The Union, Reader Comments Censored ???

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UPDATE 45 minutes after this (Below and Title) was written:

Now all the comments are back again. Don't know if it was a glitch that required logging completely out of the site, a brief removal for perusal for nasty inappropriate stuff, or what ? Guess I'll just have to wait and see how this plays out in the future.

I just voted in and took a look at the comments about a poll on "Should Pot Be Legalized?" The votes were running 80 % in favor, and there was an interesting discussion going on about the effects of legalization on the local economy, stuff involving wealthy retirees and MacMansions and prison guards out of work and all those people released from prison likewise.

So I thought I'd chip in with a few thoughts of my own, and did so, results to follow. What is significant is that my thoughts initially seemed to post along with the ten others in the bin. I went back to check twenty minutes later, and all but three of the original posts vanished, including the line of thoughts described above. All that was left was Fascists vs. Communists, Borrrrinnng ! I also tried to find some stuff I posted the night before on the Donner Summit fiasco. That was not only gone, I couldn't hardly even find the comments of the others, without a real dig into the archives.

My ventures into online reading came as all the local (NSJ) copies were gone, due to the shooting story over the weekend up here. You'd think they'd give Brass Rail and SuperStop, and MotherTrucker's extra copies when stuff like that is in the news.

But for me the real story is the missing comments. Why bother posting if it is going to get wiped out to suit somebody's agenda?

Here is a copy of what I wrote this morning on the Pot Poll and the concerns about the economy.

"Actually what the poor and middle class of this country have to fear, more than anything else, will be workers in Mexico and elsewhere in skin tight suits with sensors, controlling Waldobots in the USA, doing all the menial and even skilled jobs. With fiber optics linking the continents, it will be possible to bypass the need for AI based robots, and instead have human judgment elsewhere do the controlling. Fiber optics and the advances in video cam technologies, force feedback, make this possible, and even desirable. Why pay for a dead miner, when you can replace a Bot? It cuts down on theft/other crimes, and eliminates the need for medical care, and leaves lots of empty lots for the retirees.

As for the Reeks and Wrecks (poor and entire former middle class), you need to read "Player Piano," by Kurt Vonnegut if you haven't already. Thanks to Heinlein for the concept of Waldos. Bots don't smoke pot, at least not in this country, under these circumstances....."

If you want to be sure your stuff isn't censored, get a blog and double post, once in the paper, and, if it disappears, once in your blog. Just highlight and control c the posting before you post, and paste it into a document. I save them like this, "LE_2007_10_02_Pot_Poll_WaldoBots.doc," in a Letters to the Editor directory. Very easy to find. After a while, if the censorship is really happening, the Union will get a rep. A well documented rep. If this was just a "mistake" or accident, my apologies.