the couple and his god. If anything, people should get "do not make promises you can't keep" from that parable! - alphaxion

Haggis' first comment still cracks me up. - Trish R

Fap fap fap fap fap fap fap *ding* scroll scroll fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap. - Gunny doesn't side-hug™

Hasn't Satan upgraded to MS Word yet? - Steven Perez

If it's hell, then he's using Microsoft Works on a Packard Bell. - Haggis (Sean Loyless)

Now the church-going innocent children will ask their parents, "Mom, what is masturbation?" - Hiro Asari

@hiro and the sad thing is, their answer will be littered with lies, other peoples hangups and dogma instead of real education. There's nothing wrong with teaching the kid the reality of biology, after all they're gonna find out one way or another, why not give them the truth. - alphaxion

Isn't satan afraid of some sensitive part of the anatomy getting caught in the keys. I think i'll start a donation fund to get Satan a Mac. - Steve C

What does that even mean??? - David Cook

3000 WPM - Not One Mistake! Yeah baby. You know how daddy likes it. Because, well, you are daddy's right hand...eww...I think i just creeped myself out... - Morgan Haley

Gay Rights Media

Obama's Defense of DOMA Invokes Incest and Child Marriages - HRC Demands Action - http://unitethefight.blogspot.com/2009...

June 12 from Unite the Fight - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

A federal case arguing against DOMA was recently challenged by the Department of Justice, the voice of Obama's Administration when defending current law, using discriminatory language and diminishting the only two cases won for LGBT civil rights in the US Supreme Court.The department moved to dismiss the first gay marriage case filed in federal court, saying it is not the right venue to tackle

Maybe this will cause HRC to grow a pair. - Rick Powell

Josh Haley

My phone is a lobster. Your argument is invalid.

June 12 - Comment - Like - Share

Joe Silence is not dead, Rick Powell, Steven Perez and 8 other people liked this

Gilbert Harding

Dubai from somewhere near the top of the Burj Dubai. Potentially the tallest building on the planet. So far.

May 30 - Comment - Like - Share

JP Viljoen, Jonathan Jacobs, Chieze Okoye and 70 other people liked this

Do you live here, or were you in for a visit ? - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

18 more comments

Hmm, I think your reply-by-email didn't quite work ;) - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

Apparently not. So here it is again, no I don't live there, my daughter does, she sent me the picture. We've visited a couple of times. It'll be a nice place when it's finished ;-) - Gilbert Harding

That's a really cool photo - mark

Whoa! It's Bespin! :) - Uche Ogbuji

Seriously, any chance you have this in 1920x1600 or bigger? I'd love to use it as my desktop, and I'd be happy to send you some link love. - Uche Ogbuji

that is a wicked photo ... unreal ... - johnpiercy

Dubai is fucking nuts. (google that entire phrase and click on the first result) http://www.google.com.nyud.net:8080/gwt... - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

I should say, it is _rarely_ this foggy :) - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

I've NEVER seen it foggy there. Amazing picture. Thanks for sharing. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

This photo is missing its artist credit. I believe it was taken by photographer David Hobcote http://bit.ly/10bwrr or maybe pal, Imre Solt, another fine photographer of the Burj Dubai. If you want to see the month by month progress of the Burj (means tower in Arabic) go to this site http://bit.ly/HJv2L The tower is supposed to be complete by this September, 2009 for its planned opening. - Kay Designer

Hasn't it been confirmed that it is infact the tallest building? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - Brendan Mclaughlin

Yes= actually built to completion. Others in concept have been put "On Hold" for lack of funds. - Kay Designer

Whoa! - Rick Cogley

Kay, I don't know who took the photo, it did the rounds by email in Dubai and my daughter sent it to me. This video may interest some. http://www.youtube.com/watch... taken 2 days after the opening of the Dubai Mall it shows the building site around that and the Burj Dubai. - Gilbert Harding

Hi, I have a bunch of pics I took for Dubai trip but here is one of mine of the Burj here: http://bit.ly/kY0N7 - Kay Designer

here are some photos of Dubai taken during my latest trip there http://photos.lucafiligheddu.com/gallery... - Luca Filigheddu

Dubai is wonderful, but looks like a "fake city"... road works everywhere and in June is HOOOOOT - Luca Filigheddu

Luca Good photos. (I work nearby the Jumeirah Mosque) - Ahsan Ali aka. Slick

Thank you Luca. The problem with Dubai is 90% of the city - is just TOO new and empty. But, Most newly constructed sites, do look fake. But once trees grow (or the sands blow!) people move in - it won't look like that. - Kay Designer

Steven Perez

Home taping didn’t kill music - Bad Science - http://www.badscience.net/2009...

