Not too long after deleting the comments, I received an email from the commenter. Sent from an yahoo email account identifying themselves as Jamie Hope -
This wouldn't be a big deal, but for the fact that Jamie Hope stopped by 4 times today spending over an hour and a half of her day here.What's the matter liberal Lucy I thought you wanted an
educational experience not an indoctrination
experience. Are we trying to silence the opposition by
not posting my comments. I tell you what, how about
we have a blog debate. I work with Republicans and
Democrats alike - for a living! You are wrong by not
posting other peoples comments.
Check your facts honey....you are seriously
misinformed. Oh and by the way.....I am sure you were
not even alive when Gerald Ford was President so stop
regurgitating information from other peoples work.
You sound like a parrot restating the already spoken.
Oh and question for you......what did you think of
Gerald Ford pardoning Richard Nixon for his acts in
the Watergate Scandal?
A simple Google search reveals that there is a Jamie Hope that works as a legislative aide to Rep. Stahl. State Representative John Stahl (R) is from the 82nd district. A quick check of my site traffic reveals that all of these visits were done from the House, presumably while Jamie was at work for Rep. Stahl.
I won't lie, I find it slightly disturbing that a comment accusing the left as wreaking genocide against African Americans by means of abortion comes from an employee of the former chair of the House Standing Committee on Family and Children Services. This of course, was just one of the many rants she made in her 5 comments now posted on my blog.
As I write this, I've discovered that Jamie's come back to the blog and spent another 25 minutes sending me an email, asking me to publish her previously deleted comment on this post (which unfortunately I can't due to software restrictions, but I can publish the text here, since she wants you to see this.)
Ok....first of all.....regardless of weapons of mass destruction....oil...personal greed...whatever reason you want to give for the true motives of why we are in Iraq.....SADDAM HUSSEIN WAS KILLING PEOPLE BY THE MASSES. He was experimenting on the Sunni muslims with gases that killed them not to mention many other reasons he found for killing his citizens. Many of you say....well...he wasn't a direct threat to our country...are you kidding me? Aren't liberals supposed to be the humanitarians that want to help their fellow "global citizen". Yet you cower in the face of giving up your life for the life of your fellow man. Here is a little history knowledge for you. Did you know the Baath party was started in the 1930's-40's by a man who studied Hitler to a tee and formed his party in the image of the Nazi party? They even had a similar symbol to the Nazi symbol. They hated the jewish people and wanted to work with the Nazi party to do the same thing to Jews in the middle east as Hitler did to his people-and still would like to. That is the basis for the whole Baath party and you are going to tell me that this party - Saddam's party - it was ok for them to kill and plan to destroy not only their own people but the Jewish people. Try explaining that one to the Iraqi people and the Jewish people. Go ahead....tell them you don't care if they live or die because the people killing them or attempting to kill them are not a direct threat to you. Our troops are willing to die to save a strangers life over there - how about you? No - you would rather sit behind your computer and blog about what everyone else is doing or not doing. Coward! My uncle was a World War II spy - ever heard of the Jed Burgs? They were an elite group of military operatives that Winston Churchill credited for turning the tide of the war in favor of America. These men risked their lives. My uncle was a prisoner of war in the foothills of China for months and his wife who was with child did not even know if he was alive (different mission after Germany). Did he complain about being at war against these barbaric people that needed to be stopped no. Bone up and get a back bone and stop sitting around the fireplace singing peace songs - there are people that want to kill us and will kill us when given the chance. Our President is being proactive, instead of putting out fires after they happen, which is what you apparantly like to do, he is ensuring that these people are put down before they do further harm. And we wouldn't be in the predicament in the first place if your good ol' boy slick willy clinton had killed Osama Bin Laden when he had the chance...however decided to let him go because he was to busy committing non-integrity, non-great generation acts in the White House Oval Office.Both emails have been published on here, without any editing by me.
I'm not sure what to say to Jamie. She's entitled to her opinion, and if she wants to be heard, then by all means, she's free to post where she'd like. Of course, we bloggers also have that same right, and to do with our blog as we'd like. While I'm appreciative of all the attention she's paying towards my blog, I certainly hope the citizens of 82nd District aren't missing out on all the work that she could be doing for them, particularly given that today is a day when the House is in session.
Update: Check out some other thoughts on Jamie and her words at Among the Trees. Many thanks to Eric B. for weighing in.
24 comments:
I'm pro-life, and I don't want us to get a bad name, so I'm repeating the comment I posted on the original thread here.
