Archives for Friday, 4/29/05

Ooops. Almost forgot to give you guys your weekly sandbox. Hey… let’s see if we can try to keep some of the off-topic stuff in here where everything is on-topic.

[NWPT42] This morning I received a phone call from Detective Melinda Wilson, of the Seattle Police Department’s Internet Crimes unit, investigating allegations that I have repeatedly made “online requests” to “engage in sex with minors.” Apparently, one or two individuals have anonymously made three separate complaints to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s (NCMEC) CyberTipline.

I cannot tell you how deeply disappointed I was to receive that call.

But of course, I’ll try.

I understand that I piss people off, and have come to terms with the fact that if I am to continue to honestly, openly and passionately express my views, I am going to attract the occasional threatening phone call or antisemitic email. And since my lack of anonymity makes me an easy target, I am aware that there is always a risk, however slight, that some rhetorically hopped-up right wing wacko — unable to effectively combat my words with his words — may resort to a deadlier weapon.

But this… this is beyond the pale.

There are few crimes more heinous or despicable than molesting children. But it is not the false accusation that offends me most, but rather, that precious resources have been diverted from investigating real crimes against real children… all so that my anonymous accusers could enjoy some sort of petty, political retribution against me for having the gall to speak my mind. In their mad rush to crush dissent, these conscienceless, cowardly brownshirts were even willing to exploit the exploitation of children, making themselves accomplices to the worst sorts of sexual predators.

You want to fuck with me…? Use a little imagination! There are plenty of ways to do it without harming innocent children in the process. But this shameless harassment not only shows how little my accusers care for the lives of innocents — and how much they truly hate democracy, hate free speech, and hate America — it is also a sad illustration of how fat and lazy some righties have grown on their spoon-fed media diet of Rush Limbaugh and Fox News.

What the fuck were they thinking? … “I don’t like what this guy writes on his blog, so I’ll just accuse him of being a pederast. After all, he’s a dirty, immoral liberal… everybody will believe it.”

[Deep breath.]

Before I continue, I should take a moment to reassure my friends (and respectful enemies) that I am not under any criminal investigation, so I should suffer no repercussions from this incident beyond this morning’s disturbing phone call. The police have a responsibility to follow up on all such allegations — as they should — and I appreciate how informative and supportive Det. Wilson was in explaining the circumstances. I was relieved to learn that the NCMEC actually receives very few fraudulent complaints, and these, like mine, tend to clearly stand out as such. I did not ask Det. Wilson whether she would investigate my accusers for criminally making a false complaint — in truth, I’d prefer the police use their limited resources to investigate the types of crimes of which I was accused.

I do not know if these accusations were the work of one or two isolated wackos, or the dirty trick of one of the right-wing organizations I frequently skewer. But either way, we should not lightly dismiss this incident, as I think it is representative of the growing mass hysteria emanating from some on the hard right’s angry fringe. Listen to talk radio, or read the posts on the right-wing blogs, or even in the liberally moderated comment threads here, and you’ll see that there is no crime, no moral outrage of which some on the right believe their opponents are not capable. This demonization of “the other” not only provides the justification for attacks such as I have suffered, but I fear it also represents a kind of mass projection that gives us a disturbing glimpse into what these people are capable of themselves.

Still, I suppose I should be flattered by the attention… or even grateful. For while the likes of Michele Malkin and Matt Rosenberg apparently feel the need to manufacture outrage over alleged left-wing conspiracies, my accusers have obligingly provided an example of how low some on the right are willing to go to punish those who dare to disagree with them.

I suppose there’s a reason the right-wing blogs are so intolerant of anonymous trolls… if they don’t know who you are, they can’t get you.

As reported Thursday in the King County Journal, Dino Rossi has once again firmly denied that he plans to run for U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Maria Cantwell:

Rossi, however, seemed to slam the door on that possibility Wednesday.

“I have four small children and I’m not sure how I’d make it work with the family without upheaval and difficulty for the kids. So, that really is not my focus,” Rossi told the Journal during an interview at his campaign headquarters in downtown Bellevue.

“My focus is running for governor and being governor of the state of Washington and turning the state around. So I’m not running for the U.S. Senate. I’m running for governor.”

Indeed, Rossi officially launched his 2008 gubernatorial campaign back on December 8, 2004. And I take him at his word that he’ll continue running for governor for another three and a half years. At least.

Of course, not everybody puts as much faith in Rossi’s honesty as I do. GOPolitburo Chair Chris Vance is such an accomplished liar himself, that he gets dizzy with cognitive dissonance at the thought of believing anything that comes out of a fellow politician’s mouth. And so he equivocates:

“There are people and organizations who will want to change his mind,” Vance said. “The senate campaign committee will try to persuade him otherwise.”

Or so Vance fears.

I have long speculated on Vance’s own comically grandiose quest for his party’s Senate nomination, an ambition I’m told he impetuously let slip as early as last election night (possibly after tipping back a few too many celebratory toasts.) But with the eventual nominee being chosen via a caucus in Karl Rove’s office, the odds of a Vance candidacy are about as good as that of Rossi winning his lawsuit. (Translation: “not good.”)

And finally, for those of you who think I’m just a partisan, flame-throwing windbag, I’d like to toot my own horn for a moment by congratulating myself on my sharp, analytical skills. While others have dwelled on the dynamics of a Rossi-Cantwell horse race, I have repeatedly stated that Rossi would not run for the Senate in 2006, (to borrow Marsha’s self-referential methodology)… here, here, and here. One can come off looking awfully foolish putting one’s political prognostications on the record, so you can’t blame me for patting myself on the back when one of my predictions comes true.

Speaking of which, you heard it here first: Maria Cantwell 52%, Rick White 47%.

Of all the contributors to (un)Sound Politics, Matt Rosenberg is perhaps the one who I kinda, sorta, maybe, almost respect the most. His politics are less predictable, his vitriol less vitriolic, and his writing more writerly than his fellow Drudge wannabes. But judging from his most recent post, I fear his coconspirators may be driving him snark raving mad.

Following the lead of conservative blogger-babe Michele Malkin, Matt bravely alerts the public to the latest threat from the vast liberal “moonbat” conspiracy: a nationwide plan to vandalize newspaper boxes on May 9!

Yes, if there was ever rock-solid evidence of the ever-present dangers emanating from us “Left Coast Lunatics,” it would be the um, anonymous posting of a poorly spelled call to arms, on Seattle IndyMedia’s “open-publishing wire,” that at last check has received fourteen comments… all of them negative. Meanwhile, the thread on Matt’s own (u)SP post contains several comments supportive of vandalizing the liberal press, including one idiot who suggests targeting “blue” businesses in general. Okay… that last comment was facetiously posted by me, but that’s besides the point.

The point is that the normally kinda, sorta, almost responsible Matt apparently has no qualms about casting aspersions on “Seattle moonbats” by citing a bullshit post of unknown provenance on an open blog, as evidence that the left is filled with idiots, sociopaths and common criminals. This would be like concluding all of HA’s readers are homophobes, because one of my anonymous, whacked-out holy-trollers apparently gets a kick out of typing the word “bunghole.”

It’s dishonest, misleading, and just plain lazy. And I would assume, embarrassing.

You’re better than this Matt.