Two things I am Tired Of

1. Republican / Conservative pundits giving Democrats political advice.

2. Republicans pretending that that democrats are the source of the mean-spirited partisanship in the capital.

Emmett Tyrell's latest column has both qualities in spades. The core point is one that a lot of conservative columnists are going to be making over the next couple of days i.e. "Things might seem bad for President Bush and Republicans, but they are really great. Who you going to believe, me or your lyin' eyes?" This is a popular variation on that theme, "Yeah things might look not great for us, but have you checked out the Democrats? What a bunch of losers." Or, to put it another way,

The reason for this is that the Democratic leadership is fractured and dominated by people who are hysterical, abusive and oblivious. The things they have called George W. Bush this past year are as excessive as anything Joe McCarthy ever called his opponents, but without the charm or, for that matter, the factual basis.

According to Tyrell, Democrats have one chance. Emulate good old Joe Lieberman. Loudly support whatever President Bush wants to do in foreign policy and keep our mouths shut on domestic policy. That's the way to win supporters and fans.

Well except for this troubling question. Given a choice between Conservativism and watered-down Conservativism, which do you choose? If you like Conservatism presumably you for the full throat kind, and if you don't like Conservatism presumably you stay home on election day.

Or at least that's how it looks to me.

Update

Sorry for the low updates today. Very busy here. We are still trying to figure out what to do about Space Lobster. I really really want to get this figured out before Cheery gets back. Anyway our analysis leads us to believe he may or may not be dead. So we are going to put him in a box. Because that's what you do with things that may or may not be dead.

I am very traditional.

But then I have to figure out what to do with the box.

One Blog To Rule Them All and In the Darkness Bind Them

Kathleen Parker's latest article is entitled Lord of the Blogs. Unfortunately, it is not a take off of Lord of the Rings as I initially assumed. Rather it is a take off of William Golding's Lord of the Flies.

First of all let us note this astonishing paragraph on the news organs of the day from a conservative writer (and increasingly, a partisan of either stripe).

Say what you will about the so-called mainstream media, but no industry agonizes more about how to improve its product, police its own members and better serve its communities. Newspapers are filled with carpal-tunneled wretches, overworked and underpaid, who suffer near-pathological allegiance to getting it right.

That a Jayson Blair of The New York Times or a Jack Kelley of USA Today surfaces now and then as a plagiarist or a fabricator ultimately is testament to the high standards tens of thousands of others strive to uphold each day without recognition. Blair and Kelley are infamous, but they're also gone.

It is truly amazing that a conservative would admit that newspapers generally try to get it right. Maybe Ms. Parker needs to listen to Rush Limbaugh more to get an idea of how Journalists really work.

The rest of Ms. Parker's article is on Bloggers and how we are generally a bad thing.

What Golding demonstrated - and what we're witnessing as the Blogosphere's offspring multiply - is that people tend to abuse power when it is unearned and will bring down others to enhance themselves. Likewise, many bloggers seek the destruction of others for their own self-aggrandizement. When a mainstream journalist stumbles, they pile on like so many savages, hoisting his or her head on a bloody stick as Golding's children did the fly-covered head of a butchered sow.

. . . I mean no disrespect to the many brilliant people out there - professors, lawyers, doctors, philosophers, scientists and other journalists who also happen to blog. Again, they know who they are. But we should beware and resist the rest of the ego-gratifying rabble who contribute only snark, sass and destruction.

We can't silence them, but for civilization's sake - and the integrity of information by which we all live or die - we can and should ignore them.

I'm tempted to suggest that Ms. Parker means that Conservative Bloggers are ok and Liberal Bloggers are monsters; but the tone of her article is such that I really don't think that's what she is going for. Rather these are similar complaints to what Tom Tomorrow has brought up from time to time.

Blogs represent a democratization of the opinion page. In the old days, you got to write an op-ed piece because you had a reputation or had achieved a certain status or just wrote a damn good piece (or the editor was short a few inches and needed something). There was a filter in place to ensure that those who contributed to the national conversation had earned that right. Tom Tomorrow earned that right through laboring as a cartoonist (a very good cartoonist I must add) for many years. Kathleen Parker earned that right through writing talented columns that editors liked.

I have not earned that right, and nor have many of my fellow bloggers. Under the old system we would not participate in the national conversation except through letters to the editor or getting off of our behinds and becoming columnists ourselves.

So looked at a certain way, Blogging gives us something we don't deserve. It gives us a power we haven't earned. Ms. Parker is correct about that. She's also correct that many Bloggists don't display the most noble of characteristics. That said, I would argue that the national conversation isn't going to be that hurt by a few relatively low powered voices joining in. I would argue that the tendency to determine truth by lining it up against our partisan beliefs is probably a far more corrosive and destructive tendency, for example.

In other news, for those interested in Space Lobster's condition, we are unfortunately 99% sure he has passed on. Our Marine Biologist, Puke, has gone out to do some research at the university library; hopefully we will have confirmation shortly.

The Horde and Shifting Morality

First of all a quick update on Space Lobster. He smells bad and he's not responding to outward stimuli. Not much progress then.

I do want to point to an article on World of Warcraft entitled "The Horde is Evil." The initial article (by Edward Castronova) is O.K., but the comments to it are really good. There are a few of the "Shut up stupid" responses, and more than a few of the "It's just a game" responses (which I don't see as much better), but there are also a lot of really thoughtful responses.

Many of you know that I play World of Warcraft myself. I play both Alliance (the good guys), and the Horde. My main character has been Strillix, a Night Elf Druid. Night Elf Druids are Good! As you can see he has a cute little pussy cat, thus proving his Goodness.



However, recently I've been playing Gravesilence a lot more (mainly because he joined a good guild), who is my Undead Warlock. Undead Warlocks are Evil (and doesn't he look it?).



This is my Tauren Shaman, Angushin. Tauren Shamans are Good! But they are members of the Horde and the Horde is Evil. After all my Tauren Shaman has visited the Undercity (home of the Undead) many times. So maybe he isn't Good.



This is Siljinia my Troll Hunter. Trolls are Evil. And Siljinia has a very mercenary attitude I've always assumed. In it for the money.



Anyway I don't want to make light of the question of whether playing an evil character (and there is no doubt that Gravesilence is pretty evil) is a morally questionable act. On the other hand, this posts main point seems to be that traditionally Orcs and Trolls and Undead are evil, so in this game they must be evil too. That works for the Undead (because there is lots of in-game evidence that they are evil), but not as well for the Orcs and Trolls (who are playing a redemption arc.

For Mr. Castronova, the image or the idea of an Orc or a Troll cannot be redeemed. That may be true for him, and if so, perhaps he would be better off not playing on the Horde side. But I don't think he has complete say over what those symbols mean.

