Back stories and apologies, of sorts...

...or perhaps an apologia...let's see where this goes...

Greetings!

As it has been a while since I posted, I'm going to introduce myself, so any of the new folks reading this aren't buried under an avalanche of DU-insider nonsense.

My name is Will, and I've been a DUer since 2001. I was here for the tax cut crap, the faith-based crap, and the nomination of, and eventual approval of, John Ashcroft as Attorney General.

When the US military planes got bunted out of the sky by the Chinese fighter planes, I was here. When George W. made sure the captured airmen, languishing in China, all had Bibles to keep them company, while he quietly kissed Chinese asses to keep us out of a war we'd surely lose (because China ownes a ton of our debt and can end our economy in a day if they so choose), I was here.

I was here when the US submarine, piloted by the civilian political hack donor, destroyed the Japanese fishing boat...

...and that, friends, was God displaying a sense of irony: the guy at the helm was there because he funded the establishment of the USS Missouri as a museum, and the Missouri was where the Japanese surrendered in WWII...

...so tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor...

...because as near as I can tell, He (being God) caused a US nuclear submarine to wreck a Japanese boat on the Pacific Ocean, said ocean being the largest representation of infinity on the planet...

...and the submarine that killed Japanese sailors was piloted by a rookie looking to preserve the boat where the Japanese surrendered in 1945...and so here we have a US sub piloted by a Missouri booster destroying a Japanese vessel in a body of water millions of square miles in width and breadth...and this was an accident?

Let's all give it up for God, the King of Comedians. He's here all week...try the veal!

...anyway...

I was here for all the early in-fighting, the stuff that seems quaint by comarison to what happens around here nowadays. Back then, the name "Nader" was good for 392 posts in a thread. You didn't have to put anything in the OP. You just had to write "Nader" in the subject line, maybe put a ---> :) <--- in the body, hit "post message"...and watch the fur fly. No, for those wondering, I never did that...oh hell, yes I did.

Getting published on the DU main page was as exciting, and as much of an honor, back then as it is now. The first essay I ever got published here was about the Voters Rights march in DC way way way way back in May of 2001. Remember that? Remember when stolen elections were the worst thing we had to worry about?

I wrote: "At the bottom, the Voter Rights March was about protecting the basic American right to vote, and about ensuring that all the votes which are cast are counted fairly and equally. If this seems like a reactionary and foolish platform, bear in mind that by the end of this day, May 19th, I would meet a dozen people from Florida who believed their votes had not been counted. The hurt and anger in their eyes was fresh and electric; after 157 days they had not 'gotten over it,' and were I to make a bet, I would confidently put money on the idea that they never, ever would."

Ah, the simpler days...

Do you remember the first truly kick-ass five-star stop-the-presses post you ever put up here? I do. Still got it in my back pocket. I wrote an essay titled God Sees the Freepers for American Politics Journal...and super-duper old-schooler couchpatater put up a thread to take note of it...and look how cute and tiny we were! Oh God...sffreeways, whyzayker, Johnyawl, Hamlette, zan, geniph, comsymp, JJ, enki23...*sigh*

...anyway...

I was here when James Jeffords woke up on the wrong side of the bed one fine day and flipped the Senate to the Democrats for the first time since 1994...and I was here for all the hopes that were created by that historically bold move...and I watched the Democratic leadership not know what to do with their newfound power...

...and I was here when Enron shit the bed, when everyone came to know the umbilical ties between that doomstruck corporation and George W.'s political fortunes...

...when the required Enron investigation went nowhere...

...because Joe Lieberman was chairing the controlling committee (thanks to Jeffords, Lieberman got to be a committee chairman), and since Lieberman had taken phattt (that's triple-t phatt) Enron dollars, he wasn't about to let an investigation into Enron, Congressional donations from the aforementioned, and the White House's umbilical ties to the aforementioned, get rolling for real...so there was a lot of talk...and no follow-through...and after a few calendar pages, I was here when the Democrats lost the Senate again in 2002.

Bill Grieder wrote about the wretched Enron Democrats phenomenon brilliantly for The Nation, and you can read about it all here. I suggest those who give their love, cash, respect and fealty to the Democrats, without reservation or condition, should read that article twice and then submit a book report.

I was here when there actually was an "Underground" on DemocraticUnderground. In those days - for any of you who don't know the back story - we were all scared to death. No one could quite believe what had happened in Florida...and DC, when that SCOTUS confab got done on December 12, 2000. Yeah, I remember the day. It was raining in Boston that night. I wrote an article for a webside that doesn't even exist anymore titled "Not My President" the night that decision came down. I finished it with the words, "Never forgive. Never forget."

So we were all feeling like we were on the run - and this was before 9/11, mind you - and I found this website, run by three guys brave enough to rock a DU banner along the parade route during the counter-inaugural demonstration for George W.'s first swearing-in. These three guys (Skinner, Elad, and EarlG) (!!!) busted out this forum in January of 2001, and only a few brave souls dared to speak the truth out loud here. The three guys, who have since morphed into "The Admins", had a bare-bones version of this site running, and had a special forum called "The Underground" going at the bottom of the forum stack.

It's funny, thinking about it now. There is no way - NO WAY - those three poor bastards, who had no idea what they were getting into with this thing, could ever get away with having a private "Underground" invitation-only section of this forum today. If you asked them, they'd say it was a bad idea to begin with - exclusivity, etc. - but what did they know back then?

It was all scary mayhem in the winter/spring of 2001. Given the GOP right-wing crazy-ass hammer that was about to come down on us all, it seemed wise at the time to have a password-protected nest for the warriors to talk...unencumbered by interpretations/distortions/attacks from the outside internet world...which, some may recall, was dominated by Freeper assholes, who had figured out the effectiveness of this medium way before we on the Left did.

Those asshats Freeped the screaming dog out of this place for days and weeks and months, relentlessly, and almost drove this site out of existence...but the "Underground" forum was where the resistance could be organized, and the bastards were beaten back. If you can get to the archives of "Old DU," you can read it and see it for yourselves. It was epic.

I was not here for those first few weeks of mayhem, and sadly, most of the DUers who stayed here and fought the good fight back in those days are gone now...and if any of you happen to read this, I tip my hat to you, and genuflect, and bow and scrape, because you made this place live and survive and thrive, and you know who you are.

(If you like DU, say a quiet thank-you to those fighters, who were here when posting on DU was a blood-sport...and, it bears noting, when Skinner and Elad and EarlG hung in and fought in the trenches along with the best of them...thankfully, they have the place so excellently patrolled by mods that they have been able to sheath their swords)

People here back then really, truly felt like they were working an "underground" back then. (Sidebar: after 9/11, we were all worried that the whole internet would get shut down in some draconian recinding-of-posse-commitatus lockdown, and so I organized a collection of email addresses in the event DU went down, so we could all keep in touch. Yeah, it was that important, and that scary, back then)

Nowadays - thankfully, and due in no small part to the admins, writers, and forum members here - we have no shortage of people today who feel/think/know that something has gone berzerkely wrong with this country. Back then, when the television was chanting the mantra - "This is an orderly transition of power...this is an orderly transition of power...everything is fine, all is well...this is an orderly transition of power..." - most of what you'd call the "old-schoolers" here felt like we were going insane.

Can this be happening?

Did we really just witness a broad-daylight election theft?

No one around me thinks this is worth raising hell about...oh my God...we just lost the country...

...and then we found this forum, and spoke our darkest fears, and were greeted with welcoming arms (more often than not, those arms belonged to Crewleader, who is and will always be the best of us, period and end of file), and we got to talk about how horrifically messed up things were. We felt like we weren't alone. It was a balm that is, so many terrible days hence, hard to describe. But it was real. It stood us up. It gave us courage. It fortified us. It reminded us that we had allies, and strength, and a reason to fight.

A good example of the darkness back then comes to mind...

