1. commendable engagement of the other tribes (sincerely); it *is* a difficult process (as previous posters posit) when they are either A. a twue bewiever and/or the 25% who are authoritarians (gauche or adroit); B. immune to facts, reason, or logic; C. unwilling or unable to tolerate and empathize with different beliefs...

(as far as that goes, *IF* you strip away the hot-button issues, set aside the cultural differences, and -please, dear dog- remove superstitious / religious extremism from the equation, i believe it is a truism that 90% of ALL us nekkid apes EVERYWHERE agree on 90% of 'stuff'/issues... the cliches of peace, having opportunities/jobs, raising kids in a safe place, enjoying life, liberty, and pursuit of konsumerism... oops, something like that... )

2. your exchanges point up a fundamental problem in any potential, useful dialogue with other tribes, and that is agreement on basic facts... one more insidious result of a korporate mainstream media which provides almost zero 'objective' reportage in determining the essential facts/factoids regarding an issue of public/political debate...

i don't think there is a formal k-k-k-konspiracy to deprive the sheeple of vital information that precludes them from participating in -and RUNNING- THEIR small-dee democracy; BUT, that the korporate media and kultural normalcy has been steered and maintained in such a manner that redounds to the interests of power elites, is no accident, either...

3. is it possible for reichwing trolldom to adopt a slightly more convincing tactic than negation ? ? ? exempli gratia:

'credible scientists are almost unanimous in near certainty that manmade causes are contributing to a disruption of planetary climatolgy that will cause dire climactic changes...'

'no, its not'

'? ummm, what part are you refuting ?'

'the whole thing'

'based on what ?'

'based on i refute the whole thing'

'? ummm (wtf?)'

where are you supposed to go from there ? ? ? as always, twue bewief (and the primal fear which generally prompts it) trumps ANY attempts at reason, logic, fairness, or ANYTHING contrary to their black/white world they've imagineered...

4. if i never see one more lefty blogger talk about teabaggery, it would be too soon... what weird, faddish, lockstep obsessions leftys like to get themselves in a lather about... i scanned a lot of the major lefty blogs (as i have not bothered to do in some time), and they were almost faux-news-like in their overly scornful dismissal of the teabaggers... (which is definitely valid and necessary for the fux news sponsorship angle)

while i certainly disagree with a lot of the tea partyers views and -like- 'where they are coming from, man', i certainly AGREE with a LOT of their rightful and righteous distrust of ANY gummint or administration (yes, i know; joan's closing quote was spot on), and the GENERAL suspicion of corruption, political perfidy, and dismantling of the constitution...

THAT is the so-called common ground that lefters, righters, liberters, EVERYONE could rally around to reclaim and resurrect thisy here democrazy on life-support...

come the revolution, sheeple won't have to fear fellow sheeple...

art guerrilla

aka ann archy

artguerrilla@windstream.net

eof