Did something bad today which felt sooo good. Went to the local Barnes &

[Shoeempress]

Nobles. Took all the pro Chimpy books off top shelves and put them on bottom. Replaced with Pro-Kerry Books. Covered all the pro Chimpy books with Pro Kerry, Michael Moore or other lefty publications. My Bad?

[LiberalVoice]

1. Good job.

I say fight fascism any way possible!

[NWHarkness]

2. I do that all the time

The other side wants to burn books they don't agree with, so I consider it a small bit of mischief in comparison.

[LynnTheDem]

3. Did that...

yesterday! And now I don't feel at all guilty, LOL!

[Shoeempress]

4. Perhaps we should encourage others who DU to do the same.

[AnnInLa]

5. Wow.....field trip!

cool!

[Shoeempress]

8. Interesting idea. Choose a day for our book rearrangement field trip

everyone gets to go to a book store and do our work, and then report back. What do you think?

[progressivebydesign]

6. It's a guilty pleasure... n/t

[disneyboy]

7. It's a guilty pleasure... n/t"

I did the same kind of things but in a Disney context. Id put other Disey DVDs in front of CINDERELLA II to block that DVD. LOL

[Keirsey]

9. Notes in the books?

Notes in "Unfit for Command" to let reader know it's a smear and that most of the "vets" claims have been debunked.

Of course, you must tell them that Dubya was AWOL. Give them this short URL.

www.awolbush.com

[Carla in Ca]

55. I hide magazines w/* on the cover at the grocery store

[liberalhistorian]

10. While I understand emotionally where you're coming from, I must ask

what your reaction would have been if the same was done to our side's books? Pretty pissed off, huh? So, what's the difference here? We have no more right to mess around with their books than they do with ours. Either way is just as childish and immature. I've seen enough of that shit done to our side's books and magazines that I don't want to see us stoop to the same level. We call them fascists, bullies, ignorant of free speech rights, etc., etc., but when we do things like this we're acting the same way.

Although it was very nice to see, when I went to my local Barnes and Noble to pick up a couple of magazines they have there, that the huge display of that lying piece of shit book "Unfit for Command" was almost undisturbed, only a few books had been sold. The clerk said it had been like that for the four days they'd had the display up, they hadn't sold many at all.

[Shoeempress]

14. Well, perhaps you can explain why the Pro Chimpy books were

conveniently placed at eye level, and the lefty books on the bottom of the shelf. I am not so stupid as to believe these differences in placement was an accident. Why should I have trouble finding my books but wingnuts shouldn't? And by the way, I have no problem with "stooping" to winning ways. In fact my biggest complaint with the Dems is that most won't, as if winning "badly" will somehow make us less in power. So no, I have no problem to "stooping" to win. Any by the way, thank you so much for calling me childish, it really is the "high" road to resort to ad hominum arguments.

[liberalhistorian]

16. Two wrongs do not make a right.

Just because the wingnuts do something doesn't mean we have to do the same thing. And I wasn't calling you childish. I was saying it's childish for ANYONE to do that, regardless of which side you're on. If they'd done the same thing to our books, we'd be pretty pissed off, wouldn't we? And yet the arguments they would probably use are the same ones you're trying to use. Again, two wrongs do not make a right.

[Shoeempress]

20. However, I do not believe what I did was wrong,

that is YOUR perception. Further, I don't believe it is childish. I merely re-arranged books from the top shelf to the bottom shelf. I don't believe is it wrong for me to put something on a different shelf. That is called marketing. I chose a different marketing strategy for their books.

[liberalhistorian]

26. And unless you're an employee

of the store, what right did you have to do that?

[Shoeempress]

27. I am a customer, far more important then an employees. Let's not

forget the customer is always right.

[cosmicvortex20]

45. Still - - it wasnt your property.

I agree, it was pretty childish and I would tell a repug the same thing if I saw them doing it.

[wettap]

30. I have to agree.

Two wrongs don't make it right. Or fair.

Barnes and Noble is a business. It is their business to sell books. They sell books by the Clintons, Micheal Moore and various other Democrats, Liberals and Leftists. They don't just sell pro-Bush material.

