American Justice

So I had to go to court Tuesday. A little background....

I was spraying an apartment complex for bugs when I ran into some white trash scum that the capitol of Illinois spreads throughout these welfare apartments in Central Illinois. It's supposed to "acclimate" them to normal life. Instead it "acclimates" the unwary parent's kids to the joys of AIDS and low-quality, high powered Meth.

So this ugly wench, call her Maw Trash, was upset with me because she had declined service last time, and I had reported this to the manager, who then wrote her up. She gave me crap for a bit, then when I declined any further crap, she called up some guy and passed me the phone.

So I say, "Yes?", and he gives me all this hilarious shit about how he's coming over to teach me a lesson. Bored at the lack of novelty of it all, and not enjoying the squalid hospitality of this wench, I hung up and told her that I was marking her as having "declined service", and that she'd be evicted.

Then went about my rounds.

Soon, her old husband Paw Trash came by, and wanted to start trouble. He wanted me to tell the manager that I had sprayed the woman's apartment, but I declined. Then he went off to try to get me in trouble with the manager.

Not that this did much good. I grew up here, so did she, neither of us have enjoyed seeing Chicago's trash littered about rural Illinois. She listened, then told him that as service was declined, Maw Trash was to be evicted.

He went off to Maw Trash's apartment, and the manager and I went about the rest of the rounds.

But when we came out, there was Trash Jr., all 6'4'' 250 pounds of righteous wrath, looking for Landlord ass to chew. So he comes striding over, swearing up a storm and wants to give her a piece of his mind. Fortunately for me, 50 pounds of it was beer belly.

I intervened, and let him know that the cops would be called and he should back off. He did, still yelling and such, and her and I retired to her office. Where she called the cops to have him arrested.

Which would be pretty hard, since while morally he had done great wrong, we had him on little more then menacing and disturbing the peace. But she wanted to be able to tresspass him more conveniently, and to get the others evicted, so that worked.

The police came by, and he was arrested. And RoR'd, it being too small a charge.

Well, it so happens the guy is minor muscle (read "glorified mule") for some who enjoy making meth with handy kitchen and farm supplies. So it was decided to prosecute him for nuisance value. It was expected that he'd plead.

He didn't, but asked for a bench trial.

The wheels of justice turning so swiftly, and his right to a speedy trial so guaranteed, we went from October 30th of 2004 to April 5th of 2005 before this trial. Which brings us to now.

Monday, I did call to see if they'd actually still need me as a witness. I figured he had plead out, but nope, it was still on. I said to the State's Attorney, "My driving time will likely be longer then what he can be sentenced to!", to which he laughed and agreed.

So I drive two hours down into Southern Illinois where everyone else is. There was the Judge, the State's Attorney, the Public Defender, the Court Clerk, the Bailiff, me, the victim, the police officer. Versus little old him.

I don't know how the others value their time, but I get anywhere from $20 to $40 an hour, and I wondered at how much this was costing the taxpayers, and all involved, so as to try him for this penny-ante misdemeanor.

He showed up, with the whole extended Trash Clan in their Sunday finery, in this case that being T-shirts and baggy jeans for the "men" and halters and slut skirts for the "women". (They all hadn't had this much excitement since Cousin Trash had a chance to be on Jerry Springer last year, and that other time when Betty Lou kicked Donny Ray out for him cheatin')

First there were some other "trials" to be had in this little corner of Amerika.

1. A hearing to determine the legitimacy of a search warrant that had been executed, and had resulted in a pot bust. The man's lawyer asked the undercover drug shit under oath, "What was the basis of obtaining the warrant?" - a reasonable question, it being a hearing to determine the legitimacy of the search warrant.

State's Attorney: "Objection! Outside the scope of the hearing!"

Judge: "Sustained"

Defense Attorney: "What led you to want a warrant?"

SA: "Objection! Outside the scope of the hearing!"

Judge: "Sustained"

Defense Attorney: (silent)

Judge: "Any further questions?"

DA: "No, your honor".

SA: "State has no questions"

Judge: "I find insufficient evidence to indicate the warrant was issued without merit."

2. Amusingly during this judicial farce, a guy in front of me was very agitated and asking if the man on the stand (the undercover shit) was "Jim's friend". Guess Jim doesn't know how to pick his friends very well!

3. Two people were then busted for possession of drug related paraphernalia, which nowadays means, "ZigZag Rolling Papers". They each plead out to a suspended sentence of a year, then a $750 fine, court costs, and another $50 payable to Crimestoppers, those fun lovers who run the 1-800-SQUEALER hotline.