June 11 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Alex Scrivener, Christopher Harley, Morton Fox and 2 other people liked this

"Now I am always suspicious of this industry, because they have produced a lot of dodgy figures over the years. I also doubt that every download is lost revenue since, for example, people who download more also buy more music. I’d like more details. So where do these notions of so many billions in lost revenue come from? I found the original report. It was written by some academics you can hire in a unit at UCL called CIBER, the Centre for Information Behaviour and the Evaluation of Research (which “seeks to inform by countering idle speculation and uninformed opinion with the facts”). The report was commissioned by a government body called SABIP, the Strategic Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Policy." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

Lost revenue, also known as wishful thinking. - Rick Powell

Rachel Lea Fox

ZooBorns: And now for the world's cutest kittens... - http://www.zooborns.com/zooborn...

June 11 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Anne Bouey, Mo Kargas, April Buchheit and 10 other people liked this

"At this exact moment, the Nashville Zoo's Clouded Leopard cubs hold the title for cutest kittens on the planet. These face-meltingly-adorable pictures taken earlier today seal the deal." - Rachel Lea Fox from Bookmarklet

I had better get foster kittens next week or else I may end up flying to Nashville to steal one of these guys! - Rachel Lea Fox

Aaron Hood

I'm late to the game (yet again) but this Bon Iver album is excellent.

June 8 from Twitter - Comment - Like - Share

Rick Powell liked this

Which one? - Rick Powell

For Emma, Forever Ago - Aaron Hood

Strange, but compelling. - Rick Powell

Amira to Amira's feed, Anthropology, Anthropology, Sociology & Social Media, books, Culture & Society

Review: How storytelling shaped humanity | New Scientist - http://www.newscientist.com/article...

June 8 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Peter McLean, Jacob, Anna Haro and 8 other people liked this

English professor Brian Boyd does acknowledge that stories need both creators and audiences, and he analyses their different evolutionary roles. Taking a cost/benefit approach, he argues that the process of creating a story may be expensive in terms of time and energy but is intrinsically rewarding because it appeals to our brain's love affair with pattern. It also reshapes the mind, promotes a creative approach to problem solving and increases the storyteller's social status. The audience, meanwhile, pay a price in their time, but in return acquire a deeper insight into society and the minds of other individuals. - (Review Brian Boyd's book: "On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, cognition and fiction.") - Amira from Bookmarklet

"Boyd argues that art, including fiction, is a unique human adaptation whose chief function is "for improving human cognition, cooperation and creativity". His excellent accounts of these three areas of human activity show both an impressive mastery of the science and an admirable inclination to question orthodoxy. The "mating mind theory" - art as a product of sexual selection - is... more... - Goran Zec

wonderful read...thanks for sharing - Jeffrey Marsh

Michelle Martinez

Krups BeerTender | Williams-Sonoma - http://www.williams-sonoma.com/product...

June 5 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

RAPatton, Rob Brammeld, Mona Nomura and 5 other people liked this

"Fresh, perfectly chilled, pub-style draft beer is always on tap, thanks to Krups’ and Heineken's innovative BeerTender. Freeing up space in your refrigerator, the sleek countertop machine operates with Heineken’s compact 5-liter Draught Kegs. The easy-to-use system is engineered with internal carbonation to ensure that each serving delivers a crisp, refreshing draft brew topped with an optimal head of foam. A powerful Peltier cooling system provides precise chilling to your choice of three temperature settings. Displayed on a digital panel, readouts include both the current temperature and selected temperature. Volume and freshness indicators show how much beer remains in the keg and how long it will maintain top quality." - Michelle Martinez from Bookmarklet

7 more comments

Normally $400, on sale for $199.95. I wish it wasn't just Heineken, though. - Michelle Martinez

WANT!!!! - .LAG liked that

this is still an expensive single use gadget - and not just single use, but also single product and single brand! So while so many things need rethinking and changing on our planet, our smartest brains and corporations keep coming up with new pointless single use toys to sell to us, the 15% at the top. And I still have the "hmm, kind of cool" reflex too, but this won't give you good beer, just impress your friends if they are into these things. - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

yeah, too bad heineken sucks. - Rick Powell

@Joelle... hmm, when you put it like that, I'll continue taking my beer the normal way. good point, well played. - .LAG liked that

