Dear Lounge, please accept my sincere apologies.

[MrCoffee]

I never ever never meant to get that horrible monstrosity moved here. It's Lost's fault.

[Parche]

1. did i miss something?

who?

[Midlodemocrat]

2. No. It's your fault, freeper. Ignored.

[MrCoffee]

3. Had I the right?

[Midlodemocrat]

4. Not just the right. The duty.

[mainegreen]

5. We require gift Best Buy gift certificates for penance.

[NewJeffCT]

6. No - Circuit City

just make sure to check your receipts at the door.

[Fire Walk With Me]

8. Roving bands of rogue receipt checkers are going to be harassing our aunties.

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D947GJ080.htm?campaign_id=rss_daily

[flvegan]

7. I blame Midlo's swarming clique.

[Midlodemocrat]

9. I didn't even send up the swarm signal.

We're THAT good. :rofl:

[LostinVA]

31. I know -- I just went on a quick snack break

[City of Mills]

10. How'd that mess get moved here?

I'm tired of the lounge being used as the GD and GDP trash receptacle. We need to retaliate, somebody start a faux political thread please!

[SOteric]

11. Actually,

It's one of the more amusing threads I've seen in the Lounge in some time.


Dipso.

[BeachBaby]

12. Yeah - you blew it, Maxwell....

I had a pm filled with bunk pics just for you, and was just about to click "send"....when I saw what you've done.

No noodz for you!

[MrCoffee]

13. Serves me right.

[TZ]

14. No way!

Troll! I see your true colors now, javaboy!:rofl:
(thats one of the funniest things I've seen for awhile actually)

[Lyric]

15. The only thing monstrous about it is the fact that

you actually seem to believe that people should have the right to give toddlers fundie-porn without being called on it by parents.

I don't give a damn what the scenario is or was. Chick is nothing more than Jesusified obscene propaganda, and I don't think obscenity is appropriate for children, beggars or not. You were just being a dick. Lots of other folks around here seem to think it's just knee-slapping funny, but I don't. I guess my sense of humor goes right out the window when people claim that jerks who give obscene hate literature to toddlers on Halloween ought to be left alone instead of called on their bullshit. Because you know, staying silent about hate is a swell idea that's served us so well in the past. :eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

16. Whoa!!!!

Going door to door for Halloween virtually GUARANTEES your child will get something you don't approve of. Hell a few years back, some lady on the street gave out Avon samples that looked exactly like M&Ms.

That's why you go to people you know and go through the bag before you give the kid the candy. Going back to the house where you got the offensive material and swearing at the people was completely unwarranted.

You know where I stand on the issue of tolerance. My own kids would have laughed at the stupidity of the person handing that shit out, but screaming at someone's kid because of something like that serves no good purpose.

[flvegan]

17. "go threw the bag"?

You're such a Freeper. :eyes:

[Midlodemocrat]

18. Jesus. I seriously need new glasses. I can't see a frickin' thing.

I didn't even catch that until I read it 2-3 times. :rofl:


Did you give out vegan candy on Friday, Hitler?

[flvegan]

20. Ha!

Hitler WAS a vegan propagandist. I learned that in GD.

I don't do Halloween. Too much doggie liability. Plus we don't really have any kids that live on my little street. Just as well, filthy beggars!

[Midlodemocrat]

22. I put a bowl on the front porch and my friends and I sat in the backyard

by the fire and drank. It was actually a very pleasant evening. BabyMidlo had some friends over. We grilled. She went out trick or treating and then came home.

All is well at Chez Midlo. Plus, I have a lot of Peanut Butter cups left over. :rofl:

[jobycom]

26. Won't speak for flvegan, but I angrily scream at anyone who give me non-veg candy!

If you give my kids Skittles or Fig Newtons, it's on, Baby. I'm going right back to your house and wakin' the neighbors with a righteous mighty wind!