Now it was Trash Jr.'s turn, but lo and behold, he was off with the State's Attorney in consultation. Seems he had figured that either the manager or I would call off, and he'd get a walk. As we were there, he obviously would not.

The State's Attorney was told that Trash Jr. didn't want to do community service - manadatory if convicted of Disturbing the Peace, which was what he was charged with. So he pleaded UP to Battery.

In this he was given Court Supervision for one year (translation: Nothing) and a $75 fine and court costs. And was barred from contact with either the manager or me or any property of the Company that owns the apartments.

Hmmm....rolling papers.....$750......scaring and bullying....$75? Such priorities, such justice.

In any case, it wasn't a total loss. The manager was glad to see me there, and her boss was similarily pleased. There may be some extra work for me now, so that is good.

And Maw Trash was evicted. And all were trespassed. And now they say they are moving back to Chicago.

Damn!

*smiles*

100 years of decline

Test for fitness of entering College, 1901:

************************************************************************************

The College Board's first college entrance examinations consisted of essay examinations in English, French, German, Latin, Greek, history, mathematics, chemistry, and physics. These exams were held the week of June 17, 1901 at 69 locations (67 in the US, 2 in Europe). Over a third of the 973 test takers were from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and 38% came from private schools, 27% from public high schools, 22% from academies and endowed schools, and 13% from "other" or unstated institutions. After the exams, the answer books were read by experts in each subject, who rated them Excellent, Good, Doubtful, Poor, and Very Poor. These students applied to 23 colleges or universities, with 60% of them applying to Columbia University.

Here are some sample questions from this 1901 test:

Latin L -- Advanced Latin Composition

Friday, June 21 4:45 - 5:45 pm

1) Write the rules for the following constructions and illustrate each by a Latin sentence :
a Two uses of the dative.b The cases used to indicate the relations of place.c The cases used with verbs of remembering.d The hortatory (or jussive) subjunctive.eThe supine in um.

2) Translate into Latin:

"I see," said Cicero, "that the faces and eyes of all of you are turned toward me. Your good will toward me is truly pleasing to me. But I can see what is to my advantage much more clearly than you can what is to the advantage of the state. I shall encounter a storm of wholly undeserved odium: but it is worth my while to be called a tyrant if only this be driven from the city and the danger of this war be averted from you. But, since I must live with those whom I have conquered, it is your duty to see to it that my deeds may never harm me or mine. I have made it possible that those who are fighting for our country in foreign lands may have a place to which they may return as victors."

3) Change 2 as far as the words "But since" into indirect discourse depending on Cicero dixit.

Physics

A
1) A balloon contains 300 cubic meters of hydrogen, each cubic meter of which weighs 90 grams. The material of the balloon weighs 250 kilograms. Each cubic meter of the surrounding air weighs 7290 grams. How many kilograms in addition to its own weight will the balloon lift?

2) Describe a method of finding the specific gravity of a solid heavier than water; of a liquid.

B
3) A cylindric bar of uniform diameter and 1.5 meters long has a strong ring fastened to each end and another at a distance of one meter from one end. Show by three drawings how this rod may be used as a lever with each ring in turn serving as a fulcrum. What weight in each case (the weight of the bar itself being neglected) applied to one remaining ring will balance 25 kilograms at the other?

4) A steamer is moving eastward at the rate of 240 meters per minute. A man runs northward across her deck at the rate of 180 meters per minute. Show by a drawing his actual path and compute his actual velocity in centimeters per second.

************************************************************************************

So that's what High School graduates were expected to know in 1901. I'd like to give that test to any Public School Educator in America and kick them in the ass when they fail.

Literally. And hard. There is a level of mind raping so severe, so total, as to warrant a direct physical retaliation. And the crushing of our intellects that these drooling, self-righteous sanctimonius fools perpetrate on generation after generation of innocent children is a crime against humanity that makes Pol Pot look like Mother Theresa.

Remember this test, please, when next you hear of these "educators" speaking of how they are underpaid. Remember it when you hear them speak of their tireless dedication, of their "high standards" and all their other lies and nonsense.

According to the American Federation of Teachers, the average teacher's pay for 2004 was $45,000. For nine months of not teaching worth a damn. These educators wish to be thought altruists, but actually make out with a nice yearly sum for having three months vacation.

They wish to be thought professional, but their unions insist on them being promoted according to seniority like any manual laborer.

