There are so many things I think of in reading this- not the least of is the cautionary tale of how fame and money can't buy fulfillment. But mostly it makes me sad that we had to witness the downward spiral of such a great talent. R.I.P. Whitney.

No way I'm spending money to see it in a theater now...

I have shelved many books half-read for that very reason.

Conservative women get a lot of the "I hope you get raped" comments. Feeling the love and compassion....

Dujan's an interesting guy. He was a big Hillary supporter in the democrat primaries, but began to pull away from the dems when he saw the tactics of the Obama side. Since then he's become an ardent supporter of Sarah Palin. I don't think he describes himself as conservative-- probably says he's independent or libertarian.

He's gay, lives in Chicago and supports Sarah Palin-- he gets hate in massive waves. He's done a lot to expose liberal tactics-- I didn't know what a concern troll was until he laid it out. Sometimes I disagree with his methods because he uses the liberals' own methods against them. But he's not afraid to be open about what he's doing and why. He's lost work and friendships because of his politics-- I give the guy a lot of credit for sheer guts.

Kevin Dujan over at Hillbuzz writes about this all the time. He'll sometimes post emails he gets (saying that they hope he gets AIDS and other bits of "tolerance" like that). I can't fathom the mindset that thinks that kind of behavior is ever justified.

I had an English teacher who taught us about Machiavelli in college and I didn't appreciate her focus on the "ends justify the means" argument at the time. She was trying to get us to understand the kind of mind that tolerates cutthroat tactics like these. At least I know there was one teacher fighting the good fight-- rare as that is.

FWIW I thumbed you up. We can't get so caught up in the divide between conservative and liberal that we throw logic out of the equation. The thing is, I've read tons of comments from people here bemoaning the spending during the Bush administration- so you're not saying anything shocking.

You know what's stupid? I worry about posting comments here because I know it's being read by people I know. It's narcissistic and silly, but I've seen other bloggers get blow-back for expressing opinions not on the 'approved' list and I don't want to get caught up in that nonsense.

It's terrible! I read a book by a former vegan who wrote about why she started eating meat and the attacks against her are unbelievable- she's even been attacked physically. I can't wrap my brain around the thinking of people who claim to be compassionate yet behave this way.

I know a few who haven't been shy about revealing their politics-- but the hate directed back at them is vicious (which is why I keep politics out of my own site). I've seen a writer shunned for daring to speak out against the Ground Zero Mosque and uninvited from a panel she was scheduled to speak on. Global warming and homosexuality are the causes du jour and if you don't like it you're a racist, homophobic, anti-science moron. Writers who don't embrace the liberal agenda are mocked and marginalized. I'm sure there are a lot of conservatives in the community, but there is such an accepted culture of bullying against them that you don't see many speaking up.