Ironically, a week after I made a post about how great the participation on this blog is, since then I've had more comments that distressed me than I ever had in all the time before it. I finally turned off comments on the New Orleans post that has become a magnet for British trolls saying "Fuck you and your calls for help, Americans should get off their fat asses and do it themselves." Besides being wildly incorrect about things like that Americans never help anyone else (individual Americans gave what, most of a billion dollars to tsunami relief earlier this year) it just isn't a useful mechanism to express hatred of our government by withholding compassion from the residents of New Orlean's 9th ward. These people are about as far removed from our current administration as possible.

Really, I wasn't considering people outside the borders so much anyway, although I thank greatly the Australian fan who emailed me. I was upset a week ago when the levee had barely broken. Having seen the grotesquely inadequate response by emergency management since, I find my depth of anger inexpressible. Really, I'm mad at the same people as these drive-by trolls, so being dicks here does nothing for anyone.

So, as much as I hate to stifle discourse, in the interest of avoiding pile-ons I will not be approving via the moderation any more of those type comments. The bounds of civility have been crossed, and while I gave the benefit of doubt long beyond the point of causing me pain, enough is enough. I probably should have stopped it at the first one, but being a bleeding heart this kind of stuff is tough for me. If I was one of the fuckers these guys think we are, I'd have no problem stifling dissent and presenting a phony picture of consensus.