They wish to be thought intelligent and well educated - But get them to agree to take that test. Hell, get them to agree to take and pass the GED.

They are overpaid, underworked, undereducated, below average intellects who are so sure of this that they insist on being paid against their customer's will, insist on no real promotion standards, insist on no standards whatsoever.

I call for a new Federal Law - I, an Anarchist ask for this Federal Law - that says this:

"Any person who is drawing any income in any way whatsoever from a public school system shall be required to pass the GED each year with a score of 60 or above. Failure to do so will result in immediate termination."

Propose that at the next School Board meeting and see what happens!

Dean West

The Fundie Bashing Game

There is an odd game played on the net known as "Fundie Bashing". It is a game of contradictions.

The rules are said to be one thing, known to be another. The goal is said to be one thing, known to be another.

What is the goal? The goal is simple: To fight those theocratic fascists who would impose their view of the Bible on everyone in the world at the point of a gun. To resist those who would wish to bring back burning witches at the stake. To oppose those who wish not only to overturn Roe vs. Wade, not only to repeal the 19th amendment, but to remove the shoes from the feet of all women.

Well, that's the stated goal. But since those who actually do believe all that are damn few, and since they are further busy running the American government, and thus do not have time to post as much as they'd like, the actually known goal is a bit different.

That goal is this: To harass and harangue any sincere believer in the message of Christ. To accept any belief of anyone as perfectly valid for them...unless that belief involves the Christian God. To discuss as if it were sane, the myths of any group of tribal savages or modern malcontents, but to hoot with laughter over stories of Virgin Births. To accept any illogicality of any belief system, but to relentlessly expose any misplaced comma in the Bible.

What are the rules? They are simple: To use love and tolerance to oppose the hate and bigotry of the Fundies. To use common sense and logic to explain the fallacies of those who cling to ignorance and superstition. To enter into dialogue to attempt to guide them to a better path, a more tolerant path, a more life affirming path.

Well, those are the stated rules. But since those who have a lot of love and tolerance are relatively few, and since common sense, logic and dialogue are difficult things, the actually known rules are a bit different.

Those rules are this: To dismiss any Christian out of hand with ridicule and contempt. To rely heavily on ad hominem. To lay at their feet every crime committed by anyone who was ever in any way associated with Christianity, and hold them responsible. To hold their beliefs up to a staggeringly high level of scrutiny, such that no belief system of man could last a minute under that kind of expectation of accuracy and consistency. To tell them their views and prove those wrong. To expect of them perfection in the following of their philosophy as we understand it, when few of us could accurately summarize our own code of ethics, let alone show much adherence to it.

Even the name is odd. For we call it "Fundie Bashing", but it is actually to all appearance little more then "Christian Persecution".

Now as it happens, there are people, and groups of people, who actually play the game as it is supposed to be played. These people and groups perform an invaluable service in exposing some of the hate filled agendas of the far right wing Christian Fundamentalists.

The Christian Identity Church. Racists. The 700 Club. Homophobic and Misogynistic. The Institute for Creation Research. Anti-Science and Education.

To name but a few of the bad fundamentalist groups. They need opposing, and often times, it is an easier to use the bad methods of ad hominem and ridicule to expose them. Proving the theory of evolution involves a knowledge of basic biology and the latest works in the field, and that is hard. Yukking it up about Cain's wife is far easier!

I don't actually mind people using the poor methods on the truly bad Fundie groups. Keep in mind the audience, I always say. And your audience isn't typically equipped to handle a logical dissertation on the properties of self-replicating nucleic acid molecules.

However...trouble starts when such "lower" weapons are used on those who are not fundamentalists. Who are not attempting to put their cowboy boots in a homosexual's face. Who have no desire to steal women's shoes.

These are just sincere believers in the message of Christ, which as they'd say if they got a chance boils down to little more then "Accept him in your heart, love God, and love your neighbor as yourself."

A little wordier then the "Harm none" of the Wiccans, but means about the same. And Goddess/God, who cares? So long as the love and peace are there?

To often these sincere Christians get dismissed. Or get attacked by those who'd not be able to withstand any real onslaught of actual fundies.

That's not nice.

The trouble is, and the reason why so many good Christians get assaulted on the boards, is because the good ones often times have the sins of the bad ones taken out on them. And also, there is a class of non-Christian which is really more "anti-Christian" then non-Christian.

Fake atheists are the main ones who fall into that category. You show me a Wiccan or Pagan, and I'll show you a sincere seeker of truth who would easily get along with real Christians.

