Thanks, doll, forgot the name. Now I know.

Eggy, yeah, I mean I know there are some flamboyant Gays, and my gay friends are real low key, infact you wouldn't know it unless you were gay. My one friend Dave is a hellava softball player, and he's a carpenter, too. and noone he works with has a clue and that's the way he likes it, he's not ashamed, just very private. I thought it was weird how he would change his picture all the time, I mean why?

To keep showing himself....or someone he claims to be.

We have lots of gay posters on this board...and each one of them is extremely intelligent, well spoken and thoughtful. His over the top act was suspicious from the get-go. I know there are obnoxious gay folk just like there are obnoxious straight folk, but he was just....too muckin' futch.

Verrry Rovian. Maybe he's angling for a job with Jeff Gannon (nee Guckert)

Muckin' Futch!!! LOL, I was Muckin' much all day in the barn, so that helps my sore back, laughing is the best, and I love to laugh. Thanks!

I got a million of 'em!

I was trying to stay away from the discussion of flamboyance because there certainly are many in the world and I see nothing wrong with that and I have many dear friends who are. I'm in the middle, I don't feel the need to exaggerate who I am in any way yet I also do not hide who I am so most of the time people know I'm gay before I have to say anything or do anything to indicate that I am.

The big difference between some people like myself and Jesse is that being gay is big part of who I am but it is not the only thing. I'm an accomplished web designer, I am educated, I have a wonderful loving family and I am a great friend but if I had to pinpoint what makes me who I am is that I am unique and I'm not one thing or another, I am me and being gay does not define who I am.

You're correct Alfredo. I also have no problem with one's flamboyance, or lack of it....but Jesse went way, way beyond mere flamboyance. That was a big red flag to me.

I've worked in and around the arts all my life. Probably 65% of my friends are gay and I have only once, in my entire life, met a gay man as annoying as he-who-shall-not-be-named!

Tap, your friends sound like a lot on this board.

And Twinkle, you are one of those well spoken ones, or should I say very sharp. Glad you're here.

I'm so glad ALL the original RRMBS are making their way back here.

And we usually don't on this board, divide ourselves by gay or straight in all of our posts. I know I try very hard not too, unless the subject calls for it. Bottoms boy did that to us, I think.

Now I'm curious about Alfredo. Who are you? I am clueless as usual.

good point


he was/is very divisive

I agree, eggy. The only time sexuality is mentioned is as a point of reference or perspective. This is one place where being "out" is almost a moot point.

I would say only this, on this board the issue of sexual identity goes without comment, it is a moot point, as it should be. I love my friends for who they are, period. OK if they like animals, well I have a problem with that, otherwise, no issue. As a lifelong working cowboy, who moved to the midwest, I have been subjected to reverse racism, and reverse sexism. I also have a mixed race son, and he and I together have struggled through that, too. When one endures these slights, one changes. Not always for the better, some become bitter, some become understanding, I like to think that I'm more understanding of ignorance, because it comes from ignorance. The problem I have is trying to thwart that ignorance with a clear and concise conversation about ignorance, and the hardest argument I've ever had was/is with my own parents. Not my family, my parents.

Zoophobe!

SB-Get out!!!

Yep.

Pestone said:


So much so that me and some of my sister friends are mistaken for men.

Bio: Alfredo was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and raise by Democratic Farm Labor (DFL) members in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His father was a civil servant who worked for many prominent political figures in Minnesota for many years. By the time Alfredo was in junior high school, he realized he wasn't into girls like the other boys were and found out his best friend also felt the same way. Alfredo and his best friend became secret boyfriends, a relationship which lasted 4 years, during which time both boys came out to their families and were accepted by both families and life was wonderful.

By the time his senior year rolled around, it became obvious that Alfredo and his partner weren't really in love they way they should be, they similar interests and had a genuine love for each other but that spark just wasn't there anymore, plus the two appeared headed in different directions as Alfredo was already accepted to a smaller state university and his partner was enlisting in the US Navy.

