America Online practicing censorship on liberal posts?

[Anywho6]

For the past several weeks, I have had most of my posts removed from various AOL message board (some within seconds of being posted). All of the posts have followed AOL “standards” and all have been in opposition to the Bush administration in one form or another. I’m not the only person who has experienced this. It is unbelievable to me that this is happening, but I suppose I should not be surprised considering the Bush regime and its long arm. What a sad and dangerous time for this country when people cannot share opposing thoughts or openly discuss issues. I go to sleep tonight with an even heavier heart...

[OrlandoGator]

1. No sympathy for AOL users from me.

Sorry.

[lakeguy]

3. still, it starts with aol and ends where, the DU?

[OrlandoGator]

5. Anyone who pays $30 a month for dialup deserves what they get.

There are just too many other options out there.

[lakeguy]

24. so if you pay money, you deserve censorship. must be fun living under

your roof! good thing my landlord doesn't think like you. many people, like my parents, get hooked on one brand of service and refuse to let go. does that make it okay to censor them? apparently so in your book.

[OrlandoGator]

32. Here are the options:

1. Pay $30 a month for unreliable (in my experience) and slow dialup service that practices censorship (but you do get the latest gossip on Brad and Angelina on your home page).

- or -

2. Pay about $9 a month for dialup from a local provider.

AOL is not a hard habit to break.

[Anywho6]

33. I guessed that would be my first response!

Look, with all due respect, I am a grown up and I know what my options are. By the way, I pay $14.95 for broadband via AOL and a $5 difference doesn't put a dent in my budget (not enough for the hassle of changing my ISP especially in the midst of a job hunt). And I couldn't give a damn hoot about Brad and Angelina. OrlandoGator, I'm sorry if I'm not up to your standards of ISP.

To me, the immediate issue is the blatant practice of censorship!

[LiberallyInclined]

39. AOL is a private company- they can censor what they want.

customers have the freedom to take their business elsewhere.

[LeahMira]

46. AOL Censors

I used to use AOL because I enjoyed reading the message boards. I got a lot of insight into how the other side thinks and found it fun to get down to the basic premises underlying some of the positions posters took. At the same time, I did find that a lot depends on who else is posting and who is monitoring the individual message board. Posters who want to hassle you will report you to the community standards folks over and over until they get results from them and some monitors are far pickier than others about what they see as objectionable. I totally understand your plan to keep AOL while you're hunting a job, but it was my experience that AOL's message boards seem to attract right wingers like fleas on a dog's back. One fellow actually admitted that he belonged to some Republican committee and as a senior citizen his responsibility was to put out information to counteract liberal opinions with "truthful" information. Another let it slip that he communicated privately with a couple of other posters so they could pile on to anyone who posted something to which they objected. Also, since AOL lets you have seven screen names, it seems as if there are many objections to opinions when there may be only one individual objecting but posting under all seven screen names. So... my advice would be to try another ISP once you land that job. AOL is not where you are going to find good online conversation if you are not of the ultra right persuasion. Best wishes with the job hunt, BTW. May it be a short one with an excellent result for you!

[JackRiddler]

54. Please - get a clue

They're telling you that while it's okay to complain about this, you can actually DO something about it.

AOL censors. This is bad. This is wrong. You are right.

So strike back. Leave AOL immediately. Let them know WHY.

Before you go, let everyone you can on AOL know why.

Make AOL uninhabitable.

Certainly: Don't give them your money. Worse than giving directly to some right-wing cause (who do not pretend otherwise).

Furthermore, AOL = super dumbdown. WORST commercials on TV, in which they depict their own customers as TOTAL IDIOTS. Who are eternally grateful to AOL for offering services like anti-virus programs that have been offered by everyone for free forever.

That's AOL calling you an idiot, by the way, not me. So show them what you think.

[Toots]

63. AOL is a large GOP contibutor and yes the GOP loves censorship

You wish to support the GOP with your AOL subscription then don't complain about their methods.

[Deja Q]

23. If he knew of AOL's attitudes before, then I'd take your stance.

My impression, naive as I may be, is he doesn't know how vile AoL is. I had used them for a while before noticing certain things too... (their customer support not being amongst them until I called to cancel. They screwed up enough times with my account and, you guessed it, the guy's from somewhere in India. Impossible to understand and, dealing with the billing issue, the tone of voice they use is tantamount to assult. (I don't care if the execs tell them to be like bull dogs or anything else - you don't mistreat customers. That's why korporate amerika taught us before, why are they changing their tune these days? Do they not care for customers anymore?)

