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"Obama's War On Queer and Trans Youth"

by: Colorado Pols

Wed Aug 26, 2009 at 15:19:25 PM MDT


Details are beginning to emerge about the alleged perpetrator of vandalism against Colorado Democratic Party headquarters in Denver early yesterday morning. As we've discussed already, the person in custody has been identified as a member of a far-left "bicycle collective," but also briefly a temporary worker for a Democratic-aligned 527--Maurice Schwenkler apparently walked a few precincts in support of Democrats right before Election Day last year, a detail that invited obvious questions.

As it turns out, Schwenkler probably just needed the money--if online posts now attributed to this person are any guide, we're definitely not talking about a friend of Democrats, and our original suspicion of "Recreate '68"-style radicalism looks pretty much dead on. TPMDC updates:

Details are sketchy, but an anarchist news site, for what its worth, is reporting that a person named Ariel Attack, a "Denver-based anarchist," has been arrested in connection with the incident. A supporter writes: "At this moment, we do not know Ariel's status within the jail, especially regarding her gender classification."

Posts by a writer using the name Ariel Attack have appeared at a site called Queers Against Obama, whose tagline declares that "Obamamania is nothing more than yet another manufactured nationalist frenzy." One post is titled "Obama's War On Queer and Trans Youth."

...Gawker asserts that Ariel Attack is actually the same person as Maurice, noting the facts that only one person has been arrested, and that the anarchist posting says Ariel "is listed in the jail records and media under her birth name." It seems like that's probably right.

Assuming that's true, there's a broader implication for the story. It seemed to us in writing this post earlier that the goal of the attack was to discredit conservatives, by getting them blamed for it. That was because the one person who had been reliably reported to have been arrested had a background working for a group supportive of Democrats. But now, given that the person arrested has anarchist ties and is on the record as a vocal left-wing opponent of Obama, it looks like that interpretation was wrong. It now seems more likely that the goal was more straight-forward: to express anger at Obama and the Democrats.
Colorado Pols :: "Obama's War On Queer and Trans Youth"
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"Obama's War On Queer and Trans Youth" | 41 comments
Colorado independent's story
So Obama's failing to deliver the Public Option?

[ Parent ]
Denver Post mentions the Independent's research in its own report...
Denver Post article about bail being posted, which ends with an apropos quote, given the charge:

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_1...

The Queers Against Obama site, where Schwenkler's friends sought donations for legal expenses, boasts a banner quote that takes aim at both the progressive movement and Obama.

"You progressive 'Obamaniacs' can keep right on being the change you want to hope to see (or whatever Yes you can!), but we refuse to allow you to intimidate us into silence simply because you fear having your willful delusions shattered."


[ Parent ]
Bring on
the baiting comments conflating anarchists with Democrats. Yawn.  

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." - Nietzsche  
just a bit of snark
isn't the ultimate fruition of limited government, no government?
[ Parent ]
Gee look below for Libertad's usual non sequitur
Guess he doesn't know that Anarchists  aren't Democrats and therefore have no relation, avowing or disavowing, to the party faithful.  Unless he's talking about an organized official Anarchist Party which sounds like another non sequitur. I would think, if anything, anarchists would have more in common with libertarians than with Democrats  
[ Parent ]
Gee look below for Libertad's usual non sequitur
Guess he doesn't know that Anarchists  aren't Democrats and therefore have no relation, avowing or disavowing, to the party faithful.  Unless he's talking about an organized official Anarchist Party which sounds like another non sequitur. I would think, if anything, anarchists would have more in common with libertarians than with Democrats in  
[ Parent ]
Anything like
Would that be anything like this site attempting to associate conservatives with fascists?

I would think, if anything, fascists would have more in common with liberals given both of their predilections for strong centralized governments. Of course any liberal would balk at this assertion -given its absurdity. But I guess what's good for the goose isn't always good for the gander....

[ Parent ]
First, sorry about multiple similar posts.
Glitch with system for a time.  Second, jericho, do you see anything about "conservatives" or "fascists" in my post? I said "anarchists"and "libertarians". Do you think anarchists are fascists?  You are one confused puppy.

[ Parent ]
Everyone's a fascist
and nobody is a fascist.
[ Parent ]
I don't think
jericho knows the meaning of any of  those words.  Just that fascist and anarchist are bad words and Democrat and liberal are also bad words so...voila!
[ Parent ]
Wow, disavowing the Party faithful
talk about a group of Judas followers
Since the person was not a registered anything
they, by definition, can not be the party faithful.

As to Judas followers, I will leave it to others to explain that a rational party disavows the actions of crazy radicals.

I will allow you to return to your distilled water and pure-grain alcohol to wallow in your conspiracy theory fantasies.  