They are in the business of commerce, and (I will say it) infantile acts of sabotage does nothing to further our cause. Someone will have to take time away from another job at Barnes and Noble to rearrange those books... possibly on a daily basis.

Why do I care? Because I am a librarian and taxpayer. I'm tired of inventorying political books every week because the latest Lefty/Righty book has ended up in the library trash can courtesy of someone who doesn't want anyone else to read it. The taxpayers of this county have had to re-purchase in the last 10 years probably 300 copies of political tomes (Coulter, Limbaugh, Carville, Clinton, Moore, etc) because they are discarded in this manner.

SO I WILL SAY IT. GROW UP.

[drdigi420]

58. bullshit, fight fire with fire

while we're on the high road the wingnuts are shooting us down from the low road

fight back

[Richardo]

71. If you're going to fight fire with fire - do something that matters...

...rearranging books is as politically effective as flossing your teeth - only when you floss your teeth I don't have to pick up after you.

[cosmicvortex20]

84. Yup = next time someone kills a kid...

I guess its ok to kill theirs.

After all, 2 wrongs make a right. right?

[LWolf]

31. Good point.

If I have no more integrity than the opposition, why bother to oppose them in the first place?

One of the reasons so many voting-age Americans either don't register or don't vote is because of the perception of dirt. "Politics" = "playing dirty." Politicians can't be trusted. You're supposed to expect spin, half-truths, and outright fabrications. If we are ever going to attract the non-voters, we've got to be more trustworthy, have greater integrity than the opposition, imo. Personally, I'm uncomfortable when my family members, neighbors, friends, or fellow democrats use dirty tactics to "win" at something. I think we ought to win on sweat, commitment, and merit.

[scottcsmith]

36. Could it be...

...that the store has the right to put whatever books it wants wherever it wants? Who cares if the pro-Bush books are at eye level? You know, if it were me, and I walked into the store and saw that the books on display were all pro-Bush books, why, I could still find the book I was shopping for. It's really easy.

And yes, it is childish. Sounds like a prank pulled by someone still in high school.

Did it ever occur to you that you've created extra work for the minimum-wage employees by moving the books? Do you think they like having to re-stack the books that you've moved?

[greblc]

34. Who determines the Book placement?

Unbias B&N employees?

If someone wants the book they'll find it.

And isn't placing notes free speech?

[wettap]

65. Agreed agree about notes. I have nothing against people of all ...

...political persuasions placing notes, (even copies of mass produced notes) in books. No harm, no foul, IMHO. It might even open anothers eyes to alternative views. I actually enjoy notes left by readers suggesting weblinks and such in any book. I tend to leave them in when I find them.

My problem is with outright fraud and infantile hijinks under the guise of political purity. My job is made more difficult, and money comes out of the taxpayer paycheck to re-purchase these books. AND ALL DO GET REPURCHASED, regardless of political bent.

[SmokeyTheBear]

44. agreed........

this is the low road. remember that thing called the 1st ammendment.

[Skittles]

51. problem is no level playing field

here in Texas the fascist books are AWAYS prominently displayed

[Ms. Clio]

54. I have seen something similar done to "our side's books"

Paul Krugman's newest book (paperback) was in one of those little cardboard stand-alone display racks and every cover of every book in every row was bent back so it couldn't be seen--while all the books underneath them were just fine. The bent covers were clearly deliberate.

Pissed me off, but I thought I would look like some kind of nut if I started switching out each of the bent-up books with books with unbent covers.

(edited for clarity)

[rinsd]

67. I would tend to agree.....

I understand a little mischief feels good.

What I think stinks is if some store employee has to then re-arrange the books again.

Other than that, this is hardly worst thing a person can do. A little shady for my taste but its not like its a book burning.

[Lindacooks]

11. I do that all the time too.

Feels great.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

12. Haha

I only do that to Ann Coulter books, otherwise I feel guilty... because if the tables were turned... I'd be pissed. :(

on edit: ok, ok.... and Sean Hannity.