[cry baby]

2. welcome to DU...

write them a letter and tell them why you are disgusted. It won't change their behavior, but you might feel better.

[Teaser]

4. Probably a repig moderator.

The higher ups won't stand for this...let them now.

I've seen this complaing before, and it's always at the moderator level.

[longship]

6. No. Write them a letter and...

cancel your subscription for breach of contract for not providing services.

Then, walk down the street to a local ISP and get an Internet Provider who won't censor you.

[jeff30997]

12. That's exactly what I was going to say.

[AndyTiedye]

7. Boycott AOL -- Get a REAL ISP

But before you tell them where to put their account, ask them to
explain why they are removing your posts. It would be interesting
to hear what they have to say for themselves.

Can you repost any of the removed stuff here?

[burythehatchet]

38. Anyone still paying money to AOL

is supporting the bush administration. Its that simple.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. I have heard for some time now

that AOL censors Liberal posters.

[brainshrub]

9. Welcome to DU. Drop AOL.

Politics aside, AOL sucks.

Post here, or post at my site... hell, post at FreeRepublic! AOL = Evil.

[cestpaspossible]

10. Why are you subsidizing them?

Have you considered a local isp?

[Occulus]

11. This kind of thing has gone on at AOL for years

It's why I got off of it- right around the time they started TOSing people for even mild language.

I heard the American Breast Cancer Cosiety's forum got deleted because... (drumroll please).... they used the word 'breast' in the title.

I left AOL, got a true ISP, and never once looked back.

[jeff30997]

14. Your not serious ?

Unbelievable ! They're nuts !

[Occulus]

48. they used to do a LOT of shady crap

I know AOL users who want to leave are still hassled into keeping it, or at least, they make the attempt. They have always made it hard, for some reason, for some people to get out of the service.

Back in the early days, and even into the mid-90s, I was hearing about people who had tried to cancel, thought they had, and yet still received bills for service they never got or used, even months later. I don't know if they still treat their customers like crap or not- and I'm not about to find out for myself, thanks. :)

[dissent1977]

13. AOL sucks

I would suggest you cancel, and tell them you are cancelling because you are sick of being censored for speaking out against evil. And if you have the posts that got censored saved on your computer, post them on the internet. Let others see what is being censored and get several people to write in and ask why the posts were censored. Force them to give a response. If they say they do not allow partisan posts go through the message boards and find several pro-Bush or anti-left posts and ask why they did not enforce the same policy on those posts. You could bring a lot of unwanted attention to AOL if you did all of this.

Recommended.

[jeff30997]

15. Excellent idea.

[Roy]

16. Just remember one thing if you cancel AOL....

It's really not easy to cancel AOL. After cancellation you must keep a sharp eye on the method you used for payment. Even after it appears that they have stopped removing money from the card or account you use for payment. They have been known to stop taking payments and then start back again a bit later.
These guys use the HARD SELL for folks who are canceling and will say anything to keep pimping you.

Insist on on a dated confirmation of your cancellation number and put it in a safe accessible place.

And I repeat keep a sharp eye on your account statements for a good period of time.

[tmorelli415]

17. Massive Contributor to the GOP

They are one of the top corporate contributors as a company, and also their management. If you pay for AOL service, a portion of your money is going to the Republicans. AOL and AOL management and executives are BIG BIG BIG BIG BIG contributors to the GOP - I can't stress it enough.


Microsoft is supportive of Democrats far more than Repukes. MSN?

[EFerrari]

28. Ditto for SBC. I have to check my bill EVERY month for this reason. nt

[Henny Penny]

37. I would totally agree with that!!!

When I cancelled my AOL account they kept charging my credit card for about a year!!! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Despite numerous emails (that they did not respond to even once!) and phone calls. I could only finally cancel getting my credit card to stop giving them the money!!

They were unbelieveable- DO NOT TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE POLE!!!

