Who decides what comments are posted, anyway?

Several days ago, I came across this post on the Huffington Post blog site. In a nutshell, Michelle Pilecki quotes a story about Dick Cheney's office calling to assert that restoring several substations vital to the "Atlanta-based Colonial Pipeline, which moves gasoline and diesel fuel from Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi and up to the Northeast." This was to be done before restoring power to several hospitals and other agencies in the area. Since then, TalkLeft has picked up the story.

So, what does this have to do with the title of this post, anyway? Simple - I refuse to use my real email in order to post a comment on any overtly political site, whether it is TalkLeft or RedState. That doesn't, however, mean that I won't find some junk email address and use it to fill in the requisite field on the comment section. I've had a couple posts get through in this manner, sometimes in support of a posting, sometimes in opposition.

In this case, I attempted to post a comment along the following lines:

This might not be as evil as you are trying to make it. All the rescue vehicles (be they Red Cross, Salvation Army, FEMA, or private individuals) are going to be needing gas. And, this would have been before Labor Day weekend, a period of heavy driving, where fuel could well be in short supply. A truck loaded with food, water and other emergency supplies does little good if it cannot get gasoline. Just as (in an airplane) you are told to place the mask over your own face before helping others, fuel needs to be avaible for the relief efforts to be moblized.

Civil, and, I think, with a valid point. If this pipeline is the primary one for the eastern seaboard, then all the relief efforts coming from Georiga, Florida, the Carolinas, etc are going to face potential fuel shortages, in addition to hazardous roads and debris. Plus, you'll need a supply of available gasoline to run generators and keep rescue vehicles going. It sounds calloused, but there is the chance that this decision was made because it was necessary for the relief effort, not in opposition to it.

Anyway, my post still hasn't gotten through. There's one post (out of nine) that asks if it is Bush that the author hates, or conservatism. All the others are comments critcal of Cheney, Bush or the administration. I vaguely wonder if my comment was rejected because (1) I debated the validity of the inital post; and (2) it was felt that I was supporting the President. In my opinion, neither of those are valid reasons for refusing a comment, especially considering the vitriol that so often is used in lieu of rational discourse on some blogs.