[Nite Owl]

13. I did my part on Friday.

B&N (not too much work there, they are still featuring Clinton up front and was hard to find the SBL book) and Borders. My sons do it too and they are spreading it to their friends. It's just too irresistible a target.

[latebloomer]

15. My brother wrote several novels

which got good reviews but were not bestsellers. My mom likes to go to B & N's and arrange them in conspicuous places with the front cover displayed.

I'd give ya a pass.

:D:

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

17. Now that I would let slide

;)

[Mr_Spock]

18. That's sooo funny. I drove around today and stuck my middle finger

out at any house that had a Chimp/Chaingang sign in the yard. I then yelled "MURDERER" at the top of my lungs. A few people heard me - life has consequences baby.

[Shoeempress]

21. I yell nazi. Yelled it today at a big cookout the Repukes were having

at a KOC, saw several heads whip around. That was a good moment.

[Mr_Spock]

32. You're OK with me :o)

Nazi and murderer are synonymous, but I kinda like Nazi better - perhaps I'll try that out sometime - hehe.

[MsUSA]

62. LOL Mr_Spock....

I do that too, middle finger to b/c yard signs, bumper stickers etc, and the sign of victory, index and middle finger held up in the shape of the letter V to the Kerry/Edwards yard signs bumper stickers etc. and it really makes me fell great!!

[NightTrain]

19. All you did was give extra work to that store's low-wage employees.

Don't get me wrong. I understand why you did it. Truth be told, I used to do that myself on occasion. But then I realized that somebody was going to have to put back the books I had rearranged, and that "somebody" was an overworked, underpaid clerk. So I stopped doing it, annoying though it still is for me to see those hate-filled right-wing screeds placed prominently on the shelves.

[Shoeempress]

22. You are a good person. I am not and I can live with that.

[NightTrain]

24. I never said you weren't a good person!

We all do what we have to do to vent our frustration. That's why I didn't condemn what you did at B&N. If you want to do it again some time, I won't condemn you then, either!

[LisaL]

35. And tell us again

why is that pro-Bush books must be on top shelf?

[NightTrain]

47. I can tell you this much....

It wasn't the fault of the B&N clerk who'll have to put back all those rearranged books.

[Cha]

48. Such hard work!

[peacefreak]

60. Thanks NightTrain

You're right on the money. My store was freeped the other day. I found it to be funny/annoying. Just what is being accomplished by flipping or "hiding" books? I've even seen them destroyed. After taking 20 minutes to put the books back in their proper places I had to play catch up to do what I really was suppose to be doing.
As distasteful as I find Unift to Command I will sell it. I might think what an asshole the person is for buying it, but it is my way of standing by the First Ammendment on a daily basis.
spelling edit

[Eurobabe]

23. Great minds think ALIKE!! I did SAME THING!! LOL!!

At the Borders over in Richmond. I got SICK of seeing all the damn pro-Bu$hler books, so I went over to the politics section and grabbed the foulest anti-Bu$h books I could find and put them on top of the recommended reads. ROTFLMAO! I can't believe someone else did this too, my 22yr. old daughter told me I was being juvenile, but she laughed.

[Shoeempress]

25. Good for you. Being juvenile is not just for the juveniles

[Cha]

42. Your tactics of moving pro-bush books to a

lower shelf is Nothing compared to the gestapo tactics of the tom delays/james bakers in 2000 debacle. ANd now we see what they've done so far in 2004!


We are all soldiers in this war. You were doing your part as far as I'm concerned..and I'm glad to see you didn't back down!

You go shoeempress!

[ilovenicepeople]

81. It's in the bible

"Thou shall not commit adulthood.":hi:

[RetroLounge]

28. Truth be told, I've done this too.

Especially covering the Coulter books...

RL

[tanyev]

29. My favorite:

Move a few Ann Coulter books into the fiction section.

[UpsideDownFlag]

43. no, place them prominently so people can see her face on the books.

the sales will plummet.

[greblc]

33. LOL , I do it too.

I'm thinking they should be moved to the bottom shelf in the Horror section.Or Round File.

