You can still trash the columnist for the NY Times as long as the NY Times is not the paper you are a satirist at?

Yup. That's how I feel about it.

My personal objection to a movie thread is that I'd either not be able to subscribe or it'd be something else keeping me from work.

My ideological objection is that I don't think movies are underserved by natter, as people were arguing that music is. Only an event film with special interest for a large group of Buffistas is a poor fit with that thread.

Alright that makes sense. I had accepted the rule, but it is easier to understand if you think of it as a "don't shit where you eat" thing. So if Julia Roberts ever joins the board, we all have to be polite to her...

Actually no problem for me; I never felt the Julia Roberts hate anyway.

Actually no problem for me; I never felt the Julia Roberts hate anyway.

So Dick Cheney joins the board...

We have to be polite to him. Or else not let him join the club. (Always an option - if there is someone we feel we absolutely cannot abide being polite to.)

So Dick Cheney joins the board...

And we politely share our opinions with him. Of him. Politely.

We can do that.

And we politely share our opinions with him. Of him. Politely.

Though offering him cheese fries has the potential for misunderstanding.

Hmm do we? It would not be polite to tell Julia Roberts she is a bad actress. (I personally don't think it is true, but that is another issue.) Is there a polite way to tell Dick Cheney he is destroying the American constitution and turning the U.S. into a police state?

I keep thinking about Harold Pinter and his conversation with a Turkish Ambassador, a few blocks from where Turkish prisoners were being tortured. And the Ambassador finally said "well everyone has a right to his opinions." And Pinter replied somethiing along the lines of "Not the guy with an electrode on his genitals." And some people criticized Pinter for rudeness. But really could he have said less? Of course we are using absurd examples. Dick Cheny is not going to show up. If Julia Roberts showed up, the most likely problem would be excessive fanboyishness and fangirlishness, not deliberate rudeness.

Some things just get under your skin. I mean, my own brother votes Republican. My baby brother! So not an evil person! And--hang onto your Region 3 DVDs--Republicans may lurk HERE AMONG US!!

Y'know, I'm the only member of my immediate blood-related family who's not a Republican, and almost the only one of my college friends. I love these people--I'm seriously considering giving half of my liver to one of them, should she require a new one--but their political beliefs mystify me. All of which is to say, I've expressed my contempt for the present administration so strongly in Natter precisely because it's such a relief to feel like I'm mostly among people who agree with me for a change, and because I am so genuinely puzzled and frustrated by the fact that half the country voted for Dubya and even more than that seem to approve of the job he's doing. Girl's gotta vent sometimes. Anyway, I apologize if I've inadvertantly offended anyone with the vehemence of my views, and will try to save my more angry forms of venting for times I know I'm among friends.

Too bad the trustiest fellow Democrat among my RL friends is one of the pastors at our church. I can't swear as much around her, and she'd probably feel obligated to talk me into a more forgiving and less bitter stance even while agreeing with all my views on public policy.

t cough

Polite request that this get taken to Natter. (Also, umm... please no comments about Turkish Ambassadors, because then we get into friend-of-a-friend territory which I'm honestly not especially comfortable about.)