Alfredo was a tragic mess in college, he spent more time drinking and going to parties than he was interested in his course work. Alfredo was once quoted as saying "college was the best 4...months of his life." After being placed on academic probation, Alfredo's father had a serious heart to heart with him and told him he really needed to start focusing or he'd be very sorry later on in life. Alfredo changed his attitude and worked very hard in school (he still had fun though but his focus on academics improved his grades greatly). After 2 years at the smaller school, Alfredo applied to transfer to the University of Minnesota where his father received his Masters in Economics.

During his two years at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus, he became actively involved in politics and in the LGBT community, two things he still works hard for to this day.

After college, Alfredo needed to focus on his job and work hard to pay off his college debts but he still managed to find time to volunteer with such campaigns as Bill Clinton's re-election of 1996 and Paul Wellstone's re-election that same year.

In 1999 he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada because of a job offer which he accepted. During his time Las Vegas he took a bit of a break from politics after feeling that the elections in United States were a joke following the 2000 election of Albert Gore but handed to George W. Bush via the Supreme Court Ruling Bush v. Gore. During this time, he focused more on the gay and lesbian community and issues which affected the community locally, nationally and globally.

In 2004 Alfredo's best friend obtained tickets to see Michael Moore at UNLV's Thomas & Mack Center which renewed his interest in politics that to this day has only increased. Later that year Alfredo decided to move back to Minnesota due to personal reasons and with his renewed interest in politics felt that Minnesota was the place to be for a younger progressive with an active interest in politics, the political structure and grassroots campaigning.

In 2005 he joined a campaign to help elect the first Muslim into Congress, a campaign which succeeded in 2006 and became a proud moment in Alfredo's life. During the 2006 campaign for Keith Ellison, Alfredo also attended many fundraisers and volunteered for other candidates at events around the Twin Cities such as Twin Cities Pride, the Minneapolis Aquatennial Celebration as well as door to door campaigning for candidates Ellison, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Mike Hatch's failed (but very close) campaign to unseat the Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty.

In early 2008, Alfredo moved to Spokane, Washington because of family reasons and while he hasn't been active in local politics, he's doing his best to learn the state structure of politics and the candidates so that he'll be able to help out later in the campaign season. It's not clear at this time if Alfredo will remain in Spokane but for now it is considered his home and because of that, he feels it is important to be active locally at some point.

Randi Rhodes link to Alfredo: During his life in Minnesota, Alfredo was able to hear the Goddess only on the weekends for a long time as a "best of..." show because of AAR's unwillingness to allow Randi Rhodes' show to be aired outside of her live schedule, instead AAR Minnesota aired Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann and "The Mark Haney Show" which is a local focus show and disrupts the possibility of airing Randi Rhodes live. When Alfredo moved to Spokane, Washington, he was very impressed to find out that there was an AAR station and this made him very happy because throughout his entire drive along I-94 and I-90, the only time he heard progressive radio outside the Twin Cities was for a brief moment in NE Montana early in the morning when he was able to pick up an AM Colorado station and heard Bill Press. The AAR station in Spokane had Randi Rhodes on the air and Alfredo was able to listen live for the first time in his life and was so pleased. Shortly after his move was when the AAR/Randi Rhodes dispute happened and Alfredo was blown away but fortunately he found out that she moved to NovaM radio and he was able to listen to her online from the day she started with NovaM and to his amazement, the local AAR station which is owned by Clear Channel decided to stick with Randi Rhodes and her show began airing almost immediately after the switch to NovaM.

On May 6, 2008 when Randi Rhodes mentioned on the air that her message board had returned, Alfredo registered for the first time and immediately became active and interested in the message board for the first time. It is my guess that because Alfredo was never able to listen to Randi's show live before that the message board postings were often flooded with topics and posts of discussions which happened at a much earlier point in time from Alfredo's perspective, plus having a new clean board made it easier for him to become active and not feel as concerned about bringing up something which had already been brought up days or weeks prior.