Remember the day the anniversarry of Roe v. Wade came, not too many days after the inauguration, and the anti-choicers held their march in DC? Before 2001, their march was angry, frustrated, thwarted, pissed, and thank God (or Buddha or Yahweh or Vishnu or simple good Fate) for that. But on that rainy day in 2001, they marched on the White House with signs waving and banners flying, and they did so with soaring and shouted joy, because they knew they had an ally at 1600 Pennsylvania...

...and we here knew it, too, and we despaired. And we congregated here...and watched...and waited for the ram...

...and some of us went "Underground."

It was totally dumb, in retrospect. You posted here a while, wrote for the front page maybe (that was my in), and they'd invite you "Underground" after they decided you weren't a Freeper mole or a maniac. If you got tapped to join, your login and password would allow you into the "Underground" forum (much the way the mods get access to the moderator forum by logging in these days).

It was, for the most part, a secret place to organize a coordinated defense of the forum when the Freeps would stage an assault. People would get together to tag-team kamikaze Freeps, like that "L" guy - "Lothar" or something, I can't remember his name - who were always here looking for trouble. The "L" guy I can't remember was always in what you'd now call the "Gun Dungeon." We'd coordinate battle plans and drive them out.

(his name was lonster...I just remembered...oh lonster, you old meat puppet...)

I was actually the one who got the "Underground" shut down (who brought the cool kid, right?). Somehow, we got a Freeper infiltrator down there...someone who knew someone who knew someone who left their computer on while logged on to DU (I assume, or seem to recall, but it doesn't really matter), and a Freep clicked through and then posted on FR, "Hey look, I'm in 'The Underground,'" and posted a few copy-and-paste lines from inside there to prove it...and someone forwarded me the FR link, and I went goofy. Totally barmy.

I posted a thread in GD: "EVERYONE GET DOWNSTAIRS RIGHT NOW," because we Undergrounders called the Underground "downstairs" when we were in the regular forums, and in the Underground I posted a thread titled "There is a Freeper in the Underground," and linked to the evidence, and we were so cute and tiny, and it was so deadly serious, like someone was dirty-dicking the crown jewels or something...and the admins figured out what happened and shut the Underground down forever.

It was disappointing, back then.

It is kinda funny, looking at everything I've written so far, to remember what passed for "disappointments" back then. Bush v. Gore was a disappointment...and the fact that no Senator backed the Congressional Black Caucus to challenge that result was a disappointment...and the Dems geeking up the Enron investigation was a disappointment...and the approval of Ashcroft was a disappointment...and the passage of those tax cuts was a disappointment...

...and then...

I was here on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001. I was teaching high school back then, writing on the side, no books or nothing, and the massive, throbbing, world-eating ego I am so widely credited with enjoying today existed merely as a wee kernel, an acorn, some potential energy looking for a kinetic kick. I sat in a basement office in a small high school, getting ready to teach Journalism I, then Journalism II, then Freshman English, then I got lunch, then back to teaching Grammar, and then Sophomore English, and that was supposed to be it for the day. An easy day, for the most part. I had my first two periods free that day, and was in early, and was surfing the web for my daily dose of data before the kids came flooding in.

I remember being excited. You see, Newsweek had just previewed a kick-ass edition where they were going to blatantly and explicitly call the 2000 election results into question, and were going right to SCOTUS to do so. We got word about it on Monday the 10th. It was supposed to come out on September 11th.

We were PSYCHED. All of us. It was a DU Block Party on the 10th. We were organizing mass purchases of that edition of Newsweek, we were gaming up for a full-court-press...

I don't know how many of you remember this, but George and the crew were in deep, smelly poo as summer waned into fall back in 2001. Serious, stinky poo. The tax cuts were being ripped by spectrum-wide pundits, the faith-based nonsense was getting laughed around the block, and W. was looking every inch the hopeless rube we've known him for so long to be. They might as well have written "One-Term Dunce, Just Like Papa" on his forehead.

He was meat.

On September 3rd, 2001, I wrote an essay titled "Late to the Party," about the press and the Democrats finally having some hard public words for this bonehead, for another website that doesn't exist anymore. I said this at the end: "As for Mr. Bush, he is about to learn a lesson that Bill Clinton once eloquently described: never make enemies with people who buy ink by the barrel."

Things were looking up.

Once upon a time, someone here on DU posted a comprehensive list of all the headlines of all the editorials - all dated September 10, 2001 - that were attacking Bush et al, in all the newspapers across the country, for his stupid and/or reckless and/or unconstitutional and/or did-I-mention-stupid policy initiatives to date. It was a long, long, long, long list.

I'll say it again: he was meat. One-termer-train-wreck-road-kill-deer-in-headlights-oh-God-thud meat meat meat on the hood ornament. Over and done, mistake erased, do-over extraordinare. We had all worked here to get the truth and wisdom out there, even in our cute and tiny state of affairs here on DU, and that Newsweek article (plus everything else) was going to be sunshine on our faces. We felt justifiably proud to have helped move the pile towards the truth.

Things had been so hard until then (we thought). It had all gotten so bad (we thought).

...and then...

I saw the first thread posted in LBN - "A plane has hit the World Trade Center" - and tried to get on CNN.com, and couldn't. Too busy. It was early, classes had just started, and I pelted upstairs to get a TV going in the library with the words from the third poster in that LBN thread - "This looks like terrorism, folks" - floating in my eyes. You can find that one in the archives, too. Bring some Pepto Bismol.

The long and short of it: on the non-computer side, I had to deal with a building full of kids who were looking to me for answers: "My mom works in the Prudential building, will she be OK?" and "Is this World War II, Mr. Pitt?" and "My dad had a meeting at the World Trade Center today, can I be excused to use the phone in the principal's office?" and "What's that sound, Mr. Pitt?" when the incredible roar vibrated the ceiling during Journalism II, and that question I could answer, because the roar was familiar from the 1999 All Star Game at Fenway Park when the fighters blasted over the ballpark and set car alarms off in my neighborhood, and so I said, "That's the sound of F-16 fighters circling the city, remember when they did the fly-by during the All Star Game, so we're OK here, everything's fine, everything's fine, fine, fine..."

On the computer side, DU and LBN were basically the only sites that were accessible. I lost my brains. Completely. Between the kids looking for me to explain what was happening, my own fears for the girlfriend working in the tall building downtown whom I couldn't reach because the phones were jammed, the raw blow of watching those buildings fold up on the fuzzy-screened TVs in the library, the casualty guestimates flying around because tens of thousands of people worked in those buildings and if they were all on time to work that day they were all dead, the wide and varied reports of additional attacks - "Car bomb on the Washington Mall!!11" - and the blunt horror of what was unfolding, I was simply unable to cope.

I pulled that day, in fact, what may stand as my first and, arguably, most formidable Full Fuckup on DU. I posted a thread stating flatly that we all had to stand behind the President during this time. Bigass bold-lettered post. It seemed the thing to do, given what was happening. I don't know about you, but politics took a back seat to thinking about rescuing survivors and going down to the hospital to give blood...and some of the hard truths about what was really going on were still out there in the fog, and all I was thinkiing was "Gotta get through this," and so there was that post.

You can dig it out of the archives if you want a good laugh. Boy, did I get my ass kicked. The only redeeming moment for me in that one was a post by an Admin - Elad, I think, or maybe Skinner - backing me up and saying yeah, this is right, we're all Americans today, let's do what we must.

Funny. Or not.

The best man that day, for your information, was Khephra, who is no longer with us. Kheph was someone who started here kind of meekly, feeling his way, but eventually became the Main Man in LBN. He was on disability and couldn't work, and so his work was to be informed and to inform.

I got a chance to step into his information nexus out in Indiana before he died; he had three televisions set to CNN, MSNBC and C-SPAN, plus his computer with half a dozen news screens open, and he was basically the guy every cubicle rat on DU thanked God for. He posted every tidbit of everything, gave minute-by-minute breakdowns of Senate debates on C-SPAN...and on 9/11, he was the guy who gave the rest of us the information we needed to keep from eating our own heads off.