I'm probably on Krups' black list now... does it help if I say my expresso machine is a Krups? Edit: laughing out loud now, checked the Krups website and their current logo tagline is "beyond reason" - perfect for this beer tap (the full line is "Precision, Perfection, Passion... beyond the everyday, beyond the norm, beyond reason", and the meaning they mean is not "unreasonable" but "way better than ordinary", of course) - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

But the biggest problem with these beer tenders is that there are not enough places for the people where they can buy the kegs. Besides that, we've been selling those kegs in the beerstore I work, but we stopped doing that because they were a nice object for thieves too. - Ton Zijp

Joelle: At least here in Norway there´s a choice of these 5-litre kegs by different brands. They are sold in bigger well-assorted grocery shops. I don´t have a "BeerTender" though. - Thomas Bøhm

Louis Gray to Louis's feed, Jesse Stay, Robert Scoble

You can e-mail me directly to louisgray@friendfeed.com and they end up in my Direct Messages box. You can even DM yourself...

June 5 - Comment - Like - Share

Alexander Trafford, Madhav Tripathi, Philip Lei and 105 other people liked this

Don't forget share@friendfeed.com goes directly to your stream - Jesse Stay

36 more comments

And, as Louis showed here, you can send it to your stream, and other individuals to "tag" them and ensure they see it. - Jesse Stay

That's cool! - Robert Scoble

wow! - michael sean wright

I use this to send photos to my stream from my iPhone - Jesse Stay

Didn't know about this, pretty cool. - 321

The email subject line becomes the ff post title, and the email body (optional) becomes the first comment! - Micah Wittman

This is a really cool feature! I love it! - TheHenry from Nambu

Micah, attach a photo (or multiple photos) and they get attached as photos. - Jesse Stay

Jesse - Oh, absolutely. My mentions were just an added point to the discussion of sending pics by email :) - Micah Wittman

how does share@friendfeed.com know which feed to add to? - Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)

Joelle, I think it picks your default feed, but I'm not 100% sure. You get an e-mail back with a confirmation link that you can then approve to go out to your stream. - Jesse Stay

Does this mean you can now DM any of your subscriptions even if they're not subscribed to you? That's cool. Is there a setting to block people from DMing you if you're not subscribed to them? [Edit - That doesn't seem to be the case, actually. I can still only DM users that are also subscribed to me. So was this just a reminder post or is there something new here?] - Tony Ruscoe

Last time I tried attaching a photo in an email to FF, it didnt work. I will try again. I believe it was user error. so if you are subscribed to me, you may see a few test posts. It's not critical as Twitpic and Flickr photo uploads work fine from my BB Curve. (Picasa uploads link the entire photo-album....maybe more user error) -- no one ever dm's me.... - Mike Nencetti

send pics to username+remotekey@mail2ff.com (works great, I just did it this morning) - MLx

MLx it also works natively in FriendFeed by sending to share@friendfeed.com. I use that all the time now. - Jesse Stay

MLx, you beat me to it! I've sent numerous pictures of ducklings from my iPhone. Works like a champ! - CAJ, somewhere else

Hey, awesome info thanks (haven't spent near enough time tooling up my ff syntactical skills ;) - Mark Essel

Mein gott...we work at FriendFeed!!!! - Mike Nayyar

*hands Louis a massive late pass* :) http://ff.im/2s7GS - chrisofspades

Bret's official post: http://ff.im/2sgJZ - chrisofspades

How can I get one of those email addresses? - Jannifer @wordsforliving

you have them Jannifer - Mark Essel

yeah Louis, chrisofspades said what I was thinking. This is cool but it has been out for a while already. :D - Josh Haley

http://friendfeed.com/share... has all of the details :) - Benjamin Golub

Hmmm, so do I even need email anymore? I could get all my mail here. The question is...will it blend? I mean, can I reply? - CAJ, somewhere else

I can't seem to get this to work for my account sadly. - Brandon Mendelson

@Brandon Send an e-mail to bjmendelson@friendfeed.com, it should work with all accounts, nothing to set up. If it doesn't work then you could contact FF and see if they can fix it. - 321

For my Blackberry Curve, the email body is not the first comment, when I email to share@friendfeed.com - Mike Nencetti

Well, that is I was telling on Facebook... do you work on Friendfeed? - HECTOR ARTURO

Thanks for the reminder.. I already use the comment by e-mail feature of FriendFeed but forgot to try these other e-mail features. They seem great, as usual ;) - Thierry R. Andriamirado