At any rate the discussion is interesting (if long), and should be of interest to Roleplayers (this means you, Random Goblin), even if they don't happen to play World of Warcraft.

And to be honest, this post was also a good excuse to post cool screenshots of my characters.

An Update on Space Lobster

I was able to get an Ichthyoligist to come in on short notice. And by an Ichthyologist I mean Puke. It turns out Puke has a masters in Marine Biology. Anyway after a careful examination Puke came to the conclusion that Space Lobster smells bad.

He really does. It is a reaction of his favorite aftershave lotion (Canoe I believe) with his natural lobster smell. But he doesn't smell unusual; he smells bad in quite a normal way.

Anyway she is continuing her investigation. Puke says that the information she is gleaning may be able to advacne human knowledge by a couple of minutes.

If Space Lobster is in fact dead, we will inform you of it immediately.

Another Piece of the Puzzle

Apparently Space Lobster referenced getting a bottle of wine sent to the office. Actually it was a bottle of Lee Kum Kee Mushroom Flavored Dark Soy Sauce I ordered from Amazon. I'm not sure what possessed him to drink it; but I can't think that much salt in his innards would be good for him.

Wikipedia to the Rescue

I just pulled up the Wikipedia article on Lobsters. It's quite long. Let's see what it says on Lobster anatomy.

Like all arthropods, lobsters are largely bilaterally symmetrical; clawed lobsters often possess unequal, specialized claws, like the king crab. The anatomy of the lobster includes the cephalothorax which is the head fused with the thorax, both of which are covered by the carapace, and the abdomen. The lobster's head consists of antennae, antennules, mandibles, the first and second maxillae, and the first, second, and third maxillipeds. Because a lobster lives in a murky environment at the bottom of the ocean, its vision is poor and it mostly uses its antennae as sensors. The abdomen of the lobster includes swimmerets and its tail is composed of uropods and the telson.

That doesn't seem like that will help me check his pulse.

Oh by the way, those of you who were upset about Space Lobster eating at a Sushi place, check out this note on the diet of a lobster.

Although many studies suggested that lobsters are primarily scavengers, feeding on molluscs and decaying animal matter, recent studies have shown that they primarily feed on live fish, dig for clams, sea urchins, and feed on algae and eel-grass. They occasionally eat other lobsters, too.

Anyway anybody out there who knows about lobster circulation please drop a note in the comments section.

A Medical Question

Hey I just noticed that Space Lobster, who manned the office over the break is in the same position he was in when I came in yesterday. I went over and shook him, but he isn't responding. Does anybody know anything about checking a lobster's pulse?

Educational Values

Cal Thomas has an article worth considering this week. He covers the recent court case involving teaching Intelligent Design in the schools.

The decision by U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III to bar the teaching of "intelligent design" in the Dover, Pennsylvania public school district on grounds it is a thinly veiled effort to introduce a religious view of the world's origins is welcome . . .

. . . Judge Jones rebuked advocates of "intelligent design," saying they repeatedly lied about their true intentions. He noted many of them had said publicly that their intent was to introduce into the schools a biblical account of creation. Judge Jones properly wondered how people who claim to have such strong religious convictions could lie, thus violating prohibitions in the Book they proclaim as their source of truth and standard for living.

So that sounds pretty good, I guess. Cal Thomas seems to support a separation of Church and State. But then you read a little more.

It turns out that Thomas doesn't support a secular education program because he thinks it is a good idea; rather he thinks it's a waste of time to try to reform it. The rot is too deep in Thomas's mind; so rather than fixing the educational system, Thomas encourages his readers to remove their children from the school system, through Home Schooling and/or Private Schools (Thomas helpfully mocks those who would be worried about the cost of such options).

I don't really know what to make of this argument. If Thomas intended this as a "live and let live" argument, I could see it. Certainly I have nothing against taking kids out of the public schools if you choose to and can afford it. But given Thomas's comments on our society, I don't take him for a live and let live kind of guy; more of a live and let die kind of guy, I'd think (at least based on his comments on Islam).

So I'm not sure what this particular strategy would lead to.

The Value of Democracy

What is the value of Democracy?

What is the value of letting people make the wrong decision?

This is the question Diana West asks in her latest article. The recent Iraqi Elections showed strong gains for the United Iraqi Alliance, a party with close ties to the Shi'ite state of Iran. This is obviously disturbing on a couple of different levels. For one, if we liberate Iraq and they ally with Iran, how much of a victory is that? For another, the debate of imposing sharia will tilt towards imposing those rules. Which means at least half of Iraq will lose some freedoms.

All of which is why I beg to differ when the president says, "the terrorists know that democracy is their enemy." From the PA, where sharia-supporting terrorists are winning primaries, to Egypt, where sharia-supporting terror-ideologues are being elected, to Iraq, where sharia-supporting terror-state-allies are being elected, democracy is not their enemy. It is vox populi. And just because the people have spoken doesn't mean we should applaud what they say.

We don't have to applaud it, but do we have to respect it?

Anyway it's an interesting puzzle, and not one I have an immediate answer to. I'm tempted to suggest that the Republicans wanted this war and now have to live with the results; but that's not a very positive way of looking at it. So I don't know.

Spielberg Should Stop Making Movies

Emmet Tyrell believes that the man behind a string of hit movies, including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Arc, E.T., Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Minority Report, and so on, namely Steven Spielberg, should take up sculpting rather than movie making.

I get the impression Tyrell thinks movie making should cease altogether. What is one to make of this sort of passage, for example.

Actually it is just another example of the camera's lies. Aided and abetted by sound effects, it jolts the senses with huge hands or other appendages thrust across the screen, towering men and women filmed from the ground up, from other weird angles, all to convey impressions that are dramatic but very unreal. Colors are brighter than real or darker than real. Sounds shriek, howl, and explode at the viewer. My friend from law enforcement has covered crime scenes and crimes themselves. She assures me the real thing is much less entertaining.

The problem is that movies are more interesting than real life?

Of course the centerpiece of this discussion is the movie Munich, which is about robots beating people up for no good reason. No wait, it's really about a terrorist strike at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich and Israel's response to that attack. Tyrell's big problem with the movie is that it isn't a boring documentary, but he also disagrees with the suggestion that Israel might bear even the slightest responsibility for the problems their nation faces. "Those who know the history of this conflict understand that the Israelis are defenders. The terrorists are aggressors and particularly brutal aggressors at that."

For a more reasoned look at Munich and the controversy surrounding the movie, you might check out this examination by Michelle Goldberg at Salon (warning, you'll have to watch an ad).