[JohnyCanuck]

37. This is what I do.

First, I order up a bunch of deception dollars like these:




Then I carefully fold them over so that the Shrubster's pouty face is on the outside and you can read the words "one deception" underneath his picture and then I slip a bunch into my hip pocket and set off for the bookstore. When I am at the bookstore pretending to browse through the books in the politics and history sections, it's quite easy to unobtrusively reach into my back pocket, pull out a deception dollar and slip it between the pages. I make the rounds regularly between bookstores in my area leaving deception dollar calling cards in my wake. I don't just leave them in the winger books, but in the lefty books as well on the premise that even many lefty types are unaware of the depths of corruption and malfeasance to which the Bush administration has sunk.

I also recently started going to department stores and slipping deception dollars into various items of merchandise as I pretend to browse through the goods on the shelves.

Ordering info from here:
http://www.deceptiondollar.com/order.htm

[mitchum]

38. I put anti-Bush books in the dustjackets for wingnut authors...

a great idea suggested by another DU-er a few weeks back

[gauguin57]

39. Sorry. Can't get behind this one. The bookstore employees have

extra work in putting things back. My B&N has a big sign explaining that they work hard to provide books for all sides of the political spectrum ... that they provide the books the public/their customers ask for.

I see evidence of people having moved stacks of magazines from the magazine racks and piling them on top of the anti-Bush books.

That's going to be one pissed-off bookstore employee, who has to put everything back, because that's what their bosses want. We may even lose their vote if we do it more than the Repugs. Those bookstore employees didn't take us into an unnecessary war ... they're innocent bystanders who have to clean up after you.

Sure, I'd LOVE to put the Swiftboat book in the FICTION section, but I'm not going to go there. I understand your motives. I just can't support the action.

[leesa]

40. Not at all. Good job. Don't forget the whacky Tim LaHaye books

next time though.

[Cha]

41. I'd want to do the same thing..since the good people

at Barnes & Noble don't seem capable.

But how did you do it without getting noticed?

[NEDem]

46. I moved 3 copies of

"Private Parts" into the Christian section. I couldn't help myself.

[VOX]

49. I do this too. It's interesting that we actually feel driven to do it.

I feel as though I have soaked up so much toxin from the right wing over the last 10 years, and that their mouthpieces have been so much in my face uninvited, that any gestures, however small, through which I can return the "love" are eagerly pursued.

file it under "activism."

[AgadorSparticus]

50. wow. i'm not the only one!!!

:toast:

[Chomskyite]

52. I've done that

But I've also written George W. Bush on as many of the sheets of toilet paper as I could, while using the toilet. I didn't use those sheets on myself, of course.

[ComerPerro]

53. I usually wait to see what kind of people pick up what books

Its funny, but you can always spot a freeper wingnut. I don't know why, but it just amuses me to no end to be reading a left wing book in the area when a reich wing loser comes by to pick up the latest poorly written piece of sycophantic trash

[Algomas]

56. I do the same thing every time I visit B&N. Hahahaha!

[T Town Jake]

57. And that wins us votes, ummm...HOW?...

...bragging about childish & silly actions on a Progressive forum that is regularly monitored by right-wing lurkers seems to me to be narcissistic in the extreme, and ultimately self-defeating unless one is just trying to make our side look bad with such idiotic tales of - oops, I think I just figured it out. Never mind.

[DebJ]

59. At Borders last week, in the Politics section, ALL the books

were anti-Bush, out of the 16 or so they place on the shelf up front. Every single one! Boy that felt good!

[Bridget Burke]

61. Next: Order sushi & don't pay.

Gosh, you're such a cool radical dude, living life on the edge!

[TheSuaveOne]

63. Sorry...

...but stunts like this are sophomoric...la

[mainer]

64. employees have no choice -- books MUST be displayed

They get instructions from corporate office where books are to be placed. Usually placement is bought and paid for by publishers. If the books aren't where they're supposed to be, the employees get in trouble.

