[Vision2020] RE: Face It Dale, And Apologize, If You Have The Spine, That Is!

Thu May 26 23:51:13 PDT 2005

Ted,

"Paranoia" has two meanings: 

1. a psychosis characterized by systematized delusions of persecution or
grandeur usually without hallucinations
2. a tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or
irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others

http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=paranoia

I'm not a doctor. I cannot diagnose psychoses, etc. 

However, in your post on Vision2020
(http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/2004-November/012648.html) you
wrote: 

When the ATM asks whether I want a receipt, I usually say no. When a Web
site wants my credit card number, I usually say yes. When I pay bills
online, there is no paper record of the transaction. In my failure to demand
physical evidence when money changes hands, I am not very unusual. Most
Americans now conduct at least some of their financial transactions without
paper, or at least sleep happily knowing that others do. Yet when it comes
to voting -- a far simpler and more straightforward activity than electronic
bank transfers -- we suddenly become positively 19th century in our need for
a physical record. 

It is, if you think about it, quite inexplicable. 

Two weeks after the election, the Internet rumor mill continues to spout
stories of computer-stolen votes. No sooner are they disproved than others
appear. Some are demanding an Ohio recount. Otherwise sober people are
asking whether there can be smoke without fire. Last weekend the New York
Times published an editorial that found "no evidence" of vote fraud but
called electronic voting "a problem" all the same. After all, the editorial
noted, there is "no way to be sure" that votes weren't changed "by secret
software" inside the machines. If you're tempted to believe that analysis is
rational, just ask yourself this question: Are you really sure that your
bank isn't using secret software to steal $9.72 from your retirement account
every week? And if the answer is no, why aren't you up in arms about that,
too?

I call what you wrote above an "excessive or irrational suspiciousness and
distrustfulness of others" -- paranoia, by the second definition. 

And, six months after the election (and after your original post), history
has proven me correct. 

best,
Dale

  _____  

From: tbertruss at aol.com [mailto:tbertruss at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 26 May 2005 18:54
To: dmcourtn at moscow.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Face It Dale, And Apologize, If You Have The Spine, That Is!

Dale et. al.

So labeling someone you have never met as "paranoid" in bold type on your
web site as a response to a Vision2020 post where the individual you labeled
as "paranoid" merely posted the contents of an article with no comment
whatsoever is a response from you focusing on the "facts" of the issues
discussed in the article?

I have debated with you before on V2020 and found that you have a very
convenient style of debate.  If someone makes a point that is difficult for
you refute, you just ignore it.

Like you have ignored my comments recently on V2020 about your blog
statement regarding my "paranoia."  Maybe you responded on your web site,
but I don't waste my time monitoring your site.  I want an apology from you
on V2020 so all my fellow "Intoleristas" on the list can read it.

Your statement regarding my "paranoia" added nothing whatsoever to a
rational fact based discussion of the issues in the article I posted to
V2020 that prompted you to post that statement on your web site.

I know you know what "argument ad hominem" is!

Face it, Dale, and apologize on V2020, that is if you have the spine for it!
You decided to insult me personally on your web site utilizing a lame
psychological slam implying any concerns I may have over the reliability or
potential for tampering of computerized voting systems is just "paranoia."

I don't care how many hits your web site gets.  Since when is popularity a
sine qua non for truth or ethics?

Ted Moffett

-----Original Message-----
From: Dale Courtney <dmcourtn at moscow.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Thu, 26 May 2005 18:06:23 -0700
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Still Creeped Out

Dear Rose,

There were many reasons for my leaving Vision2020 and quoting posters off of
Vision2020 vice debating on Vision2020. First, I found this list totally a
waste of time. Latah County is a solidly Red county.  Vision2020 posts are
nearly across-the-board from Intolerant-Leftists. And non-thinking leftists
at that. You can make a factual point and you are vilified as a person as
opposed to dealing with the facts. 

Example: MSD has the 2nd highest per-pupil spending in the State of Idaho;
it has the highest admin costs of any district in Idaho; and its actual
student spending is in the bottom forth of the State. 

Response: Dale lies.

No one outside of our small company here actually reads Vision2020 postings.
So, I've gone elsewhere (www.right-mind.us, www.
<http://www.MoscowEducation.org> MoscowEducation.org, etc). The hit-count on
Right-Mind is 604,333 since October 2004 . 

Google up Vision2020 in Moscow and find how many hits you get. When people
Google Moscow, they don't find Vision2020; they find Intolerista quotes on
my blog sites. 

So, I carry on my statistics; my pretty graphs; and online discussions on my
site with whoever wants to engage. And I don't delete their postings. If
they say something nasty, it stays (just as Tim Rigsby about his comment
about my wife) as do inane comments. Just like Vision2020 -- they hang out
there for the world to see. 

So, nothing has happened to change me. I'm just quoting Moscow's Intolerista
on my blog for the world to see and behold. 

Maybe quoting you all just makes me appear nasty? 

best,
Dale

PS -- Am I in violation of your copyright laws by replying to you here?
What's the difference between replying and archived on Vision2020 verses on
my blog? 

  _____  

From: DonaldH675 at aol.com [mailto:DonaldH675 at aol.com] 
Sent: Thursday, 26 May 2005 17:17
To: dmcourtn at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Still Creeped Out

Dale,
I don't know the law, but I have a nodding acquaintance with courtesy and
respect.  I know you to be capable of being civil, generous, kind, erudite,
and Christian.  What happen?
Rose

"One cannot level one's moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are
just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between
doing something and doing nothing is everything." Daniel Berrigan

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