Your Hourly Rush - Sabotage

This just in, Rush is fine with people calling liberals traitors. He's cool with that. He prefers the term saboteurs, but he approves of people calling liberals traitors.

Treason is a crime punishable by death or imprisonment.

Sabotage is a crime punishable by imprisonment (and possibly death if the crime leads to death of innocents).

Perhaps Rush wasn't using the terms to refer to the crimes with those names. Still, I feel a bit of a chill.

Who Watches the Watchmen?

There is no need to watch the watchmen; they have the authority to do whatever they want. Horace Cooper, in an article at Townhall, argues that President Bush has the power to do whatever he wants if he deems it to be in the interest of protecting the United States.

The Iraq War resolution gives the President the authority to "use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons." And the Patriot Act, among many significant changes, included enhanced FISA surveillance of foreign nationals. Combined with his constitutional powers, the president clearly has the legal authority to carry out this surveillance.

One thing my clever readers will note is that the quote from the Iraqi War Resolution is not in fact from the Iraqi War Resolution. It is rather from a joint resolution "To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States. NOTE: Sept. 18, 2001 - [S.J. Res. 23]" Something to keep in mind.

That said, it certainly is optimistic of Mr. Cooper to assume that the legality of the President's actions are not in question. This is, of course, the old "pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain" strategy. Not always successful, and it doesn't seem like it will work in this case, except on those already inclined to give the President the benefit of the doubt.

Finger Puppet Theatre 4

OK. By popular demand, here's the next bit.













Anyway we will pobably have one or two more in this series. Have to see how things go.

Your Weekly Rush - The relevant Quote

For those of you who wondered about my earlier post, here is the quotation from Rush Limbaughs Website.

RUSH: But prior to that, there was the initial resolution shortly after 9/11 -- and I wrote a bunch of op-eds about this, and I was summarizing one of them here in this bite, again from August 29th of 2002.

RUSH ARCHIVE: I think it's amazing that the president got this from Congress, but I know why. It happened in the heat of the moment three days after September 11th when everybody wants to show unity and resolve and all that. But here: Let me just read the relevant section here from the op-ed itself. "Clearly Congress has an important role. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states that Congress has power to declare war," and on September 14th, 2001, Congress passed a joint resolution which states in part that, quote: "The president is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines, planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States." Now, what is that if it's not a declaration of war? And let me read to you the part of this that really is the final nail in the coffin. "The president," singular, commander-in-chief, one person, "is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11th, 2001 or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States." [Italics added] There's nothing -- I mean, look, I know it offends some of you to point out, but it's true. There's nothing in here that says the president has to prove it to anybody.

RUSH: Now, the question is, is that a declaration of war? It was. If you go to the Constitution, you will read and read and read and read, and you will find nothing about the language of such a declaration.

Some phrases jump out at me. The last sentence of the middle section, for example. The President doesn't have to prove it to anybody; he can just do whatever he wants. Kind of nice for President Bush; but I suppose Rush will be fine with a Democratic President having the same kind of power.

Or will he??

Your Weekly Rush: The President has the Power

I was listening to Rush as I was driving around at lunch. It's always very educational. Rush is of course upset that anybody would question the President's right to spy on whoever he wants. And he referred back to a Joint Resolution passed September 18, 2001.

That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.

According to Rush Limbaugh this act authorized the Iraq war (and he was one of many conservatives who opposed the President working with congress before invading Iraq. In the war on terror, in Rush's mind, Congress has already done their part, by authorizing the President to "use all necessary and appropriate force" against those who, in his determination, helped plan 9/11 or would support Terrorist actions against the United States.

Who determines who our enemies are? The President does. And who ensures that these powers are used appropriately? The President does. Who has a right to question how these powers are used? Nobody. Or at least that is Rush's interpretation. The President is not required to explain himself to anybody; he can simply do as he sees fit to protect America.

The President could arrest this author right now, and in the mind of Rush Limbaugh, he would not be required to ever explain his actions. Obviously I don't think Rush Limbaugh is the last word in how this act is to be interpreted; but he is a key voice in the Conservative movement right now, and so his opinion does matter.

And his opinion is, in my opinion, quite chilling.

Microsoft may be Nazis

I just finished reading the first two volumes of Mike Mignola's Hellboy which had a lot of Nazis in it (as did the movie). So naturally I'm pretty receptive to the suggestion that Microsoft is secretly a Nazi organization.

But, apparently, I'm not quite receptive enough, as I find this particular argument not entirely believable. Anyway those controllers look more like a flower than a swastika.

Just Do It!

Go check out this post by Random Goblin. Do it now! Or the terrorists have already won.

A Humorous Column

Are you ready to laugh? I can't hear you, I said are you ready to laugh? Tom Delay is a corrupt jerk. Ha ha ha ha. Corrupt Jerk.

Karl Rove walks into a bar. He goes up to the bartender and says "Give me a whisky. It's thirsty work outing CIA agents and betraying the principles on which this country was founded." Ha ha ha ha. I gotta million of 'em.

Ready for some more? Donald Rumsfeld is testifying before congress and, get this, he says "Look, any discrepancies in what I predicted before the war and what happened can explained away very easily. I was drunk!!!" Ha ha ha ha ha. Drunken Donald. That's hilarious.

If this is the sort of joke you like, but you are a Conservative, well maybe you would enjoy the website "It's All George Bush's Fault!!!" He's even funnier than I am, pointing out the foibles of Democrats. Do you know that some Republicans think that John Kerry flip flops a lot? It's all George Bush's Fault!!! gets a lot of mileage out of that. And apparently Dean is the devil. Nothing like photoshopping your enemies red and putting horns on them to make a satiric point.

Ok ok ok one more. That guy who runs "It's all George Bush's Fault!!!" is standing up on a comedy stage. And he's bombing, right. Just nobody is laughing. So he figures he'll go out on a limb, and says, "Hey I'm just crudely ripping off Rush Limbaugh."

Thank you, you've been a great audience!!!

Oh and any further promotional posts from It's All George Bush's Fault!!! will be deleted; I'm willing to have a dialogue, but I see no value in subjecting my loyal fans to additional advertising.

Did Everybody have the Same Intelligence going into Iraq?

A report put together by the Congressional Research Service suggests that perhaps not everybody had the same intelligence. But I'm sure that those of you who wish to believe President Bush's innocents will not bother to read this report, but just assume it is tainted.

Because anybody who looked at the issue honestly would agree with President Bush.

In other news I lost most of the day getting my car repaired (and spending a lot of money doing it), and Cheery is off visiting reletives so the office hasn't been open, and there have been no updates. I don't feel like hanging out to process the Monday Mail Bag, so we will do that tomorrow.