What to say since then? How do you quantify before-and-after? How do you measure the depths of the disappointments and horrors that have come since then?

And, of course, what does any of this have to do with a thread titled "An apology, of sorts..."

Simply this.

I have been here for a long time. I started here exactly like just about everyone else: I staggered in the front door, found a roomful of like-minded people, and said "Oh thank God." I used this place to vent, to unwind, to get unhinged, to get informed, to inform where and when I could, to sharpen my debating skills, to void my bladder on the occasional invading Freep...but at the beginning and the end, I posted here to be with and to plan with and to commiserate with people who saw the same writing on the wall I did.

That was the whole purpose of the place from the get-go.

Somewhere in the last couple of years, I became a name. I worked very hard to make that happen, to be sure. 18 hours a day, 350,000 miles across to and from pretty much every state in the nation...hell, we all started here wanting to do something about what was happening, and I did my small part to take up that call, and in the process managed to become a writer and a speaker that others looked to. I wouldn't be doing *any* of this, probably, if it wasn't for DU. I decided to try to do something, and managed to work myself into a position where I could.

While I was here, I did a few other things. I posted a lot, and not always well. I can spin the written word sharply enough, and sometimes used that ability to throw unnecessary and ill-advised beat-downs on people I disgreed with. I got involved in the 2004-election-primaries brawls with a will - pardon the pun - and was too often rude and obnoxious and short-tempered and foolish. I made a fair number of enemies, many of whom had (and have) a legitimate beef.

The sticky part came when I forgot that I could no longer be "just another DUer" and couldn't let fly whenever I chose. You know what I mean, because if you've spent any time here, you've done this. Yes, you have. You get angry about the news, the state of things, some Democratic failure to act, and maybe you get a glass of wine into you, and you flame away on the keyboard...and then come back the next day hoping nobody remembers or gives a damn that you were throwing haymakers and acting the fool.

Once upon a time, I could do that. I did. Nowadays, though, I flip out here and it becomes a thing. I can't come here and vent and be an asshole, as is a standard DUer-in-GD-don't-deny-it-you-know-it's-true-you-ve-done-it-a-dozen-times practice. I miss being able to do that...but so much for that noise. As the Good Doctor said, buy the ticket, take the ride.

The stickier wicket, aw hell, let's be honest and call it the stickiest wicket, came when I posted the truthout story that Karl Rove had been indicted. Another thread in big block letters.

For clarity: Truthout stands by this story, today as yesterday, as described on the blog page. Period, end of file. I am not speaking for them in any official capacity, because this is a personal thread, but I can read the TO blog as clearly as you can. If you want more than that, consult an astrologist, or talk to someone besides me. Read the first sentence of this paragraph again if further clarity is required on the basic premise.

I am not going to engage in any back-and-forth about how TO handled and/or reported the story, and if you're looking for that brawl, look elsewhere. TO stands by the story, and that's where it's at, period. The truth will out when Fitz is ready to share.

I am writing this to address my own behavior on this forum when the story first came out, because my behavior deserves both an explanation and some apologies.

One thing, before I get into this, about my silence regarding this issue and my absence here over the last weeks. The Rove story is the biggest story Truthout has ever handled, and there was a lot of attention on us. A lot lot lot. I learned, from hard experience, that really basic comments here would wind up on 200 blogs in 0.000004 seconds.

The choice: a) Keep posting on DU and excruciatingly measure every word, syllable and letter to make sure I'm not saying anything that can be taken out of context, twisted, manipulated, or simply misunderstood...or b) Keep my mouth shut and not complicate an already-complicated situation.

I chose "B," which, for those of you who have spent a lot of electrons posting about how appalling it is that your questions didn't get answered, is the answer you get. I owe an apology to the DUers who have been forced to slog past all the threads along this particular line. I wish it could have been different, but that would have been irresponsible. I hope you understand.

Moving on...

I wrote this long history of my own involvement on DU because it has to do with the night I flipped out here several weeks ago. Like I've said, and as evidenced by the stories above, I've been here a while. I wish I could say that every moment I've spent here, and every post I've made, has been good and clear and solid and righteous...but I can't say that, because it isn't true. I've made plenty of messes, and more than a few enemies.

...and all of that came out in technicolor after I posted the Rove story.

Here's the thing, and you can winkle out these threads yourself: On the day I posted the story, and several times afterwards, I said it was good and fine and appropriate for people to reserve judgment. To wait for further proof. To wait for backup. I knew what I knew, and had (and continue to have) 100% confidence in the veracity of the report, but for reasons of source confidentiality etc., I could only say "Here's the story" and wait.

Over the first 48 hours after the report was posted, there were three different kinds of posts: the people who said "Wheeee, right on!", the people who were going to wait for further proof...and the people who set about making the whole thing personal.

Personal. Ugly. Awful.

I put all the stuff above about my time here into this post so I could maybe give folks a basic idea of how awful it was when the attack dogs were loosed on me. I couldn't believe it. These were not people who wanted the story to be true and were angry when confirmation didn't come. These were people who started, right out of the gate, attacking me and Leopold and truthout as liars and bullshit artists. It was immediate, and extreme, and very personal.

I have a lot of those threads and posts bookmarked, but I'm not going to hang them up here, because I do not want this thread to get tagged as a "call out." Let's just be clear about this: a lot of the people throwing that wretched stuff around disguised themseves as "just asking questions" when they got challenged for their attacks.

Bullshit. They know it was (and remains) bullshit, and so do I, and so do any discerning readers. That whole carnival was about nothing more or less than settling old scores. It was a bloodletting, plain and simple. Sadly, the best (meaning the worst) posts were deleted by the mods.

Sure, I earned this to a large degree, and admit that to my own shame...but I'll freely admit my own shock at how it all rolled out. This is what happened: A couple of days after the story was posted, I logged on again and read yet another barrage of incredibly vile attacks...

...and I lost my temper.

I lost my temper and posted a bunch of incredibly stupid crap, subsequently deleted or locked, all of which I regret putting up here.

I lost my temper. There's no way to sugar-coat it. I couldn't believe this place I had spent so much time in could turn on a dime and dole out so many hurtful, personally hurtful, deeply hurtful, statements. I flipped out. I can't take it back, erase it, smooth it over. I blew my stack and vented my spleen. Once upon a time I could do that safely...but then again, once upon a time I could log on to DU and not see 15 GD threads attacking my character, so...selah.

In my subsequent lurking, I've read a bunch of comments from people who seem to think they are owed an apology. Here we come to the nub.

First and foremost, I apologize to the community in general for doing something that generated a whole blizzard of threads which detracted from the main mission. It was, simply, stupid.

I have already apologized to Skinner, and he accepted my apology, so that's that.

Getting to some specifics: I put up a post on my flip-out night that got locked, in which I made a variety of declarations about "moles" and "cretins" and "fuckwits." Subsequent interpretations of this thread apparently augered towards the idea that I was attacking people who doubted the story, attacking people who were waiting for further confirmation.

Not true.

As I stated many times in many threads on this matter, doubt is good and sane and totally understandable, especially under those circumstances. Those of you who thought and/or think that those insults were aimed at you, because you doubted and wanted further confirmation, are the ones to whom an apology is owed.

I am sorry. I did not intend to single you out, I did not want to single you out, I was not attacking you, and those of you who doubted and wanted further confirmation were not not not the intended targets of that post. I cannot emphasize enough my full belief that no one should ever, under any circumstances, dog you out for doubting and waiting for official word on that story. Least of all me.

I accept the full responsibility for this, because clearly, I did not write my intent and meaning in a way that was clear. I apologize for any sense you may have gotten from me that doubt, waiting for confirmation, or anything else along these lines, was anything other than totally appropriate.

Now...as for the "cretins" and "fuckwits" who made this whole experience brutally personal, who inspired the thread that has been much ballyhooed, you know who you are, you know that you were the intended target of that post, and you get absolutely, positively no apologies from me in this or any other life. Hammerhead sharks could take feeding-frenzy lessons from you...which makes me wonder to what degree you need hobbies beyond this online life. Seriously.