:mad: :mad: :mad: :puke: :puke: :puke: :mad: :mad: :mad: :spank: :spank: :spank:

[GiovanniC]

41. I Had a Similar Experience

After I tried to cancel AOL, I was so irritated that I sat down and wrote a transcript of the conversation from my memory. It might not be exactly word-for-word but it's pretty close:

AOL: Hi, this is Sherry... blah blah blah... What's your name?
ME: Giovanni {Last Name}.
AOL: Okay, Mister {Last Name}. Is it okay if I call you Giovanni?
ME: I really don't care.
AOL: Okay, Giovanni. I need to ask you your security question. What is your mother's middle name?
ME: Anne.
AOL: I'm sorry, that's not what we have.
ME: That's her middle name.
AOL: Could it be something else?
ME: No, Anne has been her middle name, like, my whole life. Do you mean her MAIDEN name?
AOL: No, her MIDDLE name.
(arguing about security question for five more minutes before determining that they are actually looking for her MAIDEN name)
AOL: Okay, and what can I do for you today?
ME: I want to cancel my account.... again.
AOL: Ha ha! Well, I'll need to get some information from you. You said that you want to cancel your account again? What do you mean by that?
ME: I called a couple of months ago, and spoke to some guy and tried to cancel. He tried very hard to prevent me from cancelling.
AOL: Okay.
ME: He asked me a bunch of questions asking me what I use AOL for -- music, news, sports, video, whatever...
AOL: Yeah.
ME: ... and he was trying to tell me that I can do all of that stuff with AOL.
AOL: Well, you can do all of that stuff with AOL.
ME: Yeah, and I can do all of that stuff without AOL. I'm not my grandmother. I can use the Internet without all the little Playskool pictures and colors.
AOL: Ha ha. I agree with you there.
ME: Anyway, he wanted me to sign up for AOL with Broadband. I told him no. Then, the other day, I find out from my bank that you guys are still charging me.
AOL: Okay. He must have thought that you said that you wanted to sign up for AOL for Broadband.
ME: Why would I want that? Why would I spend an extra $28.90 every month to get something that I don't want and that I don't need?
AOL: I don't know. Well, what would you like to do?
ME: Well, first off, I want this cancelled. And I want you to listen very closely to me right now, okay?
AOL: Okay.
ME: If you have some stupid little script where you're supposed to beg me to stay with AOL, I want you to save your breath.
AOL: Um, all right...
ME: I mean it. I've already heard it before, it's stupid, so save it. I'm not going to use AOL.
AOL: I wouldn't do that, sir. We're on the same page here.
ME: Good.
AOL: I think that cable internet is definitely the way to go. It's very fast and you can do so much stuff with it.
ME: I agree.
AOL: So what kinds of things do you do online?
ME: I do all sorts of things. I do all of the things that I do, with my cable internet, without AOL. I haven't used AOL for months. I haven't missed AOL.
AOL: Well, like what sorts of things do you do, though? Like, sports, or music, or video, or what?
ME: You're reading the &@%# script. I just told you not to read me that stupid script, and you're doing it.
AOL: No I'm not.
ME: Yes, you just did. I asked to have my account cancelled, the guy didn't. I ask you not to read the script, and you did.
AOL: No, we're on the same page here.
ME: If we're on the same page, then you'll realize that I want you to cancel my account, and I want you to do it now.
AOL: I can do that, but first I'll need to get some financial information from you so we can take care of the outstanding balance of $57.80.
ME: Have you cancelled my account yet?
AOL: No, I can't cancel your account until you give me the financial information to take care of your outstanding balance.
ME: I tried to cancel months ago, before you guys charged me this outstanding balance.
AOL: Well, I wasn't there in that conversation but he didn't think that you cancelled so you still owe this $57.80.
ME: I want my account cancelled now.
AOL: I can't do that until you --
ME: Hold on a @&#$ minute. Do you mean to tell me that you guys refused to cancel my account, you charged me for two more months, and now --
AOL: Sir, I --
ME: And now, you're telling me you won't cancel until I pay you for two months that I shouldn't even owe in the first place!?
AOL: Sir, that's --
ME: (very loud) Do you mean to tell me that you're not going to cancel my account unless I pay you money I don't owe!?
AOL: Sir, no, of course I wouldn't say that.
ME: Good. Then cancel my account. Right now. Cancel it.
AOL: If I cancel your account right now, we'll just send you a paper bill for the amount you owe.
ME: I don't owe you anything, but that's fine. Send the bill, and I'll fight that then.
AOL: (very quickly) All right then, your account is now cancelled effective the sixth of next month. Please listen to this recorded disclaimer. Thank you --
ME: Wait!
AOL: (annoyed) Okay. What else can I help you with?
ME: Did you just say that the account is cancelled effective the sixth of next month?
AOL: Yes, sir.
ME: Meaning the sixth of November?
AOL: Yes, next month.
ME: Do you mean to tell me that you are going to try to charge me for ANOTHER month of your stupid service I don't use?
AOL: Yes.
ME: Even after I'm cancelling?
AOL: Yes, the billing period has already started.
ME: Whatever.... I'll fight that when that gets here too. There's no point in arguing with you, you're too stupid to do anything anyway. (*click*)