[ Parent ]
you mean crazy radicals on the Party payroll

[ Parent ]
You've apparently never run a paid canvass
Which entails working with whatever craiglist manages to spit out.  

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." - Nietzsche  
[ Parent ]
One good thing
Once s/he's convicted she can be hired to work on an anti labor ballot initiative as a circulator.

Snark.

[ Parent ]
C'mon, get real
Liberturd has never done a damned thing in his or her life.

This is serious, you commie dolt  --davebarnes, 2012.
[ Parent ]
Umm
Anarchists aren't Democrats so they have no relation, avowing or disavowing, to the "Party Faithful"  Unless you mean some official Anarchist Party?   Sounds unlikely.  

If anything I would think anarchists have more in common with libertarians than with Democrats.  The logical result of drowning government in a bathtub is anarchism, after all. Don't anarchists, hate government too? Just like all your personal idols?

I know I'm breaking my own rule replying to you.  A little anarchism perhaps?

And twas really nailed it.

[ Parent ]
I suppose that this person ...
.
could just as easily have ended up canvassing for Doug Bruce.  No reflection on either party.

And Pat Waak's initial reaction, though wrong, is completely understandable.  

But comparisons to Kristalnacht are completely off-base.  This was a violent reaction against powerlessness and a perception that her concerns were being ignored; Kristalnacht was an exercise of the powerful threatening the weak.  Broken glass is all these two incidents have in common.
.  

[ Parent ]
Very cogently put
I think I agree.

I did not opine on the original story because I like to wait for information, but I understand those who did.

[ Parent ]
I'll second that
Barron's comments are sane and to the point. Nicely done.

A leader on the battlefield can be a leader in Congress. -- redstateblues
[ Parent ]
people on this board ...
.
are far more likely than the average American to know personally someone with gender identity issues.  I do not understand the depth of despair this causes some people, but I know it can be pretty deep.  

I can be callous about a lot of things, but not this.  Even when opposing Gay Marriage, I try to allow for the possibility that I may be wrong.  

The alleged perp in this incident did a lot of property damage, and the timing led many to believe it meant something other than what it meant.  But no actual people were injured.  I hope your party weighs that when considering whether to press charges, and what charges to press.  
If there's a chance of restitution, maybe the charge could be petty vandalism ?  Lessons have already been learned all around.
.

[ Parent ]
You're a good man
We don't always agree, but you are all right with me.
[ Parent ]
Agreed Barron
I already apologized for the reference, but in case anyone missed it, here it is again: sorry.

I was reacting emotionally to what I thought was an act of political violence perpetrated by people who were claiming that the folks they were committing the violence against were advocating national socialism. I was wrong to do so, and I apologize.

[ Parent ]
Right about Kristalnacht, Barron
If only we could ALL agree to follow the general rule that pretty much nothing political here in the US is just like the nazis. Righties, lefties, Jewish organizations pissed off at people who say the least critical thing about any Israeli government all love to go there.

If we want to compare something to the Nazis and it isn't something like, say, genocide in Rwanda or obtaining fabricated confessions under torture, we should take a deep breath and think of some other analogy.

Still think the right loves to call moderately left of center Obama a Nazi as an alternative to the other n word.  

[ Parent ]
or obtaining fabricated confessions under torture
Well, there is that ...

Your point is exactly right.  

A leader on the battlefield can be a leader in Congress. -- redstateblues

[ Parent ]
Right, and wrong, my good Barron
"This was a violent reaction against powerlessness and a perception that her concerns were being ignored; Kristalnacht was an exercise of the powerful threatening the weak.  Broken glass is all these two incidents have in common."

I'll give you the last sentence, no doubt about it.  Like others, I've wanted to wait to sort out the facts, and the facts seem to need a lot of sorting.  However, your first sentence eloquently unleashes the problem with ANY comparison to Nazis made by the left, or the right.

We, conveniently, only remember the Nazi party we fought, and the Nazi party whose death camps our rather naive troops stumbled into in 1945.  It was then a party of "the powerful threatening [exterminating] the weak," but we must remember that it was a party that had spent the better part of 3 decades defining strong and weak on very stark gender terms in order to be able to do that.

What we need to be thinking about here, is the early part of that process.  When you opine that "This was a violent reaction against powerlessness and a perception that her concerns were being ignored" and then CONTRAST that to the Nazis, you're wrong.  This is how the Nazis came to power.  Much of what the Nazis and other ultra-nationalist groups did in the 20s was exactly this.  "Stabbed in the back" and "betrayed" by a society that seemed to be moving in a direction they did not understand, German ultra-nationalists addressed their perceived powerlessness with radical expressions of male-marked violence in the streets (Klaus Theweleit is the one to read, here).  Only in their small successes with this in the street fighting of the 20s were they able to perpetrate something like the Kristallnacht or the Holocaust.  Indeed, by re-framing the political debate in terms of these virile acts of violence, they changed political norms for all of Germany, and an "ordinary German" who would not only vote for Hitler, but see violence against the "weak" as a patriotic duty.

