Let's hear it for Annabel Park of Silver Spring, MD, who, when really upset by the Tea Party Movement and it's Fox News promoters, started a response movement in her living room: The Coffee Party Movement. And, wonder of wonders, it has caught on... enough so that I've added Coffee Party to my blog rolls. Here's the Coffee Party Mission Statement:

The Coffee Party Movement gives voice to Americans who want to see cooperation in government. We recognize that the federal government is not the enemy of the people, but the expression of our collective will, and that we must participate in the democratic process in order to address the challenges that we face as Americans. As voters and grassroots volunteers, we will support leaders who work toward positive solutions, and hold accountable those who obstruct them.

And here is Annabel on how she started it all: Interested? Then go HERE and join the Coffee Party Movement. I did. Under The LobsterScope

I had to travel for work today and so found myself in the car for several hours.  On the way to the work site this morning, I tuned into Rush (yes, that Rush) for a few minutes.  Not long, but long enough to hear him indirectly call teachers, nurses, and social workers "losers and nobodys".  I wonder if he interacted with any nurses while in drug rehab?  I also heard about 7-year-old girl Obama trashed America to.  And then I heard about Michelle Obama.  And then more Obama, and then more Obama, and then more Obama.

On the way back from work I tuned into Sean Hannity for a few minutes (yes, that Sean Hannity).  Just long enough to hear about a twelve year-old girl Obama trashed America to (maybe these were two separate incidents?).  And then I heard about Michelle Obama, and then more about Obama, and then more about Obama.

Interestingly, I heard almost nothing about McCain.

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I think that these quiet murmurs about the possibility that Senator Obama may "flip" on Iraq are correct.

You guys are gonna go absolutely ballistic when that happens, so I want to share my thoughts on this one, because it won't mean what a lot of you will probably think it means.  I'm not saying you're children (far from it) but your passion will mean that you miss a very obvious signal, and you won't read the details of what's suggested.

And that's a terrible mistake...

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This diary is an open letter to the MyDD community.  

What has been going on here is outrageous.  Not only are some saying crazy things about the candidates, but more troubling... about other users.  Personal attacks like troll, shill, despicable, loser - well, you get the point.  This is not partisan either.  Both HRC and BO supporters do this and ought to be ashamed of themselves.

I would like to take a moment to remind everyone of the site rules:

* Users who are bashing or attacking any other user on the site, including authors of diaries and frontpage postings, will be banned. Candidates and politicians are fair game (but that doesn't mean you can use inflammatory language against candidates).

* Post as many comments as you like, but users that post comments that do nothing but name-call, denigrate the site users, or make inflammatory remarks will either be warned, or outright banned.

* Titles of diaries should not be inflammatory, call out other users or the site, and will be deleted if not edited out, and the user banned.

* Post only 1-2 diaries per day. No single or two-line diaries--if it's a comment, put it in a comment thread. Don't clutter the diaries with foolish commentary on MyDD itself. Do not create a diary that attacks another user.

* Do not troll rate (rating as 0) another user's comment unless it is a comment that is an attack on another user. Abusing this privilege will result in all your ratings being erased and/or getting a warning, or being banned.

* 'Trusted users' are those users that have 'mojo' and are able to 'review hidden comments' and can rate any of those posts hidden by a '0' ranking. If a trusted user deems the post should not be hidden, they can 'rescue' the post with a '1' rating.

* Users who are excessively bashing the Democratic Party, or being Republican trolls, will be banned.

* Users who are spaming the site with unrelated material or the like will be banned.
The administrating of MyDD is a group effort, and unfortunately we will fail to have the time to notice every case of abuse of the guidelines.

Further the guidelines state:

The administrating of MyDD is a group effort, and unfortunately we will fail to have the time to notice every case of abuse of the guidelines.

So - I am making a new resolution:  Whenever I see someone attacking another user, whether I agree with them or not.  I will follow the site rules and intentions and TR them.  And I hope that others will follow suit - then this group effort will elevate the debate and weed out all the others.

NOTE:  IMO clear cut freepers and trolls, and we all know who they are - should not be spared!

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