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.. END: PHOTO-MOREINFO -->Lettuce B-Free won't give out her real name; she prefers her World of Warcraft moniker. She grew up on Staten Island and moved to Florida, where she shares an apartment with a friend and works in retail. There are two things that get her up in the morning: online gaming and the maverick libertarian politics of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. "He's an amazing man, and I agree with almost every one of his positions," she says. "I was raised to have a deep respect for the Constitution, and wow, he wants to bring it back!" On December 26, Lettuce B-Free found a way to bring the two together: organizing a Ron Paul rally in the World of Warcraft universe.
"One of our members, who went by the name of whoisronpaul, came up with the idea," Lettuce B-Free says. "And we just jumped on it. . . . So at like three in the morning, me and a bunch of people got together and signed a group charter. And it's been really fun chaos ever since."
Ron Paul's supporters have already distinguished themselves by their unorthodox campaigning—the blimp that's been floating around the South for the last month, the Guy Fawkes Day fundraising blitz. But running a virtual-campaign rally in an Internet gaming site must surely rank as one of the highlights of the season. The word went out through the online magazine World of Warcraft Insider, ronpaulforums.org, and the Wired blog. Soon, hundreds of people pledged to don their chain mail and shake their broadswords for Paul.
Unfortunately, there was one small complication one rarely encounters on the campaign trail: In World of Warcraft, you can get killed, usually by slavering beasts eager to rip you to shreds. Since all the Paul supporters would be playing new characters, they would be weak and all-too-vulnerable to monsters waiting to ambush them on the way to the rally point. In the days before the rally, Lettuce B-Free and a few other organizers hit the World of Warcraft universe, frantically fighting zombies and ogres in order to beef up enough characters to protect the newbies and act as bodyguards during the rally. Meanwhile, other players who hate Ron Paul's politics followed them around, taunting them and spitting on them (virtually).
Finally, the hour arrived: 8 p.m., New Year's Day. Almost 300 characters—barbarians, elves, gnomes, and green, mottled things—assembled at the small town of Kharanos, near the great dwarven city of Ironforge. They had to pick a rally point outside the big cities, because assembling so many characters in a crowded environment would slow the server down. Just before the march, Paul supporters milled around and typed snippets from the Constitution into their computers, where their characters bellowed them as text bubbles in the game.
Dozens of Ron Paul opponents donned characters of their own and milled around the edge of the crowd, where they challenged players to fight to the death.
"Unfortunately, there were folks who were there to harass us and try to stop the march," says Lettuce B-Free. "They were trying to get us to flag for [player vs. player mode], so they could kill us. They were spouting negative things, but we had already decided that we were going to be quiet and respectful and stay focused."
At 8:30, the march began, and Paul's supporters lined up single-file and tramped into Ironforge. Hecklers dogged them along the way, twirling their battleaxes and typing text bubbles like "He can't win," "He's going to ruin the economy," and "A vote for Ron Paul is a vote for socialism." The marchers chanted slogans as they boarded the tram for the human city Stormwind, and then it was on to the hamlet of Goldshare. Because she had pumped up her character to level 19, Lettuce B-Free was too busy fighting off flesh-rippers and other random beasties to look back on the crowd. But in Goldshare, she turned and gawked at what she'd created. "There was just this sea of names," she says. "The entire town was filled. That's when I realized how huge this was."
But soon Paul's supporters stumbled into more dangerous territory, and as fish-human hybrids tore the players to pieces, priest characters frantically worked their resurrection spells to keep the crowd from breaking apart. Finally, they reached Orgrimmar, a ghastly, reeking city of the orcs, which Paul supporters had agreed would serve as a stand-in for Washington, D.C. If they could storm its gates, Lettuce B-Free says, they would be symbolically taking their country back from the Beltway elites. Unfortunately, an army of Ron Paul opponents waited for them. They knew that once they got too close to the gates, all the characters would switch to player vs. player mode, and they could slaughter them at their leisure.
The bloodshed was epic. Orgimmar's guards automatically waded into the crowd and slashed left and right. Poisonous snakes slithered from crevices and sank their fangs into libertarians. Ron Paul opponents charged and struck a blow for the status quo. "I died twice," says Lettuce B-Free. "There was so much chaos. It was a mass battle." But Paul's supporters won the day, as characters breached the gates and stormed the city. The Constitution, it seems, was triumphant.
According to Lettuce B-Free, Paul's supporters plan to storm World of Warcraft again before the campaign is through. They'll have to use a different server, because the strain of accommodating so many characters slowed down the game. But they'll be back, she says. "This was great, because it was a bunch of mature players who were able to express themselves and talk politics." And maybe decapitate a troll or two. .. more section click -->..
