Who are these people....really? They've always had a loud voice here, they post in huge numbers, but if you look at the screen names (even figureing they have at least two or three) most of the posts are repetative.
I know most of the hard-core protectionists here well enough to distinguish them, and I've suspected for a while multiple screen names are involved. I also suspect that a few of them are posting from Sidney Blumenthal's den.