I'm pro-life, but anybody that suggests planned parenthood is part of the Ku Klux Klan is way off base. Planned Parenthood does, indeed, counsel women who have abortions (which I disapprove of except in cases of rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is endangered by the pregnancy); but they also help women who want to carry their baby to term find prenatal care.
If you really care about where a generation went wrong, it's in the fact that safe-sex education was discarded in favor of abstinence only education. It's in the fact that a stratified healthcare system exists, and (sadly) the cost of a pregnancy will bankrupt many women. It's in the fact that adequate daycare does not exist for the working poor.
And because of all this, children die too. A true "pro-life" approach leaves the bombastic rhetoric behind, and works to support life--both inside and outside of the womb.
So what does that mean?
1. Laws that mirror the Pennsylvania Abortion Control Act (state funded 24-hour waiting periods, mandatory counseling that includes information on adoption, and parental notification with a judicial bypass).
2. A national healthcare system that includes prenatal care. If that obstacle was removed, many more women might carry their babies to term.
3. Tax incentives (both for the woman carrying the baby to term and for the adopting family) for adoption.
4. The adequate funding of all public schools. The extension of school hours to match working hours.
5. Publically funded pre-school programs starting at 2.
6. Low-cost, semi-publically funded daycare programs for children under two. (This could be accomplished with grants, or tax incentives for businesses that have a low-cost daycare program).
That, and not the trite and bombastic rhetoric of the right-wing in America, is a truly pro-life agenda.
She does not “work for both Democrats and Republicans.” She works for a Republican Representative. That makes her or him a liar. Secondly, as a volunteer staffer myself in the office of a Democratic member, I know this person is in violation of the House computer policy. Checking blogs is no big deal because staffers use the Internet extensively to gather information and do research, but at no time are we allowed to post those kinds of idiotic rants on taxpayer time. I am there to learn the job for no pay, and this person is being paid by the taxpayers to write this trash. There’s a problem.
This really explains a lot. A few years ago Stahl introduced this ridiculous anti-abortion bill that was clearly going nowhere because it was unconstitutional. I e-mailed the good rightwing Representative about it, and I was shocked at the almost obscene response I received almost immediately. I was amazed that an elected official of any stripe would write that kind of crap. Now I know who it really was. I’m surer Jamie checked my party affiliation in casework and felt free to insult me.
LL this is your blog, and you are free to run it as you see fit. However, my policy is to never delete a comment, even when it attacks me personally, and even when they use my real name that I don’t want out there because of my freelance work. I have found letting these kind of half-crazed rants this person unleashed stand says more about the idiots we are up against out there.
Keep up the good work, and keep your chin up.
PS If this idiot wants to come over to ny blog and denate me, I welcome them.
i think its time for a google bomb...
Ah yes, republican debate tactic #12 - if all other arguments fail, blame Bill Clinton.
If Clinton died the right-wing nut jobs would have to resurrect him so they could have their punching bag back.
Nice try folks. No sale. But, thanks for playing.
Communications guru:
In her defense she says "I work with Republicans and Democrats", not "for" as you stated.
But I agree with you to "never delete a comment". I don't care if people attack me, and publishing a gay blog I get my share of religious nuts.
Wow, LL! It looks like someone has drunk way too much hateorade!
To Jamie Hope, I'd say that with all her tough talk about Soldiers in Iraq, I never once saw in her comments where she decided to sign up with a strong desire to go over to Iraq and fight. She just wants others to do her dirty work for her. Like me. Hey Jaime! This bleeding heart liberal served in Iraq from 2005-2006. When do you want to show up? You can defend the war all you want, but your lack of desire to show up just shows your cowardice.
Also, what you don't hear the right talking about (and this is why I won't go back to Iraq) is that the invasion of Iraq opened up the doors of persecution to 800,000 Iraqi Christians that hadn't been experiencing under Saddam. Saddam was a brutal dictator, but he was a secular brutal dictator. The people we put in power would love nothing more than to kill Christians for their faith (and they have). But you won't hear a Republican bring that up.
They also won't bring up the six-point plan that was created as a way to remove Saddam from power without war, and how Bush ignored the idea.