I found this article and a couple of videos on this when I was trolling the web, I think this is a prime example of why Ron Paul wont get elected, the majority of his followers still live in their parents basements and play video games all day.
Any other Gamers out there might want to avoid the Whisperwind server for WoW, apparently these freaks like to get together on the weekends and lock the server up.
PLAYBOY: Just to finish your favorite subject, what about the suggestion that the four of you put aside your personal feelings and regroup to give a mammoth concert for charity, some sort of giant benefit?
LENNON: I don't want to have anything to do with benefits. I have been benefited to death.
PLAYBOY: Why?
LENNON: Because they're always rip-offs. I haven't performed for personal gain since 1966, when the Beatles last performed. Every concert since then, Yoko and I did for specific charities, except for a Toronto thing that was a rock-'n'-roll revival. Every one of them was a mess or a rip-off. So now we give money to who we want. You've heard of tithing?
PLAYBOY: That's when you give away a fixed percentage of your income.
LENNON: Right. I am just going to do it privately. I am not going to get locked into that business of saving the world on stage. The show is always a mess and the artist always comes off badly.
PLAYBOY: What about the Bangladesh concert, in which George and other people such as Dylan performed?
LENNON: Bangladesh was caca.
PLAYBOY: You mean because of all the questions that were raised about where the money went?
LENNON: Yeah, right. I can't even talk about it, because it's still a problem. You'll have to check with Mother [Yoko], because she knows the ins and outs of it, I don't. But it's all a rip-off. So forget about it. All of you who are reading this, don't bother sending me all that garbage about, "Just come and save the Indians, come and save the blacks, come and save the war veterans," Anybody I want to save will be helped through our tithing, which is ten percent of whatever we earn.
PLAYBOY: But that doesn't compare with what one promoter, Sid Bernstein, said you could raise by giving a world-wide televised concert — playing separately, as individuals, or together, as the Beatles. He estimated you could raise over $200,000,000 in one day.
LENNON: That was a commercial for Sid Bernstein written with Jewish schmaltz and showbiz and tears, dropping on one knee. It was Al Jolson. OK. So I don't buy that. OK.
PLAYBOY: But the fact is, $200,000,000 to a poverty-stricken country in South America—-
LENNON: Where do people get off saying the Beatles should give $200,000,000 to South America? You know, America has poured billions into places like that. It doesn't mean a damn thing. After they've eaten that meal, then what? It lasts for only a day. After the $200,000,000 is gone, then what?
I found the article above while trolling the web, I think old John got it right,everyone of these big save the world benefits rarely benefits anyone but the money men behind them...
Currently
listening
:
Love It to Death
By
Alice Cooper
Release date: 25 October, 1990
The Senate Still Ignore what the People Want!
Current mood: annoyed
Category: News and Politics
I thought this issue was put to rest last week,yet these assholes in Washington are ignoring what the people want and trying to force feed this bullshit down our throats,The only thing I want to hear about this is Border Security,when that issue is taken care of then maybe we can talk about the (sh)Amnesty bill.
Senators work to revive immigration bill
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago
Key Republican and Democratic senators are reaching for a deal to resurrect their stalled immigration compromise by requiring that some $4 billion be spent on border security and workplace enforcement.
The mandatory security funding is part of a plan to attract more Republican support for the measure, which grants legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants.
In private meetings Wednesday, the bipartisan group that crafted the delicate compromise was hammering out a plan to allow votes on a limited set of Republican- and Democratic-sought changes in exchange for a commitment from GOP holdouts that they will back moving ahead with the bill.
Republican architects of the measure, which grants legal status to millions of unlawful immigrants, expressed confidence that such an agreement was possible as early as Thursday.
"The list is there," said Sen. Mel Martinez (news, bio, voting record), R-Fla., adding that GOP senators were ready to present their plan to Senate leaders.
With the tentative package, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (news, bio, voting record) "should have what he needs to move forward," said Sen. Jon Kyl (news, bio, voting record), R-Ariz. "This is just to let him know that it can be done."
Reid has said he would revive the measure if at least 20 more Republicans commit to moving ahead with the broad immigration bill. It stalled last week when only seven GOP senators supported a Democratic bid to limit debate and expedite a final vote.
Reid expressed optimism that negotiators would strike a deal that could pave the way.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, the lead Democratic negotiator, said he supported the bid to provide mandatory funding for border security and enforcement.
"You give the assurance that when this is signed, that there are going to be the resources to do the kind of security protections that are in this legislation," Kennedy said.