I felt bad about that specific post for a while...and then I was angry for a while...and then I got out and did some activism, and tried to make a difference in the real world, and I felt better. I got some distance. I have not always been at my best on this board, and I have made some enemies, but no one deserves the kind of poison that got hurled my way, and that sucks...but you know what?

You know what?

I forgive you. You can't help it. For whatever myriad reasons I don't ever want to know about, you are how you are, and that's how it is...and yeah, you're going to be a drag-anchor on the movement every second you're involved, because like the hammerhead shark, you cannot resist the scent of blood, even if it is the blood of your own kind, and that sucks...but a) it is what it is, and b) we will prevail even with you trying to drag the rest of us down into the wacky behavioral sink God saw fit to drop you into, because we are collectively better than that...

...so it's cool. You're the kind of online people that give online people a bad name, and you've always been here, and you'll always be here, and bravery is cheap when there's only a keyboard and a monitor to confront, and you don't have to look someone in the eye when you write the kind of vile stuff you'd never have the guts to say face to face, and sometimes I have sadly tap-danced near the edge of whatever abyss you float in, to my shame...

...but I am not like you. Above and beyond all the other differences between you and me, there is this: The first day I signed on here, before I was anything more than an anonymous high school teacher, when I had the chance to be another anonymous screen-name and nothing more, I had to decide what to call myself here. It was 2001, and the deal had gone down, and we had a lot of work to do, and I had decided that come hell or high water, I was going to do my part.

I signed up as WilliamPitt, the name my parents gave me on my first day on the planet.

I can certainly be a bastard, an asshole, a jerk, name the perjorative and at some point I have qualified for it, but I sign my real name to everything I do, for good or ill. I have it in the back of my mind that this kind of self-generated accountability is worth something in this wild-west online hoohah. When I do good, I do so under my real name. When I blow it, I do so under my real name. The swings are pretty wide and wild, and maybe if I were another anonymous "BushSux2008" name out there, it wouldn't be so nuts.

But that doesn't feel right to me. If I attack you, if I insult you, if I make a fool of myself, my real name will be right there. My name will be there when I apologize for it. My name, my real name, will always be there. I'm never going to do this whole mess the right way all the time, or even half the time, but the least I can do is sign my name to what I do. I always have. I always will.

So enough of all that.

I hope those of you who deserve an apology will accept what I've offered. I meant it sincerely. I hope those of you who don't deserve an apology but somehow expect one can maybe someday escape whatever lonesome shabby reality you currently writhe in...and as for the rest of you, I simply hope all this made sense.

I've been here a long time, and have been here pretty much through everything this place has seen and endured...and now, I can say I know what it is like when the attention of this place becomes fixed and personal. Pretty much the full experience.

I hope it makes sense when I say I sometimes forget that I can't just pop off and take comfort from the venting. That used to be a great balm. I'm going to be flying a little bit more under the radar from this point on, not out of any hard feelings, but because beyond anything else, I've simply learned that I can't just be a DUer anymore.

I have, frankly, lost the thread on this post about seventeen times so far, so I am going to post it and see what happens. Resist the temptation to read into this too deeply...or at least, please try not to be insulted by whatever portions I failed to nail down or make clear or whatever. There is a small group I am disgusted by (as, hopefully, are you), but the majority of you deserve my apologies and my thanks. I hope I got that part right.

Jesus. I've been here a while.

I'll be lurking.

to go. All I can say is, I welcome you back with open arms, Mr. Pitt. Point me in the direction of one flawless human being because I have yet to meet one.

:hi:

(I don't know that any more needs to be said. Good to have you back)

:)

Have not been here as long as you, only since before the 04 election, but your post have always received a lot of attention in the past, most of it positive.

You bring back such fine memories. O8)

I'm so glad to see that you have come Home. You are loved so much more than you realize. True friends embrace most aspects of ones characteristics, even the shortcomings....Jeepers, that's how friendships evolve and grow. I told everyone that you just needed to " process" things, climb out from behind your firewall.


Here is Will.....:hide: :hug:

Why a smiley would be hiding in a chimney I don't know. But then again, I've always had a screwy imagination.

Oh yea, Welcome back Will! This is a wonderful story, and as someone who has only been here a year, it's great to get to know you (and by extension, the site itself) through this essay.

I have always been impressed by your authenticity. That includes everything from using your real name, to the things you posted after Andy passed away, to your conduct throughout this whole brouhaha. Who wants their friends to be perfect? I would much rather have genuine people to talk with! :)

You are a gifted wordsmith, and I hope this whole mess doesn't blunt your output in any way. Your fans here may not be as loud as your detractors, but they are many times more numerous.

thanks for the explication - i really was somewhat dumbfounded at what happened here during the Rove-TO thing. this helps a little toward enhancing my emerging enlightenment. (and it's not YOU that confounded me, either!)

i know your commitment to "the cause" to be 100% true-blue, and your use of your real name is actually one of the clues to that!
happy lurking, mr pitt.

welcome back

as I read all these threads, and realized that any reporter could get timing wrong-like you, I think the indictment is a done deal. I still read your posts with interest, as I feel you have a way with words that allows one to understand your points clearly and easily. My husband still starts his day reading TruthOut.

Having said this, I understand about how mean the web can be. I wandered from forum to forum for a while, often immediately attacked because of my name (my user name is my spiritual names put together, more real to me than my birth name). DU was a breath of fresh air, even with the arguments and fights.

I'm glad you are back, even in lurking mode. Please know this poster always welcomes your thoughts and ideas, as she always has.

Love and Peace.
Ayesha Haqqiqa

In getting another board closed down... I know how cruel the internets can be:)

And whenever you do hear something new on the Fitz deal, or TO is ready to go public, or whatever, remember to give us the first heads up. I'm counting on it. And I think you will, because you ARE still a DUer, and you know it.:) Thanks for the history lesson, by the way. I loved reading about the old DU. When I think of how I was still still desperately slogging through the corporate news media in those days, I could cry.

Welcome Back, Glad you are still here.:hi:

Welcome back.

I'm still reserving judgment on this, too, but I hope to God the story is correct.

BTW, we need another "I make in my pants sometimes" post in the Lounge. Maybe on the Kudzu Mk II thread.

I've always respected and enjoyed your posts. :)



WELCOME BACK
John Sebastian

Welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out
Welcome back, to that same old place that you laughed about
Well the names have all changed since you hung around
But those dreams have remained and they've turned around
Who'd have thought they'd lead ya
(who'd have thought they'd lead ya)
Back here where we need ya
(back here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

We always could spot a friend, welcome back
And I smile when I think how you must have been
And I know what a scene you were learning in
Was there something that made you come back again
And what could ever lead ya
(what could ever lead ya)
Back here where we need ya
(back here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back

And I know what a scene you were learning in
Was there something that made you come back again
And what could ever lead ya
(what could ever lead ya)
Back here where we need ya
(back here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back

Yeah we tease him a lot, welcome back, welcome back
Cause we got him on the spot, welcome back, welcome back

Yeah we tease him a lot cause we got him on the spot
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back

:)

Edit: To make clear that I'm not John Sebastian.... sheesh! :dunce:

We'll have some more before we see the light.
Such is the nature of activism. It certainly is not a popularity contest.

pause only to pity them. take a deep breath, and do what you need to do without apology.

than you are.

Your posts are always honest (occasionally to a fault). Your motives are beyond reproach. Your intellect is sharp, your writing is sharper. Your temper is epic. Your self critique is relentless and I am glad you are back in the pool.

As Will would say : End of file.

I agree with every word you posted. Thanks for saying it so much better than I ever could have.

being picked on by "elitist" DUers. That's the Will Pitt I remember.

Welcome back. :hi:

I understand what you are saying Will

keep on keeping on

make enemies... that is to be human

Make them in the cause of protecting democracy, liberty, noble cause, freedom of speech in these beginning years of the 21st century... that is to be An American Patriot.