A Message from McIckleson

We are experiencing a short delay with our Round the Horn feature. We just got a telegraph from McIckleson, explaining the situation.

I AM DELAYED. CHAUFFER TAKEN ILL. HIRING NEW CHAUFFER. WILL COMPLETE COLUMN AT MY LEISURE.

So there you have it. Of course some of you might be wondering how Mr. McIckleson can send us a Telegram from 1910. Well if you've ever seen Back to the Future II or III you might have an idea. In actually we have a pile of telegrams in one corner, in order. We have to open them in the right order or time will stop and all mankind will be consumed by Temporal Phantoms. So we are being careful. Which is hard because one of the ones down in the pile has what looks like blood spilt on it.

Anyway I assume we'll have our trip round the horn later on.

Finger Puppet Theatre 3

Here's our next episode - looking into why Red thinks that Christmas is threatened by Happy Holidays.













Tune in tomorrow for more stuff. Maybe.

The Pentagon has Agents spying on Peace Groups

You probably already know this, but it has been revealed that the Pentagon is monitoring the various peace groups in the United States.

The military's domestic surveillance was disclosed this week in a report on NBC Nightly News, which obtained a 400-page Department of Defense document outlining the surveillance of peace groups. Acting on a complaint from the Truth Project, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson posted a letter Wednesday to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, demanding an accounting.

"I am very concerned that the military's apparent expansion of domestic intelligence gathering could lead to unprecedented invasions of privacy of lawful citizens simply for exercising their right of free speech," the Democratic senator wrote, citing the NBC report as well as "other major media services" as the source for his concern.

We live in interesting times. I look forward to conservative pundits defending this position by painting people opposed to the war as natural criminals.

The War on Christmas - A Handy Scapegoat

For those of you who long for the good old days when Henry Ford blamed Christmas bashing on the Jews, well, Burt Prelutsky has written a pair of articles that blame the current "War on Christmas" on the Jews. But it's ok because Mr. Prelutsky is a Jew, so he's allowed. And if he just happens to say what a lot of White Anglo Saxon Males think, well, that's just lucky for him (and, one presumes, his checkbook).

He wrote his first article last week and today's article is a follow up on that. It's theme is that Christians are great and Jews should be grateful to them. He uses this odd example.

I was lucky to have been born to a Jewish family in a Christian nation. It was, in the main, Christian soldiers who liberated the Nazi death camps. Even if I'm not as Jewish as some of my critics would like, I still believe it behooves us to be openly grateful to our Christian neighbors -- not because we fear future pogroms -- but because it's the decent thing to do.

Of course it takes but a moment to point out that the people who staffed and ran the courts described themselves as Christians too. And many Jews served honorably in the military (they often had the nicknameBrooklynyn" if movies are to be believed).

Then he compares the ACLU and other "secularist" forces to terrorists.

Many of us, Jews and Christians alike, have been annoyed with American Muslims because they seem to spend an inordinate amount of time whining about racial profiling at the airports, instead of condemning the world-wide butchery of Islamic fascists or passing the hat to place a reward on Osama bin Laden's head. Well, to me, the silence of American Jews when it comes to Christian-bashing has been equally deafening.

What truly astonishes me is the patience and good grace with which Christians have dealt with this attack on so many things they hold dear.

Yeah, cause when I think of Bill O'Rielly I think of patience and good grace.

Mr. Prelutsky's article does seem to assume that being Jewish in America (or any other religion) makes one a guest here. This is a Christian Country, and anybody who chooses not to be Christian should be prepared to put up with the Christian Religion being respected and their faith not being respected. I am a Christian (although there are those who would disagree), and I'm not comfortable with that. Rather let us say that this is an American country, and all Americans regardless of their religiopersuasionion are entitled to a certain amount of respect.

Finger Puppet Theatre 2

Introducing Part 2 of our exciting (in a wierd way) series.













What does Little Red Riding Hood mean? Tune in tomorrow!

A Catalogue of Commentators - Issue 5. Cal Thomas

Bonjour Mes Amis!

I am stranded in Romania and bored, so I found an Internet Cafe and checked in to see if there was any thing I could do. Apparently Durango is a bit out of it this week due to an altercation / sing along with a TrashCo Waste Disposal Unit, so I have volunteered to take his place. Durango has a fine voice, incidentally, I am thinking of writing a song we can duet on for a future album.

This weeks selection is M. Cal Thomas. M. Thomas does not like people who follow the faith of Islam. He really doesn't like them.

Here's what Blair should say to the Muslim leaders: "The onus is on you guys. You find and shut down the terrorists and their network. You turn those who incite, plan and encourage violence over to the authorities. If you don't act, we will by closing and bulldozing the mosques and schools that incubate and instruct the killers, prosecuting the terrorists we find and deporting them and their clerics, and closing our borders to anyone from countries that harbor and teach terrorists. Those who are British citizens will be stripped of their citizenship."

Quelle racisme. M. Thomas apparently feels that the Muslim community in Britain could simply destroy all terrorists should they choose to. This may not be true. As I should know from my troubles with the Hoary Cultists of Abeg-Nero, the Dark Lord of a Thousand Tentacles, many times people are completely unaware of the evils that lurk in their communities. Tarring all Muslims with the same brush (the "terrorist" brush) is both evil and stupid. Evil because it hurts innocents. Stupid because it pushes potential allies away.

But M. Thomas believes that all potential allies have already declared their allegience to the right side (by choosing to be Christians and Western).

There will be no detente, entente or peace treaty between the forces of darkness and those of light. As much as Western politicians may wish to avoid the true root cause of this war, they do so at the peril of their citizens. This is a religious war. The terrorists understand it as such. Too many in the secular and wimpishly religious West do not.

M. Thomas actually admires the Muslim extremists willingness to see this as a war of extermination; a war to eliminate the other side. He wishes we saw Muslims through a mask of hatred as they see us. This also explains his wish that American Troops would adopt the bloodthirsty methods of the Islamic Terrorists; rather than worrying about torture.

Thomas's position on the place of Christianity in America does seem more nuanced than some of his colleagues. Just this morning Bryant quoted an article decrying the war on Christmas, and in 2004 he berated Pat Robertson for mixing politics and religion.

The idea that God would reach down and prophesy an election outcome to one man, who then says President Bush could even do wrong and God would keep him in office, offers joke material to Leno and Letterman and brings the Christian Gospel into further disrepute before unbelievers.

On the other hand in dealing with Harriet Miers he criticized the idea that her religion should help her get confirmed while being irrelevant on the bench. So his position seems a bit nuanced, to say the least.

Apparently Cal Thomas has been a reporter for nearly 40 years and is the most widely syndicated columnist in America. I suspect that many columnists would make that latter claim.

