There's good regulation and bad, good deregulation and bad. Look at how much airline prices fell after deregulation as a moderately successful example of how dereg can work. Look at the mess of the energy industry in California as an example of how not to dereg stuff. She comes off as a blithering idiot by claiming that all deregulation is bad, and that we should huzzah for more regulation (when regulation often has a severe chilling effect on an economy.)

It may sound odd coming from a libertarian, but there are times when you need more laws, and times when you need less. As a libertarian, I think that less is usually more, but laws ARE necessary instruments - anarchy is bad - and laws are important tools for dealing with fraud. Of course, you'll end up with situations where the cure (Sarbanes-Oxley) causes even more problems than the fraud it was trying to prevent (Enron-like schemes), AND have a chilling effect on the economy as well. I'm very grateful my corporations are small and not public, or the overhead of having to deal with it would drive me insane and really hurt our bottom line.

Having a byline that the GOP is responsible for the current mess is nearly fraudulent. It was the GOP that was calling for MORE regulations on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and criminal idiots like Barney Frank and Maxine Waters were responsible for blocking it. They were as responsible as anyone in the government for our current mess, but the press gives them a complete pass.

I am starting to notice a **very disturbing** trend here. It involves those who favor banning slipping into fallacy. You cannot infer that someone "approves racism," or that they are "defending [QM's] exhortations to wipe out entire cultures" from the fact that they argue against using banning as a tool of system administration in the cases at issue. To defend someone's freedom to express their opinion is not the same thing as defending the content of those expressions. If you lack the analytical skills to see this, it is not our problem.

In my opinion, what you have said is not only unreasonable, it is OFFENSIVE. You have essentially called me a racist BASED ON NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER. I have said nothing racist in my comments, nor have I ever defended the content of QM's abominable posts. I am merely worried about the chilling effects of banning, and about finding the proper arbiters of what constitutes legitimate speech and what does not. These worries are especially salient to me in light of your glib dismissals of these points when raised by Dag, and your belief that you are somehow qualified to be my protector. Nonetheless, you press ahead undaunted in your certainty that anyone who disagrees is not only wrong, but deserves to be called awful things. How's that for hate-speech, you PRIGS?

In response, LOORIS, I'll say to you exactly what I said to Theo47 on another thread: "you seem like a really nice person who has all the right intentions. But with all due respect, I don't need the likes of you looking out for me. I'm an ex-muslim with family in Mecca. My parents and siblings are still practicing Muslims. If I'm tough-minded enough to put up with QM's bullshit, you should be too. . . .Besides, whenever the guy makes comments like that he turns himself into a laughing stock. Even the other pro Iraq war Republicans are ridiculing him now, on the very thread you are worried about. Personally, that's exactly the kind of ideological opponent I don't mind having around: the kind who says things so damn stupid, he actually makes other like-minded folks wanna switch sides."

Finally, I'd like to point out that Theo47 isn't the only one who's considering leaving. I've only really become an active commenter on the Sift recently, and because I've not submitted any videos, I have no doubt I wouldn't be missed. But if the likes of he and looris get to become the czars of speech around here--and continue engaging in self-righteous name calling and mockery like we've seen in this thread and others--I'll ask that my registry be deleted.

In the meanwhile, NOTA BENE: I will not stand by and be called a racist. If it happens again you better be ready to either back it up, or get embarrassed.

Tofumar

I hate to see libel laws abused to enact corporate censorship of honest reviews. I won't let it have a chilling effect on me. The EFF might help defend people in such cases.