Blog spotlight: Howling Latina

Local, National, Politics, Virginia 1 Minute

I understand that Lefty Blogs has delisted Howling Latina. And other supposedly Democratic blogs are dropping the site from their blogrolls. The reason? Howling Latina is a proud advocate of PUMA. She dares to be a dissenting voice.

I thought the Democratic Party was a big tent. Have we gotten so out of whack that we only want to hear from the people we agree with? Heck, if that were the case, I’d be removing a pile of blogs from my blogroll – and don’t assume that the list would only be Republican ones.

When we start down the path of censoring the voices within our party, there is little that separates us from the Republicans. If your sensibilities are offended by those with whom you disagree, there is a simple answer: don’t read them.

Individual blog operators have the right to do whatever they want with their blogrolls. But I disagree with the decision by Lefty Blogs to remove Howling Latina because to do so, is an attempt to silence someone. (And we’ve seen plenty of that over at Blogger.)

It’s just not right. And because it’s my blog, I’ll continue to keep Howling Latina listed.

Published

97 thoughts on “Blog spotlight: Howling Latina”

  1. Sean, you keep ascribing these actions/desires to others that no one has expressed (e.g., starting a petition up, expecting others to have the same opinion, etc.). Why?

    ~

    Thanks, Vivian.

  3. Mark Brooks: your words are incredibly pompous and judgmental!! Who are you to say that HL is not a progressive? Unbelievable attitude….

    Vivian has it right:

    “But like it or not, the PUMAs are a part of the progressive blogosphere.” and

    “So progressive=lock step?”

    Again, thank you Vivian for doing the right thing and posting this story!

  4. MB, you’re really not paying attention. Or your just not willing to.

    I said about the petition because you said this:

    “We” are LeftyBlog’s audience and reason for existence. I think that’s a fair bit of standing.

    I have a feeling that many of Leftyblogs audience would find a lot of what Howling Latina says to have a negative effect on both the presidential race and to poltical discourse in general.

    As to others having the same opinion, it’s from the same cloth. If you think her blog has merit and you want to link to it, fine. Do that. But don’t get angry when others don’t have the same opinion that you do.

    As for the cartoon, good god, what did you think it was? There is absolutely nothing lost in translation there. It’s disgusting.

  5. I didn’t think anything about the cartoon. I saw a man sitting on the toilet. So yes, things can get lost in the translation.

    And BTW – Lefty Blogs doesn’t show graphics so tell me – how could they have been offended by the picture?

  6. I probably wouldn’t have delisted her, but I really can’t blame Leftyblogs for doing so. The cartoon is truly offensive. Vivian, I don’t see how you couldn’t have noticed that it featured Obama masturbating on a toilet, erect penis and all, and that one of the thought bubbles included a statement that has since been discredited.

    HL doesn’t just criticize Obama, whom she invariably refers to as “Barky.” She also denigrates and attacks his supporters, and brings in quotes and accounts from right wing screeds as her support. I was hoping she would eventually come to her senses, but she instead dug in, and now we hear complaints that the people she’s spent so much time excoriating and demonizing have had enough and decided to bounce her from the list.

    I have to ask. From your point of view is there NO line which cannot be crossed? If there’s a line which can’t be crossed where is it?

  7. Ok. Follow the bouncing ball, Sean. You asked a question, and I answered it (I quoted it, even). Then you followed that up with a snarky little “start a petition” slap that didn’t really make sense in any way except as an attempt to demean the expression of an opinion in the first please. I suppose it’s the same disjointed logic that led you so imply that I was getting angry that someone had a different opinion. Which is just silly.

    ~

    Sleepless, Mark Brooks is many things, but pompous and judgmental are not among them.

  8. …………..if you look at the picture, and I cannot BELIEVE I am describing this, it’s a guy sitting on a toilet looking in a mirror while hope is coming from his mid-region and there is moving motions drawn in that area. It’s clear as day what the intention is: Obama is in love with himself. What did you think it meant?

    And, that is not at all the point I was trying to make. It’s about the content that she has on her page. AGAIN, if you think it’s great stuff, link to her blog, by all means. But don’t expect everyone to agree with you. You have your own blog roll, so does everyone else.