Secondly, I hate abortion, but anyone who reads their history knows that making it illegal will only drive it underground and make abortions unsafe on the part of the would-be mother. Abortion was around for thousands of years before Roe v. Wade! Which is why I support the Democrats For Life 95-10 policy, which would use economic means to reduce the number of abortions performed by 95% over the next 10 years. Why don't Republicans have a policy dedicated to reducing abortions if they are as pro-life as they claim? Is it because they would have to use Government funds to help poor people? Probably. They'd also have to accept the fact that birth control leads to reduced abortions-something that would put their right-winged psuedo-Christian base up in arms.
If the Republicans were truely pro-life they would support protecting the environment (who wants a kid to get cancer by drinking dirty water?) and universal healthcare. They'd support Government funding for pre and post-natal care, but I've never once heard a Republican bring those issues up. They'd also support universal childcare and look for ways to make it financially sound for parents to raise a child. But once again, on this issue, the Republicans are mute.
Where are the Republicans bringing up the point that 1/10th of Americans are literally starving? Where is their "pro-life" rhetoric?
Pro-life to them is nothing more than anti-abortion. Everything else involving the sanctity of life is a dirty word to them.
I'm with Nirmal on the Google bomb.
Absolutely abhorrent. Wait until Rep. Stahl learns what his his very busy legislative aide is doing for the residents of the 82nd -- I am sure he will be very pleased!
Let her rant and don't delete her. It makes you look bad when she is the one that deserves the heat. If she's ranting, she's obviously threatened. Yeah.
Awesome Jamie, you gave me something new to blog. Does John Stahl's office comment to bloggers? I know Dick Ball's office blows us off ...
Man, you guys seem to attract all the crazies. I haven't had many trolls on my site, but I've felt no remorse about deleting comments in the past and you shouldn't either.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I draw the line at hateful crazytalk. Especially when such comments are being made while this woman burns taxpayer's money.
Keep doing what you're doing, LL.
Ok - first of all.....I did not spend that long on your blog. It may have been up and minimized on my screen but believe me, it does not take me that long to read your simple minded comments and formulate a response to them. And Not to mention Liberal Lucy, if you want to through names out there, if you are so warped that you cannot read a simple email and get the right information out of it I wonder how you will do in school, or work if you do either one, which I doubt. You probably spend all day just sitting on your blog. And I did not say Planned Parenthood is now part of the Ku Klux Klan, what I said was Margaret Sanger, the founder of planned parenthood was and that was her intent and you all seem to think highly of this founder. Not my fault. Secondly, if you want to talk about what I was doing on my computer at work why don't you drive down by the House Office Building and see your fellow liberals taking multiple smoke breaks and hanging out at beaners. Or check there computers to see what they do on theirs. Or check Jenny G's administration to see how many of them take smoke breaks everyday or get on their computer to do a little shopping. At least what I am doing on my computer is fighting for mine and other constituent beliefs and laying to rest whatever misinformation they may receive from visiting your web site, thus that is part of my job. I guess I could take a page out of Granholm's remarks and call what you are doing treasonous by criticizing our President. She referred to Rep. Baxter as doing this when he wrote an unfavorable editorial that was published in the Wall Street Journal and she called for his job. Guess you all have the same mindset. And since you want to let everyone know my work information I will send an email out and give them the same info on you. Because I do know who you are as well.
Oh and by the way....this is my last day at work so guess your little plan is foiled. And I would like to address all of your foolish comments, spending hours giving you all CORRECT INFORMATION, however, they are foolish and you know what they say about responding to foolish people. One little tidbit before I leave....look at what has happened to pregnancies and teens since the inception of sex education....it rose dramatically....since abstinance education.....lower pregnancies and fewer abortions.
I think it is funny Liberal Lucy that you got so riled up. You must really be threatened. Have a Happy New Year as I am sure my comments will be the subject of much conversation. And don't forget to publish both sides of the story.
At least you used paragraph breaks this time. But, Beaners is the proper name of a coffee shop, so you're still having problems with proper names.
By the way, if you pay attention to the legislature you would know we are not in session yet....we don't even know who committee chairs are yet. Do your homework.
Nothing original in the troll's post. I spend a lot of time on nationwide blogs where things get really down and dirty, and this type of spew is standard fare for the 101st Fighting Keyboarders. Jamie, if you're so gung-ho about fighting every tinpot dictator on the other side of globe who has ever oppressed anyone, why then wipe the cheeto grease off your fingers, head on down to your local recruiter, and sign up. There's work to be done!