Much as we hate to see the anti-Kerry books out in front, we really shouldn't rearrange books as it means more work for the bookstore employees.

[Rich Hunt]

66. exactly.

If it bothers the individual that much, slip pamphlets into the books, or make sure that free literature is available in the lobby. Don't make it hard on the bookstore employees.

Also, those books are usually arranged according to a system, and if you rearrange them, people can't find what they are looking for.

[sangh0]

75. If you make the wrok easy for a bookstore employee

the bookstore will reduce it's staff.

[ElementaryPenguin]

68. I've become a real pro at doing just that!

And I never feel ANY guilt whatsoever! (Just doing my little bit to help save mankind!) Keep up the good work, whenever possible!

:toast:

[Malva Zebrina]

69. Who knows--maybe the placement of the pro Bush books were

rearranged by freepers who removed the anti-Bush books from the top and placed them on the bottom. :shrug:

In which case it would have been a totally "nice person" who put it back the way it was.

[Richardo]

70. Do I have to spank you all AGAIN?

:spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank: :spank:

I'm a P/T bookseller and I and my colleagues (many are liberals just like you - well maybe more mature) get to spend time after the store closes putting these books back in their proper place. :grr:

Let me say that the RW'ers think this is hilarious, too - so what level does that put YOU on....?

Oh BTW, other supposedly hilarious moves: putting sex books in the religion section, gay and lesbian books in the religion section, and religion books in the gay and lesbian section, sex books in the children's section. WTG, idiots! :eyes: It's all been done to death. Do us all a favor and get a life.

[Centre_Left]

72. Congratulations

You cost a B&N about twenty minutes of wasted effort while he resorts the books. You should feel proud.

[wettap]

73. Exactly...

... you are now in the proud company of assholes who think that your political thoughts/party purity are more important than freedom of speech and my time to resort your shenanighans.

You cost the county taxpayer (on average, in each library) about $45 per week. Not including replacement costs. Add it up. You want that coming out of your pocket?

[Rabrrrrrr]

77. Nicely said

it also jsut sends the message "We liberals are afraid of the ideas expressed in these books, so we feel we have to cover them up. By the way, do it to us, and we'll cry 'censorship' and call an ACLU trial lawyer."

[Hammie]

74. My idiot boss was on my case all day

about how the books were always out of order on the display shelves. I'd get them all set up the way they were supposed to be and go outside for a smoke, and when I came back in they were all misaranged and my boss was on my case again. Jerk said if I couldn't get it right he would find someone who could. I kept trying to tell him that someone must be going out of their way to misarange them, but he told me to quit making excuses.

I tell you I sure would like to get my hands on the tool that keeps dicking with the books.

[ArkDem]

76. This definately falls in the

'get a life' category.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

78. OK - a story

In B&N several weeks ago. There was a younger guy in the same section just looking over the books. He had his baby daughter with him in a stroller and moved a little out of my way ('Scuse me, m'am). I'm perusing the books and he asks what I'm looking for. "American Dynasty" by Kevin Phillips, I said, "but they don't seem to have a copy" (not in alpha order like it should be). No, wait, he says, there's one down here (bottom shelf and to the right, out of place). He asks about other progressive authors and I mention Jim Hightower (this is Texas) and Howard Zinn (he already has Michael Moore and Molly Ivins).

[Name removed]

79. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LynnTheDem]

83. Wow

Childish yes...but if that's the "most unAmerican" thing you've ever heard of, you need to get out more often. Notice the illegal INVASION that happened last year? Or the LIES and DECEIT to get that invasion?

Or hey, how about that bush, kicking out the UN weapons inspectors and rushing our troops without enough rifles and ammo and body armor and food and water etc to preemptive strike to spread democracy against a future threat.

Now THAT I would call "most unAmerican".

[curlyred]

80. "Liberal on Aisle 4"

Do you think they have a security person watching us do this stuff..........

[B Calm]

82. I do it in airport book stores everytime I travel.

It kills time waiting on my next flight.

[wettap]

85. This Librarian says...

... thanks fo making my life a shithole.

[B Calm]

86. You're welcome!