Awesome, Louis, you're the ultimate - Juvenn Woo from fftogo

I know it's late (theoretically). Note there are still folks who haven't figured out the hide function. So when it came up today, I thought I would mention it. :) - Louis Gray

@321 Thank you. Still can't get it to work but I will ask the FF folks. It's probably something I'm overlooking in my settings. - Brandon Mendelson

hey louis- im a bit confused about this new friendfeed email thing becuz of the direct message limit that friendfeed imposes... i just forwarded a long email to myself using my friendfeed email address but the only thing that came thru was the subject heading.. so this email thing isnt that effective yet.. right? - Jason Pollock

Jesse: I'm emailing a photo from mobile to share@friendfeed.com (have also used username+remotekey@mail2ff.com.) Subject (title) and body (comment) arrives fine but the pic doesnt display. Mobile to Gmail is fine as pic displays in sent items but the Gmail to ff route seems to be a problem any ideas? - Peter du Toit (S.Africa)

Peter I think pictures aren't working right now on FriendFeed via e-mail. They used to work but aren't working for me right now. - Jesse Stay

Jesse have been in contact with Tudor Bosman about this and he has picked up that some phones send the image with a content-type of application/octet-stream instead of image/jpeg. He says they will add a workaround for this later tonight or tomorrow. - Peter du Toit (S.Africa)

Steven Perez to Steven's feed, US Politics

Think Progress » Gingrich: Americans ‘surrounded by paganism.’ - http://thinkprogress.org/2009...

June 6 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Rob Haas, Tapio Kulmala, Head Ov Metal and 6 other people liked this

"GINGRICH: I am not a citizen of the world. I am a citizen of the United States because only in the United States does citizenship start with our creator. [...] I think this is one of the most critical moments in American history. We are living in a period where we are surrounded by paganism." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

30 more comments

Gah! He has no idea what he's talking about! Of course, I'm quite familiar with the Rock Church here in VB, and I'm pretty sure nobody else there knows a thing about paganism, either. - Ladybug Heather

Total has-been politician! Go away, Gingrich! - ursi

what a crock! - MikeAmundsen

Most people who use the term "paganism" don't understand what it means. - CAJ, somewhere else

most of the stuff coming out of the Newt is just posturing whooey anyway. this kinda talk aims at an ever-narrowing audience, too. sad to see he and his ilk dragging the GOP down the crapper. - MikeAmundsen

Gingrich hasn't been Speaker in over ten years. Why is he still in the news? - John (a.k.a. dendroica)

Because, laughingly, Newt is the best shot the GOP has of returning to power. Pretty freaking sad, especially when you consider that these dolts were getting a lesson in morals from a guy who dumped his wife while she was in the hospital. - Steven Perez from IM

the very idea that Newt is a viable standard-bearer for the GOP shows how bleak things are going to be for a while. dangit! - MikeAmundsen

"...only in the US does citizenship start with our creator." Whose creator? Which creator? Is US citizenship dependent on (belief in) a Christian god? WTH is he saying? - Ayşe E.

@Ayse: i try not to sort it out when it comes from him. - MikeAmundsen

Wow, and Newt is considered the brainiac of the modern GOP. - Andrew C

Thx, Mike. I don't know what I was thinking trying to parse that particular idiocy. - Ayşe E.

Yet another bulletin from the "vanguard" of a corrupt and degenerate ideology. Dustbins of history, seems appropriate here. - Rick Powell

Ignorant religious fundamentalism, most of it centered in the South, killed the Republican Party. Gingrich belongs to that wing of the party. Apparently he understands very little about the mentality of the geniuses who invented America (despite the fact that he fancies himself to be an intellectual and historian). - Sean McBride

It touches on the one thing that really bothers me about the US and Americans; some think that god is there just for them. The rest of the world has another god, who is inferior to the American god. - Rene Wirtz

Not all Americans Rene. Just too many. - Todd Hoff

@Todd: I know, that's why I said "some", while I usually use "most" :P - Rene Wirtz

Rene -- much of that attitude is coming from the Christian Zionist right, with their literalist Old Testament cult beliefs. They believe that Israel is God's Chosen Nation, that America is an appendage of Israel, and that both Israel and America are at war with all the rest of the satanic world. This belief system may comprise the most racist ideology ever to come down the pike. They... more... - Sean McBride