Lucy, I can't tell you how to run your blog--you're doing a damn fine job of it yourself. But to those who say she shouldn't have deleted the posts: you underestimate the sheer energizer bunny willpower of trolls to puke out the same bullshit talking points over and over again, post after post, until despite everyone's best efforts to counter them, they own the thread (and sometimes even the blog). That's the whole point of being a troll: to take up our time arguing with them over their gibberish so we never quite get around to doing important things like making sure we win the next election.
Ultimately, the only thing a fascist understands is power. The ultimate power on a blog is to cut the microphone. Anything else is enabling them.
Like Moynihan said, "You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts".
For a little bit of fact checking for Jamie, Saddam Hussein was a Sunni. His beef was with the Kurds and Shi'ites. He gassed the Kurds in the North and Iranian Shi'ites in the early 80's. Strangely enough, Mr. Rumsfeld, who infamously met with Mr. Hussein around the same time did not seem to have a problem with it, at the time. Please let me know why the U.S. suddenly felt the urge to invade 20 years after the fact.
As for deaths, by one estimate, the number of deaths in Iraq occuring today outpace those during Saddam's time. Now, I'm not accusing U.S. soldiers of perpetrating these, but to an Iraqi, insecurity is insecurity.
As for the Ba'athists, they are radical nationalists. So is Ann Coulter. I'm not a fan of either. But,to quote Hans Morgenthau, "May justice be done, even if the world perish is not a foreign policy solution". You can be as ideologically virulent as you want, but if another state does not threaten you, it does not make much sense to interfere.
As for being a coward, I want to thank you for YOUR sacrifice in Iraq! Oh wait, wow, talking about the pot calling the kettle black! On the other hand, I have friends who have. Additionally, I have applied for jobs in Iraq, not because I believe in the war, but because I'm willing to endanger myself to fix the mistake. What have you done?
And, of course, the Clinton comment. If I remember correctly, the conservative talking heads thought the air strikes were completely useless and as a method for driving attention away from the Lewinsky affair. I would also point to the 9/11 Commission report that shows Clinton keeping bin Laden as a high priority and Bush de-prioritizing him for Saddam Hussein (who, as we know, has no links with terrorism).
SO, I am all for a diverse community of opinions on blogs- but I am against ignorant, flat out WRONG commentary. I think Jamie should spend more time reading, less time posting. Maybe she'll learn a thing or two.
Jamie Wrote: "I guess I could take a page out of Granholm's remarks and call what you are doing treasonous by criticizing our President."
Since when is that TREASONOUS? The whole point of our Democracy is to question and yes even critize. Then compromise. President Wilson tried to make it Treasonous against citizens back in his day. Remember the Suffergettes? You know the people that fought for your right to vote... I guess they were treasonous to your way of thinking.
What a load of crap, Hopeless. I’m at the Capitol Building, but I don’t see any smokers because I don’t smoke and I’m in the office working. I would only know a few anyway because I spend most of my time in my boss’s office.
You are really off your rocker when you say you are “fighting for mine and other constituent beliefs and laying to rest whatever misinformation they may receive from visiting your web site, thus that is part of my job.” Nowhere in the job description for a Legislative Assistant or a Constituent Director does it describe spewing crap on blogs on taxpayer time. These are your views, and maybe Stahl’s views, not the people of the 82nd District. What about the 47 percent that did not vote for Stahl? You work for them too. Stahl is not paying your salary, the Michigan taxpayers are.
Calling the majority of Americans who do not support this Iraq fiasco traitors is not a new thing from people like you. I guess the only good thing is you are now gone, as well as lots of other Republicans. I noticed you throw out that crap about abstinence education working with no source for your outrageous claim. Abstinence education works until it doesn’t work, and that means it doesn’t work.
Communications Guru - Why don't you let everyone know who you are? I know who liberal lucy is but she is will not let people know. Maybe because she should be at work or school herself instead of blogging.
Well you wouldn't see any smokers outside if you were inside would you. Man you talk about hate. I thought this was sharing peoples views. And since you just blogged and you are at work aren't you guilty of what you are accusing me of? hmmm.......interesting. Not to mention who was the guy on Dem. Communication services who mysteriously left after he exposed your department on html language behind the stop drug immunity web site and he let people know he was asked to do that on taxpayers time. Any comments?
And just to let you know....I do not hate people but apparantly you do. I have many friends on both sides of the aisle some are very liberal, others conservative. I don't base my judgments on people who their political beliefs and maybe you shouldn't either.