Here's what Bryant has to say about Cal Thomas.

Rereading Thomas's words on Islam always gets my blood boiling. He commits us and our children and our children's children to war with neither mercy nor end. Just more blood forever and ever. Or until we kill them all or they kill us all. It doesn't appeal to me. But then I step back, think for a moment, and realize that Thomas is full of crap, and we aren't doomed to follow his genocidal path.

Here are a few favorite posts about Cal Thomas.

On October 30, 2003, Bryant responded to M. Thomas's suggestion that higher taxes made people into tax evaders by comparing to the conservative ridicule of the theory that poverty and desperate circumstances might push a person to committing crime.

On August 24, 2004, Bryant responded to complaints that the budget had too much money for museums by pointing out what percentage of the budget such items covered.

On August 23, 2005, Cheery took on Thomas's suggestion that Muslims are basically the same as Crocodiles in a James Bond Movie.

Anyway that's all for M. Thomas. Hope you enjoyed this, but I must fly. It's started to rain outside and I am worried that Melishiak the Watery Bull will find me if I am on the streets too long. Farewell, mes amis!

Cal Thomas sez something I agree with

Cal Thomas's latest article is about the "War on Christmas," and it makes a lot of sense.

I have never understood why so many Christians feel the need to see and hear "Merry Christmas" proclaimed to them at stores by people who may not believe its central message. While TV personalities, junk mail letters and some of the ordained bemoan the increasing secularization of culture; perhaps some teaching might be helpful from the One in whose behalf they claim to speak.

Jesus - the real one, not the Republican-conservative-Democrat-liberal one made in the image of today's fractured political culture - said His kingdom is not of this world. Why, then, are so many who claim to speak for Him demanding that this earthly kingdom celebrate Him and His Kingdom?

Yep, Mr. Thomas, for a change, is right on the money.

One of the points in The Godless Constitution (my review of which I hope to combine in one page sometime in the future) is that combining religion and politics will have a bad effect on politics and it will have a bad effect on religion. This is a case in point; fighting over the words Merry Christmas can be just as distracting from the message of the season for Christians as anything secularists are doing. In my mind it's even more damaging, because it is purposefully seeking out a spirit of contention and anger which are antithetical to the spirit of the season.

Something to think about.

Also we'd like to note that Christmas is a scant 11 days away, thus there will be only 11 more days of posts on the "War on Christmas." Presumably I'll find some other obsession in the New Year (the "War on Arbor Day").

Finger Puppet Theatre

We'll see if this works out ok. We now present the first issue of Finger Puppet Theater.













Tune in tomorrow for the exciting continuation of this saga! Such as it is.

The War on Christmas - The Fog of War

Sometimes, in order to publicize this war on Christmas, the right wing resorts to shading stories a little bit, like in the piece earlier about Pittsburgh's Sparkle Season. Figuring out that particular story took a little work. And who wants to work at this special time of the year?

So, in a gesture of peace and good will to people fact-checking him, including the hated website Media Matters for America (where I got this story), Bill O'Rielly has started telling lies that are ridiculously easy to debunk.

Yeah. I think it's the first time in my lifetime that the United States Postal Service has not had a spiritual stamp for people like you who would like them. And, again, disrespectful. Flat-out disrespectful, insulting you and your beliefs

For those of you interested, here is a picture of the religious stamp currently available.



Now of course that is a 2004 stamp. Apparently they overstocked religious stamps last year, and have a lot left over. That plus the fact that stamps are going up in January (to $0.39, which is a whole other story) lead them to use last years stamp in order to not waste a lot of our tax money. Kind of understandable.

But telling the whole story is not as easy as just flat lieing I guess.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams is Dead

For those of you who don't know Mr. Williams was executed last night or this morning at midnight. The New York times reports as follows.

Mr. Williams, 51, a co-founder and leader of the Crips gang of Los Angeles who was convicted of the brutal murders of four people in 1979 amid an avalanche of gang violence there, had become, to his supporters, an icon of jailhouse redemption and a powerful critic from his cell on death row and through his writings of the perils and misguided allure of the gang life on the nation's urban streets.

Obviously a high profile case like this reignites our debate on Capital Punishment. I am going to admit I don't have a firm opinion on this issue.

On the other hand I do want to point out that I find the need to make Tookie Williams a good guy is rather depressing. The News Blog has an article debunking the suggestion that we shouldn't execute Mr. Williams because he's really a nice guy after all.

If you favor abolishing the death penalty, than you favor letting people guilty of brutal murders off the proverbial hook (and,presumably, putting them on the life imprisonment hook). If you favor maintaining the death penalty, you have to know that your policy will lead to some innocents being executed (at least until we get the Justice-Tron 3000 online (although, in movies, super computers don't often work as advertised)).

Anyway like I say I don't know what to think.

Reality Used to be a Friend of Mine

Once again, in my ultra-hipster way, I reference PM Dawn; it's surprising how often this title applies when talking about politics.

Anyway Bruce Bartlett's latest article for Townhall is, believe it or not, about how the President may be disconnected from the world outside his window.

Written by veteran reporters Evan Thomas and Richard Wolffe, the Newsweek story confirms reports we have heard for the last five years about Bush's disinterest in the policy process or even the day-to-day politicking that ordinarily goes with the job. He dislikes meeting with members of Congress, is not a big consumer of news that does not come to him through official channels and relies almost exclusively on a small cluster of close aides, ignoring his Cabinet and the rest of the federal establishment.

The result is that Bush appears to live in a sort of fantasy world utterly divorced from reality. For example, Newsweek quotes a senior Republican congressman -- unnamed for fear of White House retaliation -- who was astounded in a meeting with Bush about Social Security at how out-of-touch he was with the political prospects for his reform plan. The congressman and everyone else in the room knew the plan was dead, yet Bush went on and on as if it were on the brink of enactment.

Hmmmmm. That doesn't sound good. It's also unusual that Townhall (very conservative) would print such a critique of President Bush. Complaining that he isn't conservative enough is one thing; you sort of have to expect that. But complaints about his basic disengagement are something entirely different.

If the Bush Administration is deemed a failure, which seems possible, the Republican Party is going to want President Bush to own the failure. The failure will be due to his own mental state and decisions and not due to conservatism or Republicanism. This strategy won't work entirely (people still blamed Carters or Clinton's failings on Democrats as a whole, same with Nixon and Gingrich), but it might help soften the blow. I don't know if that's what Bartlett is doing here; but, well, I assume some Republicans are thinking about the future.

Defenders Saturday (A Day Late)

Marvel Feature Presents The Defenders #2

The title of this story is Nightmare on Bald Mountain, which references a famous piece of classical music and a segment of the Disney movie Fantasia. Here at Make me a Commentator we strive to educate as well as entertain. Within reason.

