Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 14:46:48 -0700
From: David Stevens <phylstevens-AT-worldnet.att.net>
Subject: M-I: Junking the lists (Was: Re: Gary's response)


Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 16:06:57 -0400 (EDT)
From: Louis R Godena <louisgodena-AT-ids.net>
Subject: M-I: Junking the lists (Was: Re: Gary's response)

> I find the actions of the Spoons collective cowardly and 
> unprincipled in the extreme.

 What is "unprincipled" to you, Louis Godena?

 What do you think -- just as a matter of "principle" --
about ex-members filing a lawsuit against the CPUSA?

>  A contract of sorts existed 

 Here, it sounds to me as if you know there is no such
contract, which is why you resorted to weasel words like
a "contract OF SORTS." 

> between all the parties involved, the University
> of Virginia, Spoons, the moderators, and the subscribers.  That contract was
> unilaterally breached, without notice or cause, by Spoons.

 Since you seem so very interested in the fine points
of bourgeois law as they pertain to what you consider
a Marxist movement, try this one on for size:

 No valuable "consideration" -- No contract.

 No "meeting of the minds" -- No contract.

 One could perhaps argue that the "consideration" extended by
subscribers was to form part of a virtual community to aid
in the open exchange of ideas ... in which case it rather
seems as if many subscribers, and even list moderators,
were not fulfilling _their_ end of the "contract."

 Heck, Louis: you even say outright that you don't think
what the Spoons Collective did "merits your support, let
alone your gratitude."  If we all had a contract, which we
didn't, that would be called anb "anticipatory breach of
contract," and Spoons would not owe any support -- and
certainly not any gratitude -- to the rest of us.

> This is ABC for the vagaries of everyday life, and is
> a settled point of law. 

 Ya, cobber.  Tell us about vagaries of everyday life and
why Spoons Collective gets held to the standard of the
paid (and profitable) services one uses in bourgeois
society.  Sheesh.  Even "settled points of law" cost
upwards of $150 and hour, plus expenses, to assert.
Nobody reading these words, not even yourself,
believes for one moment that you could ever find
an attorney smart enough to pass the Bar but dumb
enough to take a case like this on contingency.

 But after listening to literally _years_ of "contractual"
yammer EXACTLY LIKE THIS, the Spooners are eminently
justified in saying that they're tired of the nonsense.

>  The arbitrary and capricious manner in which Spoon
       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 SER: That is an important phrase to bear in mind if
you are suing an insurance company or an employer of
wage labor. 

>  I do not feel that what was given us in this instance
> merits my support, let alone my gratitude. 

 I think _that sort of attitude_ is fundamentally
at the root of Spoons Collectives' decision not to
host the Marxism spaces any more.

 Are you gonna ask for your money back?

- David Stevens


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