[Lyric]

27. You know I adore you, but it really upset me to see YOP verbally shredded like that.

Maybe it's because this has happened to us before, and because so much of what Chick gives out is horrifically (even violently) anti-gay, but to me, Chick tracts are like violent hardcore pornography. I see no difference between them at all, and I probably would have cursed about it too. If he cursed at a kid rather than an adult, then yes, that was wrong. But if an adult gave my kid Jack Chick in his Halloween bag, I'd probably be just as upset, and yes, I'd probably curse. If a kid did so, then I'd ask to see his/her parents and curse at *them* for permitting it. If that's an unreasonable reaction, I'll admit to being unreasonable. I'm *not* reasonable when it comes to hate. I react badly, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise.

I guess it's because I have to live with the emotional violence that people like Chick inflict on a regular basis, and all I can think is that even though THIS poster caught the pamphlet before his/her kid could see it, how many other kids got that hateful garbage in their bags without a parent noticing in time to intervene? Especially older kids. Not all parents are as scrupulous about going through bags before their kids even *look* at the stuff inside, especially if it isn't something edible.

I wouldn't have been so upset if it had been a case of, "Well I think you might have overreacted, but I understand how disgusting that kind of thing is." But that was not the tone set by the person who OP'ed in this thread. Not at all. And referring to trick-or-treating kids and their parents as "beggars," with the implication that "beggars" have no right to say something about hateful obscenities in their kids' treat bags was just nauseating.

[Midlodemocrat]

28. Well, personally, I think he overreacted.

I would have thrown the tract away without returning to the house and verbally assaulting someone who might not have meant any harm. If he had to yell at them in their native language, there might be a chance they didn't know that they were offensive to a great many people.

Bigotry in any form is unacceptable, but OTT reactions don't educate; they tend to be dismissed as irrational.

:hug:

[Lyric]

33. I know that getting angry can make it worse.

I admittedly would over-react to my kid getting something like that. The "proper" thing to do is to calmly explain why it's ugly and wrong, but it's incredibly hard to maintain that distance when someone does this to a young child. I just keep imagining how I'd feel if this had been *my* little one.

Defending the validity of your personhood on a day-to-day basis tends to make one sore about certain subjects. *sigh*

I'm sorry if I over-reacted here, too. I just remembered that hurt all too well.

:hug:

[TZ]

19. Free speech? Hello?

Sorry to say this but in this country even hate speech is protected. They have the right to give the tracts out and you have the right to rip it into shreds.

[Lyric]

29. I didn't say a word about suppressing speech.

I didn't say that the government should ban Chick tracts.

[TZ]

32. Free speech also means

that private citizens don't have the rights to suppress the free speech of others as well...As I said..ripping it up is the correct response. Not yelling at someone..which could cause an incident if someone felt threatened.

[NewJeffCT]

34. But

If you run an advertisement critical of a public figure, you risk censure by Congress (the MoveOn "Petraeus Betray Us" ad)

[Bake]

23. Are you series? Really?

This is the Lounge, dammit!

Now go back to GD/P and leave us the hell alone!!

:hi:

Bake

[MrCoffee]

36. Oh please

Sweat pea learned a fantastic lesson from dad: Go be a dick to people you don't agree with. Rather than teaching sweet pea about tolerance, and religious bigotry, and how to deal with your feelings like an adult, Dad chose to be a bigger asshole to the people who tracted them.

Or, since sweet pea is a TWO YEAR OLD, how about being a parent and just taking the tract away from sweet pea?

But no, dad chose to get his righteous indignation all afire, curse out a 16 year old kid, and show sweat pea just how loving and tolerant dad really is. Then dad chose to post about it, and expects my sympathy or support? I think not.

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. Talk to the "Ignore", Freeper.

:rofl:

[Bake]

24. See, THIS is what happens when you wander into GD/P!

We've told you time and time again not to do it, but NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, you had to go over there and start a bunch of sh*t! And then it followed you home!

Gaaaaah!

Bake

[jobycom]

25. Way to go, Iggie! Now some humorless mongrel has carried the fight here.

Smooth. From now on, you're known as MrD. Short for Decaff.

[LostinVA]

30. OMFG -- how is it my fault???

And, I LOVE that thread!

[Bake]

35. OK, beanhead, you're going to Hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200!

That damn thread is STILL up and going.

Where's CallMeWesley when you really NEED a good, stylish thread lock?

Bake