May 1, 2016

To my fellow Hillary supporters: this isn't the time to gloat.

I have been lucky enough to see few posts actually doing so, but even a few are too many.

Because I was her supporter in 2008, and really did believe in her vision, I remember how disappointed I was when I had worked my heart out for a candidate who came so close, but didn't win. It didn't mean I approved of everything she did or said, but I was proud of her for being gracious in defeat once all votes had been counted. I was proud of her that, even in her letter to the Superdelegates asking them to consider her, she said no matter what that she would work to unite the Party.

The people who worked (and are still rightfully working) for Bernie, for his vision and message, are feeling the same things Hillary supporters felt after the math was just no longer sustainable for Hillary. Feeling disappointment, feeling helpless since despite all their work Bernie doesn't have a great shot at winning anymore, feeling voiceless particularly if they haven't been able to cast a vote yet, and feeling like the Party doesn't care about their issues.

The last thing they need to help overcome such feelings is for Hillary supporters to gloat, suggest their vision wasn't a good one (it was), suggest they were insincere, or suggest that just because they can't, just yet, bring themselves to vote for the likely Nominee that they are actually supporting the GOP's values.

For everyone, no matter what another person says or does to provoke us, it's our responsibility to choose our own reactions. There have been horrific attacks against Hillary that, in my opinion, remind me of what I expect to see on Free Republic or Redstate. But if posters like that drive you batty, we have the ignore feature. There's no need to take the low road.

Essentially, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. That's the best thing Hillary supporters can do right now -- be sympathetic and as a result, take the high road.

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On edit, just to be clear, I admire the people who can engage those posting majorly OTT attacks against Hillary without resorting to personally attacking the user saying them. I try -- sometimes with humor, sometimes with facts. But there are some things that have been said that all I can do is alert, and some posters repeatedly saying them that made it better for my serenity to let them have their DU, and let me have mine.

But at some point probably before August (at the latest, Labor Day) this website generally goes into "GE Footing". Whoever our Nominee is, he or she will not be subjected to those attacks on DU then, unless Skinner changes a long-standing TOS provision. People making those attacks repeatedly will lose posting privileges.

Also, there is a difference between being happy for your candidate's win, and happy for another's loss. The only people I might gloat a little (edit: okay, a lot) at their loss have Rs beside their names.

April 29, 2016

Oklahoma: Where raping an unconscious person's throat is legal if they were drinking.

http://www.rawstory.com/2016/04/oklahoma-court-rules-that-forced-oral-sex-is-not-rape-if-victim-is-unconscious-from-drinking/



Sorry if dupe, but it just hit my FB feed and I'm outaged.

I never actually thought my state, Arkansas, would have better laws regarding sexual assault than others, even Oklahoma. But despite the antiquated term "deviate sexual activity" to refer to oral, anal, or penetration with an object, it's all class Y Rape if the victim was unconscious -- even if the unconscious person consumed the alcohol or drugs willingly.

For our definitions:



Any of the above would have covered what happened in that case.

Oklahoma legislators have some work to do.

April 28, 2016

Why, and why not, to "Call It"...

First, a primer for people who aren't familiar with DU's process:

Every election season, at some point, DU goes into "GE Footing". The reason is pretty clearly stated in the TOS:

The reason why DU must, at some point, enact this policy isn't truly to discourage Democratic participation, but because it's impossible to tell if a poster's criticism of the Nominee or other Democrats running is legitimate concern or GOP baiting. If you've never served on the MIR team, you may be blissfully unaware of just how crazy it gets -- but even outside of election season, DU is such a popular forum that GOP trolls show up all the time.

It's also because even if we may never nominate a perfect candidate, WHOEVER we nominate is better than the alternative. Obama, as great of a job as he did, was not in politics long before his election in 2008. Continuing to harp on that after he was our Nominee wasn't going to help us defeat McCain. We needed to be working on building him up, not tearing him down. He chose a running mate with a great deal of experience in public service, and that's one way we deal with a nominee's less than stellar attributes. No President does it alone. Hillary will, if she does win the Nomination, look for a running mate to overcome her own negatives. I'm not sure who she'd pick and who would say yes, but I have confidence it will be someone both experienced and to her left on several areas. (Would Dennis Kucinich accept? I always liked him.)

Finally, people want to come to DU and see constructive discussion of how to make our party and country better. Primaries, while they are ESSENTIAL to our Party and Democracy because we do need a chance to vote our conscience, and it's the way we show the direction we want the party to go -- can get extremely ugly when we become attached to our candidate. There comes a point when the ugliness is not helping the Party anymore.

But there are also good reasons NOT to rush to a call, (and no, they don't include things I wanted to slap my candidate for saying in 08).

First, we still have states that haven't voted. Even if the math seems terrible, they deserve the chance to vote. Until they get that chance, suppressing their voice on DU too is not going to help with the fact they may rightly feel disenfranchised already because their states are voting so late.

Second, people who are passionate about the Party and their candidate deserve some time to come to terms with what our election gave us. I don't think our process is anything close to perfect, but we can try to learn and make future primaries more Democratic. We need to listen, as a Party, to those in it who have legitimate criticisms of how the process played out this time, and try to make positive changes (alternatives to Saturday voting, just as one example). If we do listen, and do try to work together, it will help people feel less ignored, shunned, left out.... and that's a huge theme I am seeing here among dedicated Bernie supporters.

Third, those dedicated and passionate supporters have obviously demonstrated they do care about the Party enough to actually participate in the Primary process, which speaks to their ability to work with the Party if they are welcomed instead of feeling like they are tossed aside just because their candidate didn't win. I want to see civility and constructive work to get Democrats elected. I want to see that passion help us in the General.

So instead of asking Skinner to "call it" just yet, I propose that those of us who want to have Democratic Underground not suck try to reason instead of attack... sympathize with instead of insult, listen rather than assume...

And try to remember we really are on the same side.