  9. MB, I’m not going to get into an argument with you because you have shown the inability to follow one.

    Simple premise broken down for you:

    You have your opinions. Other people have their own opinions as well.

  11. Sean – I have been very clear that what one does with their own blogroll is their business. What I think is wrong is Lefty Blogs delisting her. I have given examples of her writing recently about progressive causes, yet instead of responding to that or to my question about whether being a progressive means lock step, you have chosen to ignore it. And the fact that Lefty Blogs does not show graphics means that in order for them to have delisted her, it took intervention on the part of others.

    No, I didn’t get the picture. As I said, I saw a man sitting on a toilet. Forgive me but male masturbation is not something that hits my consciousness. So while it may have been clear to you and to others, it was not clear to me.

    As for the line, Carla – well, perhaps I don’t see it as a fixed one. It depends on the circumstances, just like everything else. There are quite a few things that I see in the so-called progressive blogosphere that offend my sensibilities (and no, I’m not going to give you a list) and I don’t mention them. Instead, I just avoid visiting the sites that display such things.

    The problem I’m having right now is that it is as y’all are OK with taking down HL, because she says things that you don’t agree with. To be perfectly honest, that scares the crap out of me.

    “First they came for the Communists,
    and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.
    Then they came for the Jews,
    and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.
    Then they came for the Catholics,
    and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.
    Then they came for me,
    and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.”

  12. It, um, may help having a penis? It was pretty obviously manual auto-ejaculation. The clue is that you can’t see what his right hand is doing because it’s obscured by the left arm. Also there’s a faint blur drawn in to indicate the motion around the words “hope.” I thought it was pretty tasteless. If they had shown the penis, I would have said it was downright offensive.

    I’m not for kicking anyone out of the party because of what they believe or delisting on principle or blah blah blah. I think the party’s big enough to support a plurality of points of view; if we can have anti-abortion Catholics as Democrats (and we have one of them as our Governor) then in my opinion we can have people who aren’t buying into Obama. However, it’s pretty clear that as much as I respect Mimi’s point of view, she doesn’t respect mine. The very premise behind “party unity” my ass is that the tent is that the tent isn’t big enough to hold both the Obama supporters and the Clinton supporters, and Mimi isn’t being too subtle in telling the Obama supporters to drop dead.

    Does she have a right to be tasteless? Yes. Does she have a right to stick her fingers in her ears and go “la la la?” Yes. Does she have the right to self-identify as a Democrat and a progressive. Yes. I’ll happily call her a Democrat. But I’m not going to go so far as to say that she’s a good one.

  13. Vivian,
    She has not only crossed the line but has shredded any sense of credibility that she has ever had.
    It’s obvious that you have crossed over and supported Obama yet, that’s up to you and your perogative.
    But put that picture that she posted in your mind and change the person on the toliet to Ted Kennedy, Mark Warner, Brian Moran or any other Democrat and ask yourself – is this appropriate behavior for a Democrat? Is that the way we treat others in the party?
    Obama is the nominee and HRC is fully supporting him. Hell, even Taylor Marsh is now on board.
    Sorry, with “Democrats” like her- we sure as hell don’t need Republicans!
    Quoting worldnetdaily, Faux News, No Quarter, and using right wing rhetoric do little to give her any credibility. Demeaning supporters of Obama- who happen to be good Democrats is offbase too. The insults and name calling is out of order.
    And, as I have said- it goes both ways, I got pretty ticked off when I heard people insult HRC or her supporters. I don’t agree with Reagan much, but I think his “11th commandment” stands true here.
    If she is indeed a PUMA, she needs to get the hell out of the party- and sorry if the door hits her where the sun don’t shine. As I have said before, I love my party and have seen the darkest of days for Democrats (1994 anyone??). I don’t want to go back to that.
    We have TOO much at stake this year at so many different levels.
    By keeping her on your blogrole, you are condoning her behavior. It’s your blog, but I commend Richmond Democrat. Cobalt6 and others who stood up and said “Enough”!

  14. By keeping her on your blogrole, you are condoning her behavior.

    Now that’s just crap. There are any number of reasons to link people/places, and expressing approval is but one of them.

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