You show me your average atheist on these boards, and I'll show you an insecure hater who'll ally with any faith or creed so long as it isn't the one he was raised in!

These are the fake atheists, the ones who were molested by priests, or who's parents were too strict with them, or had a bad time in Catholic School, or who's life sucks so bad they need a big powerful god to blame.

So their attitude is more accurately expressed by picturing them saying, "I hate you God, so I'll show you! I'll not believe in you, so there!" (*stomps little foot*)

We've all seen this type. We see little else. Whole communities of them exist where they pass the time trying to outdo each other in who can post a more profane and sacriligious post. Who has the sickest Jesus Joke. Who can find the most inaccuracies in the Bible. Who can tell the story of the dumbest Christian ever. And of course, they compete with each other over who hates fundies the most.

Then a Christian enters. The Christian will want to spread his ideas - which means he is as of 99% of us on the net, for what the hell else are the rest of us doing, if not sharing our ideas? We sure aren't seeing a movie together.

The Christian will know that he is going to be ratpacked. He will know all the likely objections. And he'll know his odds of escaping with any semblence of dignity are small. What courage to enter anyway, and actually identify himself.

The only other groups that get grief are the racists and the Rand followers. But not even the Aryans and the Anarchists get the same level of malice that Christians get, the same contempt, the same ugliness.

In fact, so bad is it, that I've had people tell me in email they were Christians, but they tell me only "in confidence" because they know they'd never be able to be taken seriously if others knew.

Were they racists, they'd be viewed with contempt for lack intelligence, but would be feared for their vengefulness. Were they admirers of Ayn Rand or Capitalism/Libertarianism they'd not be feared, but there'd be respect for their intelligence.

In neither case would they get half as much.

But a Christian? They're viewed as dumb by the same people who know that the Christians won't fight back very hard. Not the good ones, anyway. The ones that get it the hardest.

The opening shot is for the leader to post some smarmy and fake "Don't preach to us, we've had enough of that kind of thing here. No offense."

No offense? Imagine a Wiccan being told that! Or a Socialist! Or any other group! No, all others get to explain first, only Christians get that. And of course, they get more, for the manager saying that is really Net Talk for, "Release the hounds."

Then the others descend on him.

Typically, since Christians just so happen to be people, some of them will get quite angry. And be told off for not being as nice as Jesus. Or they'll quietly take it. And be accused of playing the martyr. Or try to explain. And get shrill cries of, "Quit preaching!". Or attempt to just post regularly on other topics. And be accused of "not answering because he can't."

Well, true enough, the Christian can't. Not for not having some answers - but for there being nothing a Christian can do that will in any way get him the respect that a person who worships the cows or the trees would take for granted.

Now. Don't get me wrong. There are some smugly annoying fundie fools out there. The kind that will post 13 chapters of scripture as proof, and if you address all but three verses will tell you that you didn't answer them. And if you answer all, they'll calmly tell you that isn't what those verses "really" mean. And if you explain that whole "I have a dictionary and can read English" thing, they'll say that your heart and mind are closed to the truth.

And they'll do all they can to let you know what hell bound, immoral dumbass you are.

But they aren't all like that. In fact, few of them are. And I think it's time a distinction was made. Not believing in Jesus does not automatically make someone smart and good. Believing in Jesus does not automatically make someone dumb and bad.

Dean West

Resolution, Reconciliation, Retraction

On February 10th I posted a blog article called "Rainbow's Coalition". In it I accused Sharyn/Rainbow Circe of assisting a variety of net stalkers in their campaign against a woman I love.

As is usual in these turbulent flame wars and net battles there was more to the story. Sharyn and I had been friends at a group of hers. In all the battles going on, there was fall out there, and she felt it appropriate to demote me.

As it happens, it was over a thing that I had not done, but she could not have known that. Reaction met action, reaction to reaction, each wondering why the other was doing this or that or the other. Communications break down, and everything that was questionable, mistaken or misunderstood gets then taken in the worst possible light.

So far I describe what most all of us have been through when it comes to friends having a falling out.

However. Neither one of us were actually bad people, for all that we may have wondered. We each have been wishing that this had never happened, and that we'd have stayed friends, and that none of the ugliness would have taken place.

We have therefore sought to meet and figure things out. Who did this or that or what happened here or there. We agreed finally to meet in a chat room in some group outside either of our control, and worked out all that needed working out.