Anyway it starts with a bunch of cultists on bald mountain dancing around enthusiastically. One says gleefully, “The MASTER draws near. I can hear his TREAD – feel his Breath.” The leader replies “Than dance FASTER, brothers and sister – wake HEAVEN AND HELL with your obscene chanting.” So, one has to assume that this is a non-traditional celebration. Anyway they succeed in pulling the Dread Dormammu halfway to earth (specifically they pull his left side to earth).

Dormammu, who apparently hasn’t been attended many management seminars, makes sure his hench-cultists know that he cares nothing for them, but is rather disgusted with them. They do his bidding anyway.

Meanwhile Dr. Strange is trying to figure out what’s going on. Looking up would reveal three cultists looking down on him from his mystic skylight, so, naturally, he stares straight ahead. His mystic charms reveal the potential menace of Dormammu and, forgetting that both had said they were not interested in teaming up again, considers enlisting the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner to help him. Dr. Strange is lured in his psychic form up into the sky while the Cultists capture his physical body. Wong bursts in, prepared to use his Kung Fu to save Dr. Strange; but it turns out his style of Kung Fu (the Useless Chipmunk school) is incapable of dealing with two enemies at once. So they get away. The cultists flee.

Clea, Dr. Stranges wife, wakes up wong, and she uses the Eye of Agamatto to, well, it’s not clear really. But somehow the Hulk and the Sub-Mariner realize that Dr. Strange is in trouble, so they immediately spring into action (they have also forgotten their distaste for team-ups. Then we have a page of exposition on Bald Mountain delivered by a character we haven’t seen before to two characters we haven’t seen before (but who were in Avengers #83). To sum up – Bald Mountain is weird.

Oh and Dormammu has figured out away around his promise to never again invade earth. He'll posess Dr. Strange and invade the earth that way. I'm not exactly sure how that gets around his vow, but then I'm not the supreme ruler of another dimension.

Anyway we have a few pages of the Hulk and Sub-Mariner arriving in New York. The Sub-Mariner is seen by a woman as he flies around the city. Hulk encounters some cops and leaps over them. The Sub-Mariner is pursued by cops looking for a flying prowler (that the woman above reported). There is a super-hero convention at Bald Mountain without super-heroes (just guys in costumes). The Hulk throws some boxes at the Sub-Mariner – they charge at each other. Unfortunately, once they recognize each other, they regretfully decide not to fight.

Then Wong and Clea (wandering around allies hoping to find superheroes apparently) show up and give Namor a Suit. Then they hypnotize the Hulk to get Dr. Banner and give him some of Dr. Strange’s cast-offs. Suitably attired they set off, and are stopped by some helpful cops who warn of Hulk and Sub-Mariner. One cop helpfully explains “That FISH-MAN isn’t much, out of water – but the HULK”S a mean customer!” Sub-Mariner doesn’t like hearing that, as you might imagine.

They spend a day traveling to rescue Dr. Strange. Speed is not of an essense. They finally get there and see a giant glowing circle in the sky. They get there and fight the cultists – takes a while for Banner to transform into the Hulk, but when he does, his Hulk Logic is astounding. “Still Hulk always KNEW he was stronger than that FISH-Man. And best way to PROVE that Hulk is the strongest of all is to pick up this big ROCK and THROW it like this.” Yeah cause if there’s one thing no other Marvel Superhero can do it’s pick up a big rock and throw it.

Anyway Hulk and Sub-Mariner take out the cultists (who were not chosen for their intelligence). And we find that the Dr. Strange held his mind inside Wong until he could be brought to his body. Anyway Dr. Strange gets back into his body and takes on Dormammu and wins (in one page). The battle wrecks the mountain, and both Hulk and Namor are buried alive!! But then the Sub-Mariner crawls out, and the Hulk, using Hulk logic, gets out too. “And HULK will never die – While FISH-MAN is still alive.” They stand on the mountain in silent contemplation as the narrator says that we should hope those cultists never come back. I hope they don’t come back, because they were kind of boring villains.

The Poetry of Dr. Strange “Thus I have no choice but to throw CAUTION to the whispering winds.”

The Honesty of the Hulk “Bah! Stupid Humans make me SICK!”

The Familiarity with Clothes of the Sub-Mariner. “Namor needs no HELP to don these cumbersome garments.”

Low Posting Ahead

Well I am in training all day; so won't be posting very much till training is over. And since by then it will be friday evening (more or less) it's possible I won't be in much of a mood to post even then. But maybe I will anyway.

Eliminationist Rhetoric

Orcinus has a great review of Michelle Malkin's latest book. Well written and insightful; in particular it hammers the nail over the head over what I find offensive in modern conservatism. Eliminationist rhetoric. Conservatives are very comfortable imagining a world with no liberals.

Anyway it's very good; check it out!

Get in on the Ground Floor

You might be interested in a new blog called Blue Works Better. Go check it out if you like!

Christmas War Profiteers

Dan and Jennifer Giroux are Christmas War Profiteers. After seeing the anger and confusion drummed up by those who believe there is a war on Christmas, they figured out a way to make a buck off it. Well two bucks. For two bucks you can get a beautiful green and read bracelet that says "Just Say Merry Christmas" on it. Just what everybody needs.

There's an unattributed quote at the website I find interesting.

"The enemies of Christmas have succeeded in making Christians feel as if we are bad and intolerant to wish someone a "Merry Christmas". This is political correctness run amok. We have reached an all time low point in our nation's history when human sensibilities are elevated above offending Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is long past the time for Christians to stand firm in our faith."

I'd be curious to meet those people who have been made to feel bad or intolerant if they wish someone a Merry Christmas. I presume they would be very easy to push around, and I could probably make them invest in my bracelets (which say "Just Say Joyeaux Noel").

Happy Sparkle Season!!!

I was just reading my Bloglines, when I came across an interesting article at archy on my favorite subject, the war on Christmas. About half way though the article (which mostly consisted of transcripts (transcripts well worth reading, by the way) of news broadcasts there was this little parable, repeated by FOX host Eric Burns.

You know, a few years ago in Pittsburgh, there was an edict in one of the school districts that if you were an employee in that school district, you couldn't say "Merry Christmas" to a kid. A memo came down -- you had to say, "Happy Sparkle Season."

Hmmmm. Did that really happen? Well I diligently googled the story up, and found most of the references led me back to an 1996 op. ed. piece by John Leo.

Can an event marked by about 90 percent of Americans become unmentionable? Sure. School bus drivers in Fayette County, Ky., were warned not to say Merry Christmas to any of the children. Presumably, they would say, "Happy holidays," "Merry solstice," "Hail to winter" or something of the sort. In Pittsburgh, they could have said, "Happy Sparkle Season," the city's weird euphemism for Christmastime.