Under the proposal by Kyl and Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record), R-S.C., border security and workplace enforcement would be funded up front, and eventually covered by the fines and fees set out in the broader immigration bill.
"Everybody's trying to prove that they are willing and able to enforce the law this time, unlike 1986," Kyl said, referring to the last major immigration overhaul, which established a one-year amnesty program for illegal immigrants who had been in the U.S. at least four years.
"What better way to demonstrate that other than to say, 'We're not going to let congressional appropriations dictate this — we are going to put the money up front,'" Kyl said.
As part of the tentative deal, the Senate would vote on a proposal by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, to require all illegal immigrant household heads to return to their countries of origin before obtaining legal status, Graham said. Under the legislation, only those seeking green cards — permanent legal residency — would be required to return home first.
Negotiators spent hours Wednesday huddled in meetings or on the phone. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who with Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez helped craft the bill in a series of intense and secretive talks earlier this year, was again on hand to help broker a deal.
"There's no question it's an uphill battle," Kennedy said. "It's difficult but not impossible."
A day after Bush went to Capitol Hill to field criticism from Republicans who derailed the bill, the White House said it would be open to changes to the delicate bipartisan compromise. Architects have argued their so-called "grand bargain" could collapse under the weight of poison-pill amendments.
"You may have a carefully crafted compromise, but on the other hand, you have members of both parties who want to have their say and have their input," White House press secretary Tony Snow said.
Snow also signaled support for the idea of pumping additional money into border security, which he said was worth pursuing, and played down the bitter divisions among Republicans on the issue. "This is not an internal 'fight,'" he said, and added that Bush "considers fellow Republicans friends and colleagues."
Republicans have coalesced behind the idea of assuring a funding stream for border security and workplace enforcement. Georgia Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss (news, bio, voting record) and Johnny Isakson (news, bio, voting record) want a separate emergency spending bill that could total as much as $15 billion to pay for such measures.
Additional funds for border and workplace crackdowns could persuade the Georgians to back the effort to resurrect the immigration bill, Chambliss said.
By JEFF BARNARD, Associated Press Writer 10 minutes ago
Their guilt isn't in question. The six men and four women already admitted being involved in a series of arson fires that did $40 million in damage to research facilities, a ski resort and other businesses in the West. But are they terrorists as the government says?
A federal judge was set to hear arguments Tuesday on a motion by the government to add a so-called terrorism enhancement to their sentences.
Prosecutors want Judge Ann Aiken to declare the group terrorists — something defense attorneys argue has never happened in 1,200 arsons nationwide claimed by Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front.
The defense argues that branding their clients terrorists is more about politics than sentencing.
"The Government has Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' political agenda to advance with this case, and nothing else to lose if the Court declines to impose the enhancement," wrote attorney Terri Wood, who represents Stanislas G. Meyerhoff.
Meyerhoff faces the stiffest sentence recommendation for his involvement in seven fires and the toppling of a high-tension power line. The terrorism enhancement question will be settled in his case and, under an agreement with all parties, applied to the remaining defendants. Each has pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and arson.
A ruling that the 10 are terrorists is not likely to boost the time they spend behind bars — the prosecution recommends three to 16 years — but it could land them in tougher prisons.
The fires targeted forest ranger stations, meat packing plants, wild horse corrals, lumber mill offices, research facilities, an SUV dealer and, in 1998, Vail Ski Resort. No one was injured, the defense notes in legal motions.
The case, known as Operation Backfire, is the biggest prosecution ever of environmental extremists, and has turned on its head the prevailing idea that arsonists have generally acted alone, said Brent Smith, director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas.
"We thought these people operated for the last 15 years under this kind of uncoordinated violence approach, just like the extreme right was doing — leaderless resistance," Smith said. "That's why this case is so very different."
Prosecution filings argue that though the defendants were never convicted of terrorism, they qualify for the label because at least one of the fires each of them set was intended to change or retaliate against government policy.
After reading this article I'm a little confused,I mean I thought these people were all about the environment and animals then they go and set all these fires creating more damage,Isn't this kind of defeating the purpose of their cause......
Care Package for the 1171st ASMC
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Friends
I am putting a care package together for my brother and his fellow soldiers in the 1171st ASMC who are stationed in Baghdad.
I was talking to my mother last night and she said that the guys over there really like to here from home so I am asking anyone who wants to contribute to just e-mail me your letter to the troops and I will print them out and make sure they get included with my package.
This blog was hijacked from Tonya, I'm reposting on my page to help spread the word.