We are each sorry to the other for all the misunderstandings that have taken place, and all the mistakes made. Neither one of us wished for all this to have happened. We are not instantly buddies and best friends, such things are for fairy tales. But we are at peace, we are on friendly terms, and there is opportunity now for healing and a perhaps fully renewed friendship in the future.

There is respect and honor and peace in the meanwhile, and those are good things. There will be no more negativity spoken of by either of us about or to either of us. We each understand that the other means no harm.

I state for the record that Sharyn's role in that which I said she was in was a result of me misunderstanding her motives and her rationale behind various actions. I have offered her my apologies and she has accepted. I know longer believe as I did. She has no desire to harm or spread harm on these issues.

I have heard from Sharyn that she understands that things she thought of me, things she thought I had done, were not. But that other unknowns, with their own agendas, found it convenient to set two people at odds. She has offered her apologies for the misunderstanding, and I have accepted that. She does not view me as she had when we were upset with each other.

We ask that all people in these sections respect that, and that we all move on. This all started when a certain group came over to the Philosophy section to deliberately stir trouble. They have been remarkably successful, but with this, it now ends.

The issue of these "men" who keep attacking and harassing a bereaved mother for sport will not be used to further embroil the Philosophy and Spiritual groups that we each have various memberships in. And even now, the last manager of the last group that this battle has affected is being asked for peace by me, and I suspect that we will work something out.

When that occurs, this battle will be reconfined to where it belongs - in the few groups that these stalkers control in the News section. They won't be able to wage war or set at odds the people who were trying to post in peace in the Philosophy and Spiritual sections.

The issue will be dead in these sections. If you see someone post on it, any nic, any time, know that they are only trying to cause pain, no matter how gently they speak on it. For the principle people involved are of one mind in wishing it to be over, and confined to the actively hostile groups.

Dean West

My Favorite Reads

Ahhh, what to include, and what not to include? And which order?

Well, with much waffling and wondering, I've listed these. They are not comprehensive, I held myself down to 12 in each category.

Obviously, there are more then 12 great books just written by Robert Heinlein alone! And obviously some authors were sadly underrepresented, or not on the lists at all.

And the non-fiction list is woefully inadequate.

All the lists are inadequate, for there are so many more good books, sagas, series and stories out there!

Here we go then:

Epic Sagas:

1. "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand

2. "Battlefield Earth" by L. Ron Hubbard

3. "Shogun" by James Clavell

4. "Boat of a Million Years" by Poul Anderson

5. "Gone With The Wind" by Margaret Mitchell

6. "Unintended Consequences" by John Ross

7. "Pallas" by L. Neil Smith

8. "Time Enough For Love" by Robert Heinlein

9. "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" by Robert Heinlein

10. "The Stand" by Stephen King

11. "Lucifer's Hammer" by Larry Niven

12. "Island in the Sea of Time" by S.M. Stirling

Fiction Novels:

1. "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand

2. "The Probability Broach" by L. Neil Smith

3. "Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven

4. "1984" by George Orwell

5. "King Rat" by James Clavell

6. "The Guns of the South" by Harry Turtledove

7. "Rebecca" by Daphne DuMaurier

8. "Not the Glory" by Pierre Boule

9. "Lovelock" by Orson Scott Card

10. "Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein

11. "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert Heinlein

12. "Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein

Book Series:

1. "The Foundation Series" by Isaac Asimov

2. "The Well World Series" by Jack Chalker

3. "How Few Remain Series" by Harry Turtledove

4. "WorldWar/Colonization Series" by Harry Turtledove

5. "River of the Dancing Gods Series" by Jack Chalker

6. "The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis

7. "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglass Adams

8. "The Rings of the Master" by Jack Chalker

9. "The Lords of the Diamond" by Jack Chalker

10. "The Crosstime Engineer Series" by Leo Frankowski

11. "The Little Women Series" by Louisa May Alcott

12. "The Time Patrol Series" by Poul Anderson

Short Stories:

1. "And then there were none..." by Eric Frank Russell

2. "With Folded Hands" by Jack Williamson

3. ""Repent Harlequin!", said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison

4. "The Marching Morons" by C.M. Kornbluth

5. "Universe" by Robert Heinlein

6. "Rule Golden" by Damon Knight

7. "My Object All Sublime" by Poul Anderson

8. "In the Presence of Mine Enemies" by Harry Turtledove

9. "There Will Come Soft Rains" by Ray Bradbury

10. "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury

11. "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

12. "Nightfall" by Isaac Asimov

Non-Fiction:

1. "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" by John Locke

2. "The Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith

3. "Common Sense"
"The Rights of Man"
"The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine

4. "Walden and other writings" by Henry David Thoreau

5. "The Law"
"Economic Sophisms" by Frederic Bastiat

6. "Human Action" by Ludwig Von Mises

7. "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer

9. "The Discovery of Freedom" by Rose Wilder Lane

10. "The Market for Liberty" by Morris and Linda Tannehill

11. "The Naked Ape"
"The Human Zoo" by Desmond Morris

12. "Guns, Germs and Steel" by Jared Diamond

Hope you find enjoyment in some of these!

