Thank you DU.. for being here before all the rest

[cally]

I hope all of you remember what we felt after the 2000 theft of the Presidency. We felt alone. None of the national media nor the left media talked about the theft but DU started with that. I felt so alone..I thought I was the only one in the US who knew that Bush stole the election. I didn't know that DU was there during that time.

Then 9/11 hit. I thought I was the only one who questioned where the hell was Georgey during this. Why the hell did it take so long to reassure us? Then Georgey came out of hiding and the press heaped praises about his strength and leadership. Was I the only one who was scared and wanted a leader who didn't fly around the country seeking a safe haven. I live in an area where we are a target, what the hell was the press reporting on with his strength and resolve. He ran and hid until it was safe. Hey, I couldn't do that. It was a few weeks after that when I found DU.

I stumbled onto the site looking for some contrary opinions. I found them. I wasn't always accepted but I found a home.

Don't for a second accept anyone who thinks there wasn't opposition to the war, there was. Look at the threads. We didn't believe the admin lies. Many of us lost friends and family over this. We knew what would happen and we were right.

I look at the left blogs today and I'm happy that so many are involved. DU was the first and only voice for far too long.

[Lerkfish]

1. hear, hear

[JeffR]

2. DU rocks

and so do you.

[cally]

7. Thanks... I remember the many here

You are a star.

[classof56]

3. Almost 100,000 registered users tells us something!

Glad you're one of them--even more glad that I am, and that I found DU when I did.

To the future!

[nam78_two]

4. cheers to DU-5th rec./nt

[elehhhhna]

5. ADamn! I was thinking aout doing a thanks thread today...

Elad, SKinner, etc., plus Cindy Sheehan, Andy, Steve Earle, and Lennon's ghost. They got this old Mother off her azz and in the trenches.

I start working daily for the Lampson campaign on Monday.

[lapfog_1]

6. YES

After the election theft, I remember meeting with people in public, places like a sports bar... and
having the wingnuts in the crowd make constant Gore jokes or Clinton jokes and so on.. and I felt
intimidated to speak, thinking that no one else would support me.

That's all different now. Now *I* can tell the "Foley" jokes and the shrubya jokes... and everyone
is laughing and agreeing with me... and the wingnuts sit and fume.

And DU has been my refuge and sanity check for the long 6 years in between.

[cally]

8. Yep...I can remember when and I won't forget

I know that various sites have taken on the progressive label. They don't deserve it. This one does.

We were there for it all. Thanks DU!!!

[donkeyotay]

9. Several years later, the mainstream starts to catch up BUT

Do they thank the loonie left? Do they ask DU, how did you know? Do they question what their worldview lacks that they couldn't see the tragedy befalling our country? Noooo. I started to watch Caferty's show on broken gummit when it hit me that the media fraud continues unabated. After starting off with the traditional, requisite dem bashing, he moved to his central message, "throw the bums out." All of them, including the dems. For once it would be nice if people would question the advice they're given by military-corporate tee vee. If our government is broken - and a majority appear to think it is - it's going to take something more. We are reaping the corruption sown by allowing representation to be purchased, and allowing national defense to be an unaccountable power. If we want change, we need complete campaign finance reform, not another McCain whitewash.

[yellerpup]

10. Kick for DU and for cally!

Then 9/11 hit...Why the hell did it take so long to reassure us? Dubs absence on the day of the attack defined him as a coward forever. I was thinking the same thing--the WTC collapsed, the Pentagon was attacked and shrub is in hiding in some bomb shelter in the middle of the country. I do understand how Rudy G. got some of his charisma back (he was a man that day) but how anyone could cheer the pResident for showing up at ground zero with a bullhorn...what crap. I started lurking when DU had 1,235 members. I got involved in registering voters, writing letters to the editor, and demanding explanations from my representatives in 2004. I would have not done nearly as much without the inspiration from DU. :kick: :kick: :kick:

[calimary]

12. I will NEVER forget that day. "WHERE is the president? WHERE is

the president???" The TV anchor kept asking, while schmuck-o was flying all over the Sunbelt looking for a place to hide. "WHERE is the president?" I will NEVER forget that. Because I was asking that question, too.

I'm SO grateful that I found DU. I found it through Buzzflash, which I found, in turn, from a site called "Resident bush" - that I don't think exists anymore. I came, I saw, I settled in. And I've never looked back. I LOVE DU - it's my oasis in the middle of a VERY broad, dry, barren, desolate, parched, empty desert. I'm smarter and better-informed, and a little more courageous and sure of my positions, because I found this place. And I have all of you here to thank. PLUS, extra thanks for tolerating me when I run off at the mouth.

DU is the absolute GREATEST! I think I probably check in here 20 times a day.

[DIKB]

11. I just wish DUers would get the credit

that they so richly deserve.

We were dismissed as "wackos" and unpatriotic. Time has proven us surprisingly prescient.

Long Live DU!!!

[MonteSano]

13. k&r

[Ghost Dog]

14. Sanity check, indeed.

Greetings from old (very old) Europe. :hi:

Please keep it up. We need you.

[applegrove]

15. Two Cheers - One for Cally, one for the DU!!!

:applause:

[WillyT]

16. Right On Cally !!! - Went Through The Exact Same Thing !!! - K & R !!!

:kick::yourock::kick:

:hi:

[Seabiscuit]

17. You discovered DU before I did, Cally -

I learned of it from the Howard Dean blog in March, 2003. Been here since.

But I had the same feelings all the way through from 2000 on.

[hunter]

18. It was my first deleted post and you did it, cally!

Thank you DU moderators, you are essential to making this place what it is.

Thank you DU.

:hi:

[cally]

19. I know I'm kicking this one...but I deleted your first post???

How do you remember that? Well, I've had a few deleted since then. :hug:

[BlueStorm]

20. I think I would have gone insane

if I hadn't find DU. It's my political 'safe haven' I like to go here and catch up on real news, view and discuss different progressive topics and just unwind.

DU has kept my head together. I live in a very conservative, red area of my state so it is hard to be around people of like mind. I have many people in my family that are so right leaning it's unreal. Like today I went with my dad to my uncle's house to pick up a car. Me, my uncle,my dad, my 20 year old cousin, and my aunt were in the kitchen when I made a comment about not being able to have groceries in the trunk since there was a hole in it.

My dad said something about my "witch stuff" (I have a Wiccan staff in the trunk of my Riviera) and my aunt looked at me and said while laughing, "Are you outta your mind?!! Why are you messing with that??!!! Needless to say I was very uncomfortable.
I wasn't around people who would understand my spiritual quest and instead choose to ridcule it. Don't get me wrong I love my dad, but I can't get close to his side of the family.

What does this have to do with my interactions on DU? Well, DU has a very open and intelligent communal atomsphere where I can discuss my spiritual and political worldview. I can't get that in real life as you see, I am around a bunch of idiots.

So I hope DU will be here for a long time and I hope that I will be on here for quite a while.

Blue