They continued to send me letters trying to charge me close to $90 forever... I had to fight with them and fight with my bank to get everything cleared up. It was the biggest hassle I've ever dealt with for ANY COMPANY, EVER. I convinced everyone I know to cancel AOL and sign up with someone else.

[eleonora]

50. omg this reminds me of what I went through with them

They charged me an extra month after I cancelled with them. At the time I was so broke the charge took my account in the red, 2 weeks later I owed my bank $150 +. I HATE those assholes.

[annabanana]

52. Hey! Is that a Monty Python sketch?!?!?!?

It has a "dead parrot" effect to it....

[PA Democrat]

45. Can you file a complaint with your state's attorney general?

Although I suppose that in some states, that would be an exercise in futility given the current anti-consumer, pro-business climate.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

61. Just report to the bank that you "lost" your credit card and get another.

Preemptively. Works wonders. :evilgrin:

[firefox]

18. Intergate is $100 a year

http://www.intergate.com/isp/index.shtml It is great service and does not reward one of the five major media companies that has pulled the wool over America's lives.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Tehy have done that for years

only reason why I don't cancel is... some of my really good liberal frinds are on AOL and tehy really would be lost with a local ISP...

And for bidness reasons been on AOL for ever and a day... so people know that

[tmorelli415]

20. Maybe you could get them all to change with you?

that way you'd not miss them - AOL doesn't deserve your business, sadly.

[enid602]

21. AOL

After you've canceled, ask your bank to cancel the debit or credit card against which AOL charges your account, and then your bank can issue you a new one. It's the only way to get rid of AOL.

[earth mom]

22. AOL Sucks...and

I got rid of it a couple of years ago when we got DSL in my area, but I kept my AOL email service and user name. It only costs me $2.95 a month and I actually prefer their email system (which includes AIM) to the one that I have with my DSL which is MSN email.

Just an FYI, if case you decide to quit AOL. :)

[proud2BlibKansan]

30. Yahoo rocks

and it's free. :)

[yurbud]

25. This is why we need community based internet

Hillbilly Hitler art:



Blog:

[NMMNG]

26. AOL loves censorship

They routinely practice it in their child-filtering software. It will block or severely restrict access to "undesirable" search terms.

Check out this story about how AOL was blocking access to searches for "democratic party" until the story broke, and is still blocking searches for "communist party" and "socialist party". Pity the child who wants to learn about them or do a research project.

http://www.politicalamazon.com/aol-update2.html


And here is their filter's highly unbalanced approach towards religion:

http://www.politicalamazon.com/aol-atheists.html




I wouldn't give AOL a penny of my money!:argh:

[friesianrider]

27. Damn is it that hard to get rid of AOL?

I need to cancel my service ASAP, and this post just gave me better reason to. DO I really need to cancel my bank card (my AOL payment comes out automatically from a VISA Debit card)?

[Stephanie]

29. Of course not! Just cancel the service and stop the payments

Cancel the payments through your bank.

[TorchTheWitch]

34. You have NO idea

I canceled AOL and they kept taking the money out of my creditcard every month for THREE YEARS. I canceled the card as soon as I discovered they were still taking my money. The bank kept paying them even though I had extended my limit. I couldn't use the card for ANYTHING because of being over my limit, yet every month they still paid AOL. And they still paid AOL for years AFTER I had canceled the card. This was Chase Manhattan Bank, who after that experience, I'm convinced is in cahoots with AOL to defraud people this way on purpose. The only way to get the matter cleared up was to sue. Once I gave them the name of my attorney and told them we'd be filing a lawsuit, both AOL and Chase backed off and cleared my accounts.

I'll never do business with AOL or Chase again after that crazyness.