Dean West

Credibility Nibblers

In the world of MSN communities there is an attack method I call "nibbling at credibility". That's a method of attack where through strategic criticisms, sarcastic questions, martyrdom quittings, deliberately sought bannings, etc. you create a rising level of concern and distrust of an otherwise good manager.

It is a favored method of attacking a group, for without the manager, most groups sink down rapidly, no matter how good the members are. Not because managers are gods, but because without some experience at the helm, groups lag and drift apart, or boil over and explode.

In attacking a group, you can't just call the manager an asshole, for that tells everyone you are mean, so they support and sympathize with the manager then. So you must resort to those nibbling attacks.

You can augment such an attack. Let the manager know or suspect you are an attacker so as to get a swifter more questionable reaction. Not for the manager falling for it, but for the manager knowing that if he doesn't act fast, the attacker will try to sow dissension, shift friendships, etc. To wait a week can often times make it too late. If you ban then, there'll be two others who made friends with the attacker walk out. Then three more who leave because of those two. Etc.

If the attacker doesn't wish to go to the trouble of making the friends, just letting the manager think that could happen can be helpful. This tsrainy had a nic and experienced hand that suggested to me an attacker. That I may have erred on which attacker, means not that she wasn't and is one. This I do not suspect, this I know.

Another way to augment the attack is to have an ally or two already. Or try to get them fast once in. Often times, this is as easy as the creation of a couple of nics. Nics that can be salted in a variety of groups, months in advance of any need of them. Nics that can be given their own posting style, nics that can have their own posting history.

Then you have one nic provoke management, then when a reaction is had, have two more nics protest in a "more in sorrow then anger" style. Have a third quit in a huff. Have a fourth defy management over the now large "issue".

You'd be amazed how many groups get lost to that. Regular posters wish a safe environment for fun, for learning, for friendship and sharing. For a manager to lose control, rarely do many members stay to "sort out who was right". They just leave and post elsewhere. The strong members, the regulars, already have other group memberships, they just shift their activities.

And the targeted group dies.

Another way to augment, and the most devastating, is for a large group to overwhelm a smaller one. To have real posters join en masse - though usually at staggered intervals. Soon, the large group of 500, with 50 active posters at home base group has 10 active posters at your group.

Trouble is, you don't have 500 members with 50 active posters, that would be bad enough. You have 100 members and 10 active posters - now twenty, but half are shills.

I've seen groups - the democratically run ones - "voted" into the rival group's hands. Other times, with more appropriately run groups, it's a matter of provocation and touching off of a massive flame war and spam fest.

Needless to say, those large group members can not only join, but they easily each join a few fake nics each.

Who would want to do all these things? God, I must be paranoid!

Hardly. There are plenty who do these things, they happen all the time. There are loners who take down hate groups, or at least groups they hate. Their success depends on their intelligence and how many nics they can field at once. If they can't be in chat with three of their nics talking at once, they can't do much.

They'll use the methods above, and be all the players. They'll even have nics that are obviously them, so that while those are banned, the other nics of theirs can praise management for doing it.

There are also, and even more frequently, religious and political wars. There are Christian groups on the farthest right, who will try to "Christianize" a group, and bring it into their sphere of influence. Many managers are not so caring, and so long as their numbers are high, they'll do nothing about it. They figure they'll have a group either way.

But when the last non-Christian, or the last nice Christian, is run out, then all the fanatical invaders are tired. And don't want to post any more. So they go back to home group, leaving the manager with a dumb look on his face and two forlorn active posters left.

Now substitute any other religious or political group name where I wrote "Christian" and know that they all do it, too. And yes, some who do it, will stay afterwards. For some will be trying for bona fide converts, and will try to spread out as thin as they can, so as to control as many groups as they can.

Ever notice how many groups seem to have at least one of each ideology? That's not a coincidence. If a militant group doesn't see a sympathetic member in another group, they'll place one in there. Doesn't mean that the lone socialist is a spy, just means that if there had not been one, one would have joined.