Rabbits and Easter..BAD IDEA!!!!! Current mood: frustrated Category: Pets and Animals
As you all know I am a mom to a very spoiled housebunny! She is our third rabbit and we think they make GREAT pets and companions,but bunnies are NOT for children and those who cannot give them attention on a daily basis. You can litter train a rabbit,train them to obey (for the most part lol) and believe it or not they are highly intellegent little critters!!
BUT the are HIGH MAINTENANCE!!! They need a certain diet,you must bunny-proof cords and things they can chew on and we NEVER let Iggy run around the house unsupervised.She is not caged,but she is in our room with a baby gate when we are gone!! We trim her nails every two weeks and just her food and veggies and yearly vet visits are VERY expensive,but we love our pet and we know what comes with raising and caring for a rabbit. People go out and buy cute baby bunnies at Easter time thinking they can put it in a cage,give food and water and thats it!!! PLEASE rabbits need human attention and exercise and they are NOT a fast Easter gift!! Kids and bunnies don't mix..Hopefully more people will realize this and I will not see the poor abandoned bunnies in our local shelter like I do every year at Easter
Rabbits at Easter by Amy Shapiro
A smiling child in an adorable outfit clutches a cute baby bunny in her arms. What's wrong with this picture? Contrary to Eastertime hype, rabbits and small children are not a good match. The natural exuberance, rambunctiousness and decibel-level of even the gentlest toddler are stressful for the sensitive rabbit. It is the rare child who will enjoy and appreciate the rabbit's subtle and sensitive nature.
Another misconception is that rabbits are passive and cuddly. They are ground-loving creatures who feel frightened and insecure when held and restrained. Children like a companion they can hold, carry, and cuddle, just as they do their favorite stuffed animal. It is unreasonable to expect a child to be able to take full responsibility for the care of a rabbit, or to make a 10-year commitment to anything! All too often, the child loses interest, and the rabbit ends up neglected or abandoned.
Some people think rabbits are a "low-maintenance" pet. In fact, they require almost as much work as a dog. They must be housetrained. The house must be bunny-proofed, or Thumper will chew electrical cords, rugs, books, and furniture. They must be spayed or neutered, or they will mark your house with feces and urine. They must live indoors, as members of the family. Rabbits kept in hutches outdoors have an average lifespan of about one year; house rabbits can live 8 to 10 years. Predators abound, not only in rural areas but in urban and suburban locations as well. Outdoor rabbits become bored and depressed from isolation. To consign these sensitive, intelligent, social animals to life in a hutch is to miss all the joy of sharing your life with a rabbit. Unless he's part of your daily routine, you will not have the opportunity to really get to know his subtle personality.
Clearly, rabbits are not for everyone! Are you a gentle adult who lives in a quiet household? Are you eager to get to know rabbits on their own terms - to spend time down at their level, on the floor; to allow the rabbit to initiate gestures of friendship and trust? If you think you are one of those rare individuals who would enjoy sharing life with a rabbit, please visit your local animal shelter or rabbit-rescue group. As rabbits have increased in popularity, they are suffering the same fate as our other companion animals - abandonment. You can also check your local veterinary clinic and "Pets" classifieds of your newspaper. It's a sad fact that no matter where you live, you are within 10 miles of a rabbit who needs a home. The effort made to find that special bunny means you are saving a life.
So if little Susie is pleading for a bunny for Easter, do a rabbit a favor, and buy her a toy rabbit that she can snuggle to her heart's content. Let's make Easter a joyful time for our long-eared friends.
If you know of someone who is thinking of purchasing a rabbit at Easter, let them know it's a bad idea. Print out this article or The Easter Bunny Poem and give them a copy. We've designed specially formatted of printing versions of these documents to make it easier.
Post flyers at your local animal hospital, pet supply store, supermarket, school, or church. Several different flyer designs are available to download.
Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Tell them in your own words about the truth of rabbits at Easter.
In the last couple of months I have received friend requests from a few people,or blog subscriptions,after checking out their pages I added them,This has turned out to be a BIG mistake!!!!!
If you only want friends or subscribers to back you up in your petty little myspace drama shows,don't look to me for help, unless it is an issue I support,I usually am just a lurker in the blogosphere,there are a few writers I really enjoy,and some of the political writers I read and comment on,That being said I hate bloggers who cut and paste every news item of the day and post it as a blog---write your own opinion or at least summarize your opinion after your cut and paste job.
If you are fighting/argueing(sp) with some other person on here I don't want 15 bulletins a day updating your status in the fight!!!!!!!!!
That being said these people will be deleted from my friends list until they grow up alittle bit, If want any drama in my life I will visit my Father in law to talk poltics.
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