There are many, many American Patriots. That they are more visible now it partly due to the DU and all those early members who spoke truth to power way before it was cool

:toast:

And I recall a night, early on in my time here, when a young, promising journalist/teacher/writer was a bit spooked cuz a cop car was parked outside. The Man was watching.

We all knew and understood that particular fear and the fear of wondering if we were just paranoid or if they were really out to get us. We knew the fear gnawing on that young man in Boston. We all felt the same vague sense of not being safe in our homes anymore because we were liberals who dared to speak. We all were breathing shallow, waiting for crack downs and roundups any time.

We were with you that night, Will. And though all of us have disagreed with you a time or twelve and many have been offended, most of us are with you still.

My ol pappy once told me: Never trust a man who is liked by everyone. That's a man who is not as he appears to anyone. That's a man who never tries to be honest.

You are not that man, Will Pitt. And I like you just fine. You're OK. You're a damned fine American.

Might be kind if Skinner would consider allowing you a sock puppet screen name so you can post like the rest of us and vent when you have to without it becoming some crusade. We all need a place to let it fly. We all have the bastard streak in us. It is what makes us great. We are the rabble that rocks the world and we need our playtime to keep us healthy.

To DU and all the great people who knock heads here :toast:

To DU's absent friends, may their souls watch over us and keep us honest :toast:

Well, okay. Goodbye for now.

"Somewhere in the last couple of years, I became a name."

forget the ...911.... me... I.... 911.

against what certainly smells like 3 week old bullshit.

erm, actually 3 week old bullshit doesn't really smell much, it's just manure. Good for the garden.

I ME I ME I ME

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

I feel like some one out there has a true compass. That is all I really need from you. Not a creed or scientifically proven theory.Just someone who can write and help me see through the fog of this weird and twisted political madness.

You know there are so many who are trying to reach for truth and common sense and when it gets close it is ripped from us and we are presented with another altered Rove truth.

Will, I can't express myself like you can, but I can feel the media blinders being placed and replaced over our world. You bring me the glimpses that keeps me from getting so far out there without a touch line.
I remember the risks you have taken and I know the need you have, to stand up.I have that too but am not able to convey it like you.

I know you will continue to be who you are. I just wish you also have need to share yourself with us. As Strong and True as you see it.

Nicely done.

:toast:

It is important for people to read it. All of it. K&R.

:D Kidding, kidding. Nicely wrote. I remember when. :hi:

I won't be snarky, but you do seem to have a need for attention, which is fully understandable given your career choice. You could have just said "sorry", or not anything at all.

Perfect.

My motivation: a simple sorry/explanation didn't seem like enough. I also like to write.

Funny, though. It's just one thread. Exactly one (1).

Somehow, posting exactly one thread qualifies as "needing attention."

Do all the other fifty thousand threads on DU represent people "needing attention" as well, by your standards?

Do you, perhaps, need attention, and seek said attention by posting such an odd question?

I'm not an attention seeker, just thought I'd ask you a question. Consider yourself a target of my general mood today, lol. :hi:

:rofl:

:rofl:

... to judge of things snarkilicious...

I think we've snarked each other enough to be called snarkologists by now!

;)

hilariously. What a kill-joy, you are! Shouldn't you be posting to one of the forums of the other, more "sombre" side, shall wwe say?

Who's made more DU comebacks, you or trumad? ;)

with Walt Starr a close second.

:)

thank you from a newbie who has always enjoyed your posts and now more fully understand the backdrop.

Carole

He and I go quite a way back, and I recall a lot of the history he cites. :hi:

Payback hasn't nearly been completed.

:P

Next book tour, it's all yours...unless you have a publisher that springs for a real tour...

who made a newbie feel welcome! Go Steelers!

Actually, since you know my kid, you know it's nearly impossible to keep anything straight. I didn't mean to post under you but, hell, it happens!

Yes, we've made it to the mountains. Still missing Austin-proper, but not the heat!

:hi: backatcha!

Edited to add: Speaking of drool!

Glad you made it to the mountains. Good to see you again. :hi:

WP,

That was so interesting reading all that went down on DU before I got here. I guess the operative words for me are: I didn't know -that.-

I guess all the kefaffle is history too... now.

I've always enjoyed your meaty, passionate, writer type posts... keep em coming.

Sue

I don't think you're the only one who had to step away from DU temporarily, and indeed, it WAS ugly. My "ignore" button was activated for the first time since 2004, and it has been my friend.

I don't agree that you can't post as "just another DU'er", although maybe you have to be a little more careful about what you post sometimes, since sharks do seem to be waiting.

That post was LONG, but damn that boy can write!

At any rate, it's good to see you back. I just don't think you should let that very vocal minority achieve their goal. You add too much to DU to let that happen.

of recently but i really enjoyed reading all of that and am glad you came back....even if not to post as often. :hi: :hug:

and a "name" like 3rd, fourth or fifty-first depending on any day ending in y. Your voice is heard because it is used - that would be a bigger loss if you were silenced because of a few rabble rousers rather than the appreciation of the many.

:toast:

I have loved reading your posts since I found you on Smirking Chimp a long time ago. Thank you for this one - it was an amazing reminder of why we so desperately needed DU in the first place. I really hate to see you lurk and not post. And where is Crewleader anyway??

Check the baby boomer group if you're looking for an old friend!

I should have begun reading DU years ago!!

both here at DU and elsewhere. Thank you, and I hope you keep up the great work.

I knew you'd turn up eventually. :pals:

While I am in the "wait and see" camp, I knew that you had your heart in it and was sad to see you and TO get trammeled so without anyone having any more knowledge than we did at the time. Or do now, for that matter.

Good to see you again.

I've only been here since the '04 "election". But whenever I see a WilliamPitt post it's always the first I click on. You are in the trenches. You are speaking truth to power. You are only human, but you are a human worthy of great respect.

"...but you know what?
You know what?
I forgive you."


The big J-man himself may have said it first,
and many great peacemakers have said it since,
but nothing sounds LOVE-lier
ever.

xox

:grouphug:

i will gladly accept what you offer, on your terms.

you are one of du's strongest attractions... we are better as a whole, for your presence and participation.

ldf

Peace.

Glad to see you back.

It takes a big man to do as you have. Many others wouldn't.

That's all. :)

it's surprising to find a secret forum at DU

It hasn't existed for almost five years now.

what is the issue now :shrug: :hi: and yeah! my middle name is 'Star', you got some problem with that, pal x( so don't start with me buddy

sorry you had to 'sail the seas of cheese'...
that blows ~

It's one of those words that I always enjoy encountering.
It's great to see you back here and always a pleasure to read your prose.

:-)

:D

I've been here even longer than you Mr.Pitt, so I've seen and read it all... and I do mean ALL.
As a matter of fact, I do believe I was one of the first people you pissed off around here, long long ago.

What is this now? Round 36, 37 ??

Learn to stop treating people the way you do, and all this long-winded apologizing wouldn't be necessary.

Welcome back again. (as if anyone ever thought you were really going to go anywhere)

-chef-

"Learn to stop treating people the way you do, and all this long-winded apologizing wouldn't be necessary."

How many long-winded apologies is this, now? I'm aggravated because if anyone else treated people the way Pitt does, they would have been laughed off DU many apologies ago. I'm sick of "cult of personality" crap like this, but I guess it's human nature. There will always be new people for him to alienate.

They make you old and ugly before your time...

I'm just saying.

Interesting politics being exposed for all to be aware of anyway.

Oh, I see it has enough recs already. It took me over an hour just to read it.

They know that the good part of Pitt's long-winded half-assed apology is meant for them.

Now he's back, our lovely vacation from all the strife is sadly over.

Good job. Good man. :thumbsup:

And you're right ... you can't be "just" a DU'er anymore... you are one of the most high-profile posters we've got, and sort of a public figure, for better or for worse. Nevertheless, I hope that doesn't stop you from continuing to stick your toe in the pool from time to time. :hug:

... the "24 business hours" thing...