My point here is that it does NOT matter whether the vandal was left/right/anarchist.  What matters is that those shouting at the top of their lungs and packing heat to rallies ARE succeeding in legitimizing violence as a political norm, and once that happens, the days of our Republic are surely as numbered as that based in Weimar.

"History is'a made at night! Character is what you are in the dark!"  Lord John Worfin

[ Parent ]
No, no, no...
What matters is that those shouting at the top of their lungs and packing heat to rallies ARE succeeding in legitimizing violence as a political norm, and once that happens, the days of our Republic are surely as numbered as that based in Weimar.

So far, out of the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators that have come out against this terrible excuse for 'reform', I have seen three examples of people carrying firearms, and none of them broke the law.

That is not political violence.  I think it's idiotic, but it's far from the norm, and I'm amused at how this event where a Dem employee breaking Dem's windows is somehow the fault of people legally dissenting from bad proposed policy.

So your point in that post was 'Yes, Barron, nothing is like the Nazis.  EXCEPT THE PEOPLE PROTESTING HEALTHCARE!!!'?

[ Parent ]
Frame it how you want
So your point in that post was 'Yes, Barron, nothing is like the Nazis.  EXCEPT THE PEOPLE PROTESTING HEALTHCARE!!!'?

but you missed an important premise.  I'm not saying that protesters are Nazis, and I agree that's a pointless debate. What I am saying is that the tactics we are seeing in our political debates these days create the conditions in which something like fascism becomes a real possibility down the road.

As for debating the tactics, I suspect we'll see it differently.  Yes, the MSM has shown three cases of guns at rallies, but you and I both know the email-traffic calling for more suggests that guns are like roaches (there's 10 for every one you see), and don't forget the many incidents of vandalism related to this debate, and the genuine increase in hateful rhetoric that this debate has provoked.  

Protest health care all you want; maybe even start with a counter-proposal.  But, when people start praying for the President's death so he can go to hell, it isn't protest any more.

"History is'a made at night! Character is what you are in the dark!"  Lord John Worfin

[ Parent ]
Paid canvassers?
What I find interesting is that the Dems pay their canvassers. I thought that was astroturfing?
I have walked many a precincts for Republican candidates and I have never received payment nor known anyone who received payment. If the going rate is $500 for a weekend, maybe I need to change my party affiliation and engage in some free market economics.
No, no, no, and also no
They were paid by an independent group, not the party.

They weren't canvassing, they were doing GOTV.

The Democratic party had plenty of volunteers in 2008.

Conservative groups also pay people for work.

I demand that all students get As, that all our oil comes from American soil, that waste and fraud be eliminated forever, and that potato chips stop making me fat!

[ Parent ]
They paid $8 a signature to get the gay marriage ban on the ballot


Non impediti ratione cogitationis.

BTW, I "adduced" this all by myself, you total fucking assclown.
-Laughing Boy
[ Parent ]
This is pretty standard for both sides
Lots of people can, and do, volunteer. But it's hard to find volunteers who can canvass 8 hours a day unless. That's why you have paid field staff.
[ Parent ]
Or you can do what Musgrave used to do
That is, import the Generation Joshua pod children to awkwardly wander the streets for the weekend.  

"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." - Nietzsche  
[ Parent ]
It wasn't "the Democrats " who paid
I've canavassed my ass off over several elections and nobody paid me or the other volunteers I worked with.  Organizers who work at it full time get paid but not much until you get way into the upper levels.  Most of the young people who did get paid to organize volunteers would have made a lot more money waiting tables at a decent restaurant. 527s and such are independent.
[ Parent ]
Volunteers
I give my volunteers lots of free ice cold water and juices, along with yummy snacks. Also, they get to meet hundreds if not thousands of wonderful people.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority. Edmund Burke

10/26/11 Colorado Ex-Pat; S/V Sisu Catalina 30
[ Parent ]
This just proves girls can't run faster than boys
There. My political hat is in the ring.  

This blog is your blog, this blog is my blog
Girls can't run faster than boys
Would that be pre- or post-op?

Sorry, couldn't resist.  

[ Parent ]
Yeah, that was my point
and now I feel like a turd, not only because of what I wrote, but also because of your response.

FYI, we are going straight to hell.


This blog is your blog, this blog is my blog

[ Parent ]
I may be going to hell in bucket baby,
but at least I'm enjoying the ride!
[ Parent ]
I always loved that song. n/t
[ Parent ]
"Obama's War On Queer and Trans Youth" | 41 comments
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