Typically. Not all groups are worth doing this with, and not all militant groups have the manpower or fake nic supply to do this.

There are also those who just like destroying. Both loners, and whole groups of nihilists. The groups will usually have a goal. They then don't seek to bring into control, they just take out a rival or threat.

The Race based groups will call it cleansing, the religious right will call it "destroying dens of iniquity", and those "dens of iniquity" will call their own destroying expeditions, "taking the fundies down a notch".

And so it goes.

I just thought I'd share all that. It may help explain some of the things you see when posting about the boards.

Dean West

Why Time Travel Doesn't Work

I write this now after the span of some centuries, I am an old man now in spirit, and weary beyond all knowing.

I perfected my time machine in the Summer of 2005. With the final part, the essential part, given to me by my niece. That's when the trouble started, for once it was invented, it was invented for all time. The percent of mankind that had access to such technology was small. But it was a percent drawn from all mankind throughout all of history.

Everyone wanted to change things, from their own personal lives, to their nation's course, to their race's destiny...

Humanity split into two classes of people, those aware of the changes, and those in the dark who simply had change after change sweep over them..."timelocked" we called them.

"Temporal Immortals" we called ourselves, for our mastery of time let us leap into fantastic futures of far advanced geriatrics and gene technologies. Centuries have I personally lived through since I left on that fateful trip to learn from my niece where she got that part...and yet my biological age is even now but thirty six.

As it happens, she got the part from my machine...we don't then know how it "first" came into being.

Even as I was first experimenting, I started to sense and observe passing discontinuities, for the experience of travelling through time gives you the ability to remember how things were before they were changed.

I remember wondering how the Illini Province of the British Americas could now be called "the state of Illinois in the U.S.A.". As it happened, a terrorist group called the Daughters of the American Insurrection on my timeline had gone back and given aid and assistance to a little known band of political activists and traitorous plantation owners, in an attempt to disrupt the Global Pax Brittanica that I and all sane subjects enjoyed living under.

When it then changed again, but to a barren and blasted wasteland where once had grown the corn of the midwest, I and my niece almost died getting ourselves and our notes and materials out of the region to the nearest settlement of Novy Petrograd, in the Socialist Republic of America, U.S.S.R.

No sooner did we locate a University, where the French Quarter of New Orleans had once been, when we found ourselves being sharply quizzed by professors of her Most Catholic Majesty, Queen Isabella VII, Empress of the Spanish Dominion, protector of Nueva Hispana.

These Jesuit trained professors quickly caught on to our dilemna, and fortunately explained it to us before they themselves realized the full implications. We managed to escape into the past, through my nieces clever idea - we got a message to a guard (who was in the Protestant Liberation Organization) that bade him to preserve the exact location of where we were that day.

His group then feverishly worked on recovering our machine from what was to them but a pleasant expanse of endless plains over which the buffalo and unconverted Native Americans still roamed.

They then set the controls to our cell and for the time just before when we originally gave the guard the message - allowing us to then not give the guard the message, and escape far down into the past, before they could know of the technology.

Safe - for a bit - in the days when the Sumerian Empire was but a few scattered tribes that had discovered that grains could be cultivated, we took stock of things. We realized that with the existence of time travel, every interest group was trying to make the world over in their own version of Utopia.

We were safe, but only for being in an era that no one wanted to change, the era when man first left tribal existence and formed the first city states. We knew that all the changes were still continuing uptime, with Nazis fighting Confederates, Dutch Reformists versus Basque Nationalists, Scientologists versus The Holy Mormon Empire of Deseret.

And soon enough, those further uptime - who's existence was as real, and life long as any's, for all that it kept flickering - would think to track us, the original inventors. At that point we flicked backwards, just as a fleet of thousands of ships started flickering into Sumeria, zeroing in our location with their devilishly accurate tracking devices.

A long trip uptime we then took, this time to the year 17,500 A.D., where we were able to outfit ourselves with cloaking devices and other defensive measures - as well as the longevity serum. Though those assisting us kept shifting about in appearance and mannerisms, we were able to leave a request at one point, then flick up fifty years to collect it from the changed personnel who had still carried out the instructions out of curiosity.

Feeling more secure, we reasoned that others would have our own problems with what was happening, and that they'd seek to try to quell these temporal shifts. We reasoned that they'd wish to meet like minded people, and that they'd seek a point far down in time to do so.