I really feel like truthout treated me like they think I'm so stupid that they could just make up the stupidest cover-their-ass-explanation-the-world-has-ever-seen and I would fall for it.

Maybe that's not what truthout *intended*, but the fact is, that's what it *feels* like.

"They're telling me I don't know what "24 hours" fucking means. Christ they think I'm stupid." - that's the feeling I had as a result of truthout's actions. And I haven't seen anything that addresses this *feeling*. They've tried to defend the *fact* of the phrase - with better or worse success, depending on your perspective. But they haven't said anything to address the *feeling* that was conveyed.

If it weren't for that, I wouldn't say a word beyond "Dunno - let's wait & see".

Hopefully that makes sense.


EDIT: Thanks for the note - though I didn't comment directly on it, it's still appreciated.

between people who made vicious personal attacks on TO, Pitt, Leopold, etc., and those, who, like good DUers evaluated the logic of the story as written. As an analogy, if the story was about economic policy or some other area where I feel I have some knowledge and experience, I would examine the story and perhaps poke holes in it or fisk it. Then if I was set upon by defenders of the story, I might ruthlessly fisk what they said. None of which is a personal attack, although it can seem that when when a cherished argument or belief is beaten to submission and is sobbing on the floor crying for its momma or papa. Sometimes too, ruthless arguments can slide into mockery or sarcasm even with the best of intentions, especially if the other side draws first blood.

as soon as Will makes ANY post at all, one of the people he is referring to will post a snarky remark for absolutely no reason that I can see, except perhaps rampant jealousy and intent to be hurtful. Some folks here have it in for him. In all the 5-1/2 years he's been on the board I've been here also, and I have absolutely NEVER seen Will strike the first blow in the battle of the nasties. He sure has a temper, though, and when it is set off it is an awesome display.

:hug:

And to me there is no mistaking your passion for self-importance. I don't know you personally Will, but I can tell by reading what you write that you are passionate about your beliefs and some people don't understand passion. Luckily it was a very small number of people that don't "get it".

to work, wordsmith. how many cafe americanos did that take???!!!!


good job, lets move on....

is that what is was? i was thinking, cocaine, it's a hell of a drug :-)

As someone who posts rarely yet has been reading nearly daily for a while now, I greatly appreciate the history you've shared. I'm another one who has always thoroughly enjoyed your writing, and look forward to more. Please don't simply lurk....like me....lol.

When Rover is taken down, I will be happy. I took your posts and the oppositions posts in stride. Nothing to get mean about on either side.

Posters come and posters go and everyone has a bad day. I should say several bad days since dubco came to town.

I may be wrong, but I have no one here on ignore and I sometimes avoid telling some off. Alert is your friend. :rofl:

Welcome back to the fray and I hope the "others" are reasonable.
:dem:

we are all human, all blow it occasionally. You, however, are stuck with fame which adds an extra bit of attackingment. Keep lurking, and posting.

many times. Oh well. :shrug: But that being said, I gotta give you props for your passion and your writing abilities and acknowledge that you've been mighty brave posting under your real name. Most of us have our reasons for posting anonymously. Me, I have a kid to worry about.

None of us is perfect, and I admit that my Irish temper often flavors what I post around here, but most of the time I try to direct my temper at the bastards in office and elsewhere who are ruining and destroying this country and it's people as well as the ideals this country was founded upon. :grr:

I was one of those who gave you and Truthout the benefit of the doubt because while not only do I think Rove being indicted is more than likely true, I also know what ruthless and devious liars Bush & Rove & the rest of the thugs can be. The fact that most of the attacks on you were personal, is just stupid because the bottom line is that we're all in this together aren't we? Don't we all want to see these bastards rot in prison and know for certain they will fry in Hell?! Jeez! You would think everyone would be jumping up and down for joy at the news and give the story all the support it was due, instead of waiting for the story to be officially vetted by the corrupt corporate media whores and the liars in office. :eyes:

The way things have gone the past 5+ years, Hell will probably freeze over first. :sarcasm:

:shrug:

Pick up your sleeping bag, and never again eat the brown acid.

we get to add to our ignore lists from this thread ;)

still, I'm glad someone did.....it's kinda easy cause they seem to travel in teams, and ignore is so much better than feeding them by responding.

My bro always said I missed a couple days of charm school and never found that bush others can beat around. (These days, I ask him to refrain from using the b-word)

Such a tidy little package it is too!


:hi:

for putting out a sensationalized story without verifying facts or following up on less-than-reputable sources, it is not over.

Are you going to apologize to him if/when it turns out that the TO story was correct?

I've asked that question many times and I've yet to find a person who would. Telling, really.

...just wow :(

you would ask, "How many more days are left in the 24 business hours?" Which would make you seem a lot more intelligent, or at least more sober, albeit no wiser. I think even a small child could answer that question, "There are no hours left in the 24." So why would you ask it?

Why would I ask why you would ask him why he asked?

You'd have no reason to participate in a thread. So you should be thanking me...

You're welcome.

for the suckerpunchlowblowcheapshotdogpile comment I posted.

Hammerhead sharks *snarf* They finally caught ol' Hitler, the 1400+ lb H-head shark that hung out at Boca Grande and was the scourge of Tarpon fisherman. Here these guys would hook up with a fish of a lifetime, a huge 100+lb Tarpon, spend 2 0r 3 hours trying to land it, get it up to the boat only to have this huge monster bigger than their boat come and chomp the silver king in half while it was all tired out.

There is a lesson there, somewhere

When I'm skimming through the "Latest" page, yours is one of the few names that will always make me stop and click through to read the whole post.

And I really enjoyed the DU history lesson. I didn't discover this place until sometime in 2003, and have spent a lot of time since wishing that I'd found it sooner. Would have spared me a lot of confusion and loneliness in those days. Thanks for giving us a taste of what it was like.

:donut:

The Undrground Pitt, or something like that.

:eyes:

sue me. We can't all be Mr. Spock.

Mr Spock is good at math :D

The OP made at least 10 spelling errors in his long winded, self-serving piece of tripe.

Charming.

Perhaps not.

Accurate? Yes.

I'm not trying to "charm" anyone, unlike the OP.

And I've never been enamored of sycophantic hero worship.

It's bad enough seeing it on display ad nauseum by right wingers, who can't seem to help themselves.

It's far worse to see it displayed here on the left.

(And, btw, why is it that you felt it necessary to point out shadow's spelling error, yet you haven't pointed out the numerous spelling errors in the opening post, or the myriad of spelling errors of other posters on this very thread? Just curious. I make it a point not to point out spelling errors or typos because we all make them, but when you deliberately call someone on what was obviously a typo, as you did above, then it does beg the question about your selectivity in drawing attention to same.)

True enough.

I'm sickened by the hero worship myself - you won't see that coming from me. But I do recognize an asset when I see one. Like it or not, Will is a big asset to DU - at least IMHO. I will assume that you disagree?


As far as spelling goes - well, when the sarcasm is that thick, I just think it ought to be spelled correctly - you know what I mean?

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

1) I have to alert on that personal attack - even if it wasn't against me - I hope you understand...

2) My intent was obvious when I used the words "when the sarcasm is that thick". I make spelling and grammatical errors all the time.

I can't tell from your question what you're actually asking.

LOL. I have an idea, get a life.

I could respond pointing out how pathetic, lame and silly your response was ... or I could just say, in keeping with your pathetic, lame and silly post,

"I have an idea. Get a life"

Oh, there's an idea.

to Nazis seems tremendously misplaced. I can spell, you cannot; does that make me someone who would like to kill millions of people? If you really want to be taken seriously, you not only should learn to spell, but you should also grow a faculty of judgement, so you can determine when to pull out the big guns.
Cheerio!

I even realize it's on the top of the page. I left out a letter. Also not a perfect typist.

There's a thread posted RIGHT NOW in GD labeled "Health nazis." Better post your complaint. Really. I can tell how upset you are by this kind of thing. I'm just sayin...

