And yeah, I buy it that the BRT stories are relevant here. That was fantastic journalism that should be supported. There should have been a campaign to subscribe, in fact, based on that series.

So I admire the effort here and the intensity, but can’t really join in a “boycott” of what is still the region’s best news source because of an opinion columnist, terrible as he may be. I mean, again, Santorum. Please.

Maybe join the anti-casino people instead. They are making a difference on something that is truly threatening, not just making a gesture. It’s disappointing to see newspaper guys, now bloggers, bashing other newspaper peeps who have it pretty bad already, what with Tierney, all the layoffs, the wage freezes and benefit cuts, the industry in general, etc.

Now, those women in the Rumsfeld video? That there was some real hard-core protesting of a war criminal. Guts rather than glory.

That said, you guys are great. Keep it up.

Why is this no longer a sticky? It should stay at the top until the boycott is over.

You act as though you support freedom of speech, you foolishly believe that you stand up for noble causes. Honestly, you’re extremely ignorant and proud of it.

You’ll be the first to cry when some terrorist (not to be confused with a prisoner of war – these cretins were not POW’s) straps a bomb inside his shirt and kills innocent Americans. You’ll cry “why didn’t the big government do something?” You’ve stopped your BIG Government from doing anything. In addition, you now want to silence anyone who disagrees with you – like your hero – that fool Bill Mahr.

What’s next liberals ? Thought and word police?

Let the military do their job – which is protecting you and your property.

If you ever intend to develop a good arguement you should read and understand the writing of someone whose opinion you’re not in agreement with. Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot that liberals don’t do that. Ignorance is bliss.

John Yoo, on the other hand, is beyond the pale. For one, he’s not that big a name except that he’s the guy behind the torture memo (your argument, in fact, plays out for the other side. If Yoo were a famous figure (like Kissinger) for his work, it’d be another story. However, the only reason he’s getting this press access is his torture memo. It’s like a weird political son of sam law issue. expat attack gets at that well.

Now, the idea that the inky did this in order to gain press for itself? possible. If so, that’s beyond despicable. However, the secretive way in which they did it makes me believe that less.

As per your argument about the inky’s investigative reporting…are they going to stop doing that once there’s a boycott? No. (well, they might because they are idiots)…but nonetheless, that’s still a bad argument against boycotting. It’s like saying don’t fight against Mussolini because he got the trains to run on time! or don’t mind the segregation, Wallace did great things for the Alabama economy!

rather, make a case for another action…but i’m not sure what it is. The Inky reminds me of the republican party…rallying its old, conservative base and failing to change. Calling democrats “obama democrats” is great for the dems–anything obama touches is still turning to gold. i’d like my political opponents and my local paper to both be worthy opponents. Having John f*cking Yoo as a columnist is not a sign of worthiness.

I don’t think most people want good hard-nosed investigative reporting to go away, nor do I think they wish the demise of a long standing local institution.

However, when that institution’s standing is abused to extol disgraced and shunned figures like Yoo, then consequence should be borne. (yes, even by the staff–maybe they’ll consider airing their grievances if they get enough support.)

The publisher’s conservative slant is becoming embarrassingly obvious, as I noticed just days ago with their umpteenth story on the runs-on-guns phenomenon.

Now adding Yoo to their masthead is the gob-smacking answer to the question of where do they go next? Smirconish, Santorum, and Yoo?

It’s like the father, the child and the holy *crap* of conservative opinion…

And specific to this boycott, cliched or not, your assumption that this is about Sweeney’s general old media ire and not specific to an irrefutable war criminal sullying our collective names further than he has already, is dead wrong. Some people still care enough to get righteous indignation. Yoo isn’t just a “bad guy”. He’s a stain on our nation.

And if all that isn’t good enough for you, at the very, very least he shouldn’t get a job at the paper because he was shitty fucking lawyer. His memos were all revoked because they stunk. They made untenable and logically flawed arguments in support abominable acts. In that small trivial light, he doesn’t get the job because he isn’t even fucking qualified.