People constantly think I'm female or at least they thought Phantom Passenger was.
Must be all the pink and purple. Regardless I agree the point is moot.

Alfredo-- Thanks for that, it helps to put it in perspective. My hat is off to you, and all of the people that struggle with exposing who they really are, I know it is not easy, I do. I am proud to call you my RRMB friend, and I will defend anyone who has the gut's to proclaim who they are, because I know it is not a struggle, it is a cause, as in 'because'. It should not matter what ones sexual orientation is, we are all human, period, end of discussion.

I'm on your side, and always will be, Tap

Well written, and Thanks!

I did this too in college. I liked smoking the weed and floating down the Illinois River, rather than going to classes in 1973. I did eventaully go BACK to college, but it was many years later.

Thanks Alfredo!!! That was a fun read. That was very interesting as to how you came to the light of the Randi Goddess.

I've never been a community activist or organizer (but plan to do more) but I have worked on the front lines, trying to educate and also counsel very troubled kids. I have also been a successful whistleblower, exposing a certain vile corporation.

Nice to meet ya.

Point of Clarification Dept.:

This



is in response to this






But my lord, you peeps are quick. Personally, am not sure the dear departed wasn't Jeff Gannon. Certainly exhibited the the level of literary sophistication one associates with Talon News.

It's considerably easier to breathe in Randiland today.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but he created a sockpuppet called GayWarrior. He even admits it in his signature.

Check out one of the posts.

http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index...ost&p=48927

[quote name='Alfredo' date=immediately after the switch to NovaM.

On May 6, 2008 when Randi Rhodes mentioned on the air that her message board had returned, Alfredo registered for the first time and immediately became active and interested in the message board for the first time. It is my guess that because Alfredo was never able to listen to Randi's show live before that the message board postings were often flooded with topics and posts of discussions which happened at a much earlier point in time from Alfredo's perspective, plus having a new clean board made it easier for him to become active and not feel as concerned about bringing up something which had already been brought up days or weeks prior.
[/quote]



Good stuff

And it appears he may be getting a second chance.
Don't blow it this time, "groove tube."

And here I thought sockpuppets were verboten, per Rule 15.

http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index...?act=boardrules

All in good time, my pretty. These things must be done delllllllicately, or you hurt the spell.




Perhaps there's been a special dispensation. Well, We shall hope for the best.
And Toto too?

Sometimes it takes time for mods to notice, they're busy individuals after all.

Well with an 80 to 1 ratio, no surprise there, our mods are working their collective asses off, so it will take time, after all that job is worse than being a kindergarten teacher on their best day!!!

KUDOS to the mods, we need ya!!!

They are very democratic in their decisions.

You guys have been talking about him all afternoon.... He's been on the board because I have been recieving PMs from him. He hasn't attacked any of you one single time that I can see today. Maybe he has really learned his lesson.... give him a chance.

It was a White Brick Road before Toto got to it.........let's hope this latest incarnation is housebroken.

Thank you all and really, I wanted to highlight that I'm not just some blowhard sitting at a computer because I know that I can easily give that impression because I'm online a lot and because I'm human and at times can be a real jerk to discuss politics with.

Truth is, I should fix that bio a little bit because my degree is in finance and that degree is going to waste because I am now self-employed and work in IT and web design, development and server management.

I also omitted that it took me 5 years to get my bachelor's degree because of the academic probation and also because of the transfer to the UofM.

One note that I left out which could describe my life growing up: When I was four years old, I vaguely remember attending the funeral of someone my father used to work for and I was surprised by how many people were there and the television cameras. It wasn't until we got home that I asked my parents about all of it and my mother explained that the man who died was not just a friend of my father's but that he was a former Vice President of the United States. Before that moment I never knew that Hubert Humphrey was a Vice President (remember, I was only 4 years old), I thought it was just another of my dad's friends and later in my youth I realized that many of my dad's friends were people who would be seen on the news and written about in the newspapers on a regular basis. Politics have always been a large part of my life, I really did not have a choice growing up, I'm just fortunate that my parents were Democrats and not Republicans. If you heard some of the things I heard growing up, you'd be shocked.