:eyes:

The DU history, the personal history, and your take on the way people have reacted to the Truthout Rove story and you personally.

I think I even like you more now than I did before. But then, you have never been rude to me, at least not so far.


:hide:


:hug:

Is there a website or something where people can get offical Pitt-bots gear? You know, t-shirts, hats, decoder rings?

:rofl:

And I'm sorry you probably didn't see my post about angry mobs with torches and pittforks.


:)

I respect and admire you very much. Thank you for sharing your talent with words with us and PLEASE continue to do so!:pals:

peace and low stress bra. Take care, give care. :D

And thanks for proving yourself to be the stand-up guy I always thought you were.

This post took guts... and more than a little faith.

I'm in the "the rest of you" group... thankfully I never saw the threads that started the snarkapoloosa. I'm glad I saw this thread though. Let the healing begin.

The one thing I'll say on the Rove story subject is that many here think BushCo's actions or reactions can be dictated by history and law. And they think the alphabet news services who lie to us on a daily basis are the only source that can confirm the TO story. Oh, brother. BushCo do not adhere to, nor do they recognize any law. And CNN still lies.

I think you are due an apology from many. I doubt they will ever be as stand-up as you just were, so there'll be no holding of breath here.

Welcome home... hope you stick around. I appreciate your perspective... and perspective is absolutely everything.

Peace

Juniper Lea Woodruff

If it's good enough for you, I'm in.

with 10 point Verdana font and one half inch margins all around!

You have the start of a new book, Will. Your personal history has brought back a lot of memories for me, including how long I wavered about becoming a member of DU rather than just lurking (started reading DU about April 2001, but didn't actually log on with a password until 2002). And of other message boards and friends lost due to the invective brought about by nasty, no-holds-barred politics.

If I may make the suggestion, go back, edit your apology of sorts to use as an introduction, then interview as many people as you can for a book about DU...

DU has been a launching ground for new careers for several people (including you) that we know of...how many that we don't? Several prominent members have moved on to the next astral plane, but not before inspiring countless others. So many of us came here finding an island refuge of similiarly-minded (if not like-minded) people when friendships were being decimated and one learned to keep one's mouth SHUT because one's job was being threatened when one expressed doubts about Bush and the direction he was taking us.

I'll even give you a working title Days and Nights with the Underground

I'd buy it. Bet loads of other DUers would too.

(on edit: left out a clarifying word)

bound in leather with gilded edges;)

page books! :(

I'm a substitute teacher. Circus elephants get paid better than I do!

Police and teachers need more pay! You, of all people, deserve gold around your edges.

Thank you for caring enough about our kids to put up with that.

classroom teacher because of the way schools are run and the increasing interference of state and federal government into curriculum. That is a whole other thread (or two), but our children's educational opportunities are being destroyed by idiots who probably could not pass the tests they require of eighth graders. :grr:

around here sometimes and a person can only take so much. You're an excellent writer and I read all your peices. Please, keep 'em coming.

You're one of DU's biggest assets, IMHO.

You've worked hard at making yourself a name, and done a damn good job at it, why else would I open a gibberish thread in the lounge if it hadn't been posted by will pitt.

I'm a few months behind you, coming to the party after 11 sept., I remember feeling outrage that day, outrage that such incompetent morons could have allowed the attack on us.

I've witnessed the DU wars as well, what doesn't kill you will make you stronger, DU has grown strong with each passing day Skinner, EarlG, and Elad become more formidable foes of this regime.

You, Will, you have helped shape the Democratic Underground into a name that strikes fear into the black heart of the neocon and the rnc, so lurk for a while, but the real fight starts soon and we'll need you for the big push.

We'll meet again though all the hosts of Mordor stand between us.

Giving Up, For Keeping Up The Fight, Peacefully, And For Writing Everywhere You Can With The Honest Goal Of Restoring True Democracy In The United States In Mind, For Our Families and Good Friends In Your Country, And For The World.

You Guys Have Our Back. :hi: :patriot:

(We need to fight that scary neocon Harper before he causes too much damage to our democracy here also, or the only alternative we'll have could be to vote for an independent Quebec at the next referendum.)

..and I must admit that your posts were among those that first hooked me on DU. Rock on, WP. :toast:

And... don't let the fuckwits get ya down!

:hi::evilgrin::hi:

I could care less about the fact someone lost their temper and insulted other anonymous posters in a political chat room. What really pissed off readers was the continues indifference and insistance that a story was right, when it was clearly wrong. Treat your readers like they are intelligent and they come back for more. Treat them like they are 3 year olds, by insulting their intelligence, and your actions shall dictate the outcome.

All some are looking for is an admission that the story was wrong. Journalists, newspapers, news programs, editors, authors and bloggers issue corrections all of the time. It's professional, it's the right thing to do, and it's not a lot to ask for in return for reading the material.


Instead we get a sermon from The Church of Me.

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Nicely crafted smack-downs. I gots ta get me to Scotland some day and hear the banter you grew on.

HavocMomma, but inhaling flattery at 4 minutes to 1 in the morning, isn't a taste that took me more than a nanosecond to acquire. I'll be leaning back again in my chair, savoring it with a beatific smile on my mush, after this gets posted?

I thought your post was awesome, actually, but this is beginning to sound like a mutual admiration society, so I won't expand on it.

"Snivelwits"!!!!!!!

:rofl:

that was great!!!!!!!

in any thread that might be upsetting to you ~ it's simple really, just avoid them.

As for what 'some are looking for', I think most of us figured out what 'some' are looking for quite a while ago!

:shrug:

:hide:

Thank you, THANK YOU, for not throwing DU out with the bath water.

:toast:

I've only been here since before the election of '04 and am a slow poster, as evidenced by the post count (though now I'm trying harder to bring it up) so I don't expect my post to matter much here.

I just don't care about the "cult of personality" issues (anyone else thinking of Living Colour?). I've been involved with online sites, especially ones that have hidden, invitation-only forums, for many years - since '95, actually. It's inevitable that some people will piss others off, even on a regular basis, some people will earn near-celebrity status and be practically worshipped by some, some people will be trolls just for the fun of it, etc. It's just the way online forums work. I've seen so many instances over the years of people posting something all pissy, storming off, then eventually returning with an apology. Hell, I've done it myself at other forums.

*shrug* It's just the internet. It matters, but it's not everything.

And I don't know if you'll take this as a relief or an insult, but to some of us, you're still just a DU'er, no more or less important than any others.

I fully expect that your post will go unheralded by the OP groupies, and surely my opinion will mean even less among the "pitt faithful" since I've only been here for a couple of months, but your post strikes me as well considered and well written.

He (the self proclaimed "magic man") is "just another DUer, no more or less important than any others", but he seems to have a hard time wrapping his mind around that.

Thus, the 14 page long self-serving diatribe. Sheesh.

And you're right, the same crap happens all over the internet. When freepers engage in this kind of behavior, progressives and DUers rightly dump on them loudly and proudly, as it should be. But when it happens here.... a whole bunch of sycophants step up to the plate to act as freeper stand ins.

Sad, that.

...I feel genuine distress when reading a story such as yours, my dear Mr. Pitt. I mean, how would YOU feel if you were constantly reminded that there is an emotion that you have never, and most likely NEVER WILL feel in your lifetime - this thing called regret! My God, man, what am I to make of the fact that, simply because I am infallible, I can never be emotionally complete! The horror!

Ah,....I couldn't resist. Sorry.

Great to have such an informed and eloquent writer back from his self-imposed exile. We need you here, sir.

Welcome home.

(On edit: And that's speaking as someone who has been here just about the same amount of time you have, though the post count doesn't reflect it.)

I believe it was one of your essays. I've felt at home here ever since. I've seen our family squabbles, and seen us reconcile, or lose a member for a variety of reasons. Just like any other family, we try to get along with a wide variety of egos, personalities, and needs. I'll be 63 this coming Monday, so I've been able to view a fair amount of disagreements without getting upset. I raised teenagers, and lived to tell about it.