What an interestingly phrased statement. In Fayette County Kentucky they were forbidden to say "Merry Christmas" (another story that makes me suspicious, but there are only so many hours in a day), and Pittsburgh crafted a weird euphemism for Christmas (Sparkle Season). Or course, that doesn't mean that they required their teachers to say Sparkle Season, does it?

Still by placing those ideas so closely together, I do understand how reading this article quickly might lead one to believe that Pittsburgh was also forbidding Merry Christmas. Tracking Sparkle Season a bit further back (with the help of a Diligent member of Democratic Underground, in an article from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review decrying the commercialization of Christmas, we see who is responsible for "Sparkle Season."

Duquesne University marketing professor Audrey Guskey recalled when Downtown's annual celebration took on the "Sparkle Season" name in 1995. Since then, Light Up Night hasn't emphasized Christmas, and references to specific holidays have been fading.

Hmmm. No mention of the school board here. And you have to assume that a Pittsburgh paper would know the score right?

So let's trace it forward.

Pittsburgh community leaders come up with a stupid theme for their tree lighting ceremony.

John Leo puts it in an article close to a riff about Fayette County, KY, which may have forbade it's bus drivers to say Merry Christmas.

People reading the story combine the two, in standard myth-making tradition, and create the legend of the town who made it's teachers wish their students "Happy Sparkle Season."

Of course it's possible that there are clues that I have missed. But right now it looks like Eric Burns is either a liar or an idiot.

Victory through Bamboozlement

Working for change has a nice humorous faq up about how the Presidents current plan to win the war in Iraq is laid out.

Q. How does the president define victory?

A. According to a separate 35-page document accompanying the speech, titled “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,” victory means creating the conditions that allow us to leave.

Q. Is he saying that getting out of Iraq is our only path to victory?

A. No. No. No. A lot of victories await us. Tiny victories and little victories and medium sized victories. Not to say we haven't experienced victories already. A couple tiny victories, a moral victory and an election victory. And if we string a bunch of these little victories together, it could add up to a nice medium-sized victory.

Very funny.

While you are there, you might also check out Tom Tomorrow's latest cartoon, which reflects the Irate Nation blog pretty neatly.

Arguing Made Simple - Incoherency is your Friend

Sometimes you don't have a lot of time to make a reasoned well thought argument. You know the issue you must discuss, and you know the right answer, but coming up with an actual argument in favor of your position would take too much time or energy. What do you do?

Do you shirk the field of argumentative battle? Heaven forbid. How are you going to paste those people who have the gall to think differently from you if you walk away?

Instead you should harness the power of incoherence.

The American Heritage Dictionary describes Incoherency as "Incoherence." Thank you American Heritage Dictionary. And it defines Incoherence as "[t]he condition or quality of being incoherent." Once again, thank you American Heritage Dictionary. And finally the American Heritage Dictionary defines incoherent as follows.

in - co - her - ent

1. Lacking cohesion, connection, or harmony; not coherent: incoherent fragments of a story.
2. Unable to think or express one's thoughts in a clear or orderly manner: incoherent with grief.

Now that we've defined incoherence (and fill precious inches), let's see how you might use it in an argument.

Say for example you want to argue that Christmas is being ruined by Leftists and Liberals. Well you could do a lot of research and find examples of Christmas being ruined by Leftists and Liberals. But that would take a lot of work; and such examples would doubtless be covered with that most hated of qualities, nuance.

So let's take a page from Bill Murchinson's latest article and see how the power of Incoherence can suggest something.

Our paper currency informs us that "In God We Trust," but try affirming that proposition at, say, a high school commencement. Or try praying it, if you want to see how long it takes an ACLU lawyer to get to the courthouse.

I've prayed literally dozens of times and have yet to fall afoul of the ACLU. But wait. Did Murchinson mean pray at a school commencement? Or prayer at all? It's unclear. You don't know exactly what he means. But you can assume it means that liberals are anti-Christian jerks (particularly the ACLU).

That's the power of Incoherency. Let's see another example.

The dispute makes no objective sense, of course. "Holiday" means "holy day." Holy for what reason? For the reason that Christ was born: absent which occasion the stores wouldn't be bidding you, come max out your credit cards. You'd think we could have sailed on another 40 or 50 years serene in our Christian pan-denominationalism.

Interesting; Murchinson seems to be admitting that happy holidays shouldn't be offensive, while simultaneously ignoring all other religious and ethnic festivities in what we call the holiday season. I guess Murchinson believes that if a Jewish person hears Happy Holidays he should feel as included as when he hears Merry Christmas.

Anyway I hope these tips help you in your arguing with others; remember if you can't be sure, be confusing!

Another Reason to Hate Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager's latest article is his advice on getting married. Specifically what sort of qualities do you look for in a potential marriage partner. Here's number 4.

4. Does the person have a number of good friends and at least one very close friend of the same sex?

It is a bad sign if the person you are thinking of marrying does not have good friends (including of long duration) of the same sex. Something is very wrong. This alone should rule out the person from consideration. A woman who cannot hold female friends and a man who cannot hold male friends have issues that will probably sink your marriage.

It's not like marriage is in the cards anyway, but it's nice to have another reason why it's never going to happen. And, of course, another reason to hate Dennis Prager.

Irate Nation Responds

As you will recall on Friday I posted a post from Irate Nation (which by the way, they've fixed. It now reads fine on my computer). As you might expect that post engendered quite a bit of liberal commentary. In response Irate Nation came up with this studied response.

Thank You all for the kind hearted comments. I want to first say that this post was from John Shelleys Journal. I did not author it. He has given me permission to share some of his journal from time to time. And from what I can see it has recieved great fan fair. All the negative harsh attitude is pretty damning in itself for all liberals. Your opinions are very appreciated. Being this is a free country. But wow so much hate from so many open minded individuals confirms that Liberalism IS a Mental Disorder. Im sure you will find peace for all humanity some day. But for now... keep on HATING CONSERVATIVES... it truely shows your true colors.

Great fan fair, eh?

I don't hate conservatives of your stripe; I find them too pathetic to hate. I find it pathetic that in a post calling Democrats "leftist, liberal-demokkkRAT moonbats" which goes on to say "Mentally-ill, left-wing, radical liberalism is exactly what's wrong with America, and what should be exterminated, immediately," your defense is "Why are you liberals so hateful?" How should we respond to calls for our extermination? With applause?

So, like I say, I find these guys pretty pathetic.