@Sean: how do they come to the conclusion that the US being an appendage to Israel? And I see that "we are better than anyone else" behavior pretty much everywhere, so it has seeped into normal day-to-day behavior, like sports games, etc. - Rene Wirtz

I just want to understand what's wrong with being surrounded by paganism? And what Sean said. - Helen Sventitsky

Rene -- they've invented a wacky and hare-brained theology out of whole cloth to justify their most predatory impulses -- see the writings of John Hagee, Pat Robertson, Mike Evans and other Israel First fantasists of that ilk. Neocons in the US MSM, like William Kristol, are closely allied with Christian Zionists. What they have done is construct a propaganda system which provides them... more... - Sean McBride

Rene, if not an appendage, the support on which is enabled to continue to exist since it formed. Which by their way of thinking means we must holier than anyone else (often forgetting Israel itself in that thinking, often casting Jews in the same shadow as anyone else not their sort of "Christian" light). If I've pissed anyone off, deal with it. - Michael W. May

Michael -- you've raised an important point; despite all their flowery and obsequious rhetoric about Israel, Christian Zionists would sacrifice Jews (including Israeli Jews) in a New York second to pursue their narrow Christianist aims. Israel and Jews are an ideological abstraction and game piece for them, not something grounded in reality. - Sean McBride

"John Hagee’s end time theology transmogrifies Christianity into little more than a death cult in which the State of Israel is worshipped like a latter day Golden Calf. Despite his weird views, Hagee has access to senior politicians in the US and Israel; he likes to brag that he has met every Israeli prime minister since Menachem Begin." http://onlinejournal.com/artman... AIPAC has given John Hagee a warm welcome. (One might say a riotous welcome, based on Youtube videos I've seen.) - Sean McBride

The current face of the Republican Party: angry, bullying, resentful, self-pitying, self-righteous, sullen, xenophobic. Not a pretty sight. Not a viable political program. - Sean McBride

I would agree, Sean, that such is not a pretty sight. Remembering my history of the last hundred years, though, I wonder and worry on how viable such a political model really is. - Steven Perez from IM

Steven -- do you mean that being noxious often pays political dividends? :) That may be the case when you think about it. - Sean McBride

@Sean: That Hagee fellow does look like a walking contradictory, the epitome of self-righteousness. I'm sure he believes that he is better than the jews who are forever in god's grace. - Rene Wirtz

@Michael: that's what I see in Magee's contradictory viewpoints, he certainly has declared himself holier than Israel and the jewish people. To me, it always has been strange to be AND christian AND a supporter of the jewish state/people, because wasn't it the christians who killed the king of jews, Jesus? - Rene Wirtz

You guys might like Rob Howard's work on religion and media: http://rghoward.com/ Yes, it's academic stuff, but he rocks. Plus, his book manuscript (under review right now) is called Digital Jesus. Gotta love that! - Katy S

@Rene Some Xtians are for the Jews because they have tied a successful Israel with the second coming (and end of the world, etc etc). The GOP is getting smaller and smaller and dumber and dumber... - Sandra

Steven Perez to Steven's feed, US Politics

The NYT's nice, new euphemism for torture - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com - http://www.salon.com/opinion...

June 6 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Nathaniel Thurston, Sean McBride, Rick Powell and 3 other people liked this

"The steadfast, ongoing refusal of our leading media institutions to refer to what the Bush administration did as "torture" -- even in the face of more than 100 detainee deaths; the use of that term by a leading Bush official to describe what was done at Guantanamo; and the fact that media outlets frequently use the word "torture" to describe the exact same methods when used by other countries -- reveals much about how the modern journalist thinks. These are their governing principles:" - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet

2 more comments

"intense interrogations"???? Will the NYT have the stones to be consistent and say the State Dept calls on Syria, Egypt, etc to renounce 'intense interrogations', or will it be 'torture' when foreigners do it? - Andrew C

It's despicable. - Rick Powell

Evil euphemizing by the once respectable New York Times. The inevitable product of the neoconizing of the paper. - Sean McBride

Ozer Wrzl (EN) to Ozer's feed, Funny Pics and Videos

Made of Wood - http://thehomebased.com/?p=205

June 6 from Bookmarklet - Comment - Like - Share

Kishore Balakrishnan, J. Abdul-Qahhar, Jeff P. Henderson and 16 other people liked this

GORGEOUS! - Ladybug Heather

2 more comments

Wait until it meets Termites. - Matt Ruiz

Cool. - Kol Tregaskes

WOW - ســیــد دســت خـالـی

Rick Powell › Likes