That's right Ron, I do sometimes put up barriers, espcially in the presence of people who keep saying the same stupid things over and over ad nauseum.

And I for sure tune out the shouting of certain others in Mudcat constantly. In the wake of this year's election, my psychic killfile is rapidly expanding.

Most of what gets said in these political threads (including a lot of what I say) is same old shit static, and comes from the same people again and again. They happen to be the most strident Mudcatters, who tend to be pretty close minded and entrenched in their political views. In some ways that describes me, but mostly it doesn't. I'm very comfortable with my place on the political spectrum, and don't feel insecure about it, the way mainstream folks into conformist electoral politics seem to be. That is my perception,sure. I don't expect that the people I think fall in that category will ever like me or respect my opinions, so I ignore a lot of them, and don't really give a shit what they or the Mudcat community cabal thinks of me.

You know, before the election, I never would have dreamed of Deaniacs uniting with Naderites, but today--voila! Crazy idea? Yeah, maybe. But if you can't creatively think out loud and dream up new ideas, all you do is argue and rehash the same old shit over and over, which is what has been happening in all these post-election threads.

Where's your new ideas Ron? How about all you other ABB Republicrats? What's shaking with you ABBs? Thoughts on what you did wrong, right, didn't end up mattering in the long run?

See, the problem I have is none of you have admitted you got things wrong, and I see absolutely no self-reflection, no self-examination, which means you are doomed to repeat yourselves in 4 more years.

I don't think the folks in Iraq can wait that long, fellas.

So! You boys going to join with the movements to the left of Kerry, like the anti-war movement? You all claim to be anti-war, hate war, blah blah blah but I don't see any of you putting your money where your mouths are! Are you, in the wake of the Kerry defeat, truly moving in that direction, much less taking any action?

Hell, I went to my first post-election anti-war demonstration yesterday! What are you guys doing to stop the war and bring the troops home?