43,000 B.C. - nevermind the exact year - we touched down on the plains of East Africa, where the first group of "highbrows" were in flight from the Neanderthals! And got another overwhelming shock to realize that man's history itself was a self-created alternate, for it was only our own assistance that allowed these ancestors of all mankind to regroup, plan, and go back and slaughter their own primitive ancestors, clearing the way for the ascendency of Homo Sapiens Sapiens...

At such point - just after their success - was where those who sought to fight against the changes converged. We listened to their lofty ideals, and agreed with them. And formed the Time Patrol, modeled after a science fiction series popular in several timelines, for thousands of alternates were represented on that ancient field.

We didn't tell them of the first change ever. Nor of the Neanderthal machine that had flickered in just before their arrival - blown out of the sky by our own vehicles "defensive" armament. The blood of an entire intelligent species...forever on our hands...

We journeyed back into the age before the dinosauars, and planned and thought and researched and planned. And not infrequently fought off random temporal rogues, who sought to stop our efforts before we started our efforts.

Given that we had all came from so many different divergences, though we all opposed the divergences, we finally agreed that it would be best to restore things to how they were in my own timeline, where his Brittanic Majesty ruled over all, in a peace and prosperity that was global.

We fought then. A thousand battles, in a thousand locations, on tens of thousands of timelines. Hard enough to damp out the changes from a Carthage not so easily destroyed - at least we knew to look at Carthage in the first place.

But how to find out about, and end, the equally disastrous consequences of a kindly tutor (an enemy temporal agent) who raised a King John to be so benevolent and wise that no band of noblemen ever had cause to waylay him on the road to Runnymede in 1215?

Who could know in advance that if that suspiciously mysterious and rich woman had not run off with that ne'er do well printer in 18th century America, that he'd have wrote a pamphlet that incited the general populace to take up arms against King George III? That this woman turned out to be my niece getting things back on track prompted furious debate as to whether my timeline was really the proper one...and resulted in her own assassination by a Time Patrol turncoat...

After centuries of this - not just battles and assassinations, but the tedious research, the years of living as one of the "timelocked" in various primitive eras gathering intelligence, and the petty intrigues that flourished even within the Patrol...

The answer finally was determined, the final change from which all other changes would be damped out...

At the point in which the latest change had ended in the assassination of my niece before she could seduce this T. Paine away from his future literary endeavours - as I maintain she was supposed to do - it was decided without my knowledge that if only I had never invented the machine, then all would be well.

Betrayed by those I trusted, and captured by my own trusted servant, and still in mourning for my niece's untimely demise....they sentenced me to a temporal revision in which I'd live, but be unable to invent the process.

I pleaded in vain for the last change to be carried out first, for this madman of Boston to be given another woman to lure him away from his seditious activities that would see the overthrow of British authority in North America. But they had had enough, and refused.

They flicked upwards in time, and saw to it that my grandfather did not invest in the Xerox Corporation as he originally had, thus my father had no inheritance, but was a regular corporate executive. Thus I myself was raised in a...public school system! This instead of being sent to the private academy I had originally attended.

I felt for the first time what I imagine those of other timelines had felt at the moment of change - a final shift that would end all other shifts. I passed out, and awoke with a start in what looked like a middle class home. And turned out to be a middle class home, in this new world I find myself timelocked in, a world where I am of the middle classes, and where I was raised in public schools, and can think and reason only with great difficulty.

I dimly recall the ease with which I used to solve problems, the Latin I knew, the equations I could do in my head...all gone. Reasoning is possible, but only with great effort. I have no knowledge of how to construct a temporal device.

I have trouble enough understanding this changed world, for his Majesty here is but the grandson of the Queen, and the British Americas are now some kind of Fascistic Empire intent on global domination. And it seems the Rights of Englishman have been wholly overlooked, and we've no more freedom then is doled out by this nine member judicial group you have.

And however did the Patriarch of the leading crime family of the New London underground gain this Presidency you have? And then gain it again for that backward son of his?

In any case, you are now "up to date" on all that has transpired, and now I must accomodate myself to this new (to me) life of being a slave in this dictatorship, in which my very mind has been stunted by the child indoctrination agents of this brutal nation.

I suppose none of you are aware of any of the changes...or even how it was originally...given that this was such a neatly timed temporal change. The first change to create this Dark Empire, the second to make me helpless in it.

I have puzzled out now why time travel is not possible. For when it is, something like this happens each "time", and the changes continue until the change is made where the machine could not have been invented.

I see the French are still rude. That seems a universal constant!

Dean West