Marvelous. Thank you so much for sharing that.


As well it should be.









We must always have hope.

Alfredo, very cool story. I cannot relate, but I do empathize.

Not unless you're a hater, is my experience. If you want to hurt 'em, shut 'em down, lock 'em out, they're in your face. And more power to them. But this guy certainly didn't face anything like that.

Remember when Scarborough had the flip-out at Maddow? In short, he was talking some shit, she had the facts, and as she gave them he kept trying to interrupt - but she bulldozed on through. When she got to finish, he finally spit out something brilliant akin to "So's your old man!" and then he walked off the set.

I heard Maddow talking about that the next day, and was just broken hearted to hear her describe it, because, inside her head, as she's barreling ahead to get the truth out, she was mortified at publicly being the focus of hostility and spectacle. I SO got what she was talking about. And over the next 24 hours, as people congratulated her, she seemed to be even more embarrassed at the attention. She HATES being next to anger and hate, but she sure as shit wasn't going to let an asshat put forward bullshit.

(Here's a link to that exchange though, inexplicably, the clip does not include the part with the off-camera sounds of Scarborough dropping his mike and leaving. Instead, they only TELL you he's done that.)

Bushwa- Rachel has bigger balls than most men!!

What a trip - he really never DID even glance at the board rules, did he? I mean, one can't claim they're hiding out when the sock puppet recycles the banned identity's avi!

Sock puppet, rules, banned, etc.

My sock puppet is in pain!

Too late!

Hey, perhaps this is a good place to ask this question:

How do you all feel about hitting the "REPORT" button?

Personally, when I think I a post goes pretty far over the line, I don't hesitate. I don't THNK I've done it when a poster was upset with me and the alleged violation was directed at me, but when I think I see an egregious personal attack against someone else, I hit that button. And I try to make sure it's a dead bang violation, because I sure don't want to be anywhere close to the whiner who is trying to claim that X calling Z a big poop-butt is a vicious personal assault.

Probably the hardest to sort out are posts that appear to be intended to "sow discord." It's the old "intent," argument and, since I can't read minds, again, the instance has to be several degrees beyond blatant and ugly before I'll hit report. But I will do it.

But I gather there are some who have the attitude of simply waiting for a mod to happen by, and hoping they might perhaps take action. And if they don't, they don't. I believe there are also some who don't like the rules in the first place, so they sure as hell aren't going to tattle on someone for violating rules they don't support. And at the other extreme, every time I cal Pestone a poop-butt, there seems to be SOMEBODY who sees that as a vicious personal assault, and they hit "report" on me two and three times (PESTONE!, you poop-butt!)

So, what are YOU'RE sentiments and policies about hitting "REPORT?"

Do you do it? Why? Why not?

I appreciate your humanity towards him, but this "is a board of rules, not men..." Realize he could have just as easily said something about you and your child like he did about carmenjonze. Something to the effect of: the world is overpopulated, so you should euthanize your child. How would you feel then?









Bushwa is a doo-doo face. There. I said it.

is this him?


http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index...ic=3017&hl=

In answer to your question bushwa if a post is really offensive I pull the trigger without hesitation. I did it a few times on the other board

I've used the report button when I feel someone crosses the line. I reported sock puppet as soon as I saw him post but I don't recall ever reporting jesse under his first name because I felt it was best for the staff to sort it out on their own because I was often directly involved in the confrontations. I did however report myself for attacking him in a post but at the time my patience had run out with him.

I've used the report button on a few occasions, only if there is a rules infraction though. I've seen the mods get testy when someone abuses the function.

The ass-clowns I report just ought to be glad I don't have access to the Ban button. I would have way less patience than the powers that be.

I can't care anymore...