I must agree with eartha on this- I have been at this way too long and know that entertaining these people is a huge waste of time. They do not want to debate, they want attention because they are INSANE and feeding them only validates them and makes them stronger. They live for the drama.
THAT being said however- if this is indeed being done on taxpayer dollars, I damn sure want the world to know about it.
The Republicans love to scream about "waste, fraud and abuse"- this is definitely abuse of MY money. I don't care if staffers use the 'net for info- that is different- but to waste OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY on this right-wing propaganda should be a violation of ethics and Stahl should be made to pay the taxpayers back.
I don't want to hear one word from him about "government spending" now. Game over, John.
*giggle*
The defense is that government workers are taking smoke breaks.
I AM OUTRAGED! I WANT ACCOUNTABILITY! Stinkin' Liberals and their cigarettes! How DARE they!
Man-o-Man. I need a cigarette after reading that.
It’s none of your business who I am, but if you come to my blog it’s not hard to figure out. I have never, ever posted anonymously, so what does it matter if I don’t use my real name.
I am at work. I am in my basement office bloging. The only person I am hurting is me, and the only person’s time and money I am wasting is mime. If you visit my profile you will see what I do, and if you read my reply to your rant you will find I am not a paid staffer. I only work 2-3 days a week at the Capitol, and today is not one of them. If I was bloggign while I worked in the House Office building all I would be doing is violating the computer policy, just like you.
Of course I would not see smokers outside, so what is the point of that remark? How do you get I hate you? Liberal Lucy is a friend of mine, and I don’t appreciate you attacking her. But how does any of that justify you wasting taxpayer’s money?
I don’t really know anything about the guy you talk about at Democratic Communications, but why didn’t the Speaker file a complaint? You were the majority party. Again, how does this justify you wasting taxpayer’s money, and how does it justify ignoring almost half of the Representative’s constituents?
I don’t base my judgments on people based on their political affiliation either. This is a political blog, and one thing we do is debate. There is no way you can call the crap you posted debate.
I am also aware that the Legislature is not in session until they are sworn in next Wednesday, but you are still being paid by the taxpayers to do constituent work, are you not? Again, the Legislators are not paying your salary, the Michigan taxpayer’s are.
Sigh....I post a great response to everything Jamie said and I don't even get a counterpoint.
Perhaps it is because I am way too smart and vicious to have such a rank amateur respond to my points.
Sigh...I'm too good at this.
I'm hoping the party hasn't ended quite yet.
Jamie, if you're feeling put upon here, please feel free to swing by my blog and comment ... regularly. All the time, in fact. I'll even defend you for doing it on state time.
You have mad blogging skillz the world should not be deprived of.
I am not sure who Miss Hope is but I can claim the distinct honor of being the first of Mr. Stahl’s house staffers during the beginning of his freshman term. Although unceremoniously ejected from house politics by Mr. Stahl himself for reasons unbeknownst to me, and informed by the house legal office that the reason could not be disclosed (even to myself), Mr. Stahl took it upon himself to write to the Port Huron Times Herald, a newspaper outside of his district, and informed them that I was let go for possessing undesirable “character flaws”. Meaning I probably took too many ‘liberal smoke breaks’, or had one too many iced mochas at beaners. Mr. Stahl, everybody has a vice, not that I smoked, and I hate iced mochas (coffee stains your teeth). The true reason was probably because of an ugly little political incident that happened in the district next door which involved myself and a few other individuals with a higher pay grade than me that happened to be friends of Mr. Stahl, and of caucus. But that is only speculation since I could not be afforded a reason for my dismissal, but it seems quite unfair that the Port Huron Times Herald was given a reason. I do not begrudge Mr. Stahl in anyway (hint of sarcasm) for his decision; oh well, ‘tis the nature of the beast. I can attribute to being part of Mr. Stahl’s shaky beginnings, but I am glad to see that he is still unwilling to cross the aisle, and that he will end his career on a strong note of condemning democrat policy, and continuing his pledge of downsizing government.
Miss Hope you and those like you shame our country when you try to talk about the war in Iraq. It is my firm belief that as a politician you should serve your country before you try to serve its people, ask Mr. Stahl if he would care to introduce that radical piece of legislation. Miss Hope you probably wouldn’t look good in digitized green anyways, but I did and I still do with the Michigan National Guard, and it sounds like our kind blogg host did as well. So try not to sound too smart, or ‘brainwashed’ when you talk about the war because people who actually served, and who actually took orders from our Commander and Chief (not yours), might be listening.
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