How the Lazy Whiny Professor Saved Christmas

Once upon a time there was a college named Auburn who had taken to calling their annual Christmas Tree a "holiday tree" thus ruining Christmas for all. Fortunately Laura Steele, a member of student government, brought forward a petition in favor of calling the Christmas tree a Christmas tree. Let's look at some of the provisions.

Whereas, calling the tree a Christmas Tree preserves historical correctness and embraces religious diversity;

OK here's a problem; how does calling the tree a Christmas Tree embrace religious diversity? It would seem like the opposite would be true. Underlining that the Holiday Tree is a Christian symbol would tend to push aside those of other faiths. Maybe I'm missing something.

I understand that the school might set aside X amount of dollars for specifically Kwanza or Hanukkah or other festivities or decorations. Or, alternatively, the campus Jewish or African American societies might take some of the money they get from the school and put up something. Such displays or celebrations would naturally cost only a fraction of what the school spends celebrating Christmas, but such celebrations don't have to acknowledge Christmas, either. You wouldn't go to a Hanukkah party and complain about the lack of a manger; why should Jewish people go to a Christian Tree Lighting ceremony and expect to see a Menorah?

The answer is that the lighting of the Holiday tree is an Auburn Ceremony; it is intended to be a celebration involving the whole school. An Auburn Jewish Community's celebration of Hanukkah isn't intended for the school as a whole, nor would a celebration of Kwanza be intended for all.

The lighting of the Holiday Tree is intended by the school leaders to bring together the entire Auburn community.

Whereas, labeling a Christmas Tree as a "Holiday Tree" appears to be religiously intolerant toward those who celebrate Christmas

I really don't understand this one; other than referring to the aforementioned dichotomy between the small celebrations put on by religious and ethnic groups which do not have to reference Christmas, and the larger scale celebration intended for all.

But Christmas is a Holiday, isn't it?

Anyway the Lazy Whiny Professor is Mike S. Adams who covered this story in his latest article. I call him lazy because two thirds of the article is simply reprinting Ms. Steele's proposal verbatim. I call him whiny because I've read his columns before.

The Heart of the Conservative Movement

This is from the Irate Nation; but his HTML isn't working well (at least not with my system), so reprinting the post here.

As the leftist, liberal-demokkkRAT moonbats become more and more unhinged and try to drag America, the brave US Military and President Bush into the liberal sewer that they inhabit, it's time to remember who and what, made America what it is. Our Brave US Military has always been there, to answer the call for Freedom — the freedom from want, freedom of worship, freedom of speech and the freedom from fear; my Dad was among the highly-decorated heroes of The Battle of The Bulge in WWII, as was Dolly's Dad, Mike, in the North Afican Theater of war. They were of the Greatest Generation, from a different time and place. Mom & Dad, Sister Becky, my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, white picket fences, regularly-manicured lawns, meticulously-maintained GI-Bill homes, Norman Rockwell paintings, Cub and Boy Scouts, Little League Baseball, Swanson® Frozen TV Dinners, Ike and JFK, high school sock hops, Radio Flyer® wagons, Daisy® BB Guns, Buck® knives, Elvis, Kool-Aid® stands, Thanksgiving and Christmas, capitalism, the spirit of hope and freedom to be what you can be, and so many other personal memories, are whatn my America is made of. I remember Vietnam. God has called us and awakened us, and given us another chance to save what's been given to us, by those who preceeded us. Will we waste it and ignore the task? The torch has been passed. The American Spirit is alive and well, IMO. The Flame of Freedom has been dimmed by those, who were asleep. Finally, we are now awake and well-prepared to do what needs to be done. Our task is far more daunting than our parents and grandparents was: to utterly destroy a murderous, terroristic, theocratic, islamofascist dictatorship of islamic-muslim filth, who demand theocratic world total domination (caliphate) and the forced-conversion or slaughter of us Infidels. muslims aren't a race; they're subhuman, violent, 6th century, dirtbag garbage. Ergo; there's no racism, when calling them the subhuman filth they are: Throat/Head-Cutting muslim-islamic pigshit-filth, or incinerating ovens? I don't see the difference, as they're both left-wing, fascist, commie, socialist, nazi scum. Mentally-ill, left-wing, radical liberalism is exactly what's wrong with America, and what should be exterminated, immediately. Go down on your un-holy muslim prayer rug, lib-dem filth, and die, at the murderous islamics' rusty knives behest. We will persevere, survive and flourish. islam, be damned and utterly destroyed. What's your *Spiritual Account*, worth? How many times did you hurt someone today, lie to someone today, encourage someone today, hate someone today? If the muslim enemy is willing to die for their perverted-deviant-degenerate cause, and we're not willing to die for our beliefs, then, we're completely dead as a Nation. I, for one, am not there. The Culture War rages on. America is on the Frontline For Its Soul.

I'd just like to say I find this post confusing, moronic, meaningless, dimwitted, silly, impassioned, and angry. I assume the author is a jerk, a mean-spirited pit bull, inconsistent, a dope, and has recently purchased a thesaurus. That said, I am going to go, to leave, to take off, to disappear, to fade away, to vamoose and to run off. Till my next post, transmission, communiqué, thought, missive, or article.

Bye, au revoir, have a nice day, keep smiling, dream on, keep on trucking.

H. L. Mencken on Being an American

Here's the link.

All the while I have been forgetting the third of my reasons for remaining so faithful a citizen of the Federation, despite all the lascivious inducements from expatriates to follow them beyond the seas, and all the surly suggestions from patriots that I succumb. It is the reason which grows out of my mediaeval but unashamed taste for the bizarre and indelicate, my congenital weakness for comedy of the grosser varieties. The United States, to my eye, is incomparably the greatest show on earth. It is a show which avoids diligently all the kinds of clowning which tire me most quickly - for example, royal ceremonials, the tedious hocus-pocus of haut politique, the taking of politics seriously - and lays chief stress upon the kinds which delight me unceasingly - for example, the ribald combats of demagogues, the exquisitely ingenious operations of master rogues, the pursuit of witches and heretics, the desperate struggles of inferior men to claw their way into Heaven. We have clowns in constant practice among us who are as far above the clowns of any other great state as a Jack Dempsey is above a paralytic - and not a few dozen or score of them, but whole droves and herds.

Damn straight. When it comes to clowns, the United States of America is the Greatest Nation on the Earth!!!

If You Feel Like Getting Angry

And you like woman (as people, not as things), you might check out this post at THE NEWS BLOG. It turns out that rape is justified and woman shouldn't be allowed to vote (or, apparently, to express any political views at all). Which strikes me as kind of sad.

Talk Amongst Yourselves

I just don't care today. I know I should care, but I didn't get much sleep last night and I think i am going to have to get my care looked at. So low posting ahead.