If you do dump AOL, be aware that they've spread their tenticles throughout your whole computer... you'll never be entirely rid of their evil influence unless you fry your computer and start over with a clean one. My current ISP spent over an hour with me getting rid of a lot of the nasty bugs they spread through your computer... they've got so many people leaving AOL for them that it's become STANDARD PRACTICE for them to walk you through zapping AOL tenticles. But you'll never be rid of all of them... nobody even KNOWS how much and every place in your computer they infultrate. This was four years ago, and I'm STILL cleaning their tenticles out of my computer.

Check out the BBB report on AOL... I'm hardly the only person this has happened to. It's epidemic.

[Melodybe]

31. The Saudi's own AOL/Time/Warner

why on earth are you surprised by this?

AOL is the stupid internet anyway, they make you pay for the same thing you would be getting anywhere else. I never understood why people would use it to begin with.

[lostnfound]

57. Really? Source?

I want to get rid of roadrunner (time warner cable) but SBC is bad too, and I don't know how else to get broadband.

[katinmn]

35. Anywho6 -- Get rid of AOL, if you can!

Seriosuly, there are much better options. But just wait till you try to extricate yourself from buying their services.

I once signed up for a trial since I had to have dial-up for a few months after I moved. It was almost impossible to cancel the service.

They're awful.

[RebelOne]

36. There are plenty of liberal posts on AOL.

In fact, there are more liberal posts than conservative ones on the message boards.

[Pryderi]

40. I'd suggest gathering evidence and have others contact the media, but

they're all in cahoots.

[Boxerfan]

42. So I guess it's not just me...

I used a aol disk for a temporary connection. I had canceled 3 days afterwards. They continued to charge but luckilly I caught it at the 1st billing cycle. I called to cancel (again!) & spent most of an hour going through management levels. Finally got a supervisor who tried telling me I shouldn't get so upset because it's not a lot of money???$!!(O*^P(*YB P(*Y)(&**&^*&&()__$####!!
I really gave it to him then(no swearing,they can hang up on you if you swear,if not they HAVE to listen to you berate the company.
When I finally got a cancelation confirmation# (Always get the #)the idjit told me I didn't have to be so rude-Oh poor baby. If they had canceled when I 1st called I would not have been

[katinmn]

49. Same thing happened to me, Boxerfan.

Then for months after I was getting calls and messages inviting me to come back as a customer with promises that they'd give me a deal.

It was very hard getting away from AOL.

Welcome to DU, Boxerfan!
Check out the Barbara Boxer interest group here on DU. Lots of BB fans here!:hi:

[foreigncorrespondent]

43. Well...

...if you are gonna use a kiddies ISP, then you should expect to be treated as such. And before you slam me for not liking your ISP listen to what I am saying.

I was a member of AOL for many years (and a very popular member with other members at that.) Hell, I even met my partner in the chat room I used to hang in all the time. But after time I began to realize that AOL truly is hell. I was tired of having my opinions removed from the message boards, even though they all fit AOL guide lines. I was tired of hanging in a chat room only to be asked by some kid, or desperate and dateless guy (it didn't matter to them that it was actually a lesbian chat room I was in) "A/S/L." I realized that the ease of use AOL offered wasn't worth the shit they would put one through.

Also, someone very wise once told me that if I wanted to be taken seriously in the adult world then I needed to ditch AOL and get a real ISP. That has been the most truest words ever spoken to me.

I sympathize for what you are going through but seriously consider if AOL really is worth it all to you.

[earth mom]

44. AOL-Part of the Bush Regime Censorship Agenda.

I posted on this thread yesterday, and this morning noticed it was on the greatest list, so decided to read the new posts. Afterward, I started thinking about how my political "awakening" occurred at about the time I got rid of AOL and got MSN DSL. After reading the posts here and realizing that so much of my internet news and info was censored and "shaped" by AOL-it's no surprise that it took me so long to understand what was really going on in this country and no doubt the reason so many millions of people in this country are in the dark too!

I'm positive that AOL is part of a larger plan by the Bush Regime to Censor and Control ALL the information we get. What EVIL EVIL EVIL BASTARDS-we can't let them get away with it! :grr:

[Singular73]

47. IGN does the same thing

Liberals get banned basically on sight.

[AuntiBush]

51. AOL's Ratings Are Sliding Downwards. No Sympathy for AOL!

We should all re-think our internet services. The only way to define your liberties is to hit back at big corporate purse-strings.

It's all they understand. No family values, and far from moral.

