Who is poisoning "the discourse"?

Tigerdroppings and NOLA.com are famous internet-wide for being hosts to the most outlandishly mean, racist, sexist, what have you, comment threads a person could hope to experience.  They're often exhibit A held up by whatever pearl clutching community leader is militating for a clamp down on internet speech in the name of preserving the "civil discourse."

It's interesting to me, then, that we keep finding out the people contributing the most corrosive "uncivil" comments happen to be well.. judges and US Attorneys and such.

An Arkansas circuit judge has called off his campaign for higher office after he confessed to making what some deemed to be offensive comments under an alias on the LSU fan message board, Tiger Droppings.

A political blogger first suggested on Monday (March 3) that Arkansas Circuit Judge Mike Maggio was behind the pseudonym “geauxjudge” in a post on his website, Blue Hog Report, according to The Associated Press. Maggio acknowledged the comments were his on Wednesday (March 5), apologized and ended his campaign for a seat on the Arkansas Court of Appeals.

Some have called the comments racist, sexist, homophobic or inappropriate.

Speaking of which, the US Attorneys comment scandal is likely far from over.

Repeat after me: WE DON’T KNOW JACK SQUAT. The next time you read an article on Commentgate — and you will— whisper that mantra under your breath.

We’re two years deep in this scandal and still can’t answer any of the fundamental questions: How many feds were making comments? How many usernames were used? How many comments were written?

Based on my research I’ll wager that there are many thousands of undiscovered comments written by feds who are supposed to be impartial servants of the law.