What gives us strength is that, in the end, regardless of how we get there, we want to arrive at a time and place where we can undo the most egregious Constitutional violations committed by the current regime. We want to end the war, and to return to some sort of sanity. We need your voice, and others, to keep us from losing faith, or hope. My own overwhelming feeling after Bush took office in 2001 was to seek out others, to try to find a place where I could unload my disappointments, give cheer to others, and not let the truth be completely drowned in a sea of gloating neocons.

If DU were an opera, I'd be a spear-carrier, one of the background. I could not take a lead role, because there are so many more qualified than I. Remember,though, the opera is more effective with the chorus. I'm happy I can do that. Thank you, Will, for your post.

Reporters sometimes smell "the blood in the water" and occasionally hasty Journalism can result. Flame away.

Nowhere.

Many of us, including me, attack Leopold and the TO article for being false a hundred ways from Sunday.

Did I find ONE word in your post that said WE APOLOGIZE for the May 12th date?? Here's a good start: "It apears the May 12th date may have been in error, or our sources may have been incorrect." Or, "After further investigation we found that Patrick Fitzgerald was NOT at Patton-Boggs office that Friday, like we were led to believe." Instead, I get "trust us" and "thanks for standing by us" crap that is supposed to pass as "updates." Not good enough.

The buck stops THERE, Will, not with any synopsis of your DU history, not with any autobiography nor any shots at the keyboard warriors who hit below where you think your belt is. They live on all boards, and the list of people who they torment goes way beyond you, and goes to a degree that I hope you never experience. As for me, I am not a big fan of ego, and I rarely fawn, so don't expect any hosannas. Don't expect personal attacks, either, but also realize that apologies work once, maybe twice - after that the emperor does indeed lose his clothes.

Give me answers, you get my respect and my admiration.. Give me pablum about a story that sits two steps away from BatBoy written by a reporter who resume should be set on fire and you get neither.

That's about it.

Easy, tiger - I sympathize with your distaste for claims being made without a shred of publically verifiable evidence, but if they're standing by it, there's not much else to do...

If you followed any of the flamefests, you'll know that I'm in no way, shape or form one of the credulous-i-don't-need-no-stinkin-evidence DUers. I'm just suggesting that a bit of logical consistency would be appropriate from our side, the pro-evidence side.

If they're standing by their story, it ain't right to ask them to apologize for it.

for my taste.
but I'm strange that way, a bit sick and tired of hearing That ole line and maybe unrealistically expecting a bit more.

You agree that he deserved to lose his job and quite possibly should have apologized onscreen to the American public. That's what "this" sounds too much like to me.

I was asking for some meat on the bones, if you will.

As if, "we aren't apologizing and here's why" <insert definitive reasoning here> but that didn't happen.

I'm still staring right into "we may be just ahead of the news cycle", and that just doesn't cut it.

For me, anyway.

I just can't seem to catch up with the goalposts.

... the substance you were hoping for was definitely not there, and appears to NOT be forthcoming anytime soon.

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but I'll be damned if I know what.

Down to seeds and stems again??? :)

So be careful who you call on that. 'Least ma pardner there didn't take 6000 words to say he ain't saying shit.

(See? I can do folksy Americanisms as well!)

Which is a plus. :)

doesn't appear to be your strong suit. Why don't you go back and read what Will Pitt was apologizing for?

and wondered if I should post! The thought of being labeled as part of the "cult" is almost as bad as being labeled as a hammerhead!

Will, you are human. Things go wrong, things go well :shrug: it is part of our fucking existence. We are all too keyed up, rightfully so, but we should not be so keyed up that we lose track of our generosity.

With shock I saw what was happening here. It is understandable to a point but it passed that point early on IMO.

I guess I just wanted to say that you have always been generous to me (except once on the night of the last congressional elections and the damed servers were too slow for me to respond or I might have had to apologize to you! See, I can't forget either, lol) but life did go on. You did become a name but still under that name you are part of us. It was reading you that eventually brought me here to DU.

Still I don't know why I am posting except maybe just to let you know it is OK, at least with me. That really makes little difference but still as a quieter part of the community I felt the need to let you know.

I think you should get yourself a second screen name so you can enjoy the fun that the rest of us anonymous DUers have of being free to be complete assholes without ruining your good name.

That way you can have your own Mr. Hyde that can vent, spout wild theories and generally have the freedom to indulge your Id without having to worry about your ego, just like the rest of us.

You could still post as Will Pitt, but reserve that for whan you want to be Will Pittish.

Just a humble suggestion from one who uses the least-used part of his real name as a screen name. :)


P.S. I've been massively apathetic about the whole Rove/Truthout thing, so I missed most of those flaming threds. I guess I'm just as well o npot having gotten caught up in it all.

an asshole by any other name still smells of shit. I actually don't think Mr. Pitt is an asshole. Hasn't ever been to me anyway. I just can't resist a chance for a Shakesperian pun.

I have personal experience on this. I was once fairly well known in my area. Small fish, small pond but I was in radio with a significant listenership for the area. Anyway, later after I got the old corporate boot from that I started my own mini-production company/ad agency. Long and short of it I used to lock horns on a local webboard with several of my contemporaries and eventually my identity was revealed. A few people took it upon themselves to then smear my name and my family's on that board and in public at any opportunity. They were indeed successful in some respects in hindering the growth of my business. The point I guess is that fame, no matter how large or small your fifteen minutes are, can be a burden as well. In that I completely sympathize with you Will.

Since TO's credibility is now down around that of World News Daily, I think it's appropriate.

.

This is the number of personal "I" pronouns in this 6151 word very personal post.

Is this considered excessive?

Will, I never stopped believing you could come here and be an asshole anytime you wanted. ;-)

I can't believe how fast and hard people here can turn on a fellow DUer. I've never been as high profile as you, but I've been savaged for a post or two (or twenty).

don't be a stranger.

and certainly the fact that I can whip out my bitch claws in 0-60 flat (regrettably at times) I can understand how anyone can lose their heads once or twice with what we have all gone through in the last few years.
There really shouldn't be any apology necessary--because you were provoked.
However, it's really nice to see that you offered on up.
:toast:

Just glad to see you are back.

I must admit though I didn't read that long assed post either. :o

Don

is from TO for the damage they've done to independent journalism.

After all the years of you being here, I felt the absence.

I remember the days when you were a champion freep-fighter, and now you do it on a much larger--and frankly more important--scale.

Good to see you. :hug:

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But the Whole first edition of "War and Pitt"?

LMFAO!

:thumbsup:

I appreciate Pitt's writing, but wow, could that have been any more "me me me I I I"?

He'll stop lurking after his hissy fit is over. He always comes back.

But it can be done.

NT!

But I timed how long it took me to read the thing with a calendar.

"I've learned nothing, care little, and am paid by the word."

:shrug:

... if it was a Pitt post that said "I just took a dump" it would have gotten 50 nominations.

:spray:

eom

That sounds like what I would have expected, and saved me a lot of time.

:eyes:

it was I who was chewing Pitt's butt out on election night November 2002 for his behavior that evening. Did he listen? No.

It's always good to have a cold frosty one while watching thread fall out, for better or worse.

Someone dumped a mama cat and her 6 new kittens in one of my back barns this morning. One of the little black and white females is snuggled up on my lap - want to hold one? They're also good for keeping the blood pressure down. (Anyone want a free kitten in about 6 weeks, pm me!)

Keep your chin up and kick on. Glad you are back!

the cheap and ugly attacks on Mr. Pitt and Truthout, I sent a check that is 250% more than my usual annual contribution to Truthout this week.

... I'll do the same re: Truthout donation.


pro-Bu$h = Anti-America

when the ugliness was peaking.

Gotta go do take care of some business...

a positive message.

:thumbsup:


Peace.

Truthout provides an important service, and deserves the support of progressives/democrats.

So there!