The Right just does not get it.

[youspeakmylanguage]

53. I think a lot of posters are overreacting to this...

These are Internet message boards we're talking about, ones owned and operated by AOL. Since there are literally tens of thousands of message boards on the Internet, why are we getting bent out of shape over a few corporate boards that are mostly frequented by Internet newbies?

When discussing politics I only post at DU and nowhere else on the Internet. I chose DU because of the incredible quality of moderation, among other factors. If DU chose to kick me off and delete my posts, I'd move on to another board. I'd be disappointed, but it's the WORLD WIDE Web. It's not hard to find an alternative, or even alternatives to the alternatives.

If you want to express written opinions and have complete ownership and control over those opinions, you'll need to start your own web page or blog and then copyright your intellectual property. If you post on someone else's page, board, or blog, don't expect to have any control over what happens to your postings.

[FlaGranny]

55. After all this advice to dump AOL,

let me throw this in - once you dump them, you will probably need a week to get rid of them from your computer. AOL takes over your entire system and puts itself everywhere.

I tried them about six years or so ago and I was almost at the point of getting a new computer just to get rid of the sneaky AOL takeover of my computer's registry. Also, when you get any program you have to be careful not to let it install anything AOL.

It is the most intrusive program I've ever seen, at least it used to be, and probably still is.

[AX10]

56. AOL sucks...

...like a White House Intern.

:D

[Mythsaje]

58. Assuming

one uses the checking account option to sign up with AOL, the easiest way to get rid of aol is to close your account and open another one. Yes, I know that's not easy, really, but it's the only guaranteed way to end their stranglehold over you.

I wouldn't advise using a credit card for aol service because that would make it even more difficult to get out.

We were forced to return to aol a few years ago because none of the other ISPs available to us could deal with the high volume e-mail my wife receives. As soon as broadband was available in our area we dumped it and haven't looked back.

AOL is a happy hunting ground for perverts and pedophiles. Why doesn't it surprise me that they support the Reapers? Amazing.

[dogday]

59. A O Hell

that about says it all......

[quinnox]

60. AOL employees are desperate to keep the company's hooks in you

I used AOL for a free trial while I looked for a new internet service. When I called to cancel before I would start being charged the lady on the phone was rather rude and kept trying to make a deal with me that they would charge me a lower rate if only I remained with the service.

I can confirm the stories from previous posters, they ask all kinds of silly questions about what you use the internet for and why do you want to cancel our service and if it is for price reasons they will gladly cut a deal with you and other nonsense.

She even acted like she was insulted at one point when I made a comment about AOL's intrusiveness on my computer.


Finally she gave me a cancellation number and hung up on me abruptly to listen to their automated cancellation message.

[mcscajun]

62. Are you certain they've been removed?

Just asking. I was on AOL for a few years, and their default on their internal message boards was to only show you unread posts, and you own post is assumed 'read'. So, unless you change the defaults, you won't see your own posts right after you've submitted it, or ever.

All that said, I have to agree with the voices suggesting you abandon AOL. It's the "Nanny Internet", and there are many, many far better alternatives out there.

Also agree that you watch your account statements very carefully after you make the call to cancel.

[OrlandoGator]

64. My hate for AOL is on a whole other level.

I hate AOL because they made the internet way too freaking easy to access for stupid people (I am not referring to the original poster in any way, shape or form).

I remember the "golden age" of the internet, around 1996 or so, when almost everyone online was intelligent, funny and enlightened. The difficulty of configuring WinSock and Eudora and all the other programs needed to get online served as a very convenient filter.

But AOL brought us the dawn of "one-click" access. And that has enabled cesspools of intellectual and social retardation like FreeRepublic to flourish.

[AntiCoup2K4]

65. AOL has been censoring liberal posts for years.

I used to post on their political boards several years ago under the name "TCYD", and this would have been during the "BlowJobGate" episode. I basically went off on the Freeper types and told all those fucking idiots that the entire objective of this circus was so these extremist assholes could gain control of all three branches of government in the 2000 election and turn this country into a dominionist-fascist state.

And mind you, this is long before I, or anyone else had ever heard of PNAC.

Apparently someone figured out that "TCYD" was short for "Thurston County Young Democrats" so they bitched and whined and suddenly the posts started disappearing, and eventually my account was "blocked" from their stupid chat rooms. I swear to God AOL must be a CIA front sometimes.